ok this is “earring magic ken” who was introduced in 1992 (and discontinued shortly thereafter)
basically mattel had done a survey and discovered that girls didn’t think ken was “cool” enough
SO someone had the bright idea to research coolness by sending people to raves which, at the time, were mostly hosted & attended by gay men. so they went to these raves and took notes on what the fashions were and finally landed on this outfit, mesh shirt & all
this doll became the best selling ken doll in history, mostly because gay men bought it in droves. (many of them said his necklace was supposed to be a cockring) but mattel and a number of parents weren’t very amused and discontinued the doll
OH MY GOD YOU’RE LEAVING OUT THE BEST PART
SO
MAGIC EARRING KEN. This bitch gay as HELL. supposedly the aforementioned rings on him are for “magic earrings” and clip on charms. These charms are advertised as totally COMPLETELY heterosexual, not gay at ALL, see there’s a Barbie that also has Magic Earring Action with clip on charms! Ken wears them to match, because he’s STRAIGHT
Here’s the issue: THERE IS NO MATCHING BARBIE. Magic Earring Ken is out here straight up wearing cock rings on his jacket with a thinly devised advertising ploy to make it SEEM not-gay. But it’s DEFINITELY GAY. (And if you’re thinking, why cock rings? Well way back in 1992 gay culture was HUGE on wearing cock rings, it was the in-style. Everyone who was gay wore one, even women; you sewed them to your leather jacket, and the placement indicated some of your sexual preference. In case you were wondering, Ken is a Bottom.)
AND IT GETS BETTER. Magic Earring Ken was on the shelves for six weeks before they pulled him. In that short amount of time? Magic Earring Ken became the BEST SELLING Barbie Doll Mattel has EVER SOLD. LET THAT SINK IN. SIX WEEKS. And now every time these wheezy old hetero windbag execs go to look at their sales board, they’re forever haunted by Magic Earring Ken at the top of their charts.
Gay as hell, Cock Ring Bottom Ken, the Best Selling Mattel Doll. Pride.
please take the time out of your day to read about Magic Earring Ken™
it’s always so funny learning about the Great Depression in grade school cuz they don’t ever talk about how latinx and Hispanic people were lowkey deported to Mexico even if they weren’t Mexican and how the depression was literally twice as worse for black people who were the first fired and last hired. like educators always report these tragedies by how they impacted whites UNLESS you are in a class like AA studies or something.
This is the truth. The experiences of poc have been outright erased from history in US public education. The white experience is labeled as universal in order to cover up white crimes and to keep white kids ignorant so that we uphold white supremacy throughout our lives.
News reports and personal accounts from people who knew him show that
Brett Kavanaugh lied again and again at his Senate confirmation
hearing. How can this sputtering, raging, serial liar possibly be
considered for the role of a Supreme Court justice?
In last Thursday’s confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh lied repeatedly
about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony that she was sexually
assaulted by him at age 15.
Kavanaugh repeatedly lied that her account had been “refuted” by
witnesses. He also lied about his behavior in high school and college.
And he lied many times about policies he worked on during the presidency
of George W. Bush.
“Kavanaugh is such a brazen liar that many of his false claims have been entirely refuted by reporting,” Media Matters for America says in this comprehensive list of his lies under oath before the United States Senate.
Kavanaugh repeatedly claimed Ford’s accusation has been
“refuted” by others who she said attended the party – even though the
other attendees have said no such thing. Kavanaugh seized on the word “refuted” when responding to Ford’s report, claiming in five instances
that the three people who Ford says were at the party when Kavanaugh
sexually assaulted her had “refuted” her account. That’s an obvious
misrepresentation of what those people have said. They have actually all
said that they don’t recall
the party in question – a major difference from saying something
didn’t happen. And Ford’s friend Leland Keyser has said that although
she doesn’t remember the party in question, she believes Ford is telling the truth.
