This is me acknowledging that my blog is an ugly mess but I don't have energy to deal with it. Anonymous asks are off until the spam stops. she/her or they/them
reminder to everyone that pewdiepie is literally one of the reasons that the alt-rght gained in popularity. he created deeply racist content (the most famous example being his "war" with t-series which directly resulted in the wave of anti-indian hate, where he joked about causing a genocide "so you can call me hi[tler]", and the "heated gamer moment", aka saying the fucking n-word), he forced people on fiverr to make a sign saying "death to all jews" (yes, that happened, and he defended it as "edgy humor" and "i didn't think they'd actually do it"), he platformed alt-right influencers such as ben shapiro and elon musk, he sent hate mobs against journalists who criticized him (for example, the wave of hate towards the wall street journal) which resulted in the current trends of anti-intellectualism, praising yukio mishima, and normalizing so-called edgy humor. that's not even getting into everything he's done. he was directly a reason for the alt-right pipeline, and that shouldn't be forgotten. don't erase his legacy of hatred.
Think tanks explicitly founded to "abolish transgenderism" will publish a report that's like "there's no evidence that trans healthcare works if you ignore all the evidence" and be taken seriously, meanwhile actual researchers go "there's seriously NO evidence that gatekeeping helps" and get ignored
Like on the one hand there's new papers each year going "So it turns out that there's literally no fucking reason to restrict transition access based on these arbitrary criteria, and in fact, they were explicitly made up by some Danish fuck because he was personally obsessed with the idea that trans people were demons, and as it turns out the only measurable impacts of this policy are to increase risks to the patient" that have no impact on the healthcare systems they're criticizing whatsoever.
And then, on the other hand, you've got "Shockingly, this life-altering treatment that massively impacts how the patient is perceived by others in all facets of life is primarily supported by observational studies, as opposed to the enormous violations of bodily autonomy and human dignity necessary to perform a true randomized control trial. We recommend that treatment ceases immediately because you don't understand how evidence-based medicine works." And that becomes a linchpin of the politics of multiple European countries' trans healthcare politics for the next several years.
It's fucking clown world. Nobody who enabled this should be in a position of any power whatsoever.
So for those of us who are less familiar with medical studies, what exactly are cissexist institutions like this saying should be done?
Like, I keep hearing "gold standard" thrown around in anti-trans news articles when it comes to double-blind studies. As a layperson I understand it as a way of combatting the placebo effect when studying, say, the effectiveness of some specific pill. (Versus what you said about transition affecting your life so much overall that it's better measured observationally than trying to isolate it down to one specific variable)
Basically, I'm trying to understand what kinds of violations of bodily autonomy and human dignity these think tanks are suggesting we should undertake to "actually prove transgenderism" or whatever. Like, what does a blinded study even mean for HRT? Give someone a placebo for 5 years and gaslight them into thinking it's actually feminizing/masculinizing them when it's not?
Well how do you do a double-blind study, i.e. one where neither patient nor doctor knows who's getting the placebo, of a treatment that visibly changes your body, while remaining within ethical constraints?
You don't.
Not only is it impossible to actually remain unaware of who's getting placebo'd for long, recruitment would be a nightmare. You ask a bunch of trans people to sign up for a 50% chance at committing to x number of years spent not transitioning, you're going to get a lot of people saying "fuck that" and going elsewhere.
The surveillance and violations of bodily autonomy that would be needed to begin to approximate a true double-blind study on this are directly downstream from how ridiculous the idea is.
When I was in vet school I went to this one lecture that I will never forget. Various clubs would have different guest lecturers come in to talk about relevant topics and since I was in the Wildlife Disease Association club I naturally attended all the wildlife and conservation discussions. Well on this particular occasion, the speakers started off telling us they had been working on a project involving the conservation of lemurs in Madagascar. Lemurs exist only in Madagascar, and they are in real trouble; they’re considered the most endangered group of mammals on Earth. This team of veterinarians was initially assembled to address threats to lemur health and work on conservation solutions to try and save as many lemur species from extinction as possible. As they explored the most present dangers to lemurs they found that although habitat loss was the primary problem for these vulnerable animals, predation by humans was a significant cause of losses as well. The vets realized it was crucial for the hunting of lemurs by native people to stop, but of course this is not so simple a problem.
The local Malagasy people are dealing with extreme poverty and food insecurity, with nearly half of children under five years old suffering from chronic malnutrition. The local people have always subsisted on hunting wildlife for food, and as Madagascar’s wildlife population declines, the people who rely on so-called bushmeat to survive are struggling more and more. People are literally starving.
