"
Men who want to flirt with women have to realize: Women live in a state of continual vigilance about sexual safety. It’s like having a mild case of hay fever that never goes away. It’s not debilitating. You’re not weak. You’re not afraid. You just suck it up and get on with your life. It’s nothing that’s going to stop you from making discoveries, or climbing mountains, or falling in love. Sometimes you can almost forget about it. It doesn’t mean it’s not there, subtly sucking your energy. You learn to avoid situations that make it worse and seek out conditions that make it better.
If a female stranger is wary around you, it is not because she suspects you are a rapist, or that all men are rapists. It’s because a general level of circumspection is what vigilance requires. Don’t take it personally.
If this frustrates you, try to remember that women are blamed for lapsed vigilance. If a woman does get raped, everyone rushes to see where she let her guard down. Was she drinking? Was she alone? Was she wearing a short skirt? Did she go to a strange man’s room for coffee at 4am?
A woman must be seen to be vigilant as well as be vigilant. If she is deemed insufficiently vigilant, she will be at least partly blamed for any sexual violence that befalls her. If she’s regarded as downright reckless, that “evidence” can be used to completely exonerate her rapist. If it comes down to a he said/she said dispute over whether sex was consensual, as so many rape cases do, the dispute becomes a referendum on whether the woman seems like the sort of reckless person who would have sex with a stranger.
If a woman does go back to a strange man’s hotel room at 4am, even if she only wants a coffee and conversation, she’s more or less given him the power to rape her. No jury is going to believe she went up there for anything but sex. So, don’t be surprised if a stranger reacts badly to that suggestion.
"Attention, Space Cadets: Do Not Proposition Women in the Elevator
I wish I didn’t need to reblog stuff like this. I wish people *got it*. But judging from the ridiculous response to these posts, stuff like this clearly still needs to be repeated.
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This actually made me cry. Ugh.
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(Source: agayboylivinghislife, via thehauntingspecter)
(Source: sovetskaia, via white-vanilla)
Greg White: Technology
Photographic portfolio featuring technological environments in clinical minimalist compositions. Places captured include the KSAT Svalbard Ground Station, theMcLaren Technology Centre, the BMW MINI Factory, andCERN, Switzerland.
More can be found here
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(Source: cheguevara-si)
![lifeisliterallylimited:
photo by Miran Hosny
Silence Is Betrayal For Syrians
This weekend nearly 90 people staged a confronting flash-mob protest in Darling Harbour to raise awareness of the Syria conflict.
Activists dressed in army fatigues aimed fake guns at women and children participants huddled in defenceless positions, re-enacting what organisers say is real life brutality that takes place under Syrian president Bashar Assad’s regime.
The flash mob, held at 1pm on Saturday, ended with the release of a banner from the Western Distributor Highway overlooking the crowd stating “Silence is Betrayal”.
Organiser Mohsen Saleh, 22, said the inspiration for this unorthodox form of protest came from a YouTube video of a similar flash mob in Canada.
“This is much more powerful in my opinion. Silence. Everyone stops and stares,” said Saleh.
Onlooker Fiona Fonti, 30, agreed.
“This is quite striking. With protests, you don’t really know what’s going on, it’s just people cheering and chanting but this is really different.”
Fonti said she was only vaguely aware of the situation in Syria before the flash mob. Other onlookers like Marinke Kat, 26, said they were not aware of the situation at all.
“I saw ‘Bashar’ and was like which country is he from, then I saw ‘Syria’ [on the signs],” she said.
“It draws attention really quickly, because you think ‘Oh what’s going on there?’ and then you stop to take a look.”
With a United Nations estimate of over 9000 dead in Syria since the nationwide uprising began early last year, attention to the cause is exactly what the organisers want.
“People who may have not known what’s happening in Syria will find out, and anyone who is against the murder of children or the murder of innocent people will be shocked to find this information,” said Asme Fahmi, 31, a participant.
Fahmi said her travels to Syria pushed her to join in.
