knotnotes:

To Thank You all for supporting us, we have teamed up with the amazing people at Erin Condren to bring to you an amazing contest/giveaway. Erin Condren specializes in making personalized goods - namely stationary. One of our favorite items is the Life Planner, but for our future brides, they make a really great Wedding Planner too. 

One winner will receive a $25 code to use on the Erin Condren website. We will choose a winner using a number randomizer on January 13. 

Here’s how to enter: 

• Like Erin Condren on Facebook  or Follow Erin Condren on Twitter
• Sign up for the Erin Condren Newsletter on her website - it’s the first tab on the left
• Reblog this post and tell us what your favorite Erin Condren item is! 

It’s that simple! Good luck to everyone! I have an Erin Condren planner myself and cannot sing it’s praises enough. I am sure whoever the winner is will love these products as well! 

fuckyeahbisexuals:

daisies-and-vervain:taniada:oopsiforgottogiveafuck:apercusfinch:lookbehindyou:lux-ex-nihilo:divasonyce:mohandasgandhi:

Sobering facts about sexual violence:

• Rape results in 32,000 pregnancies each year.  A longitudinal study in the United States of over 4,000 women followed for 3 years found that the national rape-related pregnancy rate was 5.0% per rape among victims aged 12–45 years producing over 32,000 pregnancies nationally among women from rape each year.
• In the United States, 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men reported experiencing an attempted or completed rape at some time in their lives.
• Among high school students surveyed nationwide, about 8% reported having been forced to have sex.  Females (11%) were more likely to report having been forced to have sex than males (4%).
• An estimated 20% to 25% of college women in the United States experience attempted or complete rape during their college career.
• It’s estimated that 1 in 10 women in the United States have been victims of sexual violence from their married partners.
• National data on rape and sexual assault in the United States reveal that about 1 out of 10 sexual assaults involve multiple perpetrators. Most of these assaults are committed by people unknown to their victims.
• Gang rape is often viewed by the men involved, and sometimes by others too, as legitimate, in that it is seen to discourage or punish perceived ‘‘immoral’’ behaviour among woman –such as wearing short skirts or frequenting bars. For this reason, it may not be equated by the perpetrators with the idea of a crime.
• Studies conducted mostly in developed countries indicate that 5-10% of men report a history of childhood sexual abuse.
• Studies on sexually abused boys have shown that around one in five continue in later life to molest children themselves.
• A study undertaken under the auspices of the CIA, estimated that 45,000–50,000 women and children are trafficked annually to the United States.
• The prevelance of sexual assault in medical facilities is roughly 4.4% among female patients.
• According to data from justice systems and rape crisis centres in Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru and the United States, between
• A national study of violence against women in the United States found that women who were raped before the age of 18 years were twice as likely to be raped as adults, compared with those who were not raped as children or adolescents (18.3% and 8.7%, respectively).
• Women are at increased risk of sexual violence, as they are of physical violence by an intimate partner, when they become more educated and thus more empowered.  Women with no education were found in a national survey in South Africa to be much less likely to experience sexual violence than those with higher levels of education.  In Zimbabwe, women who were working were much more likely to report forced sex by a spouse than those who were not.  The likely explanation is that greater empowerment brings with it more resistance from women to patriarchal norms, so that men may resort to violence in an attempt to regain control.
• Sexually violent men have been shown to be more likely to consider victims responsible for the rape and are less knowledgeable about the impact of rape on victims.  A further association is with adversarial attitudes on gender, that hold that women are opponents to be challenged and conquered.
• In societies where the ideology of male superiority is strong – emphasizing dominance, physical strength and male honour – rape is more common.   Countries with a culture of violence, or where violent conflict is taking place, experience an increase in almost all forms of violence, including sexual violence.
• Research has stressed the importance of encouraging nurturing, with better and more genderbalanced parenting, to prevent sexual violence.
• In one population-based study, the prevalence of symptoms or signs suggestive of a psychiatric disorder was 33% in women with a history of sexual abuse as adults, 15% in women with a history of physical violence by an intimate partner and 6% in non-abused women.
• Even with counselling, up to 50% of women retain symptoms of stress.
• The average risk of HIV infection from a single act of unprotected vaginal sex with an infected  partner is relatively low (approximately 1–2 per 1,000, from male to female, and around 0.5–1 per 1,000 from female to male). This risk, in fact, is of a similar order to that from a needle-stick injury (around 3 per 1,000).  The average risk of HIV infection from unprotected anal sex is considerably higher, though, at around 5–30 per 1,000. However, during rape, because of the force used, it is very much more likely that there will be macroscopic or microscopic tears to the vaginal mucosa, something that will greatly increase the probability of HIV transmission.
• An important element in preventing sexual and physical violence against women is a collective initiative by men. Men’s groups against domestic violence and rape can be found in Australia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia, and in many parts of North America and Europe. The underlying starting point for this type of initiative is that men as individuals should take measures to reduce their use of violence. 
• In the United States alone, there are over 100 such men’s groups, many of which focus specifically on sexual violence.one-third and two-thirds of all victims of sexual assault are aged 15 years or less.

