Nordic Wear Shows Blatant Homophobia

Qx.se, a Swedish LGBT News & Cruising website, today has the following report.

"The Swedish clothing chain Nordic Wear took a strong stance against LGBT people on Monday.

With a new campaign image on their Facebook page they showed how a family consisting of a mother, a father and two children protect themselves from a burst of rainbow colors with an umbrella. The subtitle reads: "Unfortunately, we do not sell umbrellas. But if we had, they would have worked like this!"

The reactions and the complaints about the campaign have been flooding in, and after one day Nordic Wear responded in the following way through their Facebook page: "Wow, what attention we received for our commitment to the nuclear family! Despite being reported almost 70 times for the image and several death threats we will of course not fold down for gay fascists, we believe in democracy and freedom."

Facebook has no plans to remove Nordic Wears picture. One of those who reported the picture for hate content received the following response: "We have examined the photo that you have reported for hate content or hateful symbols and have determined that it does not violate our community rules."

Nordic Wear was founded in 2013 and is a distributor of the German clothing brand Thor Steinar. Thor Steinar is primarily known for its association with right-wing movements in Germany."

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When I checked an hour ago today the picture had, however, been removed with the following statement from the company: "As those of us who work at Nordic Wear have been receiving repeated death threats, we out of respect for our families choose  to take down the high-profile post. All threats and harassment against us will naturally be reported to the police."

No more pink dollars for Nordic Wear or Thor Steinar! If they don't like us, we should spare them the embarrassment of doing business with us.

Read more about the controversy surrounding Thor Steinar here: Wikipedia: Thor Steinar.

I would like to know in what way the LGBT-community poses a threat to the nuclear family.

Pride 2015 - Day 1

And we are off to a great start, the festival has kicked-off!

Yesterday I saw a pair of emerald shorts in my timeline on F*c*book that I simply had to have, they are so beautiful and only L$150. However, on Marketplace I saw that they were intended for the Niramyth mesh body so I put them out of my mind... for like 45 seconds. Then I went ahead and bought them anyway, but they didn't fit quite right with my regular body shape...

"Dammit!", I thought and proceeded to purchase the Niramyth body for something like L$2 766 just to get the shorts to fit properly. The rest of the evening - until the opening parties started - I had a team of helpers consisting of my hubby Tomais, my bro JJ Goodman and my friend Divos Titanium, for a short while we even recruited Stäväros Ğrăçємσûηт, trying to help me tint the damn body to suit my skin. After a while I got a new - more tanned - skin from Belleza (L$1 000) and a beard from EddiDesign (L$350) just to look somewhat presentable.

Well I was finally very happy in my beautiful shorts for only L$150, but to tired to take any pictures from the opening events, so I will direct you to some of my friends blogs instead.
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Lockjaw Studios: Second Pride Opening Night With The Crew

Photo by Hottie B Lockjaw

Naked Carl: SecondPride - Fri. June 19

Look at those wonderful shorts I am wearing
Photo by Carl Paneer

Conversation on Facebook

I hadn't been on Facebook for a while, and about ten minutes after I logged on I had this wonderful conversation. (Spelling errors have been corrected.)

---
Oh yes do poke me
Make sure not to like any of my posts

I will go like you(r posts) afterwards

People might see that

Stop it

You are beginning to start (sounding) bitter

I haven't been on here for a week, 

I need to go through my own 

updates before I get to yours

Honestly do you really think I'm that stupid?

Honestly?

No I don't!

Honestly, do you think I am a liar?

Nah you are just a people pleaser...

...and that's ok

Fuck you to bits

When were you over at the parties at 
The Grindery when I was around?
But now you suddenly are all the time
LOL

I am actually starting to believe 

that you are paranoid

LOL
It's all about you Bock

Go jump in a lake and cool down

...or take another glass of cava so you pass out

LOL asshole!
Hope you feel better now!

Honestly?

Well do you?
Honestly?
Go hang with the ugly people please
I was waiting for the honest answer by the way

---

I did not see any point in continuing the conversation, so I liked every post and comment this person had made that I could find and then jumped off Facebook.

Expert Opinion

A woman dares to talk back at God about the all-important and eternal question on whether or not size matters. 

I almost peed myself when I read Michelle's response to the almighty. In my humble opinion, Michelle Scramlin, should be appointed Ruler of the Known Universe for at least a week, if not a month.

The Peril of Facebook Likes

Yesterday I lost a longtime friend because I had "liked" a comment on Facebook that the person did not agree with. The fact that I had also "liked" the original post which the person commenting disagreed with, did not help in salvaging the situation.

