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I watch fancy little birds do fancy little dances

@gehe-lihiyot-androgynos-varda

Varda (Heh/הֶא or She/They if you prefer), platonically married, ✡️tsnius in dress not in deeds😘, intersex queer aroallo. https://www.paypal.me/vardacassar. Androgynos/אנדרוגינוס, a millennial (I'm over 25). mixed (north african/desi/european) disabled wheelchair user, neurodivergent, autism, PTSD. If you're an adult and we're mutuals feel free to message me. If you're that oxford-comma person, you know who you are, don't come near me... I have blocked you so many times.

Varda's Surgery Fundraiser Post, attempt 3.0

Hi, I'm Varda (She/They, heh/הֶא) and I'm fundraising for life-changing surgeries. The TLDR is that I'm intersex and when I was born there were decisions made about me and for me that have been traumatic for my mental health and my body.

I'm trying to raise money to see Dr Hans Goosen (pronounced Gorsen/gauss-en, yes I embarrassed myself), who is the preeminent urological surgeon in Australia who has the specific expertise and experience needed to fix the damage done. Unfortunately he is interstate so the costs include travel and accommodation. All up I am expecting to need $30,000 Australian dollars. As of 24 May 2023 I have raised $681.96 including my own contributions.

I cannot raise this money without the kindness and help of strangers, I live on a Disability Pension which is barely enough to survive on, very little of this will be covered on Medicare as there are no corresponding MBS numbers, and Private health insurers also only pay for procedures that have MBS numbers. The people that tabled the Medicare Benefits Schedule didn't really have intersex people in mind.

....

CW: discussion of medical abuse, child abuse, genitalia, sexual function as an adult

Frank explanation of medical history and what needs fixing. I had my gonads removed before I turned one year old. As a child I had a surgery that was supposed to deepen my vagina resulting in scarring and my not having the ability to receive any penetration as an adult. They also tried to relocate the urethral meatus which was abandoned mid procedure and has required multiple revisions as scar tissue interfered with urination.

All of this means that I am prone to injury during manipulation of my genitals because of the scar tissue, this is an extremely upsetting barrier to sexual intimacy. I would like to fix this and be free to enjoy my body.

Please reblog, and if you are able to help please consider donating. I'd really appreciate it.

Love you,

Varda💖

CW: people tag evading, discussion of parental incest, screenshots of triggering content, paedophilia, incest survivor, suicidal ideation.

Angry triggered rant

You know what.... I was actually really doing better, I had a really bad couple of days after a really fucking bad trigger. I had some good news today, I wanted to be making a post about that.

Instead this came up because I follow the "#sapphic nsft" tag, and people don't tag their shit correctly.

I'm not asking for control over what you write, or read.... Just at least don't tag fucked shit with common tags, if you're not going to trigger tag it...

remembering that time I explained on Twitter that Jews are 0.2% of the world’s population and control like 1.2% of its wealth

while Christians are 30-something percent of the world’s population and control 55% of its wealth

so, like, there IS a minority of the world’s population controlling the majority of its wealth

Christians.

and of course a bunch of utter walnuts were like “SEE??? this proves that Jews ARE disproportionately wealthy!!!”

which, like, sure

sure

we have $1.20 to Christians’ $55

but sure, individually we average out to having a bit more pocket change than the world’s average

a couple of things, though:

-those are AVERAGES—it doesn’t mean that every Jew you meet is wealthy, especially because…

-we are such a small population that the existence of *one Jewish billionaire* would skew the average, learn what an average is ffs, if there are 10 of us and 1 is a billionaire and the rest of us have $0 dollars, on average we each have $100,000,000 but in reality 9 of us still have $0 dollars

-y’all killed off a LOT of our poor people less than a century ago which also tends to skew the average

The minority group (in the sense of being less than half the population; they’re still the largest religion) controlling the majority of the world’s wealth is Christians. Sorry about your favorite conspiracy theory.

y’all killed off a LOT of our poor people less than a century ago which also tends to skew the average

i want to print that out and staple it to ppl's foreheads. a lot of the jews who fled extreme violence, genocide, and ethnic cleansing were only able to do so because they had the funds. those who couldn't afford to leave were killed. and those who were barely able to scrape by enough to escape usually were forced into assimilation wherever they immigrated because poverty doesn't give you much of a choice.

on the one hand, I do think it's kinda rude to imply that you know someone else's gender better than they do, and saying that you firmly believe that a stranger is transgender based on like two seconds of interaction is a bit weird

but also, if you're so violently upset at being called an egg that you just revert back to early 2010s "no homo" shit and have to preference every single unmasculine thing you say or do with "I'm not trans! I'm just a cis guy who likes x!", rather than just being a cis guy who likes x without shame or fear or an excuse, you might have some unchecked transphobia.

