Photo by Mykola Tys/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
I apologize for what I know is the world’s latest in the day link round up, but there’s a lot going on in the world right now (as I’m sure you are WELL AWARE). I hope your taking care of yourself, your loved ones, and then I hope you’re able to do something — even one small thing — to take of your community, too.
Love you.
Queer as in F*ck You
Cuuute! Looking for Queer Rom Coms? This TikTok Book Reviewer Has You Covered.
OK I have no idea what is happening here, but I am so intrigued! One Night in the Straightosphere. “I think Cara Delevingne got me kicked off the stage.”
Speaking of nightlife culture shifts, Where Are All the Lesbian Bars? Coming to a Place Near You. “Around the country, new pop-ups have sought to fill a void left by L.G.B.T.Q.-focused spaces that have closed.”
And so it officially begins, Texas Investigating Over Medical Treatments for Trans Youth, Lawsuit Says
Related, and not at all surprising, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer Adults Have High Rates of Adverse Childhood Experiences. “Lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer people had higher exposure to all adverse childhood experiences compared with heterosexual adults.”
Saw This, Thought of You
From Himani, whose voice and intellect I always trust in times like this — “For some global perspective on where various countries stand re: Russian invasion of Ukraine.” The World Is Less Unified in Its Support of Ukraine Than You Might Think
And more from Himani, “I’ve been reading a lot about Ukraine and this interview is definitely one of the best and most comprehensive things I’ve read.” ‘Yes, He Would’: Fiona Hill on Putin and Nukes
The Taliban Takeover Through the Eyes of the Women Who Survived It. “Even as the world turns away from Afghanistan, the oppression takes on a multitude of forms. So does the resistance.”
A WNBA Team Splurged on Flights for Its Players, and It Was a Huge Scandal. “The Liberty’s violation of CBA rules is a window into the state of ownership in the league.”
The Fatkini and Me: How a Viral Moment Helped Me Find Confidence After a Lifetime of Covering Up from Autostraddle’s former fashion editor Lydia Okello for Vogue. (Yes, Vogue.)
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Political Snacks
The State of the Union tonight, and from the non-profit gender and political news site The 19th, Here’s What You Can Expect Biden to Say
And again, I give you Himani, “For a Ukrainian perspective on what is happening, resources on how people can help from afar, orgs to donate to, and more”: Info Card.
And to follow up Himani, I’ve also been following the Forcibly Displaced People Network, who work to serve LGBTIQ+ people in forced displacement (like those being forced to flee Ukraine right now) and I just wanted to amplify their work as well.
Also Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a historian and graduate student finishing her PhD who has become a leading voice in discussing race and Ukraine, has also put together a linktree roundup of how to support Black and POC in Ukraine, queer and trans folks, disabled folks, and other marginalized groups who are caught in the middle of this conflict with few people looking out for them.
Thanks for all the info on how to support the most vulnerable in Ukraine. I appreciate that I can count on y’all for this!
I came down to the comments to say essentially the same thing, but you said it perfectly ☺️ Thank you Carmen and everyone at Autostraddle! We appreciate you so much ❤️
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Just wanted to leave a huge amount of appreciation for Himani here. Himani, your recent advice really touched me: other things you’ve said from bloody ages ago stay with me too. Plus, now in-depth, well-researched international coverage as well? THANK YOU you are amazing 💜
Thank you so much, Viv! I really, really appreciate your incredibly kind message <3
Thank you for all the links to direct action for Ukraine! Love y’all.
thank you Himani for bringing add’l complexity to headlines. all imperialist war is wrong. invading is wrong. the USA has been doing the most of it most of my lifetime, and continuing right now, today, mostly against brown and black ppl around the globe. i don’t mean to be doing ‘what about ism.’ i mean it’s important to be a critical consumer of media & US propoganda.
tldr: the US media is a terrible source for understanding what is going on in the world. there’s a book called The Great Game that i read as a teenager, and that has been heavy on my mind the last two weeks, as it was with the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. the oversimplification of Palestine & Israel history in US discourse is also horrendous & deadly. anyway, the book is about how the British & Russian empires were constantly embroiled in politics they oversimplified in eurasian lands they were trying to control in the 1700-1900s. so called leaders of imperial powers like the US and Russia (and China), and US media, almost always severely underestimate the complexity of history of where they are invading (including here on Turtle Island). if they themselves don’t underestimate, they certainly oversimplify in propoganda. the citizens of these powers & the people they invade all suffer for this ignorance and hubris.
