allofthefeelings:

cheesethesecond:

Here’s something I wanna say real quick, while I’m feeling salty: Amazon has totally contributed to the devaluation of literature. Those prices you see, the $13 they’re asking you to pay for a hardcover book? Those are deep, DEEP discounts that they’re able to implement because they don’t collect sales tax if they can get away with it, they don’t contribute money to the communities where they have a physical presence, they have shitty labor practices, Jeff Bezos has more money than god, etc. 

(Read this report from the Institute for Self-Reliance if you really want to get into how they’re hurting the economy.)

They’re so omnipotent at this point that they’ve normalized the discounted prices for books as the standard. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had someone come up to me and tell me what the price on Amazon is, expecting me to match it. The number of times I’ve been told, “Oh, it’s cheaper on Amazon, I’ll just get it there.” Even at author events, where book sales DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTE to whether or not that bookstore will be able to get more authors in.

So when you go into a bookstore, and you’re asked to pay $27 for a hardcover, remember: THAT IS THE COVER PRICE. Set by the publishers. The bookstore is not upcharging you. They are asking you to pay the value of the book. Amazon’s low prices come with a cost. Please, just keep that in mind. 

(I made a post with options for buying books online that aren’t Amazon. Check it out!)

This is a great post, and I just want to point out: publishers aren’t upcharging you either.

The cost of the book is the advance for the author, it’s the salaries for all the people who work on it (including editors, yes, but also designers and marketers and publicists and lawyers and accountants and everyone else who makes sure publishing works). It’s the cost of printing the books and the materials to print those books on and the warehouses to store those books in. It’s keeping the literal lights on.

No one in the book business, from the author to the publisher to the bookseller, is making themselves rich off your money. This is the cost to survive. Amazon is running at a deficit because they can make up the cost with other things they do, and because once they run everyone else out of business, they’ll be the only game in town and can charge whatever they damn well please.

starlightomatic:

transmortified:

metapianycist:

reproductive rights issues:

• abortion
  
• birth control
  

also reproductive rights issues:

• doctors performing c sections during births without informed consent
  
• eugenics via sterilization requirements for trans people to change documentation
  
• eugenics via forced/nonconsenting sterilization of disabled people
  
• eugenics via forced/nonconsenting sterilization of people of color
  
• eugenics via selective abortion of disabled fetuses (fetuses with Down syndrome especially) (these are abortions sought by people who WANT to be pregnant–but only with non-disabled children, when there’s absolutely no guarantee that a non-disabled child won’t become disabled)

if your reproductive rights activism doesn’t incorporate ALL OF THE ABOVE, i want no part of it.

also 

- doctors deliberately stitching their female patients genitals tighter than necessary / than is safe to “make sex more enjoyable for their spouse”

- doctors refusing to perform sterilization on people because “they’ll change their minds and want children down the road”

- the high rates of maternal and infant mortality among black women

breakingisabella:

deannatroibolton:

A few weeks ago a 15-year-old called me “Grandma” for being able to remember when the first Twilight film came out, and I still haven’t mentally or emotionally processed this

tag the age u were when twilight came out (2008) i was ten

starlightomatic:

phantomflora:

redmensch:

afloweroutofstone:

Straight, definitive, undisguised white nationalism on Fox News today

love when republicans admit that they literally think the border stops where the white majority stops. there’s a hair’s width between these guys and richard spencer

love how the issue w them here isnt even border hopping anymore its literally just that hispanics exist in america lmao. like it doesnt even say “illegals” it just says hispanics.

Nazi ideology is basically just a more extreme version of what plenty of Republicans already believe

gregorgregor:

Ya-ha-ha! You found us!

beachdeath:

gayknight:

nitrosplicer:

angelescoffee:

nitrosplicer:

Reading wiki entries for historical trans men…

Dr. James Barry, Albert Cashier, Charley Parkhurst, Billy Tipton, and Dr. Alan Hart could have each written “I am a man and want to be recognized across history as such” and transphobes would still be like… “wow what misunderstood butch heroes… lesbian icons!!!!”

interesting how they… didn’t all write that. across history women have disguised themselves as men in order to escape misogyny cus u couldn’t get anywhere much in life (much less become successful doctors) as women. and anyways, of course a woman constrained by sexism would prefer to be given the privileges of a man. i can’t confirm these women were lesbians, but you cannot confirm they were transmen either. 

Interesting how… I didn’t argue that women haven’t disguised themselves throughout history. I mentioned specific instances of historical trans men for whom there is evidence to conclude they identified as men and not women. I said nothing against lesbians in my post either, only about transphobes.

