Outsourced Issue Four: News for Bimbos, Himbos, and Thembos only
It's okay if you just don't feel like thinking today š
Iāve been thinking about bimbo culture. Why are LGBTQ folks, especially Gen Z queers, so compelled by the concept of bimbos, himbos, and thembos? I find myself increasingly drawn to dumbness, personally. After hours of reading news, puzzling through legal verdicts and purposefully obtuse legislation, and absorbing up all of the rage and fearmongering that social media has to offer like a sponge, nothing is more attractive than the idea of, well, having zero ideas. Zero thoughts. Blissfully liberated from the weight of intellect. Imagine the freedom of plain old stupidity, the quality of sleep that can only be attained by the truly airheaded. My friend and former Daily Dot colleague EJ Dickson wrote about the bimbo resurgence for Rolling Stone this week. I didnāt read it, because I canāt read. š š¼But you totally should!
Identifying as a thembo means that I can cut someone off in my best Valley girl accent as soon as they start to talk about art theory or Foucault: āsorry, I donāt speak German or whatever.ā Why would I do that? Because too many words make my brain hurt. It means getting a free pass from whatever challenging queer politics are tearing our friend circle apart this month, just by saying āhaha lol Iām too dumb to understand all that.ā Weāre drawn to the bimbo identity because we are so tired of mentally processing stuff. Weāre tired of being smart and capable, of being superhumans who manage to hold together careers and relationships and households. Weāre tired of chasing promotions and awards and goals when it has started to seem like the world might actually just end at any moment. Weāre tired of thinking, periodt. Itās been an especially long, confusing, bewildering four years and weāre barely surviving in a global pandemic. Letās all be bimbos. At least until January. And only after all our work has been filed by deadline.
With the spirit of bimbohood in mind, Iām keeping this weekās intro short. I have to go spend three hours laying on my couch looking at before-and-after pics of Brazilian Butt Lift surgeries on Instagram, so I canāt be writing words rn haha sorry.
THIS WEEKāS TEA šµ
Trump-Appointed Judges Overturn Conversion Therapy Ban
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that banning therapists from practicing anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy violates the free speech rights of the therapists. And the reason for that ruling? Two judges appointed by Trump, Britt Grant and Barbara Lagoa, both of whom were also considered for SCOTUS seats. The case involves two local Florida ordinances (in Palm Beach County and Boca Raton) that ban torturing kids by trying to force them to be straight, but itās likely that it will move up to the Supreme Court now. Rewireās smart legal experts wrote it up.
Trump Admin Fights to Kick Trans Kids Out of Sports
And yāall wonder why queer bimbo culture is on the rise after four years of trying to keep up with this administrationās constant attacks on our community. Anyway, on Thursday Trumpās Justice Department filed a 40-page brief arguing that transgender kids shouldnāt be allowed to participate in sports. The brief said, āSeparating sports by biological sex ensures that biological females are not forced to compete against biological males, who have inherent athletic advantages.ā The Washington Blade reported in-depth.
Trans Georgia Inmate in Menās Prison Files Second Lawsuit
Ashley Diamond settled her first lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Corrections, and was released in 2015 after years of abuse, sexual assault, and being denied hormone treatment. But she was sent backāto a menās prison, againāfor a parole violation, and as a result says she has been sexually assaulted 14 times in the past year. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights are suing the state on Diamondās behalf. Read more at Planet Transgender.
The First LGBTQ Digital Bank Opens for Business
Didnāt know you needed a queer bank? Itās actually a really cool idea. Daylight offers prepaid credit cards in preferred names, a safer option for trans people that only Mastercardās True Name project had managed to tackle previously. The new digital bank told Openly that it will help customers save for community-specific goals, like transition surgeries or surrogacy, with financial coaches who are knowledgable about those issues. Check it out at Openly.
A Trans Teen is Suing Blue Cross Blue Shield
A new lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal on behalf of a 15-year-old Tacoma, Washington resident argues that Blue Cross Blue Shieldās exclusion of transgender healthcare violates federal lawāspecifically, the Affordable Care Act. Read all about how the teen and their supportive mom are fighting one of the nationās biggest insurers at Them.
