Sky Six

After Being Failed by My College's Administration, I Posted My Rapist's Name and Photo on the Internet

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:00:52 -0400

After Being Failed by My College's Administration, I Posted My Rapist's Name and Photo on the Internet :

The story of my rape is full of those “How-could-you-be-so-stupid?” moments that enable outsiders –– often police, district attorneys and academic staff –– to dismiss a victim’s claims. As if a woman’s “stupidity” can magically transmute rape into not-rape. As if naïveté is a rapeable offense[…]

I was told by two attorneys — I could post my rapist’s name to the Internet, if I felt it was necessary to my emotional health. And so I did.

I posted both his and mine. It was my emphatic rejection of both invisibility and shame. Women from all over responded –– thanking me, telling me that I had given them the courage to say the word “rape” and speak the name of their rapists. And for their sisterhood, I am profoundly grateful, because it helped make me feel visible and human again.

Recently, I was also counter-sued by my rapist for libel. And I will meet him in court with his confessions. Yes, I was “stupid” to trust him not to rape, to be confused that he had raped me, and to try to transform that violence into something human. But my stupidity does not transmute his crime. The rape was still a rape. And I will do all I can to make him reckon for it.

Photo

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:30:53 -0400

theurbancyclist: cyclivist: tactiletexture: What road signs...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:04:04 -0400

theurbancyclist:

cyclivist:

tactiletexture: What road signs would look like if designed by cyclists

I love the “Your Call” sign

NYC Subways Deploy A Touch-Screen Network, Complete With...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:55:07 -0400

NYC Subways Deploy A Touch-Screen Network, Complete With Apps

HERE’S AN INSIDE LOOK AT A BOLD NEW INITIATIVE TO MODERNIZE NYC’S DIGITAL SUBWAY INFRASTRUCTURE.

via fastcompany:

Creating Allies among Active Transportation Users

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:36:58 -0400

Now that spring is finally (finally) rolling around, my Twitter feed has been slowly filling up with caution to cyclists to “ride safe” and educate them on how to cycle in a legal manner.

Naturally, I sent out my own tweet along the lines of: “Cyclist safety tip: don’t hit cyclists with your car.” Naturally, someone responded, annoyed that I wasn’t thinking of the pedestrian.

Yes, some cyclists share spaces with pedestrians and indeed some pedestrians are injured. But complaining about that to someone who just wants to see fewer folks hit by cars (whether it’s a bus user, a skateboarder, a pedestrian, or a cyclist, these deaths are horrible) is useless and vitriolic.

Active transportation users need to work together as allies in solidarity and fight for safer spaces. We don’t need wider roads; we need a modal shift on how we get around. Attacking potential allies is not the way to go about it.

What Facebook Continues To Tell Us About Violence Against Women

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:30:25 -0400

What Facebook Continues To Tell Us About Violence Against Women:

There is a photograph being shared in Facebook of a woman cowering in a corner, eyes downcast, as large man standing in the foreground swings his fist at her head. The caption reads, “Women deserve equal rights. And lefts.”

As I wrote last week, a common retort to all of this is, “This is the Internet. It’s offensive. If you don’t like it, leave.” But, Facebook is NOT “the Internet.” That’s why it fascinates me – because it illustrates how norms work and how they can be challenged. Facebook has principles and community standards that create a reasonable expectation in users that it will enforce rules it itself has established in an unbiased manner.

Rehtaeh Parsons shows how Facebook's connectedness has driven us apart

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:01:30 -0400

Rehtaeh Parsons shows how Facebook's connectedness has driven us apart :

“I can never get that photo back, it’s out there forever.” That’s one of the notes that B.C. teenager Amanda Todd held up in a video she made before she died by suicide. She, too, had been harassed online by someone she’d flashed her breasts at; the picture outlived her. In that case, too, Canadians were outraged, at least for a little while.

