prince of trail mix

queerandpheasantstranger:

theselfmademen:

The Self Made Men

June 10, 2012

As of today, June 10th 2012, The Self Made Men have severed professional ties with their West Coast Representative, Ira Dalton Gray. On the morning of June 8^th, 2012 The Self Made Men were made aware of rape allegations brought upon Mr. Gray. After careful consideration amongst the staff, they have decided to let Mr. Gray go as a representative and member of the company.

He will no longer be affiliated with The Self Made Men from today forward. 

props

word

queerandpheasantstranger:

(trigger warning: sexual violence, relationship abuse)

we are not gonna mess with telling you more that what’s already been said. here’s what we want you to do:

— write an open letter taking full responsibility for your rapes of e.w. and lauren, and your abuse of us and any other partners. do not mince words, do not explain yourself, just say outright that you are a serial rapist, are terrible at consent, are a violent misogynist in both beliefs and practice, and have been an abusive partner in the majority of your relationships. send this letter to every organization that has ever given you a platform, including: the orange county ftm group, the arizona transmasculine society, TRACK, arizona state university’s lgbtq coalition, and the huffington post.

— resign from any positions of power you hold. that includes the self made men, az feminist action network, one in ten, phoenix youth pride, and any other positions that include you working with people who do not have access to male privilege. 

— take down your blog, your youtube channel, and any other “educational” platforms you may manage. never again give a workshop, run or organize a lecture, accept a speaking position, or ever spout your brand of “activism” before another human being. explicitly renounce your role as an educator. do not ever again refer to yourself as an activist, a role model, a teacher, an example, or an ally (even aspiring).

— do not participate in any activist events, meetings, online forums, protests, workshops, parties, or any other gatherings, in person or online. remove yourself from any community where you might interact with someone who does not have access male privilege, or where you might convince someone who has access to male privilege to act as you have.

— do not EVER contact e.w. or lauren ever again. do not contact our friends or family members. relinquish all claims to shared social and activist circles to us. do not contact our mutual acquaintances to talk about us. do not read our blogs. do not read our facebooks. basically, remove yourself entirely from our lives, forever.

signed,

e.w. (queerandpheasantstranger) and lauren (bloodmouthprince)

(to our supporters, please spread this letter around.)

femmefilth:

i had a really triggering experience in class today & the way it was handled ended up escalating the situation.  as a student & survivor/person with a disability, being in college has been a difficult experience for me overall.  after what happened today, i felt that i needed to begin a dialogue about how to make classrooms safe(r) spaces for students with possible solutions that don’t rely upon administrative structures such as disability support, which i will (attempt to) explain briefly below.

at my university, the disability support services (dss) works something like this:  your psychiatrist/therapist/social worker/etc. (assuming you can afford one/has access to one,) writes a letter detailing the accommodations you need which is forwarded to dss.  you arrange an interview with dss which serves to “prove” you really need these accommodations & then if they deem that you do, they write a letter to give to your professors, which they must sign & then you must return to dss.  this process has to be redone every year.  needless to say, it’s deeply ableist, stressful, time-consuming, & completely inaccessible if you can’t afford a mental health professional.

i have begun a list of guidelines for college educators that explain how to begin making classrooms safe(r) spaces for survivors:

• remember that while the material may be “just an article” for some students, for other students, these are not abstract theories:  they are our lives.  
• provide trigger warnings for potentially triggering content (i.e. articles, books, videos, etc.,) on the syllabus.  in addition, provide students with advance notice when you will be lecturing on or discussing potentially triggering material in class.  
• if a student leaves class, check in with them after class via e-mail.  offer them an opportunity to come in & talk w/ you or have a general conversation about what happened/was going on.  do not confront them in front of the class or follow them out of class; if a situation is triggering enough for a student to need to leave for their own safety, such actions could escalate the situation.
• provide students with alternative assignments, texts, extra credit opportunities, etc. to account for any classes or material they may have missed due to the nature of the content.  this can be individualized for each student, as we all have different needs, via an informal conversation.
• value your students’ safety over your authority as an educator.
• include a statement on your syllabus indicating your intention to make your classroom a safe(r) space & that you are willing to actively work with students to make this happen.  
• to other survivors:  please feel free to add yr own suggestions & ideas, about what has/hasn’t worked for you, etc.