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vintagesapphics · 14 days

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Photos of Nancy Valverde, a Chicana gender nonconforming lesbian who was routinely arrested for violating L.A.’s cross-dressing ban throughout the 50s and has been credited as helping overturn the ban. Valverde died at the age of 92 in March of 2024.

#lgbt history #lesbian #wlw #lgbt #vintage lesbians #lesbian history #lesbian activist #Nancy Valverde #RIP #chicana history #indigenous history

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my-brutal-heart · 3 months

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#dolores klaich #feminist #author #lesbian activist #teacher #journalist

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inkskinned · 10 months

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so one of the things that's so horrifying about birth control is that you have to, like, navigate this incredibly personal choice about your body and yet also face the epitome of misogyny. like, someone in the comments will say it wasn't that bad for me, and you'll be utterly silenced. like, everyone treats birth control like something that's super dirty. like, you have no fucking information or control over this thing because certain powerful people find it icky.

first it was the oral contraceptives. you went on those young, mostly for reasons unrelated to birth control - even your dermatologist suggested them to control your acne. the list of side effects was longer than your arm, and you just stared at it, horrified.

it made you so mentally ill, but you just heard that this was adulthood. that, yes, there are of course side effects, what did you expect. one day you looked up yasmin makes me depressed because surely this was far too intense, and you discovered that over 12,000 lawsuits had been successfully filed against the brand. it remains commonly prescribed on the open market. you switched brands a few times before oral contraceptives stopped being in any way effective. your doctor just, like, shrugged and said you could try a different brand again.

and the thing is that you're a feminist. you know from your own experience that birth control can be lifesaving, and that even when used for birth control - it is necessary healthcare. you have seen it save so many people from such bad situations, yourself included. it is critical that any person has access to birth control, and you would never suggest that we just get rid of all of it.

you were a little skeeved out by the implant (heard too many bad stories about it) and figured - okay, iud. it was some of the worst pain you've ever fucking experienced, and you did it with a small number of tylenol in your system (3), like you were getting your bikini line waxed instead of something practically sewn into your body.

and what's wild is that because sometimes it isn't a painful insertion process, it is vanishingly rare to find a doctor that will actually numb the area. while your doctor was talking to you about which brand to choose, you were thinking about the other ways you've been injured in your life. you thought about how you had a suspicious mole frozen off - something so small and easy - and how they'd numbed a huge area. you thought about when you broke your wrist and didn't actually notice, because you'd thought it was a sprain.

your understanding of pain is that how the human body responds to injury doesn't always relate to the actual pain tolerance of the person - it's more about how lucky that person is physically. maybe they broke it in a perfect way. maybe they happened to get hurt in a place without a lot of nerve endings. some people can handle a broken femur but crumble under a sore tooth. there's no true way to predict how "much" something actually hurts.

in no other situation would it be appropriate for doctors to ignore pain. just because someone can break their wrist and not feel it doesn't mean no one should receive pain meds for a broken wrist. it just means that particular person was lucky about it. it should not define treatment.

in the comments of videos about IUDs, literally thousands of people report agony. blinding, nauseating, soul-crushing agony. they say things like i had 2 kids and this was the worst thing i ever experienced or i literally have a tattoo on my ribs and it felt like a tickle. this thing almost killed me or would rather run into traffic than ever feel that again.

so it's either true that every single person who reports severe pain is exaggerating. or it's true that it's far more likely you will experience pain, rather than "just a pinch." and yet - there's nothing fucking been done about it. it kind of feels like a shrug is layered on top of everything - since technically it's elective, isn't it kind of your fault for agreeing to select it? stop being fearmongering. stop being defensive.

you fucking needed yours. you are almost weirdly protective of it. yours was so important for your physical and mental health. it helped you off hormonal birth control and even started helping some of your symptoms. it still fucking hurt for no fucking reason.

once while recovering from surgery, they offered you like 15 days of vicodin. you only took 2 of them. you've been offered oxy for tonsillitis. you turned down opioids while recovering from your wisdom tooth extraction. everything else has the option. you fucking drove yourself home after it, shocked and quietly weeping, feeling like something very bad had just happened. the nurse that held your hand during the experience looked down at you, tears in her eyes, and said - i know. this is cruelty in action.

