Content note: this post discusses nazis, violence, murder The emboldened far right across the pond are now at the point of marching in the streets with their swastikas and literally killing people who oppose them. Most of us--and many of us who are reading this--told you this would happen. There was resistance: the Charlottesville community did not let neo-Nazis go unopposed. [ 586 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/opposing-fascists-makes-u…/
On its birthday, the Curiosity Rover sings Happy Birthday to itself on Mars. Today is its birthday. I almost forgot. But I didn't want it to feel lonely, so I sang, and even stuck some candles in a cake for it. I burned my finger singing happy birthday to a spacecraft, because I am a sentimental twat. Next year, I feel like we should throw Curiosity a birthday party.
Content note: this post discusses online abuse, death threats, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia and neo Nazis The media discourse on online abuse has always been bloody dire, controlled by people from powerful platforms who are, briefly, wrested from their little grammar school debate club bubble. If you're reading this blog, you probably feel this already. It's a dangerous discourse, rooted mostly in bruised ego and utter obliviousness, but I cannot help but think that perhaps it serves a murkier function. [ 832 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/online-abuse-men-are-the-…/
Content note: this post discusses food. And pussies. If you just want the recipe without having to wade through this obnoxiously long story section where it's difficult to find anything you want, it's available to patrons on my Patreon! I know I tend to hold controversial opinions, but an opinion of mine which draws most gasps is that I don't like cake. [ 1,025 more word ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/recipe-easy-peasy-chili-c…/
As you may have heard, one of the first things on the agenda of the unholy Tory-DUP alliance, may well be an attack on abortion rights. This is chilling news: even if it is a reduction of time limit, this opens the door to further chipping away abortion rights. In Northern Ireland, abortion is still illegal. Women are convicted for… [ 852 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/we-need-to-act-now-for-ab…/
Hello. You're hear because you don't want a Tory government in the future. Maybe you're disabled. Maybe you're young. Maybe you're elderly. Maybe you're queer, or a person of colour, or poor. Maybe you're more than one of these things. And maybe you want a fighting chance of surviving and living a good life. We know this can't happen under the Tories. [ 1,918 more word ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/how-to-vote-the-tories-ou…/
I've hit the end of my tether with this fucking election. It's driving me right up the wall, daily doses of bullshit. Today, it's one politician making what the Jolyons treat as the worst boo-boo ever. Tomorrow, it'll be another. The boo-boo in question is not knowing some numbers off the top of your head, as though politics were no more than an end-of-the-pier mentalism show. [ 482 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/i-dont-know-let-me-find-o…/
Diane Abbott has once again been The Worst™, having done something a lot of other politicians do and... actually I'm not 100% sure what it was this time, but I think it was a bad TV interview. And, from all sides of the political spectrum, there's scaremongering about the fact that there's a possibility she could become Home Secretary. Some people are openly… [ 869 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/your-especial-dislike-of-…/
Bloody hell, has it really been so long since I did a round-up? Our collective unconscious of violence: on networks and discipline (Flavia Dzodan)- This is fucking great. Just... read it. Don’t Go to the Doctor (Karma Nalbusi)- Perhaps even more vital to read after the Manchester attacks. The unmitigated disaster of the Prevent strategy. The engine of irrationality inside the rationalists… [ 200 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/things-i-read-this-month-…/
If you just want the recipe without the incredibly annoying formatting and story section here, it's available for patrons! Content note: this post talks about food On a conceptual level, I fucking love pancakes. However, there are numerous things which, when it comes down to it, make me unhappy. They're a pain in the arse to make, with all the elbow-hurting whisking. [ 1,064 more word ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/sourdough-pancakesblinis-…/
It's link round-up time! The Heart of Whiteness: Ijeoma Oluo Interviews Rachel Dolezal, the White Woman Who Identifies as Black (Ijeoma Oluo)- This longread is all you need to read about Dolezal, and we never need to hear about her again. It's also a masterclass in critical interviewing. The Hostile Environment: turning the UK into a nation of border cops… [ 219 more words ]
Some of my followers asked for this, finding it difficult to share twitter threads or my wider post on why you shouldn't be fooled into voting Lib Dem. Now, Tim Farron has done a sterling job of masking his tendencies in his voting record, and votes against the interests of LGBT people, or anyone with a uterus, in a rather sneaky fashion. [ 395 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/tim-farrons-homophobic-and…
Today, I have mostly been wondering if I have slipped into an alternative timeline wherein 2010-2015 never happened, and it seems like a good idea to vote Lib Dem. For pity's sake, don't. There are a lot of reasons why this is foolhardy, and I'm going to try to explain it all as non-judgmentally as possible. Unfortunately, because I fell for the Lib Dem crap back in 2010, I'm probably not going to do a very good job. [ 1,113 more word ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/shit-i-cannot-believe-need…
It's round-up time again! Waking into Dream (Roz Kaveney)- This collection of poems isn't out yet, and you need to help make it happen. Roz is a gifted poet writing on art and love and transness and sex and death and queerness, and she's excellent. Order your collection in advance, you won't regret it, unless you don't like nice things. [ 177 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/things-i-read-this-week-th…
Content note: this post talks about bodily functions a lot, and touches on discussing transmisogyny. This week, I seem to have become quite the Miss Manners, with a second etiquette post in the space of just a few days. This one is about toilet etiquette, because apparently the tired old unisex toilet "debate" has come up again, with transphobic bigots pranging out about the notion of toilets where anyone of any gender can shit without fear of violence. [ 1,310 more word ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/we-can-have-unisex-toilets…
Twitter's recent new (hideous) interface has, rather vexingly, made it easier for trolls and well-meaning people alike to commit some behaviours which are, at best, terribly annoying and at worst, thoroughly rude. Now, I can tell that some people don't mean to be this bothersome, so this post is for you. Try to avoid doing these things, and perhaps my mentions will no longer have to RIP. [ 673 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/the-twitter-etiquette-that…
Roll up, roll up, it's linkspam time! Witch-hunt (Hannah Black)- On gossip as a women's weapon of resistance. 5 reasons why we stopped a UKgov deportation flight to Nigeria last night (Nadia Graham)- Reporting on a great bit of activism, and why actions such as this are so necessary. We Added a Gender-Neutral Pronoun in 1934. Why Have So Few People Heard of It? [ 247 more words ]
https://stavvers.wordpress.com/…/things-i-read-recently-tha…