The way it's depicted, Cybertron's pre-war societal issues had a lot less to do with Functionism and more to do with unchecked government corruption, massive wealth disparity, high layoff/unemployment rates, and disenfranchisement.

People were starving, they needed work, they weren’t getting any. Those that were fortunate enough to have work didn’t get paid living wages, much less have anything to spare for health contingencies. Even then stability’s still the luxury of the top few tiers; they live one cut away from layoff. The government cared only enough to exacerbate these issues by coming up with new ways for exploitation. Any attempts to protest or lobby were shut down through political persecution. As a result the masses turned increasingly to crime, drug abuse, thuggery, and violence. Extreme acts of terrorism gets lauded as long as the collateral damage's suffered by someone else. Morality and caution are eroded in the face of desperation.

Meanwhile the many alleged restrictions of Functionism are just lip service complaints made by the characters which doesn’t match up to most of the stuff we’re shown. Like if Rung could become a psychologist, a specialized job that requires higher education, despite having zero background on top of such a weird alt that he had to be classified as an ornament, then wow the functionists must be open-minded. If Dominus Ambus could be a scientist/doctor/explorer/author/successful social rights advocator during the height of functionist control with a minesweeper military-use alt (assuming that his secondary alt's the same as Minimus'), then wow the functionists must be accommodating. If Tyrest could become chief engineer under Nova and later go into law, a complete change of profession, while being a jet, then wow functionism's flexible. If Ratbat and Momus could become senators in a society that discriminates heavily against beastformers and labor frames, then wow that’s progressive. If every Prime from Nova to Zeta (with the exception of Sentinel, his alt’s a tank, he only has wings in Megatron Origin as part of his Apex armour upgrade), every single named pre-war senator other than Proteus and Momus, and four out of five of Nova Prime’s buddy club (only Galvatron's a grounder) were wingframes in a society that supposedly discriminates against wingframes, then wow that’s… inconsistent worldbuilding.

Megatron didn’t get into bloodsports or start a war because he didn’t get to pursue his dream job. He got driven into the pits and down the slippery slope of moral degeneration because his only source of income was cut off by the mine closure incident. People wanted livelihoods above anything else, it's the failure to provide that that made the miners go off the deep end and resulted in the death of a guard. If Functionism actually ensured that everyone could be guaranteed a job or at least minimized the unemployment rates, then stratified castes or not, there would have been no war. People, or societies, are generally capable of tolerating an incredible amount of injustice as long as the majority still have a chance at scraping by at the end of the day. But the government, and later Megatron, kept yanking the rug out from under everyone over and over until they no longer even had a chance at that; there's no other choice left but fight or die.

Can you list the problems of hero society please

Sure thing 👍

It'll be a long list:

The over reliance on heroes has lead to the civilians becoming uncaring and unwilling to do the bare minimum of effort in human decency. Not even trying to help a child clearly in need (tenko, leading to the second part of shigaraki's villain origin story) and only willing to help deku (a young hero also pretty clearly in need of help) when it benefited them.

2. Quirk (or lack of) Persecution. Toga being a big example in her quirk's function of needing/being compelled to blood, and her parents/hero society personnel treating her terribly, causing her to eventually break and reject them/become a villain in turn.

Aoyama is also an example in a different way, his parents were trying to help him from the suffering (bad treatment by peers most likely) of being quirkless but in doing so made them all AFO's pawns. Plus how deku was treated. And tying in to this example 👇

3. Heteromorph (quirk appearance) discrimination. Spinner, shoji, 'ordinary woman' mutant. Everything about them being the most prevalent examples of hero society being horrible to those who are different.

4. Government assassinations and child soldiers. Lady nagant and hawks, taken in and trained since young children to be killers and spies.

Also the system being willing to send the hero students into literal war zones, TWICE. (Not twice as in Jin, twice as in the pro heroes/government were using the hero students to fight in both wars against the villains.) (Also unless someone who is specifically against these things, calls them out and gets into a position of power, there's nothing stopping these things from happening again in the future.)

5. Heroes who don't have good intentions. Endeavor created Dabi as an unintended consequence of his obsession with surpassing All-might, and many other heroes only signed up for the fame, money and opportunities that being a hero brings, leading to many of them bailing out when things got dark.

It is true that everyone has their own individual reasons, but when your actions can decide the course of all society's future/other people's lives, core motivations should definitely be found out as soon as possible and taken into account.

6. Refusing to acknowledge the incredibly obvious threat of the quirk singularity. The pro heroes and some students were almost immediately able to realize something was up when they saw children with very powerful quirks in the remedial course, recognizing just by looking that the children's quirks were more powerful than their's were at that age. A few inspiring moments and everyone forgot all about it.

I guess nobody looked into Eri's past too? Since her quirk killing her father never came up again.

Not to mention, though uncertain canon, the whole third movie was centered around this doomsday and not a single hero cared, even deku's heroic answer to the villain was just: "You should have tried harder man!!"

Though in fairness, Deku's answer might change with his current character development...hopefully.

7. Other examples are heroes getting so many brand deals, being celebrities and the hero scoreboard stuff.

Not outright corrupt but can definitely cause problems if taken in the wrong ways.

Those are all the flaws I can think of right now, hope this answers your ask.

I always hear that large groups of trans people are affected by homelessness. People will spread large statistics and percentages, and I hate that I'm one of them. I hate being so easily affected by my environment. I feel so helpess and anxious. I can't focus on my work. I don't even know anyone who has had this same issue. I have been couch hopping for over a month now. I miss being able to eat without wondering about my next meal, without being anxious to cook, to take up space. I miss having my privacy, a solid wall between me and others. I miss my clothes, my items, my cat, my friends...

How do I even explain this to people? I'm homeless but not unhoused. My friend says I'm displaced, but I don't think that's quite right. I wasn't pushed out by war or famine. I can't say it isn't discrimination, but I can't know. I have no proof. I feel so trapped and vulnerable, but when I see others worse off, I feel horrible and ungrateful. Why can't I pick myself back up? Why can't I just wrangle the last bit of determination I have and work like hell to fix my life?

It isn't like I'm not trying. I have been working my best at a job where my boss constantly tells me I'm not good enough to earn a living wage. I try my best to work a second gig in a field I actually love but can't support me. Yet, this last week, my head feels so heavy and full of rocks. I can't focus, and when my boss calls me, I feel an intense rage. I spend a lot of my days sleeping. I never hear back from job listings. Even if I did, how could I expect my frail body to work a regular job. How do I explain this to anyone when I can't get a diagnosis for anything.

I know I have heart problems and intestinal problems. I have had some diagnosis on both, yet I never got better as they said I would. My cardiologist would constantly dismiss me, but I can feel this intense pain throughout my upper body, my heart thumping and occasionally one hard thump before it tries to slow down. My ribcage aches. My body can't function without supplements. Food scares me because I never know if I'll suffer for eating, for trying to live.

No insurance, no government help, I'm just one of those people who fell through the gap. Nothing in our society was set up for someone like me, so do I even deserve to take up space? The worst of it, I want to. I want to live so badly. All of my youth I spent wanting to die, and now that I've finally brought myself to a place where I want to live, the world won't let me. I'm begging for salvation, please. God, just give me one out, one solution to my myriad of problems. Let me be happy and warm one more time.

so the heteromorph discrimination plotline had seemed to explode into the manga with Chapter 370 when the story switched battles to the site of Central Hospital where Spinner is leading disgruntled heteromorphs to retrieve Kurogiri;

though the story did hint it would be addressed since Chapter 310 when Ordinary Woman (big heteromorph gal) was attacked by civilians because they didn’t like they was she looked;

and the first time we got confirmation that such prejudice exists in the HeroAca world was Chapter 220, when the League massacres a bunch of CRC bigots and Spinner’s backstory was revealed (that he suffered through such discrimination all his life and was finally motivated to do something about suffocating in the pervasive heteromorphobic hostile environment - among other things - when he saw Stain on TV);

but I think the story did well to hint at this issue throughout the manga in the background. I would say the first ever hint we get is all the way in Chapter 5, when Deku arrived on his first day at UA and noticed his classroom door was huge:

Has to be accessible to everyone, he says, and that greatly stood out to me.

