So I’ve seen a ton of people talking about donating to Planned Parenthood so I just wanted to remind people that there are 2 places to donate and the difference is SUPER important!
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the healthcare side which takes care of all the stuff going on inside your local clinic. The website is blue, and any money it receives cannot go to any political or legal actions because of the government funding they receive. Their site looks like this:
Planned Parenthood Action Fund is the side which handles the politics. Their website is pink, they fund any legal actions, protests, rallies, any political thing you can think of they handle. Their site looks like this:
The action fund has already filed against Ohio’s 6 week abortion ban and are making moves to file against other states including Alabama. I know it’s a tough time for reproductive rights right now but the best way to help out is by donating money and staying involved.
as a general rule. if what we’re calling ‘cultural appropriation’ sounds like nazi ideology (i.e. ‘white people should only do white people things and black people should only do black people things’) with progressive language, we are performing a very very poor application of what ‘cultural appropriation’ means. this is troublingly popular in the blogosphere right now and i think we all need to be more critical of what it is we may be saying or implying, even unintentionally.
There is nothing wrong with everyone enjoying each other’s cultures so long as those cultures have been shared.
Eating Chinese food, watching Bollywood movies, going to see Cambodian dancers, or learning to speak Korean so you can watch every K drama in existence is totally fine. The invitation to participate in those things came from within those cultures. The Mexican family that owns the place where I get fajitas wants me to eat fajitas. Their whole business model kind of depends on it, actually.
If you see something from another culture you think you might want to participate in, but you don’t know if that would be disrespectful or appropriative, you can just…ask. Like. A Jewish friend explained what a mezuzah was to me, recently. (It’s the little scroll-thing near their front doors that they touch when they come into their house. It basically means “this is a Jewish household.”)
“Oh, cool,” I said. “Can I touch it? Or is it only for Jewish people?”
“You can touch it or you can not touch it,” she said. “I don’t care.”
“Cool, I’m gonna touch it, then.”
“Cool.”
It’s not hard.
You want to twerk, twerk. I’ve never heard a black person say they didn’t think anybody else should be allowed to twerk. Just that they want us to acknowledge that they invented that shit, not Miley fucking Cyrus.
It really boils down to three simple things:
Consent. Is the culture open to sharing this thing? (& don’t cheat by finding one person who consents while most of the culture disagrees.)
Context. If a culture is open to sharing a thing but it is a thing of great religious significance, take the time to learn what is a respectful way to treat the thing. Probably don’t use it as random decoration or sexualize it unless that’s what it’s for.
Credit. Give credit and if possible, buy from the original creators so the money goes where the credit should be.
