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#perhaps if a boy was a girl but also a nonbinary was a girl in a fem way that’s masc but more importantly fem
ninja-go-to-therapy · 13 days
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Girl and bro as gender neutral terms are so important
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crescentmp3 · 6 months
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is my classmate trans or transphobic. question mark?
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lemon-penguinn · 3 months
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I'm nonbinary. People, in general, do not tend to see me as a trans person, even though I identify as one.
Everyone usually thinks of me as a girl. A cis girl who has decided to pass herself off as a nonbinary person, or a trans boy, simply because she thinks it's "trendy". A cis girl who wants to be part of a community because she feels lonely. And that's because, by many people's standards, I just "don't look trans", whatever that means. I guess it's simply because my gender expression is not rigid. It changes.
Deep down, I feel like a stereotype: a teenager with a female body who claims to be a boy but occasionally wears dresses and skirts comfortably. In the eyes of others, perhaps, I am nothing more than a cis girl infiltrating trans spaces. I'll be honest: I've cried over this very situation many times, because, what am I to do about it?
Do I have to change and stick to the gender role that is expected of someone like me? Do I really have to change the way I show myself just because I'm not a girl, but I also don't perceive myself fully as a boy?
I think that's ridiculous.
In the end, saying that "if you are nonbinary you have to be androgynous" is something that perpetuates stereotypes and gender roles. It's like telling a trans girl that, to be a real girl, she has to wear a skirt - it makes no sense. Do all girls only ever wear skirts and dresses? Do all boys only ever wear black, loose tank tops?
Of course they don't.
My expression, my tastes, my clothes, my voice, and the way I act do NOT determine my gender identity at all, just like my private parts. Because I believe that gender is a part of us. Not a part of our body, our clothes or our personality. It's true, though, that our gender identity can influence those other things. I think that's why certain actions or concepts make us dysphoric or euphoric: because our gender influences whether we perceive positively or negatively those things that affect us.
But, until the day most of society can understand that gender isn't a rigid set of rules, nonbinary people will remain generally perceived as no more than "girls who want attention" (if we live in a female body) and "weird boys" (if we live in a male body). We do not exist. Breaking out of binarism is seen as a phase that will end once we grow up. Because, apparently, many people think that being nonbinary is something that doesn't exist in the adult world.
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etherealspacejelly · 4 months
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Neopronouns are not even real pronouns. A pronoun is a noun used to describe a living being. They/Them is fine, they are real pronouns used in the English language. And yes, while I think there is no possible way for someone who has boy or girl genes to actually be non-binary, I will respect them as a person. But, neopronouns, however, are way over the top. I’ve seen people online who identify as like, xe/xem. That’s ridiculous, they’re not even a part of the English language. I’ve seen one person who identified as shark/sharkself. That is so annoying. I’m not gonna call you “shark” bro. Nobody is gonna call you that, except for maybe people as delusional as you. So, I’m conclusion, yes, neopronouns are ridiculous and stupid and unnecessary. Whoever uses them certainly needs mental help, but instead we are celebrating and giving them parades and telling them it’s fine and not stupid at all to identify as a fucking shark.
That being said, if we Normalize these outrageous neopronouns, I don't think I'll be able to handle meeting another three or more person with unique neopronouns, I don’t think I'll care about memorizing them if we don’t get along. I can only imagine that inside their head they are going like “Why can’t everyone understand me? why can’t anyone respect me? why can’t anyone get along with me? me… me…me…”. This is just starting to become a narcissistic play.  It’s just sad that you yourself are intentionally creating a situation that excludes you from other people. You are making yourself too different, you eventually get depressed, commit die and well, will anybody care about you in the end?
Pronouns replace nouns and they are a part of a language. Not something we just make up because we think we are more special than anyone else.
Also, this stuff only appeals to children, or adults with some sort of arrested development. No mature human being would want to go by “cupcakeself”.
We all have names. If you want to rebel against pronouns why can’t you just use your name? Be “Johnself” or “Sallyself” or something people can remember. We aren’t going to trouble ourselves to memorize some made up nounself words.
You’re lucky if we can remember your name let alone some made up ridiculousness.
I hope everyone with neopronouns die.
hey anon. anon. just a question for you. does that Actually Genuinely affect you? like at all? do you know anyone in real life who uses neopronouns? or is it just people online who are literally just minding their business. hmm?
also. all words are made up dingus it came free with your fucking language. we make up words all the time. selfie is in the dictionary now. it wasnt 50 years ago. does that make it not a real word? no. it does not. because language is a tool used by human beings to describe ourselves and the world around us, and to communicate ideas and knowledge. do you think we just. found a dictionary under a rock one day?
if neopronouns bother you that much, just block people who use them. block the neopronoun tag. or perhaps just get off tumblr. touch some grass. focus on a real problem instead of people online using words you dont like. there are people dying right now anon. the planet is on fire. sharkself pronouns arent hurting you.
also. you said that neopronouns only appeal to children, then said that all neopronoun users should die. so... you think children should die? you want children to kill themselves anon? is that what you want? you seem like a lovely person /s
and seeing as you mentioned nonbinary people. you know that there are more sexes than just male and female right? like biologically. they taught you male and female in school to simplify things for your developing brain, like how they tell you that electrons are particles and you cant square root -1. but once you start studying these things at a more in depth level, you realise that they arent that simple at all. biological sex exists on a spectrum. it is a collection of attributes that can behave any number of ways. including hormones, genitalia, chromosomes, secondary sex characteristics, and more.
furthermore, gender and sex are not the same thing. but i cant be bothered to explain that to you because you will refuse to understand it anyway, and ive wasted enough time talking to you as it is.
if you send me anything like this again im just going to delete it, but i wanted to at least try and talk some sense into you first.
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theartisticcrow · 2 months
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I don't make my own posts often, but I feel like I need to write this down for myself. I don't know what to say my gender is. I, for the past few years, have found myself comfortable going by any pronouns because my gender doesn't really concern me much and it feels nice when people sometimes refer to me as they or he. I'm generally just quite chill with how people refer to me.
But something I also realised about myself while learning more about the different sexualities and idk, queerness in general, is that growing up as a child, it felt strange to refer to myself as a girl and sometimes I thought I felt more boy-ish. It wasn't something that I felt all the time though, but I did feel that way a fair bit. Never mentioned it to anyone cause I thought that it was normal, but I realise now it wasn't quite what I thought.
And now, some days I'll be getting undressed to have a shower and I'll look at myself in the mirror and see myself and feel comfortable and confident about the way my body looks, but then some days it feels wrong; I can't stand looking at the shape of my body for too long. Some days I feel like embracing the way I look, no problem wearing some feminine things, because I look good in that fashion, but sometimes I have this need to put on my tightest sports bra and wear clothing more masculine (though just as stylish). Sometimes I'd like to wear a bit of dark makeup, sometimes I'd rather rub dirt on my face; Sometimes I wear my hair messy going just past my shoulders, sometimes I tie it back to make it look shorter; Sometimes I wear slightly tighter fitting clothes that outline my body and make me feel a bit sexy, sometimes I wear long jackets that hide my hips and sometimes it's a mix of all these things.
