It's a lot healthier to go for a daily walk than to sign up for a gym membership you won't be using because you hate that kind of exercise. It's a lot healthier to eat a frozen meal than to skip a meal because you were too tired to cook something healthy. It's a lot healthier to take a quick shower than to procrastinate an elaborate routine for days. Don't aim so high that you won't be hitting anything!
Okay so I just watched a video of a boy who once identified as trans still got bottom surgery after he realized he was cis and people were so fucking rude? Like just because this cis dude has a vagina people were calling him transphobic and wishing death upon him.
So this is a reminder that when we as a community advocate for bodily autonomy and gender surgeries that means everyone regardless of gender can do whatever they want with their bodies.
If someone who is cisgender wants top/bottom surgery THEY CAN GET IT. If someone wants facial plastic surgeries that we usually find creepy like buccal fat removal or eye lifts THEY CAN GET IT. And here’s the really controversial one but if someone wants to do things that harm their body like hard drugs or diy mods THEY CAN DO IT!
Because body autonomy isn’t just “I can get bottom surgery to pass” or “I can get an abortion” it’s also all the wild stuff that makes us uncomfortable and that’s okay.
Support cis people getting bottom/top surgery. If it’s available for everyone it helps everyone who needs it. Just because they don’t specifically identify with another gender doesn’t mean they can’t desire to have a body with different sex characteristics.
So, I like to knit socks while reading, and this got me curious about what ancient Roman socks looked like. Because we don't have evidence for knitted socks in the Mediterranean before ~1000 CE (or 300 CE if you include naalbinding).
It appears that before form-fitting socks were a thing, Romans (and most of the ancient world) used rectangular footwraps. You can make these from any kind of woven fabric, not just knitting. Heck, you can even make them from animal skins, which is likely how they originated.
Footwraps have some advantages over modern socks: They last longer, since you can alternate how you wrap the cloth to reduce the risk of getting holes; they also dry quicker. Plus, they're cheaper to make and can fit any size of foot. (Very convenient in a pre-industrial world where all cloth is expensive!) The downside is that if you don't wrap them correctly, the wraps can be uncomfortable or even cause blisters. Knitted socks are stretchier and more forgiving.
If you needed extra warmth, protection, or leg support, you might also use a leg wrap, or puttee. These can also be made from a long rectangle of cloth, wrapped in a spiral, and fit anyone. It's likely that these are what Augustus wore in the winter, because the Romans thought pants were Barbarian Savagery.
Nowadays, socks have replaced footwraps and leg wraps nearly everywhere...except in the Russian army, which started reissuing footwraps in 2022. Because they attacked Ukraine without making sure they had enough socks. Yeah...
What would a Roman wear over their wraps? The most common shoe was probably the sandal, which came in tons of styles depending on your region, wealth, fashion trends, and personal tastes. Sandals were worn both indoors and outdoors, with and without socks.
If you lived in the country, though, you'd probably wear carbatinae, strips of leather tied around your foot. They wore out quickly, but were easy and cheap to replace. You might also wear clogs for muddy roads and fieldwork.
If you wanted something more durable, you might buy a pair of caligae, or army sandals. These snazzy boys had hobnail-reinforced soles for better traction, and open leather straps to keep your feet cool on long marches.
Incidentally, "Caligula" means "little boot" in Latin, and was a childhood nickname given to him by his father's soldiers. Caligae were standard for legionaries, although in colder climates they later switched to closed-toe boots.
Closed-toe boots also formed the Rich Man's Shoe, the calceus. Like the caliga, it was tied above the ankle and bound with hobnails and thick leather. A calceus might be dyed or decorated depending on your social status, with patricians and senators getting fancier ones.
Calcei could get hot and uncomfortable, and you didn't want those nails messing up your pretty mosaics, so most wearers would switch to sandals indoors. Augustus was a bit of a weirdo for wearing calcei indoors anyway. On the other hand, Scipio Africanus, Mark Antony and Caligula were criticized for wearing sandals outdoors, since other rich dudes saw it as low-class and effeminate. They finally pulled the sticks out of their asses sometime around Hadrian's reign.
Also around that time: the soccus! A slip-on shoe cozier than the calceus but sturdier than the carbatina! Initially there was a lot of mocking and hand-wringing from macho guys about how effeminate comfortable footwear was, but the power of cozy was overwhelming and socci became so popular they gave us the word "sock."
What about going barefoot? Only the poorest of the poor, very unlucky slaves, and Cato the Younger did that. It wasn't a smart idea in a crowded city that still used chamber pots. But Cato looked at barefoot statues of heroes and concluded that shoes must've been invented by wimpy modern people who weren't as tough and manly as their Real Roman ancestors. (He was wrong, by the way. Bronze-age peoples quite rationally wore shoes, too.)
So there you have it. Personally, I am happy to be a wimpy modern with my decadent barbarian socks. But I gotta admit those socci sound pretty snazzy.
can everyone be normal about masculine presenting trans women. for the love of god can everyone please be fucking normal about masculine presenting trans women.
hey guys you understand that when you say women don't owe you femininity it includes trans women right. you guys know that trans women don't need to be feminine to be considered women right. right. guys. you know that right. right guys. Right Guys.
listen to me okay listen to me. trans women can be comfortable being masc. it does not mean they're not trans women. sometimes, and i know this is going to be a shock to some of you, but sometimes trans people can be trans and not look like their gender. do you hear me are you fucking processing what im saying right now
To be clear, THIS is how nights of the future should be lit
This is bat friendly street lighting, which not only looks sick as fuck but allows bats to pass through without disturbance, as they cannot see red.
orange and especially white lights deter bats and prevent them from reaching feeding grounds at nighttime. Please if you can, write to your local council and encourage red street lights!!!!
if that strikes you as naive or nonsequitur, i want you to put yourself into the shoes of a palestinian in the gaza strip, suffering untold famine and trauma at the hands of israel and the US empire, living through a genocide of everyone you've known and loved.
now imagine that the only food that you can eat is food that violates your religious dietary restrictions, sent straight from the people who are supplying the bombs and guns for you to be killed.
is that not, too, a form of ethnic cleansing? of erasure?
Israel does not even want a bird to be named after Palestine.
Israel wants to erase Palestine. Erase it off the map. Erase all mentions of Palestine. They want nothing to remain.
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