Quickies 1/16/2012
By A 2006 honor killing in Turkey inspired the movie Zenne. The recently released movie explores sexuality and bases a main character on the victim, Ahmet Yildiz, a young student who was murdered by his father for being gay. The filmmakers, who were friends of Ahmet, have also come out, risking their lives and their reputations to fight homophobia.
One consequence of the Arab Spring may sadly be increased homophobia, as anti-gay Islamists gain power previously held by secular dictators.
Tennessee legislators have introduced a bill to require a birth certificate to get into the dressing room at Sears. No, really.
Assemblyman Floyd does explain his mental shortcomigns in great detail: “I cannot imagine firing anybody for something like that. I just cannot, I cannot grasp that, I can’t get my mind around it.” Something tells me this is not Floyd’s first encounter with his own intellectual deficits.
Radical Transfeminist wrote an amazing article on consent and social negotiation. The take-home point is that it’s only around sex that some people mysteriously lose the ability to interpret social cues as clear “no”s if they don’t literally contain the word “no.”
The image is a screencapture of the movie, Zenne.
The linked article doesn’t mention it, but it’s important to remember Floyd’s other public comment about the issue: “I believe if I was standing at a dressing room and my wife or one of my daughters was in the dressing room and a man tried to go in there — I don’t care if he thinks he’s a woman and tries on clothes with them in there — I’d just try to stomp a mudhole in him and then stomp him dry.”
http://womenshealthnews.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/tennessee-state-rep-richard-floyd-threatens-to-stomp-transgender-women/
It looks like you might have forgotten to put in the link for the last article. A quick google search finds this, which I believe is what you’re talking about.
Thanks, Infophile.
That other quote is pretty goddamn horrifying.
That guy is a piece of work. In an interview for WTVF News, he claimed that his bill “doesn’t penalize anyone,” “protects everyone,” and that he doesn’t care what transgender people think. The takeaway from this is: The proposed bill penalizes nobody. The proposed bill penalizes transgender people. Therefore, transgender people are nobody. It’s safe to do this kind of thing if the people you’re penalizing aren’t human, eh?
I’ve been in a black mood all week.
Gah, birth certificate? Seriously? What is with these people and feeling threatened by anything even slightly outside of their narrow mindset?
Also that was a very interesting article on consent, especially in atmospheres involving alcohol, thanks. Its a good sentiment to spread around. If you’re worried about being perceived as a rapist in a situation you might as well already be one.
I’m trying to remember who said it; (Hitchens?) “…brittle desperation…”
The world is changing, fundamentally (I hope), and some of our fellow travelers are having a problem accepting it. Many people are coming face-to-face with the realization that what they believe just isn’t working and, *gasp*, may not be true.
Keep up the good work, kids; my eight-year-old granddaughter is right behind you. I need her world to be a much better place.