And I'm really beginning to wonder just what am I? Who am I? Does it really matter? Do I have to put a label to it? I don't know, but these past few months I've really wondered about it. "Maybe I'm trans?" "Am I agender? Or perhaps nonbinary?" "I might be genderfluid..." I know I don't have to put any label to it, I know it wouldn't change much, I know I'm only a teenager and I still have PLENTY of time to figure it out... But I do still wonder.
Maybe I am genderfluid. That's what I'm thinking right now. It seems to fit. Is there any point to this post? Not really, but sometimes writing out my thoughts helps to figure stuff out, and who the hell knows. Maybe some other person will find this helpful. It's a tricky thing sometimes, figuring out how to define yourself, but I know who I am regardless of any labels. I'm wicked, sharp, stylish and sarcastic and nobody, not a single person, can tell me who I am other than myself.
For anyone else struggling with similar problems in figuring out their identity, just know that whoever you are, you are loved an appreciated. Never stop being yourself.
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batbeato · 2 months
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Started going off about Sayo's gender AGAIN to my partner and they stopped me midway through to tell me to tumblr again. "sounds very tumblrish go on tumblr". Okay then. Yes I'm going to start every post like this I'm salty about it
Anyway. I was looking around places to see other people's thoughts on Sayo's gender identity and saw some takes that had me. Well. Taken aback.
Generally just this idea that Kanon is, without doubts or room for other interpretations, Sayo's expression of self-hatred, gender dysphoria, de-transitioning, etc. He is only a sign of Sayo's gender dysphoria regarding their transition to femininity and not so much a sign of anything else.
...If you saw my previous post, you know that I heavily disagree about Sayo's gender being canonically confirmed to be this or that identity, and that I believe there is room for trans woman headcanons, various nonbinary headcanons, genderfluid headcanons, and so on.
Back to Kanon. Gender dysphoria. Well. (For the record, I headcanon Sayo as genderfluid, so I may be biased.)
Kanon has this general thing where he is the outlet for much of Sayo's negative emotions. Because Beatrice is a witch, and thus not a part of the Rokkenjima dynamics, Beatrice cannot directly voice Sayo's frustrations with their life. Beatrice is a witch who has everything she could possibly want with magic (except Battler, whose return she is patiently awaiting). Therefore, Beatrice cannot be the one to voice Shannon's mundane troubles - the other servants bothering her, her bosses mistreating her, etc. She can play pranks on them, but she cannot be rude to her coworkers or bosses for Shannon, or be more personal. This is part of why Kanon was created - Shannon cannot be negative because she is meant to be bright and positive and adhere to patriarchal standards of how good, feminine women must be.
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This line from episode 2 summarizes how Kanon is Sayo's persona that can truly express the 'filthy' and human feelings they have.
Kanon was also created to ease Shannon's loneliness - to pretend that they had an ally always by their side - and to experiment with their gender expression. If their body wasn't able to fulfill the expectations they had of it (periods, breasts, hips - the expected puberty for a woman), then perhaps they could fulfill a different set of expectations.
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(...I have some issues with Confession - primarily centralizing Shannon as Sayo's main/real self, which is very often contradicted by the rest of the series - but this series of panels sums Kanon's role up well.)
I think Kanon's role - the boy who expresses discomfort that the girls cannot express - is part of why he is so often seen as a personification of dysphoria and self hatred. I believe you can interpret Kanon as such, but I also believe that it is a matter of interpretation, rather than a very clear-cut canon-indicated matter.
In many cases, Sayo's dysphoria seems to be far less about their lack of womanhood in particular, and far more about compulsory dyadism (“the instituted cultural mandate that people cannot undermine the sex dyad by possessing intersex traits”, according to Dr. Celeste Orr).
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...Sorry for the image spam. But this small collection should show what I mean: saying that they aren't "capable of love" because of their body, and agonizing over not being able to have children. Beyond that, both Shannon and Kanon are mocked by Beatrice for not meeting masculine or feminine standards (their status as furniture).
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Beyond that, Kanon's portrayal in many areas seems to suggest that he is on equal footing with Shannon and Beatrice: for example, being pitted against Shannon on equal footing in the Episode 6 duel, and the important part he plays later on in teaching Chick Beatrice how to become Beatrice once more. Chick Beatrice is only able to regain her true self by coming to understand the other sides of herself, including Kanon.
I didn't write all of this to try to disprove Sayo as a trans woman who primarily experiences gender dysphoria through Kanon theory, but mostly to show how it's not so heavily implied through text that it can be considered canon, haha.
...You might have noticed that I take people describing their headcanons as canon, thus implicitly denying others' interpretations, to be very, very... irritating.
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kanamori-kamper-moved · 8 months
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Astral for the headcanon thing perhaps?🫶
astral!!!
Astral is genderless! I bounce between agender and nonbinary with him a lot, but I’m unsure. Astralites just don’t have genders in general, but he’s fine with he/him
Astral is also Demi, all he craves is to get to know you and then he’ll be in love. I couldn’t possibly see him having a fixed preference on any gender because he doesn’t care/know the difference between boys and girls and all that (Yuma had to teach him!)
Stole this from a friend but Astral is SO fucking afraid of cats. Hates the way they meow and gets uncomfortable really cutely. He’s scared of Cathy as well
”Yuma I don’t like her. Can we please go.” “?? It’s just Cathy!! She’s harmless :(“ “I HATE CATS YUMA I HATE THEM”
Hes also very afraid of Vetrix as well. He doesn’t like it when anyone besides Yuma is aware of his existence. Vetrix Just gives him this cat eyed stare with the biggest smile, asking him if he wants to have tea and Astrals freaking the FUCK out. He just wants to be nice!!!
Likes to eat things that aren’t food. Eats peices of the drywall and paint and baby powder (I might be projecting a little
Astral likes to touch Yuma in his sleep, not in like a sexual way (of course) but he just. Likes the way his skin feels
If you take a bite out of astral he’d taste like pop rocks, blueberry jello, and candy floss!!!
Astral likes to watch TV a lot. Just has it on while Yuma sleeps. He’s confused about all that romantic stuff but he saw a kiss in a movie once and gave Yuma a big kiss on the lips!
”WHAT WAS THAT FOR???” “In the movie they said you should give a kiss to the person you care about the most..”
If he had a fursona It would probably be a ferret. Maybe
Yuma taught him cuss words. He says fuck sometimes
I flip flop between lots of different ships but him, Trey, Shark, and Yuma are poly. Amazing
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Thoughts on gender locked magic. Specifically the concepts of Witches. Discussion of gender essentialism and transphobia.
Ok this is a pretty common thing to run into in fiction. The idea that “Only women can become witches.”
But I have always wondered, but Why though? What is the reason only women get access to magic? What about their soul makes that a thing and why is that gender locked to woman as a gender specifically?
These fictional worlds with such a magic system always come with gender essentialism to me. They were not structured to include trans people. More likely because we weren’t a thought to the author.