and it's fucked up because the conversation is never just "hey, so the way we are doing this is fucking barbaric and doctors should be required to offer serious pain meds" - it's usually something around the lines of "well, it didn't kill you, did it?"

you just found out that removing that little bitch will hurt just as bad. a little pinch like how oral contraceptives have "some" serious symptoms. like your life and pain are expendable or not really important. like maybe we are all hysterical about it?

hysteria comes from the latin word for uterus, which is great!

you stand here at a crossroads. like - this thing is so important. did they really have to make it so fucking dangerous. and why is it that if you make a complaint, you're told - i didn't even want you to have this in the first place. we're told be careful what you wish for. we're told that it's our fault for wanting something so illict; we could simply choose not to need medication. that maybe if we don't like the scraps, we should get ready to starve.

we have been saying for so long - "i'm not asking you to remove the option, i'm asking you to reconsider the risk." this entire time we hear: well, this is what you wanted, isn't it?

#where's the word woman in this u might wonder if u suck #good news i am nonbinary and have a uterus so that is something that can happen #im also gender fluid tho which means im immune to certain psychic damage bc if u call me a woman i'll be like <3 okay <3 #writeblr #the tightrope of ''ppl need access to this''#and like also #''what the fuck is going on over there'' is like. so difficult as an activist #i was <3 punctured <3 during mine #and almost bled out on the table :) they didn't have anyone standing by bc it's ''just a little insertion''#so i started crashing and i vaguely remember apologizing for the fuss as i heard my heart rate monitor start going <3 tachycardic <3 #she wasn't even a bad doctor tbh #ps btw the reason i even HAD a heart monitor is that i have a genuine heart condition and they knew GOING IN that there was a chance #i'd crash on the table #like my heart just likes to do fun little tricks and <3 stop working <3 (i do not want to discuss the specifics ty i am okay im ontop of it #and they were like 'oh u will be fine' and then she did do a puncture thru my uterus . pop!#and im sitting there dizzy and feeling my heartrate start to drop bc it feels almost. beautiful. like. the whole ground just #woosh! out from under you. and shit is like grey's anatomy. i'm looking up at her grey eyes #she's old she wears this nice shawl she's like got Cool Lesbian vibes and people are sprinting into the room #from other parts of the clinic unrelated to me. while the monitor is like a little aria singing #and shes like hey youre okay stay awake stay with me something went wrong we have to keep trying #and i remember thinking - i was trying to think of nice things. i have so many beautiful places that now overlap #with this terrible memory #i became dimly aware that there was too much on her wrists and hands. like #that was too many liters #and then when they had finished all this. i packed up and drove myself home #i have had (bad thing) happen to me. and the same feeling happened after #that numb almost lamblike bleating. you cry without noise. like. ur body is so shocked and ur mind so empty #you just stare at the road and everything everything is happening behind glass and static and you are standing so far away from it #while you hold ur hands at 10 and 2. and something in ur brain is SCREAMING at you - IT WAS BAD AND IT SHOULDNT HAVE HAPPENED #and ur just watching the alarms in your body going off and youre thinking. a little pinch! ha. i think i just lost something important.

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yourdailyqueer · 2 months

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Lucy Diggs Slowe (deceased)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: 4 July 1885

RIP: 21 October 1937

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: Former prof tennis player, professor, activist

Note of firsts: First Black woman to serve as Dean of Women at any American university. Won the national title of the American Tennis Association's first tournament in 1917, the first African-American woman to win a major sports title. First person from her school to attend Howard University.

#Lucy Diggs Slowe #lgbt history #black history #lgbt #lesbian #female #1885 #rip #historical #black #poc #african american #athlete #tennis #teacher #activist #first #popular #popular post #300

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annemarieyeretzian · 2 years

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xxx-ang3l-w1th-a-sh0tgun-xxx · 24 days

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#punk feminist #feminist punk #feminist #feminism #lesbian #wlw #sapphic #lgbt #activist #activism #kathleen hanna #punk #lgbtqi community #lgbtq community #lgbt pride #lgbtq #lgbtqia #pussy riot #queer

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unapologeticallygay · 5 months

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Martha Shelly is a Jewish activist lesbian and feminist.

