I think I’m giving off Extreme Brain Bad Stuff pheromones or s/t bc my friend is literally letting me copy his linguistics takehome midterm essay 100% like I didn’t contribute anything & he is being so sweet abt it and he sent me a link 2 little mix’s wings w the note ‘here’s a nice little song to help you through tonight’

:’)

GOD DAMN IT I JUST MADE THE BIGGEST ASS OF MYSELF IN CLASS my professor who is a dude decides 2 start talking abt how women call each other bitches & hos & ~~what do we think of that?~~ and a bunch of ppl kept being like YEAH WOMEN SHDN’T DO THAT, IT MAKES IT EASIER 4 MEN 2 & I just FUCKING CHRIST ended up raising my voice and swearing in this huge lecture uuuguugghgh

"The paradox of Indo-chic is that in the U.S., henna marks non-South Asians as “trendy” while until very recently, mehndi worn by South Asian women simply marked them as “traditional,” at best “exotic,” and certainly always “other”; in becoming mainstream, Indo-chic has changed the meaning of the distinction it once lent to (at least young) South Asian American women.

In the case of Indo- chic’s commodification and construction as a series of moral projects, what does not lend itself to appropriation by multinational corporations and U.S. entrepreneurs, and what is ignored or only implicit in these discussions as they are framed in terms of consumption and youth style? Why Indo-chic now? The young desi women helped address this question by pointing out that the marketing of Indo-chic in the U.S. rests on the extraction of huge margins of profit by American corporations and entrepreneurs, yet this is an issue rarely brought to light. India occupies a somewhat different niche in the American cultural economy than it did in the 1960s and 1970s and with the opening up of India’s economic market in the wake of eco- nomic restructuring and neo-liberalization policies, it has become part of the global sweatshop where American multinationals browse for cheap labor, cheap goods, and profitable market trend ideas). In some instances, the sweatshop involves child labor as well, with Indian children painstakingly making by hand the glitter bindis that are resold in the U.S. at anywhere from twenty to forty times the price. Henna kits and “bindi body art kits” manufactured by U.S. or British publishers sell for ten to twenty-five dollars and “startup” pack- ages for aspiring henna “professionals” range from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty dollars. The exorbitant mark-up of goods that sell for nominal prices in South Asia is tied to the clever marketing concept of the “kit”: a packet of henna becomes transformed into a do-it-yourself hobby, if not a part-time occupation.

American “henna artists” charge many times what women in India are paid for their services and their self-packaging is also an effective marketing strategy: for example, the self-conscious highlighting of henna’s “ritual” nature to appeal to the “alternative lifestyle”/New Age followers in a town such as Northampton. South Asian Americans are no less likely to try to benefit from this trend; yet some non-South Asian/Arab American henna entrepreneurs, including Fabius and Roome, dismiss as unreliable the products sold by South Asian or Middle Eastern stores- which, of course, were long the only source of henna till it became a main- stream fashion trend. Henna entrepreneurs obviously have their own products to sell and they effectively remain the cultural translators and product endorsers for the growing consumer market in the U.S. South Asian immigrant businesses seem to have been cut off from the profits flowing from this trend; the concern among henna fans about violating some kind of cultural “taboo” in appropriating henna does not seem to extend to a concern that consumers support South Asian American or Middle Eastern business entrepreneurs and help them make a living- which is probably more important to them than white women wearing henna on their bellies. The economics of Indo-chic and the vagaries of global capital are clearly one aspect of commodification that is not “digestible” by the discourse of packaged ethnicity and is left undiscussed in the mainstream media although it is clearly articulated by youth of South Asian descent."
- Sunaina Maira (Temporary Tattoos: Indo-Chic Fantasies and Late Capitalist Orientalism)

chanelaforets:

but really

if you seriously think theon greyjoy’s storyline is somehow proof sexual violence isn’t gendered, i would go read adwd again because his arc is like All About Emasculating Him? he is literally castrated and is made to wholly internalize the notion that he is less than a man and is unworthy of ‘manhood’

if what you take from that is ‘well bad stuff happens to men too gender doesn’t matter’ i don’t even know what to do with you

"So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies."
- Roger Ebert passed away today. This is last sentence of his last blog post. (via digg)

I think I maybe just ate a bunch of moldy tomatoes 

warcrimenancydrew:

we got a question on AAGU about if white people can make casual racist jokes with their POC friends if their POC friends don’t seem to mind it and seem to be okay with it. i said nope because no racism allowed, not even in the context of jokes. and then i got another ask from a POC saying that just because you think a POC might be okay with it doesn’t mean they are, and many people of color don’t speak up or call out offensive stuff all the time just because generally when we’re hanging out with friends, we don’t want people to start treating us like we’re overdramatic or causing problems, etc. sometimes it’s just better to keep quiet and let it happen.

and i think that’s such an important point because even in my own personal experience, like calling out your white friends is most definitely NOT an easy thing to do. white people don’t realize that and keep making the jokes and thinking “well my POC friends are ok with it, so it must be ok”. that’s why “my black friend said this” is bullshit because your black friend might just be lying to you so you won’t freak out and accuse them of creating drama. they might just be hiding their actual feelings because guess what? standing up to mobs of casually racist, entitled white people is not easy.

