If this gets 50 notes I’ll tell you guys how I ran an underground sex ed class and helped put a pedophile in jail during second grade
Okay, so my mom has always been super open about health stuff and when I was just starting elementary school she got me a bunch of those American Girl books about your body and your feelings and they were really informative and truthful and I really liked them. One day I was talking to a friend about one of them and we started reading it and she was asking a ton if questions and seemed really excited and interested by it and I answered questions and explained stuff. We talked about the books during recess and eventually more girls joined in until we were a group of about 10-15 seven year-olds talking about puberty and sex and a lot of things that most adults don’t The thing about those books is that they look really innocent with cute drawings and there are chapters about brushing your teeth and stuff; but what most people don’t expect is that there’s a lot of health stuff about puberty and mental illness and drugs and a lot of really important stuff that everyone should know. The teachers didn’t care because the books looked super innocent and they thought were talking about proper brushing habits or something. We’d go sit down and read a chapter and I’d add some other stuff that my mom had told me and then we’d just talk and ask questions. It was kind of like group therapy but with sex ed. This was all okay until one of the boys saw a page with a ton of boobs on it (the page was demonstrating a breast exam) and he told the teacher. So they found and I got suspended and I wasn’t allowed to bring any more of those books into school.
Closer to the end of the year, one of the second grade teachers was revealed to be a pedophile when one of his students said that he tried to touch her inappropriately and then three other girls came forward with the same story. After he was arrested, the girl told me that she said what he did because we had talked about what to do in that exact situation. Because of our group she knew that she probably wasn’t the only one and she knew that it was wrong for him to do that and that she wouldn’t get in trouble if she told someone and that she probably wouldn’t have said anything if she hadn’t read those books.
I started doing it again the next year. No one stopped me.
Bless.
Reblogging again in hope someone could give me those books’ names
I believe it’s this one! Fits the description and the back cover even has the brushing girl.
There’s a series of books! ^^
The American Girl books are really, really good. They talk about things honestly but simply, and cover a lot of important stuff. 11/10 for those books.
These books were the only sex ed I had as a young girl. These were a door to reading bigger, badder texts and getting involved in activism…
100% recommend you buy these for sisters, daughters, nieces. 110%
My “Care and Keeping of You” book was not my only sex ed, but since my “official” sex ed was really creepy “SAVE YOURSELF FOR YOUR HUSBAND BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU’RE A HORRIBLE DISGUSTING PERSON” sort of sex ed.
However, 99% of what I actually learned about my body and puberty was from a) my subscription to American Girl Magazine, and b) my copy of “The Care and Keeping of You”, which I got because I was signed up for some subscription thing that they sent me books and stuff and when that book came out it was in that.
Basically, idk how well it stands up, but it was great for me as a young, sheltered kid.
WorldRugby Haka time at the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 semi-final
i like how they must have said to the white menbers at some point “yeah becky yall gon do this too get up we all have to learn”
Actually most New Zealanders (white and non white) learn this as children at school and with their friends. Like Kiwi culture’s really a mix of indigenous and non-indigenous elements so there’s not that much cultural segregation as you would have in the states
I’m white as a chicken and mayo sandwich and I learned two or three haka at school. If I’d joined the kapa haka group it would have been more and certainly wouldn’t have been the only white person doing so.
I’ve never seen women doing the Haka before and holy shit I’m in love
When I did kapa haka at school, lo these many years ago now (ok about 15), I was taught that it was tikanga in most iwi that women didn’t do the haka (as men don’t do the karanga at pōwhiri). That seems to be changing, which is neat, but it’s very much something that’s up to wahine Māori to change and Pākehā women to follow their lead on, like the varying tikanga on women speaking on the marae.
(but also v agreed that it is incredibly common for Pākehā in NZ to have learned at least some elements of Māori performing arts/kapa haka, if they’re under 40; if a white person in NZ has never done that they’re either an adult immigrant or exclusively attended posh private schools, and even the last might not apply these days. The average non-Māori-speaking NZer understands 80-100 words of te reo. American norms of segregation do not apply.)
There are still some pretty racist towns in New Zealand where they don’t teach any Māori culture even in public schools (mostly rural towns in the South Island). I didn’t learn any Te Reo until I moved to Wellington, and my brother who only just left my old high school had pretty much the same experience.
We’re a lot better than the US, but there’s still more cultural segregation than there should be.
I’m married to someone who grew up in a rural South Island town, so yeah, I know. But ‘rural South Island towns’ only represent about 10% of the NZ population, so this is an exception, not a norm; the experience for the overwhelming majority of Kiwi kids is one where they get at least some exposure to te reo and tikanga Māori as part of the public education system.
