norah_liath: Yet another ME2 Shepard avatar, with a scar showing clearly on her cheek,only one side of her face is showing (profile) (Default)
[personal profile] norah_liath

If you don't already know about the Carnival of Aces, you can go here for some general information: http://writingfromfactorx.wordpress.com/a-carnival-of-aces-masterpost/.

I'm hosting the Carnival for October. If you'd like to participate, or just for more information specific to this month, please go here: http://norah-liath.dreamwidth.org/9290.html.

The topic for October is family.

If you could help signal boost the carnival in a variety of (appropriate) places, I would really appreciate it. It's not something I'm very good at: I'm not a member in many places (I still regularly come across places that I don't even know about, that are apparently very popular, too), and I often don't know what is appropriate for posting (and when), and get a lot of anxiety about it.


(Is it maybe an idea to have some kind of tag for blog carnivals or just general signal-boosting?)
shiyiya: Shiyiya, a very pale white girl with brown hair and eyes. (Default)
[personal profile] shiyiya
Asexual Awareness Week (October 23-29) has created a census for asexual, demisexual and grey-a identified people.
To be scientifically representative, the census needs at least 500 responses. If this happens the results can go towards future academic research into asexuality, and give us a better understanding of the asexual population.
Please only take the survey if you are on the asexual-spectrum!
TAKE THE CENSUS HERE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AAW2011AsexualCommunityCensus
Please complete the survey and spread the message!

(via Sciatrix's tumblr)

Open Thread

Sep. 8th, 2011 02:02 pm
aceeccentric: Angel wing with quote "just enough of a bastard to be worth liking" (Default)
[personal profile] aceeccentric
Today's topic is geekery. What's guaranteed to get you geeking out? What's the geekiest thing you've own/done?

Note: today's open thread is public.
nami_roland: (Default)
[personal profile] nami_roland
So as I may have mentioned here before I'm in a human sexuality class this semester. And, three weeks in, it is by far my favorite class. The subject itself is fascinating -- I'm not as much of a sex/sexuality nerd as some people I know but it's still way cool to study -- and my professor is just incredibly fantastic. Seriously, I have all the love for this professor.

Anyway, we're still kind of looking at the study of sociology (since this is a 1000 level class and so it's assumed that the people taking it aren't sociology majors, which, at least in my case, is a perfectly valid assumption) and at why it's a useful lens to look at to study sexuality. Beginner stuff, mostly, but still interesting and she can still find ways to work in all the swear words and graphic descriptions she can just like she warned us she would and I'm still enjoying myself immensely. Today we were looking at the idea of "sex" and what it means to "have sex" and what counts and what doesn't count and how people keep count. (As an aside, I never realized what a big deal it was to tell someone your count and how much thought apparently goes into what number you give. Clearly you learn something new everyday.) About halfway through class we'd broadened our definition to roughly, "An expression of erotic desire ending with a sense of completion." (My notes for this class are shit, which will probably be a problem when it comes time to study for the exam but oh well. It's hard to focus on taking notes when your professor is bouncing around the classroom talking about being a party favor and generally proving herself to be awesome.)

So we had that definition, and then she looked around and was like, "But that definition still leaves some people out, doesn't it? Who do you think it leaves out?" And no one had anything to say, because people still don't talk much in class because her enthusiasm is intimidating and it's still only the third week and, anyway, no one -- myself included, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit -- seemed to be able to come up with an answer to her question. After a minute of letting us think about it she went on and said, "What about people who don't experience desire? What about people whose sex lives involve not having or not desiring sex? They count too, after all." And it was beautiful and I was kind of surprised by how much that inclusion meant to me. Because she was talking about us. About asexual people. And if she never said the word, well, she doesn't usually say gay or straight either, she tends to talk about partners and attraction patterns rather than the common labels, which is fine. Because it was very clear, at least to me, that she meant us.*

And then later in the class we were talking briefly about privilege because we'd wandered back into sociology and what it meant to study and do sociology and privilege comes into that in a pretty big way. So she asked all the people who ID as heterosexual how many of them had had to come out as straight and oh, one or two people tentatively raised their hands. And she nodded and was like, "yeah. And the system is set up in a way that most of you never have to sit there and agonize about the person you like and what that means and what it says about you as a person." Then she paused and then added, "Or sit there and agonize about how you don't like anyone and what that means and what that says about you as a person." Again, talking about us. And again it made me just ridiculously happy.

