Random Diary Post

Tonight was the opening night of the play I’m in. It’s the first production I’ve been a part of in years, over a decade maybe? Went well, no major issues, but that’s not what I find myself thinking about. This is my first theater show since I started taking meds for my anxiety AND it’s the first show I’ve been out as a trans woman in an environment where I’m allowed in the dressing room with the other girls.

My two take aways:

1) anxiety meds have improved my life so immensely! Growing up, my anxiety during rehearsals and performances was so intense I would be shaking and hot and my insides would be contorting in and out of knots. Tonight, by contrast was a cakewalk. Still had nerves, but it was nowhere near as disabling. I was able to actually experience the experience without the constant pressure in my head.

2) as a trans teen I never got to experience doing a play where I was in with the other girls in the dressing room. There have been a few awkward moments, but overall everyone has been so lovely. You never know with these sorts of things especially down here in Texas, but it has been so fulfilling in a mild gender euphoria kind of way. Like my whole life as a performer I’ve been shoved in with the guys, forced into uncomfortable male spaces and always on my guard. It has been such a relief to just be one of the girls.

(:

Benny Brantley

Iconic Golden Girls Things (as voted by you!)

#8: The infamous Shady Pines (2.6%)

Inspired by this post by @alex-just-vibing. PaliRev values the contribution of all people to the liberation of Palestine, and we encourage you to share this around your schools or with others to give accessible options for us all to show solidarity for the Palestinian people.

[image id: an image with a white background, bordered on the bottom left and top right with green, corner illustrations, an olive garden branch drawing on the bottom right, and a drawing of a boy sitting down with a backpack leaning on him, looking downwards sadly on the top right. there is a low opacity palestinian flag behind black text reading "HOW DO I SUPPORT PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE IF I CAN'T DONATE?" below this is a list in smaller black text, bulleted with light green arrows. the list reads:

"- Wear shirts, pins, keffiyehs, anything outwardly pro Palestine.

Email your Representatives, Congress, White House. Tell the people in charge you want a ceasefire.

Talk to your local library about holding an educational night about the genocide and/or Palestinian culture.

Make schoolwork about Palestine! Writing about news? Focus on Palestine. Making questions for a test? Use Palestine as an example.

Find social media accounts for your representatives and schools, and make a fuss. Comment and @ them!

Show up to local actions (i.e. protests), join and organization, and follow Palestinian journalists! (next line) - Motaz Azaiza, Plestia Alaqad, Hind Khoudary, Bisan Owda -

Educate yourself on anti-Palestine talking points (Palestine toolkit) and how to refute them in a calm manner.

Speak up! It's scary, but don't let other people's bigotry go unchecked. You'll find that other people agree, and speak up from your example.

Don't engage with people unwilling to learn. Your goal is to educate people who are and make those comfortable with genocide feel UNCOMFORTABLE."

below this in light grey text reads "@PALIREV.WEB". /end id.]

ive been seeing a new wave of transmedicalists lately I think we gotta start being vocal again about how nasty they are. you don't need to take hormones or have surgery to be a trans person. changing your name and pronouns is gender affirming care. wearing new clothes and hair and makeup is part of transitioning too. you dont need to pass to be trans, you don't need to be male or female.

nonbinary, agender, genderfluid, genderqueer people are trans too if that's a label they want to use for themselves. and anyone who says otherwise is a piece of shit. it's not "anti-transitioning" to say so, it's anti-telling other people what to do with their bodies. it's pro-minding your own fucking business and letting people do what they want with their gender and treating them with compassion and enthusiasm

Leonidas Arkona

also really interesting to me the way that everyone is always like 'b'elanna you should embrace your heritage more' 'b'elanna why don't you like being klingon' 'come on these three fun facts we learned about your culture make it seem so cool' until she says hey i have to induce a coma so i can enter my people's afterlife and save my mother. and then they say woah there we meant you should learn some drinking songs or wear fur more often not this crazy shit. like yeah putting yourself at risk of death may seem a little extreme but klingon culture is always extreme! fundamentally klingon culture as it stands in the 24th century is incompatible with a lot of federation values and morality, which makes it very interesting but also very difficult for starfleet officers to accept anything but a heavily diluted version of it and i don't think that some of the voyager crew realised until this episode that encouraging b'elanna to accept her heritage might mean her doing things they can neither accept nor rationalise.

it's one thing to tell her she's wrong and that they wouldn't reject her for being klingon and another thing to confront a cultural obsession with death.