(For non-NZers, rural North Island towns are often more Māori than the cities, not less; the majority of the pre-colonisation Māori population lived in the northern half of the North Island.)
That captain looks like a female Dwayne The Rock Johnson and I love her.
My primary school was very big on Maori culture, everybody learned a bit and we also had Maori Club if you wanted to learn more. It was long enough ago that girls Did Not Do The Haka, but one day at practice the boys just weren’t in the mood and were being very low-energy. So our (awesome!) teacher said that we girls should show them how it was meant to be done.
We’d never formally been taught a haka, but of course we’d been there for all the boys’ practice sessions, so we knew it. I swear half of us girls in Maori Club had just been waiting for our chance, and the rest were swept up in the enthusiasm. We roared. We stamped so hard the gym floor vibrated. We got right up in their faces and had them backing away and when we finished there was a breathless pause… and then the teacher just said, “See? Do that.” XD XD XD
alright buckle up motherfuckers, i’m about to school y’all about this wonderful show called Leverage.
let’s start with the premise: they’re a bunch of criminals who come together to work as a team and to “pick up where the law leaves off.” aka: they do illegal shit to legally take out the bad guys, i.e. framing/ruining the reputation of/revealing actual law-breaking by embezzling rich politicians, dirty cops, corporations doing secret shit on the down-low, etc.
each episode is a different bad guy they need to take down for doing something terrible, and each episode they come up with a different scheme to take them out. the team consists of: the hacker, the hitter, the grifter, the thief, and the mastermind behind all their plots. they’re all thieves at one point or another, they all grift, and they all contribute to the plan, but these are their Roles. i’ll go more in-depth on the characters in a sec.
now, i know what you’re thinking already: “wow bruh this show must be edgy af, being about actual criminals doing super illegal shit???” bUT NO. THIS SHOW COULD HAVE BEEN SO DARK BASED ON THE CONCEPT, BUT IT’S LITERALLY THE NICEST, MOST ENJOYABLE SHOW EVER.
it’s also SERIOUSLY unproblematic????? like to unrealistic levels. like Nate’s alcoholism is treated with respect and not just something he “gets over,” but despite his issues, he’s held accountable for when he’s a dick, Parker is pretty clearly neurodivergent and she’s never!! forced to be anything else!!!! anyway i could go on and on.
so let’s meet the gang.
this is Nate Ford:
he’s the mastermind, he’s brilliant and the genius behind each of their convoluted plans. he’s a jerk sometimes, and grouchy, but he’s got good reason, and he NEVER crosses over into “angsty white man justifies his assholery because of his Issues.” he used to work for an insurance company tracking down criminals and thieves before A Thing happened and he became the Dad of a group of them. he makes bad life choices, so i relate. also his son died and he has a rad ex-wife and he struggles with alcoholism. we love him.
this is Sophie Devereaux:
she’s the grifter. she’s a great actress but only when she’s breaking the law it’s a running gag. she’s terrible on an actual stage l m a o. she’s the Mom of the group, and she and Nate are lowkey flirting the entire show. she tells it like it is, but is v compassionate. sassy af. british af. would probably console you about your husband leaving you before stealing your rare artifacts. high-class which shows in the fact that she was primarily an art thief before joining the team. i wouldn’t trust her with my jewelry, but i’d tell her all my secrets, and tbh that’s the best summary of her character that you’ll get.
this is Eliot Spencer:
hooooooooooo boy. where do i begin to describe Eliot Spencer? wel, for starters, he’s the “hitter” of the group aka he beats people up when they can’t sneak their way in or out of a place. or when things go wrong. he’s super fucking badass oh my god??? like i’m pretty sure there’s maybe only one or two times in the ENTIRE. SHOW. that he can’t win a fight?? he also has a Super Secret Dark Past bc he used to be a hitman for hire, which he regrets deeply and is happy to have changed bUT AGAIN!! IT’S NOT A WHITE MALE ANGST THING. he isn’t obsessed with attoning for his actions and his scenes aren’t eaten up with Angst and Melodrama. he also has anger issues, but again, it’s not the same stereotype that you’re used to. he controls it, and he never takes it on on anybody who doesn’t deserve it (aka the bad guys). he gets around with women but he’s not sexist?? he cares about his partners.
also he’s a hardcore chef and will Fite You about food. anyway Eliot is basically the Broody White Man With Dark Past trope turned on it’s head. he’s lovable and sarcastic and could kill a man but would prefer to make you an Omelette Du Fromage or some shit.