Would a trans girl suddenly be able to do magic when she realizes? Would she always have had magic? Likewise, would a trans boy suddenly lose the ability to do magic? Did he never have any? People’s individual transitions are so unique, how would that effect their access to magic and how would that not be exclusionary? What about nonbinary people? What are genderfluid people who are women sometimes going to do? It all gets very complicated the moment you consider trans people and anyone whose gender is not binary.
It just strikes me as gender essentialism to say that only one gender has access to magic. I can never understand what in particular makes a character “worthy” of magic because of their gender, If we are going to look at gender with less binary expectations, then gender locking magic kinda goes against that goal.
Why has this cosmic magic or being that gives magic chosen “being a woman” as their qualifications?
If it’s about the oppression of misogyny, there are trans men and nonbinary people who experience that as well with no choice in the matter of how other people misgender us.
If it’s about a specific kind of physical body or genital, then there is no way to make that not exclusionary. If it’s about the trauma that young girls go through (Example: Madoka magica’s answer to this, where that trauma creates Energy to stop the heat death of the universe.) then that *still* becomes trans exclusionary, because there are people whose childhoods may have looked like that of young girls to society but were not, and were still traumatic in extremely similar, or the same ways. (right now i’m talking specifically about trans men and women who came out after adulthood and didn’t 100% know they were trans as kids. Madoka’s system also has no room for nonbinary people. )
The gender essentialist concept of "women are Closer to Nature and More Primal and have Secret Knowledge" also plays into this, and on top of that being something I don’t believe. I don’t think it’s smart to treat any gender as somehow secretly better than another.
Talking a bit more personally here, I did struggle to come out, and one reason because of people, who called themselves progressive feminists(in actuality this was a mindset from radfems), who treated the possibility of me being a boy as some kind of threat or loss. I’m definitely feminist, I want to make that clear. But I don’t stand for any kind of system that treats one gender as better or treats you as some kind of traitor because you didn’t turn out to be a woman.
I think that is the heart of the issue of why gender locked magic hits a sore spot.
The frustration that the experiences I have had, being treated like facets of womanhood. I know I and people like me don’t fit in magic systems like these, that there just isn’t a place there. So that part is alienating all on it’s own. I don’t have fond feelings for this trope. On top of all this, Trans men just aren’t considered in most media. There’s a sense of invisibility to finding representation. That isn’t just what I’ve noticed. Glaad has some stats laid out.
I feel like i’d be more interested in a world with this kind of magic if the point was about breaking and challenging this exclusionary magic system. Or perhaps, centering a transmasc perspective about losing magic because the system is exclusionary and how truly fucked up of an experience that must be in a society that places your value in magic.
Even in the few cases where a magic system is trans affirming to trans woman, trans men don’t seem to exist in the creator’s eyes. I am not going to name where this came from, but it did frustrate me that in a specific world that called itself queer friendly, cis and trans women and nonbinary people could become witches, but trans men got basically nothing. Didn’t seem to exist. A huge flaw in a world I really wanted to like and now just can not engage in without being reminded that people like me don’t belong. I get enough of that in real life.
My personal feeling is “fuck exclusionary magic!” like anyone in these fictional worlds should have the ability to become a witch. It shouldn’t be locked to a nebulous gendered expectation. (It shouldn’t just extend to magic too. Gender locked hair styles and clothing and pitches of voices in games also fall into gender essentialism. “You can’t be X if you look like Y.” Is exclusionary and transphobic, just on it’s own.)
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indecisiveenby · 8 months
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~~Rant~~
I hate the argument about how queer is a slur and an off-limits word/label. because like it's the only label I've found that really truly resonates with me. I'd been trying to find something that fit right for about three years when I started using queer.
first I was bisexual, bc I was very new to queerness, in the sense that I knew about binary trans people, gay men, and lesbians, and that was like it. and my close friend had just come out to me as bi, and I was like "holy shit, there's a word for being into both genders? that's allowed??" something deep in my being snapped, and it was like I could see the world correctly for the first time. bc this was how I had felt my whole life. I was crushing on girls and either suppressing it or mistaking it for a platonic love. and I was making up extra crushes on boys, to overcompensate.
so then I dove deep into queer culture and learned about all these orientations, but also found out about the gender spectrum and fluidity. so here was this huge gender thing crashing down on me with the realization that "wait, I can be feminine, but I don't have to be a girl? and I can embrace my masculinity without being a boy?" and I was a little in denial for a bit and said I was gender fluid bc I think I was too nervous to admit that large of a change to myself, that I wasn't what I had thought I'd been my whole life, so I decided to just pretend I was a little bit that. (THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT ACTUAL GENDERFLUID PEOPLE ARE IN DENIAL ABOUT THEIR GENDER. THIS IS JUST WHAT I DID. ILY GENDERFLUID PEOPLE, YOU'RE COMPLETELY VALID <3)
and this gender thing took for-fucking-ever to figure out, but I'm settled on transmasc nonbinary. so where did that leave me for orientation? I kept thinking things like "maybe I'm a lesbian. idk if I like guys all that much," or "well actually idk if I like girls," or "what if I don't like anyone. I think I'm aroace." and eventually I said omnisexual/romantic, but I was still thinking these things.
because here's my deal: if I find myself attracted to a girl, I'm like "this is a gay ass feeling." and if I find myself attracted to a boy, I'm like "feeling real fruity rn." and any other gender, I just feel gay if I am attracted to someone. never do I look at someone and think "wow I wanna spend so fucking much non platonic time with you in a fully heterosexual manner."
at the same time, I often think about all those crushes I made up, and the way that I go so so long without having a crush and how I am content with not having a romantic relationship and how my past romantic partners never clicked right. and I think "perhaps I really am arospec."
and I think of how I've never been sexually attracted to someone, with like two exceptions ever, and those two people were people I knew very well. and how the idea of having sex seems like something I could participate in, but only probably for someone else's sake, not something I'd initiate. I think of how sometimes I feel like I never ever want to have sex ever bc I just don't want someone to touch me like that, or to touch someone else like that. I think of how sometimes I actually am really into the idea of sex, hypothetically. and I think "is there a spot on the ace spectrum for that?"
and so I look at all of this and I am faced with the question: "how the hell do you put all of that under a label?"
there are two answers here; 1. I don't, and I go unlabeled. I hate this answer. my autism loves to sort and label things. (of course there's an exception for other people. if someone else is unlabeled I'm not gonna say "actually you're this." this only applies to myself and my own things) 2.
Queer !!!
queer is the only label that can encompass all of that, for me. obviously, I could use a bunch of microlabels, and I love microlabels, really, I just would probably lose track of everything quickly.
so yeah, I have a huge fucking issue with people saying that I am not allowed to use the only label that's ever felt like a home to me, the only label that's ever fully covered everything that I am and everything that I feel.
if you don't want to be called queer, good, I won't call you that. but I will not stop calling myself queer. if you have a problem with that, then like actually fuck you
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accessible-tumbling · 8 months
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At source, the thread continues:
I follow/am followed by a lot of trans or trans-adjacent folks, but I have no idea how many people who follow me don't really know any trans people, and who, on seeing the rising hysteria about trans people, feel that maybe there really is something to worry about.
