Posts tagged history
Asexy Queer
(Source: screenburned, via babyshibe)
When I look back at the first night of the Stonewall Inn riots, I could have never imagined its future importance. The first night played out no differently from previous riots involving black Americans and white policemen. And so, too, did its being underreported. But I was there.
On the first night of the Stonewall riots, African Americans and Latinos likely were the largest percentage of the protestors, because we heavily frequented the bar. For homeless black and Latino LGBTQ youth and young adults who slept in nearby Christopher Park, the Stonewall Inn was their stable domicile. The Stonewall Inn being raided was nothing new. In the 1960s gay bars in the Village were routinely raided, but in this case, race may have been an additional factor, given the fact that so many of the patrons were black and Latino, and this was the ’60s.
However, today, African-American and Latino trans communities are relegated to the margins of Greenwich Village, if not expelled from it. These communities nonetheless force their way into being a visible and powerful presence in our lives, leaving indelible imprints while confronted with not only transphobia but also “trans-amnesia.” The inspiration and source of an LGBTQ movement post-Stonewall is an appropriation of a black, brown, trans, and queer liberation narrative and struggle. The Stonewall Riot of June 27 to 29, 1969 in Greenwich Village started on the backs of working-class African-American and Latino queers who patronized that bar. Those brown and black LGBTQ people are not only absent from the photos of that night but have been bleached from its written history. Many LGBTQ blacks and Latinos argue that one of the reasons for the gulf between whites and themselves is the fact that the dominant queer community rewrote and continues to control the narrative of Stonewall.
Irene Monroe: Dis-membering Stonewall (via biyuti)
Dear Irene Monroe, Thank you for the phrase “bleached from history”. sincerely ~#allcity. #want
(via newmodelminority)
(via fuckyeahsexeducation)
When I was a student at Cambridge I remember an anthropology professor holding up a picture of a bone with 28 incisions carved in it. ‘This is often considered to be man’s first attempt at a calendar,’ she explained. She paused as we dutifully wrote this down. ‘My question to you is this – what man needs to mark 28 days? I would suggest to you that this is woman’s first attempt at a calendar.’ It was a moment that changed my life. In that second I stopped to question almost everything I had been taught about the past. How often had I overlooked women’s contributions? How often had I sped past them as I learned of male achievement and men’s place in the history books? …I knew I needed to look again. History is full of fabulous females who have been systematically ignored, forgotten or simply written out of the records. They’re not all saints, they’re not all geniuses, but they do deserve remembering.
(Source: regionsofkindness, via verycunninglinguist)
Malvina Reynolds - The Judge Said
The judge said “Screw ‘em!
Boys, you’re only human.
They brought it on themselves
By being born a woman.
Like a mountain’s there to climb
And food’s there to be eaten,
Woman’s there to rape,
To be shoved around and beaten.”
The judge took his position,
The judge he wouldn’t budge,
So we’ve got out this petition,
And we’re going to screw the judge.
Now if you beat a horse or dog
Or violate a bank,
Simonson will haul you in
And throw you in the clink.
But violate a woman,
Your equal and your peer,
The judge will slap you on the wrist
And lay the blame on her.
The judge took his position,
The judge he wouldn’t budge,
So we’ve got out this petition,
And we’re going to screw the judge.
To draw a true conclusion
From what Simonson has said,
Woman has to live in fear
And cover up her head.
She has to dress in purdah
And lock herself in cages,
And this kinky judge in Madison
Is from the Middle Ages.
The judge took his position,
The judge he wouldn’t budge,
So we’ve got out this petition,
And we’re going to dump the judge.In 1977, Judge Archie Simonson said during a juvenile sexual assault case in Madison, Wisconsin that “given the way women dress, rape is a natural reaction”. He argued that the three juveniles being prosecuted in the case should not have to be punished for ‘reacting normally’. This led to the development of a group called Committee to Recall Judge Archie Simonson, who were borne out of an already healthy community of feminists working against sexual assault. Recent changes to the legal status of sexual assault, and a high number of recent cases of rape in the area meant that this issue was likely quite present already in the minds of both media and public when Simonson made his infamous remarks.
We might see some parallel between these events and the recent rise of the Slutwalk, inspired by the remarks of one Canadian policeman, Constable Michael Sanguinetti, who recommended women “avoid dressing like sluts” if they don’t want to be sexually assaulted or raped.
It’s something I’d like to look into more, but hopefully you will enjoy the awesome Malvina Reynolds and her take on the Simonson recall in the mean-time.
