believe in yourself

bunnika:

I seriously just had to teach my mother some basics of parenting.

Both photos are of my daughter in October, the first in 2011, the second in 2012.  I let her pick out her own clothes, shoes, haircuts, hair colors, anything superficial, really.  She’s too young to understand the permanence of piercings, so she doesn’t have any.  But hair grows, shoes get grown out of, clothes go threadbare.  These things don’t really matter—shouldn’t really matter—but anyone raising a gender-variant child knows the world isn’t that kind.

My daughter recently requested a haircut like mine.  A long flop on top, pixie-length fade on the back and sides.  She’s been bugging me for weeks to color her hair again, I just haven’t had the time.  But today she came to me with the same shyness she keeps developing when outside our home; she’s being pressured by peers and family to look “normal,” to grow her hair long and uncolored, to dress a certain way (she hates to match), to indulge in self-consciousness, and alter or not alter her appearance to gain the approval of others, and society at large.

THIS FUCKING INFURIATES ME.

I called my mother tonight, because my daughter had become shy again, and didn’t want to color her hair anymore, and she said it was because of what her Nana had said to her.  My mother told me we should get that spray-on Halloween hair colors, so it wouldn’t be so “permanent” and my daughter could be “normal” again to avoid being bullied.

IT IS NOT THE JOB OF THE VICTIM TO STOP BEING BULLIED.  IT IS THE BULLY’S JOB TO STOP BULLYING.

I know she gets teased sometimes, and we always talk about it.  She stays strong and confident, so long as she has the support of those around her.  But what that support falters, or pulls a 180, she’s left to crash.

She also gets teased for liking dinosaurs and not dolls.  She gets teased for preferring roughhousing to playing house.  She gets teased for liking Lightning McQueen and not Cinderella.  Where do we draw the line?

My mother thinks this is a “minor” thing, that it’s better to just blend in.  But it would plant the seed of doubt, it forms the foundation for queer kids staying in the closet, for disabled kids to feel worthless, for young girls accepting abusive partners.  This is not “minor,” it is fucking MAJOR, because this is my daughter’s foundation, and it will shape her life.

Support your fucking kids.  Let them be who they want to be, look how they want to look, and play how they want to play.  And make sure they know that you will love them no matter what.

(via stategirl)

knucklechuffed:

moniquill:

panic-atthetesco:

kikiisakitty:

potatofart:

Oppression of punks in Indonesia.

I want to cry

I kind of see the metaphor behind the Save Rock & Roll album cover now.

Details about these images:

Via: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/464727/indonesian-punk-concert-leads-to-head-shaving-by-police

“Police shave the hair of detained Indonesian punks at a police school in Aceh Besar in Aceh province. Sharia police are “morally rehabilitating” more than 60 young punk rock fans, saying the youths tarnish the province’s staunch Islamic image. After being arrested at a punk rock concert in the provincial capital Banda Aceh Saturday night, 59 male and five female punk rock fans have been forced to have their hair cut, bathe in a lake, change clothes and pray, an AFP correspondent on the scene said December 14.”

Via: http://www.punknews.org/article/46119/postcards-from-aceh-talks-to-oppressed-punks-about-december-incident

These images are powerful and frightening displays of fascism. But I worry, when choosing to share them, especially when not sharing them in any kind of context, if they aren’t being reduced to tragedy porn or- worse- to images of ‘look what those horrible brown people are doing to eachother’ or ‘this is religion’s fault’.

This is fascism. These are acts of power and control. That needs to be stated loudly and often.

and it is frighteningly easy to imagine that happening here. there are plenty of people who would look at those images and applaud, who would be perfectly happy to do what was done here, who probably are taking notes and thinking it’s a good idea.

imagine the things you like that “mainstream society” doesn’t consider normal or safe. imagine you are dragged out of a convention, have your head shaved, are forced into gender-conforming clothes (you get to watch as your clothes, the ones you wore to the convention, your cosplay outfits, are shredded and burned). and then you are forced to thank God and Jesus for the intervention that is “saving your soul”—at gunpoint.

PRISM is part of this. you should be angry—and afraid.

That’s fucking terrifying…

(via angelactose)

aimlessscribbles:

I’m not sure what I just witnessed, but I enjoyed it.

(via thedustatdawn)

shanellareads:

heatherbat:

stunningpicture:

‘Cause people seem to only post the 20-something Audrey Hepburn.

Audrey Hepburn was the granddaughter of a baron, the daughter of a nazi sympathizer, spent her teens doing ballet to secretly raise money for the dutch resistance against the nazis, and spent her post-film career as a goodwill ambassador of UNICEF, winning the presidential medal of freedom for her efforts.

…and history remembers her as pretty.

Had to reblog this one … 

(via m1smatched)