Quickies
Quickies: Rejected Princesses, LGBT Youth Homelessness, and Stolen Nude Selfies
- No Tiara, No Problem: ‘Rejected Princesses’ Have Stories Worth Telling – “Many of us have come to know the tales of Disney’s princesses by heart. But put Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Ariel aside for a moment and consider these characters: A transgender Native American, a tank commander and a Mexican revolutionary.”
- Jogging US Marshal kicks man in the crotch, arrests him after he yanked down her shorts – “A Pittsburgh man suspected of sexually assaulting women on a popular jogging lane got more than he bargained for when he tried to strip the pants off a woman who proved to be a United States Marshal.” From Donna and Rebecca.
- The Forsaken: A Rising Number of Homeless Gay Teens Are Being Cast Out by Religious Families – “While life gets better for millions of gays, the number of homeless LGBT teens – many cast out by their religious families – quietly keeps growing.” I can’t imagine ever removing my child from my life–these stories are heartbreaking and these parents should be ashamed of themselves.
- What We REALLY Mean When We Talk About Leaked Pics – Cracked does an awesome takedown of why saying “Don’t Take Naked Pics!” is not an acceptable response to people victimized through the latest exhibition of stolen selfies. From mrmisconception.
- How municipalities in St. Louis County, Mo., profit from poverty – “On March 20 in the St. Louis County town of Florissant, someone made an illegal U-turn in front of Nicole Bolden. The 32-year-old black single mother hit her brakes but couldn’t avoid a collision. Bolden wasn’t at fault for the accident and wanted to continue on her way. The other motorist insisted on calling the police, as per the law. When the officer showed up, Bolden filled with dread.”
- A 100% Foolproof Guide to Not Having Your Nudes Leaked Online – Humorously “helpful” advice that includes “avoid being a woman,” and “avoid being naked at any time.”
- Can news literacy grow up? – “News literacy’s mission—to help give people the critical-thinking skills necessary to discern what is trustworthy in this churning informational stew—is crucial. It can also, at times, feel impossible.” From Rebecca.
This is a great roundup. Three comments:
1. I love how the news literacy people are showing appropriate skepticism of the value of their own product. I wish more charity education projects would do this.
2. The problem of homeless LGBT youth is not only religious and, I believe, mostly not religious in nature. According to every source I saw, the disowned teen Daniel Pierce’s family was not actually very religious at all. They rarely attended church and had almost no religious trappings about the house. This is hatred of gays. If someone does hate gays, religion can provide an excuse. This is something that I try to get others (skeptics and religious alike) to understand: religion is largely used to justify bad behavior. It has a vanishingly smaller role in driving bad behavior.
I saw the Cracked article. I never got the idea of celebrity nudes. It’s either a deliberate ‘leak’ (such as Paris Hilton), or people that, TBH, make me buy opaque drapes for every woman I know.
A winkte (or in Crow, bote) is more like a third gender.
If you want to see profit from poverty, look no farther than payday lending. And that’s really only the beginning.
The story about gay teens gets worse. Many of them resort to prostitution. And being homeless also means being disposable; honestly, I don’t see much difference between disowning a minor and child murder for that reason.