Who Owns The Word āEnby?ā
The battle of the sex toys continued this week on Instagram. Shop Enby, a Black-owned and trans-owned online sex toy store, posted receipts to its Instagram account in response to legal threats made by another sex toy company. The backstory: Wildflower Sex apparently convinced a trademark court to allow them to trademark the word enbyāshort for nonbinary, or NBāto market a sex toy. After Shop Enby opened its doors, Wildflower attorneys served them with papers and had their Instagram and Shopify taken down for trademark violations. Thereās just one problem: Shop Enby argued that you canāt trademark an identity or an entire community. It would be like me trademarking the word ādykeā and then threatening to sue all of the lesbians on the internet. I havenāt seen this story get any news coverage, but itās fascinating and I recommend keeping an eye on it.
Scotland Becomes the First Nation to Make Menstrual Products Free
For years, advocates have argued that people shouldnāt have to pay for tampons and padsāand in Scotland, they no longer will. The country with the hardest accent to imitate officially passed a law on Tuesday that makes all period products free of charge and available to whoever needs them. Read about it at Axios.
Congressman Want State Dept to Review āLavender Scareā Firings
Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro (not the presidential candidate, thatās his twin brother Julian) and openly gay Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline introduced a bill in Congress on Tuesday that asks the State Department to investigate the over 1,000 employees it fired due to their sexual orientation in the 1950s and 1960s. The Lavender Offense Victim Exoneration (LOVE) Act of 2020 seeks to increase public awareness of the U.S. governmentās gay purge, which Castro said āharmed far more peopleā than the more well-known Red Scare in which people were persecuted for having Communist political leanings. Washington Blade has the scoop.
Where Did All These Anti-Gay Laws Come From, Anyway?
I am jāobsessed with Zing Tsjengās VICE UK series Empires of Dirt, which is basically about how Britain fucked up the entire world in an endless exploration for money and power. By now, most of us know that the history weāre taught in school isnāt exactly accurate, and Iām a sucker for history reframed from different points of view, which is what this series does so very well. And as a person with mostly Northern Irish Catholic ancestry, hating the British government is basically entwined in my DNA. Tsjeng, who grew up in Singapore, looks at how British colonial rule imported its homophobic laws not just to Singapore, but to all ~30 of its colonies. From Uganda to Barbados, those British anti-sodomy laws (etc.) brought hatred and prosecution to LGBTQ people all over the world. Most importantly, most of those colonial-era laws are still on the books. Bless Tsjeng for digging into this crazy legacy.
THANK YOU! š
If it were not for subscribers, sponsors, and partners, Outsourced would not be possible. To inquire about sponsoring Outsourced, send an email to Outsourcednews@gmail.com. Each sponsor subscription helps propel the mission forward: curating and delivering the top LGBTQ news stories and queer discourse to engaged and influential readers every week.
Outsourced is sponsored by Lex, the text-based queer dating app. And by be/co, empowering ambitious marketing executives to maximize impact and unlock excellence. As always, a special shoutout is due to our partners at .Gay, the top-level domain that gives back to the community with every domain registration.
QUEER MEDIA NEWS
Remembering Jan Morris
British journalist, travel writer, and groundbreaking memoirist Jan Morris died on Friday. Her 1974 book Conundrum was one of the early great gender transition memoirs, published during a time when trans people were still largely shunned from society. The book also explored unconventional open relationships, as Morris lived polyamorously in her lifelong marriage to wife Elizabeth Tuckniss. Morris had already established herself previously as a prolific travel writer of the highest regard, starting with her coverage of Sir Edmund Hillaryās first Mount Everest ascent in 1953, and her titles garnered glowing reviews in the literary press. After transition, she wrote another, oh, couple dozen books. The New York Times wrote a really beautiful obituary of Jan Morris last week after she passed at age 94.
This Isnāt *Technically* Queer Media Newsā¦OR IS IT
Megan Thee Stallion made mediaāand newsprintāfashionable and hot. We stan a bisexual icon that supports journalism. šš¼
QUEER MEME OF THE WEEK
Because if this isnāt bimbo culture, I donāt know what is. (Pro tip: add a Harbor Freight to this mini-mall and itās confirmed thembo culture.)
I see your little comment about Foucault, and will shut up about him forever, but before I do, I just wanna point out that this whole āthemboā thing makes it sound like you think the intellectual mind is oppressive, is a prison. Very Foucauldian of you. Bye! āŗļø