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Daily Archive: 23/08/2015

Sunday

23

August 2015

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What I’m Reading – August 23, 2015

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Austerity

– “Among the flagship cuts announced in the Budget are swingeing cuts to tax credits. Families with more than two children will lose up to £2,780 per subsequent child from 2017, with an important exception: the government, in its beneficence, has decided not to withdraw support if these extra children, these gurgling drains on the coffers of state, were conceived as a result of rape.” The Tory rape exception for tax credits is worse than you thought (via @PennyRed)

Human Rights

– “The horrible irony is that many sex workers are forced to give up their children because of initiatives like the one Hathaway and Dunham put their names to, which implies that we are unfit mothers and women. How is it that a woman who plays a whore has more credibility than a woman who is one? How is it that these women can then tell whores they shouldn’t work and that we don’t know our own minds? They already have so much power.” What’s Lena Dunham Got Against Sex Work? (h/t @CharoShame)

Misogyny

– “There are three ways in which men attempt undermine women online, Sarkeesian tells the audience at The Conference in Malmo: through the denial of women’s earned accomplishments, the denial of their life experience, and the denial of their professional expertise.” Anita Sarkeesian turns her talents to analysing her abusers (via @wireduk)

Police Violence

– “If stopped by the police, I thought to myself, I would set my phone to record audio and put it on the passenger seat. I would send a tweet that I was being stopped and had every intention of complying with the police officer. I would turn on Periscope and livestream the stop, crowdsourcing witnesses. I would text my family and tell them that I was not feeling angry or suicidal, that I was looking forward to seeing them soon. There would not be time to do all of these things, but maybe if I prepared in advance I could pull off one or two of them. What all of these plans had in common were that none of them were meant to secure my safety, but rather to ensure that my death looked suspicious enough to question. I was figuring out how to enter evidence into the inquiry of my own death.” Slow Poison (h/t @AustinKelmore)

Racism

– “Undoubtedly, my pain about Sandra Bland would have been invisible to them had I been in the office so I was grateful to not be. I expressed this amongst a series of tweets about police brutality. Given the culture of that office, I would bet (if I had the funds) they didn’t even know who Sandra Bland was that day. But they didn’t have to know who she was or what happened to her. They don’t have to care about her death. But, it sits in my chest like a bubble and swells every time I see a police car in my rearview mirror because … I could’ve been her. My mother, sisters, cousins, and friends, all could’ve been her.” What being let go from my job during Sandra Bland and #SayHerName taught me about diversity and inclusion. (h/t @huny)

– “Listen. Give the people who live with and experience racism every day the opportunity to share their truth. Don’t think about what you’re going to say next. Don’t get defensive or shut down because it’s hard to hear. Genuinely listen.” Guest Editorial: Nine Ways to Be a White Ally in the Fight Against Institutional and Structural Racism (via @strangerslog)

Sport

– “The argument is that since it would be imposing a different set of rules for the 17 private institutions, this would send the entire system out of whack, injecting “instability” into a climate that is currently stable. This is absolute hogwash. Northwestern is its own entity where football players generate huge amounts of revenue and have their own grievances with coaches and administrators (what some might refer to as “management”). As people who generate income, and, as was ruled earlier by the NLRB, are “paid” with a scholarship, room, and board, they should have every right to organize themselves to achieve whatever else they feel they are denied, like decent medical care or better concussion protocols.” The Absurd, Cowardly, and Morally Bankrupt NLRB Decision Against the Northwestern Football Union (via @EdgeofSports)

– “The reason that Ukwuachu missed the 2014 season is because of the indictment on two counts of felony sexual assault, a fact that Ukwuachu’s attorney, Jonathan Sibley, confirmed in the press more than a year after the indictment was issued. Baylor officials either knew, or should have known, that Ukwuachu had a history of violent incidents at Boise State. The football program knew that even though he was a rising star and a defensive starter for the Broncos, he had been kicked off that team following a 4.5-sack, 7 tackle-for-loss season.” Silence at Baylor (via @scATX)