I was informed that my liking of the egregious comment was such a misdeed that it was the final straw - we have had a rather strained relationship lately - which made it abundantly clear to my former friend that we no longer have anything in common.

Do you wonder what important political, religious, moral or ethical issue was being discussed in the post and in the comments to it that it could lead to such a disastrous result? Well, it was basically a difference of opinion on the culling of friends lists in SecondLife and how to go about doing it.

Snowball Warzone Showdown 2015

From SecondLife's F*c*book page: "Come pelt some Lindens and fellow Residents with snowballs in a frozen field free-for-all at Winter Wonderland. That’s right - between 10 AM SLT and noon SLT on Friday, February 6th, we’re holding a meetup inworld at the Snowball Warzone. 

Get your free snow launching weapon, gather your posse, and prepare to say hello to some Linden friends for a full on flurry of snow-slinging fun."

Go here for this fun and frivolity Winter Wonderland (SLurl)!

Tipped by the amazing Tomais Ashdene, a.k.a. my sweet hubby.

"Another Love"

(Hat tip to Guyke Lundquist for posting this on F*c*book)

Tom Odell was nominated for British Breakthrough Artist and British Male Solo Artist at the Brit Awards 2014. However, the winners of those categories were Bastille and David Bowie respectively.

#weareALLclean

It seems that we are living in a time for social media challenges, the successful #ALSicebucket campaign has a lot to answer for.

From news.com.au: #weareALLclean fights AIDS stigma with photos of hot, naked men:

"The sudden spate of shower selfies is the brainchild of activist Jack Mackenroth, who wants to raise money to fight HIV and AIDS while ending the stigma around the condition.

Men are being urged to take photos of themselves in the buff and post them to social media with the hashtag #weareALLclean, while linking to a donation page to find a cure for AIDS.

“I was inspired by the use of the word ‘clean’, especially common in gay culture, to describe oneself as STI/STD free”, Mackenroth says.

“This implies that HIV-positive people are somehow ‘dirty’. I thought a PG shower selfie or video would be a fun way that everyone could easily show their support on social media for finding a cure by using the hashtag #weareALLclean when they post their photo with the link. Then they donate what they can and nominate 3 or more other people to participate.”

The campaign is taking off online but is far from $1,000,000 goal in donations "

I have been challenged by my friend Rusty Redfield (Playing with the Big Boys: 084: #weareALLclean (yes, a naked picture challenge!).

I threw off my clothes and proceeded to schlep my beautiful husband Tomais, after first getting him naked, into a shower with me and then asked him to make another of his beautiful picture of the two of us. 

"Shower selfie" by Tomais Ashdene

As always the most interesting part of the modelling experience was to observe my own special artist at work with the photo he had taken. It is amazing what funky details his astute and discerning eyes find to correct in Photoshop before he is satisfied with the picture.

This time he even took the time to make it safe for F*c*book, please not the careful and ingenious placement of his signature. It is in that exact spot to cover up my amazing butt crack from the picture-nazis on that site.

I challenge the following of my family and friends:  +JJ Goodman, +Wayne NZ  and sirhc DeSantis. And, after due consideration, I am adding +Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck, just because I want to see him in the shower too...

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Take a selfie or short video of yourself in the shower or bath.**NO EXPLICIT NUDITY**
2. Post your photo now on Moovz and all social media platforms with the caption "Take HIV Shower Selfie Challenge raise $ for AIDS cure bit.ly/CUREAIDS #weareALLclean"
3. Nominate 3 or more other people to participate!
4. DONATE! Please donate if you are able. Every dollar counts! bit.ly/CUREAIDS
5. On World AIDS Day (or before): Monday, December 1st, please change all your social media profile pix to your shower selfie photo and spread the word!!!

What if...?

My extremely clever and levelheaded husband Tomais Ashdene, who thankfully temporarily lost his sanity for a few moments when he accepted my marriage proposal, posted this image on his timeline of Facebook yesterday.

What if we said the same things to people with physical health problems that is often said to people with mental or emotional injuries?

Is Facebook Homophobic?

Facebook, also lovingly known as F*c*book or FuckFace, is a social networking site located in the U.S.A. with 1.28 billion monthly active users worldwide (March 2014).

I have been using FuckFace on and off, both in my first and second lives, for the last four years or so. I have left Facebook voluntarily twice and I have had my account deactivated or disabled six-seven times (I lost count). Twice Facebook has given me a reason for deactivating/disabling my account ("reason to believe that I was not using real name"), but mostly it has been done without any justification given for their action.