Let's Talk about This Scene …

Sam had just about enough of their father shit and keeping them on a short leash, he wanted to confront his father.

Dean is sick of the fights, he love them both, but he is of course very protective of Sam.

John is just John, angry, on mission, thinks its fully within his rights to order his adult kids around.

Sam yelling at his father, his father tells him twice get back in the car, he says NO twice, get into his father face.

Dean had about enough,grab Sam and say’s forcibly “ Sammy i mean it, let’s go”, and as angry as Sam was, he immediately listens to Dean. Let’s give this more thoughts, not only did Sam listen to Dean Not John. He listened in a moment full of rage, i think if i was Sam in this position, i might have said something like “ really you are okay with this!!” But Sam didn’t say that, Sam doesn’t have misguided rage issue, more importantly his instinct is always to listen to Dean.

Side note: and ppl have the audacity to say Sam doesn’t appreciate Dean or doesn’t love him as much…….

Sam and John Continuing their argument, John is so pissed off he grab Sam, and here Dean interferes again, and tells them BOTH to stop, John takes a step towards Sam, Dean put his backs to Sam in a protective manner, and tells John “ this means you too” John gets the message and walks away.

The message being Dean is taking Sam side, and he has no problem standing up to John when it comes to Sam…..

MASKING MYTHS BUSTED: “Masking = Acting NT.”

FALSE.

Autistic masking does not necessarily mean “pretending to be allistic/neurotypical," although you’d definitely be forgiven for thinking it does.

Non-autistic researchers have been referring to it as “camouflaging” for years, framing it as an intentional choice to suppress autistic traits and replace them with allistic ones in order to “blend in.” Doing an internet search on the term will return several similar results.

But now, Autistic researchers are in the game, and their take is much more nuanced and comprehensive than that. (Funny how that happens, isn’t it?)

They’ve found that:

- It CAN be intentional but is often subconscious and involuntary 

- It is a protective response to trauma and feeling unsafe 

- It is often about suppressing more than just autistic traits 

- It is about identity management and being able to predict how people will treat you, not just “blending in”

Some people will lean into being “the bad kid” because they know that’s what people expect of them. Some people will even act “more autistic” because they know that’s what people expect of them. Others still will do things to attract attention in controllable, more “acceptable” ways to avoid attracting attention in unsafe, more stigmatizing ways. Not because they WANT to be that way, but because it lets them predict people’s responses better, which feels safer.

Also, there are Autistic people who can’t “pass” for non-autistic no matter how hard they try. That doesn’t mean they’re not masking. They may actually be working hard to suppress A LOT, they just can’t do everything to neuronormative standards.

None of these people will be accused of “blending in,” yet they are still masking their hearts out. When we assume they are not, we miss all the harm that masking is causing them. But they are suppressing themselves and suffering the consequences of that just as much as any Autistic person whose mask successfully says, “Hey, I’m just like you!”

(For more on this, please see the work of Dr. Amy Pearson and Kieran Rose.)

I really don't know how to explain to people that supporting gender liberation (liberation for trans people, liberation for gnc people, liberation from all oppressive gender roles) means you have to be able to see someone you think is cis "crossdressing" and be cool about it. You have to be able to see someone presenting in a way that doesn't make sense to you and not interrogate them about their identity. You have to be able to hear someone express a gender identity you don't understand and go "Huh! Neat," and go about your business. If you truly want gender liberation for all then you have to stop trying to exert control over other people's genders, period.