“I saw how people have been mistreated by this dictatorship. You’re not allowed to speak about the government, you’re not allowed to dissent in any way,” she said.
“The leadership is built upon abuse and torture and fear. It’s just no way for anyone to live.”
The organisers hope that by raising awareness, more people will add their voices in the call against President Assad.
“What we’re trying to say is if you stay silent, you’re taking the side of the oppressor,” Saleh said. “You are not neutral.”
newmatilda](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4cp6aiJMd1qf4qv6o1_1280.gif)
photo by Miran Hosny
Silence Is Betrayal For Syrians
This weekend nearly 90 people staged a confronting flash-mob protest in Darling Harbour to raise awareness of the Syria conflict.
Activists dressed in army fatigues aimed fake guns at women and children participants huddled in defenceless positions, re-enacting what organisers say is real life brutality that takes place under Syrian president Bashar Assad’s regime.
The flash mob, held at 1pm on Saturday, ended with the release of a banner from the Western Distributor Highway overlooking the crowd stating “Silence is Betrayal”.
Organiser Mohsen Saleh, 22, said the inspiration for this unorthodox form of protest came from a YouTube video of a similar flash mob in Canada.
“This is much more powerful in my opinion. Silence. Everyone stops and stares,” said Saleh.
Onlooker Fiona Fonti, 30, agreed.
“This is quite striking. With protests, you don’t really know what’s going on, it’s just people cheering and chanting but this is really different.”
Fonti said she was only vaguely aware of the situation in Syria before the flash mob. Other onlookers like Marinke Kat, 26, said they were not aware of the situation at all.
“I saw ‘Bashar’ and was like which country is he from, then I saw ‘Syria’ [on the signs],” she said.
“It draws attention really quickly, because you think ‘Oh what’s going on there?’ and then you stop to take a look.”
With a United Nations estimate of over 9000 dead in Syria since the nationwide uprising began early last year, attention to the cause is exactly what the organisers want.
“People who may have not known what’s happening in Syria will find out, and anyone who is against the murder of children or the murder of innocent people will be shocked to find this information,” said Asme Fahmi, 31, a participant.
Fahmi said her travels to Syria pushed her to join in.
“I saw how people have been mistreated by this dictatorship. You’re not allowed to speak about the government, you’re not allowed to dissent in any way,” she said.
“The leadership is built upon abuse and torture and fear. It’s just no way for anyone to live.”
The organisers hope that by raising awareness, more people will add their voices in the call against President Assad.
“What we’re trying to say is if you stay silent, you’re taking the side of the oppressor,” Saleh said. “You are not neutral.”
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"Science is an exploration of the intricate, subtle, and awesome universe we inhabit."
Carl Sagan, Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (via fyeahcarlsagan)
This is a lovely picture , wonder when it was taken? Just sat here looking through old videos and pictures from Somalia. Ah man. We missed out. Wish I grew up in pre war Somalia :(
(via theeducatedfieldnegro)
Fringe Science
This listing is for the entire series of Fringe science experiment inspired iconography art prints. “Warning: An Experiment of Great Importance in Progress.” Collect all your favorite Fringe science posters and show your friends and family that you believe in the future.
(via amodernmanifesto)
The Illegitimacy of Violence, the Violence of Legitimacy
What is violence? Who gets to define it? Does it have a place in the pursuit of liberation? These age-old questions have returned to the fore during the Occupy movement. But this discussion never takes place on a level playing field; while some delegitimize violence, the language of legitimacy itself paves the way for the authorities to employ it.
“Though lines of police on horses, and with dogs, charged the main street outside the police station to push rioters back, there were significant pockets of violence which they could not reach.”
–The New York Times, on the UK riots of August 2011
During the 2001 FTAA summit in Quebec City, one newspaper famously reported thatviolence erupted when protesters began throwing tear gas canisters back at the lines of riot police. When the authorities are perceived to have a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, “violence” is often used to denote illegitimate use of force—anything that interrupts or escapes their control. This makes the term something of afloating signifier, since it is also understood to mean “harm or threat that violates consent.”
