Twitter Is My Favorite Anger Outlet

Hi, I’m Gabrielle Blair and this is my newsletter. It’s completely free to access and read, but if you feel so moved to support my work, please consider a paid newsletter subscription: just $5/month or save money with the $50/annual sub. You can also go way above and beyond by becoming a Founding Member at $75. Thank you! Seriously, thank you. Support from readers keeps this newsletter ad and sponsor-free.

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That Was A Hard News Week

Hey there. I find it hard to create on weeks like this. I need to write a newsletter. I’ve got house renovation updates to upload to Instagram. I’m behind on publishing blog posts. I’ve got requests for DIYs, and for updates about the kids, etc..

The news is too distracting. I find myself heading to Twitter. I appreciate the commentary I see, I like retweeting others’ thoughts and amplifying them, and I can use Twitter as an outlet for my anger, and direct it at people who are yelling me about abortion (and guns!). Here are some snippets of Twitter conversations I’ve had this week:

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

I mean yes it would seem wise for men to steer clear of me when looking for a wife because I'm happily married and have been for 26 years and counting. Me enjoying orgasms and thinking they are a really great part of life is no doubt part of my "happily married" equation.

J Hansen @Hansenj5

@designmom Lol. Well if you ever wanted to give a signal for men to steer clear of you as a wife… you nailed it. Stay away boys.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@TruthAgape Saying that sperm causes pregnancy is not blaming men. What blame? Literally nothing bad happens to men if I point out they cause pregnancy. But lots of men have read the thread and had a lightbulb moment: they need to do their part to prevent pregnancy! That's a great thing.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@CopleyStephen @SunnySide1984 If you expect the woman to take birth control, while the man does no pregnancy prevention, then you're expecting the woman to be responsible for her own body AND for the man's body. The man in that case is ejaculating irresponsibly. Men who ejaculate responsibly can't be trapped.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

I feel this.

devon of nine @dynamofire

now more than ever, i simply do not wish to hear cis men’s opinions on abortion. you’re pro-abortion? great. consider yourself an ally? great. know a lot about abortion legislation? great! please submit all of those comments, concerns & musings to other men instead

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@JohnThePapist @Ninaworsley @TradCathKing Exactly. Men could easily prevent abortion simply by ejaculating responsibly, but as you point out, they choose not to. So we can conclude men have zero interest in reducing abortion. If they were interested, they would do the very simple, easy thing of ejaculating responsibly.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@NapSavage @goblinbox @SunnySide1984 Only one of them is responsible for causing the pregnancy. Only one of them is responsible for dealing with the pregnancy. Or in other words, the man ejaculates irresponsibly, and the woman is stuck dealing with the mess he made.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@TC10pen @mshavisham Cool. So your message is actually for men. You want men to use condoms and respect women. Sounds like you should get off my thread and go lecture men. I fully support you.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@TruthAgape A better impact example: A man and woman make an identical plan to have sex with a different partner daily for a month. The max number of pregnancies that could result from the woman’s plan is 1. The max number of pregnancies that could result from the man’s plan is 30.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

Reread the first tweet in the thread. I have experienced pregnancy and childbirth six times.

facts, not news @vintnerpolitics

@designmom Have you ever been pregnant ? Lmao seems not

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@AntiBadGuySquad Are you asking me to explain your own logic? You said people shouldn't have sex when they are fertile. Logically, that means men should never have sex because they are always fertile. If you disagree, you should have used different logic.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

Right. Yes. We need to focus on women's rights and listening to women. Except not that woman who has had more personal experience with birth control and pregnancy decisions than 90% of the population. She's just a dumb momsplaining mom. And she's religious which is gross.

Most Trusted Autocrat @OrdinarySheeple

@cindygallop @fakedansavage @designmom I don’t think we need to hear more whatabout distractions about “irresponsible men” when the key issue is about a woman having the right to end a pregnancy she does not want anymore. And I don’t need a Mormon with 6 fucking kids to momsplain about some other quaint horseshit.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@dasscherick @AllredEsq @anthony_bosman @GioMarin In the world we live in, women are expected to do all the work of pregnancy prevention, and are entirely blamed for unwanted pregnancies. That’s not an idea, it’s reality. But no complaints from you about that! You’re only bothered by the idea of flipping the script.

Gabrielle Blair @designmom

@dasscherick @AllredEsq @anthony_bosman @GioMarin David. Does seducing a man force him to have sex without a condom? Does urging a man to proceed without protection force him to have sex without a condom? Do men not have agency? Men need to use a condom every time, David. That's it. That's what you're arguing against.

How do you handle hard news weeks? Do you avoid headlines? Stay offline? Read everything you can get your hands on? Anyone else use Twitter as an excess-anger outlet? And how are you holding up?

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My Most Helpful Gift Guides Ever

In happier news, before the hard news week really hit, I managed to finish 7 Gift Guides. I’ve gotten so much positive feedback on these posts! It makes me happy. I love that people find them helpful. Here are links (my Teen and Tween guides are probably the most popular):

-34 Gift Ideas for Tweens (Ages 8-12)! Eighteen of these ideas are $15 or less.

-38 Awesome Gift Ideas for Teens. Tons of affordable options on this list too. Lots of grownups are telling me they like this list for themselves.

-Holiday Supplies Guide. This features my favorite sources for affordable ribbon and wrapping and boxes.

-Here are my Favorite Christmas Books. We like to add one new book to our collection each year.

-My Young Adult Gift Guide is probably my prettiest one. It’s full of cozy, useful, beautiful items.

-Here’s my Learning Gift Guide featuring classes, experiences, and books. This list also works well for last-minute gifting.

-Lastly, my Handmade Gift Guide. This is a collection of 15 gorgeous DIY projects for those of you who prefer to make handmade gifts.

A quick heads up: For books, I include two links — one to Bookshop.org (which sources from Independent book shops), and one to Amazon. For other items, it’s mostly Amazon links, because feedback from readers is that’s the most helpful. But if you don’t like to shop Amazon, you can just do a quick search for the same product and purchase it from another source.

Happy gifting!

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Feel free to share your thoughts in response to anything above. I hope you have a lovely start to the new week.

kisses,
Gabrielle