Thanks for your message and also for sharing your thoughts @devney.
This isn’t entirely related to what you’re saying, but honestly one of the things that’s been so incredibly disappointing (though, frankly, not at all surprising) is the response from the Indian political mainstream to the Russian invasion, which really has barely been reported in American media. (And I only really know about bc of a group chat with some South Asian friends.)
I’m not sure if this is what you meant in your message, or not, but one of the things I find really frustrating in terms of American (and, frankly, Western) understanding of global issues (particularly on the left side of the political spectrum) is the fact that colonialism is always talked about in relation to the West, as if it doesn’t and hasn’t happened amongst and within South Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, and Central Asian/Eastern European countries (as we’re seeing now with Russia/Ukraine). Yes, some of the worst and most long lasting effects of colonialism is what the West/Global North has done to the rest of the world across centuries. But also? a lot of other countries and regions have done and continue to do plenty of their own, incredibly fucked up shit against “their own” people (who they DON’T see as their own, and again, for reasons that are, at times, only tangentially related to colonialism).
I don’t say this to give the West a pass. (Really, by no means at all, do I say this to give the West a pass. I mean half my family is from Punjab for fuck’s sake and every time I watch something either fictional or real about families divided because of Partition, I do, quite literally, cry.) But we really do need to stop glossing over the realities of what is happening in so many parts of the world because we’re only looking at it through the lens of West vs East, Global North vs Global South, or Capitalism vs Socialism/Communism. No one of these systems or forces is inherently superior or faultless than the others, though undeniably the former of all of those hold far, far more blame.
Ok sorry for my long rant. But I really have been thinking about this a lot, especially as I read about some of the Putin apologism that’s happening across the political spectrum and globally, that is going unaddressed.
awww thank you for this rant!! i am here for it. borders are so fake. also punjabi here, and i think of regions as watercolor splotches moving and overlapping and always blurring at the edges and sometimes so gradually from one to another there is never a line, just a gradient of language and motifs and food and daily rhythms and what is polite. but the violence states, very much including India, do to try to make their borders, over and against the people who LIVE on those borders, is so real. . .
^ sorry that was more of a rant than i meant. thank you for the linktree – we at least do our best to help each other survive these wars [some of] our governments insist on starting.
It all seems so hopeless, a million Ukrainians have had to flee their country, over a thousand civilians dead and the bombings are getting worse, targeting civilian institution.
I really do feel you on this. I wrote this recently in response to someone struggling with the ongoing pandemic, but I think it’s equally applicable in this situation, and it’s something I try to hold at times like this: “One of the things I sometimes try to hold is the idea that while I cannot personally change or end the suffering of people in worse and more uncertain situations than mine — whether that’s people who are immunocompromised or disabled during this pandemic or people living in war torn areas or the people most affected by climate change — I must honor their lives. Part of honoring their lives, to me, is about bearing witness to their experiences, doing what small things I can (like voting and donating to trustworthy organizations) and, to the extent possible, making personal decisions that support them (for instance, being mindful about the kinds of activities I’m doing during this pandemic and where I shop). But the other part of honoring their lives is living mine. I cannot materially change other people’s realities, but losing myself and sacrificing my own life by being debilitated by depression from trying to hold it all is a disservice and, honestly, disrespectful to everyone.”
Do what you can to extend help from this distance, and don’t turn away from what’s happening. But also? Try to find the bits of peace and solace and, even, if you can, beauty in the world around you in tribute to those who really cannot do any of those things right now.