• Only 1% of abortions are performed after the 24th week of pregnancy.
• Poor women and women of color are more likely to have late-term abortions due to lack of access to abortion care.
• The other most common reasons for needing a late-term abortion is when either the pregnant person’s life is in danger, or the fetus will have a fatal birth defect.
• Most state laws that prohibit abortion either outlaw it at a certain number of weeks or at “fetal viability,” which is a broad medical term set anywhere from 24 weeks to 28 weeks. However, many states prohibit abortion as early as 12 weeks.
• So-called “crisis pregnancy centers” take advantage of these state laws by saying the fetus is earlier in development than it actually is, so if the pregnant person eventually decides to have an abortion, they find out they are too late in development and cannot be given one.

So if you think that those in need of a late-term abortion are just indecisive people, you are vastly incorrect.

Okay, so I want people to check out the avangers tag and look at any collection of Avengers gifs or pictures or clips that feature all of the Avengers together and focus specifically on the way Black Widow is portrayed as opposed to the men of the group.

Sorry I can’t link to it but I remember one where it was a collection of gifs featuring all of the Avengers and all of the men were doing something active, from flying, to roaring, to shooting an arrow.

Black Widow on the other hand, just had an explosion behind her that she probably caused and woohoo, but she was the passive one in comparison to her male counterparts. Now, I haven’t seen the movie so I can’t say anything about the movie portrayal, but multiple fan-made gif/photosets that I’ve seen often have this pattern of Black Widow as the passive recipient of action rather than as an instigator like the male members of the team are. 

Or when there’s a picture of all of them together facing the camera, all the men usually look tough like here, yet she is often situated giving a sexy look or smoldering position and looks just kind of weird and off-putting compared to the men.

And again, the movie has just been released so many of this fan-made stuff is made only from materials released to the public, so perhaps it is not directly tied to the actual portrayal of Black Widow in the film, but it is tied to how the audience is supposed to take in Black Widow as opposed to the other male members.

And you can say “it’s just a movie” all you want, but the positioning of women - usually only one woman - against all of the teammates that are men, can say things about the portrayal of the woman as a token or representative of all women, and how they are generalized.

I try not to delude myself into thinking that diversity can fix the representation of POCs/GSMs/women/and combination of the like.

Like, Glee champions itself on diversity but it’s still pretty racist and sexist and pretty poopy on a lot of things. A show just can’t be diverse, it’s gotta be grounded in the reality of that diversity and the ramifications of how diversity would play a part in that world.

Basically, if we try to think of all the current or recent lesbian characters to grace television, mainly looking at American television, we see that despite the awesome overall increase in visibility of lesbians, it has been a trend that has been almost entirely devoid of butch women. 

Think of the current, most prominent fictional lesbian characters on TV right now: Arizona on Grey’s Anatomy, Santana on Glee, Emily Fields on Pretty Little Liars, Fiona on Degrassi, Lauren on Lost Girl, etc. Look in the past at some other well-known lesbian characters: Willow and Tara from Buffy, Spencer from South of Nowhere, almost every lesbian on The L Word that isn’t Tasha or Shane. These are characters that would not be classified as butch. Maybe they have moments of being tough or handy, but they ain’t butch.

Contrast this with the large spectrum of the kind of gay men you see on TV, from the outwardly flamboyant (Cam on Modern Family, Kurt on Glee, Dean Pelton on Community etc.) to straight-up dudes (John Cooper on Southland, Kurofsky on Glee, Max on Happy Endings, etc.) and complete series themselves that show diversity in gay male characters from the main cast to the one-time characters (Nurse Jackie, True Blood, Spartacus series).

So what’s up TV, why do we see much more gender expression diversity in gay men than in gay women?

Well first of all, this is just a trend in TV in general in which male characters are more likely to show diversity in presentation, thought, and action anyway, since most writers, producers, directors, and creators of television shows are men. So of course, that’s a big reason why you see gay male characters in general, and a good portion of why there’s more variation amongst them.

But if we also think of it as a reflection of the way we view gender expression in the media, it’s because the presentation of gay female masculinity on television is actually a threat to straight male masculinity and prowess. Once the field opens up to more players, even if those players don’t necessarily want the same women, then it’s competition, and therefore a threat.

