Read this in “stats & curiosities from HBR”

I don’t remember where I saw the post, but someone once made a very good point about how reproductive autonomy is not tied to one’s genetic relationship to the fetus.

If I, a woman, donate eggs for another woman, who then has them fertilized by her partner’s sperm, I have no say in whether or not she chooses to terminate that pregnancy later on after implantation. Yes, I would be that child’s biological mother, but it isn’t my body that will go through the process of pregnancy, and therefore my input would be irrelevant.

So far no dude I told this to has been able to justify why they thought they, as the father, should have a say in what their hypothetically-pregnant partner chooses to do.

Nature did not distribute the reproductive burden equally between men and women and our legislation on reproductive issues needs to take this into account.

I’m another Cinci radfem!!!

hi!! i can't seem to find your radfems in Ohio post, but we're trying to find other locals lol. anybody in Dayton?

If you can't find any here, you should definitely get to one of the women's fests in the midwest. There's also a discord and this post.

Reblog to help her find Ohio and Dayton connections

two bros, both alike in sexuality

in a hot tub, where we lay our scene

The Plight of Indian Widows

A woman's dignity is not her own possession. Her life is at the mercy of men around her. She is a commodity to be owned and sold first by her father then her husband. Her entire existence is tied to her servitude to those around her. After giving so much to the world, there is little life left inside of her. Yet, the world still demands her forfeit of this little life after the death of her husband. In India, a woman was expected to burn herself alive in the holy pyre of her husband's body as a show of loyalty in a practice called Sati that was outlawed in 1929(yet it is still rampant today in many rural parts of India).

With her husband no more, she must have no reason to live.Widowhood is the harbringer of acute discrimination for women in South Asia. Widows are ostracized by society and shunned by their family to live a destitute life in "Vidhwa Ashrams". Even the shadow of a widow was believed to inflict depredation and brought. They are called witches and man-eaters. They are forbidden from wearing anything but white clothes and are expected to practice strict abstinence. Widows in Afghanistan are called besarparast, meaning "household without a head". It is customary for a woman to shave off her head to appear undesirable. Her sexuality is confined, her needs and wants must die alongside her husband. Widow remarriage-although legal- is deeply stigmatized as a grave sin.

Widows are not considered to be a part of society. They can neither celebrate festivals nor travel without a religious purpose. In some extreme cases, they are made to drink the bathwater of their husbands’ dead bodies and have unprotected sex to "cleanse themselves of the sin of causing their husbands" death. Young widows also fall prey to the leering eyes of men. Child brides especially are prone to fall victim to manipulation by people around them. Men consider that since marriage has taken away her "innocence", she can now be sexually exploited.

Barring a few states, married women cannot inherit their husband's property. This lack of financial stability is the root cause of their exploitation. Most husbands leave their wives penniless. What little savings he might have had are spent on funeral rites. Relatives do not want to support her financially, considering her children and herself as excess baggage. Her parents also close the doors on her face for it is often said - "only a woman's dead body should come out of her husband's house."

This new found vulnerability makes her an easy prey for prostitution. A primary form of survival for widows is to sell their body through pimps. However, in most ashrams, they are forced to perform sexual favours by the heads of the ashram to gain money. The heads use their political power to silence the widows from raising their voice against this rape. With nowhere else to go, this cycle continues. The widows who get pregnant from this rape are "mauled by quacks for a painfully searing abortion and If that’s not done, then they would have an extra mouth to feed and an extra pair of hands to beg."

As of today, India is the abode of 42 million widows-a social class that is woefully exploited. Widows are often forced to dedicate the remaining parts of their lives to their religion. They must have no desires or wants except singing the God's praise. Widowhood for most women marks the death of their happines and social life. Although with changing times the attitude towards widows is turning positive, it is the bitter truth that the condition of widows from orthodox regions live a terrible life.

