Feminism

In 2020, as the world was gripped by the coronavirus, the killing of George Floyd shocked Americans into action and into the streets by the millions, protesting the unrelenting killing of Black people by police.

The moment sparked a nascent reckoning in America around systemic racism and institutional inequality — in many cases, with Black women at the center. They led protests and were hired to fix broken institutions and diversify boards. They also did the emotional labor of educating their friends and neighbors. Already the backbone of our democracy, many were called on to also be a bridge to racial healing.

Then, it seemed like the country was ready to listen, understand and move toward a freer, fairer, more equal democracy. Five years later, many of these same Black women find themselves at the center of a backlash, confronted with attacks on the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that were previously championed.

As I reflected on the five-year anniversary of the start of the reckoning, I thought about the Black women who were on the frontlines — in the streets and workplace, from the boardroom to the classroom. At this milestone, I wanted to hear from them about what this moment had cost them, then and now.

I reached out to several Black women I talk to often with a single question: “Five years after the racial reckoning of 2020, what did that moment ask of you — and what, if anything, did it give back?” Their answers, in their own words (with some editing for length and clarity), were insightful and honest.

Notably absent from the conversation is the voice of Muslim women. [...] It seems evident from recent events in Iran and Kurdistan that Muslim women are very well capable of speaking for themselves on the issue. They certainly do not need posh white people in positions of exalted power and privilege to speak for them.

At first, Luu felt okay with the situation. Her relationship was the healthiest one she’d ever been in, and “we just felt like we were married from the get-go,” she says. They combined finances, and Luu took on more of the household chores. But as time went on, her feelings changed. “I love keeping a clean space, I love cooking, and I love doing the homely duties. But after a while of being the only person contributing [to the housework], it’s like, Damn, if I was making money, I could just be doing this on my own and not have to take care of someone else,” she says. “But you know, he was contributing financially. So then it’s like, How can I speak on that? That internal conflict just got stressful.”

People with common sense probably know this already, but the right wing obsession with "trad wife" or "stay at home mom" often do not work in real life.

At first, Luu felt okay with the situation. Her relationship was the healthiest one she’d ever been in, and “we just felt like we were married from the get-go,” she says. They combined finances, and Luu took on more of the household chores. But as time went on, her feelings changed. “I love keeping a clean space, I love cooking, and I love doing the homely duties. But after a while of being the only person contributing [to the housework], it’s like, Damn, if I was making money, I could just be doing this on my own and not have to take care of someone else,” she says. “But you know, he was contributing financially. So then it’s like, How can I speak on that? That internal conflict just got stressful.”

People with common sense probably know this already, but the right wing obsession with "trad wife" or "stay at home mom" often do not work in real life.

Visibility is often treated like value. But what happens when you stop being reflected in the eyes of others and realize you’re still whole?

This reflection isn’t about loss. It’s about a quiet return to the self.
It speaks to anyone who’s felt the slow fade of being noticed, and still chose to show up with grace, memory, and softness that needs no validation.

She isn’t gone. She just stopped apologizing for existing without being asked to.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30375194

I was looking at the offer of rehearsal.so, a site using AI to allegedly help you rehearse giving job interviews, delivering presentations and such.

A LOT of the content is sociopathic in nature and there are a lot of simulations for "getting her number", but the top offer in the Dating section is this one "getting her number in the middle of a protest".

I think this highlights well the real problem of digital technology in general and of the generative AI domain in particular: applications are being made by selfish people (men, mostly) who think that any situation should serve their goals and that the original point of those can be completely disregarded.

All of this while surely serving a sub-par product, since "training" and condescending AI chatbots don't really go well together: nearly all of the AI chats I had with AI "characters" could be easily jailbroken even into sexual ones.

The founders and other info can be found here.

• Invidious
• Youtube

I'm sharing this in response to Thai transgender YouTuber alleges sexist treatment at Chinese airport

TL;DW:
If you identify as someone in the LGBTQIA+ community, please don't travel to China. It is very unlikely that your human rights will be respected to say the least.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/44765476

Ford at again and again, just another example.

Growing up in Charles County, Maryland, Mel Thomas’ father sparked her interest in agriculture as he grew plants and food for the family.

“My dad and I, we would have a garden every year. I was an outdoor kid. I just wanted to be out there all the time. He taught me about growing,” she said.

What began as a childhood passion has blossomed into a way to foster community, encourage connection to the land and educate Maryland families about the importance of growing their own food.