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Something Something Luz's characterization in The Owl House per my own observations....

Luz is an incredibly complex and interesting and relatable character. She is kind and bright and bubbly but she also hides a deep sadness and guilt inside her. I've seen some critiques of Luz during season 3 like, "Luz should have listened to Amity when she said she didn't feel betrayed or hurt by the Luz /Collector/ Belos situation," and to her Mama when she said she didn't blame Luz for running away, or that she wanted Luz to stay with her friends. Her Mama saw how much her daughter loved her witch friends and knew separating them would not be good for Luz. Luz knows it wouldn't be good for Luz, but she feels she has to punish herself.

If you are using your brain maybe you would believe that when people who love you reassure you that you are ok, not broken, or a burden, or what have you, they are speaking the truth and not just trying to make you feel better, but remember Luz is 14. She's young and traumatized. She has been telling herself for who knows how long (since the beginning of season 2 at least) that she is the one who is at fault for Belos colonizing the Boiling Isles because she shared knowledge with him, which led to him meeting the Collector. Only he was using her the whole time, and she had no idea until it was too late.

So when her loved ones tell her it's ok and they don't blame her at all for being tricked and manipulated she can't believe them because she has been saying the opposite in her head for so long all she can do is shoulder this miserable burden she's taken upon herself, alone.

Logically this argument makes no sense. It's not supposed to make sense to the audience or to the people that love her, but it makes sense to Luz because she isn't loving herself. She's putting herself down because she's been manipulated by Belos to feel responsible for his actions. She doesn't have the emotional maturity yet to realize that she isn't the villain. She only begins to come to terms with this when she's shown love by her friends and family. She only realizes and actualizes her deepest wish after confronting her woes with her Mama and realizing she wasn't alone in her anguish, which allows her a moment to reflect and realize she needed love, kindness, and acceptance. Not punishment.

We are watching her mature emotionally and it makes me tear up every time. This girl really had herself believing that the evil Puritan Witch-Hunter colonizing the Isles was her fault. Luz did nothing but show him kindness. He chose to not return that kindness, and he chose to hurt people. He revealed his true nature but so did she.

For she is The Good Witch Luz, Child of the Human Realm, Student of the Demon Realm, and Warrior of PEACE!

Belos is a Puritan slimeball not fit to grovel much less rule.

They are not the same.

So the ending was tragically short yes blame Disney, not Luz.

Actual footage of the Universal Studios* CEO "trimming" all of the shade trees at one of the L.A. WGA/SAG-AFTRA picket locations, so strikers have no protection from the intense heat of the sun

(*production company behind 2012's tumblr hit film The Lorax)

Anonymous asked:

"someone forgot that christian empires have spent several centuries slaughtering people" You mean The Crusades? The defensive wars fought against invading Muslims?

tell me u did not just say this to a jew.

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First, Anon asker, my condolences on the state of education where you live if you believe that what you sent @spacelazarwolf is anything remotely resembling an accurate accounting of the Crusades.

Second, I’m mildly stunned that your internet access is sufficient to use tumblr but not to use any number of search engines.

Third, by the end of the Crusades, Christians had murdered approximately 99% of Europe’s Jewish population. That’s not an exaggeration, that’s borne out in multiple DNA studies that show a genetic bottleneck in Ashkenazic Jewish DNA at that time.

And, finally, the Crusades were hardly the only atrocity perpetuated against non-Christian populations in Western Christendom. The Inquisitions in the Iberian peninsula and their colonies, the Spanish mission system, pogroms, and the residential schools all jump to mind right away on that front.

I just find the "trans* is used to say nonbinary people aren't already trans!" is an unconvincing argument when "trans" is used to do that already. again, i see "trans(gender) and nonbinary" used all the time, and while there are people (myself included) who dislike that, its just like. weird to me that people associate trans*/trans+, which exists specifically to emphasize the inclusion of all genderqueer people in trans, and say they dislike because its alienating nonbinary people.... but "trans" without anything is neutral regardless of its use to alienate nonbinary people? like if you've had individuals be a dick about trans* i don't wanna discount that. but to see trans* and feel like the asterisk is somehow talking down to nonbinary people, that feels like a really bad faith interpretation.

which is why i wonder if the pushback is not similar to the pushback against "queer," where certain people dislike the attempt to be expansive, and come up with reasons why the inclusive action is Bad, and then that drips down to other people hearing that its Bad.

As a genderqueer person I’ve always liked trans* and I was pretty sad when everyone stopped using it generally, but the way I understood it at the time that it was in an effort to include non-binary genders in the word itself rather than be relegated to an asterisk.

But then we started saying “trans and non-binary” anyway and now I’m both confused and a little pissed about it!

I like the asterisk after trans because it also is a way of saying that trans can be a variety of things. Trans* can end in *vestite *sexual *gender *gressive *formation. It really was like you can be trans in any direction in any way and I liked it a lot.

