MeerderWörter’s Comments (group member since Jan 08, 2016)

MeerderWörter’s comments from the Our Shared Shelf group.

Emma wrote: "Hi OSS! I recently listened to the podcast "Uncivil" - a short series on history of the civil war. Instead of the kind of history of the civil war taught in school in the US, this is 100% the truth..."

Thanks for that podcast as in my history classes the Civil War wasn't even mentioned...

Austria really has shitty history classes...

Florian wrote: "Hello there!

Today I heard from my sister that a couple of days ago being transgender was not considered as a mental illness anymore by the world health organization! :)

Have a great day!"

Yes, the ICD-11 will not have transgender and gender-diverse as a mental illness anymore.

^^That's definitely some progress. (And also, the ICD-10 was introduced in 1992, so it was really time for a revision...)

For Emma:
Why did you pick this book?

For Reni:
Like Pam, how has the reaction been to the book?
And additionally:
Why did you pick the topics you picked in the book? Why did you decide to write about them, and not other topics, that still would cover racism?

After a small exchange between Women's March Global, me, and Dudu Kücükgöl, Ms. Kücükgöl wrote this article about islamophobia in Austria:
https://medium.com/womens-march-globa...

Kate wrote: "Hi all, I am only part way through this book (hoping to finish soon).

Thank you Ashna for starting this thread - so great to raise this point of discussion. I just wanted to chime in support - I ..."

While reading your post, I was reminded of a quote that someone has coined who I follow on Twitter:

"When the color of your skin is seen as a weapon, you will never be seen as unarmed."
~Delores Schilling, Kanien'kehá:ka
source:
https://twitter.com/DelSchilling/stat...

What is the one thing you would want people to stop asking you when it comes to race?

Caitlyn wrote: "This is really, truly disgusting. As the article quite rightly says, what if it had been a baby girl? MGM is just as awful and horrifying as FGM, and both need to be stopped as soon as possible. I ..."

I wish I could give you a thumbs up for this. Well, here it is:
*thumbs up*

Keith wrote: "A couple of resources from the UK (apologies if you have seen these before):

https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes...

A downloadable pdf version of t..."

Bologna is a pretty big deal as activists from around the world will go there - many of my friends/aquaintances too. Well, I guess I will have to ask them avout EVERYTHING later:D

Robert wrote: "I'm not sure if you have seen this or not, but you may find it at least a little encouraging that change (though slow) might yet be happening...

California Senator Introduces Legislation to End IG..."

Yes, I did. The intersex community is a small community, and news spreads fast.
It's a beginning at least. Very glad to hear this!

For any politicians out there, please, it's so simple. -.-

Shut up and outlaw IGM.

We been tellin ya for years...

Malobee wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "English version below:
http://www.labournetaustria.at/20-000......"

You're very welcome.
I sadly couldn't make it to either of the cities or I would have gone... It's always nice to go see Vienna;)

English version below:
http://www.labournetaustria.at/20-000...

So yeah, they formed a human chain in two Austrian cities...

Pam wrote: "Would approving stem cell research end this? Or would that make it worse?"

I don't think it would be. I think it would only make it worse...

Since when are human rights abuses okay?
Hm, but well, I know very well myself why they are...

Keith wrote: "https://quartzy.qz.com/1230002/sandra...

"When I read that New York City-based celebrity facialist Georgia Louise gave Sandra Bullo..."

I'm still sick to my stomach and I'm still sick that nobody cares.

I read this article today:
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/7...

My reaction is that I wasn't sure if I wouldn't have to go puke into the toilet.
Using another person's body part for YOUR beauty standard is NOT OKAY! It makes me sick, and no, it does NOT make a difference for me where this boy grows up. It does not make a difference whether this boy was born in Korea or the US. IT DOES NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

There is such a huge hypocrisy around genital mutilation, and I get sick from it. We all decry female genital mutilation, and RIGHTLY SO, but we bat an eye when it comes to intersex genital mutilation and male genital mutilation. When in fact, "A ban on Intersex genital mutilation is necessary as IGM is equatable with female genital mutilation that takes place within hospital settings." (Vienna Statement, OII Europe)

I will always stand for bodily integrity, whether that is for males, females or intersex people. The Human Rights of a person need to be respected, always, not at our convenience.

If you are okay with this "beauty care" or not deeply bothered by it, then you should really ask yourself and figure out why that is the case.

Lakota Woman and Ohitika Woman, autobiographies of Mary Crow Dog, who was participating in the siege of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973.

Lakota Woman is the first part, Ohitika Win the second part...

Ashwin wrote: "Gerd wrote: I wonder, I recall seeing a documentary about Bollywood which indicated differently, i.e. it said there that being darker skinned is assicoated with being poor/of lower caste and will g..."

I think that the video is a very US-centric one... which explains why the video is the way it is.
Also, a lot of other things come into play (in Western societies) when it comes to privilege, such as white-passing and other things...

