ouroborosdream:

gypsy-moonchild:

rubberbandgirl:

5’5” people are freaking tall.

5’0”~

When I wear my five-inch platforms I feel like goddamn Aphrodite.

5’2 REPRESENT 

Barely pushing 5’3” since doctors seem to round up for me haha, oh and I loath petite clothes.

(Source: starsandsnacks)

bebinn:

feministblackboard:

A few weeks ago my mom stapled pages of a story in one of her women’s magazines together and handed it to me. She gave it to me pretty much with the tag lines “for your feminist blog” and “something new to consider.” Indeed it was; she knows me well.

The story is titled “I was forced to be pregnant.” With a title like that, reading it was actually not on the top of my to read list. I thought it was about women not exercising their right to choice. I was very, very wrong on that one.

Have you ever heard of Reproductive coercion? It is a term that was quite recently coined by the advocates against domestic violence to describe a certain type of abuse some women face. It occurs when a man pressures their partner to have kids and/or impregnates them against their will. Reproductive coercion comes in three different types:
1. Emotional pressure that turns into verbal and physical abuse.
2. Sabotaging birth control
3. Marital rape
Over 75% of women 19-49 who reported once experiencing domestic violence also endured some type of reproductive control by men. It’s all about control and domination over a woman’s body.

The first story in the magazine is about a woman who got married around 36 years of age. After a few months of dating her boyfriend talked excitedly about having children. After he proposed he began calling her “The Babymaker.” She then confided with him that one of her fallopian tubes was blocked. He in return insisted she see a fertility doctor. She recounts, “I had finally met a great guy who was eager to start a family with me. What woman wouldn’t fall for that?” Soon after her honeymoon he persisted on in an obsessive manner, but his efforts had to be temporarily halted as she had to get emergency back surgery. Alas, 6 months into recovery he was back to pressuring her again. She was in much pain at the time due to her back, but she agreed to In Vitro Fertilization. She then became pregnant, but soon miscarried. In response, her husband grabbed her by the neck, choking her. He apologized, blaming his outburst on his grief and had her sign up for another round of IVF. And then a third round. She tried to put him off with the excuse that she needed to weigh more before she could take treatments, her husband forced her to get on the scale often and filled the fridge with fattening foods. “It hurt that all I was good for was getting pregnant.” She recounts. At the end, he screamed at her, threatening to replace her with a maid if she couldn’t get pregnant and she told him she no longer wanted to have his child. He destroyed bedroom furniture, pushed her down the stairs and threatened her with a gun. She fled to a domestic violence shelter.

The second story was about a woman who faced marital rape. This woman was 40, had a then boyfriend and two children from a previous marriage. After telling her boyfriend she did not want any more children, her boyfriend refused to wear a condom and began to rape her.  She then became pregnant with her third child. Birth control was never an option for her because she couldn’t hide pills anywhere for he went through all of her belongings. Three months after giving birth, he raped her again, impregnating her with twins. She lost the twins in a physical fight with him, but soon became pregnant again. During her recovery she begged her obstetrician to remove her ovaries and devise a lie to tell him; that she had cancer. After a decade of sexual abuse and violence she was able to get a job that kept her out of the house and often times traveling.

One in four callers to the National Domestic Abuse hotline said that their partners had tried to force them to become pregnant. Why? As one woman stated, “Its like he wants to own me from the inside out.”  Having a baby is the perfect tie that binds. These type of abusers want to create a circumstance in which their partner is dependent on him.

WHAT’S THAT HAVE TO DO WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD?

Many voters never consider how defunding these clinics could hurt victims of domestic violence who turn to them for counseling as well as pregnancy prevention. Abused women will turn to health care providers long before they will turn to domestic abuse hotlines and organizations. Many women in abusive relationships rely on life saving, affordable care programs such as Title X. It is critical that such places are open and operation when women and children need them so desperately.

Two notes on this post:

thisisansley:

I rarely talk about this, but my first boyfriend, who was abusive, tried to do this to me. I’m so lucky I never got pregnant.

curiousgeorgiana:

This is why I was on Depo when I was stuck with my abusive boyfriend.  He beat the shit out of me when he found my hidden birth control pills. 

Guess who opened 2 hours early so that I could get my Depo injection without my abuser knowing?  Planned Parenthood.

This seems to be the study that percentage is from: Male reproductive control of women who have experienced intimate partner violence in the United States (2010) (PDF)

inherhipstheresrevolutions:

fattiesinlove:

birdkid:

whatsajuthika:

It is not discipline to spank a kid. I assure you that my position on this issue is clear. Parents do not have a right to lay a hand on their children, because they already have a control over their kids already.

