When I was in my twenties, I was repeatedly denied a medically necessary hysterectomy because I might “meet a man who wants kids”.
I was left completely disabled, forced to undergo six surgeries, multiple blood & iron transfusions to preserve a diseased uterus for a HYPOTHETICAL child.
This happened in Canada, where we tend to be more Liberal than our neighbours to the South.
I was cishet and white, so faced less barriers to care than marginalized people do.
I still wasn’t permitted to make a decision about my own body.
Wasn’t trusted to know my own mind
I had zero quality of life. There was no way I could have been a mother even if I HAD wanted to (which I didn’t).
Yet a hypothetical future husband’s needs and desires were repeatedly put before my own.
I was told I would feel differently once I was “in love”. That my dream man would leave me
Basically imagine every misogynistic and patriarchal nonsense you’ve ever been told… I heard it all.
I watched my twenties slip away from a hospital bed, confused and disheartened by the fact that I couldn’t convince any doctors to let me make the choice that was best for my life & body
I eventually did get the hysterectomy, but only because I was literally bleeding to death.
What could have been a planned & controlled operation was done as an emergency and left me with tons of complications.
Autonomy doesn’t exist for uterus owners. And we’re losing more each day
I tell this story because I feel sick over what’s happening to Adriana Smith in Georgia.
She was a black nurse who tried to seek medical care. She was dismissed and it cost her life.
Now because of an abortion ban her body is being kept alive for a 9 week old fetus.
Her family had no say in the matter. She’s been turned into an incubator by the State. Had “care” forced upon her despite the fact that she couldn’t access proper care when she was alive.
The same day I found out about Adriana, I discovered that police in the UK are being given guidance on how to search a woman’s home & devices for any reference to abortion after a pregnancy loss.
Choice is an illusion. So is autonomy. And it shouldn’t be.
I don’t know where we go from here, but I do know that if I faced a battle to obtain a hysterectomy, more marginalized people living in less Liberal areas have it far far worse.
We need to tell our stories. I’ve told this story before, and I’m going to keep telling it until none of us suffer this way.
For the Adriana’s who can’t tell their story. For those we’ve lost and will lose. For the next generation.
We need to keep fighting for true autonomy. We need to support each other.
We need to make it clear that we do not agree with patriarchal fascist means of controlling our reproductive organs and by extension, our lives.
When we share stories, we help others know they aren’t alone. We educate people on how far we are from equality. We change hearts and minds
#patriarchy #misogyny #fuckthepatriarchy #fascism #roevwade #abortion #womenshealth #disability #ableism #misogynoir #womenshealth
Someone on tumblr made the comment "silverfish are REAL?" on one of my posts and I didn't think much of it, but then one of my students said the same thing when I showed them a silverfish near one of the vents explaining what they are and why they were there.
That's when it hit me.
MINECRAFT
They think it's a made up creature from minecraft!
(Totally gonna tell them that endermites and shulkers are real too next time this happens. heh heh heh heh)
One of the two requirements (minimum thresholds in at least 7 countries) has been REACHED today!
- France (862%)
- Spain (266%)
- Belgium (235%)
- Finland (228%)
- Ireland (161%)
- The Netherlands (154%)
- Slovenia (108%)
- Germany (100%)
The second requirement is 1 million supporters. We are at around 870.000 as of the time I post this. Let's get it across the line! And far beyond!
Please vote now on the petition to ban conversion therapy in the EU. In the past few days the petition made a huge jump and is now really close to reach the 1 million target which would put it on the official agenda so this demand can become binding law. Let's show that the EU can do this. Democracy and community for a better world! Tell your friends, family!
I was asked by a 20 year younger friend how my internet was back then. I needed a moment but then I told her the story of an IRC channel and how we made the day for a young girl who happened to be on our IRC channel. Because this is what my internet was like back then and I wish sometimes it still was like this. Let me tell the story:
I was 25, the channel members were like 20 to 30 years old. Somehow this young girl found her way to us. She was 14 when she joined the channel. >>
“In 2003, after discovering that the majority of chocolate produced at the time had links to human exploitation, Dutch television producer and journalist Teun van de Keuken began producing programs about the horrors of the commercial cocoa industry on his show Keuringsdienst van Waarde. Furthermore, he submitted a request to be prosecuted for knowingly purchasing an illegally manufactured product, which prosecutors declined to do.
After three years of unsuccessful attempts to change the industry through investigative efforts, van de Keuken decided to start producing chocolate bars himself.“
The little editor that could by Kay Lack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoyNMFccbow
Trans woman, bisexual, someone's fiancée, forever a programmer, poly, and former total mess