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Posts Tagged ‘activism’

Surveillance video is the great equalizer.  – Andrew Celli Jr. & Wylie Stecklow

I was never much of a KISS fan, but a little research points to this as the proper sendoff for Ace Frehley.  The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, Mike SiegelIncarcerNation, Violet Blue, The Onion, Nun Ya, and Jesse Walker, in that order.


From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else’s throat hoping they’ll give you a little thumbs up and like it.  –  Zelda Williams

R.I.P. Miss Major

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a legendary transgender activist…since Stonewall, died Monday at age 78…she…had suffered from health problems for some time and had recently begun receiving hospice care…In 1962, she moved to New York City, where she…performed in drag shows…[and] became a sex worker.  She participated in the Stonewall uprising of 1969…and…[after h]er arrest…on a robbery charge…spent time in men’s prisons and mental hospitals in the early 1970s, [where] she was often severely mistreated…Upon regaining her freedom, she became an advocate for incarcerated trans people, especially trans women [cag]ed in men’s prisons and those who have survived police brutality…In the 1980s, Miss Major became involved in addressing the AIDS crisis…[and] after moving to San Diego…started a home health care agency, Angels of Care, to assist people with the disease…she [later] became a health educator with the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center…and…[retir]ed to Little Rock in 2016…

Torture Chamber (#1074)

“Non-consensual gynecological procedures” are just institutionalized rape:

The Trump [regime] is planning to [cage] immigrants at a Georgia jail that became known for…subject[ing women] to non-consensual gynecological procedures…the Irwin County D[unge]on…drew nationwide attention in the fall of 2020, when a number of [victims] and a nurse-turned-whistleblower [reveal]ed the [rampant] medical misconduct.  After months of [unsuccessfully trying to repress the reports], the Biden administration stopped [lock]ing immigrant women there in 2021…Fourteen women sued ICE and Irwin…over the [viol]ations in 2021, [but there were] at least 40 [victims]…Early this year, the lawsuit was settled…

I Spy (#1388)

Nothing infuriates violent, self-important busybodies more than private affairs that are none of their business:

In Europe, the latest proposal for a “chat control” regulation put forward by the Danish presidency would require every internet-connected device to include government spyware…[which] would flag artwork, fan fiction, family photos and chats, relying on unreliable [computer algorithms]…Globally, [surveillance and censorship] laws…are driving users underground…virtual private network (VPN) usage has soared, as has usage of the privacy-centric Tor browser, which reached its highest level ever this year – nearly 20 million daily users, six times its long-term average…Tor was created by the US navy to counter authoritarian regimes when the “open Internet” was official US policy.  Now…western [governments are]…becoming the authoritarians Tor was designed to circumvent, while the Tor network becomes the new “open Internet”…

Enshittification (#1557) 

This will not stop until SWAT cops murder a prankster:

teenagers…are using [image-generation software] to create images of a disheveled, seemingly unhoused person in their home and sending them to their parents…[claiming] they let the…[imaginary person] in to use the bathroom, take a nap, or…get a drink of water…then, predictably, the parents lose their cool and demand they kick the [imaginary] man out.  The kids, of course, record the whole thing, and post their parents reactions to TikTok…[some gullible] parents call the [cops, potentially leading to]…“a SWAT response”…

As in modern politics, the collapse of reality online is leading to real-world consequences.

Torture Chamber (#1574)

Experiencing any kind of medical emergency when cops are around is tantamount to a death sentence:

A new…federal lawsuit [has been filed by the family of] a Minnesota postal worker [who] died after [cops] and [screws deliberately] ignored clear signs he was suffering from a massive stroke – [choos]ing [instead to pretend] his medical emergency [was] drug impairment…Kingsley Fifi Bimpong…[was dumped] on a jail cell floor [and allowed to lie] in his own urine for hours without medical attention…On the night of November 16, 2024, [a pig saw] Bimpong…driving the wrong way…into oncoming traffic…after being pulled over, Bimpong appeared extremely confused.  He couldn’t say where he lived or worked, even though he was wearing a USPS vest, and repeatedly said, “I don’t know”…[big pig] Martin Jensen [is supposedly] trained…to…distinguish…drug impairment from medical emergencies such as strokes…[but couldn’t be bothered to perform an] evaluation…[claiming it] would be “a whole bunch of time wasted”…[because] Bimpong [was black.  So instead he]…was arrested for…DWI…[thrown violently to the floor] in a holding cell…and…[left him to die] in his own waste…for more than three hours…the…nurse was not called until…he [started] foaming at the mouth and having [a] seizure…Toxicology reports…later…confirmed no drugs were in his system…

Shame, Shame (#1576)

It isn’t merely disrespectful; it’s ghoulish:

Dr. Bernice King, daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr…has joined calls to stop the use of [machine learning image generators] to recreate deceased celebrities.  King voiced support for filmmaker Zelda Williams, who…criticized [computer]-generated videos of her late father, Robin Williams…saying, “If you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop”…

