So many people are confused about their sexuality these days. Here’s a hint: We’re all just human, you don’t have to label yourself. Do what you want with who you want. If that guy is hot go talk to him, if you like that girl go flirt with her. Fall in love with a person not a gender.

chotchki:

brogigayo:

linesandlattes:

brogigayo:

no matter how much i see this it still bothers me for reasons i can’t quite explain

things aren’t as easy as just like

going up and talking to a member of the same sex

Well of course it’s not. But IMO the point is to like who you like & not feel bad about it. 

yes i know but it completely oversimplifies things. and people who ~don’t see gender~ annoy the shit out of me because there are people who have struggled their entire lives to have their gender validated and respected by people around them and then people are like ~~~well i just see you as a person~~~

anyone who says “we’re all just human” in just about any context gets an immediate hardcore side-eye from me

Agreed with KR & chotchki. I hate these things like this. Gender DOES matter. It is important. It is part of people’s identities and what makes them attractive to you in the first place. It so happens that I am attracted to people of many gender representations, and that might even include people who don’t care or express themselves in a specific way, but that doesn’t mean I like someone DESPITE their gender or that I ignore their gender. In fact, I’m specifically attracted to people with a-typical or interesting gender representations. My god. There is a way to say “sexuality is more fluid than you think don’t worry about it” or “heterocentric rules on sexuality with denote that you must date someone of the opposite gender is wrong” without dismissing gender or making it seem like people should be afraid to be labeled as anything in the “queer” spectrum.

(Source: chrissycostanzameow)

lycheequeso:

savagekpoplove:

wanna-b:

skai-high:

misswindupbird:

Morir Soñando: Okay, my opinion of Simon and Martina

todiedreaming:

Okay, let me begin by stating that I emailed them once asking them about African Americans and KPOP. They responded by saying that Korean just plain ol’ do not like black people.

After that I watched a video they made about interracial marriages in South Korea, and again they emphasized how…

I used to find them very entertaining (and maybe they still are, I just haven’t watched their videos in awhile), but never really gave much thought to them.  But yeah, now that you bring this stuff up, I can see it.  

And I always did find it odd that they’ve lived in Korea for - how long? over a year? - and still can’t speak much Korean?  Or at least that’s how they represent themselves.  Which is just really strange.

^ All of that. I think they’ve been there about three years and they have, according to them, a kindergartener’s grasp of Korean.

People who want to live in another country and make no effort to learn the local language deserve no respect in my opinion.

I always found it weird that they hadn’t picked up more Korean after living there for years. To address the rest of this post, this really opens my eyes to things I overlooked. Thank you for bringing this to light.

When talking about language, it’s quite normal for English teachers to live abroad without having to learn the local language. Many foreigners in Korea don’t necessarily feel the need to learn Korean because well…they tend to hang out with other foreigners and form their own little communities. In that case, it’s not necessary to be 100% fluent in the language. However if you want to live and work in a country long term, it is best to learn the language. Right now, it seems they’re learning it a bit and they’re beginning to understand why language is important. I’m pretty sure they’re aware by now that they can’t just speak English to everyone on the streets.

Ideally after 3 years in a foreign country, one should be fluent enough but it depends on the effort being put in and the opportunities one takes to speak. Lack of confidence in learning or speaking another language may lead many to form their own communities and refuse to speak the hegemonic language. We see this in America with ethnic groups forming their own communities where they speak their own language and many can’t speak English much if at all. 

As for their commentary, sometimes it can definitely sound ethnocentric - well it is ethnocentric. Getting rid of ethnocentric bias is actually rather difficult for many. While some of what they may be saying is true based on their own experiences, they don’t really provide an explanation as to why this is so. I find a lot of people living abroad and vlogging tend to over-generalize and base their opinions of the cultural norms they’re used to. This is a problem that I see mostly with people being brought to a country to teach English who have majored in English. Majoring in English is great…being a TESOL major is great…but what I see often is a lack of sociocultural/sociolinguistic knowledge. This is why I believe it is important for these majors to take cultural courses before going off to teach. 

Of course they’re giving their account of their time in Korea from their own perspective. However their bias is too obvious. For us Anthropologists talking about the cultures we encounter, we are encouraged to tell our audience what our bias specifically is - our ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, etc. Then we try to distance ourselves from that bias in order to provide accurate information. Of course, we can’t expect to have a full emic or “insider” perspective but we have to try. 

I don’t think they necessarily act like Koreans have to accommodate to them but I do think they need to become more sensitive to cultural norms and do some research outside their personal experience. They really only tell you what such and such is like from what they’ve seen without being able to answer the ‘whys.’ Most of their comments on cultural things are bold and blunt and heavily opinionated. They can be taking something that may be based in truth and expand on it solely using their perspective. However this leaves them sounding ethnocentric and does not give us the answers we’re necessarily looking for. 

^^^^^^

Racial discourse from an anthropological point of view, on nom non nom.

If anything, this is probably the only place (in all of reality ever ever) where I’d see whiteness actually gives you a (insy tinsy weensy) bit of a disadvantage in a funny way.

HEAR ME OUT-The normal experiences and hardships any person can and will experience in a new country (trouble learning a new language, acclimating to the food and culture, etc) for white people simply get chalked up as “OH YOU’RE A XENOPHOBE YOU’RE RACIST YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE HUH HUH HUH”.

Obviously there’s a fucking precedent for that, white people being ignorant, self-absorbed, convinced of their culture’s superiority, clueless and xenophobic, coming into POC countries thinking they’re hot shit and needed to be accommodated to-it’s a thing, it’s is the story of my fucking life, don’t think I don’t realize and acknowledge and have LIVED and am a direct result of that history.

BUT honestly, for white people too, just like anyone else, learning a new language is hard. Getting acclimated to a new country is hard. Realizing your ethnic bias AND your racial privilege AND trying to communicate what you see for a larger audience is going to be fucking difficult to do, I feel like they didn’t realize any of that before they unwittingly undertook the task.

I’ve experienced racism and xenophobia and “EWW U EAT THAT REALLY EWW EWW EWW” and “WHY DOES YOUR MOM HAVE AN ACCENT” and all that other fun gushy stuff from people who WEREN’T white. When we talk about privilege, we talk about who it benefits, but not always who internalizes it and who it hurts. Anyways, even operating outside of the “privilege” context, plain ol’ xenophobia and not understanding cultures different from you is not new. Obviously white folk benefit, but we all internalize it and racism and ignorance about my identity hurts coming from anyone. I would probably in my head know and understand it comes from a different place and context and be a bit less offended, but I wouldn’t be less hurt or feel unwelcomed if a Korean was xenophobic or racist to me, or if a black person was making bigoted comments about my culture. I don’t feel I get a free pass on knowing shit about other cultures because I come from an immigrant family of Latinos. I can and have said fucked up shit. I do have a bias. 

Pilgrim and Indian themed Thanksgiving party

custerdiedforyoursins:

The racism doesn’t have to end at Halloween. These people intend to make racism a staple of every holiday, not that Thanksgiving needed any help with that.

Because genocide is always funny.

And so is the sexualization of Native American women. And because I can never say this enough: Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other US women. 1 out of 3 Native American women will be raped in her life. 86% of the rapes will be committed by non-Native American men. These statistics are from an Amnesty International report on violence against Native women.

Please report this as offensive to facebook. The event is an open one, so we can all comment and say we’re not attending.

(Source: amnestyusa.org, via chotchki)