We need Susan Sontag to return and explain to us the connection between ubiquity of cameras and the weird anomie that lies behind this behaviour. On one hand, it occurs to me that technology is moving so quickly that we haven’t had time to lay down the ethical tracks for it to move along. We don’t yet know the consequences of young people growing up with 24-hour access to free, sexually explicit images, in which women are often degraded and intimacy is a transaction. On the other hand, I think: How hard can these lessons be? Don’t harm another person. Don’t film yourself harming another person. Don’t distribute images of a person being harmed.

Despite a billion lessons in equality and tolerance, we have yet to pass on the message that women are not things or tools or devices for sexual gratification. In particular, young men – not all, not a majority, but enough for it to be a problem – have failed to grasp this basic truth. I wonder, as I see legitimate news organizations run headlines like Jennifer Lawrence Most Wanted To Star In Sex Tape, if we ever will […]
“The objectifier treats the objectified as a mere tool of his ends, and not an end in herself.” When that relationship is amplified online, as it increasingly is, it becomes much worse, because the subject then experiences humiliation over and over: “To objectify publicly is a variety of shame punishment.”

Third Rail is a Game That Lets You Redesign the Subway System

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:59:20 -0400

thirdrailgame:

Here’s how it works: Each turn, you build some track and add a new station. And so do your opponents. Because you’re not the only line in town, you have competition. Your goal is to serve as many desirable blocks as possible, while keeping your opponents at bay. How? Well, every piece of track you lay down cannot be crossed. So every turn, you are building walls. The only way through is via stations.

Over time a subway system will develop, its layout determined by how you and your opponents have chosen to play the game.

That’s my elevator pitch. If you ever meet me in person and ask me about my game, I’ll say something like that. Try to look surprised.

shortformblog: Today in videos that will blow your mind: This...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:44:00 -0400

shortformblog:

Today in videos that will blow your mind: This is called a “Hyperlapse,” a time-lapse video built with a number of camera movements. This would be cool on its own (the process is generally very time-consuming), but the really awesome part is this: It was created using publicly-available Google Streetview data. There’s even a tool that helps you make your own. The results are rad in that way that few things are. I’m gonna stop talking now. Just watch.

boundbylove: blue snow flash trip by supercoco__ on Flickr.

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:30:45 -0400

boundbylove:

blue snow flash trip by supercoco__ on Flickr.

Met with some safety representatives today!

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:15:00 -0400

Thanks to everyone who recommended me those bike light/ reflector companies! I had a meeting with my university’s campus safety and our city’s safety division. We’ve got a lot of ideas rolling around. Woohoo!

bicyclestore: Cyclists can be hard to see ‘Share the Road’...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:12:39 -0400

bicyclestore:

Cyclists can be hard to see

‘Share the Road’ campaign. Email at info@life-cycle.co for the hi-res posters.

This is what people see as they commute to work in...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:11:25 -0400

This is what people see as they commute to work in Philly.

Hollaback Philly is absolutely doing it right.

This is quite brilliant because it actively challenges the problems of the ruling patriarchy and its impact on street harassment and (most importantly) shows why its wrong.

Photos of Children From Around the World With Their Most Prized Possessions

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:09:44 -0400

Photos of Children From Around the World With Their Most Prized Possessions:

Shot over a period of 18 months, Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s project Toy Stories compiles photos of children from around the world with their prized possesions—their toys. Galimberti explores the universality of being a kid amidst the diversity of the countless corners of the world; saying, “at their age, they are pretty all much the same; they just want to play.”

But it’s how they play that seemed to differ from country to country. Galimberti found that children in richer countries were more possessive with their toys and that it took time before they allowed him to play with them (which is what he would do pre-shoot before arranging the toys), whereas in poorer countries he found it much easier to quickly interact, even if there were just two or three toys between them.

There were similarites too, especially in the functional and protective powers the toys represented for their proud owners. Across borders, the toys were reflective of the world each child was born into—economic status and daily life affecting the types of toys children found interest in. Toy Stories doesn’t just appeal in its cheerful demeanor, but it really becomes quite the anthropological study.

