update: choose one

I came across an article pertaining to the whole issue of drop down boxes on websites. this one is about facebook.

"Facebook needs to get a grip on reality and acknowledge that not everyone feels comfortable with explicitly identifying as one gender or the other … I see no need for Facebook to know what is in my pants, but that’s what they ask everyone that signs up."

select your gender:

I've created accounts on a couple of websites lately, and they ask, no REQUIRE, some of the silliest things. like gender. why does my gender matter while I'm using that website to host photos? or to post on a forum? does it actually serve a purpose to have me select either male or female from that drop down list. 

Select your gender:

Female

Male

if only it was that simple for everyone.

I have tried to leave it blank but the sites just give you an error message. to be part of their exclusive club, you must fit into their nice little boxes. I know, I'm privileged enough that it's not a big deal for me to select one. but I would still prefer to leave that shit blank.

let's make our own this time.

select your gender:

female

male

go fuck yourself

sounds good?

sapphire

we're all citizens of the womb

before we subdivide

into sexes and shades

this side

that side

[ani difranco]

someone is WRONG on the internet

here I am already neglecting this blog after a quick fling. I guess this is how I roll - considering only what works for me (and, hell, no one is really reading this anyways! Or are you?)

I figured I would post a few days ago when I got into an argument on the internet, with someone I don't even know. I just got frustrated with peoples' reactions to Chaz's (formerly known as Chastity Bono) announcement that he is, in fact, a man. people reporting on it, as well as people commenting on it, using female pronouns, people being so ignorant and rude as to say 'it' as opposed to him... it reeks of ignorance and transphobia. I know that many of the comments come from just that : ignorance. not necessarily maliciousness, just ignorance, though sometimes I feel like ignorance is just as dangerous. as I mentioned in my last post, I also tend to feel this at one of my common internet hangouts: jezebel. there at least most people put some amount of effort into understanding, trying to be more awesome no matter how misguided and misinformed some of these efforts are. I've been learning to pick my battles, or at least trying to.

me sitting at my computer brought to mind this comic (from xkcd.com)

rollover reads: What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!

while I know it makes no difference, sometimes I just can't help it! they're just so wrong.

sapphire

if you're not angry

then you're just stupid

or you don't care

how else can you react

when you know 

something's so unfair

[ani difranco]

Jezebel

I have been thinking of starting up another blog (one I can dote on for a while and eventually leave abandoned in the blogosphere, one more orphan blog. how 2001 of me.) and now, here I am with a shiny new toy - I mean blog. why? the tipping point arrived in an open thread on jezebel, with several other commenters sharing their blogs with each other - how could I not get in on the action? thus, I began this new blog that, as much as I choose to, I can share with those lovely folks on jezebel, that internet community that I find myself on the edge of, occasionally diving into. and there are so many lovely folks, such a lovely place

but.

and there is always a but.

the oppression that exists there sometimes catches me off guard. if I am expecting it as I do in most places, it makes me angry but I can brush most of it off. when I am in a space that tries to be safe and I forget that no space is really safe I sometimes let my guard down and suddenly that heteronormative/transphobic/racist/gender oppressive/otherwise shitty remark brings me crashing back to reality. 

keep on trying jez. keep on trying.

his love

for the past four days, I have been listening to the song His Love by Tegan Quin more or less on repeat. it is an incredibly personal and beautiful song - a message from Tegan to Augusten Burroughs. it is so interesting to watch her play it with him there, how nervous she is. wow.

it prompted me to get a library card so that I could get Augusten Burroughs' book A Wolf at the Table, which is about his (abusive, sadistic) father. I have it on hold now and am set for some downer times reading it. this song just makes me feel such a need to read it.

in other book news, I am reading The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (thanks new library card!) and I came across a phrase that delighted me:

'That's him,' cried Tuppence, in an ungrammatical squeal.

that's all in the ballad of sapphire for tonight. 

until next time,

sapphire

welcome to:

the ballad of sapphire. I've been meaning to start a new blog for a while as my old one just had too much of my sixteen year old self in it, which is something that I don't need to share with everyone. thus, whatever this turns into : my musings on things I've been reading, things I've been listening to, things I've been doing. whatever I feel like throwing into the vast, echoey world of the interwebs. please comment to let me know you're listening.

love,

sapphire

besides which

welcome to

taking the good stuff down off of the shelf

and welcome to

the art of conversation with yourself

welcome to

humming an unbroken tune

all day long

yes it's quiet here

but hey

least you don't have to play along today

[ani difranco]