She was involved in many forms of activism including the Vietnam anti war protests and was an ally to the Black Panthers. She joined the Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian civil rights group, in 1967, and later went on to become president of the New York chapter. While working as a secretary in the office of fundraising for Barnard College, she joined the Student Homophile League.

After witnessing the Stonewall riots and seeing the public reaction Martha was inspired to organize a protest. With the DOB and the Mattachine Society they organized the first gay protest march in America, shortly after that, they formed the Gay Liberation Front. She became the face of the movement, going on tv programs and speaking at public events.

As a young adult her therapist put her through a conversation therapy of sorts, she insisted she try to be bisexual as to not “give up on half the world in her dating pool”. She tried for a while, getting with other gay men put in this program and went on to date bisexual activist Stephen Donaldson. But after her working with the GLF and getting more involved with her community she accepted herself as a lesbian.

At the time lesbians were considered a threat to the feminist movement. The president of The National Organization for Women Betty Friedan called lesbians in the movement a “lavender menace” and the organization distanced themselves from lesbian causes and even omitted the sponsorship of the DOB. Women from DOB and the GLF, including Martha, joined together to create the group ‘Lavender Menace’ in response. Together, dawning shirts and signs they protested at a NOW event for lesbian causes to be included.

My job was to jump up on the stage and grab the mic. I explained that we were here because lesbians had been excluded, and we wanted to talk about our issues. Then I put it to the audience. "Let's take a vote how many want to continue with the panel discussion? How many want to hear what we have to say?" The women voted overwhelmingly to hear from us. Then other Menaces marched down the aisle and stepped up onto the stage, while a few remained in the audience. A freewheeling discussion ensued. At their next annual conference NOW revised their platform to include lesbian rights.

The group was soon after renamed the Radicalesbians.

Despite members of the group partaking in it, Martha did not consider herself a lesbian separatist. She liked the idea of lesbian only spaces but thought that splitting the gay movement into smaller groups would weaken the movement as a whole.

Sources:

We Set the Night on Fire: Igniting the Gay Revolution by Martha Shelley (2023)

Martha Shelley - Wikipedia

#martha shelley #lgbt history #lesbian history #queer history #feminist history #lesbianism #lgbt education #activists #people #feminism #lgbtq community #lesbians in action

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wearethewinx · 7 months

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look, in all seriousness:

if you're suggesting 'removing the men from winx,' you had fucking better have reams of worldbuilding prepared explaining the new gender system you came up with to replace it. because otherwise you're just doing 'eeeeewwww, boys!' gender essentialism. it's gross.

if you think winx would be better without yucky boys distracting you from the pretty girls kissing, you don't want a story, you want a porno. go write one.

#winx club #winx #every couple of years a tumblr lesbian subculture becomes so irredeemably obnoxious #that it turns me into a fucking mens rights activist

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mogai-sunflowers · 10 months

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most exclusionists have probably never had to ACTUALLY struggle to figure out their identity. like, i mean ACTUALLY struggle. not just being a little confused for a little while but figuring it out without much pain or hassle and after that point not really questioning again. and it fucking shows.

like oh i’m so sorry you spent a month slightly confused over your sexuality or gender, but then you figured it out and that was that. so now you think you’re the fucking end all be all of the queer experience and expect it to be that fucking easy for everyone. good for fucking you.

every night for four years, i was up agonizing over my sexuality. a lot of the times it was so painful i couldn’t breathe, just had to fucking keep going feeling like there was no end in sight to the NOT KNOWING. and some of y’all will truly never ever understand what that feels like but instead of acknowledging that you act like it should just be fucking easy for us.