I don't think I realized before now just how good it would feel to be mentioned like that. In a lot of ways it was better than having a whole unit specifically devoted to us, though obviously that would be fantastic. But just being mentioned casually like that takes asexuality out of the domain of 'that's so weird' and into the real of the so-called 'normal.' It's just one more thing, one more variation, something just as legitimate as anything else. I'm pretty damn sure that this is the first time I've ever heard asexuality talked about like that, especially by someone who isn't ace. It wasn't a discussion of asexuality, we didn't dwell on it, it just was. And it was fantastic.

*For the record I am out to her, as of the end of last week, and I need to write up that conversation because it's one of the big reasons I love her as much as I do. I have never had as good a coming out conversation in my life.

Open Thread

Sep. 1st, 2011 07:54 am
theletterfour: Text only: For I am BATMA... I mean... the Dark Lord (Default)
[personal profile] theletterfour
This is the Thursday open thread.

Today's topic is inspired by the show I'm working on right now, and that is humour. What makes you laugh?

Name a GSA!

Sep. 1st, 2011 02:15 pm
[personal profile] veerserif
I'm trying to revitalise my school's group-what-discusses-LGBT+-issues. And, because of the IB, I want to put this down as a 'personal project' - but that means I have to start a new group. Long story short, I need a new name for it!

The group used to be called Spectrum, and I am terrible with names, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
virescence: An image of new, green leaves shown on a lighter green background. (Default)
[personal profile] virescence
Hello, group_xers! It's time again for another open thread. And this time someone put me in charge.

This week my brain is totally dominated by dissertation-writing/editing, so in my complete inability to think about anything else, I've decided to make the subject of this Open Thread: Achievements. What have you achieved lately that you're proud of? What are you working towards achieving, or hope to achieve someday in the future?

(Note: this doesn't just mean big achievements, or only academic ones - anything that you have or plan to achieve, however big or small, once-in-a-lifetime or day-to-day, come tell us about it! And don't feel compelled to stick to the topic if you have something far more interesting or important to share.)

Also note: today's open thread is public.
sciatrix: A thumbnail from an Escher print, black and white, of a dragon with its tail in its mouth, wing outstretched behind. (Default)
[personal profile] sciatrix
So the latest shitstorm on tumblr is all about how words like queerplatonic are totally overanalyzing and useless and just making up unnecessary words, which is somehow... bad? I don't even know what they're arguing there, or why these words are supposed to hurt anyone else. That bit's never been clearly explained in favor of focusing on all the shaming going on.

Because I'm contrary and my reaction to someone trying to tear down my communities is to immediately try to build it up, I wanted to have a discussion here about relationships that blur the lines of the friendship/romantic relationship binary.

For me, personally, these words are absolutely important. And not just because they're the signs of the first time I've ever had a community, even a little one, where I actually feel like other people are getting me and the relationships I tend to make, either. These words give me a vocabulary to talk about what I've been going through in a way that almost nothing else does.

Some of the people being assholes were arguing that "friend" is a broad enough term for these kinds of relationships. And the thing is, "friend" is so broad and so devalued that I think it's really not; either it's been broadened so much that it's meaningless or, if you do narrow it down and try to describe what a "friend" is, it's woven through with devalued connotations to the point where I think it's better for me to jettison it as a word for my closer relationships.

And then there's the wonderful person who felt the need to tell Kaz that zer relationships (one of which is with me) are totally romantic. And the thing is--no, as far as I can tell, it's not. Some of the cultural markers that are specific to romantic relationships are there, yeah, like the attempts to commit to one another and the general feeling of importance, but a ton of others--like the hierarchical "most important" feelings and the elements of jealousy over sharing (both of us have another zucchini)--aren't there at all.

So--if you find these words important to you at all, let's talk about why. If you use words like "queerplatonic" and "zucchini" for yourself, let's discuss why those words are necessary. If you don't, let's talk about why other fine-tuned distinctions asexuals make are important. Above all, though, let's talk about our realities.

After all, these people would rather we be silent. Speaking up is the best revenge.
aceeccentric: Angel wing with quote "just enough of a bastard to be worth liking" (Default)
[personal profile] aceeccentric
Hello again! For now, the mods think that biweekly Open Threads will work best. We'll do Mondays and Thursdays and see how that works out. If people are interested we'll also post some ace-centered Discussion Threads.

Today's topic is to-do lists. What've you got to do today? What things are on your 'fantasy' to-do list, the ones you're not sure you'll get the chance to cross off?

