spacetime continuum

gaywrites:

A high school sophomore in Tennessee was suspended last week because he wore makeup on school grounds - ten minutes after school had let out.

Kasey Landrum, 16, was suspended for three days for violating the school’s dress code policy, which states that students shouldn’t dress in a way that could cause disruption. But after school? And just for makeup? How much of a disruption is that, really?

The suspension angered his mother, Shelly Maness, who told WBBJ TV, “I’m very upset about it because he can’t be who he wants to be. I’m proud of my son, gay or straight or whatever. I want him to feel the same way.”

Landrum says he’s suffered from depression from not being able to express himself at school. “I’m proud of myself for being as comfortable as I am, but sometimes I wish I was straight,” he said.

This is absolute bull. The principal could hardly justify yelling at this student if he was wearing makeup during school hours, because even that is hardly disruptive. But AFTER school? There’s no reason whatsoever to issue such harsh punishment for something so inane. I hope he fights back. 

fuckyeahfeminists:

YAY!

It only took two long months, over 186,000 signatures on a petition to Mark Zuckerberg, and finally a furious Twitter campaign to get Facebook to remove Pages that graphically celebrated and encouraged rape and sexual violence.

This time, anyway.

Warning: some readers might find the rest of this article and its links disturbing.

Unfortunately this was not the first time Facebook had to be externally pressured to enforce its own Terms around the flashpoint topic of sexual violence. And no, we’re not talking about consensual spanky-spanky between adults. (I’m sure Facebook would have taken that Page down much sooner.)

The first round was in August, when people demanded that Facebook take down a so-called “rape humor” page called “You know she’s playing hard to get when your [SIC] chasing her down an alleyway.”

Facebook defended keeping the rape page as a sort-of everyday, harmless thing, and in a statement to the BBC likened the pro-rape page to “pub jokes.” (Remind me to never go drinking with Facebook.)

borderlinelife:

10. You’re emo — People with Borderline aren’t emo at all. Our emotions are so intense they’re hard to handle. Sometimes we withdraw, sometimes we become extroverts to try to hide it, and sometimes we show our distress in less obvious ways. None of which make us emo.

9. You just want attention — A common misconception. The truth is usually quite the opposite, but since we’re supposed to suck at relationships many of us don’t know a better way to keep our friend’s around. Our fear of abandonment can make us seem incredibly attention whore-ish.

8. Move on. Get over it. Build a bridge. — When you say this to someone with Borderline you’re invalidating them. You’re saying that all those emotions, those memories and everything associated with them are worthless and pointless. However, we still think about those things, so really all you’re doing is calling us worthless and useless for not being “normal” and forgetting the things that have caused us more intense emotions.

7. Just take medication and be normal — Particularly insulting to those of us who have been through the medication drama. Not all medications work for everyone. It’s a huge game of trial and error, with only a few people (out of the many millions) who find a medication that works first go. It’s often a painful and disheartening experience trying one medication after another in the hope something will work.

6. Just look at the positive things — Many of us with Borderline don’t get to experience the positives of a situation. Our lives are hard, made harder by inconsiderate people who have little or no understanding of others. Our insecurities and anxieties often have minds of their own, each one reminding us how pathetic or ugly or stupid or worthless we are. The words are different but the track is the same. Trying to find something positive while that track is playing is next to impossible. You try thinking of some awful feeling while simultaneously trying to think of something positive. Not easy is it?

5. Do you have to create a scene? — Sometimes we have trouble expressing the right emotions at the right time. Something small can make us sad or incredibly angry. Most of us find it hard to regulate our emotions so when something happens we tend to react. It’s not pleasant for us either.

4. Just go cut/kill yourself already — Your compassion is overwhelming. Saying something like this is utterly stupid. It shouldn’t be said to anyone, ever.

3. Not this again — A lot of our emotions and thoughts tend to be cyclical. We can go through the same periods many times before we’re taught to manage our disorder.

2. I don’t have time for this — You may as well just say “fuck you, I hate you”. Obviously there are occasions when you don’t have time, that’s life. But there are better ways of saying it than this. Try these instead “how about we catch up tomorrow?”, “can I take a raincheck? I have a lot of work/family/school commitments right now” or “have you seen *name of mutual friend* lately? Why don’t we all catch up in a few days?”

1. You’re so emotional. You’re too sensitive — Simply put: Duh. Our whole identity hinges entirely on how our friends, family and acquaintances view us. So when someone is rude or flippant or seems to forget us we take that to heart and immediately begin to question why we weren’t good enough. We don’t just wear our hearts on our sleeves, we balance it precariously on the tip of our finger.