Maybe they feel no hostility to trans people, but have been led to believe that there are 'reasonable concerns' to be addressed, or that they are 'just asking questions'. At least one of my followers follows Cambridge Radical Feminists network, an openly trans-hostile group.
So if you're trans, or an ally, CW for transphobia and sadness here, maybe don't read this. But if you are feeling a bit 'on the fence' I'm begging you, listen to those of us telling you things are really bad here, and getting worse.
Neither my niece or my nephew were brought up with 'traditional gender roles'. My husband is the virtuoso cook in our household, and we have loads of pictures of both 'nephews' cooking with him. My niece wore her hair long, because she liked it long, and hated haircuts.
Her favourite colour is purple, so it featured a lot in her wardrobe, but I think because no fixed ideas of what it meant to 'be a boy' were imposed on her or her self-expression, gender was just a shrug to her. Until puberty hit, and suddenly she was very uncomfortable.
She was a bit grouchy and withdrawn, and began to act out at school. Not surprising for a kid in their early teens to be moody and challenging, not the stuff of newspaper headlines. We just took it in stride. Then a few months later it all came together - she was a girl.
We swapped pronouns, and once she decided on a new name, adopted that (it's a lovely choice!). My happy, goofy, animated little weirdo came back out of her shell. Her school friends are wonderful and supportive (we had a 'Gender Repeal' party where they brought hand made cards!
But getting healthcare, counselling and support for her was another story. Obviously we all had questions around whether this was a phase, or perhaps a stepping stone to something else - nonbinary identity, or just life as a boy who was quite gender-nonconforming.
These aren't things we are qualified to help her work through! Also, if in time and with a good counsellor it is established with certainty that yes, she is a trans girl, then we want her to have a therapist to help her with her feelings around that.
It's not an easy path through life, and it would be reasonable to have some anger, some 'why me' feelings, or some fears about that. We really want her to have that support.
We also wanted to have puberty blockers for her. She had expressed a desire for them, and it would buy her some time to think about what she wants from her future and her body without the pressure of a body that is changing in ways that are deeply distressing to her.
Since the Tavistock closed, there is no Gender Identity service on the NHS to refer her into. The new system is expected to open with a three year wait list. Her friends won't get their first appt until they are around 17 or 18.
We got her blockers privately. It's challenging because not all GPs will agree to share care with private services, so you're always hopping between two systems. It's not cheap either. Just over £100 a month. Not a lot of families have that going spare right now.
She had a fantastic youth club for LGBT+ kids that has been such a fantastic source of support. Their windows have been smashed more than once. Newspapers regularly talk about the threat trans women pose to us. There was even a debate about it in Parliament. It's hostile here.
At the beginning of the year, when Gary Lineker was being hauled over the coals for suggesting our government's narrative around targets of hatred was akin to 1930s Germany, the kids' parents offered them to move to Canada. Their dad texted us to say they seemed keen.
Canada has a better healthcare system for trans people, and there, my niece can change her gender officially with a minor bit of paperwork. Nowhere right now is perfect, but it's better.
So today, my niece and nephew left their home, their friends, their school, and most of their family to seek a better life away from the UK, which has become intolerably hostile.
I'm relieved. Canada is lovely. Travel broadens the mind. They are charismatic, kind, engaging kids. They will make new friends.
But we won't get their formative teenage years back, with them living ten minutes' cycle away. They won't get homework on my couch after school.
They won't get time with their dad or their grandparents, except for holidays. They won't play frisbee with their uncle, or go kayaking with me after school. We will be half a world away, hoping for the best.
This is the cost of the rising tide of transphobia. Lineker was right. Having a chunk of your family uproot for their safety and wellbeing while being victimised by your government probably does feel reminiscent of 1930s Germany.
I encourage you to scratch a little deeper at the 'just asking questions' brigade, at JK Rowling's desire to just 'protect women and girls'. That protection doesn't extend to my niece. The questions about her personhood left her without counselling, support or healthcare.
And one day, when she is not a trans child but a trans woman, I don't want her living somewhere that her identity is constantly sharing space with 'just asking questions about rapists', 'dangerous men in dresses', or discourse around whether she is allowed to pee outside her home.
The anti-trans brigade shares space, and a great deal of its ideals with fascism. Nazis attend their rallies. They quote Hitler. The policing of identity, the reinforcement of gender norms, the intense focus on fertility - all straight out of the fash playbook.
And those pressing for the marginalisation of a minority, squeezing them out of public life, pillorying them in the press, ruining their public standing - they don't stop there. Other targets for hate *will* emerge, if left unchecked.
One of the most famous images of Nazi book burning is from the looting of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexology, which was leading research in trans and gay identities/sexualities at the time.
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And fascist powers don't start with laws that say things like 'kill all the Jews'. They are worded as positives. The first anti-Jewish law was 'Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service' barring Jewish and 'politically unreliable' people from service.
(You can read more about anti-Jewish legislation here)
So when you see things framed as 'protecting women and girls' and 'defending women's sex-based rights' (surely things *no one* reasonable can disagree with!) ask yourself protect *from who* and *at whose expense*.
As we are left behind in a nation that is increasingly demonising foreigners and turning on its own, I am left with the thought experiment we were all given at school, 'What would *you* have done if you had lived in that place, at that time?'
Now is the place and the time.
Please, do something.
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animentality · 1 year
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I was going to unfollow after disagreeing with your opinions on Steven Universe
But your philosophical discussion on how mpreg and omegaverse are the collage girls and milfs of fandom?
That's content I just can't turn down.
Listen, I was around for when mpreg was hot.
Everyone used it as an example of how deranged the internet was. Now omegaverse is the new thing, and people don't really use mpreg anymore.
And you see way less negative reactions to omegaverse vs mpreg. Possibly because mpreg was this infamous creature of the early 2000s, which lurked on fanfiction dot net and other fan sites, this taboo little beast that people only brought up to laugh at.
But omegaverse is classier. It's evolved and matured.
It's no longer the screaming spring break college girl, but the older and wiser mommy who knows what she wants and isn't ashamed of it anymore.
She's a CEO in a sharp pants suit and 6 inch heels and glasses and a scarf that costs 40,000 usd.
I also propose the idea that omegaverse is more trans inclusive than mpreg, because it has a more nuanced understanding of how gender operates in this fanfictional word.
Back in the old days, mpreg was like...men shit babies out their asses.
Not many people really knew what else they could do.
They still wanted the gay sex but didn't understand exactly what they were craving.
I have always felt that "yaoi" and "bl" and m x m pairings all arose from this longing for connection.
See, in the 2000s, whether you watched Naruto or supernatural, you just noticed how female characters were just these... non people.
They were love interests. They were sexy and didn't do much, except get killed off for drama, or they were dutiful lovers, waiting for the main character to finish the plot.
