slightly spicy takes
Still not a psychiatrist, but it really seems like the DSM V criteria for "gender dysphoria" actually includes all trans people seeking treatment, even if they don't experience dysphoria.
It seems like GPs or endocrinologists could have a checkbox that asks:
☑ Are you trans?
☑ Do you want medical treatment to look more like your actual gender and/or less like your assigned gender?
And that would satisfy the DSM.
How "white behavior" connects to trauma
In trauma circles, it's common to talk about threat responses. The well-known phrase "fight or flight" refers to two such responses, but there are two more that matter. The full list is Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Appease.
A threat response is an unconscious, unstoppable instinctive reaction. They occur when we feel unsafe, overly vulnerable, in danger, or otherwise severely at risk.
There is no difference to a threat response to perceived physical danger (lions/tigers/bears/heights/etc) and a perceived social danger (I'm about to look bad and lose friends/etc).
A fight response tends to be assertive, confrontational, and obviously intense. The idea is to overwhelm the threat with a show of strength. Fight responses are sometimes assumed to mean "going on offense" but most fight responses throughout nature are actually defensive.
A flight response is all about one thing: getting away. We don't even really care where we go, as long as it's not close to the threat.
A freeze response involves shutting down. Be still, be silent, be invisible... until the threat goes away on its own.
An appease response is perhaps the easiest to overlook. The basic idea is "if I make friends (or at least peace) with the source of danger, it won't hurt me."
What does all this have to do with whiteness?
These are some of the most common reactions of whiteness to, say, conversations about social justice issues:
"I'm not like that at all! How dare you call me racist/whatever!"
Leaving the room, "stepping back", storming off, or just quietly blocking and moving on.
Going silent in a meeting or group discussion. Being "so exhausted."
"No no I'm really sorry I didn't mean anything by it, please I'm just trying to learn..."
Can you recognize that these are fight, flight, freeze, and appease?
This is why it seems so easy for some of us to spot unresolved bigotry and prejudice in people.
We are inherently communal creatures. We don't have threat responses to people we truly accept.
#feditips To listen to a feed of the latest latest audio loops from fedizens participating in #looptober, just past the tag's rss feed into VLC as a Network Source with "Open Network..."
I wish someone would fix the timetable functionality in #OpenTTD so that my trams stop bunching up
Just did my civic duty and reminded my team it's #bandcampfriday today and gave them the quick situation update on the union and sale.
To clarify a few things:
- You do *not* need a ticket, and you will *not* be expected to go into the venue
- You do *not* need to be involved in the orga, and are not expected to claim that you are
- It is entirely okay if someone refuses a mask, you are not expected to press them on the matter, it's overall quantity that matters here
- For cost reasons, I expect that the handed-out masks will not be top-of-the-line (which likely isn't needed for this purpose), but if you're handing them out, I will buy you the Good Masks if needed so that you don't get exposed more
This is meant to be a low-risk and (relatively) low-effort thing; the most important part is to get enough people volunteering that there's reasonable coverage.
If you're interested but there's something that keeps you from participating, please let me know too (DM is fine!), and I'll see if I can work something out.
US pol, positive for once, actionable!
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is updating its workplace harassment guidance to include misgendering and other #trans specific harassment. Public comment on the proposal is open until Nov 1, 2023.
You can include public input here — please do, as there's already transphobic comments on this proposal.
https://www.regulations.gov/document/EEOC-2023-0005-0001
Proposed additions to the EEOC guidance include:
"Sex-based harassment includes harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, including how that identity is expressed. Examples include epithets regarding sexual orientation or gender identity; physical assault; harassment because an individual does not present in a manner that would stereotypically be associated with that person’s gender; intentional and repeated use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s gender identity (misgendering); or the denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with the individual’s gender identity."
Can someone tell me why we are still having to basically go and beg for a COVID booster dose? Like, is the demand such that you can't just let everyone who wants one have one? I really don't think it is, and isn't it better to protect anyone who wants one?
I've been cooking a theory for a while now that conservatives need to paint themselves as the underdog of the story (despite more or less greater proximity to wealth and power) because *all* of our good guys these days are underdogs. A thousand years ago, the good guys were might-makes-right kings and gods who were seen as noblev simply by being kings and gods.
Now that (most of) society has rejected obvious authoritarianism, authoritarians need to wear grey sweats and jog up the stairs to the Philadelphia Museum of Art like Rocky to demonstrate that they are 'just like you and me', because otherwise they would look a lot like most of our modern fiction's villains...
In the process of moving to @joepie91. This account will stay active for the foreseeable future! But please also follow the other one.
Technical debt collector and general hype-hater. Early 30s, non-binary, ND, poly, relationship anarchist, generally queer.
- No alt text (request) = no boost.
- Boosts OK for all boostable posts.
- DMs are open.
- Flirting welcome, but be explicit if you want something out of it!
- The devil doesn't need an advocate; no combative arguing in my mentions.
Sometimes horny on main (behind CW), very much into kink (bondage, freeuse, CNC, and other stuff), and believe it or not, very much a submissive bottom :p
My spoons are limited, so I may not always have the energy to respond to messages.
Strong views about abolishing oppression, hierarchy, agency, and self-governance - but I also trust people by default and give them room to grow, unless they give me reason not to. That all also applies to technology and how it's built.