Status Updates From I've Got Your Back: The Ind...

Okay, this book is well meaning, but it keeps saying stuff like "harassment isn't your fault, and it isn't up to you to change your behaviour" and it's like, yeah ofc, but also, uh, nah, I think I'll keep dressing in boy mode in hostile spaces tyvm? There's a reason women only, queer friendly, immigrant centred spaces have been created. To avoid hostile spaces. It's the pragmatics of staying alive 🙄

hehe, the black panthers are mentioned in the first chapter of this book >:3

im lowkey loving these radical books disguised as fluffy self-help/management books

When we do the small, sometimes uncomfortable acts of setting boundaries, saying “no,” moving and nourishing our bodies, caring for our mental and emotional health, and/or asking for what we need and deserve, we heal and grow. When we take care of ourselves, we “power up” to take care of those around us.

Bystander intervention takes courage, but its effect is tangible. It shows people who are experiencing harassment that they aren’t alone, and that what happened to them isn’t okay. It’s a step closer to a world free from harassment...When you witness harassment, you have the opportunity to directly change culture by modeling a new way to show up.

in My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies, psychological trauma has the potential to alter the epigenetic makeup of future generations. The mark doesn’t directly mutate the gene, it alters the mechanism by which the gene expresses itself. These chemical marks are passed down from generation to generation. They shape how we respond to the traumas in our own lives.

In The Mindbody Prescription, John E. Sarno demonstrates that when we don’t make adequate space in our lives for our emotional pain, the body can get creative and express emotional pain as physical pain—from ulcers to back pain to autoimmune disorders. The brain can even withhold adequate oxygen from a part of our body in order to create pain where there otherwise is no physical problem.

"When no one does anything, it makes the situation worse...the trauma associated with others observing harassment but not offering any form of support is oftentimes worse than the trauma of the original incident."

–Read that again, people. Your silence is the worst thing you can do.

Don’t be shy about tapping in some men, white folks, cis folks, or able-bodied people the next time you see harassment happening. It shouldn’t be on folks who disproportionately experience harassment to do all the work.