“Trans and non-binary” feels a hell of a lot more narrow and confined while simultaneously creating a divide that doesn’t need to be there.

Reminder that micropenis jokes are inherently intersexist, and as an intersex person (this used to say woman but I feel I was simplifying my identity for the benefit of others) with a pseudo-phallus/micropenis it really fucking hurts to hear people use my body as the short hand for "crude", "uncouth", "violent", "lacking", "of poor character", and nearly any unpleasant trait imaginable.

It hurts me, it has never not hurt. Stop.

Also every single cis man with a micropenis is intersex, trans women with micropenises are intersex too, as is anyone born with a micropenis or clitoromegaly or who naturally developed one, and trans people on testosterone with micropenises hear your vitriol. You have always been punching down.

Small dick jokes aren't ok, big dick jokes are just small dick jokes in mirrored text, it's all just body shaming.

(edited 23 May 2023 to be more inclusive of a variety of experiences/bodies, original post was a personal rant that despite being untagged got popular by surprise.)

Friendly reminder that this is the preferred version of this post. There is a shorter version circulating again that doesn't accurately reflect my identity as when I wrote it I felt safer not verbalising my entire self.

Pro-Polygamy, you should be

Polygamy is a WORD that has been poisoned. The extent of its actual meaning is to have multiple spouses within a single relationship.

Polygamy is often the word incorrectly used when referring to Polygyny.

Polygyny is also not inherently bad, it simply refers to having multiple wives, a lesbian polycule could be many wives. However it is the practice most associated with misogynistic violence and control (fundamentalist Mormons for example).

Polyandry means to have many husbands.

These are nouns with simple meanings, your assumptions about them say more about you than about the relationship.

Why care?

Because marriage comes with rights.

Marriage comes with privileges.

Marriage comes with protections.

What?

Adoption of your partners children as a co-parent, and the protection of your right to see your kids if you were to divorce.

Inheritance of property for all of your spouses and children whether they are biologically related to you or not. Protections against having your will contested by parents that don't see your relationship as legitimate, or another partner taking everything and cutting out your loved ones because they happen to have a piece of paper.

Etc...

"Marriage is between two people only" really is just people hanging onto the bit they think didn't matter because they don't think the relationships if polyam people are legitimate.

Long post....

It's so incredibly frustrating dealing with a specific chronically online brand of "anti-zionism". Because as a Zionist and a Jew I fundamentally agree with with most of the sentiments expressed. I just tangibly feel threatened by an irresponsible generalisation and simplification of the issue, the warping and weaponisation of terminology so to be unrecognisable from how they are actually used by people and the way these threaten my safety and the safety of my community here in the Diaspora.

I am a Zionist in that I believe that if there are nation states one should have as it's foundational principal the safety of Jews (I kind of have to be, there is a good chance I wouldn't be here without Israel) and I believe in a subsidised right of return for all Palestinians. I agree successive conservative governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu have lent tacit support to the settler movement for over 15 years. I think Israel sorely needs to enact a bill enforcing prime ministerial term limits. I desperately want a good faith negotiation on a two state solution, but with the figures in play rn I just don't see that happening... Netanyahu is an arse(imo) who sold what little conscience he had left to the fringe right to hang on to power, Israel will never negotiate with Hamas as a governing entity, and I can only go by what I'm told by IRL Palestinian friends in Australia but they don't have much confidence in Abbas as a leader (big heaping pinch of salt because none of us have first hand experience of the current PNA government).

I also recognise the complicated history of the establishment of Israel. To oversimplify, the Zionist project for a long time was a (often flawed) process of buying land and negotiating with ottoman aristocracy.

I recognise that many promises were made to many people, particularly by the British who promised a compromise resolution for a Jewish and Palestinian state, but then handed figuring out how to do that to the fledgling UN as it's first project. The UN decided "jigsaw puzzle" was a good theme to go with for state borders for two states, which nobody was happy with and inevitably was going to lead to conflict... But instead of border friction, the entire geographic region preemptively attacked to prevent Israel from ever being established. Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Transjordan... All attacked and somehow, Israel succeeded.

I would like to focus on this for a little moment from the view of "surviving Jewish history", because by the time the dust settled it was almost exactly 3 years and 11 months to the day since the liberation of Bergen Belsen concentration camp. We survived, we slew Goliath, Blessed are you G-d who would not make me a slave, again... we would not be returned to the ghetto.