Women gravitated towards gay pairings because first off, many of them are attracted to men, so two guys getting it on had this irresistible sexual draw for them. But also, these two male characters just had this genuine feeling of affection for each other.
They were well written and nuanced and had genuine connections. Women responded to that.
Where there was no compelling canon het relationship, women decided there would be a compelling, almost canon homo relationship.
So that's where boy x boy found a home.
In the hearts of women who wanted romance outside of romance novels, but didn't get compelling heterosexual ones in other media.
But mpreg was a weirder thing, where perhaps you want to impregnate this character...but he's male.
But you don't know how to do that exactly. So you go to this fictional thing...where men shit babies.
But omegaverse is better.
Omegaverse will do you one better.
It'll propose that we can acknowledge...that women can have dicks. Men can have vaginas.
Men and women can have both.
Omegaverse like...transitioned from mpreg!!!
It became gender fluid and gender inclusive.
I have always felt also that saying yaoi is just a straight woman's plaything to be wildly shallow and dismissive.
You know how many nonbinary and trans people who are afab realized they were not women through yaoi???
A thousand million trillion hundred.
Omegaverse is cool to me, ok.
Mpreg was alright, but it was sort of strange just so far as, you don't need to recreate a whole organ when you can just say, yeah. He's a man and he has a vagina.
So what.
Maybe he still has a dick. Maybe he doesn't.
But that's the beautiful thing.
He doesn't need either. He can have both.
A female character can have a big old dick too.
Gender is just...it doesn't matter.
You can prefer anal sex between two characters with penises, or you can prefer vaginal sex between a trans character and a cis one.
You can have two penises, if you want. Three. Four.
Spiked penises.
Doesn't matter.
Omegaverse to me was just like...the next step in fandom evolution.
It brought with it a whole other gendered system that I find interesting.
And fascinating from an anthropological standpoint.
I am pro omegaverse.
Not necessarily what I wank to, but...I like it better than mpreg.
I think it took the best of mpreg and tossed out the problematic side of it.
I think...the kids are alright.
And the girlies are wellfed.
Also on the Steven universe thing...I fully admit, my brain was sort intoxicated by a lily orchard video and another video by some guy.
I've been re watching it and I think I was too harsh.
In retrospect, I still think the pink diamond reveal wasn't well thought out and was an easy cop out...but I still like the series in general.
The music and the visuals and the world itself are fun. It also did way more for gay rep than its haters will admit.
So I admit my brain was seeped in toxic fumes.
But anyway.
Omegaverse.
Good thing.
Classier.
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pocketsizedowls · 1 year
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One of the most important characteristics of Mizuki Akiyama is her love of cute things.
Unlike many teenage girls who, by her age, may feel embarrassed about their passion for the color pink or kawaii culture, she thrives as a "girly girl," a teenage representative of the latest fashion trends and make-up products. She is cheerful and artistic, sensitive and kind. If we lived in a world where gender roles and binaries are less rigid, perhaps she wouldn't struggle so much under the glare of society's hefty expectations. I think of her all the time because I know her story well.
Mizuki is just like my brother, who used to sneak into my closet as a young boy to try on my church dresses. My brother, who shed hot tears when my father forced him to cut off his long hair. My brother, who went off to college and at long last, started wearing make-up to school and dancing in a cheer team full of girls who claimed him as one of their own. He has never been this happy, and I am grateful for his happiness and for his femininity, because my mother loves buying me dresses I'll never wear and make-up I'll never use. If I give them to him, I used to tell myself, I'll do a good deed. And, most importantly, I'll no longer have to worry about being a "good enough woman," both for my mother and for society at large.
According to American theorist Judith Butler, gender is a performance. To put it simply, gender is a book of rules, a game of chess, and all people should think twice about their gender and the hoops they jump through to fulfill those roles before they claim to be, for a lack of a better word, gendered the way they were assigned to be. As a glum teenager, I watched girls around me blossom into women, and while I identified with some aspects of girlhood (i.e. crying over a boy, trading secrets at the playground, and braiding each other's hair), I never aspired towards womanhood. Or femininity, really. It wasn't until I got older, after years of settling into a nonbinary lesbian identity, that I finally picked up a foundation brush and put on a skirt. Because by then, those things are just cute and beautiful to me, instead of womanly and intimidating.
I wish I could shout this from the rooftop. That I am free, and so many people should be, too.
Mizuki is just Mizuki, because gender is a friend to meet and a thing to love instead of an obligation to fulfill or a monster to defeat. Much like Tsukasa Tenma, who shines on a stage and carries that spark with him everywhere, gender is supposed to be euphoric. It's Mizuki, when she finishes sewing a new dress. It's my brother, when he puts on heels that actually accommodate his shoe size. It's me, when people call me "they" instead of "she," a "lovely person" instead of an "anxious girl."
I don't exactly know how Mizuki identifies or what her true pronouns are, but what I do know is that she is allowed to take her time. She is young, she is loved, and she is not a freak. If you are trans or nonbinary or anywhere under the umbrella, you are also not a freak. You can also take your time, then stomp your feet like a toddler when the world angers you because transphobic people are everywhere, and America seems especially fond of passing anti-trans registrations these days. Which goes to show, perhaps, that you are a miracle. And despite how lonely being a trans person can be, you're survival gives everyone else in the community hope and strength to keep going.
For some trans anger, I recommend you listen to Teniwoha's Villain, sung by Mizuki and Mafuyu. The lyrics are truly awesome.
For some trans hope, I recommend Toa's ID Smile, sung by all the N25 girls. The background of the 3D MV is so beautiful and relevant.
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Heres some character info-sheets for my mlb rewrite. The main five obv, but I'll get to other characters maybe later if and when I feel like it... also this was an excuse to draw them n o t dying or something so uh- yar.
Some additional info about each:
Marinette- Marinette's mom tried to teach Marinette chinese but started out a little too late in Mari's child-language development and never really succeeded. At most, Marinette can introduce herself. She does not yet have any crushes in my fic at the moment, but the first one (sorta already is) will be Luka for a while once he gets more "screen time". She's less "UwU quirky i'm so clumsy" like she is in the show. In fact, she doesn't go and do stupid things without repercussions at all. She is less focused on boys and more on her superhero life, but it starts getting overwhelming. She feels like if she tried to focus on herself for a change, something bad would happen as a result, and it doesn't help that Tikki is so strict on her about it.
Adrien- Adrien is pomosexual which basically means he doesn't know what the heck he is or what to label his feelings with so he went with that. He knows he is attracted to femininity, but is also ok with more masculine or "tom-boyish" attributes in anyone of any gender. This does lead into his crush on Kagami later on since they are nonbinary and not exactly "the most feminine" person you could meet, yet also not entirely masculine in their personality and presentation. Basically, he doesn't know what the heck his sexuality is. He knows chinese and english because of how strict his homeschooling is, and has a natural talent for picking up new languages. He doesn't really understand himself and often feels like he's broken, or a robot. Perhaps some senti-monster behavior...??????!!!!! (I'm deciding on that now shut up)
Nino- Nino is a glorious bilingual child whose parents are unknown. They probably left the face of the planet. No one has ever seen them... at least in the show... so I didn't bother giving him a family. But he's bilingual somehow!! But wait... I did give him parents?! That's right, I invented Mara Lahiffe for no reason, and we're gonna say his dad is no longer in the picture. He's very protective of his friends and would never abandon them, hence why he became so fitting for the turtle miraculous. He has a secret crush on Rena Rouge but sadly, not Alya. He likes his mysterious women I guess.