During my time on FuckFace I have experienced several pogroms from the company directed against my LGBT friends, but no such actions have ever - to my knowledge - occurred against any of my straight friends. Neither have I ever heard or read of such concerted actions directed against straight SecondLife avatars on the site (with two individual exceptions, Barcelonamaria and Pieni).

If anyone of you reading this have such information, please do enlighten me as I realize that my knowledge is only empirical, limited and may be slanted ("With eyes sensitive to green", as a line in a Swedish song goes, ones perception of the color green is enhanced but other colors may be obscured.)

However, based on my experience, I am prepared to make the charge that FuckFace is homophobic - or at the very least - applying it's rules in a homophobic way. So my answer to the question I posed in the title of this post is: "Fuck yes, definitely!"

Moving on to another of my pet peeves concerning FuckFace, there is the issue of "real identities". The company seems to completely ignore that there many times are valid reasons for someone not to use the name on their drivers licences. These reasons can range from being a victim in an abusive relationship to actually being better known in different times or circles under a "nom de plume" (pen name), alias or artistic name.

During my online existence over the last twenty years I have, besides Bock McMillan, during periods been best known as Markus Bock, LundaMats, WWW, Lunds nästkåtaste karl or 70244 (among others).

I am Bock McMillan and Bock McMillan is I. We are one and inseparable, the only difference is that one is better known in one of my lives, while the other is better know in the other life. It should be my decision which of my names I use and when, not FuckFaces.

Seriously F*c*book?!

At the very least Tomais account is disabled at the moment, and why F*c*book would do this when he is registered under his first life identity is a mystery.

As Sister Roma of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence said, when F*c*book forced her to change her name to her real identity (Michael Williams): "Here’s a newsflash for you, FB: There are a million reasons why someone would choose to self-identify with a name other than the one that’s printed on their birth certificate. And really, it’s absolutely none of your business in the first place."

Cake In the Face

The temperature in the upcoming national election in Sweden in September, was raised several degrees yesterday when Göran Hägglund, Minister for Health and Social Affairs and leader of the Christian Democrats of Sweden, got a cake shoved into his face when he was in Gothenburg, Sweden, to give a campaign speech.

Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT

The cake-attacker was a 20 y.o. spectator who was apprehended by the police immediately after the incident.

The Fag Army insignia

Today a group called Fag Army (who have a presence on F*c*book) accepted responsibility for the cake-attack, saying they are a group of men who identify as LGBTQ and that they are tired of homophobia and the liberal mass-hysteria "that too often hijacks our struggle against it".

In it's statement on F*c*book, the group also stated that the group "caked" Mr. Hägglund as he represents a homophobic and transphobic party which over the years has done everything it could to thwart  the rights of LGBTQ people and that the Christian Democrats is the party in the present government that represent and normalize "the oppression that stalks, abuses and kills (LGBTQ people)" 

The statement ends with a laconic postscript that says, "Given what religious extremists have done to us LGBTQ people throughout history, isn't a cake in the face quite innocent?"
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Although I do agree with Fag Army that a cake in the face is quite innocent and that the Christian Democrats of Sweden is a party for organized homophobia and transphobia, I believe that there are better ways to handle our opponents. This, however, doesn't mean that I don't think this was a hilarious action and that it probably helped to put focus on the Christian Democratic parties deplorable stance on LGBTQ issues.

Badass Performance Art

A 26 y.o. Russian-born performance artist, Mischa Badasyan, has announced his latest project, which is named "Save the date".

In this art project the Mischa will attempt to have sex with a different man every day for a year, starting in September. According to what the artist has told Arts.Mic, the goal of the project is to "explore the link between loneliness and casual sex", believe it or not.

To facilitate finding the 365 men he needs Mischa, who currently resides in Berlin, Germany, has downloaded the meet-up apps Grindr and Scruff, but also intends to use more traditional ways to pick up guys.

If you should wish to assist Mischa in his project and schedule a session, you can contact Mischa via email erde88@gmail.com or through F*c*book Mischa Badasyan on F*c*book

"Art is not a crime" the graffiti says. The picture is from
another of Mischa's performance projects named "Adbusters"

Now here is a challenge for our SecondLife performance artist SaveMe Oh to tackle. What on earth can she come up with to outdo this badass (Yes, this is a play on Mischa's extremely suitable surname) performance , I wonder... 

