“This piece was primarily a trust exercise, in which she told viewers she would not move for six hours no matter what they did to her. She placed 72 objects one could use in pleasing or destructive ways, ranging from flowers and a feather boa to a knife and a loaded pistol, on a table near her and invited the viewers to use them on her however they wanted.
Initially, Abramović said, viewers were peaceful and timid, but it escalated to violence quickly. “The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.”
This piece revealed something terrible about humanity, similar to what Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment or Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiment, both of which also proved how readily people will harm one another under unusual circumstances.”
This performance showed just how easy it is to dehumanize a person who doesn’t fight back, and is particularly powerful because it defies what we think we know about ourselves. I’m certain the no one reading this believes the people around him/her capable of doing such things to another human being, but this performance proves otherwise.”
this is why performance art is important
So every single person who told me ‘ignore them they’ll go away’ and ‘you can’t let them know they bothered you’ and ‘They’ll stop if they don’t see you react’ and all that bull shit, my entire school career, I want you to look good and hard at this.
I want you to think about what you said.
What you keep saying.
What you are telling your children.
You are making them powerless.
yep
ignoring my bullies never made them go away
they only ever backed off when i started confronting them and fighting back
i keep saying… people who tell you to turn the other cheek have never been punched in the face.
(Source: andrewfishman)
(Source: maarnayeri)
b-b-baby … fuck: how to decode a person with an anxiety disorder
This is by far one of the most important things I’ve seen on tumblr because It describes things I was not able to
things we are trying to do all the time:
- 1. be safe
things we can’t help but do all the time:
- 1. second-guess ourselves
- 2. behave impulsively and reactively
- 3. take everything personally
- 4. worry
- 5. worry
- 6. worry
- 7. have difficulty accepting compliments
- 8. have difficulty reciprocating friendly gestures
- 9. have difficulty finding the courage to respond
- 10. have difficulty not being suspicious of others’ intentions
- 11. make a huge deal out of the smallest thing
things you should keep in mind:
- 1. we’re scared of everything
- 2. pretty much all of the time
- 3. it’s an actual disorder
- 4. it manifests as impulsive behavior
- 5. you can’t fix us with words
- 6. telling us “worrying is silly” won’t make us stop worrying
- 7. it’ll only make us feel silly
- 8. and then we’ll worry even more
- 9. “oh god, am i worrying too much? what if she calls me silly again?”
- 10. like that
- 11. also, we wear a lot of armor
- 12. cold, heavy, affection-proof armor with spikes
- 13. we constructed this armor as children
- 14. we’re fairly certain you will never be able to pry it apart
- 15. but there is a nice person under there, we promise
things you can do for a friend with an anxiety disorder:
- 1. stick around
- 2. ask him/her if they’re comfortable in a place or situation
- 3. be willing to change the place or situation if not
- 4. activities that help them take their mind off of things are good!
- 5. talk to them even when they might not talk back
- 6. (they’re probably too afraid to say the wrong thing)
- 7. try not to take they’re reactions (or lack thereof) personally
- 8. (the way they expresses themselves are distorted and bent because of their constant fear)
- 9. (and they knows this)
- 10. give her time to respond to you
- 11. they will obsess over how she is being interpreted
- 12. they will anticipate being judged
- 13. it took me four hours just to type this much
- 14. even though i sound casual
- 15. that’s because i have an anxiety disorder
things you shouldn’t do:
- 1. tell us not to worry
- 2. tell us we’ll be fine
- 3. mistake praise for comfort
- 4. ask us if we are “getting help”
- 5. force us to be social
- 6. force us to do things that trigger us
- 7. “face your fears” doesn’t always work
- 8. because—remember—scared of everything
- 9. in fact, it would be more accurate to say we are scared of the fear itself
emergency action procedure for panic attacks:
- 1. be calm
- 2. be patient
- 3. don’t be condescending
- 4. remind us that we’re not crazy
- 5. sit with us
- 6. ask us to tighten and relax our muscles one by one
- 7. remind us that we are breathing
- 8. engage us in a discussion (if we can talk, then we can breathe)
- 9. if we are having trouble breathing, try getting us to exhale slowly
- 10. or breathe through our nose
- 11. or have us put our hands on our stomach to feel each breath
- 12. ask us what needs to change in our environment in order for us to feel safe
- 13. help us change it
- 14. usually, just knowing that we have someone on our side willing to fight our scary monsters with us is enough to calm us down
if you have an anxiety disorder:
- 1. it’s okay.
- 2. even if you worry that it’s not okay.
- 3. it’s still okay. it’s okay to be scared. it’s okay to be scared of being scared.
- 4. you are not crazy. you are not a freak.
- 5. i know there’s a person under all that armor.
- 6. and i know you feel isolated because of it.
- 7. i won’t make you take it off.
- 8. but know that you are not alone.
But also remember that anxiety is not the same for everyone! So what may work for one person with anxiety disorder may make another person’s anxiety worse! If in doubt, always ask.
AU CONTRAIRE
MY GRANDMA GOT ALL A’S IN “ETIQUETTE” (YES THAT WAS AN ACTUAL CLASS IN HER HIGH SCHOOL) AND SHE TOLD ME, “DEAR,” SHE SAID,
“YOU NEVER CROSS YOUR LEGS, YOU CROSS YOUR ANKLES. BUT THE GREAT THING ABOUT YOU LIVING IN THIS GENERATION IS YOU DON’T HAVE TO FOLLOW MY GENERATION’S RULES. SIT THE WAY YOU WANT. IF SOMEONE LOOKS UP YOUR SKIRT, JUST TELL THEM YOUR AUNT MARY WILL KILL THEM.”
WHICH IS TRUEMY AUNT MARY HAD A SWITCHBLADE IN A SPECIAL POCKET OF HER NIGHTGOWN UNTIL THE DAY SHE DIED
the moral of this story is
1. Sit the way you want.
2. My great aunt Mary was a fucking badass.
“Some girl asked if I sold drugs. So I asked her if she sold slaves.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-How Could You Not Reblog This.
(Source: humansofnewyork)
Can we all just post this picture forever?
Reblogging This Forever
It’s all about perspective…
(Source: coconutdreamin)
forever laughing at the fact that women saying kill all men provokes an angrier reaction than the thousands of women who are actually killed by men every year