Un-Memorizing the “Silence is Sexy” Date Script

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:30:32 -0400

Un-Memorizing the “Silence is Sexy” Date Script:

A woman once told me pointedly something that has stayed with me to this day. We were kissing. Lying on the cold wood floor, my hand traveled across her stomach and she whispered, “I think we should take it slow.” I agreed immediately. Before moving in to kiss her again, I said, “Just tell me when to stop.”
This, I thought, was considerate. Respectful. Sexy. But she quickly corrected my mistake. Pulling away from me, her face took on a serious expression and the words she spoke illuminated a misunderstanding I had long nurtured, even as I knew myself to be a thoughtful feminist with much respect for other women.

In essence, what she said was, “Women are not given enough opportunities to say ‘yes.’”

eightyonextra: Leader Bike 735 TR Photo: eightyonextra

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:49:07 -0400

eightyonextra:

Leader Bike 735 TR

Photo: eightyonextra

Hating on Feminism? I get that.

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:43:35 -0400

Hating on Feminism? I get that.:

I believe in equality, but I’m not a feminist. I’m an empowered woman, but not a feminist. Women and men should both have rights, but seriously? Feminism is stupid and antiquated. The goals of feminism have been accomplished, what’s the big deal? Feminism is causing high divorce rates. It’s depressing women and de-motivating men. Why can’t we just get along?? I’m so mad! I hate feminists these days! They are so selfish and deluded and they get angry about everything! I swear, they need to just shut up and relax!

I read these complaints nearly every day I’m on the internet, and certainly every day I blog. You would have to be living under a rock not to see it. For every feminist talking it seems like there are a dozen anti-feminists screaming at them.

I completely understand why so many people hate feminism these days. Feminism sucks now, because generally it means looking at the world and seeing a big fat problem nearly everywhere you turn. Nobody enjoys that. This might come as a surprise, but feminists aren’t having a grand ole’ time. They’re not self-indulgent like people seem to think, or only concerned about whining and asking for more; they have made the difficult choice to accept and live with awful truths and dedicate themselves to fighting an almost impenetrable force.

A day on which I wake up and think, “Fuckin’ yeah!! Today I get to fight the patriarchy! Wooo hoooo!” is a very special day. Days like that are nice. But that’s not every day. Usually I think, “Ugh. Fuck the damn world. I have to fight the patriarchy. This sucks.” Because it’s hard, and I’d rather live in a perfect world and not have to worry about it. So I completely identify with the temptation to deny the thing exists.
Feminism has always faced serious opposition; it’s never been easy. During the women’s suffrage movement, men certainly weren’t jumping up and down about it. They were all, “get out of our voting booths and stop making a stink!” But look at what happened. They passed women’s suffrage because it became too hard to ignore. The law was obvious and staring them in the face. You can only see inequality written on paper and turn the other cheek for so long before you have to admit it’s right there in front of you.

Pretending You’re Oppressed: The New Internet Fad

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:41:46 -0400

Pretending You’re Oppressed: The New Internet Fad :

On top blogging sites like Tumblr and Livejournal, the biggest new fandom is no longer anime or evening fantasy drama, but that of “SJ,” a nickname for “social justice,” which refers to discourse on equal rights and how to, essentially, be kind and respectful to all people. As a trans person of color, I have used these platforms as a means of communication, of activism, and a way to maintain my own sanity in one of the rare environments in which I can sometimes feel both safe and totally myself.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are many cases where it’s definitely needed. The recent shooting and death of Trayvon Martin at the hands of George Zimmerman, who was initially let go on self-defense despite a recording of Martin screaming for his life and well-documented violence and racist comments, would be one of those cases. The still-existing legislation in the U.S. that makes it possible to fire transgender individuals for their gender identity would be another. There are legitimate issues that need to be addressed in our society, there’s no denying that. The need spawned things like Occupy Wall Street and SlutWalk, major movements evolving out of small internet conversations.

But as everyone on the internet knows, where there is light, there is dark.