Hypothetically speaking of course, having a greater amount of butch lesbian characters - ranging from Shane from The L Word to Snoop from The Wire - would mean that they could become heart throbs for female characters and audiences, even the straight ones. Butches definitely bring a different kind of energy to the room that even the most hetero-seeming of women cannot deny and straight men cannot mimic.

And what butchness also does is that it threatens the male gaze, because it does not seek to appeal to heterosexual cis men’s ideal of women in any way. Flamboyant gay/bi male characters are generally two-dimensional and function as friends for only the straight female characters and are not generally a threat, masculine gay/bi male characters give “dignity” to being gay and therefore more okay, and feminine gay/bi female characters can still fit into the straight male fantasy of what a lesbian is, and because they are generally conventionally pretty enough to fit the straight male gaze.

But butch women do not fit into the conventions of the male gaze or support the male gaze at all. Butch women can serve no purpose in the straight male gaze than to obstruct it, refute it and invert it, which does not bode well to the fragile male ego in which everything a woman does or is must appeal to them in some way.

And so that’s a huge reason why you see not only many lesbian characters, but also relationships on TV in which both women are femmes - Callie and Arizona, Santana and Brittany, Emily and all of her girlfriends, etc. It’s safer to present women in love if they are both feminine because it’s gay, but not “too gay.” It’s just gay enough so that you know it’s a lesbian couple, but not too gay in that there is not a clear deviation of gender performance that doesn’t seek to entertain the straight male gaze at all.

And with all of that, even with the emergence of more lesbian characters every season, it’s probably going to be a while before we see a modern butch character to burst on the television screen and change things up.

We all know the trope: The person(s) of color (overwhelmingly the black guy) gets killed off first, especially in a horror film. Well here is a brief list of such films, many of which not only feature the person of color dying first, but feature the main white characters ultimately saving the day:

• X-Men: First Class
• King Kong
• Scream 2
• Predator (1 & 2)
• Serenity
• State of Play
• Deep Rising
• Kill Bill: Volume I
• Jaws: The Revenge
• House of Wax
• Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem
• Stargare
• Aliens
• The Shining
• Leviathan
• Terminator (1 & 2)
• Red Dawn
• Jurassic Park
• Gremlins
• Hollow Man
• Hulk
• Predators
• United 93
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
• Super 8
• Cursed
• Killjoy
• Queen of the Damned
• Transformers (Not a complete fit in the trope since it’s not human-based. The only autobot to die in the film is Jazz, the jive-talking autobot voiced by a black actor)
• 300
• Resident Evil
• The Mummy (1 & 2)

And believe me, I could probably find many more if I looked a little harder. (Feel free to correct me on any films, as I have not seen a few of these films).

So, what is the point of this list? Well, it’s to illustrate that even if at first glance, a film may show potential of diversity, people of color are still, in many respects, disposable in films. It’s just enough time to introduce the idea that these films are inclusive by introducing some racial diversity, yet allows them not to have to explore the nuances of these characters of color by killing them off, to focus on the true protagonists - the white folks.

Now, let me make it clear: the individual films listed are not necessarily racist because the feature this trope, and the reasoning for killing of the character of color might not be a conscious choice. Rather, the focus is how the overall trope itself is racist, as it is evident in several films that even if there are people of color in films, they are likely to be killed off or rid of early on, further illustrating Hollywood’s penchant for not telling stories of people of color in any meaningful way and only actively engaging a white-centered audience.

And on the outside I’m like:

But on the inside, they know I’m thinking:

And they know I’m not going to take that crap so they stop:

And I walk away like:

[TW: mis-gendering, cissexism]

After seven-year-old transgender girl Bobby Montoya was rejected from joining a Girl Scout troop in Colorado by its scout master, The Girl Scouts of Colorado released an official statement admonishing the scout master’s actions, saying, “If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.” Apparently unbeknown to the scout master, The Girl Scouts of America actually has a policy of being pro-transgender.

