Immense amounts of 'what the actual fuck' here. Firstly, genders outside the binary have always existed. TERF claims that trans, non-binary, and agender identities are somehow colonial is so much ahistorical bullshit, I don't even know where to start.
And yes, Vaishnavi Sundar is transphobic, has been transphobic for actual years. Just. NO.
No part of disability studies or disability advocacy excused being a rampant transphobe so I'm extremely side-eyeing people following this person letting this slide. Dehumanisation is never okay.
Genuinely begging people who talk about colonialism with the aim of reinforcing the gender binary to shhhh and go wash their faces with cold water until they wake up and know better.
Aside from all of that, I'm very clear on this: trans people's dignity and rights IN NO WAY impinges upon my own. If anything, the eradication of transmisogyny would make my life significantly better.
If you're following Fiona Cambell (@/f_k_campbell) and you think it's okay that she's sharing straight up transphobia under whatever performative postcolonial/ decolonial ahistorical posturing, please, unfollow me immediately. I don't suffer that sort of tripe willingly or kindly
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Some days science reporting is amazingly weird and it makes me so happy. "... a new discovery reveals some planets might look more like a potato." inverse.com/science/egg-sh…
Petition to rename the big bang "that spicy planetary potat mash."
"But a group of exoplanets known as Hot Jupiters orbit their home stars in a matter of days, sometimes just hours. Hot Jupiters which orbit their star in less than a day are known as ultra-short-period planets."
I've just whispered "Hot Jupiters are fast and fertile" to myself!
This panel on decolonial approaches is... messy, at best. I'm deeply suspicious of any approach that by default assumes precolonial cultures lacked violences or oppression and want to mythologise them in ways that fail to acknowledge contemporary contexts and community needs.
If we're unwilling to acknowledge the complexity of precolonial cultures as histories that are also messy, what we're pretending (at best) to reclaim is a myth, and usually one prone to co-option by particular forms of nativism. I'm very wary of this turn to almost fetishization.
It is absolutely possible to resist colonial systems without assuming that the only way to do so is through the construction of a sanitised history. A sanitised history itself is coloniality in action; the repetition of this system is by no means decolonial.
I don't know how often I have to say this but: it's totally okay to admit that you're not well-versed enough on a topic to have anything of worth to add or publish. It's not false modesty to admit a genuine limitation, and it's okay to learn things at a pace that works for you.
I am so often confused by the resistance to this. It's okay to just be interested in a field without publishing in it or positioning oneself as cutting-edge, particularly if there's nothing of worth added by one's contribution. Not everything needs a contribution and that's fine.
I get the urge to jump on each and every publishing opportunity, I truly do; I am a magpie myself. But it is still harm to know that you're not up to a task and take up that space anyway instead of pointing it to someone who could benefit and might not otherwise get in the door.
I can't say I'm surprised. I've held for a long time now that the OTW is effectively somewhere between overt white supremacists and a ridiculously apt example of Bonilla-Silva's theorisation of racism without the racists (i.e. I'm too progressive/ nice to be/ know a racist).
Not for nothing, but the assumption that antiracist work is erasure/ censorship/ is coming from "outsiders" & not those in fannish communities is absolutely white supremacy. Literally look at dog whistle discussions of CRT or any attempt to decenter whiteness; it's right here.
The claim that all these "outsiders" are seeking to destroy the ~greatness of the AO3 by asking for policy to deal with racism sits in parallel to entire histories of global anti-immigrant/ antiblack rhetoric. Zero recognition that POC have long asked for this/ helped build this.
#LRT A reminder that Adani has been so heavily involved in environmental destruction across multiple countries that this claim to be invested in renewable energy is (mediocre) PR at best. For anyone looking for a starter on this, here you go: adaniwatch.org
We should remember that Adani's sponsorship of the Science Museum is hardly the most ridiculous thing we've heard, as he is seeking to speak at COP26 - a fact that almost everyone with an ounce of common sense has called a blatant attempt at greenwashing. marketforces.org.au/adani-must-not…
Also, a reminder that the protest to save Hasdeo and stand with Adivasi communities is ongoing. Adani's actions aren't abstract climate injustice; they displace and harm Adivasi communities, harm ecology, and actively work against climate change: article-14.com/post/chhattisg…
Taking a break from writing tonight. Settled in with my yuzu tea and listening to this lecture by Tanya Titchkosky:
As she's discusses accessible toilets, I'm flashing back to my own ex-institution that added in one accessible toilet (for the NAAC points) but insisted on keeping it locked with the key in the principal's office. Despite all my efforts, I could not get them to leave it unlocked.
Their assumption was that it would be non-viable to keep the toilet clean if all students could access it (ridiculous), and cleanliness was repeatedly used as justification for inaccessibility (eliding the real reason: it was serving as a private toilet for the vice principal).