Because, see, heteromorphic discrimination isn't just judging people by their looks - which is often the go-to discrimination allegory fiction uses, usually based on the irl social construction of race and the issue of racism; nor is it being prejudiced against people with superpowers, because this is a world where 80% of the population have a superpower and having a quirk is accepted (in fact, not having a quirk is considered strange and unusual); rather, heteromorphic discrimination in the HeroAca World takes elements from, yeah, racism, but also ableism.

In this world, quirks gives people a wide, wide diversity of appearances - different body sizes, shapes, anatomy, functions. And different people have different needs. Someone with a quirk that gives them a tail would need a hole cut into their pants so their tail can go through and they can actually wear the pants. Someone who's really, really tall - whether because they have a giraffe neck quirk or just a big body size quirk - would need buildings to have doors that fit them.

How is this ableism? Well, one big issue in disability rights is accommodation. As wikipedia puts it:

Disability discrimination, which treats non-disabled individuals as the standard of 'normal living', results in public and private places and services, educational settings, and social services that are built to serve 'standard' people, thereby excluding those with various disabilities.

A wheelchair user can't go up steps. An event that communicates only through talking would not allow deaf people to participate fully. A world where only abled-bodied people can travel, can communicate, can exist is one that excludes disabled people, preventing them from being full members of their community, and this is the definition of discrimination.

Heteromorphs and people with body-altering quirks in HeroAca world aren't disabled. However, they do have atypical bodies and sometimes unique requirements to live regularly as anyone else. If this impedes their daily functioning, then they would have what can be classified as an impairment. If that impairment causes them to face a barrier that stops them from interacting with other people and the larger outside world, then it can be classified as a disability.

This fluid nature of what can be classified as an impairment or disability means depending on the situation, an able-bodied person can technically experience barriers similar to what disabled people experience.

This is the social model of disability. That

the origins of disability [are] the mental attitudes and physical structures of society, rather than a medical condition faced by an individual...

the most significant barrier for individuals with disabilities is not the disability itself; rather the most significant barrier is the environment in which a person with a disability must interact. Society disables people, through designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of people who are not disabled.

So, if someone with lots of limbs and appendages can't find clothes that fit them, they cannot go outside without violating public decency laws. If someone who's really big can't fit through a standard door and enter buildings, they're effectively blocked from going to school, public transportation, work, etc. This is best illustrated and pointed out explicitly by Kamayan, a character with a giant mantis quirk:

He's from Vigilantes, but the problem he faces is something Horikoshi has already considered, hence the panel from Chapter 5 above.

In fact, Mt. Lady also faced this problem in Chapter 1, when she is unable to fight a Villain and save Bakugou because she's unable to enter a street:

Luckily for Mt. Lady, her quirk allows her to shrink to normal size. But imagine if she was just big like that always. She would be unable to go anywhere. There probably is a quirk out there that is just that: makes someone big, all the time.

These quirks are individual issues. They can technically be viewed as a personal problem, and if the person is unhappy with their situation, then it's up to them to get it 'fixed'. However, that sort of defeats the purpose of having a quirk and accepting that this world is one where everyone has a quirk and should be allowed to exist as they are. Plus, heteromorphs are a significant portion of society.

Rather than telling people whose quirks makes them super tall to stay home - and this would be exclusion and discrimination - why not just build bigger doors and buildings? UA does this, and they're in the right. However, as Kamayan and Mt. Lady (Big Mode) shows, there are still places that don't do this. As Kamayan notes:

All the way in the beginning of the story in Chapter 5, the issue of accessibility in regards to atypical bodies. Because heteromorphs are people who have atypical bodies, they are most likely to face issues of accommodations. If they do, and they are unable to live well under the current status quo, then yeah, what they go through would be discrimination. Most heteromorphs we see in the series seem to be getting by okay, but it's easy to imagine that they can and have faced barriers because of their body-altering quirks:

Ojiro requires his clothes to be altered. Shoji is apparently unable to wear a coat, and needs a poncho-like garment in cold weather. These aren't big issues because as Ojiro's profile states: "altering clothing have become standard practice at clothing stores", but a store can also easily just refuse to do so. A store can refuse to serve heteromorph customers because they find tailoring annoying. They don't need to hate and insult heteromorphs for it to be discrimination; they just have to not care.

(does it also cause more money, to ask for alterations? Is it something that gives heteromorphs financial issues, if they need different enough accommodations?)

However, often when a minority bring up an issue they face to the majority and suggest addressing it, the apathy can quickly change to annoyance. Actually, any kind of annoyance can mutate into outright disdain and prejudice. In a span of a second, the majority can go from indifferent, maybe even mildly supportive (as long as it doesn't inconvenience them), to hostility with a desire to remind the minority they're different, they're unwanted, they are not quite human, not like the majority.

Chapter 56 shows this attitude exactly. Tsuragamae Kenji is the Chief of Police, but when he suggested something that someone found disagreeable, he is quickly disrespected and called a 'mutt' (in the original Japanese, 「この犬…」 "this dog...").

This would probably be considered a microaggression, calling someone with an animal-heteromorphic-quirk an animal. The first instance of microaggression in the manga is actually in Chapter 6, in which Shoji is asked if he's an 'gorilla' or 'octopus'. This was actually addressed as such in Chapter 371! The next instance is Chapter 21, in which Officer Sansa is subjected to the stereotype of... not being a police dog, I guess?)

They're just microaggression, words that come and go, perhaps, but the attitudes that give microaggression space to exist stem from the same place as anti-acceptance on the level of denying accessibility.

The examples of anti-acceptance so far talked about in this post is relatively minor, and actually just hinted at. However, in Chapter 57, we are given a rather extreme example of body modification in order to fit the 'norm'. In Chapter 57, we meet Daikaku Miyagi, whose appearance is very notable in that one of his horns look like it was cut off. Turns out, that's exactly what happened.

Daikaku Miyagi was praised this deed, as it was considered being considerate of his TV audiences . It's true this is a personal decision, and he can do whatever he feels is best for him, but one has to wonder about why instead of news stations accommodating easily editable visual presentations, the fix is chopping off a healthy body part.

The extra notes that describe his situation calls it 'rejection of Quirks'. In the same chapter, Gran Torino calls the current era "an age of suppression". Rejection, suppression - we are shown that this is a quirk society that hasn't actually embraced and accommodated quirks. Rather, quirk use is banned and a norm is defined that everyone is encouraged to follow. That seems simple enough when your quirk is an emitter that you can just not emit from your body.

So what happens when your quirk *is* your body? Which brings up questions of how heteromorphs live in such a society. Is using an extra appendage quirk use? If you have a full-body heteromorphic quirk and you get in a tussle in the heat of the moment, is that regular assault or is quirk use added onto the charges? People with quirks that gives them a 'scary' heteromorphic appearance - is that why it looks like these kind of people dominate the role of villains? The first Villain the reader ever sees in the manga is a heteromorph (the purse-snatcher). As is the second (Sludge Villain). Most of the crowd of Villains that Shigaraki brings to invade UA seems to be heteromorphs, actually.

One or two heteromorphic villains is just two randos running around. When it becomes a pattern that most Villains in HeroAca seem to be heteromorphs, the 'why' needs to be asked and a cause identified. Is it because they feel suppressed, as Gran Torino says? Rejected because of their appearance and quirks? If being a heteromorph means a higher chance of receiving microaggressions and being excluded from society - pushed to the margins, and left to do questionable things to survive - and a high chances of falling into Villainy, there is probably an societal problem.