Kavanaugh said he “did not travel in the same social circles” as Ford, but he did. During prepared remarks, Kavanaugh said
that Ford “and I did not travel in the same social circles. It is
possible that we met at some point at some events, although I do not
recall that.” But Ford testified that she went out with one of
Kavanaugh’s friends, whose name appears 13 times in Kavanaugh’s calendar.
Kavanaugh attempted to fabricate an alibi by suggesting he
did not drink on weekdays and was out of town almost every weekend night
of the summer of 1982. Kavanaugh claimed
that the incident Ford described “presumably happened on a weekend” and
suggested that he and his friends didn’t drink during the week because
of their jobs while adding he was “out of town almost every weekend
night before football training camp started in late August.” In doing
so, Kavanaugh attempted to falsely imply that he did not attend the type
of get-together that Ford described. Kavanaugh’s lie is readily
apparent in the calendars he provided the committee and a contradictory statement
he made acknowledging “the calendars show a few weekday gatherings at
friends’ houses after a workout or just to meet up and have some beers.”
In particular, great attention has focused on his July 1 calendar entry – a Thursday – that showed he was having “[brew]skis” with some of the people Ford said were at the party.
Kavanaugh said he had no connection to Yale University prior
to attending undergrad and law school there, but he was a legacy
admittee. While denying that he was a heavy drinker in college who drank to the point of blacking out, Kavanagh said,
“I got into Yale Law School – that’s the number one law school in the
country. I had no connections there; I got in there by busting my tail
at college.” In fact, Kavanaugh’s grandfather Everett Edward Kavanaugh attended Yale, making Kavanaugh a legacy student.
Kavanaugh denied every blacking out from drinking and
downplayed his alcohol consumption as a young man, but numerous Yale
classmates say he was a belligerent drunk. Kavanaugh became
angered under questioning from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) after she asked
him if he ever blacked out from excessive drinking. In response,
Kavanaugh pressed Klobuchar if she had ever blacked out and claimed that he doesn’t have a drinking problem. The New York Times reported
that “nearly a dozen” of Kavanaugh’s classmates “said they recalled his
indulging in heavy drinking, with some characterizing it as outside the
norms of college life.” His freshman roommate James Roche said Kavanaugh was “frequently unusually drunk” and would become “belligerent and mean,” while classmate Charles “Chad” Ludington said Kavanaugh was “a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker.” Classmate Elizabeth Swisher called
Kavanaugh’s claim he never blacked out “a lie” based on her observation
of his behavior at the time. Classmate Lynne Brookes told CNN that she
and her former classmates were texting each other during the hearing
that Kavanaugh was lying about his college drinking habits.
[Image description: a twitter thread by user Erryn Brook. It reads as follows, spread out over several texts: “I want to tell you a story about how my mum taught me that I’m allowed to leave an uncomfortable situation.
I was maybe 7, I think it was my first sleepover at someone else’s house. I don’t remember the girl’s name. But before I left Mum told me that if I was uncomfortable at any point, for any reason, even if it was in the middle of the night, I could call her.
She was very clear. She said even if her parents have gone to bed I want you to knock on their bedroom door and ask to use the phone. I could call her even if it was late. And if her parents didn’t answer the door to just go find the phone and call her anyway.
She said it doesn’t matter what time it is, you won’t be in trouble and I’ll come get you.
I think I was being teased about something. It definitely wasn’t just I can’t sleep, there was something social going on. But that’s what I did.
The girl’s mom tried to discourage me. She said it was late, I said my mum didn’t care. She said I could sleep on the couch. I said I wanted to go home. She said I was upsetting her daughter, I said she was mean to me.
I remember holding the phone and my mum answered. I said “hi Mum.” She said “you want me to come get you?” I said “yes please.” She said “ask her Mum to help you pack up your things and get your coat on. I’ll be right there.”
And my mum showed up on her doorstep in pajama pants and a coat. The girl’s mum kept apologizing for me calling, my mum put up a hand and said “don’t apologize for my daughter. I want her to know she’s allowed to leave and I’ll be there for her at any time.”
