Pirate Category
We Are Not Things
No matter what your personal opinion is, whether or not you would have an abortion or not – you should always support creating a healthy environment for a person debating abortion to make that informed decision. As states try to legislate away access to abortion or birth control – please stand up for those who deserve the right to make the decision for themselves. It’s well and fine to say that putting a child up for adoption should be an option – we do not have the infrastructure in the US to do that. Not only that, pregnancy can be…
Assuming the Worst: Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
All I’ve heard for days were rapturous fans going on and on about Lady Gagy and Bradley Cooper’s Oscars performance of Shallow from A Star is Born. Fair disclaimer: I haven’t seen the movie. Having seen two different versions of the movie, I felt like it’s a story I’m pretty familiar with. The performance was fine, and ending with the two of them on the piano was sweet. Which is why I was surprised to see every female oriented site and most of the women in my feeds insisting that the performance proved that Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are…
The Problem with Cancel Culture
Cancel Culture. Even if you don’t know the term, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about – a celebrity is terrible online and we declare them cancelled. Most of the time, it’s a worthy target. A continuously gross celebrity (like Roseanne Barr) who spews intolerance and hate. Someone’s who has proven that over the years they haven’t changed and remain just as gross, if not worse. Sometimes though, you run into a situation where someone said or did a lot of stupid things when they were younger – but have grown up and apologized for what they’d done/said previously…
Chris Hardwick: Why We Need to Talk About Sexual Coercion
The big story of the week is the piece that Chloe Dykstra quietly posted on Medium, where she talked about her former long-term relationship with a podcaster turned CEO, who had been older and he’d been emotionally abusive. The internet has been trying to pigeon hole this discussion into categories, and I’m here to tell you that discussions about abuse are not easy to define. Every story is unique, and should be treated that way (even if you’re talking about the same abuser). But people want to fit things into nice neat categories, so you see people try to dismiss…
Why Hockey is For Everyone… isn’t.
Note: Despite the tone, I wouldn’t be this harsh if I didn’t love the sport. My two favorite teams are both called out, because I think they could do better. We’re entering Hockey is For Everyone month. This is the second year of the NHL’s initiative for inclusivity. To highlight disabled players, women’s hockey as well as LGBT inclusivity by hosting You Can Play nights. Last year saw mostly merchandise put out by the NHL – t-shirts that boasted Hockey is For Everyone, as well as pride flavored shirts for every single team. I don’t recall seeing if any of…
#MeToo: Exposing how deep rape culture goes.
This has been a couple of wonderful and terrible months – all because of the wave of victims coming forward to talk about their experiences being sexually harassed or assaulted. (Content and Trigger warnings for discussion of sexual harassment, sexual assault and misogynistic responses to accusations) It is hard to share your story. So many people think it was easy for me to write or vlog about what happened to me, and every time I had to convince myself to share it. Especially the vlog. I didn’t want anyone to see my rage or my tears. I didn’t want to…
Choices and Image Rehabilitation.
Last night on the Emmys, one of the most talked about moments was Sean Spicer coming out with a podium – ala Melissa McCarthy’s performance of him. The crowd at the Emmys was stunned, but it got laughs. And indeed, a lot of people found it funny online. And heck, James Corden, tried to kiss him on the cheek afterwards. But I wasn’t laughing. There’s a lot to be said about giving people second chances – but after Spicer left the administration, people were immediately downplaying his role in the White House. He was just the messenger, don’t you feel…
Lot’s going on
There’s a lot going on in the world right, but I thought I’d share a couple of things. The ACLU of California said that White Supremacist Violence is not free speech. The National ACLU said they agree with this statement, but will protect their speech until it turns violent. It’s a little disappointing- since in my opinion, hate speech is inherently violent. You don’t need to be wearing weapons for their words to harm others. If you’ve heard people talking about “sheetcaking” and are lost, you missed Tina Fey’s appearance on the special edition of Weekend Update. This post is…
Terms & Conditions, Right to Privacy and Freedom of Speech
There’s a lot going on in the world right now. The Daily Stormer, a White Supremacist site is now homeless on the internet after first GoDaddy terminated their hosting and then Google denied to host their domain as well. And the White House is trying to subpoena Dreamhost for the IP Addresses of people who visited a site designed to coordinate protests against 45. And there’s a lot going on here – and I’ve seen some confusion how one person could be against a website saying no to Daily Stormer, yes to protecting private information…. and support free speech. First,…
#NoConfederate, bad ideas, and a lack of censorship
If you’ve been on Twitter the last two Sundays, you probably saw the hashtag #NoConfederate trending. Confederate is the next show announced by HBO and the men behind Game of Thrones. (Well, the non GRR Martin guys behind the show) It aims to show an alternate universe where the South wasn’t defeated and slavery exists in modern times. And people are upset. Both those who object to the show and those who think the objectors are trying to censor television. Why object to the show? After all, The Man in the High Castle is on multiple seasons and discusses what…