Alya- Alya is creole which is a race of people from America that spawned from the mixing of native american, Spaniard, black, and europeans. It's a lot... I know... they're best known for existing in Louisiana, and does she have family there? No! She has relatives from Cuba which is why she can speak spanish. Alya has a big family with three other sisters, and she's caught being the middle child. This has given her a lot of insecurities due to her older sister being a literal muscle boxing beast and her two little twin sister getting all the attention from the family.
Chloe- I think it's really funny that I didn't give Marinette, the main character, family trauma, but the other four.... Chloe's parents are divorced and her mother has a very judgmental attitude over Chloe. Chloe wants nothing more than to please and impress her mother who sometimes doesn't even remember her daughters name. Chloe feels like she's battling her half sister, Zoe, for their mothers attention, which is made extra hard for her by the fact that her sister and mother live all the way in New York. Chloe was as straight as a pencil, she swears. but then... she started developing feelings for a girl and everything became a mess. She's kinda in the same boat as Adrien right now, except she's more comfortable calling herself bicurious. She developed anorexia after Gabriel Agreste's company refused to accept her as a model, denying her the chance to work with Adrien and pursue her dream career.
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my-castles-crumbling · 4 months
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Hey, so it seems that everyone is coming out to you so I though why not.
I’m not entirely sure if I’m Pansexual or Bi or something else entirely and honestly it’s kinda confusing (I’m female btw). I mean I don’t rly care abt gender but I find myself attracted to females ALOT more. So yeah idk. Maybe gender does make a difference. But then I don’t like the label Bisexual because it implies that you are attracted to males and females only and not people outside of that.
And also when it comes to coming out to people I kinda feel stuck. What do I say? All of my friends know (they’re also queer) but we never really came out to each other we all just kinda were like “hey! that girl looks good” and went along being gay af. But bc we all just knew abt each other we never really talked abt sexualities and stuff.
And on top of that I’m fairly sure my parents wouldn’t be supportive and no one I know irl can relate to that bc all of my friends parents are accepting.
I feel like I’m complaining over nothing. Im sorry 😫😫. But still love yah and hope you have a nice day 🫶
Hi! <3
I actually can relate to this first part SO much (as far as pan versus bi). When you say you don't care about gender, that sounds like pan to me. But then you say you have a preference, so is that still pan? I've wondered that for myself.
Here's what I have realized: Firstly, YOU are the person who decides who you are, so whatever label feels best (or none at all) is totally fine, even if it doesn't match someone else's definition. However, for me, I think it helped to think of sexual attraction as different than romantic attraction.
For example, perhaps you can find yourself sexually attracted to someone regardless of their gender. BUT, romantically, you prefer girls? To me, that would still be pan, but perhaps you are homoromantic (meaning you only enjoy romantic relationships with the same gender).
Or it could be that you could possibly see yourself both sexually attracted to someone regardless of gender and having a romantic relationship with someone regardless of gender- you just are more likely to want those things with girls. That's okay, too, and could still be considered pan! It's okay to have preferences!
To make this more simplistic, if we stick to a gender binary (which we shouldn't, obviously, but let's do it for a second for simplicity's sake)- a traditionally bisexual person is rarely attracted to boys and girls at a 50/50 split. Maybe they like girls 70 percent of the time and boys 30 percent of the time. That doesn't make them any less bisexual. So, the same holds true with pan. Maybe you mostly see yourself with girls, but also think boys are pretty cool, and nonbinary people are sometimes attractive, and agender people can sometimes be cute, etc, etc.
All of this to say, pick whatever label feels good to you (or none at all! I also frequently just say to people that I'm queer.)
As far as coming out, I think some people are under the impression that it has to be a big thing. It only has to be a big thing if you want it to be. It seems like your friends already know that you're not straight. If that's all you want to say, you don't owe them any more of an explanation or a label.
BUT if you want to come out, go ahead! Sounds like they'll be supportive, so remind yourself that they are safe for you and bring it up in a more intentional way. "Hey, I have a crush on this girl, what do you think?" or "Hey, so you know I'm not straight, right? It's cool that we all are so accepting of that stuff." I think you'll find your friends will be receptive, since they're not straight, either.
As far as your parents, that's trickier. It sounds like you still live with them, so coming out to possibly unaccepting people who have control over you can be sticky. If it were me, I would first do a bit of testing. Mention queerness in a hypothetical way or in a "I know someone who..." way. See how they react. If they react positively, you could start dropping hints. If they react negatively, consider the pros and cons to telling them. Is it worth it to come out because you would be sharing your authentic self? If yes, have a plan if things go poorly. Have a support system to talk to and to go to. If you find that it's not worth it, there's no shame in that, either.
But it's important to know you are NOT complaining over nothing. This is tough stuff and it's hard to navigate.
I'm here to talk if you need me! <3
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mceajc · 2 months
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I watched a TERF interview
I didn't want to, but I felt I had to. The video is
youtube
I left a comment on the video. It turned out about 3k words. Here it is
I'm going to write comments as I listen, so apologies in advance for poor formatting or any other issues.
@2:35 Helen Joyce - whose background is in mathematics, and not the study of gender expression - went to speak to an expert on queer and trans experience, and threw away what was written and wrote it herself because she disagreed with it. How interesting that she imposed her own viewpoint on her readers bereft of expert opinion. Gender presentation doesn't have anything to do with sex and reproduction. That's the whole point about having a different word to describe it. @3:00 "I see continua everywhere I look ... all these things is a smooth continuum - the one thing that isn't is sex". I find it very strange for a scientist - a biologist no less - to say that sex is binary given the vast number of ways that biological organisms reproduce. Perhaps this exception only exists in your mind, and not reality, perhaps?
This statement is also provably false, because of the existence of intersex people - never mind the other organisms who have stranger lifecycles.
@3:35 "Language is used as something to express your thoughts clearly" Language is malleable and ever changing - and words for people who refuse to conform to this invisible binary have existed for centuries in cultures all across the world. If you want to be clearly understood, be careful how terms are used. So far, the terms "male", "man", "woman" and "female" have yet to be defined clearly. I hope they are, because I fail to see the rationality of the statements made so far with the definitons as I understand them.
@6:00 "My hands are female" What an odd turn of phrase. I would have used the word "feminine". Anyway, this sort of phraseology is a bit disingenuous. It makes it sound like there is no overlap whatsoever between the bodies of a male and female. If I said "anyone under 1.6 metres tall is female, because the average height of a male is 1.7 metres", people would - quite rightly - look at me like a complete imbecile. Helen gets to say essentially the same thing in a slightly oblique way and ... gets away with it?