What started as a movement by people who are suffering to try to help those of us who are privileged to understand their struggle has now become a mockery, hijacked by people whose only tangible shared problem could be described — and recognized by anyone with common sense — as social ineptitude.

They sit, watching equal rights discussions, hearing the terminology and logic, and take it for their own purposes. They quote famous activists far out of context to add that elusive air of legitimacy where it just doesn’t exist. By carefully and secretly treating their “fight” as equal to racism, transphobia, homophobia and classism, they worm their way into the real issues and cleverly tilt words designed to protect to disregard those who are at actual risk for losing their jobs and their lives.

The base of this false movement is “identity.” You’ve probably heard the term “identity politics” used to refer to people who believe that identity colors one’s experiences, and this idea is not without merit. Identity is an important concept, and is essential to the fighting of bigoted stereotypes and ideas about marginalized groups. It is very easy for people who have never lived or seen a certain kind of oppression personally to believe that it just doesn’t happen, even despite statistics. But people who seek to misuse the term take that concept all the way down the slippery slope. According to them, as long as someone identifies as something, it is true. No exceptions.

Think about that for a minute.

Do you identify as a butterfly? Then you are one. Do you identify as a pie? Then you are full of buttery, fruitilicious goodness. If you follow the “to each their own” philosophy, one could almost wave the basic idea as long as it didn’t interfere with, you know, reality. But this is the dark side of the internet, and it devours all common sense like a black hole eats light. And we’ve already crossed the event horizon. Anything not mainstream is “oppressed” in this wonderland. Wielding identity as a weapon, one can entirely remove themselves from personal responsibility for their part in harming others, and ultimately, any negativity at all.

Ever hear of otherkin, or otakukin? They refer to people who “identify” as animals or anime characters. I’m pretty open, do whatever you want as long as you’re not bugging me. According to some, though, lack of widespread acceptance of otherkin is contributing to mass otherkin oppression. Oh? Otherkin are being rounded up from their homes and killed? No? Are they being fired from jobs for being otherkin? Not that either, huh? Are they at least being disproportionately arrested and thrown in jail with sentences 60% longer than non-otherkin? Well then what IS going on? They’re… being ostracized on the internet. Oh.

But otherkin and their ilk have been around for ever. Try googling “Final Fantasy VII House.” Pick a time to read when you have a few free hours and a lot of booze. Now, there are newer, even more mockable “oppressions” coming out. You’ve heard of transgender and transsexual, let me introduce you to the new trans people: transabled and transethnic. Transabled people are disabled people hiding out in perfectly working bodies. They “identify” as blind, deaf, paraplegic and quadriplegic despite having never been so a day in their entire lives, and are well-known for talking about how hard it is to want to be disabled but unable to be. Transethnic people are white people who “identify” as a non-white race or ethnicity. They’re weeaboos multiplied by a million, with bonus “I learned about your culture in a book I read once so I know more than you.”

But not all the ridiculous “oppressions” are this out there. What normal people call “mild inconveniences,” some have blown up into full scale witch hunts. Like “kinky oppression.” The belief that people thinking your love of handcuffs in the bedroom is weird is exactly the same as getting beaten in the street for being gay, which leads to the coined term “vanilla privilege,” the preference and favoring of those who don’t engage in any kind of kink in society. Or “body mod oppression” and “goth oppression.” Oppression is just as easy as shopping for overpriced skull-themed clothing at Hot Topic, hopping down to the local tattoo parlor, and getting that box of two dollar head dye from the corner shop!

My personal favorite of these new, ridiculous “oppressions” is when people cross so far into this realm that, to them, the norm is oppressed. Fundamentalist Christians have been complaining about their supposed oppression for years, how they are now the ostracized and marginalized in our harsh modern society, and some people have decided to take a page out of their book.

