Day of Silence

pr0tag0nist:

Everyone who’s an LGBT supporter is generally loud mouthed and annoying, so the Day of Silence doesn’t really have an impact on anyone. Since you’re shutting up, you’re just giving us what we want.

Sincerely,

- Patrick Protagonist

Posted on: 20th April 2012 - 13 notesReblog

Defying patriarchy as a femme.

vivelesfemmes:

Tonight I was thinking about all of the times that I get dressed up: the times that I fix my hair, put on make-up, slip on a dress, and strap my feet into high heeled shoes.  I spritz on perfume and carry a handbag.  During those moments, I delight in my femininity.  It hasn’t always been an easy thing to do, especially when I feel like I’m competing in a contest that I’m fated to lose.  I’ve always despised the idea of performing femininity in competition with other women, which is partially why the study of gender has been such a liberation for me: I finally feel free to perform femininity for myself rather than for others.

But here’s the thing: when I think about being all dolled up among hardcore queer-studies-slash-gender-and-women’s-studies people, I suddenly feel ashamed.  I suddenly begin to buy into this idea that I’m supporting the patriarchy by conforming to traditional gender norms.  Even though I actively choose femininity rather than being coerced into it, I’m still left feeling like I’ve betrayed my feminist principles.

But then I was like …

Fuck that.

Fuck that, not only because it’s just fucking stupid, but because whenever I put on a dress and eye shadow and high heels and perfume and go out and refuse to be ashamed, I am actively fighting the patriarchy.

I’m fighting the patriarchy that says that I can be smart or I can be pretty, but not both.

I’m fighting the patriarchy that says that because I’m intelligent and enjoy intellectual conversations, I can’t possibly be physically attractive.

I’m fighting the patriarchy that says that the minute I put on a dress, I need to dumb myself down, shut up, and grin mindlessly for the pleasure of others.

Fuck that.

I’m going to keep dressing up, keep loving the smell of my perfume, keep delighting in the way the eyeshadow makes my eyes look greener, keep admiring the shape of my legs in those heels.  I’m going to keep taking a book everywhere with me, keep thinking critically about everything that surrounds me, keep engaging in intellectual conversations, keep letting my voice be heard.  I’m going to sit here after putting on a fresh paint of baby blue nail polish and write about gender and femininity and queerness and academia.  I am fighting the patriarchy, and I’m doing it in a skirt.  And to anyone who says I can’t?

Fuck that.

oh god yes this this this

(Source: bookwormfemme)

Posted on: 18th March 2012 - 107 notesReblog

[tw suicide]

Another queer youth near me committed suicide after being bullied.

I am at same time sad and angry and just….defeated.

But I also need to remember that THIS is why I do the work I do.

I could use encouraging words though :(

Posted on: 8th March 2012 - 7 notesReblog