Thomas, 38, is the owner and operator of Mel ‘n Nem Farms, stretching across half an acre about 20 miles outside of Washington, D.C., she and her team have developed a sustainable learning farm that offers workshops and training so that people of all age groups can be introduced to the basics of farming.

“There are so many places in Prince George’s County that are already food deserts, and with the food supply shortages and things like that from the pandemic, kids were starving,” Thomas said.

According to a 2024 report by the Capital Area Food Bank, 50 percent of Prince George’s County residents are experiencing food insecurity, a 5 percent increase from the previous year.

Mel ‘n Nem Farms works with the Bowie Interfaith Pantry and Emergency Fund to donate excess produce from their programming.

Thomas’ concern for Maryland families’ limited access to food highlighted another issue: Many Black and Brown families in her community didn’t have the access to agriculture that she did.

Society often tells women that visibility is value. That after a certain age, if you are no longer seen, you no longer matter.

But what if invisibility is not an ending, but a quiet return to the self?

This piece reflects on what happens when a woman no longer performs, no longer adjusts for the gaze of others. She becomes unreadable. And that unreadability is freedom.

It’s not about vanishing. It’s about shedding what never truly belonged.

It seems you can’t look anywhere without hearing about the growth and profitability of women’s sports. The refrain has gone from “no one watches women’s sports” to “everyone watches women’s sports” in a matter of just a few years. For longtime fans of women’s basketball, women’s soccer and women’s hockey, the meteoric growth of leagues like the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) can feel exciting. But with all this growth comes more complicated feelings too.

The argument for investing in women’s sports often falls along capitalist lines such as “there’s money to be made here, and it would be unwise to pass it up.” A new report from Deloitte estimates that global revenue generated by elite women’s sports will exceed £1.8 billion (approximately $3.3 billion in Canadian dollars) in 2025. With investment opportunities increasing exponentially, women’s pro sports leagues are signing sponsorship deals with major companies left and right. However, which brands these leagues are choosing to partner with now that there is money available is increasingly at odds with the presumably progressive values these leagues have been perceived to have by long-time fans.

The WNBA players, in particular, have made a name for themselves with their commitment to racial justice activism and social justice advocacy cause that they dedicate each season to (there is even a documentary about their activism, called Power of the Dream). In women’s soccer, the U.S. Women’s National Team’s fight for equal pay often transfers to perceptions of the NWSL because many of the same players are represented. Even though those values and actions come from the players themselves, the public perception often applies those views to the leagues as a whole. In the public sphere, the distinction between the league (a corporation with its own interests in mind) and the players (individual workers with their own views) is often flattened.

But why would a league that is being heralded as “a beacon of social and political activism” think that partnering with Amazon would align with its values? Amazon is well known to be a company that, among other things, exploits workers, puts them in unsafe working conditions, helps fund ICE, has a terrible environmental record and is single-handedly responsible for killing bookstores. Perhaps for the same reason they thought their new partnership with Alex Cooper’s Unwell Hydration drink was a good idea? Cooper, the host of the popular Call Her Daddy podcast, is a former employee of Barstool Sports and has done little to distance herself or her brand from Barstool’s toxic and offensive content in the years since she left the company. Not only that, her Unwell Hydration beverage is a Nestlé product, which is currently the subject of multiple boycotts for reasons that include political, environmental and human rights concerns. In Canada, the company faces boycotts from the Council of Canadians and the indigenous rights organization Lakota People’s Law Project for extracting water from watersheds that have recently seen droughts. All of the leagues have at least one official partnership with a company that is on the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) list.

“White nationalist and identitarian movements have strategically used women in their public-facing campaigns to make their ideas seem less dangerous and more legitimate,” Julia Ebner, author of Going Mainstream: How Extremists Are Taking Over, told me.

She continues: “Fascist ideologies – in the past and today – tend to paint an idealised vision of the human body and women's bodies in particular are seen as vessels for producing the next generation of ‘pure’ and strong children. With the rise of far-right movements, we also see a return of narrow-minded beauty ideals and body shaming.”

For far-right women, there is no such thing as body positivity or body neutrality. Thinness is a moral imperative; it shows dominance over the body and aligns oneself with European beauty standards.

Santiago’s use of the word ‘supremacy’ cuts to the heart of this: the far-right places all bodies into a series of hierarchies – some supreme over others. White bodies over Black and Brown bodies. Cis bodies over trans bodies. Able bodies over disabled bodies. And thin bodies over fat bodies.

Manga review: Akumetsu

https://mangaispolitical.noblogs.org/post/2025/04/30/review-akumetsu/

@feminism

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29144500