girljanitor:

stfuprolifers:

•A woman in Utah gave birth to twins. When one was stillborn, she was arrested and charged with criminal homicide based on the claim that her decision to delay cesarean surgery was the cause of the stillbirth.

•After a hearing that lasted less than a day, a court issued an order requiring a critically-ill pregnant woman in Washington, D.C. to undergo cesarean surgery over her objections. Neither she nor her baby survived.

•A judge in Ohio kept a woman imprisoned to prevent her from having an abortion.

•A woman in Oregon who did not comply with a doctor’s recommendation to have additional testing for gestational diabetes was subjected to involuntary civil commitment. During her detention, the additional testing was never performed.

•A Louisiana woman was charged with murder and spent approximately a year in jail before her counsel was able to show that what was deemed a murder of a fetus or newborn was actually a miscarriage that resulted from medication given to her by a health care provider.

•In Texas, a pregnant woman who sometimes smoked marijuana to ease nausea and boost her appetite gave birth to healthy twins. She was arrested for delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.

•A doctor in Wisconsin had concerns about a woman’s plans to have her birth attended by a midwife. As a result, a civil court order of protective custody for the woman’s fetus was obtained. The order authorized the sheriff’s department to take the woman into custody, transport her to a hospital, and subject her to involuntary testing and medical treatment.

 INTERSECTIONALITY CHECK OF THE DAY

It is very important to note that this sort of thing is happening not only to women, but all people capable of pregnancy.

Also, it’s very, VERY important to note WHICH women this is happening to, which I wrote about a few months ago:

When feminists decry the horrific new developments in regard to the criminalization of pregnancy, i.e. people with uteri who are prosecuted and/or sent to prison for refusing a c-section, having a miscarriage or stillbirth, having a mental illness, being perceived as “irresponsible”, et cetera.

White women: “this is happening to women!!!” News stories invariably show the pregnant bellies of white women. The stories are written by white women, and are addressed to white women. (Which is also cissexist.)

This is happening to Black and Native American women like Regina McKnight and Martha Greywind:

First, we describe characteristics of the women and the cases, finding that low-income women and women of color, especially African American women, are overrepresented among those who have been arrested or subjected to equivalent deprivations of liberty.

who are poor, and often living in the South, with its rich history of forced sterilizations and eugenics. South Carolina especially showed preference for sterilizing African American women.

From the report:

For example, in South Carolina thirty-four of ninety-three cases came from the contiguous counties of Charleston and Berkeley.

Regina McKnight suffered a miscarriage due to an infection. She served EIGHT YEARS of  TWELVE-YEAR SENTENCE despite the fact that her counsel failed to provide adequate defense.

Martina Greywind was arrested 12 weeks into her pregnancy, and charged with reckless endangerment for being pregnant while homeless. She was able to gain release for a medical appointment. She summarily got an abortion, upon which the state offical position was “Defendant has made it known to the State that shehas terminated her pregnancy. Consequently, the controversial legal issues presented are no longer ripe for litigation.” and the prosecutor commented that it was, “no longer worth the time or expense to prosecute her.”

Michelle Marie Greenup was charged with second-degree murder after a miscarriage, and although the murder charge was eventually dropped, she was only released on the condition that she plead guilty to “improper disposal of human remains”, even though the miscarried fetus could only have been 11-15 weeks at the time.

Rachael Lowe was arrested when she went to try and receive treatment for an addiction to pain medication because she was found to be pregnant. She was forcibly committed to a mental hospital, where she received NO prenatal care and many prescription drugs like Xanax against her will. Despite the court announcing that she would be released, she nevertheless remained in custody for the remainder of her pregnancy under state supervision, and was fired from her job as a result.

Laura Pemberton was arrested at her home where she was attempting a home birth, under the pretext that she was “endangering the life” of her unborn child by refusing to have a caesarian section. A sheriff took her into custody, strapped her legs together, and took her to a hearing in progress, in which she was denied counsel AS SHE WAS BEING PREPPED FOR SURGERY. The judge compelled her to undergo surgery against her will. When she later sued for violation of her civil rights, the judge ruled that the rights of her unborn child outweighed her rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

Out of all these women, only Laura Pemberton is white.

kiriamaya:

If your first response to being told that something is hurtful to trans* people is to protest that you can’t possibly be prejudiced, guess what? You totally are.