All this is in the first 100 chapters. Similar to the development of Villains and the causes of that villany, the issue that heteromorphs face isn't focused on - they're scary looking villains, the issues brought up about Hero Society is vaguely implied. Horikoshi himself said he didn't expand on the Villains much at first on purpose because he wanted them unknowable and scary.

Of course, I would say Heteromorph Discrimination is a subsection within a larger category of Quirk Discrimination. Or maybe in-universe, this can be a type of 'intersectionality'. Toga's backstory in Chapter 227 is the failure of quirk counseling, but as we see in Chapter 370, about 150 chapters after Chapter 227, quirk counseling has also failed heteromorphs because it's 'one size fits all' simply was not equip to deal with the inherent variability of heteromorphic quirks. Meanwhile, the concept of 'kegare' - impurity - that's first introduced by the CRC in Chapter 220 and expanded on in Shouji's backstory recently in Chatper 371, being a base for why heteromorphs are hated in the countryside - that they defile the land and taint others - is also something that can apply to quirks like Shigaraki's and Toga's: decay/death and blood are things that would be considered 'impure' and thus avoided.

In anycase, throughout the manga, we're give subtle, background examples of issues heteromorphs face, like accessibility, dehumanization, making up a higher proportions of villains. Altogether, it pointed to plain discrimination, of which a lifetime of experiencing can wear a person hollow. To quote Shigaraki/Tenko, "it built up...little by little, over time". And then it exploded, but the fuse had been slowly burning for quite a while.

On Unconscious Bias in Evolution (Under the cut for discussion of racism)

[Disclaimer that I am white]

I know the game doesn't get into time period discrimination, but the story is called Evolution, the protagonist is a Black man, and the Great Chain already functions as a metaphor for Social Darwinism. Instead of this story challenging the Great Chain, the game presents a narrative in which the only way to escape this oppressive system of predeterminism is to go through torture and sacrifice your humanity, and for whatever reason the revolutionaries are on the side of 'fate' on this one. Ignoring everything else that I'm about to discuss, it was jarring for me because the theme of the games in recent years generally has been "Great Chain bad and you have the power to be whatever you want"

I tried to think of how many other named Black men characters there are in the game. I can only think of the Bishop of St Fiacre's off the top of my head, but he isn't human, and… steals faces. How about Black women? Horatia comes to mind right away… and she's in a caretaking/housekeeper role. Hm. Oh yes and the Implacable Detective is a cop

This is a horror game, and most characters will not have a happy ending. However, I feel like the Youthful Naturalist got a much bleaker story than most of the characters in FL. Railway had multiple methods for saving Furnace at the end, but Evolution had powerlessness. The Youthful Naturalist also experiences more visceral body horror than many other characters in the game. If you get down to it, it's a story about a Black man suffering and failing to escape suffering. I might feel different if he wasn't one of the only Black characters. While typing this post, I realized becoming the boatman means being forced into servitude... Yikes™️

When I pick apart work, I try to be gracious and assume ignorance instead of jumping to maliciousness. Given that fbg is mostly white authors, it's likely no one stopped to consider how this would come across. Imagine you're sitting down to write a story, you plot it out and decide a character happens to belong to a certain minority group. Here, we have a story exploring a loose end in HD and the shapeling arts with a main character that happens to be Black. Tropes have vastly different origins and consequences for different demographics, however. A story about being forced into fate and servitude has worse implications and ties to real-world oppression for a Black character than a white character. Once I saw someone describe fbg with "clumsy attempts at diversity" and yeah!

I'm not saying you can't write minorities in horror. The horror genre belongs to all of us and the alternative is only having white dude characters forever. You just gotta be aware of pitfalls, especially when you're writing about a demographic you aren't a part of. Especially when you have hardly any other characters of that demographic.

I'd like not to believe the writers had intention to come across poorly, but that's why it's called unconscious bias. Creators need to do their due diligence with sensitivity and bias training. In 2023, there's no excuse for it in a world where you can quickly google "racist tropes in the horror genre." Stop for a second while writing and reflect on how you're portraying a character from a demographic you aren't a part of. I do it all the time in my own work. As fiction writers, we create a world where anything can happen, and it's essential to carefully consider diversity and inclusion.

If biphobia is real, where are the specific bi slurs, anti bi laws preventing you to get married, to have a job, to be serviced etc..

As I've said multiple times, I think biphobia is a subset of homophobia. So I think right off you're trying to put me into a position I don't actually believe anyway.

However, I think you are also trying to imply that since biphobia doesn't look exactly the same as general homophobia, it is therefore it's not real. I don't think that follows and I think it's a bad argument.

Lots of oppressed minority groups do not have explicit laws against them, but rather rely on other laws and ingrained cultural bias to work against that group implicitly. For example, many very homophobic countries only have sodomy laws against male-male homosexual sex. That by no means indicates lesbians are less oppressed in those places - just the opposite, they tend to be extremely dangerous for lesbians. I think the oppression of bisexuals functions in a similar way, leveraging systemic homophobia, misogyny, and cultural expectations in specific ways against bisexuals that end up causing certain material patterns**. I'm not saying this is worse than it is for homosexuals by any means, or that we have "double" the oppression or anything, rather that there are specific patterns for bisexuals that deserve specific focus.

However, I do want to note there *are* more and more anti-bi laws in function or in practice: for example, it seems routine in almost all western countries that provide refugee status based on dangerous discrimination deny this to bisexuals. There have been at least two serious pushes within the US to say that bisexuality is not sex-linked and thus not protected by sex-linked discrimination (in the US at least, homosexuality is protected because it is argued to be sex-linked so this is relevant there); so their argument is that employers, landlords, etc. etc. have a case for discriminating against bisexuals.

**Getting back to this, most importantly to me, the material effects of biphobia upon bi people are measurable and observable. Why are you trying to tally whether horrific abuses like rape and domestic battery are important enough to care about through things like "are there common bisexual slurs" when we can look at much more direct data? That's ridiculous.

We can observe the oppression of bisexuals through intimate partner violence rates, sexual assault rates, homelessness rates, mental distress/mentall illness rates, substance abuse rates, etc. and seeing how startlingly elevated they are for bisexuals. It's not hard to google and many of these have been looked into by multiple independent studies at this point. And yes poverty rates too, since you mention having a job. In any other minority group this would be a huge red flag that the group does in fact suffer enough implicit bias to make life very hard for that group; for some reason with bisexuals everyone just wants to pretend we're whiny and there's no reason bisexuals should act specifically concerned?

The common arguments I see seem to fall into these three, from best to worst -

A) "It's all Just homophobia so there's no need for biphobia as a word" Once again, I do think biphobia is a subset of homophobia so I do understand this to some degree. And again, a lot of what bisexuals experience IS just generalized homophobia! But there are specific stereotypes and attitudes against bisexuals, too, and as discussed above, there's material patterns that we deserve to analyze further and talk about amongst ourselves. Moreover, it's also very frustrating that people act like it's this simple when there's a lot of people that outright argue that bisexuals do not experience "real" homophobia at all and only incidental 'misdirected' homophobia, and this is RARELY challenged in any meaningful way. Ultimately it just feels like a lot of this group thinks the ways in which bisexuals face elevated risks are unimportant.

B) "It's misdirected homophobia, not something relevant to bisexuals". Hate this, drives me fucking insane tbh. Absolutely insane to act like abuse victims are being whiny and self-serving for just saying their abusers did very much mean to target them specifically for traits specific to them. It's incredibly condescending and plainly wrong to act like they know better than we do that our abusers would actually just be so so nice to us if they knew we were actually bi. Furthermore since bisexuals ARE same-sex attracted, how is it misdirected anyway? Absolutely transparent way of trying to be dismissive of bisexual abuse victims and the cultural context of their abuse through woke-sounding language.

