Even better...the people the pope intended to meet with in a supportive and nurturing way are a former student and his same-sex partner.

Well, partly because accepting less functional norms lowers the bar all around. Partly also because little kid stuff is magic and moonbeams and possibility and unicorns, and giving scads of money to people who trample over that precious innocent time because they can’t be bothered to do better is actively nauseating.…

Human sexuality is a complex beautiful messy thing as unique as people and their history are. Spend time with others who recognize and celebrate this.

<3 this so much the joy burst out of me like a care bear.

I’m with Martin, I love the literary argument. To that end, I submit the relevance and recognition of shorter form over novel in Hugo slates is an unintended consequence of the American roots of speculative fiction conventioning (including Worldcon itself), and American modernism’s fascination with short stories. I…

The key word in “sexual predator” is predator. They construct the framework for abuse long before the direct abuse begins. They get very good at identifying the vulnerable, and finding pathways to accessibility and trust-based relationships they can manipulate. Malice aforethought.

This whole thing parallels the narrative I’ve been living this week relative to emigrating from my home to this wildly racialized America. Particularly the quote.

Thin white women, brought to you by TSwift? She’s a little late for the patriarchy. Kudos to NM for calling that right out.

That is not a sick beat. Ownership denied.

Aaaaaand I can’t hear TSwift over the sound of Beyonce’s “Videophone” ages ago.

When my parent threatened me with undue physical harm or harm to my boundaries and integrity of self, my response was “oh yeah, come at me bro.” Oppositional defiance in the face of deep and dangerous harm kept me and at least 1 other family member alive, if not unharmed. Tyranny must be met with either acceptance or…

Peanut butter gets gum out of hair. :-)

Abusers recognize abuse. Part of why it is cyclical.

Did she have siblings or cousins of similar or younger age? If so, then yes. I worry about the mental health of both abusers and potential targets; but I advocate based on the prevention of harm to kids.

Immaterial. He was the adult. What adult doesn’t know being a girlchild of color is HARD? She’s his responsibility at that age, and he failed failed epically abusively failed. Her other issues were irrelevant to his abusive behavior.

If you need a gun to discipline another human, it’s not discipline, it’s a threat; and threatening someone with a gun is fucking abusive.

I think I see what you’re saying, but I worry the idea of discipline and the idea of punishment are often conflated, and the resultant shades of grey are where abuse justification lives. That said, if you are unable or unwilling to engage in corrective behavior publicly, maybe sometimes its to preserve the dignity of…

So the shearing of women’s hair to punish, humiliate, and control has been allegoric and idomatic since Shakespeare wrote this: http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/68