June 5, 2016
from Brett
This week I completed a first aid course. One thing that wasn’t covered in the course (but I wish had been) is a structural analysis of health statistics; if a racialized group is overrepresented in the stats, IT PROBABLY HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH COLONIALISM AND CAPITALIST WHITE SUPREMACIST CISHETEROPATRIARCHY. Please do not talk to me about any evolutionary theories.
And with that, here is the week in links:
- Transfeminine people get period symptoms, a brilliant piece that points towards major gaps in medical research on transfem health.
- Here’s a list of 100 queer and trans people of colour gay magazines could put on their covers. This is a great list. So. Many. Babes.
- Black Lives Matter Toronto has responded to Mayor John Tory’s request for advice on what do about carding. They recommend that carding data should be removed immediately from police records, and that the data be provided confidentially to the Anti-Black Racism Network, for further research on how anti-black racism manifests in Toronto.
- Kimberlé Crenshaw, the inventor of intersectionality, on using #sayhername in her classroom, and on remembering women killed in police custody.
- Words are important! WOC vs Black Women: Thoughts on the fallacy of solidarity & the erasure of Black women.
- An essay on the intersections of Black Lives Matter, the Mall of America, and the labour movement.
- On the topic of malls, here is an exposé on Liftblr, the story of (mostly white) teen girls stealing things, for both glamour and anti-capitalism.
- From Ruby Brunton’s Stealth Care series: One Thousand Words for Skipping School.
- An interview with Aph Ko, Black vegan feminist, media producer, and activist.
- “Romance, unlike human labour, is an infinitely renewable resource,” read this conversation with Moira Weigel, author of Labor of Love, to satisfy some of your marxist feminist desires.
- The Sims just got a little more gender flexible! Now heels or suit for whoever wants them, regardless of their assigned genders.
- An honest, conversational piece from Tunde Wey and John T. Edge about Southern food, colonialism, complicity, and appropriation.
- On the gender divide in the acknowledgments in books.
- Fandom, fanfiction, and why it is terrifying (hint: because of misogyny).
- Big news from Sara Ahmed, who recently announced her resignation from Goldsmiths. She writes, “I have resigned in protest against the failure to address the problem of sexual harassment. I have resigned because the costs of doing this work have been too high.”
- An important and difficult read: the woman who survived sexual assault perpetrated by a Stanford swimmer has published her statement addressing him directly at his sentencing.
- This week is marked by the passing of the great Muhammad Ali, and I hope that you find time to mourn in whichever ways suit you best. Dave Zirin and Ishmael Reed each, respectively, remember Ali in complex ways, acknowledging his power, wit, and Black excellence.
- Ijeoma Oluo reminds us that parenting is complicated and that small children have a death wish, so what happened at the Cincinnati zoo could happen to any mother.
- For your Canadian-content requirements: Tegan and Sara have a new album out (here’s a review) and Canadians do not say “aboot.” What they do say is actually much weirder.
- The first installment of Roots premiered on Monday. It’s a reboot and retelling of Alex Haley’s novel of the same name. Collected from Black Twitter, this is a syllabus to accompany it.
- Moving from “Native American” to “Native Inspired,” and how Etsy fails Indigenous makers, crafters, and artists.
- As part of Rookie‘s How We Live series, centring the lived experience and thought of black teenagers, Amandla Stenberg answers questions about sexuality, hair, activism (and more!). Her answers are affirming and brilliant.
- If you’re in Edmonton, mark your calendars because there’s a Pop-Up film festival for National Aboriginal History Month from June 18th to June 21st.
- You can help support independent Canadian feminist media, and the artists and authors who labour for it, by donating to GUTS’s patreon. And, the rewards are swish. Tote bags, so practical.
If I missed any of your fave links from this week, please add them in the comments! XO