C) "Eugh none of that shit matters bisexuals are just trying to feel most oppressed when they are actually basically heterosexuals". This is just extremely proud and loud biphobia lol. Like, if you are so eager to insist bisexuals are morally bankrupt and whiny for speaking about... homophobic hate crimes from heterosexuals they've suffered... then you are literally supporting homophobic hets over SSA abuse victims and feeling righteous about it. Such a thing in most contexts would rightly be called extremely homophobic, but for some reason in some circles it's lauded as putting bis in their place so everyone claps? Absolutely appalling behavior that's both biphobic and homophobic.

TLDR version: I agree it's not exactly the same as homophobia. I agree bisexuals have privileges compared to homosexuals. I agree that bisexuals do not experience many facets of homophobia, or when we do (in non-abuse cases) the punch is significantly reduced since we are OSA.

I simply do not agree that bisexuals being abused, sexually assaulted, disowned by parents, facing domestic abuse, etc. is as unimportant , trivial, and irrelevant as the anti-biphobia crowd wants us to act. I don't think it's appropriate flood us with accusations of homophobia just for speaking about our abuse and mistreatment, or for talking about how people have belittled and mocked our abuses either. If you want to have disdain for our abuse that's your damage, don't ask us to hate ourselves the same way.

okay jfc I have to write a post about why the idea of "intuitive eating" rubs me the wrong way as a solution to eating disorders

not saying that it can't be a helpful tool in getting people back in touch with their bodies and unlearning certain lessons of diet culture, but I think it still enforces the societal harm that is weight stigma and discrimination. Here's why:

1. Intuitive eating still moralizes food in a hugely uncomfortable way. The whole basis of intuitive eating is centered on the idea that "if you let yourself eat the 'bad food', eventually you will start to crave the 'good food'!"

There are no bad or good foods. They are all just food. The food you eat in your everyday life is not medicine, nor is it poison, no matter what food it is. Your body needs sugar. Your body needs carbs. Your body needs fats. It's just food. It's just a way to get nutrients into your body. There's no wrong way to eat.

2. Intuitive eating still moralizes body size and implies that thinness is the correct goal. One aspect of intuitive eating is the sometimes unspoken implication that "once you learn how to eat correctly, you might not lose weight...but maybe you will, which would be great!"

In practice this is still praising weight loss, even if it's unintentional weight loss rather than intentional. It still gives the message that thinness is superior to fatness, and that thinness is a healthy ideal to strive for. Like this essay says, "Celebrating weight loss, even when it is a result of intuitive eating and having more compassion for your body, is still a commitment to thinness and still perpetuates fatphobia and diet culture."

3. Intuitive eating puts too much emphasis on hunger and hunger cues. There's the idea that once you "learn how to eat better", your hunger cues will fall into place and you'll "only eat when you're actually hungry". But guess what? You need to eat even if you're not hungry.

There are so many people who no longer, or might have never had, completely functioning satiety signals. People who have spent so long doing dieting or restrictive eating or battling eating disorders, but also people who suffer from illness or chronic disabilities which might affect the regulation of hunger cues. Some people will never feel hungry. But they still need to eat.

I've heard far too many people say that they don't eat breakfast/lunch/et cetera because they aren't hungry in the morning. As someone with a form of dysautonomia who becomes completely nonfunctional if I don't eat frequently, this attitude gets under my skin. Food is not about desire--or not entirely, as I'll get to later in the post--or about what you want to do. Food is crucial, full stop, no matter what.

I think the fatphobic myth that weight is tied to health and is something that can be controlled has created this idea of food as something optional, something that is purely driven by desire. Diet culture has made us believe that eating is simultaneously an Evil™ force that can control you and take over your body while simultaneously praising behavior of restriction, and at its heart restriction is about choice. Eating is not a choice. Eating is an entirely mandatory, necessary part of life, the same way that sleeping is. It's regulatory. It keeps you alive. The best thing you can do for your body is eat regularly and consistently.

Sometimes it's really fucking hard to eat when you don't have an appetite, or when you're nauseous. I completely understand that. Just like it's really fucking hard to sleep when you have insomnia. But you still have to do it. Eating is not optional; it's not something you do when you want to. It needs to happen regularly, every day. It's a very basic part of being a human being with a body, and no matter the state of that body, it needs to be fed.

You don't need to feel hungry to eat. Some people will never feel hungry, and they still need to eat. And it's also okay to eat without hunger, even if your basic needs of satiation and nutrition have been met. This leads me to my next point:

4. Intuitive eating puts too much emphasis on "mindful" eating. By continuing to constantly monitor and overthink your own eating behavior, it becomes a chore; it becomes a pattern of overattention and scrupulousity; it becomes something moralized, the same way that it is moralized in diet culture.

By all means, we should all try to be more mindful and intentional in our lives. But eating is just a basic fact of life. We don't consider whether we're "mindfully" sleeping, or "mindfully" taking a shower. Eating is just a part of your day, just something you need to do, and I don't think we have to focus every moment of our attention thinking about what food is wrong or right to be eating, or how we're eating it. In fact, I think everyone deserves to be mindless sometimes: everyone deserves to zone out in front of the TV, or get sucked into a video game. And that includes mindlessly eating.

In addition to being something basic and mandatory about having a human body, eating is one of the great pleasures of life, like sex or sleep. And like those things, it's completely fine if you just want to snack! For no other reason besides desire! In absence of hunger or satiety, eating can be something completely neutral and comforting. Eating can be a form of stimming for sensory seeking people; it can be fun; it can be used as a way of connecting other people. In fact, eating with other people is one of the things that induces oxytocin--known as the "love hormone"--in our brains, along with sex, childbirth, lactation, and singing with other people.

Telling people to be "mindful" when eating has the same flavor as the ways we treat drugs or alcohol in our society: "drink responsibly". "Eat mindfully". As if food is actually something that could harm us, rather than simply being the nutrients that keep us alive.

I really don't think that teaching people to overthink their food choices or behaviors is going to help anyone. Instead it needs to be clear that there are no morals attached to eating, nor the foods themselves. Eat when you need to. And also, eat when you want to. Eat for fun, for connection with other people, for pleasure, for sensory stimulation. Eat without thinking about it. That's the only way you can normalize it.

You don't need to eat in the "right way". There is no "right way". You just need to eat.

ALSO: this is meant for everybody, not just people who struggle with eating disorders or have been harmed by diet culture, but this is ESPECIALLY for fat people. Fat people are shamed constantly for the extremely natural and necessary practice of eating regardless of their actual eating habits, and I fully believe that unless we center fat people and their experiences in the anti-diet conversation, we will be trapped in the same horror of moralizing bodies, food, and basic humans needs that we have been for centuries.

YOU ARE ALLOWED TO EAT. No matter what.

things to do if you're looking to unlearn anti-PD sanism

as advised by an avoidant narcissist.

understand why phrases like "narcissistic abuse" are sanist: despite society encouraging anti-abuse morals on the surface, many of the things that motivate abuse--such as sexism, childism, queerphobia, ableism, and other forms of oppression--are normalized. most abusers aren't persodivergent, and most persodivergent people aren't abusers. yes, you can vent your trauma however you like, but not at the expense of other victims.

stop using PDs as insults: "narcissistic" is an obvious one, but this shouldn't just end at narcissism. stop calling people "paranoid," "antisocial/sociopathic/psychopathic," "borderline," "histrionic," or any other diagnosis to belittle or attack them. even if you aren't claiming that they really have these diagnoses, these words are so closely associated with PDs that it will inevitably reflect back on us.

find alternatives to PD-related insults: think about what specific behavior you're criticizing. more likely than not, it can be better described as "abusive," "toxic," "violent," "dangerous," "manipulative," "hateful," or any variety of real insults.

