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Virginia lawmakers: ‘Adults must check children’s private parts before entering restroom’

vaspider:

unlikelylass:

vaspider:

autismserenity:

kerryrenaissance:

draggle:

blooolloorne:

thedankestmemehustler:

thetransbutch:

projectqueer:

Republican lawmakers in Virginia seem intent on one-upping Indiana in their quest to publicly shame trans people. Earlier this week, lawmakers in the Hoosier State introduced a bill that would fine transgender adults $5000 for using public restrooms. Now, lawmakers in Virginia want to create a similar law that applies to trans children. House Bill 663 was filed with the Virginia state legislature earlier this week by Republican Del. Mark Cole. The bill seeks to prohibit elementary and high school students who identify as trans from using the restrooms or locker rooms that don’t match their “anatomical sex.”

According to the bill, a student’s “anatomical sex” is “the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person’s anatomy.” The measure states that “local school boards shall develop and implement policies that require every school restroom, locker room, or shower room that is designated for use by a specific gender to solely be used by individuals whose anatomical sex matches such gender designation.”

If a student is caught violating the law, he or she will be fined $50. So how exactly will schools enforce this proposed law?

According to LGBTQ rights activist Tim Peacock, “adults would be required to inspect children’s genitals before they use the bathroom.”

“This is what the conservative movement has devolved into,” Peacock wrote in a blog post published Tuesday, “forcing children to allow adults to examine their genitals out of misplaced fear that transgender kids and adults might commit a hypothetical never-before-seen act of violence or sexual aggression (that would still be against the law with or without transgender protections).”

In response to Peacock’s post, Del. Mark Cole took to Twitter to clarify that his bill doesn’t call for adults to examine children’s genitals. Instead, he says, the law would be enforced on a “complaint basis.”

“A woman would report a man using the facility and a summons could be issued if warranted,” Cole tweeted. Of course, this raises a question: How would the courts verify the anatomy of the accused?

“We don’t want potential child abuse happening in our schools by trans people (even though it’s LITERALLY NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE) so we’re going to make sure that child abuse happens”

Cis people what the fuck??????

this is literally child abuse. like what the shit

Cis conservatives would rather sexually harass children and open the door for potential pedophilia before considering basic human rights

WHAT????!?!!?!!

These lawmakers need to be removed from office.

burn the government to the fucking ground and give the land back to the First Nations people ffs fuck this piece of shit country

I’m still just sitting here as a parent seething at the idea of school genital checks.

The number of girls I know – from all across the country – who were fondled during scoliosis checks or school activity physicals at the schools, at which their parents were not present, is really just hair-raising. And that’s a damn scoliosis check. I’m sure it happened to boys, too, I just only personally  have heard stories from girls.

One of my exes commented that she didn’t even realize until it was over what the doctor had done in Improperly Touching her, and she never told her parents because she was confused and upset.

Now you compound that with pants checks, and oh my word.

This is typical. “I don’t want to tolerate people who are different in this way. How can I publicly shame them? Maybe if I shame them publicly enough they will stop doing the things I don’t like?”

Fuck that noise. Especially when it’s presented with pearl-clutching “we must protect the women/children”. Because the trans people you accost in this way don’t count as children (or women) in your mind.

Reblog for excellent commentary.

Where’s Rey?

dollsahoy:

dduane:

This is the article that caused the “whiny emo pissbabies…” response regarding Kylo Ren.

Another interesting takeaway from this:

The industry insider confirmed that the Black Widow character is widely
considered “unusable” within the toy industry. “She has a tight black
outfit. Our main customer is concerned with ‘family values,’” said the
insider.

So that’s Wal-Mart’s fault, then? Notice taken. (Not that I’d set foot in the place unless dragged in at gunpoint. Fortunately, when you live in Ireland neither condition is likely to occur.)

And this is worth noting too:

At the same time, however, it’s increasingly apparent that marketers’
perceptions are seriously out of touch with consumers’ tastes.

“Princess toy sales are in freefall. Disney can’t give away princess
toys anymore,” according to the insider. And yet, the insider said, the
directive is there: Maintain the sharp boy/girl product division. Marginalize girl characters in items not specifically marketed as girl-oriented.

The toy industry is more gender-divided now than at any time in the past 50 years, according to Elizabeth Sweet,
a professor of sociology at the University of California at Davis.
She’s a noted authority in the sociology of gender-based toy design and
marketing. Analyses of historical toy catalogs show that in the 1970s
more than half of toys were not designated as being specifically for one
gender, whereas now, very few toys are marketed as gender-neutral,
according to Sweet.

Marcotte points back to the deregulation of the advertising industry
in the 1980s under Pres. Ronald Reagan as the origination point for the
gender-division trend. “Once that happened, toy manufacturers realized
they could increase sales by designing toys to be more narrowly
targeted. Instead of having just a ball, you could make it pink and put a
princess on it; or, paint it blue and put GI Joe on it. Now parents
have to buy two sets of toys, one for their daughter and one for their
son.”

But that long-term trend has had significant sociological impacts.
“Girls and boys do not play together as much as they used to,” Marcotte
said. “These gender divisions are hard-coded into their toys and it
informs their behavior in ways that has lasting results on their
presumptions.”

“… it’s increasingly apparent that marketers’
perceptions are seriously out of touch with consumers’ tastes.“

This supports my tenet that marketing is not some evil insidious science–just people waving things in front of other people hoping they’ll notice.  It usually does work, which keeps the same approaches going, but, now, hooboy has it gone wrong with Star Wars.

(And the next sentence supports my idea that Hasbro got the Disney Princess line because Mattel didn’t want it anymore…)