Rather Too Ambulatory For a Tree

Eee! http://feralknitter.typepad.com/fe…

Going out barefoot/barelegged in six inches of snow is fun, but should be done in short stretches. Anybody want a snowball?

Go look at this artwork (NSFW???) I really disagree with the artist as to what it depicts. The difference between what I see and what the artist sees fascinates me.

Further context, including the artist's title for the artwork. All his pictures are interesting.

(I'll put my interpretation of the artwork in a comment.)

I'm a little freaked out that people who don't identify as anti-trans-people are freaking out over the "cis*" words. It makes sense that the others would -- they don't like transgenderism or transsexuality, and so aren't particularly interested in words that make those concepts easier to discuss or words that don't other the people affected by them. But theoretical allies?

Besides the fun quasi-punness of it all, it makes sense. I was identified at birth as a girl, and now live as a woman[1]. My hypothetical imaginary twin brother[2] was identified at birth as a girl, and now lives as a man. He can be said to be on the opposite side of the gender-presentation barrier from where he started, and I, inasmuch as a baby girl and an adult woman can be said to be the same gender[3], can be said to be on the same side. Trans, cis.

I don't generally think of myself as cis, any more than I generally think of myself as white. Part of my {cis,white} privilege is that I can not bother to think of those.

[1] I am putting this footnote in place of a complicated argument that's more nuanced than that, because if it's reduced to a simple question, that's the best answer for it. Shut up, complicated self who's trying to complicate things.

[2] He's useful for so many things.

[3] Shut up, complicated self.

I have the plague. If any of the twelve and a half lungs I've coughed up over the last few days are yours, I can arrange to get them back to you. If not, don't expect a ton of usefulness from me.

( Is this gross? My gross-out sensors are miscalibratedCollapse )

http://hradzka.livejournal.com/338…

(And of the two characters, I rather think she's the mature one.)

In watching Target: Women before bed, I am reminded that "50% More Volume!" is supposed to sound like a good thing to provide for one's hair. When I got up this morning, I had 50% more hair volume... in points on either side of my head. Clearly I am insufficiently femme to understand true beauty.

Star Trek has never really been my fandom of choice, but I've picked up a good deal of information about it from cultural osmosis and dabbling.

I watched the new movie. I've read a few (heated) discussions about whether the Uhura-Spock relationship added to the women-exist-to-be-girlfriends trope and whether it was a sop to fans, given that Spock may be the most lusted-after sf character of all time. What I didn't see expressed, until now, was this point of view. It makes a shit-ton of sense.

One of these days I'll get better at seeing this sort of thing for myself, instead of needing people to spell it out for me.

(In honor of IBARWeek, a few more links:

• the cost of anger
• accidental insults are still insults
• an analogy that reminds me of my current favorite philosophical paper, The Ethics of Belief, from the perspective of the sailors instead of the boat-owner

This post is a wonderful example of language-geeking to try to remove offensive language from one's own usage-set.