Anyways: 

Dr. James Barry had a close relationship with Lord Charles Somerset and was subsequently accused of buggery, which led to a court trial and investigation as homosexuality was illegal. He could have revealed that he was female at any time during the trial to escape condemnation, but he did not. Upon his death, Barry left strict instructions that his body was not to be undressed and he was to be buried in his bedsheets. 

Albert Cashier could not read or write, but lived as a man for 53 years, even after fighting in the uniform of a Union soldier, he maintained his male dress and presentation until he slipped and fell, breaking his hip. 

The indomitable stagecoach driver Charlie Parkhurst lived as a man from the time he was 12, and after retiring, maintained his identity as a man until his death.

Also it’s interesting that you said that I could not undeniably prove any of these men were trans: Alan L Hart was undeniably trans, as he sought out medical transition and pyschotherapy for his gender dysphoria, referred to himself as “one of the fellows,” legally changed his name, lived as a man from a young age, and continued to do so until his death, so yeah, you really can’t say “oh he’s a lesbian,” can you?

while billy tipton might’ve initially identified as a lesbian, he later transitioned to presenting male full-time. he told his future female partners that he was a man and that his body was the result of a serious car accident. he went on to adopt children, and was known as a “good father”. at the age of 74, he refused to be seen by a doctor when he contracted emphysema, which caused his death. neither his later female partners or his children or friends seemed to know he was trans until he was forcefully outed at death

i’d also like to add

little ax broadnax, a gospel singer who performed in multiple quartets over the years with his older brother. while still living with his family, he was recorded in the US census as male. he was outed publicly as a trans man at death in 1992, having presented as male for over 60 years

#when albert cashier had dementia and was in an institution he used to take clothespins and try to make his skirts into pants #regardless of the trouble it caused his caretakers #being a man was so integral to him that even when his memory was shot he clung to his identity with both hands and refused to let it go #our history isn’t big but it’s vital and it’s present and it’s not going anywhere

indigobluerose:

nudityandnerdery:

justsomeantifas:

justsomeantifas:

Government Workers: Hey uh.. we need money to survive? can… how the fuck am I going to pay rent?

The US Government: 

The United States Government: Have you considered bringing back indentured servitude? What about … feudalism….?

Don’t forget how they also suggested “consult with your personal attorney” in dealing with this stuff. Y’know, because when you’re worried about paying rent, you’ve probably already got someone on retainer, right?

They’re also apparently not considering that landlords generally already employ maintenance personnel? Who presumably also need their jobs? The people running the goddamn world are so out of touch with the goddamn world that they have no idea how the goddamn world actually works.

tenkoshimura:

men get pegged…. i cannot change this

halfhardtorock:

Tbh I don’t know a single bi woman who doesn’t struggle with her attraction to men in some substantive, orientation-informing way…

Be it her frustration with trying to vocalize the nuances and differences between her experience of same gender attraction and her attraction to men…(or the social pressure NOT to vocalize this because bi women are seen as inauthentic if we have varied experiences of attraction instead of equal, etc).

Or how her experience of biphobia/homophobia is innately and irrevocably knotted up with misogyny in many painful ways and is suffered in her most intimate of relationships…

Or how her attraction to men isn’t always positive or a blessing but can be confusing and highly unwanted, making her question how much her experience of attraction is informed by internalized homophobia and compulsory heterosexuality.

But these kinds of feelings and discussions are often neglected because there’s so much pressure to perform this kind of bi pride where we’re all totally comfortable with our experience of attraction and totally confident with our label and our embodied experience of it.

justaphage:

midfreakquency:

starsholland:

I’m obsessed with these pictures of the Indianapolis Colts Cheerleaders wearing their real world professional work attire as their cheer uniforms

This is cool, but I’m confused. They all have 2 jobs??

The link just says “real world professional work” over & over. Is professional cheerleading not a full time job? Is it also not the real world?

No, it’s not considered a full time job by the teams even though it often takes 30-40 hours a week of practice, appearances outside of games, as well as excessive working out, makeup, hair etc to maintain the strict physical appearance requirements. Meanwhile, what little data outsiders have on what they pay them suggests many are only paid for the time during the game. It’s pretty exploitative given how much money the teams make off of them.

I know some shit cause a few friends have been/are cheerleaders but I don’t have their permission to share it. This article however, sums up a lot of it including mentioning that’s they are not allowed to talk about their pay.

I do get the sort of “don’t judge a book by its highly made-up cover” message of this but it hints at what kinda bullshit is going on behind the scenes.