Maria > Recent Status Updates

CW: OCD-related self harm

White Americans have a “chronic fear … of what true justice might require.”

“Without the stolen labor of formerly enslaved people, the region’s economy swiftly collapsed, and without the institution of slavery, there was no longer a formal mechanism for maintaining racial hierarchy and preventing “amalgamation” with a group of people considered intrinsically inferior and vile.”

“The Haitian act of independence radically upended the basic premise of white supremacy upon which slavery rested, and asserted Black people’s fundamental human rights to liberty and self-governance.”

“In Virginia, then, to be Black was to be enslaved. To be free and Black was to be a threat.”

“This notion—that Black people were inherently devious and criminal, and that white people were required to monitor and police them—ultimately defined the nature of race relations in the United States.”

“Nothing has proved more threatening to our democracy, or more devastating to Black communities, than white fear of Black freedom dreams.”

“The glaring double standard reflects a centuries-old pattern in which Black strivings for liberation have been demonized, criminalized, and subjected to persecution, while white people’s demands for liberty are deemed rational, legitimate, and largely unthreatening.”

“Black culture is one of America’s greatest exports and certainly one of its most profitable.”

Page xxxii: “… true democracy has been attempted in this country only since 1965 …”

Page xxxi: “[W]hite Americans desire to be free of a past they do not want to remember, while Black Americans remain bound to a past they can never forget.”

Page xxx: “The story of Black America cannot be disentangled from the story of America, and our attempts to do so have forced us to tell ourselves a tale full of absences, evasions, and lies that fails to satisfactorily explain the society we live in and leaves us unable to become the society we want to be.”

Ch 12

“Justice for all requires White awakening. -Albert Marten • San Antonio, TX”

Ch 5

Can’t stand the interactions between Perrin and Faile.

Jordan is very good at world building, but poor at relationship building. So many couples getting together, but it’s really unclear why they’re into each other.

“When it comes to birth control, and really, life in general, we favor preserving men’s convenience, peace of mind, and pleasure over preventing or relieving women’s suffering.”

The drug in Viagra, originally studied for potential heart benefits, was also shown to have “significant and lasting relief for women suffering from serious period pain.” But they didn’t continue research in that direction because, “They believed that cramps were *not a public health priority*” despite half the population menstruating.

“Ive heard a vasectomy is out as invasive and painful as getting an IUD implanted. […] But here’s the thing, vasectomies are *always* performed with at least a local anesthetic, while pain meds are *rarely if ever* used for IUD insertions.”

Despite very promising results, the trial on male hormonal birth control was stopped because of the side effects. “But side effects for women’s birth control options are just as serious, if not more so — yet millions of ware still prescribed these drugs and ingest them daily.”

The husband stitch?!?!?!

“ We don’t mind if women suffer, as long as it makes things easier for men.”

“Did my Southern Grandpa attend lynchings?”

Almost identical to what I wrote myself.

Women have “been taught the pleasure and convenience of men are paramount. We’ve been taught to diminish our own pain. […] [W]e’ve put the burden of pregnancy prevention on women. We’ve put the burden on the person who is fertile for 24 hours a month, instead of the person who is fertile 24 hours a day, every day of their life.”

[W]e’ve been told […] that it doesn’t feel as good as sex without a condom. (Meaning it doesn’t feel as good *for men.* What it feels like for their partner doesn’t really enter into the discussion.)

“Successful condom users report that once they solved the size, materials, and lubrication questions, they could barely tell a difference between sex with a condom and sex without.”