this is Alec Hardison, aka My Son:
this is my baby. he’s a nerd and a geek and I Would Die For Him. he’s basically everything that’s good and pure in the world. the epitome of a cinnamon roll. he’s sweet and gentle and wouldn’t hurt a fly–unless that fly is a corrupt ceo personally doing dirty business, in which case that motherfucker is going down with the help of his epic hacking skills. btw did i mention he’s the hacker? yeah. he’s super fucking smart and his sense of humor could rival the sahara desert in dryness. he always makes star trek references and he has a gr8 fashion style and he irritates Eliot to no end, lmao. #platoniclifepartners, tbh. did i mention he’s the sweetest person ever? no? he is.
this is Parker:
she’s the thief, and predictably, she loves money and expensive things. tbh she’d probably stab you faster than anybody else on the team would (and has) but also she is smol and needs to be protected. she’s a killer rabbit. she’s an oddball and in the beginning, most of the others don’t know what to make of her, but they grow used to her. she’s nd af, probably autistic, and Does Not Understand Socialization. same, Parker, same. guess what? she’s never forced into acting like somebody she’s not!! when she has to be the grifter for the con job and interact with people, she’s patiently coached by Sophie, who never belittles or mocks her, and explains it in ways she can understand. she’s weird and i love her.
did i mention how unproblematic this show is? i did? well too fucking bad because i’m gonna say it again: this show is so unproblematic. like what i already said with Nate’s addiction and Parker’s neurodivergence, but wAIT! THERE’S MORE.
Eliot hates guns–detests them–and won’t use them, he’s like constantly grabbing the mooks’ guns and unloading them and tossing them somewhere and it’s basically a huge trigger for him. and it’s always respected. also there’s scenes where like in the middle of a job Parker has to change into a costume and neither of men who are attracted to her–Eliot and Hardison–sneak a peak at her. they both look away during that shit and there is like, never any gross sexist jokes about it. or other things. i love it. also any romantic relationship that develops takes season of growth and shit. there’s nothing particularly Gay, but while heterosexual, it’s not Het.
the recurring antagonist is played by Mark Sheppard, a character called Sterling, who is basically a lawful good Crowley.
also one time they stole an entire country.
Leverage is fucking rad, and the concept is amazing and it coulda been so edgy and shit, but it’s literally so pure and sweet and friggin hilarious and about a bunch of people becoming a family and you need to watch it, my friend. now.
like immediately go google a page to watch it i’m not fucking kidding do it.
Jumping in to add that the writers of the show totally confirmed that Parker/Hardison/Eliot are a legit functioning poly triad after the show ended so you’re not reading into things. It’s canon.
I didn’t know my favorite OT3 was made canon OMG THIS JUST MADE MY DAY!!!!!
I fucking binged this show at the start of the year and now I want to go do it all over again, this show is the BEST.
So some friends of mine used to work downtown PDX, and they could NEVER get to their favourite food cart, because it was ALSO the favourite foodcart of the Leverage cast&crew.
As someone who’s still salty about whole “Hardison doesn’t tip” thing, I agree very much with this. I don’t think anything in the universe is 100% unproblematic, but Leverage is still a really great show for all of the above reasons. ^_^
[each image is a gif of the character described after it]
It ran for five seasons, and never felt like it had stayed past its welcome.
It’s dark in places and touches on a lot of serious themes, but overall brings you feelings of humor and triumph, and I wish there were more shows that had that balance.
ive been reading a book that basically explains how so-called “brain differences” between the genders is the result of gendered socialization and not the cause of it. i honestly expected the book to be very cis-centric but its actually the opposite, the author stresses that testimony from trans ppl is actually indispensable because we’ve, in a sense, “lived both experiences”
more cis feminists should have this mindset
one of the first examples that she uses to introduce her point about how perception by others can shape a person’s performance actually uses a trans woman. it explains that as a certain trans woman became to be seen as a woman more and more frequently, the ppl arond her eventually started viewing her as being ill equipped for tasks that they did not bother her about pre-transition. eventually she even found herself underperforming in these tasks herself.
I knew it was this book before I’d finished reading the first two lines. Honestly this book is indispensible if you want to debunk any gender determinism people claim is science. I can’t recommend it enough.
(Bonus bonus: I am myself a neuroscientist, and the old white men mentioned above – who are not – could not have missed the point harder if they’d actively tried. Which. Maybe?)
knitting in the dark 