It’s been ten years since I was homeless the first time. I had also been hospitalized just three months after I finally left the women’s shelter, as a proactive measure against self-harm. Ultimately though, the cost to me was becoming homeless a second time upon discharge. These experiences have been on my mind lately, as … Continue reading »
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Freedom From Gendered Violence
This morning, after sleeping less time than I spent writing about my personal experience of sex work, I couldn’t stay asleep when I started thinking about it again, which quickly led to re-thinking the motivations I have for making many of the arguments I give concerning the autonomy of women who struggle with radically different … Continue reading »
Sex Work: Part I (It’s Personal)
Out of the last ten years of my life, I have directly engaged in sex work (though sporadically and often through multiple different vectors at once) for eight of them. I was neither physically well, nor mentally/emotionally. Though my direct motivations were largely preconscious, I have begun to become fully conscious of them, due to … Continue reading »
An Openly Hostile, Open Letter To Brian, Full Of Profanity
Dear Brian: I have already taken the measure of writing you a private message, detailing to you how I experience your persistently hostile attention towards me. I have also now taken the measure of blocking you from accessing me, except through this blog post, which I actually expect you will never take the time to … Continue reading »
On The Cutting Of Female Genitalia
TL;DR: Racialized women are stereotyped as being child-like and incapable of consenting to what happens to their own bodies. This is wrong. Importantly, the guidelines created by the WHO to define what they call “female genital mutilation” is maintaining these stereotypes; as it assumes no racialized woman ever has, can, would, or should consent to … Continue reading »
N. America: Where Not All White Is Equal
The more I articulate about my personal experiences with race/ethnicity and racial inequality in North America, the more I begin to realize something I’ve missed making as clear as day: there are multiple kinds of white in North America, and they are not treated with equal privilege within white communities. When a feminist writer states … Continue reading »
On Sexual Attraction
Tonight I found myself vocalizing some of my personal experiences and ideas around sexual attraction that I have spent a lot of time expressing already, along with some that I have never previously uttered out loud except to a single person. This part of the conversation came about because we were discussing body politics, identity … Continue reading »
Why I’m Not Anti-Theist
Over the years I’ve been locally involved in a general skepticism movement — although somewhat at a distance, due to how I chose to prioritize my life while I was still trying to escape the kind of deep introspection I now engage in as frequently as possible. A significant portion of the people who frequent … Continue reading »
On Atheists Claiming Oppressed Status In N. America
I have self-identified as an atheist since I was about 11 years old. I simply decided, after months of deep introspection, meditation, reading, and even prayer, that there was no God. I haven’t always been open about my atheism, and for a long time, lived in fear of the social consequences for my honesty (specifically … Continue reading »
Iguanas (Part II)
I’ve written about my first two iguanas, and the time has finally come to write about my third. His history with me starts when I had already started acquiring a small army of birds and reptiles. It happened a bit like an accident — someone I once knew had two cockatiels and not enough time … Continue reading »
