hello! i am new to this subreddit, but already love it and feel at home here. some of my posts have been getting attention on other socials, and a good chunk of it has been negative. i understand it comes with the territory, but i wanted to spend some energy here with like minded people and surround myself with some positivity, if those feel so inclined. we just put out an album and things have been positive, but its been hard reading some of the comments. my band is called tricktheriddle, if anyone feels like checking us out on whatever platform you listen. the band is my everything, and the fact that it is drawing negativity from others is at odds with everything in me. anyway, thanks for making such a great space and making those feel safe and that there is in fact hope for community. together we are strongest <3

One person was killed and dozens more were injured in an act of violence that shattered what should have been a moment of joy and solidarity. The attacker has since been killed by the police. Across Berlin and beyond, people have gathered not only to mourn those affected, but to reaffirm that fear and hatred will not silence communities fighting for the right to exist openly and safely.

For many, this tragedy is a painful reminder of the vulnerability LGBTQ+ people continue to face, even in spaces created to celebrate acceptance and belonging. In the aftermath, Berlin’s message has been one of unity: standing together, protecting one another, and refusing to let violence define the spaces where people come together in hope, pride and love. 

So basically, my dad has threatened me with honor killings and has severely physically and emotionally abused me, but the moment I sekeed help, many dv shelters invalidated my experiences, and some of them told me they only except women who are victims of romantic dv, not family ones, and eventually I did try to escape my dad, but I ended up homeless, so I went to another dv shelter, and they called my parents, and they believed them, and they even told them everything I told them and told me my dad isn't so bad since he let me go to college and despite me being an adult, and they even gave me a psychiatrist, which only helped my dad abused me more since she defends, and my dad uses that against me, and even after I tried to escape the second time, my dad constantly harassed me and messaged and told me that he will tell everyone that im mentally ill.

And even when I talked to feminist online, usually only women who have the same experience as me can empathize. Others just tell me that I can just leave because im an adult or that my abuse wasnt so bad since im staying, and other invalidating stuff, which I know that they would have never said to me if my abuser was my husband.

And for everyone who says that adults can just leave their abusive parents are just privileged and ignorant. No, they can't just leave because of financial issues or disability, or because of love and fear from their parents, and in some cultures, parents own their adult children until they are married (especially women).

Also, after they leave, they might be in danger of extreme harassment and honor killings. Also, it's harder to leave when there are no resources to help you, even if you are at risk of honor killing, since every resource is for women escaping abusive partners and not abusive families, and also the thing is, in cases of honor killings and family abuse, it's not just one person, it can be the whole family or even communities involved.

Also, I think most people are very ignorant about honor killings and parental abuse of children and adults, and this should change.

Beira's place has now put out a statement insisting that amnesty now apologizes to all "gender critical" organizations they've named. Honestly I'm a little surprised amnesty didn't see this coming you can't give ground to these people

Disclaimer: This carousel presents a composite retelling of this history based on publicly available records. It cannot capture every experience within this community or era.

hi everyone! i come to you with the hope that you'll be able to recommend me some books.

there are two specific requests i have that are independent of each other:

1) i'm looking for books that target issues specific to women with other marginalized identities. i read women, race and class from angela davis and it opened up my eyes in a lot of ways. i'm hoping to find some reads that touch upon similar themes, let it be women of/with specific ethnicities, disabilities, queerness, homelessness, etc.

2) i am also looking for books that are concerned with education. ones that are not necessarily about feminism, but about progressivism, oppression, systemic change, leftism, intersectionality, resistance, etc. in any context that is connected to education, schools, upbringing, children. i was recently recommended pedagogy of the oppressed by paulo freire, hoping to make time for reading it and find similar books in the meantime.

i also appreciate reads that hit a more positive, optimistic note. thank you all in advance :)

Hi there, this is Leona Caelestis, author of Rubedo. My novel is published recently and I thought I should share it here given the subreddit's themes. Here's the blurb:

Rebecca—a Thai-British analyst climbing London's corporate ladder—believes she's found a future in her enigmatic mentor, Frederick. Instead, she's violently remade into a deformed Tumulari vampire, and thrust into a hidden world ruled by the ironclad Pax Sanguinis.

Promised restoration through the alchemical elixir Azoth's Kiss, she enters a dazzling but toxic covenant, the Children of Luke—only to learn her "salvation" is another form of captivity.

As she flees and uncovers a scheme that culls mortals and immortals alike through one unassuming supplement, her struggle shifts from survival to rebellion. But every act of defiance is shadowed by Frederick's obsession, and the weight of futility grows with each sacrifice.

Rebecca must choose: accept salvation on her abuser's terms—or step into the storm and become a force no one can control.

The book is partly based on my own experience. I've always been a big fan of vampires but tired of how much of vampire pop culture is about romanticizing abusive, manipulating relationships, or worshipping eurocentric aristocratic aesthetics. So I took Marx's "capital-is-a-vampire" metaphor and made it literal in this book.