If Men Were Angels (#1580)

Wannabe preachers are often as bad as the real thing:

In August, an adult stepson of Covenant Eyes cofounder Ron DeHaas was arrested in Michigan…Thomas Wideman…[was arrested for talking to a cop fantasy role-playing] online…as a 14-year-old [girl.  Cops]…later found child [porn] on his phone…DeHaas covered some of his stepson’s $300,000 bond…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Regular readers know that every Friday the Thirteenth, I ask those who aren’t sex workers to stand up for us.  If you’re one of them, you already know the sorts of things I’m going to say; if you aren’t, you can simply go back and read the essay for the August 2021 occurence, which contained quotes and links for every occurrence of this particular day and date combination.  And if you value all the work I’ve done fighting for sex workers over the past 14 years, a concrete sign of that (via continuing subscription or one-time donation) would not only be deeply appreciated, but also provide vital resources for the continuance of that work.

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Today is International Whores’ Day.  It is not “Sex Worker Day”; that is March 3rd.  Today is a day to shamelessly celebrate our shameless history, not a day for sanitized words or concepts; it is a day to fight society’s attempts (via law and police violence) to sanitize the wilder, unrulier, more chthonic aspects of sex.  This is a day for sexual outlaws, not well-behaved “workers”; it is a day to celebrate the triumphs of criminalized human beings against a society that would rather we didn’t exist.  It is a day to oppose censorship, not to engage in self-censorship; a day to honor a means of survival that predates laws and governments by eons; and a day to celebrate a power which will always defeat even the most pernicious attempts to domesticate it.

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Police departments all over have discovered that criminal accusations are a valuable way to enrich themselves at the expense of the public.  –  “They Just Don’t Get It

Sex worker rights are human rights, and there can never be too many voices speaking up for them, nor too many occasions on which to speak.
–  “Never Too Many

[Some “feminists”] seem…to imagine that if it weren’t for…bogeymen like “the Media” and “Patriarchy” subjecting girls to “sexualization”…we would all grow up in a blissful, chaste state and never, ever, ever be interested in dirty, nasty sex…and that this would be a good thing.  –  “China Dolls

It’s probably impossible these days to work for any company larger than a mom-and-pop that doesn’t have some questionable association.  –  “Dilemmas

Overbroad laws, no matter how good they may sound to some, are only ever used to increase the power of those who already have it at the expense of those who don’t.  –  “Rough Trade (#1129)

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Happy Sex Worker Rights Day to all my sisters and brothers, and our supporters.  Here’s a linked list of everything I’ve written for the occasion.

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Real babies and real animals are often unpredictable, and unlike the cute little cartoon critters of FarmVille cannot merely be stacked up in neat little rows without any concern for what they might want.  –  “FarmVille

Hammers, baseball bats, two by fours, crowbars, monkey wrenches, pipes, walking sticks and frozen legs of lamb might all be intended for different uses, but when applied with sufficient force to the human skull they will each accomplish more or less the same thing.  –  “Blunt Instrument

The modern university campus is not only inhospitable, but actively hostile to free speech and rational thought.  –  “Teamwork

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Prostitution is to my knowledge the only “crime” which is entirely defined by its motive.  –  “Lack of Evidence

Adult women are ADULTS.  It isn’t the job of strangers, nor that of “rescue” organizations or the government, to police their private lives.  –  “Thought Experiment

To anyone who knows anything at all about the origin and development of Christmas, the insistence by American Christians that the holiday belongs to them and them alone is bizarre indeed; it’s rather like someone buying a used car, giving it a new paint job, and then declaring that he was the inventor of the internal combustion engine.  –  “Christmas Eve 2012

In a very real sense, Christmas is literally as old as civilization, and we owe the majority of what makes us more than just high-falutin’ monkeys to [an] ancient event that we now only remember in myths of a time when life was easy.
–  “Yule 2013

There are still far too many…who want sex workers silent, invisible, and preferably caged, enslaved, or dead.  –  “Before It Gets Better

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The State…wants to send “messages” against [sex,] drugs and many other forms of pleasure; against free thought, free speech and free movement; against self-determination and self-ownership; and most of all against the dangerous idea that it does not own you and has no right to control your body, your mind or your possessions.

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Regular readers know that every Friday the Thirteenth, I ask those who aren’t sex workers to stand up for us.  If you’re one of them, you already know the sorts of things I’m going to say; if you aren’t, you can simply go back and read the essay for the August 2021 occurence, which contained quotes and links for every occurrence of this particular day and date combination.  And if you value all the work I’ve done fighting for sex workers over the past 14 years, a concrete sign of that (via continuing subscription or one-time donation) would not only be deeply appreciated, but also provide vital resources for the continuance of that work.

Read Full Post »

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