Blog
Too much ‘noo’ in the sphere (all spin, no facts)
Steve Bannon describes MAGA narrative in terms of Teilhard’s ‘noosphere’. Bannons says that liberals get sucked into fact-checking while Trump’s followers don’t let themselves be distracted by questions of truth.
5 quick ideas about why and how to resist
The rich already run everything, and they’re grabbing more power. Build your power with others and find new ways to resist. We have ways to make things, communicate, and live that don’t depend on corporations. Maybe we forgot. But we can do things on our own.
Anti-trans feminism since the 1960s
After a couple of recent essays by Sophie Lewis chronicling this movement. Particularly because the anti-trans movement is fond of suggesting that trans people sprang into existence yesterday, I’m fascinated with timelines.
WDI co-author doesn’t support dressing however you like
In which Sheila Jeffreys says you can’t really wear what you like & there might be nothing wrong with being a transphobe. Jeffreys doesn’t believe people have the right to be trans. She thinks the reason to avoid a self-descriptor like “transphobic” is that it’s a naughty word.
I am not taking complaints about my face
Why the term ‘womanface’ is wrong. How is having a womanface or a manface different from having a face? What must I stop doing? I am trans and I woke up with my face. This is my manface?
The freedom to be left alone
We should have the choice, but we don’t always have it. In the past, when prompted to think about whether I’m ‘out’ or ‘queer,’ I’ve thought about the transgressive sense and about the meaning of visibility.
The system always leaves someone out
It doesn’t mean the person is strange. Any time we make a system of classification, someone won’t fit. This exclusion might say more about our need to classify people than about them.
Baldness isn’t just physical
It’s also performative. Labels describe how we live. Even when they describe reality, they’re about perceptions and performances. How we live interprets who we are.
When labels don’t feel right
She had two moms, and she didn’t like the word ‘straight’. If we have a stake in a shared outcome, we might avoid declaring how we’re different and separate from others, especially to imply our superiority.