On December 6th. pop star Lizzo accepted the “People’s Champion Award” at the People’s Choice Awards 2022. But she did something very unique and special with her time on camera for her acceptance speech. She immediately switched the focus of the night off of her and onto the accomplishments of 17 activists, who she brought with her on stage. One by one, she introduced and proclaimed why their work was important. You can watch the full speech …Read More
Tag: gender
Article on Medium: When the Heck are Women Going to Get a Shot at the Presidency
On Thursday, I received the news that Elizabeth Warren was ending her campaign for president. I had intended to write an article about why Warren had my vote, but I never got to write it and I never got to vote for her. I had a lot of grief and anger around the circumstances of her campaign ending. I expected that the news would be a blow to my spirits but what I didn’t expect …Read More
You Strike a Woman, You Strike a Rock: Gender-Based Violence and Xenophobia in South Africa
CN: in depth discussion of rape culture, sexual assault, gender-based violence, xenophobic violence, government sanctioned oppression in South Africa. Brief discussion of corrective sexual assault and apartheid. Many of the issues featured on this blog are discussed in terms of how they manifest in the United States, primarily because that is where most of my audience is located, and I have the most specific knowledge about the social patterns that occur here. However, very few …Read More
What Is Afforded to You
CN: chronic illness, police brutality, racism, mental illness, medical neglect, forced stay at mental institution. Note: This blog post heavily references a specific article that goes into far more detail of the above topics than this one does, in addition to a number of other heavy topics such as sexual assault, addiction, and domestic abuse. The article referenced does not include a content note. Three or four years ago, I somehow came across an article …Read More
A Men’s Guide to the Me Too Movement
CN: sexual assault, sexual violence, rape culture, sexism, mention of sex acts, Me Too movement, trauma Warning: Many links in this piece lead to articles that include graphic descriptions of sexual assault, in depth discussions of rape culture, and videos of rape apologists. Some have content warnings, some do not. Click at your own risk. I’ve noticed some men seem a little lost as news of the Me Too movement pours in. Why are so …Read More
What Is Socialization?
CN: physical abuse, mention of discrimination based on race, body type, and gender, mention of retaliation to sexual assault reporting. Consider the following puzzle: A man and his girlfriend are going to a fancy dinner party, and the man arrives wearing the T-shirt and jeans he’s been wearing all day. His girlfriend is upset, insists he change into something else, messes with his hair etc. The girlfriend is stressed out that her partner would go …Read More
Explaining Privilege Part 4: The Invisibility Cloak
CN: racism, sexism, police brutality, detailed descriptions of sexual assault, rape culture, Trump, Charlottesville rally Privilege can bring you many benefits, and eliminate many obstacles for you. But privilege can also mask negative traits such as incompetence, unethZical behavior, and dishonesty. Privilege can give you literal get-out-of-jail-free cards, to the detriment of people who lack that privilege. In many ways, privilege results in the opposite of scrutiny. If you are generally successful in life, socially …Read More
Explaining Privilege Part 3: The Consequences of Scrutiny
Content Note: This article covers specific upsetting examples of oppression in action and includes many links to external websites, including news coverage and videos of police brutality, and first-hand accounts of sexual assault and other trauma. This content note will only cover the topics contained within this article. Be warned many of the external links also contain disturbing material, not all of which come with a content note of their own, so click with caution. …Read More
Explaining Privilege Part 2: The Cycle of Reinforcement
In the second part of the Explaining Privilege series, I talk about how the socialization of marginalized and privileged groups reinforce the blindspots of privileged groups, which in turn causes a cycle that deprioritizes the needs of marginalized people.
Who Is Marginalized?
There are a number of traits for which people are oppressed, and these traits fall into a number of categories. To be involved in social justice work, you must first understand who is marginalized. This article breaks that down.