Note: Today's Open Thread is public, since we haven't had any public posts yet.
theletterfour: Text only: For I am BATMA... I mean... the Dark Lord (Default)
[personal profile] theletterfour
Hi,

This is a post where you can contact a Mod about anything other than rule-violations, if you'd rather do so somewhere other than e-mail. Of course, you can also contact us by e-mail for anything at GroupXMods@gmail.com, or if you have a concern that needs to be addressed by a certain mod (or not seen by a certain mod), you can use the Private Messaging system.

So here you can post suggestions for open thread topics, suggestions to improve the journal theme, questions on what kinds of posts fit the theme of the community, requests to affiliate... basically anything you'd need a mod for that wouldn't be better handled over e-mail.

Just one note, though, requests for new tags should go to the Tag request post.
aceeccentric: A grayscale square, going from black to white, diagonally. (mod icon)
[personal profile] aceeccentric
Hello!

If you do not have a Dreamwidth account and need an invite code, try [site community profile] dw_codesharing or contacting the mods. Please, to make things easier for the mods, don't comment on this post before you have a Dreamwidth account.

Read the safe space and accessibility policies before joining, please. The mods will warn you if you violate either of these policies, ask you to make the appropriate corrections, and delete your content if you do not correct it. Consistent problems will result in a banning from the community (procedure outlined in the policies, linked in the first sentence).

In order to keep the community a safe space, we originally had membership by invitation. We have opened membership after learning that this was considered a barrier for some. However, if we receive any trouble from trolls or anti-ace/grace/demi people, we will have to moderate membership again.

Contact GroupXMods@gmail.com if you need other assistance, or use the Mod Contact Post.

Tagging

Aug. 14th, 2011 02:28 pm
aceeccentric: A grayscale square, going from black to white, diagonally. (mod icon)
[personal profile] aceeccentric
Only mods can create tags. This is to keep tags from getting out of hand, and to prevent multiple tags being created for a single topic. Use the tag "admin: tag request" on your post if you want a new tag, and somewhere in your post make it noticeable what tag you want and why.

List of tags. )
aceeccentric: A grayscale square, going from black to white, diagonally. (mod icon)
[personal profile] aceeccentric
Safe Space & Accessibility Policy


As this community was created because Tumblr had become a frequently unsafe place for ace people, the safe space policy is very important. Community members and moderators want very much for the space to be welcoming and comfortable and not somewhere people have to worry before speaking, interacting with members or the community space, or reading through the community's content.

The accessibility policy is likewise in place so that all members will have access to the community. The accessibility policy is discussed in detail below.

Contents:

Behavior
Age and Content Notes
Trigger Warnings and Explicit Content Notes
Trolling
Accessibility Policy
Discipline
Contacting a Mod

Behavior


Fellow community members will be treated with respect. Slurs, other harmful language, and personal attacks will not be tolerated and may prompt warnings, actions to delete content, or being banned from the community. The policy for the implementation of these measures is discussed below.

Examples of language that would constitute a problem include: anti-ace, anti-trans, anti-GSM (gender and sexual minority), racist, classist, ableist, sexist, identity policing, slut shaming, threats, rape jokes, etc. Members will be trusted to use their own judgment about what constitutes a violation -- putting a harmful quote behind a cut and then discussing it, or asking for support while mentioning having been attacked, are different than attacking another member, for example. Moderators will take complaints seriously.

Since Dreamwidth is a large site with spaces other than this particular community, conflict that takes place outside of the community should be reported to the Dreamwidth staff (FAQ here).

Most of all, try to be kind to each other. Assume good faith if you can. The point of this community is so we can be here for each other.

Age and Content Notes


Dreamwidth's Terms of Service state that members need to be 13 to use the site.

For community purposes, a post that a member feels would be inappropriate for people younger than 18 should be marked as such. When making a post, in the drop-down "Age Restriction" section, the "Viewer Discretion Advised" option should be selected.

Trigger Warnings and Explicit Content Notes


Trigger Warnings

Triggering material is material that can provoke a harmful response in a person (ex. flashbacks or the urge to self-harm). Failure to hide and make note of material may prompt warnings, actions to delete content, or banning from the community. The policy for the implementation of these measures is discussed below.

If posting or discussing content that could be triggering, members are required to include easily visible trigger warnings in their posts and to put the material behind a cut. Instructions for making a cut are in this FAQ.

If discussing potentially triggering material in a comment on a post that does not have a trigger warning for that material in it already, include an easily visible trigger warning in the subject line of your comment or in the first line of your comment.