“Demisexuality” is part of the “asexual” grouping. I’d tell you what it means, but demisexual people are confused about it too (and you’ll find about 100 conflicting definitions out there), so I’ll give my understanding. Demisexuality is when people only feel sexual desire for those whose personality they like, or to whom they are emotionally attracted. In other words, they make up most of the population. But they’re very oppressed, if you ask some of them. Oppressed how, exactly? No one knows, but you can’t expect them to provide any evidence. That would be wrong.

[…] But besides being all very ridiculous, it does have a clear-cut, damaging effect to legitimate oppression, those where people are actually dying, becoming homeless, being forced into prostitution, and living in dire poverty, unable to get a hand up. When you take the words of those who truly suffer, not because they feel emotions while sitting in their middle-class home behind their thousand dollar computer, but because they spent 15 years in jail on a trumped up charge they didn’t even commit, and are now unable to get a job due to stigmatization that doesn’t apply across the board, those people now receive less of the sympathy and help they need to survive. For every person that complains that a disagreement on the internet about their catbunnyanimusparklegirl status triggers them (despite them continuing the argument until the wee hours of the morning), someone who is so triggered they can barely breathe, curled up, reliving trauma, is invalidated, ignored, and not provided what they need.

irishboyinlondon: Love this! Coffee and...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 13:30:51 -0400

irishboyinlondon:

Love this! Coffee and urbanism!

dunnefrankowski:

Urban Coffee Farm

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival has engaged design firm Hassell to create an interactive central “festival hub” for consumers to gain and understanding of where their coffee comes from, while enjoying the a cup in the outdoors.

Inspired by the terroir of coffee growing regions of Guatemala, the installation made made out of pallet’s and housing more the 120 coffee plants. Tells the story of how coffee gets to the consumer from different parts of the world as well as focusing on sustainability and ethics. Creating an urban environment in a thoroughfare which has up to 50,000 people pass through it everyday.

Frankowski

nycbikecommuter: Timehop let me know that I reblogged this...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 11:49:35 -0400

nycbikecommuter:

Timehop let me know that I reblogged this exactly one year ago. It’s crazy how a year later it happened to me. I’m still in a little bit of shock and yesterday seems like a blur but the bruises definitely remind me.

highheelsandtwowheels:

Biking everywhere, everyday, I knew sooner or later it would happen. I got doored yesterday. This has to be my worst bang-up to date. I was traveling down King St., when a BMW opened their driver side door with no time for me to swerve. I went flying and my bike and heels stayed behind. When I rolled over and saw the giant swelling on my leg, I could have sworn it was broken. A nurse ran to my aid and informed me if I could wiggle my toes, it was probably not. While lying in the street, my friend Stacy happened to be trying to find parking and was the first car to come upon me and the gathering crowd. I was lifted onto the sidewalk, 911 was called - but I wasn’t bleeding profusely nor had my head hit the pavement - so, I declined the expensive ambulance ride.

And then I vomited. It was sort of a blur of tears and bruises after that. Stacy and her passenger, our friend, Larry helped me home. The cops didn’t come to the scene of the accident, I called them after - once I calmed down - but they said there wasn’t much they could do. I did get a name and plate number though and have contacted a local bike law group to see what I should do next.

I went to the doctor for x-rays today and have had a permanent ice bag strapped to my leg and hand. I know it doesn’t look too bad (thank goodness the streets were clean and smooth where I fell), and it isn’t terrible, but I’m definitely shaken. I assume the bike is fine (haven’t tested it yet), but I think I’ll be walking for a bit.

p.s. I went looking for a video - cried when he got hit here, because that was the exact noise I made

p.p.s. I don’t normally have sausage fingers. My leg looks very similar - with a giant hematoma attached.

I just reblogged this TWO DAYS ago and yesterday, I was able to successfully report my first aggressive driver. I wasn’t hit or injured, just really shaken up (as is always the case when I am almost hit or someone screams at me).

Weirdass coincidence.

The worst part is that I biked 750m from the train to my house… it wasn’t even that far. I biked 20km per day in the summer and wasn’t able to report anyone (not enough info) but the one day I barely bike at all, it happens. Weird.