Aaron Gouveia and his wife were already having the worst day of their lives. Then came the abortion protesters. [Source]

“You’re killing your unborn baby!”

That’s what they yelled at me and my wife on the worst day of our lives. As we entered the women’s health center on an otherwise perfect summer morning in Brookline, two women we had never met decided to pile onto the nightmare we had been living for three weeks. These “Christians” verbally accosted us—judged us—as we steeled ourselves for the horror of making the unimaginable, but necessary, decision to end our pregnancy at 16 weeks.

After extensive testing at a renowned Boston hospital three weeks earlier, we were told our baby had Sirenomelia. Otherwise known as Mermaid Syndrome, it’s a rare (one in every 100,000 pregnancies) congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together. Worse than that, our baby had no bladder or kidneys. Our doctors told us there was zero chance for survival.

I’m not a religious person and I’ve never believed in heaven or hell. But there is a hell on Earth. Hell is sitting next to the person you love most and listening to her wail hysterically because her heart just broke into a million pieces. Hell is watching her entire body convulse with sobs because she’s being tortured with grief. For as long as I live and no matter how many children we have, I will never forget that sound. And I vowed to do everything in my power to make sure she’d never make it again.

Across a crowded street, two people with “God Is Pro-Life!” signs and pictures of torn-up fetuses managed to drive the blade in even deeper. Again, I was left trying to console the inconsolable, feeling even more helpless this time, because I wasn’t allowed into surgery with her.

Running on pure adrenaline, and without even a hint of a plan, I grabbed my cell phone and crossed the street. I didn’t know what to say or how to say it, I just knew I wanted to make public the cowardice of these protesters. The video’s below—they didn’t disappoint.

I learned a few important things from this encounter. First, these people aren’t used to being confronted. They prey on the weak and they pounce on the wounded. It’s easy to berate people and shame them when they’re too beaten down to fight back. But I chose to do just that, and you can see what happened.

They spout the same tired rhetoric passed out at rallies and subway stations. They don’t have one salient response to any of my questions.

The most telling thing about their cowardice is when the woman on the right gets upset that I’m recording the conversation (which is perfectly legal) and then threatens to call the police. The irony is rich. She wanted to call the police because I was peacefully expressing my opinion on a public sidewalk and exercising my First Amendment rights, which is exactly what she was doing. But I’m not on “God’s side,” am I.

She also claims the women at the clinic are suicide risks. Even if she believed that were true, does she really think yelling at them and shaming them in public is going to encourage these women not to kill themselves?

After I took a walk and calmed down, it was time to pick up my wife and go home. When we pulled out of the clinic, the protesters were gone, and a police cruiser was parked nearby with the lights flashing. My wife, still groggy from the surgery, managed to crack a little smile, and asked, “What did you do?” I have no idea if it was my interaction with the protesters that got them to leave. I doubt it was, but my wife was convinced that was the case. At first, I didn’t think of it as a big deal, and I actually felt a little foolish for getting so heated. My wife, suddenly serious, pointed out a women entering the clinic. Within minutes, she said, that woman would be making a serious choice. Whether she kept her baby or not, it didn’t matter—what matters is that she can make the decision that’s right for her. And she can make it without people screaming at her. My wife and I wanted our second child. We loved her. We even had a name for her, Alexandra. You never know the circumstances surrounding this kind of decision. Consider this my plea: stop terrorizing women. Stop adding trauma to their trauma. If you’re able, stand up to these bullies in nonviolent ways. Speak out. And if you have a camera, use it. —Aaron Gouveia is a regular contributor to The Good Men Project Magazine.

Yes, Bro.

Thanks, Bro.

sam-twerkchester:

so i had this stupid idea but idk if i want to keep going with it

rebornparanoia:

ask-shy-ler-leia-and-lian:

FF

Why you shouldn’t microwave a cell phone

it’s like the rebirth of Voldemort

HOLY SHIT

REBLOGGING THIS AGAIN BECAUSE AT ONE POINT IT LOOKS LIKE THERE IS A MOUTH OPENING AND CLOSING

WHAT THE EGFUTCKT

IT’S LIKE OPENING UP THE GATES OF HELL

i told you there was a monster in my phone….