Love (albeit strained at this point),
Kiri

whatwhitemaleauthorshavetaughtme:

submitted by redvelvetcupcakemurder

[WARNING whitewashing and dehumanization] cut the ‘male’ part and you can add that all humans are white, and people of color are ‘metaphorically’ represented as non-humans (aliens, elves, ‘children of the forest,’ etc)

mewtwoalaid:

just a little helpful hint from your friendly neighborhood trans person

if you’re cis but you’re also queer

you don’t actually know shit about transphobia, not any more than any other cis person. you don’t get a pass. you aren’t some authority.

if you’re cis but you have trans friends

you don’t actually know shit about transphobia any more than any other cis person. especially if you fucking tokenize them to try and prove how progressive and NOT transphobic you are. bc, another helpful hint: tokenizing your trans friends, using them as your props to prove a point about how great you are? that’s transphobic as shit.

loveontheroxx:

janetmock:

I recently picked up some in-flight reading material, which included Jet magazine’s latest issue (April 29, 2013) - a special report on the invisibility of missing black children. 

While reading, I was stunned to see that the news section of the magazine not only covered trans folks and restroom use, but also a story from a 29-year-old trans woman of color named Brandy Ahzionae.

In the one-page profile (on page 15), Brandy opens up about her journey towards womanhood, about having to leave home due to a lack of acceptance of her gender, about “turn[ing] to the streets,” about using drugs and partying as a means to cope and about daring to survive this hostile world by engaging in the sex trade. 

“My life shifted when I met a group of fellow trans sisters who provided love I’d never felt before,” Brandi says. “They made me feel comfortable about fully transitioning.”

Never underestimate the transformative power of sisterhood. We need more spaces dedicated to collective growth, learning and pro-sisterhood intent.

To have this story featured in a legendary black publication, one read by many black households, is a feat. When our stories are told not only in “mainstream press” (which is way far behind) and by the “LGBT mainstream” (which is also failing us and trans and queer folk of color miserably), but in the publications read by communities of color, true acceptance and growth occurs.

We hear often about the violent exiling of trans women of color, we hear about our vulnerability when it comes to HIV/AIDS, homelessness, sex work and sex trade, lack of employment, housing, shelter and education. But what we do not hear often is the stories and the voices of black trans women like Brandi, like Kiara St. James and Tanya Walker and numerous other sisters of color. My voice, Laverne Cox’s voice, Isis King’s voice is not enough.

I applaud you, my dear sister Brandi, for daring to be seen, for sharing your story with all of us, for carrying the torch and legacy of active resistance and survival that trans women of color have long uplifted. I also applaud the editors of Jet for recognizing Brandi’s resilience and brilliance - and embracing trans women as your sisters and daughters too.

Now we must call on the rest of our communities to do this embracing work and ignite change for all of our sisters.

Go Jet! <3

thisgingerisback:

Angelina Jolie announces a double mastectomy to save her life, people get fucking pissed and act like she’s lost everything that’s made her worthwhile in the first place, AND YOU WONDER WHY I FUCKING HATE THE “SAVE THE BOOBIES” TROPE.

BECAUSE NO ONE ACTUALLY GIVES A FUCK ABOUT THE WOMAN’S LIFE. WOMEN JUST HAPPEN TO BE ATTACHED TO A PAIR OF BREASTS. WOMEN AREN’T WORTH SAVING—BUT YOU BET YOUR ASS THE PUBLIC WILL BE IN A RIOT IF A GOOD PAIR OF TITS IS IN DANGER.

gendersyo:

Hey if you’re an ally to trans* peeps then here’s a good thing you can do to not only show your support but actually help out too
Put your preferred pronouns in your sidebar or about page.
It makes it so much easier to approach you as a possible friend because it shows you respect gender stuff in an easy and non tacky way.
And you’re helping to make telling people preferred pronouns a norm of some sort instead of just a thing trans people have to do to be treated the way they want.

SO MUCH THIS.

ecozay:

• cis people don’t get to decide whether or not a character is trans
• cis people don’t get to decide whether or not a character should have been trans
• cis people don’t get to tell people to stop talking about a character’s gender (especially if they then proceed to argue in favour of the character being a certain gender)
• cis people don’t get to decide whether or not a game handled gender issues well
• cis people don’t get to say that a character would have been weaker had they been trans
• cis people don’t get to use the author’s intentions as support for their opinion when the author does not understand the issue they were writing, in an industry know for its transphobia
• cis people don’t get to call trans people transphobic
• cis people don’t get to decide what is and what is not offensive to trans people
• cis people don’t get to tell anyone that they are merely ‘projecting’ their feelings onto a character
• cis people will never fully understand what it means to be transgender or how a transgender person truly feels