In that desperate struggle for survival homes were occupied by machine gun crews and RPG teams, communities emptied as armoured vehicles and aircraft of the Arab League were left as smoking shells... And people came home to find that after fleeing a conflict zone for safety their homes were occupied by unfamiliar families who would not leave... For them this was naqba, a catastrophe, their homes and farms were in all meaningful senses gone. One of those families was mine, my Jad (great grandfather) and Savta (great grandmother) who briefly emigrated to Israel from Tripoli. They had just survived one of the worst North African pogroms in 1945 when my Jad had spent years fighting for the allies in North Africa/Mediterranean and were frightened that after the humiliation of the Arab league there would be more pogroms soon. (they came to Australia shortly after)

History is complicated, the decisions people made have been desperate, the trauma on all sides is real, we cannot navigate this without trying to understand each other.... Let's look at some modern issues.

It's ok to criticise a country, but remember that your understanding of events in Israel as an outsider is necessarily superficial, and if you live in the "West" all of the groups you are discussing are vulnerable minorities in your country, and it is very easy for the unaware to imbibe and regurgitate Antisemitic, anti-Arab, Islamophobic tropes and dog whistles without knowing.

Remember criticisms need to be specific. What happened, where did it occur, who specifically was responsible, how did it happen (explain the function of lack of legal oversight or intervention to prevent it, or how an authority figure or governing entity sanctioned a particular action), why was this event significant, is the source credible. If you're reading an informational post, did it meet these criteria? This is a standard I try to hold Palestinian, Arab, Israeli and World informational sources to, everyone has a bias and it's my job as a reader to be both aware and compassionate... It's your job too

Failure to do the above leads to radicalisation, and that makes everybody less safe, everywhere. To speak for myself I have never before in my life considered moving to Israel, not in all my years... But this year my synagogue has been physically vandalised, and it has been graffitied with "free Palestine" and on a separate incident last year "work makes you free", our holocaust museum has suffered multiple attacks from a self styled Nazi party (NSN, the same ones who got themselves on TV at the TERF rally in Melbourne), as far as I'm aware no arrests actually led to charges, despite knowing so many people in my area (mostly low income, migrants, 1st gen citizens and Indigenous) with extremely petty convictions, literally cops so drive slowly down my back street because they have nothing better to do. As a disabled mix race Jew it feels less safe every day. We used to have open doors, now our gates are closed and we get threats in the mail.

Be careful with your words, they are powerful; once spoken or written, you cannot ever take them back.

Varda💗

(If there are any weird sentences, I'm dyslexic with a tremor.... Autocorrect likes to fuck me up)

Don't be a clown. Disagreement is ok, but rabid uninformed takes will get you blocked.

CW: antisemitism, Nazi dogwhistles, r*pe threats, forced pregnancy, fetishisation as violence, genocide... Probably more, I will update if requested

Recently a sexually explicit Nazi screed disguised as gamer talk simping was posted to a Facebook group and screenshots of it have been making their way around FB and Reddit, I haven't seen it on Tumblr but I am sure it's here.

The original post is actually a very long series of dog whistles.

This thing is the furthest thing from funny, but it's been around for a month and I saw it again today. Please take a moment to reflect on how easily, willing and excited so many people have been to consume and share a Nazi document because it has been cloaked in the right kind of misogyny that throws them off their guard and makes them laugh, and was directed at a target that feels palatable to them like Abigail Shapiro.

The "Khazar" thing specifically comes from an antisemitic pseudo-geneology which claims that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from the turko-slavic subjects of Khagan Bulan of Khazaria who converted to Judaism in the 700's CE. (There are in theory a small living population of Jewish descendants of this conversion today, possibly these are the Caucasian Mountain Jews.) However, neo-nazis latch onto the Khazar story to label all of Ashkenazi Jewry as Turko-Slavs in a reinvention of old race science nonsense to say that "not only is Ashkenaz not Hebrew, Ashkenaz is a mixing of untermenschen(lower races)" there are so many layers upon layers of fucked up conveyed just in calling an Ashkenazi woman Khazar.

The OP makes direct references to her owing you money and deserving to be fucked for it, self explanatory and it shocks me this on it's own doesn't tip people off to the fact that this is simply a Nazi document...

The the poster repeatedly talks about impregnation in forceful terms, repeated references to suitability for child bearing, along with excessive reference to milky white skin, child-bearing hips and other "suitable" features harks to the forced pregnancy programs of the Nazis where Nordic and "suitable" Slav women were forced to "produce Aryan children for the fatherland"... This comes full circle to the anxiety of the far right belief in a Jewish plot for "the great replacement"

The repeated shoehorned references to military domination and violence, missiles, bombings and invasion as descriptive language for how you feel about a woman is obviously not normal... He's actually talking about military domination.

We can go on but honestly I don't really want to, the stuff about drain hair and sucking her toes is just a garnish, it's the spoonful of sugar to make the poison go down.

"I'm waiting for you" feels oppressively threatening now, doesn't it? It's a threat to her, and it's a threat to those who understand... Which is mainly Jews and Romani.

You don't have to be an expert in dog whistles, but surely you can hear the dogs barking, pay attention to them.