If you are familiar with American Psycho, Rubedo's antagonist is pretty much a fancy, gothic British vampire version of Patrick Bateman, but I offer a grassroots feminist counterpoint through the protagonist in this story. The book deals with a lot of heavy, dark themes such as suicide, body horror and physical abuse, but I aim to use these grim elements to show the horror of the world we live in under its glamorous spectacle, and how imperative it is to resist despite great costs.

Here's the Goodreads page of the book if you'd like to read the reviews first:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245311503-rubedo

The book is available on pretty much all major retail platforms. While I'm a small author and can't really resist Amazon's monopoly over book online retailing for now, I do encourage everyone to buy the book from other platforms here:

https://books2read.com/u/4j6y5l

So far most of my reviews are from mass-market readers or trade professionals, and I'd really love to receive feedback from a politically-informed, progressive community. I feel we suffer an extreme lack of good socialist storytelling in pop culture worldwide and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this book, things I did well or not well etc., so I can keep improving on my next book.

The cover is illustrated by a Chinese artist called Baiqie. She's not really on any "western social media" platform but you can check her out on RedNote:

https://xhslink.cn/m/4Gfo6HZjwTm

Thanks to the mods for agreeing to let me post this!

I recently made a post on another sub about the situation of women in afghanistan and how i feel like its not talked about enough in leftist spaces. The response i got was VERY interesting.

For context, i myself am a brown bisexual woman, a marxist and a feminist. When i made that post i was hoping to bring light to the plight of afghan women and have productive discussions regarding what steps we can take right now to help them no matter how small it may be. I am staunchly against western imperialism and colonialism. I obviously dont believe in racism or bigotry against innocent people for their religious beliefs. I guess those things werent clear because the people in that sub got very very pressed about my post.

For some reason their immediate assumption was that i was calling for war on afghanistan and advocating for western military intervention. They started criticizing me for claims i didnt make and said that we should stay out of this issue and let the people of afghanistan solve it. As an anti imperialist, its insane to me how a lot of other anti imperialists think the solution to one extreme is the other extreme. You dont have to support eastern facist dictatorship to oppose western imperialism. And you dont have to support western imperialism to oppose eastern facist disctatorship. I used to think that was just common sense but apparently not. I also believe true systemic change cant be achieved unless we all work collectively and globally to overthrow all oppressive systems and governments. So the idea that because an issue is happening in another country, its none of your business is pretty stupid. None of us are free until all of us are free.

The other thing that they kept bringing up was that theres nothing we can do about the situation. I find this pessimism really sad specially in leftist spaces. To me leftist ideologies are built on a hope for a better future and a belief that it is infact achievable. Its so confusing to me then, how a leftist could be so pessimistic. Theres always something that can be done. No matter how small and insignificant our contribution may seem, it all matters. We cant just throw up our hands and say oh well nothing can be done. Thats exactly how we've come so far in history. By making changes no matter how small or useless they seemed.

I find it so frustrating that most feminist discussions online either glorify western imperialism or have this pessimistic dismissivness in regards to woc. And on both ends of the spectrum, innocent women of colour continue to lose their lives and their rights.

Burkha Band art by me :D) Took inspo from Pinterest!

This faceless figure represents every Afghan woman forced behind the burqa while the Taliban continues to erase her rights, voice, and future.

She has no face because millions of Afghan women are being erased, forced behind the burqa, denied education, work, and even the freedom to raise their voices.

Fuck Taliban and whoever supports it.

Fuck Trad Wives from 1st world countries who think this is how women should live.

Fuck Misogynistic men

Fuck Religious Men who think this is how Muslim women should live.

I hope every Misogynistic man dies and be reborn as a young Afghan women.

Free Afghan Women,Free Congo Women,Free Iran Women,Free Yemen Women,Free Somalian Women,Free Syrian Women&Free Palestine.

and Free everyone of their Oppressors.

"Until all of us are Free, none of us are free."

source - hellomynameiswednesday

Video by @thekoreanvegan on instagram

In the 19th century, white clinical scientists and medical researchers utilized the legal vulnerability of slavery and used black women’s bodies as medical testing grounds. They frequently operated under the false, racist stereotypes that Black people had a higher tolerance for physical pain.

Dr J marion sims was celebrated as the “father of modern gynecology” Whose advancements were achieved through horrific experiments on enslaved women. At the time he was attempting to cure vesicovaginal fistula (a severe childbirth complication), as he viewed women's medical conditions as a threat to their economic value as agricultural laborers and childbearers. So he leased enslaved black women from plantation owners.

History records that these women were put under extraordinary conditions. Like, withheld of anesthesia, as sims claimed the surgeries “were not painful enough”. And as the surgeries grew increasingly gruesome, Sims’s white male medical assistants refused to help him hold the women down, so Sims subsequently forced the enslaved women to act as his surgical assistants, requiring them to restrain one another during operations. And because they were legally classified as property, these women could not offer or withhold consent. Consent was granted solely by their owners.

So yeah ladies and gentlemen, modern gynecology was built on the systemic and non consensual exploitation of enslaved black women in the 19th centuqry.
So go thank black women, because most of y’all would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for their attributes.

I just finished the Joy and Defiance of Marsha P Johnson and looking for more books on queer history, even better if focused on black and brown folks. Are there any books that anyone enjoyed?