think about why you see PD behavior as worthy of belittlement: it's not enough to just replace one word with another, you should think about why you used PDs as insults in the first place. what's so wrong with being grandiose, hyper- or hypoemotional, insecure, or attention-seeking, especially to make them need "extreme" insults like "narcissistic" or "psychopathic?" addressing oppressive attitudes is a thousand times more important than addressing oppressive language alone.

stop insulting, ostracizing, or otherwise discriminating against people who show signs of PDs: diagnosis or no diagnosis, to see someone as worse than you for their cognitive or emotional functioning is ableist. there's no wrong way to think or feel. question why you see intense or shallow feelings (along with other persodivergent traits) as necessarily obnoxious, malicious, or dangerous.

learn about sanism, especially from persodivergent people: sanism is extremely normalized, yet it's very obscure as a concept. learning about sanism can make it easier for you to identify it, both in yourself and others.

question how psychiatry treats PDs, but not PDs as a whole: psychiatry is objectively biased against persodivergent people. the names are shallow, the diagnostic process is biased, and the treatments are far less proven than most therapists would have you think. however, persodivergent experiences are real. we do experience the world differently. the issue is how our experiences are treated, not whether or not they actually exist.

at the same time, know your place: if you're persotypical, don't speak over us. if a narcissist says they like the term "NPD," don't correct their terminology. if someone talks about being diagnosed as borderline, don't assert that it was a misdiagnosis. so on and so forth. claims of allyship mean nothing if you see yourself as more of an authority than we are.

don't defend us with sanist rhetoric: saying that we're "valid" because we're traumatized, selfless, loyal, or suffering just encourages the belief that our existence needs to be justified. we deserve not to be oppressed because we're people, not because we're necessarily "virtuous." many of us are callous, selfish, manipulative, or have no history of childhood maltreatment, but that doesn't make us any more deserving of how society treats us.

Long af rant about the American attitude toward taxes and the public good blah blah sorry

This whole thing in america where people hate taxes it’s like i get that it seems horrible and unfair that people who make the least amount of money pay proportionally more of their usable income in taxes but also it’s like if you were to not have to pay taxes then you would still have to pay something right? The money won’t be yours to use on like a boat or something like it is for the rich.

Like where I live there are pretty low taxes but we have no real public transportation and poor roads and schools. So it’s like, either you pay higher taxes and share the financial burden with a million other people so you all get cheaper and more convenient transportation and free or affordable education. Or maybe you DON’T pay as much in taxes but you EACH individually pay hundreds of dollars every month on a car that you drive down roads with potholes and hazardous debris everywhere, risking your life, spending an average of 300+ hours every year literally just sitting in traffic because everyone else also has to take their own car that they pay for themselves to drive to places themselves just to do ANYTHING so the roads are always overcrowded and we’re all trying to alleviate our annoyance by listening to podcasts.

Or maybe you spend hundreds/thousands a year to send your kids to schools without asbestos or plumbing coming apart in the ceilings, or if you don’t you spend thousands getting a degree or a certification after high school to get a job that actually pays well. And this all could have been free or affordable and much more convenient and equitable if we’d all just paid a few hundred more per year and if the rich paid the millions or billions they’re currently not paying which we allow because we all have this idea that taxes are inherently exploitative and unfair even though they’re literally the solution to the unfairness that currently underlies our entire society and which robs the most vulnerable of us of opportunities for advancement or even just basic life things.

It’s just like such a scam idea like it’s not 1773 anymore and we allegedly have a functioning democracy now where we get to decide how our taxes are used but people are just generally so disenchanted or disinterested or distrustful of the whole concept of american democracy that they think the solution is some wild west shit where everyone is on their own forever and to depend on society at all is a moral failing even though it’s all so much easier if we are able to depend on our systems and on each other and we’re all living in denial about our supposed independence cuz eventually we won’t be able to think ourselves john wayne free spirit bootstrap types cuz we’re all gonna get sick or lose our jobs or experience tragedy and we’re gonna need help or we’re gonna die or at least experience completely avoidable suffering that could have been prevented for all of society if we’d just thought of taxes as if not a privilege to do good for other then at least the price of living in a free and just society instead of as a burden.

Anyway it’s just so stupid. And it just reveals a deep condescension for other people that has always irked me. The way we’re all allowed to think we’re better than other people and if those people can’t afford something we have then they must be less deserving than us! And this allows us also to live our whole lives without once reckoning with how much of what we consider proof of our superiority is actually just inherited wealth or privilege that springs directly from the discrimination and subjugation of others. This is antidemocratic and it’s wrong!!!!! And people have always treated me like an insane person for trying to argue this because it goes against the grain of acceptable thought in this stupid ass backwards doublethinking fucking country

i need to flesh out my tags about diagnosis/psychiatry for my own personal gain because I feel like I'm onto something but my brain is moving too fast to physically write it down so here we are.

basically psychiatry at its core is responsible for creating and naming categories under which all of humanity is meant to fit. (even if you don't have a MH diagnosis, you are therefore not mentally ill / neurotypical, which becomes a category of its own.) a lot of mental health awareness campaign's language lies in this idea that mental disorder does not discriminate, that it can affect anyone at any point in their lives -- it's giving He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake boogie man panopticon vibes...

& speaking of foucault, I think the basic concept that, states wield power by creating knowledge systems that create subjects, is really important to the anti-psychiatry critique. the subjectivity of psychiatry is kind of its most obvious facet. what's MIRACULOUS is that, in the last 50 years, psychiatry and psychology have managed to convince a staggering load of people that they are SCIENTIFIC and OBJECTIVE fields; that there are really truly chemical / biological / neurological sources we can point to in which we will find all of the answers for human suffering. I'd argue this quick acceptance is in portion due to neoliberalism and rapidly growing technologies of surveillance -- the DSM-3, which basically put psychiatry on the map as a legitimate field, was published in 1980. psychotropics have also had a big role in legitimizing the psy-discipline's attempt to class themselves among the medical fields, despite the fact that we still don't really know why psychotropics Work for Some People.

but even if we did know why they "worked," we also need to question what we consider "working" under conditions of hegemonic capitalism. in which ways do medications alter human behavior and belief in order to make our lives easier for ourselves and others? what actions and acceptances are deemed healthy under the influence of psychotropic drugs? psychiatrists track your progress on the drug in line with how well you are functioning as a normal, productive human being. is being happy not better for labor?

this is not to say that I think the distress that may fall under psychiatric diagnoses is not real or valid. on the contrary, I think they're very real experiences and very valid experiences. but I don't think they need to be classified as anything. because I believe that 1. suffering and distress are inevitable facets of any meaningful life and 2. there is no one "correct" way to experience distress or suffering or to be a human being in this world -- in fact a diverse range of reactions to the human experience is not only inevitable but also amazing and beautiful and sacred.

anyway, it would be misguided to believe that, in another world, perhaps under a different economic structure, we could have a psychiatry that is objective and not suited to the interests of the powerful. because that's all psychiatry has ever done, regardless of whatever cloaks it wears that tell us otherwise. its quest as a field has always been to sort out the normal from the abnormal and force the abnormal back to normal for the sake of capital. its even easier when we just go along with it happily. will we ever be able to see this? even more so, can we accept that we will never be able to objectively or scientifically understand and chart humankind in our vast complexity, and that's fucking magnificent?

what do u think the negative reactions to transfem angel are? *cough* kate lockley *cough*

ah! short answer is i don't. I think (aside from being a legitimate lens through which to View The Text) for me the Trans Angel Reading is like, my little passion project and my joint imagined AU that lives in me and @titsgirlbuffy's brains so if im not doing proper analytical posting im mostly filling up that daydream with funny and heartwarming stuff, bc to be honest if i wanna see Angel suffer all i need to do is watch the show. so in short i haven't really given much thought to that side of things.

