Weekly round-up and open thread

As always, linking to articles does not mean endorsement from The F-Word and certain links may be triggering. We welcome debate in the comments section and on Facebook/Twitter but remind readers that any comments containing sexist, racist, homophobic, classist, transphobic or disablist language will be deleted immediately. If you notice that we’ve missed out any important articles/issues from the past week, feel free to let us know.

How The Adultification Of Black Girls Allowed R. Kelly’s Decades Of Abuse (Taryn Finley, HuffPost UK)
From the article: “When people treat Black girls as adults, they’re less likely to listen to Black girls’ accusations or look for them when they go missing. The cases of missing Black girls often go ignored and underreported in the media.”

Trans Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard named ‘sportswoman of the year’ (Lily Wakefield, PinkNews)

Coming to Terms With My Asexuality as a Black, Non-Binary Lesbian (Ashleigh-Rae Thomas, Autostraddle)

The battle to save women on Death Row is part of the fight against gendered violence (Sabrina Mahtani, gal-dem)
From the article: “A study by Penal Reform International found that, with few exceptions, criminal justice systems are failing women by ignoring their trauma and the realities and dynamics of domestic violence.”

Review of Helen Joyce’s Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality and Kathleen Stock’s Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (Alex Sharpe, Critical Legal Thinking)
From the article: “Material Girls and Trans set themselves against trans rights activism and, in the process, advance broader toxic politics that embolden the Christian right, free-speech absolutism, and government attacks on higher education.”

Why does fitness need to be this gendered? (Tracey Anne Duncan, Mic)

What Sex Education season three gets right about the Nigerian queer experience (Vincent Desmond, GQ)
From the article: “Freedom to be oneself and exist freely and authentically is universally understood among queer people regardless of the society they are raised in. On a larger scale, it shows the resilience of LGBTQIA+ Nigerians, who are working hard to create safe spaces for themselves in a country that makes it hard for them to do so, and on a smaller scale, it is a joy to watch Eric exist, albeit briefly, surrounded by people he shares so much with at this special intersection of being queer and Nigerian.”

Podcast: E121 The Surviving Society Alternative to Woman’s Hour: Vivienne Isebor
From the description: “…Black women, education & neurodiversity: In this episode, Chantelle and Vivienne (ADHD Babes) discuss their personal experiences of navigating both life and education with multiple neurodiverse traits.

“ADHD Babes: ADHD Babes is a community group for Black Women and Black Non-Binary people with ADHD. We create safe spaces for us to flourish and live our lives to their greatest potential. We aim to empower people with community, tools, learning and healing spaces to redefine ADHD, tackle its difficulties and utilise its strengths. We aim to create a society that embraces neurodiversity. We aim to raise awareness and educate people on the truth and reality of how ADHD affects neurodiverse people, and how best to support them.”


The image is used under a creative commons license with thanks to Jeff Power on Flickr. It shows colourful autumn leaves floating on top of a pool of dark water.