HEXXUS!!

oh god

first it looks like a hunched over figure with a skulls rises up, and upon noticing whats going on he just EXPLODES INTO A HUGE SKULL THAT TURNS ITS HEAD OPENING HIS MOUTH TO SCREAM AND BITE AT WHATEVER HAS THE LACK OF FORESIGHT TO BE CLOSE 

im scared

beautilation:

At Comic Con today, I went as Black Cat. This is a shitty picture and there will be better ones of my whole costume coming up but I just want to say something. 

Black Cat’s costume has a fair amount of cleavage (conservative compared to many other female comic characters but a good amount as far as what I’ve ever shown). I guess I was not surprised to have a couple men ask to pose with me and then do some doofy “WHOA LOOK AT THOSE KNOCKERS” poses. I just make a really ugly face when I see they’re doing it. One guy with the social graces of a lemur said to me “I was this close to wearing that same outfit. My breasts are large and supple and I think it would have been nice.” Nope. Stop talking.

But aside from guys being doofy and awkward (but clearly not foul-intentioned), I did have my first truly skeezy experience at Comic Con today. 

And my first truly empowering moment as well.

This group of men from some kind of Stan Lee fan club blah blah internet video channel blah blah asked to interview with them on camera about Comic Con. I said well okay, sure. Camera is rolling. The “host” is a middle aged, rotund dude. It’s an all-male crew and lots of people (mostly guys) were beginning to crowd around. The following is the interview as burned in my mind. Keep in mind that I expected this to be about Comic Con in general.

• Him: I’m here with…
• Me: Mandy, aka Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat
• Him: ..And she is HOT. Do you think I’m hot enough to pull that off?
• Me: Uh, I’m not sure, I’ve never seen you in drag.
• Him: I’ve got a great ass. Go on, spank me.
• Me: (look at his large ass, popped up mere inches away from me then look into the camera like are you kidding me . No thanks. I may hurt you, I’m a lot stronger than I look.
• Him: Aw come on!
• Me: No, seriously. Stop.
• Him: Damn, alright! Well let me ask you an important question then…what is your cup size?
• Me: (big talk show smile) That is actually none of your fucking business.
• Him: Oh! I think that means to say she’s a C. 
• Me: I actually have no breasts at all, what you see is just all of the fat from my midsection pulled up to my chest and carefully held in place with this corset. It’s really uncomfortable, I don’t know why I do it.
•  Him: (to the male crowd) Aw, come on what do you guys think? C cup? 
• —a few males start to shout out cup sizes as I stand there looking at this guy like this has to be a fucking joke, then look at the crowd and see that no amount of witty banter or fiestiness will stop making this whole thing fucking dumb. It was clearly a ploy to single out cosplaying women to get them to talk sexual innuendos and flirt with this asshole and let him talk down to them simply because they were in costume and were attractive. Whether I’m in a skintight catsuit or not, I’m a fucking professional in everything I do and I don’t need to play nice for this idiot.
• Me: This is not an interview, this is degrading. I’m done. (I walk away)
• Him: (clearly dumbfounded and surprised) ..Come on, it’s all in good fun!
• Me: Being degraded is fun? That was unprofessional and I hope that isn’t your day job because you can’t interview for shit, my man.

And the entire crew and the crowd were SILENT. NOTHING. SHOCK, HONEY. It felt like I was in a heated fog, full of rage and pride and I sashayed away feeling like the most badass motherfucker in the whole damn room, but kind of also on the verge of tears. A slow build of applause would have been appropriate, but from the looks on people’s faces, they were just completely not expecting me to do what I just did- which was really nothing more than speaking up for myself. It wasn’t something one should feel brave for doing but crazy for not doing when necessary.