I remember the little crowd of sleepover girls huddled in the far doorway that led to the bedrooms, watching all of this confused and silent. And I remember that mom apologizing. She didn’t seem to know what to say after my mum asked her to stop.
I had more incidents like that as I grew up. My mum did a lot around boundaries with me. I remember her marching me down the street to another girl’s house to ask for an apology in front of her parents.
I remember her telling 3 friends to sit in the front room with their bags packed while they waited for their parents to come get them, after I had told them all to “get out of my house” for teasing me and bullying me.
I remember her coaching me through a speech on how to resign and leave from a hostile work environment when I was in the middle of nowhere at a camp for the summer, and she offered money to get a cab to pick me and my friends up.
I can’t say I’ve always followed my gut on boundaries and discomfort. I can’t say I’ve never swallowed it in order to make others comfortable. But I can say what she taught me was important. It was and still is radical.
It’s radical to have boundaries. And to exercise them. Three things I think were really really important in what she did:
1. She always explicitly said “you can leave if you want to.”
2. She never questioned why, or whether I was overreacting.
3. She showed up.
But I think a lot about the girl’s mum apologizing and how… that’s the norm, actually. What my mum taught me was radical, what that girl’s mum was teaching was the norm. “Just deal with it, don’t trouble anyone, go back to sleep, it’ll be over soon, don’t ruin it.”
And I still get that message from a lot of places. But my mum taught me that I’m allowed to leave.
I see what a privilege that is as an adult. For some people, for some situations, there is no way out. But sometimes, also, we don’t leave because we think we’re not allowed.
So, just in case no one ever told you (or you need a reminder): YOU ARE ALLOWED TO LEAVE.
You can leave a date, a party, a job, a meeting, a commitment. You are allowed. If you’re worried about keeping your word remember that your boundaries are also your word, your integrity.
I wanted to tell this story because the message to stay to make others comfortable is so pervasive, that without actively teaching me that I’m allowed to leave, that’s what I would’ve absorbed.
Hell, I absorbed a lot of it anyway. As an adult, at that camp job, I remember her on the phone saying “what do you want to do?” And not knowing, until she said “do you want to leave?” And I said “can I?” She said “You can always leave. What do you need so you can leave?”
So, if you’re a person like me, who was taught that you’re allowed to leave, keep an eye out for those who weren’t. They may need the reminder. They may need to hear that it’s okay. They may need help. And keep telling yourself that you are allowed. You’re allowed to leave.
Wow this is really taking off! Before it goes too far I wanted to say: I’m seeing this being gendered and while I am a woman and my mother is a woman there’s no gender on this message. I understand the impulse to teach your daughters this but please teach all children.” /end ID]
If you’ve got a favorite local comic shopor indie book store, please contact them directly! Ask ’em to reserve you a copy of “Drawn to Sex: The Basics” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan. Cut off ordering date for comic stores is October 15th!
If you’re more of an on-line ordering kinda person, let me direct you towards our affiliate links to the book’s listings on Powell’s and Amazon. (Affiliate linking means those companies will send us a small percentage of the sales they make through those links). They’ll send the book straight to you on its launch day.
What is this book about? I’m so glad you asked…
In The Basics, the first book of the Drawn to Sex series, we explore the practical side of sex, from what defines sex, to barriers, STI testing, masturbation, and the ins-and-outs (and ins-and-outs) of having sex with other people. All the fundamental stuff! Using comics, jokes, and frank communication, we’re here to demystify the world of sex and answer your questions—including the ones you didn’t know you had!
disabled people: … technically yes BUT it would hurt like hell/ruin my day/trigger a flare/exhaust me/be a fall risk/make me more sick AND THEN I would have to spend a day in bed/increase my dosage/cancel all my other plans/spend a week recovering afterwards
vanhalenofficial 