What I’m Reading, October 14, 2014

Denied. Charles Vestal, Medium, October 10, 2014

The law itself says 20 weeks “from fertilization” (vs. “gestational age”), and we’re actually only 18 weeks from fertilization–my amazing wife tracked her cycle to a T. The hospital acknowledges it isn’t against the letter of the law, but it is a grey area their policies won’t let them touch. Too risky, too hot button a topic.

We are denied the opportunity to even make a humane and doctor sanctioned medical decision by a bill that we never thought would affect us. I was there at the capitol, fighting for the rights of women. It never crossed my mind I would be fighting for my own.

No, We Don’t Want Your Apologies (AKA You are not a very good ally if…), Feminace, October 8, 2014

1. Your allyship is only valid if my tone is pleasing and I never challenge you. Guess what, genius? You’re going to fuck up, and THAT’S when rubber hits the road. Will you cop to your mistake, maybe think about it, maybe try not to make that mistake again? Or will you double and triple and quadruple down and insist that these same people who you believe to be supporting are wrong?

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4. If you feel the need to play “devil’s advocate”. No. Stop. The devil doesn’t need an advocate. Your argument is more than like already known and has been dragged out and debunked so many times those you ally yourself with are probably sick and fucking tired of entertaining it. And if you really don’t mean the view you’re sharing, why fucking bother saying it?

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7. You feel that being called out for fucking up is exactly the same as being harassed/abused/”lynched”/”witch hunted”/etc. Unless there’s someone dragging you out of your house to tie you to a stake/put a noose around your neck at this very moment, you are not being lynched, nor are you being the subject of a witch hunt. Using such language, especially since you have never been a historic victim of these crimes, makes you sound ignorant as fuck.

Dear Middle-Aged Man Who Stopped to Chat With Me at Comic-Con, Carrie Goldman, Huffington Post, August 28, 2014

You were strolling through the autograph area, looking to see if there were any tables you wanted to visit. You stopped and read the banner above my table. You walked over to me, smiling. I thought you might be a teacher looking for some resources, or perhaps a father hoping to get help for his kids. Maybe you were a fan coming to tell me your own story of having been bullied.

“Don’t you think all this anti-bullying stuff is kind of dumb?” you asked me. “I mean, why don’t you just tell the kids being bullied to fight back and then no one will bother them? It’s because they act weak that they get picked on. Think of all the Comic Book heroes who were once weaklings and then they just fight back and become heroes. That’s what you should be teaching these wussies to do, sweetheart, not trying to coddle them.”

I asked if you had some time to talk, and invited you to pull up a chair. I wanted to take time answering your question, because your view is shared by millions of people, and I thought you deserved a thoughtful, research-based response. I even hoped that we might have a good conversation.

You laughed “Nah, I’m here to have fun, not to talk about serious stuff,” you said, and walked off. So basically, your only interest in approaching me was to let me know that you have a closed opinion on an open subject. Bummer for you.

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