@7:00 I would agree that some people do take things to the extreme and say things like "heteronormative is a bad thing". This does not make it less bad to have heteronormativity the assumed default, or to view "nontraditional" family units as inherently less valuable - or in some cases as actively bad. Assuming things like that does make someone a prejudiced bigot, whose views are unsupported by evidence.
@9:00 I see a strange dissonance between complaining about sex and gender stereotypes while also mocking the queer groups who go against these stereotypes. To then immediately follow this with the incoherent sentence "it's worse than ... if he doesn't like rugby he's a poofter and let's bully him, it's now saying he's actually a girl." I don't think anyone is saying you should treat a child who doesn't like rugby as a girl. This is a very strange assertion to make. Are there any examples of a child being treated as a girl because they didn't like rugby? What on earth is the point being made here? You seem to be the ones trying to enforce the "pink box blue box" binary, and I am glad you see the harm in this - hardly an argument against allowing a wider variety of gender expression.
@9:44 If people learn gender identity/expression from the stereotypes, then what is your explanation for the existence of gender nonconforming (nonbinary) folk - both trans and cis? Helen then goes on to assert that sissy boys are being encouraged to identify as girls? Where is the evidence for this?
@10:15 I do wonder whether people might be even happier if they got to explore different gender expressions and roles. It would likely affirm a great many peoples' feelings that they are secure in their own gender, as well as experience what life is like for others.
@11:00 I absolutely agree that there should not be pressure to be one thing or another.
@12:19 "your sex is the best guess that a doctor had when you were born" This is factually accurate, and mistakes are made. There are many documented cases where intersex people were operated upon as a baby when a determination fell between the "accepted range" for some physical characteristic. It's not as though doctors do genetic, endocrine and hormone testing on every baby and put that into a spreadsheet which then spits out "male" or "female" - mainly because even that would be unreliable.
@12:37 "a tiny number of people". I suppose if you think a "tiny number of people" is bigger than 160 million, and that's using the very lower end of the prevalence of intersex characteristics of 0.02% of 8 billion people. There could be many hundreds of thousands in the UK alone, and we will never know unless we perform invasive genome, hormone and other tests in order to find out.
@13:00 Echo chambers are not good, on that we agree. I would urge anyone to actually speak to trans folk and get to know them, rather than dismiss their lived experience out of hand.
@15:36 From a 2021 published study across some 30 OECD countries that legalised gam marriage, the suicide rate dropped between 10 and 20%. Other studies indicate that the rate of suicide for LGBT kids can be as high as eight times higher if the child is someone "who experience high levels of rejection from their families during adolescence".
@16:05 This is disingenuous - in all likelihood a lie. Yes, being on cross-sex hormones can produce sterility. No responsible doctor has ever given cross-sex hormones to a child. Puberty blockers, on the other hand, do exactly what they say and delay the onset of puberty. This allows time for everyone involved in the process to come to a decision. Often, the option is there to have sperm or eggs stored before any potentially irreversible effects happen. NOBODY is sterilising children. If anyone has evidence of this, absolutely those doctors should be reported. I have seen no evidence of this.
I'm a little surprised that so many people are shocked and appalled by the idea of sterility. Infertility affects up to 7% of men, and many millions of women. Many men and women choose sterility. Fertility is hardly a good measure of whether someone's life is worthwhile or not.
@16:35 I am very glad that there has not been an increase in children committing suicide. People commit suicide when they are out of options and that's the last positive action they can take to end suffering. People commit suicide because they don't get the support they desperately need. So perhaps you are right, and it is a "playground fad" to act trans, or pretend to be trans, or explore different gender roles - who eventually grow up to be either secure in their assigned gender, or who transition in a loving, supporting home. I rather suspect that this will be the case when the scientific studies come in.
@17:06 "I think much more probable" - well, at least you are honest that there is no evidence supporting your assertions either.
@17:39 "no evidence that not transitioning the child would decrease that risk". Well good luck getting ethical approval for denying treatment for gender dysphoria for a control group for that scientific study! What an asinine statement being played up as a reasonable argument.
@17:54 Indeed, it is very brave to hold these viewpoints. I am reminded of Posie Parker going to New Zealand to hold an anti-trans rally, and actual Nazi's showed up to support the rally - fascist salutes and everything!
@18:44 "I was so far in I couldn't get back". Disturbing echoes of - an echo chamber? It's almost as though surrounding yourself with people who agree with you only alienates yourself from the general public further.
@2104 Again, I am baffled by arguments set forth here. All homosexual couples are infertile, but somehow this does not cause any difficulty for Helen. I also don't see the relevance of who someone is attracted to being relevant to anything, but in this I admit I probably just don't understand what's trying to be said.
@22:36 I would love to see links to these studies and any critiques. I could not find them when I went looking.
@23:32 I think many trans folk, especially in the UK, will not recognise the process from this description. There are people who wait years just for a first appointment. The waiting list. As of 2023-12-01 there is a 60 MONTH waiting list for a first appointment at the London Gender Identity Clinic. https://www.genderkit.org.uk/resources/wait-times/
@24:25 I thank Dr. Dawkins for his common decency. I have a couple of questions. 1) Could you please define what you mean by "woman", and 2) in what way would you not accept someone saying "I am a woman"? Are you so very confident that every cis woman you meet will meet the standards of your definition of "woman", and would you ask them to prove their sex to you? I am minded of a US government official having a cis girl tormented because they thought "she looked trans".
@26:22 I would also like to thank Dr. Dawkins for highlighting a very important point that often gets lost in these discussions is the sincerity. Too many gender-critical groups will make the same, tired, nonsensical posit of "what if I identify as an attack helicopter". These people are being insincere, and if not, are obviously mentally disturbed because attack helicopters are made of metal and not flesh. Sincerity matters very much, and it gets ignored by a lot of the "what if" arguments.
@26:38 "I don't think that being a woman or a man is the sort of thing you pay a price to be". Well, hooray for free healthcare! I would like to point out that to many gender critical people, being able to have children is one of the defining traits of the sexes - does Helen feel that women who pay for fertility treatments to be "not real women or mothers"? Are a couple who pay to adopt a child "not real parents"? I find this argument offensive. As a logical parallel, perhaps I could say that people who have to pay to see don't deserve the same treatment as those who were born with perfect eyesight. But that would be a crass, cruel stance to take - wouldn't it, Helen?
@27:46 What goes on in "women only spaces" that a person's genitals become relevant? I've had GPs and doctors of both sexes, and I've never seen their genitals. It's not relevant to the care they have given me. I do of course have sympathy for people who have been raped and do not want to be in the presence of someone who reminds them of the terrible actions of the past, in the same way that I don't expect someone who was mauled by a dog to put up with an over-friendly dog when they visit a friends' house - if they make the request, obviously it is common decency to make accommodations - but that is hardly the default.
