iinnii-antifa:

A few things about eugenics/sterilization in Canada from someone who knows too much about it for their own mental well being

(content warning for ableism, violence, misogyny and racism): 

– Involuntary/coercive sterilization was one part of a multifaceted strategy of eugenics that included restrictive marriage laws, immigration restrictions, and segregation of people considered unfit for public space in institutions. Canada is still chock full of these structures of power, so it comes as no surprise that involuntary/coercive sterilizations continue.

 – The biggest proponents of eugenics in its earliest form were political parties associated with “progressive” causes, including the “Famous Five” suffragettes and Tommy Douglas, who saw it as essential to preserving the integrity of the Canadian social safety net.

 – Sterilization without consent was perfectly legal in Canada for 44 years, mainly in the Western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. In Alberta alone, under the Sexual Sterilization Act, of the total number of individuals sterilized, 64.7% were women, 49.8% were from rural communities, 40.6% were unemployed, 20.55% were characterized as housewives, 25.7% were Indigenous (a disproportionately high number considering Indigenous people made up only 3.4% of the total population in Alberta at the time), and 70.6% were under the age of 20. Most of the individuals who were sterilized were characterized at the time of being approved for sterilization as being “mentally unfit”, but a number of cases involved patients “recovering from retardation” after sterilization. 

– Eugenics emerged in the midst of a moral panic about sexual relationships between Indigenous women and white settler men, and exaggerated hysteria about Indigenous and “feeble minded” women engaging in sex trade work. 

– The Alberta Eugenics Board disbanded in 1972. Many of the people who served on the board are still alive. There is no record of them ever facing any professional consequences for what they did, even though the Alberta government and apologized to some of the victims after Leilani Muir’s lawsuit. This includes John M. MacEachran, who co-founded the Canadian Psychological Association and was co-founder of the department of Psychology and Philosophy Department at the University of Alberta. Until 2003, an award in his name was given out by U of A, “honoring his accomplishments”. 

I’m saying all this because the horrors of involuntary sterilization and colonialism are not an accident. They’re a part of Canada’s national fabric. They’re a part of what made Canada a state. And the fact that they continue today, long after the laws supporting them were formally struck down, should come as no surprise. 

autismserenity:

golbatgender:

glumshoe:

There’s that weird gray zone that’s neither ‘death threats’ nor ‘suicide baiting’ where people just like to send you graphic descriptions of the violent, dehumanizing things they wish would happen to you, like some kind of moral loophole.

“Death/rape threats are immoral and illegal! That’s why I’m merely describing in vivid detail a fantasy I have about what I think someone else should do to you. Not little old me, though! And not by your own hand – that would be suicide baiting! I’m just praying to God that it happens, and I want you to have this imagery in your brain forever.”

It’s called harassment. If it includes anything sexualized, it’s sexual harassment. 99% of the time, the “protect children” or “protect the lgbt community (from fakers)” screechers are the real predators.

Ditto the people who want to claim they didn’t send a death threat because they just said they wanted to hurt you 🙄 Like whomstever once said they wished they could get a car and come run me over.

I mean, they don’t care whether this is harassment or death threats or suicide baiting. They justify it to themselves by claiming they’re defending the community from inclusionists, or… don’t even bother justifying it at all. Like, I think the car one was because I had said some fucking celebrity was bi, which is… quite a reaction.

But it’s important for the people who get this shit to know that it’s abuse, and that it’s not okay. It’s important to know that your community recognizes that, and doesn’t endorse treating anybody like that.

The underlying message of “this person deserved this abuse, because ___________” is always “and if you don’t act the way I want, you’ll ‘deserve’ it too.”

butterflyinthewell:

“So often we try to make other people feel better by minimizing their pain, by telling them that it will get better (which it will) or that there are worse things in the world (which there are). But that’s not what I actually needed. What I actually needed was for someone to tell me that it hurt because it mattered.
I have found this very useful to think about over the years, and I find that it is a lot easier and more bearable to be sad when you aren’t constantly berating yourself for being sad.”

— John Green (via naturaekos)

stealthboy:

stealthboy:

life on the internet gets a lot better when you realize you dont owe random weirdos your time or energy

mean or baiting anon message? delete it. someone leaves an annoying comment on one of your posts? block em. you see a post that says something you dont like? ignore it. 

you have absolutely no obligation to anyone on this website. dont forget that