that being said now you've brought it up i do think the way the supernatural functions as a queer metaphor so often across both shows opens up interesting conversations about discrimination, very much including how Kate lockleys attitude towards demons stood in for other forms of bigotry. we see her becoming more and more hateful and distrustful of the supernatural long before we see her racially profile Gunn, and it would make sense for that to also map on to homophobia and transphobia given that's the more common metaphor. she's not in the show from s3 onwards and I wonder if that would've changed how certain plotlines that used that metaphor were handled, such as the s3 episode that old gang of mine which imo handled almost everything very poorly bc by placing demons as a (thinly veiled) stand in for queer people and putting Gunn in the middle of the conflict it basically ended up saying you can't be black and queer without betraying one of those communities?? I need to write like a proper post about that episode at some point bc they fucked that in ways.

anyway i realise i haven't like answered your question at all but i think while there would obviously be Early '00s Transphobia it wouldn't be from any of the main characters. Fred would probably have the hardest time processing I think, bc she had such a crush on Angel (handsome man who saved her from the monsters) and I don't think it's something she likely has prior experience with given her Normal Texas Upbringing, but that'd come from confusion rather than disapproval and it wouldn't take her long to get over. I think Wesley would also have the same problem given that imo Angel was basically the cause of his gay awakening in ats s1 so he's like the person who made me realise I like men... isn't actually a man... but that's Wesley's personal crisis and he wouldn't let it affect his support for angel

There was a skinny girl in high school who ate nothing but pizza, cheeseburgers, soda, candies, chocolate bars, and cheetos. I never saw her drink water or touch a vegetable or piece of fruit. Funny how NO ONE EVER SAID A WORD about being concerned for her health. As for me, I ate healthy like had veggies and fruit with lunch and drank water and unsweetened fucking soymilk, but was fat so people had Judgey Looks and comments. It was infuriating. The food we eat has no morality yet the sense of entitlement people have over fat bodies is so loud. They’ll NEVER approve of our choices no matter what we do so I chose to eat what I want.

what you said is nothing but the stone cold truth, nothing else to add. healthy fat people will still be victims of fatphobia because society´s true concern is not truly their "health". that´s only the hypocritical story they tell themselves to justify their hateful body policing while retaining the semblance of "morally righteous" tutors/motivators. it´s fat people´s... fat that they find insulting and unacceptable. on the other hand, unhealthy skinny people will still be treated with the customary respect and decency because guess what!!! our fatphobic society cannot care less about anyone´s health!!! they just wanna police you and have a say in the matter of how you manage your body and its basic functions!!! it´s truly laughable and infuriating at the same time.

also..... and this is something i cannot stress enough..... EVEN IF a fat person, or a skinny person, or anyone at all, was indeed unhealthy and suffered from multiple diseases or disabilities, like the fatphobes keep inferring, that still wouldn´t give you the right to climb on the moral high ground and teach ill or disabled people about health and healing. they simply cannot do that. a body must still remain autonomous and free of any patronizing policies/discriminations, no matter how disabled or non-conforming it may be. denying the right of non-conforming bodies to agency and self-management would be to openly admit that you are being ableist.

‼️warning: the post I’m about to make has heavy topics pertaining to mental illness and disability. Please view at your own discretion‼️

I want to come on here to talk about something that I don’t feel gets talked about enough. And that is mainly thanks to social media that has advocated to the understanding of mental illness and disability to the point that it is immensely glorified. And while I would rather choose the lesser of the two evils than deal with the ableism and discrimination, I think it needs to be addressed on why glorifying it is also very problematic.

As you know by now, I am on the autism spectrum, and with this came a slew of other mental health conditions that I have suffered from for a long time such as anxiety and depression. One thing I would never want to do is beg for pity. I am still a functioning human being and do not wish to be treated as a charity case. However, I think it is important to showcase the darker side of being diagnosed with such a condition as Autism.

What you see, you may see awkward social interaction, you may see unusual movements of my arms and legs and even my whole body(stimming), you may see high emotional sensitivity, you may see aversion to loud sounds, and so forth. And these are things that, in of itself, are not inherently bad. Yes I am prone to accidental inappropriate social interaction, but there is ways of accommodating and advocating for it while still holding me accountable. Gentle approaches and positive reinforcement go such a long way. And the more people learn and accept that, the better quality of life you make for me and my community.

What you don’t see, is the struggles that come with it.

Being autistic comes with many many processing issues. Auditory, sensory, information, visual, cognitive, etc. And like the disorder itself, they all live on a spectrum and affect us all differently. One of these things that we struggle with due to this processing issue, and the one we usually get the most abuse from, is personal hygiene.

I took a shower tonight, which is something I struggle with due to the task of having to wash myself, having sensory issues such as too strong of smelling soap and the water temperature not being right, but also the transition from being wet to cold is something I hate. I hate drying myself and the water from my hair dripping down my back. I don’t like water on my face. The entire thing is an absolute hellscape.

But it needs to be done, so I got in. And I noticed that my hair felt heavier than usual. After shampoo and conditioner, I ran my fingers through my insanely thick and long locks. And.. it got stuck.

With conditioner, it was stuck.

That is how bad the tangles were. As a result of having not brushed it for weeks. Yes, weeks.

Over the course of the shower, I pulled out probably a dozen knots, all around this size..

I’m tender headed, brushing my hair hurts my neck and my arms. So I wear hats to cover it, it also helps as an impromptu noise buffer so it’s a win win in the moment. However, it just adds on to the ever growing tangles and become more and more prominent until I actually do something about it.

This is something in it of itself, I’ve grown used to.

But as I ran through the tangles, yanking out knot after knot, the hair piled in the drain.

When I looked down and saw the result, I couldn’t believe how much hair was caught in the absolute rats nest that had accumulated for weeks.

And I cried.

I still have plentiful hair, but I didn’t want to lose that much. I hadn’t even realized it had gotten so bad. As I got out I immediately noticed the lightness on my head and panicked, thinking I may have a bald spot (I don’t) bc so much was gone now..

I may be used to it, but I hate it still. Every time. But it happens over and over again, bc I hate brushing my hair.

This.. this is the true dark reality of living with Autism.

I love my hair, and me not liking to brush it does not mean I don’t care. It is a physically daunting task, it fucking HURTS, and it sucks bc I KNOW it’s not supposed to!

Everyday I wake up, the lights are too bright and I can hear every sound like a siren. It takes excess energy just to get out of bed, even more to change clothes, and if I am lucky, even more to brush my hair. I have 30 min to decide before I get to work what my support needs are today bc they change DAILY. Some days I have enormous amounts of anxiety, some days I have sensory overstimulation, some days I feel literally touch starved, some days I can’t find the right words to say, or barely want to say anything. I have to figure out what I need, what will get me through the day, what will allow me to survive. And even now, I am struggling to find my place in the workforce due to the lack of resources and currently on the verge of autistic burnout that I’m desperately trying to avoid.

Every time I brush my hair, there are knots. And when I brush my teeth, there is blood in the sink.

This is my reality.

I am imploring you to PLEASE consider these things when you say things about how hating autism is “internalized ableism” or glorify it to the point that it becomes a trend that everyone wants to have bc it’s “cool.” I do NOT like being autistic. It has caused me immense heartache, trauma, struggle, and being in constant survival mode. It FUCKING SUCKS.

I have accepted that I am autistic. But I do not enjoy it. It is still, in its own right, a DISABILITY. It is not something to be glorified and praised. It is not something that is “trendy” and something you WANT to have.

Wanting answers is one thing, I understand that. That’s how I got my diagnosis. But I am begging and pleading, DO NOT ASK FOR IT. If you have it, learn to accept what is and learn what you need to do in order to live your best quality of life. It is not something to be taken as a joke, it is not a “gift” and it is not a trend.