"Account Disabled" Again

Thanks for everything, Facebook!

Sorry Tomais and all my friends on Facebook, but enough, is enough, is enough. I am not going to create another account again.

Visiting the OmWa Gallery

Today Tomais and I visited Om Feden's OmWa Gallery to, among other things, do the mandatory bicycle-picture.

Tomais took this beautiful photo that we can paste to Om's timeline on Facebook.

Tomais Reacts

Screw You Too, Facebook!

Facebook disabled my account - again.

I know it sounds like sour grapes, but I most certainly hate that site and some of it's meddling denizens who keep on reporting me.

Bock & Facebook, Friday June 20 2014

We had an interesting day together yesterday, Facebook and I.

Early in the day, I could log in as usual and do everything one does on that site; Post stuff, like, comment, share, poke and chat with friends. In short everything was quite normal.

Later the same day, I got the following message when I tried to post a blogpost to Facebook:

You’re Temporarily Blocked From Posting

This temporary block will last 24 hours, and you won’t be able to post on Facebook until it’s finished.

Please keep in mind that people who repeatedly post things that aren't allowed on Facebook may have their accounts permanently disabled.

I was seemingly suspended for 24 hours for breach of their rule against "nudity". Read more about that in the postscript and post-postscript in this blogpost: Second Pride Festival Starts Today!.

My account was still available, but I had certain restrictions on how I could interact with the website: No posting, no liking, no commenting and no sharing, but poking and chatting was still allowed.

Even later yesterday, I got this message when I tried accessing my account on Facebook.

Now I was permanently banned and my account was disabled. So if you missed me late yesterday, you should know that I have not removed you from my friends list.
---

Considering what has been going on lately with Facebook's purge directed at SecondLife avatars, the last message did not come as a complete surprise. Ever since my previous voluntary departure from Facebook, I have had mixed feelings about my return.

It is a very convenient way to keep in touch with my Tomais and some my close friends out-of-world, but it is also extremely time consuming and hours can sometimes pass without you even noticing.

After my return I have also had a rather lax friending-policy. I accepted anyone who asked. The only exception being the jerk who was the last straw for my voluntary departure last time. Can you imagine, he actually asked to be my friend when I returned after having posted the most vile and viscous comment on the timeline of my previous account, deleting the comment (I saw it in my email, which was the reason I turned off that option on my return) and then unfriending and blocking me?

Well, I was to tired to make a decision on what to do about it yesterday, but I will discuss the matter with my sane and balanced hubby and we will see what comes out of our deliberations.

Sentiments

For years now, I have desperately been trying to create an image of myself as a down-to-earth, rational man who only very occasionally is swept away by strong feeling of outrage, anger and disappointment with the human condition and social injustices in the world.

Then I get a picture like this pasted on my timeline on Facebook by my husband Tomais.

Seeing this I was immediately turned into a blubbering fool and was swept off my feet by mushy romantic feelings with tears of joy and relief in my eyes. At such moments I must secretly admit - at least to myself - that I am mostly ruled by my emotions although I try to give them a facade of rationality.

I don't mind getting tears in my eyes or weeping when I encounter strong and true emotions, but hate being manipulated to tears by heavy-handed sentimentality like in cheesy romantic movies or cute kittens. Or rather, I hate being manipulated full stop. Show me something true and honest and my emotions will come but don't try pushing me towards the edge.

There are two men in SecondLife whom I am heavily indebted too for conspiring to make a couple out of Tomais and me, without my knowing it of course. The excellent matchmaking team are Ziggy Starsmith and Rylan Sirnah, I highly recommend the two to anyone seeking a match made in heaven. How they got the idea of the wonderful Tomais and me as a couple I haven't fully learned yet, but I will always be grateful.

What I am wondering even more about is how they actually got us together, but the less I know the better maybe...

Pensive

It usually works the other way around, I post from the blog to Facebook, but today I am posting a Bitstrip I made on Facebook to my blog.

It all started this morning, when I received an offline message to my email from an old and dear friend in SecondLife that disturbed me a lot. When I tried to respond to the message on Facebook, I got this when I tried to locate the friend.

It seems I have hurt or crossed the person so much that I have been blocked. Instead I sent my friend an email responding to some of the issues that were raised in the offline message.

The whole incident has sent me into a self-doubting mood and I am wondering what I could have done or should not have done for things to end up this way.

However, I am hoping we can talk it through in-world (I do not yet know if I have been blocked there also or not) and iron out any misunderstandings between us. This is surely a friend I would hate to lose.