Transform Your Life Through Feminism
Humanism and feminism are not mutually exclusive and can coexist. A vested interest in general human welfare is an implicit goal of feminism. If you’re helping women, you’re helping people. Some might prefer to call this humanitarianism, humanism, or being-a-decent-human-being-ism, but many of us are content to call it feminism. And there’s nothing exclusionary about that.
With more cuts on the horizon and alternative sources of funding hard to find, there remain low-income women who don’t have access to any sort of legal aid. So even though we’ve come a long way in building our justice system, we still need to consider the ways in which it fails to serve certain populations. Low-income women often face a lack of legal options in many arenas.
The homeless youth are anywhere from 20-40% LGBTQ due to factors like familial rejection and housing discrimination. Yet the general public is still largely uneducated on why this problem exists or what they can do help. Homeless people are generally a vulnerable population and given how it intersects with being LGBTQ, they’re at even greater risk for violence, abuse, exploitation, and health issues.
As a group that regularly battles prejudice, violence, and ignorance, queers know what it’s like to be discriminated against. Unfortunately, the queer community is not devoid of casual racism and certain forms of racism in the queer community have become so normalized that they get brushed off as minor. So here are some steps to support queer people of color and be more racially aware.
People often assume the black community is alright with casual homophobia, including black people ourselves. When people make a disparaging comment about gay people that’s so “normal” that no one checks them on it but then claim to be supportive of LGBTQ people, it can be hard to tell who’s supportive or not. So let’s not make it so hard to tell by standing up to normalized casual homophobia.
Male sexual entitlement is the belief that men are owed sex on account of their maleness and that female sexuality exist for male pleasure. Why does this happen? Because we think it’s normal – to overlook the female orgasm, to judge women’s bodies on appearance, for women to “let” guys sleep with them. So let’s go into how male sexual entitlement negatively impacts everyone, men included.
No one wants to come across as “creepy”, especially not to the attractive person they’ve just approached. But given how men are socialized to approach women, some think being “persistant” (ie not respecting boundaries) is the best way. So for the many guys who don’t want to be “that guy” but are unsure of how to approach women given society’s mixed messages, here are some things to keep in mind.
The economy still sucks right now and you may find yourself unemployed. In our society, we too often give people value according to how much they earn and stigmatize people without jobs. So if you’re unemployed, chances are your self-esteem is suffering. But regardless of whether or not you have a job, remember that you are still worth taking care of.
Thanks to medical advances, HIV is not a death sentence as it used to be. Yet ignorance about HIV/AIDS continues to lead to stigmatization of people with the disease and the testing associated with it. This needs to stop and it needs to be seen as moral-neutral as cancer so more people will be proactive about their health – not too ashamed to understand it.
The question of whether or not to come out at work is a loaded one if it’s not clear how gay-friendly it is — one that many fear will have an impact on their hiring potential, career path, and employment status. The decision to come out is a highly personal one and one you shouldn’t feel pressured or guilty about. Here are some pros and cons to weigh and tips on coming out, if you choose to.
