Be soft.

My sideblog is transjamesmcgraw which is where i actually live. 19/transmasc/Canadian This blog is ace inclusionist, please don't interact if you're an exclusionist.

[synthetic-ultramarine]

there is a lot of unintentional humor created by the fact that the characters in “Dracula” do not know that they are characters in “Dracula.” 

[synthetic-ultramarine]

“The people in the village are warning me about a local legend called a ‘vampire’. How quaint. When I meet Count Dracula I shall have to ask him if he knows more about this peculiar superstition.”

[highly-radioactive-nerd]

“I never drink…. Wine…”

Some guy in 1893 reading Dracula for the first time: Huh.. What a strange fellow…why doesn’t he drink wine?

Me, reading in a time where Dracula is the most instantly recognizable villain in pop culture: LOL HE SURE DONT

[weavemama]

[plannedparenthood]

Trans people deserve to be recognized, valued, and supported. Everyone deserves to live their most authentic life, free from discrimination.

[realtransfacts]

Fact #863: You deserve to have your gender respected regardless of what your body looks like.

[lameblr]

millennials have no brand loyalty because they’re poor not bc they’re disloyal

[lameblr]

survey: what brand of toilet paper do you buy and why?

me: whatever’s on sale my ass ain’t picky

[loumandliker]

the way cis ppl think abt hrt is so mind boggling like it’s just puberty 2.0 . like do they get this pressed abt cis puberty too or

[partialbirthabortion]

We really have harmed a whole generation of trans and gnc children by failing to communicate how serious a decision binding actually is, how there’s no ACTUALLY safe way to bind, how it permeneantly damages the body, how it can make top surgery more difficult in the future. I don’t think we should be keeping trans kids from binding (we let kids do all sorts of things they’re really not old enough to understand the potential consequences of) but we owe them the ability to make informed decisions at LEAST

[arty-ari]

So this is definitely an important conversation to have, but can you point me at some reading about “permanent damage”? I might just be lucky, but I had zero lasting effects from binding. I’d like to at least read up on it so I can have this conversation and be more specific than “be careful.”

[partialbirthabortion]

Of course! I can’t easily source right now but I am more than happy to provide further info when I am not at work and on mobile. Unfortunately, like a lot of trans healthcare, a lot of what we know about binding is anecdotal and word of mouth. BUT permeneant damage can include:

-Musculoskeletal damage. Binders are indiscriminate compression tools; they can’t flatten the chest without applying pressure every other anatomical structure underneath including the spine, ribs, lungs and heart. Many people who bind experience chronic back pain, shoulder pain, sharp stabbing chest pains, permeneantly decreased lung capacity, literal spine deformation, etc etc.

-A continuation of the above but the ribs are actually jointed bones. Their ability to flex is absolutely vital to their ability to withstand trauma and protect your vital organs. Imagine the damage that would be done to your elbow if your bent your arm to full flexion and then tightly bound it closed like that, for six, eight, twelve hours per day, every day, for weeks or months or years. And you don’t NEED a functioning arm to live!

-Tissue atrophy. Forcing chest tissue to lay in an unnatural way can and will change the way that tissue looks, even to risk of atrophy. Some people who bind and only moderately dislike the way their chest looks find that they HATE the way it looks after binding for a period of time. Tissue atrophy can also make top surgery more difficult in the future, and increase the risk of complications like nerve damage.

-Worsened dysphoria. Once someone starts binding and becomes accustomed to seeing themselves with a flat chest, it can be much more difficult to see yourself without one, and dysphoria that much more intolerable. You can imagine the psychological feedback loop of binding more in response.

The typical safety measures passed around about binding are harm REDUCTION measures and should not be advertised as making binding “safe.” Binding is not safe. It is a very serious health decision with long term consequences and should be treated as such. That doesn’t mean it’s the wrong decision, but it should not be considered the DEFAULT decision for chest dysphoria which is frankly how it’s currently treated.

[mikstapes]

gonna drop some links to read more:

Health impact of chest binding among transgender adults: a community-engaged, cross-sectional study Inside the Landmark, Long Overdue Study on Chest Binding  

Binding FAQ

Health Consequences of Chest Binding

[fandompariah-deactivated2021120]

@pooflyperfectprincess

[clothing-references]

Holy shit

[lgbtqplus-positivity]

This is possibly the heaviest thing I’ve ever posted here, but this is incredibly important information to know.

[bikebutch]

Struggling to keep your rolled up sleeves looking nice is gay culture

[tulasaysboo-deactivated20190411]

Struggling is gay culture

[indomitableme]

What if we simply said that we love our bodies because they allow us to experience earthly life for the short time that we sojourn on this planet? What if we said that they are beautiful because they enable us to act with love for other people?

Jillian Mercado

[queer-positive-archived]

trans + galaxy aesthetic for anon - admin percy

[dykeselfcest]

[genderqueerpositivity]

(Image description: a black square with pink text that says “Queer Liberation Not Assimilation”.)

[nprfreshair]

Howdy.

Valais Blacknose Sheep from Switzerland

Photo via redscharlach

[end0skeletal]

When you can see their faces they are very cute!

via Zoo Tierpark Berlin

[carrionthrash-deactivated201904]

Imo the question of who “belongs” at pride is really not useful, because at this point pride is a festival that’s very distant from its roots. Pride is a party, and parties are good, but actual radical organizing is what’s taking place the other 364 days of the year. It terms of who “belongs” there, that’s a matter of who actually shows up and who’s willing to put the work in.

I’d like to see less people spending their time arguing about if gay men are allowed to wear leather to what is essentially a gay street party and more people talking about how to get involved w the community in genuinely meaningful ways outside of pride. If what you’re concerned about is the co-opting of a movement you’re a part of, the best way to counteract that is to actually participate in that movement. Be a part of the on-the-ground stuff that matters, organize action within your local lgbt community to resist gentrification and police violence, volunteer your time at shelters and harm reduction clinics, advocate for easy access to HIV drugs and education, schedule gay readings groups for radical literature, fuck, start a queercore band, something.

What happens on the internet is entirely removed from the material reality of the real world, and it’s out there in the real world that people like us are dying on the street. If you’re someone with strong opinions about what the “community” should look like, actually engage with that community and work towards the goals you’re describing rather than just writing essays on tumblr and hoping other people will do the dirty work for you. They won’t.

[kabaks]

What happens on the internet is entirely removed from the material reality of the real world, and it’s out there in the real world that people like us are dying on the street.

[gattsu]

gay men who don’t acknowledge trans men as actual men

[gattsu]

lesbians who don’t acknowledge trans women as actual women

[gattsu]

transphobia in the queer community

[gattsu]

transphobia

[pro-gay]

none of this would have happened under the Babadook Presidency

[srsblog4srsposts]

“Asexuality is a useless label, why use it?”

I could stop “identifying” as asexual right now, but that wouldn’t change the material reality that I am not attracted to people of any gender and therefore, am by definition, asexual.

I could stop “labelling” my orientation right now and just say “I’m not interested in people of any gender, and never have been”, but that won’t stop straight society making condescending remarks like- “you’ll find someone eventually”, or “you’ll grow out of it” or “maybe you should get your hormones checked”.

I could say “I have no orientation” or “I’m not gay or straight”, but people would still act like I’m just trying to be trendy or different.

I could call myself “straight” or let people assume I am, but that won’t make me any more attracted to men.

Ultimately dumping the label will change nothing. I’ll still be a woman who isn’t attracted to men… and straight people will still take issue with that. But at least using it gives comfort in knowing there are people out there like me and that I have the vocabulary to describe my experiences.