@28:00 I have mentioned sincerity before, and it is relevant here too, but it doesn't need repeating. Sport. Ah, yes, where everyone should be exactly the same in order to compete. I do not know the best way to divide sport up, but we never divide things into just male and female. There are age groups, weight classes, divisions, handicaps - a thousand different ways that allow people to compete with others of a similar level. Biological sex, to me, is one of the dumbest ways to split groups up by ability and I'm sure the feminists would agree.
@29:31 This is an interesting point, but not in the way I think Helen meant it.
@30:30 I feel unutterably sad when a woman says that women wouldn't win anything in an open event. Jasmine Paris won (at least one) in elite open competition. A friend I worked with won outright a long distance running event. I am certain Simone Biles would have wiped the floor against any man. I am certain that women, given the same desire, advantages and encouragement as men, would close the gap with men significantly. I would be horrified if someone suggested that Kenyan men should be excluded from the marathon because "otherwise, non-Kenyan's would never win any marathons."
@30:50 I see Helen addresses the gymnastics issue - to an extent.
@32:28 Here is where we see ample evidence against the prohibitions Helen seems to be seeking from America.
I would ask all the parents out there: would you feel safe sending your child - who is of a sex different to yours - alone into a public toilet? Which would you rather do instead: take the child into the other toilet, or go themselves into the other toilet? The answer is easy at the moment if you are a father with a baby, since the women's toilet is more likely to have a baby changing station - but for older children? What would you do?
I am reminded of James O'Brien's point of "who checks"? If you elimiate someone from a space becasue of what their genitals are - who checks? Or will you legally require all trans folk to wear a pink triangle? Will you require people to out themselves as trans whenever they use a toilet away from home? Would you subject a whole group of people to the same "urinary leash" that women suffered under in the past? Will you make it an offence to be in certain public areas simply because of who they are, and not becaseu of what they do? These are dystopian questions to be asked. I know they are not the same, but there are echoes of apartheid, segregation - things that I would like to think are in the past and should stay there.
Many of the points made for women having separate facilities that Helen raised are applicable to all women.
Further, there are women who have been assaulted by women. Do we make separate accommodations for them? Or would you recommend they use the men's facilities?
I have all the sympathy in the world for rape victims who have traumatic flashbacks, and who feel unsafe. I wonder if Helen is aware of the number of trans people who don't go swimming because of fear? Fear of ridicule, fear of assault? Trans folk who have been assaulted? All assaults are terrible things, and we should do what we can to prevent them - but removing personal liberties from an entire group, the vast, vast majority of whom are blameless? This does not sit well with me, though how to go about dealing with the problem in a better way is a tricky question I do not have the answer to.
I've made all the points I want to about sport, but with Lia Thomas - what exactly is the argument here? Did the other swimmers feel unsafe?
@37:55 I suspect there are many trans folk - and all the other queer folk - out there who would object to the statement that the bullying all goes one way. It very much does not all go one way, and it is the focussing on trans people by mostly right wing reactionaries and media which has caused a great proportion of the ruckus. People who live and work with trans folk have a generally normal reaction to the fact they are trans - it's the people to whom a trans person is an abstract that manage to "other" them so much as to make them figures of fear and disgust. That's my view of the situation, in any case.
Trans people have existed for a long time. There are newpaper articles over a hundred years old about trans folk - and are written in a much more sympathetic way than would be the case now. Even sex-change surgery is older than knee transplants. Something has indeed changed, but I doubt it is the human beings themselves - it is some manufactured reaction that has gained traction. At least partly. There are actual issues and problems to solve, and I fully believe that solving them in a sensible way will be helpful to men, women and everyone in between.
@40:16 No argument here about the IOC being corrupt. Not a great reason to demonise sincere trans folk.
@41:55 Funny in a not funny way how Helen points out the oppressive behaviours of society toward people with non-conforming sexual attraction, and these are the same behaviours many people are displaying towards trans folk. It's LGBTQIAAP+ because it is groups of people who have been judged by society at large to be in some way "less" and so have been treated badly - thrown out the military, disowned by parents, fired from jobs, subjected to conversion practices - or otherwise fallen foul of falling outside of what is seen as "acceptable". I don't think a human being's worth should be down to what society deems "acceptable". Everyone who falls outside of "acceptable" felt the need to band together. Being gender critical feels like groups trying to pull the ladder up after themselves - it feels like we are going backwards, socially, towards some puritan thinking.
@42:54 Do tell, Helen, how gay culture works. I am all ears.
Oh, I see you leave it to the listeners imagination. I'd love to hear a survey to see what the reality is.
@43:05 I am, and always will be, a staunch supporter of "The L comes first". They are the ones who stepped up in teh AIDS crisis and donated the blood that was so desperately needed to help keep those suffering alive.
@45:30 (paraphrasing) "The people in this movement [what Helen calls the "Sex Realists"] have been through some sort fo crucible - and these can be good bad or indifferent". Helen then goes on to list some of the least reality-based groups I could think of. The only one she missed out is "Flat Earthers".
I do find it interesting that Helen and - Maya, is it? - are both economists. I wonder how many sex and reproductive biologists are in this group? Curious to see a break-down.
I am a fan of the acronym FART - Feminism Appropriating Radical Transphobe.
The dichotomy of "Intersex and trans people are a tiny minority, we shouldn't pander to their needs" and "trans and intersex folk are too numerous - they will destroy the data we use!"
It is saddening that some people see this as a battle, while trans folk just want to live their lives without fear or discrimination. If sex and gender were such natural things, we wouldn't need people like Helen to police it.
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callmearcturus · 1 year
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dumb persona 3 headcanons round up:
junpei: perhaps he was once a cishet dude but now he has his girlfriend's soul merged with his so i refuse to believe that is still the case. nonbinary or bigender or something. he's not gorl, but when people call him boy he's like "but.... that's mean to chidori....." and chidori has SO MUCH GENDER. i should write a small thing about this bc i'm obsessed with it.
yukari: lesbean. specifically, she's the type of lesbian who didn't like Other Girls a lot because her confused feelings regarding them and comphet, but once she figures it out she's immediately an Elder Gay who is here to support everyone. also she keeps her nails short. i can see her becoming more butch over time.
akihiko: i honest to god think he might be grey-ace/aro. he is so chronically fucking clueless about girls and attraction and every time he does feel something romantic either he's the smoothest motherfucker like he's got a PhD in the allo arts, or he acts like seeing his girlfriend in a maid outfit literally never occurred to him as something that could be appealing. his gender is boxer first then boy.
fuuka: she's gay, she knows she's gay, she knew she was gay at like 10, and is trying not to be too obvious about flirting with girls. always super ready to compliment the ladies. she'd be as smooth an operator as akihiko if she wasn't trying to keep it on the downlow.
mitsuru: i'm still deciding but i think lipstick bisexual who is just more comfortable dating women given the expectations of her and her position of power. but i hope she has a nice long gender exploration and returns to being a woman more confident in what that means and why she likes it.
aigis: was designed to be gorl and accepts the appellation but has done literally zero gender exploration and never will. she/they.
shinjiro: kinsey 5 bisexual and only has ever been attracted to queer girls. i am not accepting criticism or comments.
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