Now, I think this is a great story and I’m glad a nationwide organization such as the Girl Scouts speak out in support of transgender youth. However, I want to focus more on the largely ignorant and disrespectful news coverage of this story. Some of it is good - agreeing with the Girl Scouts that Bobby should be allowed to join and are respectful of Bobby’s gender identity. However, many news outlets use wrong terminology and are downright disrespectful. Some mistakenly refer to Bobby as a “boy” or “transgender boy,” when she identifies as a girl. They use incorrect pronouns, referring to Bobby as “he,” “son,” and “him.” Even when they interview Bobby and she refers to herself as a girl, the news outlets continue to mis-gender her throughout almost every article available. Some titles of the articles even imply Bobby’s gender identity is a delusion, such as the article from the LA Times - “Girl Scouts of Colorado Welcomes Boy - If He Thinks He’s A Girl.”

That’s right. Thinks he’s a girl.

This trend is one that shows itself pretty much every time there is a news story about transgender people: News outlets almost refuse to acknowledge a transgender person’s gender identity, opting instead to refer to what they may defend is their “birth sex/gender.” This improper pronoun usage is inherently disrespectful to transgender people, one that is also a possible trigger for many. It’s a poor reflection on the way that Americans at large view transgender people, who would rather believe that someone’s gender identity is a problem in their head, rather than an actual identity that should be respected.

I think it’s a good idea.

Here’s an example from my life: I’ll call you out for using “Oriental” as a way to homogenize all Asian people, and I’ll probably be even more fervent when you do it as a joke. When you roll your eyes at me and say I’m being “politically correct,” you’re essentially saying that it’s my problem and not a problem inherently in the terminology of “Oriental.” You’re saying that the problem is not, in fact, the history of the historical commodification and homogenization of a people from an entire continent, and that the problem is certainly not the Europeans who decided to engage in such activities and reap the benefits from several Asian cultures.

Nope, the problem is obviously me and my tiny little feelings which are apparently less important than yours, and so you can use “politically correct” as a way to further diminish those feelings because it obviously means I am wrong and you are right. Good for you, rebellious savior who defeated the politically correct half-Asian lesbian and her evil evil feelings!

So yeah, people should stop waving “you’re being politically correct!” as if it’s some kind of penalty card you can use, because to me, it just shows that they think someone’s right to condescendingly joke or disparage is more important than someone’s right not to feel disrespected. Excuse me if I’m walking an extra step to make sure people feeling valued and respected.

LET’S TALK ABOUT RESPECTING BOUNDARIES

LET’S TALK ABOUT HOW NECESSARY ENTHUSIASTIC CONSENT CAN BE

LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX

I hear all of the stereotypes about straight men loving to objectify lesbians and any kind of girl-on-girl action. Most men can look at me and talk to me and assume I’m a lesbian, and though some may try to make a snide, sexist and heterosexist remark, most often, I find that the fact that I’m butch, the fact that I’m very masculine, has actually been quite a perk in my relationships with straight men.

Perhaps it’s just the areas I’ve lived in, but I’ve been fortunate enough to never experience violence from men for being a lesbian. More often, I find that in conversations with other men, I’m seen as more of an equal than the more feminine women in a group. I get talked over less, men ask my opinion more than they ask other women, they’re less likely to assume that I’m weak or frivolous.

Certainly, I’ve been mocked and teased for my masculinity as a younger girl, but the older I get, the more my masculine look and mannerisms make it easier for men not to box me into categories that women are normally put into. They don’t stereotype me as much, they are more likely to accept me as an individual.

I think it’s interesting how my being a gay woman may disadvantage me more than straight women, but my masculinity can actually aid me more than feminine women in different ways.

I think it’s a really heteronormative mode of thinking to assume that because someone is masculine, they should automatically go for someone that’s feminine. One’s inherent “butchness” or “femmeness” should not define how “butch” or “femme” their partner should be. Anyone who discounts my personal affinity for women on the same side of the gender expression spectrum as I is really supporting a heterosexist system in which couples have to “look” and “act” like a gender-normative straight couple.

I do love feminine women, but I also love very masculine, butch women, and all of those women in the middle of the gender expression spectrum, and my being butch should not pigeon-hold me from choosing the kind of partner I want because someone says that we have to have some kind of ridiculous notion of “balance” that’s just an excuse to hold on to heteronormative gender roles of who is the “man” and “woman” in a relationship.