It is a disability. It is a disorder. A brain disorder. A processing disorder. And it fucking sucks.

a few notes on "homosexual politics"

Firstly, the very notion of "homosexual" politics, "gay" politics or what have you - the kind of politics that bases itself on homosexuality being the common trait of its protagonists - as neutral with respect to sex differences is misleading at best. To imply that homosexual men and women occupy the same position, by any measure, in patriarchal society is to willfully obscure just how much the alleged homosexual position is shaped by the sex of its occupiers. Things like various manifestations of homophobia and discrimination cannot be simply abstracted from the very real circumstances and ways in which they occur to produce some vague, nebulous idea of "both these groups have it bad because of sexual orientation". Although all analogies limp, this would be like saying that the Black population in the US, the Kurdish population in Turkey and the Roma population in Romania are all united by a common experience of "racism". These function in much different ways and circumstances and these three groups could never form a single coherent movement, despite a very abstractly phrased truth about all of them suffering based on involuntary ethno-racial origins.

As I've said over and over, the trick of "homosexual", "LGB", "lesbian and gay" and other phrasings for this supposed united movement of male and female homosexuals is that the social dynamics of the sexes are directly translated into the movement, resulting in a male-dominated cause in which men lead and uphold each other, with careful elimination of that which "divides" the members - namely, the experience of female oppression - in order to present a "united" homosexual front. Women soon find that there's very little they can speak on that doesn't divert into female-specific problems and thus is unacceptable and divisive at worst, or ignored/sidelined by men at best. This is all without even mentioning the extensive ways in which men actively harm lesbians and other women, uphold their fellow men (gay or straight) and participate in patriarchal structures - the genderist nonsense they've created isn't even necessary to mention at this moment.

Being that the "pure" homosexual agenda could only ever be the homosexual male political agenda, what would be the limits of it? I argue that there is, in fact, an extremely conservative limit on what a homosexual movement, with or without the participation of women, can achieve without its aims being much better addressed by a women's liberation movement.

Another key feature of homosexual politics is that it's a minority movement. Although statistics are rather vague, I think it's rather safe to assume that 8-9% of the population is a very ambitious estimate, or else we would definitely feel our numbers much more acutely and much earlier in historical-political terms - for example, black people make up about 13% of the US population. This minority position is compounded by a total dispersion across ages, locations and demographics, especially class and sex - the ultimate determining positions in society. Such a position therefore precludes winning power, separatism and large scale social transformation in which the "oppressor" is rendered as the entire heterosexual population (let us not even mention the notion that a straight woman could ever approach a straight man's capacity to oppress in contemporary society).

What can such a wildly dispersed minority even do, except alleviate some pressure by selective choices of association (where possible) and generate even tinier activist cliques which will, with no democratic accountability whatsoever, take it upon themselves to represent the entirety of this half-hidden population? How would such cliques secure social influence for their agendas, except through latching onto the powers that be through ideological maneuvering? Even if they had the totality of all homosexuals behind them, they'd find a disorganised and conflicted mess of a small minority constituency.

These material conditions are already sufficient for us to totally discard any chance of a productive, effective movement. But what if, by some miracle, these representatives had such an acute notion of the pitfalls of both the sexual dynamics and the power dynamics in which they exist, and resolutely refused either to infringe on women's rights or support existing power structures? What kind of agenda would they come up with?

In my view, the extent of such an agenda is glaringly conservative. Same-sex unions (without adoption rights) and vague campaigns for tolerance of variance with regards to adherence to superficial demands of sex roles ("Don't harass or legally punish people for the way they look and dress) and anti-discrimination laws surrounding sexual orientation, that's about it. As soon as a more fundamental critique of production relations or the sexual hierarchy needs to be addressed, those already have their own theories and possibilities for truly massive constituencies - the workers' and women's movements, respectively.

A huge number of countries already basically contain legal provisions that cover such an agenda, however, and the activist class cannot simply pack up and go home. Instead, the proliferation of topics, causes, and the dependency both on donors' money and something to rail against, has contributed in no small part to the queer politics NGO industry. Faced with an increasingly shrinking space of reasonable reform (even in my own context of the Balkans, not just the US and Western Europe), they've taken up increasing rhetorical radicalism and incorporation of an ever-greater menagerie of identities and fetishes to include in their platform. But the proliferation of these identities via queer theory is not the only bad way this could go. Even if gender ideology somehow never became the dominant paradigm for homosexual politics, even if it stayed "LGB" or "LG", an increasing insistence on the "homosexuals vs. heterosexuals" paradigm as the defining division in society would result in other political dead-ends. For instance, it'd be equally misguided to think that homosexuals are the social force that would/should bring down the contemporary family model, or that their "right" to children should be the new frontier of struggle, or that cruising should be protected under the law - all of these could be perfectly comfortably argued for even with a gender-critical perspective.

In the final analysis, I truly think the shallowness of sexual minority politics should be honestly admitted. Homosexuals will never be the revolutionary subject by virtue of their homosexuality. Although they've managed to extract concessions from various political elites, their lack of a tangible social power base ensures that these can be taken away at any point. The only thing that can ensure it, however, is a class-conscious women's liberation movement, one that would more solidly and on a more permanent basis by virtue of its social clout, do away with the aspects of gender socialization that exacerbate societal homophobia. There might always be a measure of homophobia that no cultural changes can eliminate. But deluding ourselves about our position in the system will, inevitably, lead to bitter disappointment - we can either stay lapdogs of this or that faction of the ruling class and support continued oppression of others, or we can see where in the class-sex matrix we can do our part for tangible and permanent progress and concentrate our efforts there, discarding the (albeit sometimes superficially attractive) idea that our homosexuality is the actual core of our social being.

Lilith Clawthorne x gn.reader (part 1)

Y/N Pov.:

Our kind used to live peacefully on the isles but the emperor caught most of us and used us to satisfy his hunger for palismen. Even if we looked almost like every other witch, he used the little differences of ours to justify his discrimination and terrible behaviour against us.

We are related to the palismen but called nylem. Our bodies are similar to the average witches but we have black tattoolike marks which covers almost our whole back. Its in form of 2 big wings. In the night, when the sun in completely gone we can let the marks transform themselves into actual functional wings. But when we try to to this in the day, the skin on the back peels slowly off and the wings grow out of our backs which is very painful. The reason why the emperor wants us is simply because we release similar magic to when you break a palismen when we transform during the day. So he thought it was his right to look us up in his personal prison and force us to transform during the day. A few staff members would come and feed us every once in while. Im not sure but i think a few nylems had refused to eat because they were to tired and couldn’t bear the pain anymore. But its just a rumour. I wouldn’t really know since we all live in separate cells in order to keep us from making plans together. Maybe i was the last one alive. Maybe i will be the first one to die. I layed down in my cell, waiting for another faceless guard to throw the food to me but instead a blue haired woman opened my cell. I sat up and looked at the woman. She was very pretty. She slowly walked towards me as if she expected me to attack her. I’m chained to the floor and the wall behind me but sure…. After she realised this too she kneeled in front of me. “The emperor wants to try and talk to you in a few weeks. You’ll be able to take a hot bath, eat normal food and wear clean clothes if you cooperate and behave.” She gave me a skeptic look. She turned to the guard outside the cell: “They understand me right?” “ nobody really knows. Its said they used to talk once but we haven't heard one talk in months” , the guard said with a deep voice. She looked me in the eyes. “If you can understand me please nod or give me a sign.” I shook my head and tilted my head toward the guard. “You want him to leave?” I nodded. The guard turned to us. “Ms. Clawthorne, i don’t recommend staying with this beast alone. Its not worth it.” She waved at him signalising him to leave. He listened obediently. “We are alone,” she said. I nodded and smiled. “What else does the emperor want from me. Do i not serve enough already?” My voice was shaking and it hurt to speak because it has been so long since i last talked. She seemed furious and stood up. “The emperor allows you to stay in his castle and provides you with food, water and medical supplies. How dare you-” “Well i don't know about the others, or what is left of them, but i have a slightly different perception. I mean you do see these chains right?” “They are there so you don’t attack the castle again and hurt us!” Now thats it. I stood up (as well as these chains allowed me to). “We are tortured 3 times a week for hours, we are chained to the walls and grounds-“ i stopped because my throat started to bleed and i had a metallic feeling on my tongue. “We?” She looked confused. “How many of us are left?”, i asked. “You are the only one. The last one died 2 months ago. They all stooped eating and drinking after a while. We think it was a disease you are immune against.” “A disease? Really? Are you really that naive? You do realise we are tortured right? Or do you think we are just dramatic wannabe vampire-werwolf fans or something?” She looked down and seemed to think about it. “Even if you are speaking the truth…. How do i know i can trust you?” Seriously? How do i prove my suffering to the obedient and naive guard of the emperor. A tear ran down my face. I looked at her. “You dont have to trust me, but please, if you cant get my out of here-“ I was ready to give up.