It’s because many people at these cons expect women cosplaying as vixens (or even just wearing particularly flattering costumes) to be open/ welcoming to crude male commentary and lecherous ogling, like our presence comes with subtitles that say “I represent your fantasy thus you may treat me like a fantasy and not a human in a costume”. And maybe that will always be how the majority of people see us. But that does not mean we have to put up with shit that crosses the line, it does not mean we owe them a fantasy, it does not mean we dress up to have guys drooling over us and letting us know that we turn them on. It is not all about your dicks, gentlemen. So I encourage cosplaying women everywhere to be blunt and vocal with their rights, their personal boundaries, and their comfort level at conventions. I actually encourage girls to be brashly shameless about these things, to not be afraid to speak up if you feel uncomfortable and to let the person doing it know that they are crossing the line. Don’t keep quiet because you’re scared of what they might say or think- because if you say nothing they will continue to see what they’re doing as OK. 

archangelsk:

you don’t even know how accurate this is

rufftoon:

“Third Movement: Depression”

Set in 1932 - a mirror image of this previous short comic.

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874265600/light-and-shadow-part-1-part-2-is

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874380767/light-and-shadow-part-2-part-1-is

Pitch has been falling in power for a long time, and with modern times, there are even less magical beings in the world. That, or they are geographically bound to certain parts of the world.

I keep imagining that world getting more and more barren of magic. So even Jack Frost, a late comer, didn’t get the chance to interact with many spirits or other weather phenoms. It’s a very lonely world, when you’re not believed in…

On a brighter note, happy holidays to every one! I promise the next few short stories will be more upbeat.

Yes, even Pitch will have reasons to rejoice!

rufftoon:

“Second Movement- Battle”

A follow up to these:

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874265600/light-and-shadow-part-1-part-2-is

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874380767/light-and-shadow-part-2-part-1-is

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/37252951644/1st-movement-fear-first-of-5-short-and-quickly

The problem when fear gets out of control, people start acting stupid…

I ended this one there - yes, Pitch does get defeated. It is the start of his decline (there will be many other battles beside this one).

Yes, that little kid is gone. Possibly disease. Lots of nasty things back then.

The next one is only 3 pages, taking place in the early 1930’s, but I don’t know if I’ll finish it in time for the holidays. Besides, who wants to read something called “Depression” around this time of year?

rufftoon:

1st Movement- Fear

First of 5 short (and quickly drawn) stories.

It turned out to be a follow up to this:

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874265600/light-and-shadow-part-1-part-2-is

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874380767/light-and-shadow-part-2-part-1-is

Pitch definitely wasn’t the most helpful of being at the best or worst of times. Just roaming the world, spreading fear, still visible to many human beings.

Soon to lose it all.

pitch-king-of-nightmares:

rufftoon:

Fourth Movement- Treasure (part 2 of 2)

Here we go, trying to bring some loose ends to a close…somewhat. Sort of. I don’t know.

Hope you’ve enjoyed!

All the links again for easy clicking:

Part 1:

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/43942734731/fourth-movement-treasure-part-1-of-2-sorry-for

Past ones:

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874265600/light-and-shadow-part-1-part-2-is

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874380767/light-and-shadow-part-2-part-1-is

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/37252951644/1st-movement-fear-first-of-5-short-and-quickly

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/37898027013/second-movement-battle-a-follow-up-to-these

http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/38218206471/third-movement-depression-set-in-1932-a

Oh god… Look at those beautiful pages, hands, landscapes… Oh the envy. Most of you ought to have seen this already, but i don’t care, reblog!

rufftoon:

“Light and Shadow- Part 2”

Part 1 is here: http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/36874265600/light-and-shadow-part-1-this-is-part-1-of-the

I wanted to dedicate this little comic to everyone who took the time to see the movie in the theaters. Thank you ever so much!