Explicit Content Notes

Explicit content should also be placed behind a cut with a note about what is under the cut. Instructions for making a cut are in this FAQ. Due to the nature of this community, some members will be repulsed by sexual material, some members may be viewing it in a workplace or another unwelcoming environment (some people only have Internet access at public libraries, for example, or may be sitting in an airport killing time), some members may experience heightened dysphoria when they see explicit content, some members may feel they're too young to explore some content, and some members will just not want to see explicit content.

Members are trusted to use their judgment about what constitutes explicit content and to err on the side of caution to keep the community a safe place for all members. Complaints will be taken seriously. Failure to hide and make note of material may prompt warnings, actions to delete content, or banning from the community. The policy for the implementation of these measures is discussed below.

Trolling


Part of the reason this community was created is because Tumblr was particularly susceptible to trolls, either attacking individual people or spamming ace-related tags with harmful material. Trolling, including concern trolling, will not be tolerated. As trolls are trying to create harm, engage with them only with extreme caution and report them to moderators. Moderators will take complaints seriously and trolling content will be frozen or deleted, and trolls will be banned. The policy for the implementation of these measures is discussed below.

For purposes of clarity, some definitions from the Wikipedia entry on trolling are included below. Definitions came from the article on August 8, 2011.

"…a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community […] with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. The noun troll may refer to the provocative message itself, as in: 'That was an excellent troll you posted.'"

"A concern troll is a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose actual point of view is opposed to the one that the user claims to hold. The concern troll posts in web forums devoted to its declared point of view and attempts to sway the group's actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals, but with professed 'concerns.' The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group."

Accessibility Policy


We want the community to be accessible to all members. Disregarding the accessibility policy may prompt warnings, deletion of content, or banning from the community. The specific policy for the implementation of these measures is discussed below.

Image Descriptions

Image descriptions for images included or linked to in posts and comments are mandatory. Here is a guide for writing image descriptions. The description does not have to be extremely detailed or long, but needs to give an idea of what the image is. (Ex. "a picture of a laughing woman, seen from the side, text reads: 'I love knock-knock jokes!'" vs. "a picture of a person with some text.")

Video Descriptions

Video descriptions for videos included or linked to in posts and comments are mandatory. Even if a video has captions, the video may be inaccessible to people. The description does not have to be extremely long. Just describe the video well enough that a person has an idea of what it's about without having to watch and listen to it. (Ex. "a funny video of a cat sitting in a sink" vs. "a video of a pet.")

A transcript is a nice addition if available, but not required.

Flashing or Animated Images

Image descriptions are still required, but flashing or animated images in particular need to be placed behind a cut with a note about what's under the cut. These types of images could severely distract a person or induce a seizure.

Discipline


Warnings

Warnings will be left when a post or comment violates the safe space or accessibility policy, unless the violation is extreme enough to immediately warrant another action, which will be left up to the judgment of the mod who spotted the violation or responded to a complain (ex. someone leaving a death threat or posting a large flashing graphic outside a cut that could induce seizures). The mod will inform the person that they have violated the safe space or accessibility policy and further violations will put them in danger of being banned. If the accessibility policy has been violated, the mod will ask for corrections to be made. Records will be kept so that mods know how many warnings a person has received.

Deleting Content

Content that violates community policy will be saved in a separate location for record keeping purposes and deleted from the community. The files will be saved somewhere all mods can access them. If the accessibility policy has been violated, mods will have likely asked for corrections to be made prior to deletion. Deletion will take place if the member has not responded to the mod request within two days. Members will be told if they have the option to repost material later, with the accessibility concerns addressed.

This is to remove material that could be triggering or harmful from the eye of the community, to prevent harmful posts or threads from continuing while leaving them intact for record-keeping purposes, and to serve as evidence that members facing being banned from the community have actually violated the community policies in the past.

Banning from the Community

Three warnings will result in being banned from the community. A severe violation of the community policy (death threats, trolling, or other things more than one mod judges are severe) may result in a member being banned before three warnings have been issued.

A mod issuing a third warning and banning a member will contact the other mods so that all mods are informed of the situation. A mod who spots or is made aware of a severe violation will contact the other mods, but may use their own judgment for banning a member before a third warning has been issued.

A member who violates Dreamwidth's Terms of Service will also be reported to the Dreamwidth team.

Contacting a Mod


A community-specific e-mail account has been set up so that all mods have access to it. The address is GroupXMods@gmail.com. Members should e-mail here if they have concerns that don't need to be addressed by a particular mod. Mods will be listed in the profile as well. If a specific mod needs to be contacted (or avoided) please use Dreamwidth's PM system.
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