Give up on hope. Give up on life… "Please….. if you can't let me leave…" i stoped and looked at her face. My face was covered with tears that rolled down uncontrollably. "If you can't get me out of this misery……. kill me." I whispered the last part but she seemed to understand. A tear rolled down her face. She stood up and left. Closed the door. The guards returned. And i still sat on the ground of my prison cell. My face was still covered in tears, Everything turned to normal. Nothing changed. I waited. One day passed. Two days passed. Then a week. And a month. Nothing. Nothing fucking changed. I ate less and less. I just wasn't hungry anymore. Did seriously nothing change. Everyday hurt like hell. Till i heard a loud groan and several punching noises. The door slammed open and a woman rushed towards me. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I could barely see her. I was too weak and too tired. She quickly took of my chains and carried me out. Once we were outside and she sat on her staff i saw black. Everything sounded muffled till i heard nothing. Everything was black and quiet. I felt nothing. It was such a relief. It was like this for hours till i heard muffled noises again. "I did everything i could but i don't when they will wake up. That poor thing was starved, dehydrated and hurt like nothing i had ever seen before. It's a miracle they made it till you reached me." "I know," a familiar voice said. I groaned. Everything hurt. I tried to sit up but my body wouldn't let me. My hand slipped of the edge and i fell off what seemed to be a couch. My face kissed the floor. It was hard. "Urrghhhhh", i groaned. "Shit", i heard the familiar voice call. Footsteps rushed towards me. Cant everybody just leave me alone. “Oh my titan, Luz, Eda i need a little help”, the familiar voice called is soon as she reached my side. I lifted my head a little to look at the woman next to me. “Ms. Clawthorne?”, i asked hysterical. “Yes, darling. Don't worry well get you back on your feet in no time. Just hold on.” She turned to the door. EDALYN CLAWTHORN IF YOU DONT COME DOWN THIS INSTANT I WILL THROW YOUR APPLEBLOOD INTO THE OCEAN.” Only a few seconds later a white haired lady bursted into the room with a brown haired child under her arm. “I am here” she huffed exhausted. Lilith started to give the two of them instructions on what to do while she helped me to get on the couch again. Ms. Clawthorne sat next to me and seemed really annoyed. After a few minutes passed the two dorks returned with bandages and other stuff. They put the things down on the table next to me a and left the room. The lady looked at me. “I’m going to have to take your shirt of.” The woman said. She saw my concerned look and added: “Your back is probably infected since transforming rips your actual skin. You’ve lost a lot of blood over the last few weeks…. and months… but until a while ago your body was able to regenerate. But now… your as weak as an abandoned stray kitten.” I didn’t say anything. She slowly took of my shirt, trying not to hurt me. I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged them, trying to hold back the tears. So she did come back to me. The naive lady was nice after all. “Im sorry but this will hurt a little,” Ms. Clawthorne interrupted my thoughts. Shortly after a sharp pain echoed through my back. I hissed and sank my nails into the couch till the pain softened. I felt her warm fingers on my back. While she took care of my wound i just enjoyed her touch. It was a little comforting. I placed my head on my knees while she put some sort if glued stripes and cotton on my wound. Her hand stroke my back one last time before she tapped my shoulder and said she was done. I put on my shirt again and bowed to hear, signalising my thanks. She smiled and bowed a little too. “You have nowhere to go right? You can stay as long as you like. I’ll prepare a second bed in my room. That way i can keep an eye on you wound… if thats alright with you of course.” I nodded. It would be great to have a place to stay in till i can repay them.

World Bipolar Disorder Day: Fighting the Stigma and Coping with it | Solh Wellness

Every year on March 30th, World Bipolar Disorder Day is observed to raise awareness and reduce the stigma associated with bipolar disorder. The day also aims to raise awareness and educate people about this complex mental health condition that affects millions of people around the world. This day commemorates the birth of renowned artist Vincent Van Gogh, who suffered from the same disorder.

Bipolar Disorder Stigmas

Patients with bipolar disorder are frequently stereotyped as being unable to function in society, aggressive, and violent. Effective treatment, on the other hand, can enable people suffering from bipolar disorder to live fulfilling lives, maintain relationships, and work. While manic episodes can cause agitation and impulsive behaviour, people with bipolar disorder are more likely to harm themselves than others. Unfortunately, people with bipolar disorder are frequently subjected to teasing, bullying, and unfair treatment, which can limit their social opportunities.

Why is Bipolar Disorder associated with such a negative stigma?

The stigma associated with mental illness is frequently caused by a lack of understanding and awareness. Exaggeration, or shocking bipolar disorder, for example, contribute to negative stereotypes and can make people with mental health conditions feel marginalised and ignored.

Mental illness is frequently misunderstood, leading to fear and discrimination against those who suffer from it.

Stereotypes and misinformation about mental illness are widespread in society, reinforced by the media, social norms, and cultural beliefs.

People with mental illnesses are frequently stigmatised and discriminated against, instilling fear of being judged, shunned, or mistreated. People may conceal their mental health issues as a result of this fear.

How to Remove the Stigma of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder stigma can be reduced through education, language changes, and shared experiences. While eradicating stigma may be impossible, specific measures can help to mitigate its impact. Here are some suggestions for reducing the stigma attached to mental illnesses:

To foster understanding and empathy, educate yourself and others about mental health conditions.

Share your personal experiences to help others understand the difficulties that people with mental illnesses face.

To foster empathy and understanding, avoid labelling people solely based on their mental illness by using person-first language.

Dispel common misconceptions and stereotypes about mental health issues.

Encourage people to seek help by emphasising successful mental illness treatment and resources.

Managing the Stigma of Mental Illness

This problem has no long-term solution. Managing bipolar disorder, on the other hand, necessitates stress reduction and self-care. Seeking therapist assistance, practising mindfulness techniques and coping skills, and calming the nervous system through breathing and yoga are all methods for stress management.

Here are some coping strategies to help you deal with this mental illness:

Seeking professional help from a therapist, learning mindfulness techniques, and practising coping skills are all effective stress management strategies for people with bipolar disorder.

Individuals with bipolar disorder can benefit from prioritising self-care by eating well, exercising on a regular basis, sticking to a routine, and getting enough sleep.

Journaling can help you track mood changes, identify triggers, and monitor medication effectiveness. Writing positive affirmations on good days and reading on bad days can both be beneficial.

Support and interest groups can help people feel more connected and understood, reducing feelings of isolation and improving mental health.

Outside of bipolar disorder, hobbies and interests can provide a sense of purpose and fulfilment. There are numerous online resources to assist you in finding new hobbies or classes to help you develop your skills and interests.

Conclusion

World Bipolar Disorder Day represents the belief that people suffering from this disorder are not alone in their struggle. We can make people with bipolar disorder's lives a little easier by practising helping one another and working to remove the stigma associated with it.

If you are (or know someone who is) suffering from this disorder and want to find a solution, please contact Solh Wellness. We provide a safe environment for people dealing with mental health issues in order to help them overcome life's challenges. Download the Solh Wellness App to improve your mental health and overall quality of life.