5 years later, i’m not actually that much closer to figuring any of it out. but i’ve never been happier. you know what helped me get there? realizing that my worth is not dependent upon whether or not i have myself figured out, that i don’t need to have myself figured out in order to move forward with my life. and then, fucking THEN, gender came into the picture and sometimes i feel like i’m right back where i started.

last night, when i was outed to my mom, she was more accepting of my gender identity than most of the people in this “community”. my 60 year old mother who got confused when i said i thought i was a boy because “i thought you were asexual”, still managed to be more comforting and supportive of my journey with gender and sexuality, than any of the exclusionists who’ve come for me on here. my mother, who doesn’t know the difference between a trans man and a trans woman, still was able to tell me that my soul doesn’t change just because my gender might and that i have time to figure it out and don’t need to rush myself, whereas i’ve had hundreds of OTHER QUEER PEOPLE tell me to kill myself for being bi and a lesbian and a boy.

so fuck you. fuck you if you think that you know more about me than i do. fuck you if you think those years i spent in constant questioning agony, don’t matter because i just have to use the definition that makes everyone else comfortable. fuck your exclusionism, fuck your gatekeeping, fuck you forever.

#🌌when the stars align ; reigns rambles🌌#i am not doing well rn #theres this really popular blog on here whos super vitriolic against mspec lesbians and lesboys #and she claims to be an activist lmao #like girl i get it you're 18 #i just turned 19 i get it we're young we can be stupid #but you're just a fucking asshole #ofc she calls herself a lipstick lesbian too #tw exclusionism #exclusionism tw #tw discourse

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commiepinkofag · 9 months

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Zanele Muholi

Zanele Muholi is a visual activist, humanitarian and art practitioner who focuses on the documentation and celebration of the lives of South Africa’s Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex communities.

Beginning in 2006, Muholi responded to the continuing discrimination and violence faced by the LGBTI community by photographing Black lesbian and transgender individuals, resulting in the ongoing portrait project, Faces and Phases. Their self-proclaimed mission is “to re-write a Black queer and trans visual history of South Africa for the world to know of our resistance and existence at the height of hate crimes in SA and beyond”.

#queer #queer artist #art #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbqti #south africa #african art #african artist #intersex #trans #bisexual #lesbian #poc #artist #activist #2023

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blackqueernotables · 2 months

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Akudo Oguaghamba: founder of Women's Health and Equal Rights WHER

#akudo oguaghamba #black lgbt activist #lgbt #black lgbt #black lgbt women #lgbt women #black queer women #black queer notables #black lesbians #african lgbt #nigerian

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yourdailyqueer · 1 month

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Louise Lawrence (deceased)

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: Born 1912

RIP: Died 1976

Ethnicity: White - American

Occupation: Artist, activist, writer, teacher

Note: Throughout her life, Lawrence corresponded with and built an extensive network of transgender people across the Bay Area, the US, and globally. Through Lawrence's network, members connected and collectivized, sharing information about doctors, medical procedures and comparing surgical results. She was known to house transgender people, including those who had traveled to seek surgery in San Francisco.

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oddwomen · 1 year

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Audre Lorde, 1985. Photo by Eric Stephen Jacobs.

#1985 #1980s #80s #Audre Lorde #The Crisis #Eric Stephen Jacobs #black and white #writer #activist #poet #lesbian #queer #vintage #queer history #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBT history #~#woc

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xxx-ang3l-w1th-a-sh0tgun-xxx · 2 months

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collage i made :)

(small images are details/small text)

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

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nando161mando · 3 months

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‘Stop killing us!’: Thousands march to protest against femicide in Kenya

The demonstration was the largest-event ever against sexual and gender-based violence in the country. #press

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importantwomensbirthdays · 1 year

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Denise Ho

Singer and pro-democracy activist Denise Ho was born in Hong Kong in 1977. Ho rose to stardom as a Cantopop singer in the 90s. She had a string of hit songs in the 2000s, and won several awards. Ho came out as gay in 2012, becoming a high-profile gay rights advocate. She was an outspoken supporter of the Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement, and the 2019 anti-government protests. In late 2021, she was arrested for "conspiracy to publish seditious materials", and again in 2022 for "colluding with foreign forces".

Image source: United States Congress

#hong kong #democracy #activists #cantopop #lesbian #lgbt

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