However, the best known way to stop and prevent sexual violence is through sharing knowledge and education.   Please reblog.

lovemelovely:

Citi Bank passed a copy of this handout to everyone in their HR department.  This is few key “tips” for women to keep in mind to be taken seriously and succeed at work.  The writers at Jezebel came up with their own supplemental “tips” to success for women:

1. Women tend to have two X chromosomes — you are not heard.

2. Women menstruate in public — emphasizes your femininity and deemphasizes your capability.

3. Women sit vaginally — the power position when seated at a table is to have a penis.

4. Wear panties in meetings — boxer-wearers are seen as more assertive and knowledgeable than those in lacy underthings.

5. Women have wombs — children come out of wombs. Men don’t reproduce, they conquer.

6. Ovulate — women ovulate at the smallest provocation which erodes your self-confidence. Men tend to move into sperm producing mode.

7. Women tend to smile inappropriately — an “inappropriate” smile is a smile that is on a woman’s face.

8. Observe “Rules” — rules are made to be broken by men. When women break them, it is a violation of workplace culture. When women follow them, it is self-sabotage. To be safe, avoid being a woman whenever possible.

9. Being invisible — 90% of adult humans are unable to visually perceive women. Solution: wear a bear suit.

10. Offer a female handshake — the best way to combat this is to have a man’s hand transplanted onto your wrist. Or purchase a giant foam hand at a sports stadium. These are very masculine and you are sure to be taken extremely seriously while wearing one.

Read more: http://jezebel.com/5634959/citibank-hr-tells-ladies-how-to-succeed-at-work#ixzz0zciTCsfh

Not all women have XX chromosomes, menstruate, have vaginas, wear panties, have wombs, ovulate or smile. But anyone who identifies as a woman can be any shade of feminine and/or masculine and still be powerful! 

My version…

 Be Yourself!

1.    sometimes I like to speak softly—because softness is powerful

2.    I sometimes groom in public—because I like my femmeness to take up space.  

3.    I sometimes sit demurely—because I feel good sitting that way. And sometimes because my message won’t get heard if I sit square on, talk loudly and say something smart all at the same time.

4.    Sometimes I speak last—as I try to be conscious of my white privilege and not  talk over others. 

5.    I sometimes ask permission—because being submissive turns me on.

6.    Sometimes I apologize—because maybe I fucked up? 

7.    I sometimes smile inappropriately—because I’m an awkward bisexual!

8.    Sometimes I don’t have the privilege to not “Play Fair”—because women often get called stupid for trying to think on their own, while men get praised for “thinking outside the box”.

9.    I sometimes feel invisible—because I am not appreciated for who I am in masculine-centric corporate culture.

 10.  I sometimes offer a limp handshake—well sure why not? All handshakes are beautiful!

sexismandthecity:

Fuck yr fascist beauty ideals.

sexisnottheenemy:

ireensarrows: fuckyeahbeardedladies: (via marielos)

(via pansexualpride)

Mangos With Chili: the floating cabaret of QTPOC bliss, dreams, sweat, sweets & nightmares proudly presents the premiere of:
BELOVED:
A Requiem for Our Dead because we refuse to forget you

November 6th and 7th, 8PM 
The Lab 2948 16th St, SF
Tickets: $12-16, no one turned away for lack of funds

November 15th, 8PM
Hechos en Califas Festival
La Pena 3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
$12-16, no one turned away for lack of funds

In this highly anticipated premiere of the newest Mangos With Chili production, we invite you to join us at the crossroads for a night of conjuring, memory, mourning and celebration. Through elegies of story, song, dance, drag and more, the Bay Area’s noted and notorious queer and trans people of color performance crew will honor our erased, fallen and slain queer and trans people of color family lost to hate crimes, war, colonization, and genocide. We will celebrate our queer legacies and the ways we’ve found to survive through the beautiful resistance of memory, and whisper stories about grief, loss, healing, sweet darkness, and walking between worlds towards rebirth.