Laws protecting women are scarce- let alone widows. In India, widows are considered to be the class 1 heirs of ancestral properties. However, most of them are uneducated and unaware of the laws surrounding them. They are easily manipulated by relatives to give up their rights to the property. As for self acquired property, most men do not mention the name of their wives in their wills. After 2005, women alive on december, 2005 have a right over their father's ancestral property alongside their brothers. One must not forget that women inheriting property is still not socially acceptable in India and women who recieve property are few and far between.

To uplift widows, one must make them aware of the rights around them. Government and local NGOs should work together to organize awareness campaigns on the rights of widows. Women without capital left behind by their husbands should get a monthly stipend. "Vidhwa Ashrams" should be heavily regulated. More so, the social stigma shrouding widows must be removed. Treatment of women belonging to marginalized communities are a reflection of how dire the situation of women's rights are in India. Opening women owned women only shelters is the prime solution for the upliftment of women.

I love this so much.

It really goes to show how the majority of people are incapable of perceiving nuance. You disagree with someone on the left and they’ll start calling you a conservative and vice versa. This ridiculous notion that you have to choose a side and stick to it is devoid of critical thinking. There’s a whole, enormous middle ground full of gray areas and nuance

Female-only faith spaces and traditions are important and neccessary for the spiritual health of women worldwide and it breaks my heart that so many people seem to be against them. Women are not "bigots" for wanting to worship in female only spaces.

I think that radical feminists have issue seeing the worth of witchcraft, dianic witchcraft and female-centred witchcraft because they do not know much about it. The reason it drew me in was because of rituals and symbols. There are a few radfems I have seen who understand that the lack of positive symbols in religion have a negative effect of women everywhere. Men have the cross, women have the apple. That sort of thing. However female-centred witchcraft seeks to change that and instead have positive symbols and rituals that explore aspects of things unique in women! Such as our life experiences and our bodies.

These are some extracts of Ruth Barrett’s Women’s Rites, Women’s Mysteries, which is a book on Dianic Witchcraft. Now before I share I want to preface that spirituality simply isn’t for everyone. I’m not advocating to convert you. I am merely sharing in the hopes you will see WHY some radfems choose to explore the Dianic spirituality, or even just female centred witchcraft that tends to follow a variation of the same thought process.

I think upon reading these, it is difficult to not see the worth of witchcraft that some of us see.

"How many genders are there" legitimately I think there are as many genders as there are people on earth, you can be a boy but is your version of boy 100% identical to any other boy?

i am sick of women being treated like they are insane for being scared of men. why do you throw the words 'not all men' in my face when we both know its many. why is that when i voice my concern i am unreasonable but my father isnt? how can you tell me to be wary of them then look at me in disbelief when i believe you? yet the second i dont, its my fault anything happened to me.

So today, my mom, brother and I went to Home Depot and every single male worker we came into contact with only addressed or acknowledged my brother (save for one). They were also acting very familiar with him and calling each other bro and dude. On our way out. I made a joke saying “oh, that good old Male Solidarity” and it became a thirty minute lecture about how I’m actually the sexiest one and I “fear monger” about men. Like, I said the most lukewarm thing about how I experience daily sexism and my mom and brother are now refusing to talk to me. Imagine if I said what I truly felt lmao.

when women claim men don't have the same emotional capacity as us, i think it's untrue and more importantly letting them off easy. throughout history men have written insightful poems and novels on the human experience or on how "love conquers all", but digging deeper reveals they were still sexist assholes--men definitely have the same emotional intelligence as women (we're in the same species so obviously) but they simply teach themselves that women are the ones who aren't deserving of their empathy. this is why "nice guys" and the men you know are still as dangerous as the strangers you don't know; it has nothing to do with their moral compasses. it's just that no matter how virtuous they are, that virtue is more often than not entirely closed off to women.

Tell me you know nothing about history without telling me you know nothing about history

"girlhood can be anything!" "manhood can be anything!"

so just abolish gender then .. come on pls dont make me beg

A little Monday motivation: some fit Roman ladies playing sports! Check out those ‘bikinis’!

Mosaic from the Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily. The villa dates from the early 4th century AD.