Our conservation team thought about this a lot. They had initially intended to focus efforts on education but came to understand that this is not an issue arising from a lack of knowledge. For these people it is a question of survival. It doesn’t matter how many times a foreigner tells you not to eat an animal you’ve hunted your entire life, if your child is starving you are going to do everything in your power to keep your family alive.
So the vets changed course. Rather than focus efforts on simply teaching people about lemurs, they decided to try and use veterinary medicine to reduce the underlying issue of food insecurity. They supposed that if a reliable protein source could be introduced for the people who needed it, the dependence on meat from wildlife would greatly decrease. So they got to work establishing new flocks of chickens in the most at-risk communities, and also initiated an aggressive vaccination program for Newcastle disease (an infectious illness of poultry that is of particular concern in this area). They worked with over 600 households to ensure appropriate husbandry and vaccination for every flock, and soon found these communities were being transformed by the introduction of a steady protein source. Families with a healthy flock of chickens were far less likely to hunt wild animals like lemurs, and fewer kids went hungry. Thats what we call a win-win situation.
This chicken vaccine program became just one small part of an amazing conservation outreach initiative in Madagascar that puts local people at the center of everything they do. Helping these vulnerable communities of people helps similarly vulnerable wildlife, always. If we go into a country guns-blazing with that fire for conservation in our hearts and a plan to save native animals, we simply cannot ignore the humans who live around them. Doing so is counterintuitive to creating an effective plan because whether we recognize it or not, humans and animals are inextricably linked in many ways. A true conservation success story is one that doesn’t leave needy humans in its wake, and that is why I think this particular story has stuck with me for so long.
(Source 1)
(Source 2- cool video exploring this initiative from some folks involved)
Unfortunately, I don’t have citations, but I have heard about the same phenomenon through Nat Geo Live presentations in the Amazon and Serengeti. Most individuals who are poachers or use slash-and-burn farming are doing this out of survival, not ignorance or greed. They have families to feed and children who will starve if they don’t find food or money. As OP said, fixing the human suffering fixes the conservation issue and is a win-win, while preaching conservation to starving people does nothing.
But on top of that, you know who the most ardent conservationists are once security has been achieved? The people who had once been forced to poach or slash-and-burn to survive. You know who’s great at tracking down gorilla poachers? Ex-poachers. Who’s good at understanding and advocating for people forced to do these things to survive? Ex-poachers. Who can convince others to take a chance on finding a better way to survive? Same answer.
It is win-win-win. As ecologists, conservationists, and environmentalists we must get out of our ivory towers of knowledge, stop carrying them into the field, and remember humans are part of the ecosystem too. And that sustainable change will never happen if human needs aren’t addressed.
I also love this story about the arapaima in Brazil. They increased the population of this endangered giant fish literally a hundred times over- from 3,000 to 300,000- by ending the total ban on arapaima fishing and instead creating legal fishing organizations. The fishing organization members get trained on how do population counts and determine how many fish they can take while still leaving enough for the population to grow.
The former illegal fishers are now sought-after experts, because they know how to spot the arapaima and tell juveniles apart from adults. They get to keep practicing the fishing skills that were passed down to them. The actual process of fishing is easier because they can work together and don't have to sneak around. The profits are higher because they can sell the fish openly to restaurants and to the public. The fishing organization members make sure that other people in their communities don't fish illegally. And the numbers of arapaima keep going up and up, so there's plenty to go around even as more people join the fishing organizations.
If you click all the way through to the report from the conservation org that started the fishing organizations project, there are quotes from fishing organization members:
"We built a second house and I'm putting my oldest two kids through college on the money we get from fishing."
"Nowadays you have young people walking around with pockets full of cash saying "I got 6,000 from fishing this year!" It used to be you wouldn't even get 50 reais of pocket money."
"At the first harvest after we started the fishing organization, I saw full-grown arapaima for the first time, really big ones like they're supposed to be. Before, I had only heard about how big they could get. That's when I knew that our work was paying off and we could keep moving forward."
you cannot make a post about how men put women in certain boxes without someone going "but what if i love the box? what if i've decided that it's comfortable in the box? are you gonna tell me i'm not ALLOWED to like the box? not very feminist of you to police a woman's decisions... maybe you'd be less ugly and miserable if you stopped talking about the box LMFAO #Girlboss #MyBox<3"
#and its like. 'what if ive decided its comfortable to be in the box' it is always going to be more comfortable to be in the box #they will reward you for staying in the box and punish you for trying to leave it #that doesnt mean the box is like. a good place to be — @butchfaith
Transphobia is about to be signed into law in the UK. We can fight this.