i remember for my last couple of years of high school, my close friends started making terrorist jokes about me, and it was fine at first because it was supposed to be funny and only a joke and of course they didn’t REALLY feel that way etc etc. but then it got annoying because it was the same 10 unclever stupid little jokes, and then people who weren’t my close friends but rather just people i saw around at school did it too. and finally i was just like “ok you guys stop. this has gotten too annoying, i want you to stop.” and they all told me i was being too dramatic because “damn, it’s just a joke.”

but before the breaking point, i dealt with it quietly. whenever i’d meet someone new, i’d think “oh yay this person knows not to make terrorist jokes about me, finally some relief.” when i was a senior, i thought, “yay i’m going to college where people won’t make terrorist jokes about me!” and then one of my friends who was gonna go to college with me started doing it in high school, and i literally remember almost crying and being like “no please you can’t start because then it’ll happen throughout college too.”

that’s what happens. i’d venture to say most POC don’t particularly think your shit is that funny, but they don’t wanna be the one person causing problems. so no, white people, casual racist jokes are never okay, no matter how much fun you think your POC friends are having with it too.

thisiswhitehistory:

Day 18 of White History Month: Brownface and Romani Persecution (by moonandthewitch)

In contemporary media, the image of the Gypsy is a staple archetype.  From Disney movies to popular fantasy novels the romanticized version of a real ethnic group, the Romani people, can be found. The archetype of the free spirited Gypsy is so popular that it is often replicated through costume, from casual Halloween interpretations to Renaissance faire actors.  The act of “playing Gypsy” has an incredibly dark history, and can be dated back to Renaissance court theatre.

During the 16th century, Western European courts became increasingly obsessed with the exotic.  Around the same time, the Romani people, an ethnic group originally from India, started migrating west from Eastern Europe to escape enslavement.  Due to the supposed “exotic” looks of the Roma people, many courtiers and actors donned brown face paint and blackened hair, mimicking the ethnic group.  The English in particular were intrigued by the foreign language and looks of the Romani, and called them “Gypsies” believing they came from Egypt.  Faux Gypsydom became incredibly popular during masquerades and theatrical performances, and many early modern English plays focused on the subject of the Gypsy, often portraying the ethnic groups as deceptive and mysterious, easily praying on the gullible white Englishman or Spaniard.  The fetishization of Romani people, perpetuated by Renaissance brown-face mimicking the illusive Gypsy, caused a rise in oversexualization of Romani women. Many Romani were coerced to entertain in court for white nobility, who further sexualized and fetishized the ethnic group. 

Because of English xenophobia and the stereotypes of the Gypsy thief, England’s love affair with the fetishization of Romani people took a dark turn, and England instated their Gypsy laws in 1554, which made it illegal to be a Roma in England, and was punishable by death.  Many other European Countries instated similar laws, causing Romani to adopt a nomadic lifestyle in search for safe havens.  This law also made it illegal to be a “counterfeit gypsy,” or one who donned brown-face, as it made it difficult to tell who was white and who was Roma. Fears of swindling Gypsies and with the need for white supremacy in a budding colonial empire, England often transported Roma people to the American colonies as slaves and indentured servants.  Many other countries, such as Portugal and Spain, did the same, using Roma people as forced labor in Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas.

Though England and many other European countries made the existence of Romani people illegal, fetishization of Romani people continued to be popular in theatrical performances, such as Ben Jonson’s The Gypsies Metomorphosis and Bizet’s Carmen, down to allusions of Cleopatra’s Gypsy nature in Shakespeare’s play.  Many of these performances employed the use of brown face to mimic the exotic and perceived “ugly” physical attributes of Roma people.

White people’s fascination with the figure of the Gypsy continues to this day, with Renaissance faires employing Gypsy troops and media productions and works of fiction carrying the torch of the exotic stereotype, whether it be the Gypsy trickster, The Gitana prostitute, or the Cigany sorcerer, baring little to no difference of Renaissance fetishization of Roma people.  

"It is really hard for the brown girls to get on certain sets. Very hard for the brown girl. And I’ve been doing Rihanna’s hair since 2007… through every look that everybody loved, hated, maybe liked, maybe disliked… but still talked about it regardless. And there are editorials that will come up, and those people who are the decision makers will say that they don’t want me. They want to use their own people. So how can you want this artist to be in your magazine because of the way she looks which I had something to do with, but now you don’t want to use me for your magazine cover? So now they bring anybody in, who, chances are, it’s somebody who is not brown and has no knowledge of black hair. And black hair needs to be understood to be done well and properly. And so you brought this person in because they must have a big name or whatever political reason they have, and then the artist is not happy because her hair looks like shit. It’s a crazy thing. As a black stylist, I’ve always been able to go on the set and do black, white, Asian, and all types of hair. But we can’t get the job. They wont give us the job."
-

Ursula Stephen (Rihanna’s hair stylist) is really fucking smart. (via pussyharvest)

This is why there is a long history of black female artists being tagged as divas for refusing to let anyone they didn’t know touch their hair. White people who don’t know how to do black hair are incredibly common in the industry, but we’re all supposed to pretend they know even when it leaves people bald. That’s a level of privileged logic that I don’t get, but I hear pretty often.

(via karnythia)

Remember that hair school chick who got all pissy because a WOC demanded that she get a WOC to do her hair??? This is exactly how that shit works. The narcissism of these folks actin like they the best but don’t know a co wash from a hot oil treatment when it comes to Black hair.

(via sourcedumal)

kolkhara:

USA Modern Flag - Iraqi Artist Hanaa’ Malallah