It does not require physical force to discipline a child, especially younger children. When I was spanked, I cried for fucking hours. That trust gets ruined with spanking, and eventually it escalates to further violence, like my dad smacking me across the face even when I was 16. It honestly ruined me when I was a kid. 

another point: real respect (which is what will make your child truly mind you) is not gained through fear of pain. my cousin minds his mother, but only around her due to not wanting to get hit. he badmouths her behind her back so the “punishment” is really just a discipline halfway house and it’s lazy and ineffective unless you want kids that kiss up to your face but disobey you wherever they may not get punished in such a way (my cousin & my siblings serve as good examples).

also me, i was spanked and belted as a child and look how i turned out.

I respect your opinion, but I disagree. My dad spanked me when I was a kid. This was balanced out with positive parenting techniques as well, so I grew up thinking my dad was great, but I also respected the fact that he was going to lay down the law if I got out of hand. 

My mother never spanked me, because she had a real “be a best bud, not a parent” gimmick going on, and didn’t do much more than yell at me as a child. This really did nothing, because I was pretty good at screaming back, so instead of putting me inline, she sent me to shrinks, who then put me on prescription meds, which basically ruined my entire childhood by altering my brain chemistry and turning me into what I am today. To this day, I don’t consider my mother a “mother”, she’s more like this older chick that I can talk to and who lends me money now and then if I’m in a tight spot, and who I lend money to now and then. If she ever actually firmly told me to do something, or told me that something I’m doing with my life was wrong, I’d probably laugh in her face and tell her to go fuck herself. Contrarily, if my dad was still alive and told me to get my shit together, I’d do it doublequick. 

I’m sorry to the kids out there that are ruined by spanking, or who get spanked and the aggression turns into beatings. I don’t believe that is always the case, however, and I still don’t believe a parent should spend time in prison for using it as an occasional highest form of discipline. -E

 But it’s respect based on fear… To me that’s morally reprehensible.
Esepcially seeing as any act of violence in any other context means there’s a lack of respect for that person you’re hitting, but for some reason when it comes to parenting, it means they love you and are just disciplining you for your own good and is accepted?

I’m really glad that you were able to take something positive from being smacked as a child because not everyone is as lucky, as you know! But I still vehementy disagree with the notion that raising your hand in anger or frustration to anyone, never mind your own child, is okay.

My dad spanked me when I was a child. My mother was never strict even to the point she couldn’t ground me properly. I can count on my hand the number of times I was spanked. All of them were for reasons to protect me. Such as one time when I was 3 I thought it was funny to run in front of moving cars. I was told and told not to do it and when I still wouldn’t listen I was spanked. And I never even thought to do it again. I was never scared for life and I have never felt wronged by my dad who spanked me. I feel bad that some children were spanked for much less important reasons (than to save a life of a disobedient child) and they have come to being beaten. My dad would always whisper to me why I was getting spanked and I always got lots of love as I cried about it. By it I do not mean the spanking, I mean that I pushed my parents to the point where that was the only way I would listen. I felt bad for not listening, not for the pain of being spanked. He always made sure he was not angry when he hit me. It was not an angry beating but one out of love. He cared enough for me to teach me that running in front of moving vehicles was not tolerated at any point, because I could die and I didn’t understand the concept of dieing at 3. It wasn’t till I was 7 that the concept was real in my mind. Which was another time I got spanked, because I put a nail in an electrical socket after (again) being told not to do it. I remember getting spanked and I just looked at my dad like “what did I do?” It wasn’t until my mother sat me down to explain what death was that I started crying. I truly believe that without the few spankings I’ve had I’d be dead. And a red ass that goes away in a few hours is a lot better than that. 

(Source: juthikaforpresident)

inherhipstheresrevolutions:

catholiclifeguard:

“The safest place for any child to be should, in fact, be his mother’s womb. However for thousands of children in America every day, this is most dangerous place to be.   How can we truly expect to have peace on earth when there is no peace in the womb?   How can we talk about loving each other and ending wars when we wage war on the most innocent and vulnerable humans on the planet?”

- Bryan Kemper


original image obtained from http://pro-lifetube.com/ Baby aborted at 7-12 weeks

Dayum, the safest place for children to be should be in the womb? That’s strange, because children are born human beings:

Biologically, a child (plural: children) is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty.

Which means you, along with this Bryan guy, think that born young human beings can fit and live inside wombs.

I like how this person speaks about how there can’t possibly be peace on earth until there is peace in the womb when pro-lifers are constantly attacking female reproductive rights and trying to control what happens inside other people’s wombs. That’s a prime example of anti-peace, a complete lack of respect for human life and a disregard for a basic human right - the right to autonomy. In fact to me, that’s a war right there. It’s a war against other peoples human rights (y’know, those things that can only be granted to born, autonomous, human individual beings). A war that people like you instigate and support…

That’s. Wow. That’s a hell of a lot of awesome logic right there.

I have this guy on my facebook just to keep close tabs on him. We have actually had conversations or arguments. He is truly a piece of trash. His job and “purpose” in life is to run his non-profit organization that is geared towards the pro-life message. He and his wife along with their 7 children all live in and out of poverty according to how his organization makes a profit…. oh wait… I thought it was NON-profit… my bad.

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-439–4253

Reblogging because you know, someone out there could use one of these.