(no subject)

Arg. ARG. Damn it, CLAMP. Tsubasa ends in two chapter.

( Spoilers for latest chapters )

Yeah, I have to study now. And, uhm, yeah, those exams. Let's not talk about those. Who does want to hear about exams? Certainly not me.

(no subject)

Arg. ARG. Damn it, CLAMP. Tsubasa ends in two chapter.

( Spoilers for latest chapters )

SOME IMPORTANT ETA HERE: People, we are adults. I don't have to tell you to put spoilers under cut and stuff when these last two chapters come out. A cut never killed someone before. Talk all you want UNDER them. No hints. Thank you so much por adelantado (yeah, I don't know how to say that in english, it kinda sounds cool like that).

Yeah, I have to study now. And, uhm, yeah, those exams. Let's not talk about those. Who does want to hear about exams? Certainly not me.

ETA: Dude. DW isn't crossposting and nobody tells me. Woe.

(no subject)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY etrangere!

I was scrolling down my flist, reading the 9/11 posts and thinking, "wow, is already the 11?," and then I was, "OMG, right, is etrangere's birthday!"*

ETA: And God knows I'm a zombie. This wasn't trying to trivialize a tragedy. It always struck me that her birthday was in this date. Yes, there are a lot of tragedies around the world in different dates, just a few remembered as this one is, but let's not talk about that now.

I know, somebody has to hit me, I should be studying

But this need to be said.

ciderpress breaks in in the sockkpuppett' mess:

It is a mistake, a common one, to believe that the status quo, that ‘normal thinking’ is not a highly political ideology. It's a mistake to think that white-as-default views, male-as-default views, middle-class+ default views, economically privileged views, heteronormative views, able-bodied views, cisgendered views and opinions are pan-human views rather than a particular politicised ideology about society and the people in it.

Fandom is sometimes subversive, yes. Slash is subversive, yes. So is challenging default views and opposing discrimination of all kinds in all different places in society and fandom. These two actions are not in opposition nor in competition; they are generated by the same want and need that compels us to shake off what the mainstream tell us is "civilised" and "The Way of The World". They are both pleasurable and painful and cannot be separated from the squee that brought us here together. We are compelled to do both because we wish to be free to plainly enjoy and play with what we listen to, watch and read but it's hard because what troubles us in real life follows us here. Those –isms are not academic to me. I don't even know what critical analysis is and I don't know what social scientists do; I don't know the buzzwords. All I know is numbers, language and what I have seen of life.

Thank you, gorgeous. I don't know how we are still discussing this, but we are.

Do you know what I think? I think that LJ-based fandom is predominantly made of white, cis, able-bodied women. So talking about sexism towards white, cis, able-bodied women is something that is fun, intellectual, exercising. It will make you popular, and won't give you too much trouble inside fandom because you aren't speaking "against" the majority. But talking about race/cissexism/ableism inside fandom? Boy, that's mean. And not fun. And you are harshing the squee of white, cis, able-bodied women.

Yeha, this is me being cynical and judgmental. And tired.

(no subject)

Caster Semenya Case Opening Old Wounds

But as I know from my time on planet Earth, if an African descended female athlete excels in spectacular fashion, we get accused of cheating or have ‘that’s a man’ shade hurled at us.

When you combine it with the hypercompetitive world of international sports in which national pride and prestige is on the line, it was inevitable that somebody would try to find a way to knock this talented runner out of international competition, especially with the 2012 London Olympic Games on the horizon. [...]

Continental Africans still haven’t forgotten how 800m runner and 2000 Olympic champion Maria Mutola of Mozambique was dogged throughout her illustrious decade long career by ‘that’s a man’ accusations despite passing test after test.

The way the Semenya case has been handled by the IAAF has only crystallized that impression on the mother Continent.

It’s probably why officials in South Africa are backing her all the way. Makhenkesi Stofile, South Africa’s sports minister said that Semenya and her family maintain she was gender-tested without her consent and that lawyers were being consulted over possible action.

In addition, Stofile has written to the IAAF demanding an apology and seeking a response to those Australian reports claiming that she’s intersex.

Yes, if he IAAF had questions, they should have quietly done those tests. Somebody leaked the info in Berlin that got this hot mess started. It’s also not a coincidence that another leak in this case results in an Australian newspaper publishing those allegations that Stofile reacted to with “shock and disgust”.

You have to feel for Semenya in this case. It has not only put her personal business out there, but has been done so in the most humiliatingly public way possible

In the meantime, her athletic future rests on the results of the gender test and an IAAF Council meeting set to take place in Monaco November 20-21.

Semenya has also received some advice and support from India’s Santhi Soundajaran, the last woman to be subjected to this type of withering international scrutiny.

“She should not let them take away her medal or allow one test to determine her fate. “She is a woman and that’s it, full stop,” Soundarajan says. “A gender test cannot take away from you who you are.”

Even if the people behind this are determined to take away her 800m world championship.