Today, May5, 2018, is National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in the United States.

This is the reason why today, I am wearing red, from head to toe. Why I have #NotInvisible on my forearm, in red, to raise awareness for this tragedy.

Delores Schilling(Mohawk), who does a daily tweet on MMIW, has together with her husband Vincent Schilling, hung a red dress outside her porch:
https://twitter.com/DelSchilling/stat...

Lisa Ellwood (Lenape and Nanticoke) did an investigative research for IndianCountryMedia into this which was published in 2016:
https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com...

Vincent Schilling (Mohawk), released a video today regarding May5 being NationalDayofAwareness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtMXC...
as well as did write an article for IndianCountryMedia a little while ago:
https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com...

Emma wrote: "I found a great video about privilege online and wanted to share:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMIiI...

Thoughts?"

Hits the nail on the head...

I have written a thread on Twitter in the beginning of March.
I want to share it here, too.



#MeToo from an intersex perspective:

TW: IGM(examples), SA, SH






The #MeToo movement has already had its impact - and yet I wonder:
Why are we restricting ourselves? Why is it, that, again, only white, cisgender, dyadic women get the real attention? Don't get me wrong, I am glad it is being talked about, and I am glad that
at least something is happening - but I am wondering: Where is the coverage for everyone else?


MeToo is about limits, about boundaries, about respect, about trust, about CONSENT. And those are so often mistreated and breached for intersex people.


Why is it that what in other children is clearly seen as sexual abuse, is not seen as sexual abuse in OUR cases, when procedures are ordered or performed by a doctor?
Who the heck thinks it is okay to tell a child it has to dilate its vagina so it can have "normal" sex with its future husband?! We are talking about A CHILD here! Who thinks castrating children is okay because of a threat of cancer?! Sorry to be so blunt, but:

Do we chop off every woman's breast because she might develop cancer? No, of course we don't!


Why are we making children dependent on hormone replacement therapy for the rest of their lives? Without their FULLY INFORMED and FREE CONSENT?

When you don't have all the information available and necessary to make a decision that is irreversible and will have consequences for the rest of your life, how can you actually call this a decision and not what it is - forced on the individual?!

Society, get your act together and accept that there is more in nature than just male and female - yup, there is intersex TOO. And we're no problems to be fixed! We need love and respect like everyone else.

Yes, sometimes we have health issues and they need to be taken care of, but producing some because of cultural expectations? By thinking they have to rip out our testicles (and other stuff too...), have to fill us up with hormones....
...when we would have produced hormones ourselves anyways, or fill us up with hormones to "meet the levels" when we could take care of issues with other means as well...

How DARE doctors amputate or reduce the size of our clitorises?! A clitoris is the only organ in the body whose sole purpose is pleasure!!! Again, how is this not seen as sexual harassment and sexual abuse when doctors stare at one's bits...
...in order to find out if.... "everything goes expected".


Why hasn't this stopped a long time ago already? The first protest took place on October 26th, 1996 in Boston, MA. That is 22 years ago now! Why did we literally have to see a whole next generation grow up,who had and has to deal with the same issues?!
Where is the doctors' credo: First, do no harm?


When parents decide over your head about your future life to an extent that is irreversible and lifelong and at best, with a lot of luck you can maybe reverse some of the effects... but it'll never be the same again because a gonadectomy and an exstirpation of the clitoris are irreversible...
...how can you allow this to happen?!

These are medically UNNECESSARY procedures which are FORCED on the individual without their FULLY INFORMED and FREE consent.


Do you see the parallels to the bigger MeToo movement here? Because for me, this is definitely a part of it, and a part that needs to be listened to.
Intersex people, like anyone else, have health issues in their lifetime that need to be taken care of.
So why are doctors literally making health issues only for these health issues to be treated afterwards? Why are doctors scaring and scarring children so much that they are so afraid of doctors they won't go to doctors later in life, to the extent that they develop health issues that need to be taken care of?

Making people feel ashamed of their bodies, feeling dirty, unworthy, questioning what they can do so it all stops, not understanding what is happening to them, "forgetting" certain things that happened in order to protect themselves, just wanting to be left the way they are, being able to live a happy childhood without spending days, weeks in hospitals...

Making people feel as if they are "monsters", as if they are "freaks", as if they are something to be hidden away; being told to talk about it with no-one, feeling completely isolated and alone, disgusted at what they do to your body...

Hiding your body, because no-one is allowed to see what a freak you are...


If you read this, don't you think you see the similarities? Why is it, that when doctors are involved, we suddenly don't speak in terms of sexual assault and abuse and harassment anymore?
We can't allow them to have so much power we don't hold them accountable anymore. And do you recognise another thing they have in common, MeToo and IGM?

It's the silence.

Do you see now why I said in the beginning why it is bad when we leave out voices? Because I think this is as much a part of #MeToo as every other story of sexual assault and harassment and abuse. Regardless of who the person doing it, is.


We need to talk about it. As a society.