I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the Mass Lobby at Parliament on June 25th, 11am-4pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.
Last year we broke the record for an LGBT+ mass lobby of Parliament. Will you help us break it again? Join us on 25th June 2026 to demand be
The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It becomes statutory guidance in the UK by the end of June.
Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or don’t pass too well.
A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Ask your MP to:
Demand full parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and use their free vote on the EHRC Code of Practice.
Support any motions rejecting the EHRC guidance. As of June 4th, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has submitted a prayer motion - Early Day Motion 240.
Write to Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities about our concerns
Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.
I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.
It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut:
Worried about what to say?
Bring your personal worries about transphobia being signed into law, and trans friends being excluded from public spaces. You are a living person who deserves dignity. Remind your MP of that. You will also get guidance and brochures from Trans Solidarity Alliance that outlines our demands. This is mine from last year.
Money issues?
Trans Solidarity Alliance provides a travel bursary that you can sign up for via the link.
Got a refusal or no response from your MP?
Come anyway! You can request a same-day appointment with your MP through a process called greencarding. They will come and see you if they’re already in Parliament. Even if they don’t, they’re made acutely aware of your cause because you showed up in person. This is my greencard from last year.
Here is the EHRC Code of Practice in full. It's a tough read, but some highlights are:
Organisations can’t provide trans-inclusive, single-sex services, or they risk being sued for discrimination.
e.g. domestic violence support for women including trans women, men’s rugby group including trans men (12.68).
Trans people will have nowhere safe to pee.
If you’re a trans man, businesses can't allow you to pee in the men's, and you can also be ejected from women’s bathrooms if you’re perceived as a man. Vice versa for trans women. EHRC suggests a ‘third space’ bathroom, which is discriminatory and unworkable for most businesses. (13.130-133)
Sports organisations must exclude trans people from single-sex competitions (13.73).
A women’s only sports competition must exclude trans women because of their biological advantage or face potential lawsuits (13.74), but a trans man who has undergone testosterone treatment can also be excluded based on fairness rules (13.81).
Trans women are stripped of the legal definition of ‘lesbian’, and therefore no longer have legal protections if they’re discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation. (2.50, 2.92).
Here is the Good Law Project's better explanation of the EHRC Code.
I have also made a PDF printout of QR codes for the government petition, email your MP tool, and mass lobby link to pass around your communities. DM me and I'll send it to you.
Hrmph. So many of the google results for "drawing circles freehand" are just some guy plonking his hand down into the middle of a sheet of paper and spinning the paper around like he's using a set of compasses.
THAT IS NOT FREEHAND. THE HAND IS NOT MOVING FREELY. WHAT DO YOU THINK FREEHAND MEANS? That's like saying "Look, I can move my finger in a perfectly straight line!" and then running your fingertip along the edge of a table.
Also you're severely limited in the size and placement of the circle if you do it that way.
Plus, if you're using a marker, you get ugly splotchy bits where you stopped for half a second and more ink seeped out.
If you want to use your hand as a meat compass that's fine, whatever, but don't lie and call it "freehand" and don't pretend it's impressive. If you actually want to draw circles freehand you need to practice for a while.
It's actually not that hard to sketch a decent circle if you fill up a dollar store sketchbook or two with practice.
My brother’s friend went exploring in a mine shaft and found a ringtail and thought it was a “sketchy ass cat” and decided to pet it and it bit him and he had to go to the hospital for rabies shots DONT DO DRUGS KIDS
speaking of volcanology i am at my LIMIT with people thinking that yellowstone is "overdue". Its not fucking pregnant. if it ever erupts again we'll have decades if not centuries of warning. whenever theres "increased activity" there it means something vibrated a bit more or something.
and while we're on it the eruptions happening rn are also not out of the ordinary. what kilauea is doing is not a cause for alarm. volcanoes erupt all the time its a part of our planet I am losing my mind
#fun fact: yellowstone has to replace their roads fucking constantly because of how much the magma shifts!#they rise and fall like frost heaves except much more extensive and it cracks any concrete or asphalt all to hell#i only lived there for like two years and the road was repaved twice#this is why so many roads in the park are gravel. they might be annoying but at least they don't have to rip it up every summer.#anyway.#my point being that we have kind of a good eye on the yellowstone situation because that kind of fuckery happens all the time#if/when it blows we're probably going to have lots of notice#science!
something delightful about a national park actively resisting being paved at all. fuck em up girl, be free
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