schodev

22 | Hard-of-Hearing | Eng/ASL. I like history, the arts, and learning languages.

[isuggestlandback]

If you ever wondered why they call tattoos and piercings "unprofessional" and "unsophisticated"

Source: Lainey Molnar

[what-even-is-thiss]

You know as an American born in the late 90s I’ve watched my country blow up foreigners on tv supposedly in the interest of national security since I was a toddler but quite frankly we live on a natural fortress of a continent with friendly nations to our north and south and have been attacked on our own soil literally two times in the past hundred years and we have military bases on every inhabited continent on earth. It’s never made sense to do these things for “national security”. It never will make sense unless you value the shareholders of weapons companies over the lives of children. And apparently a concerning amount of people do.

[anarchistmemedistro]

[misscromwellsmonocle]

The New American Gothic (2017) by Criselda Vasquez

[gracklesong]

From Criselda Vasquez's Instagram (3 April 2026):

Donate to Help Bring My Father Home from ICE Detention, organized by Jorge V

Hi everyone, Thank you for taking the time to read this. On Tuesday, March 31,… Jorge V needs your support for Help Bring My Father Home

[mevil]

being black in any art community is such a strange feeling cause you’ll see just blatant racism being expressed in others art and you have to just casually ignore it, for your sake if anything, colorism being something that’s just fundamentally there in every artist and you deal with it cause it’s not worth it in the end to even think of it too hard let alone even mentioning it, it’s definitely something

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hello nonblack reader of this post, I think you ought to share this one so that you and your peers can actively remind yourselves 1) of how your Black peers feel when you tolerate antiblack racism in your art spaces for entertainment and 2) that we notice it, but don't believe it is secure around enough of you to bring it up 🙏🏾

[natstky]

Hot take, I am not fond of Aztec or Nahuatl being used as terminology to describe us Nahuas, Nahua cultures, or anything remotely outside of Nahuatl in terms of Nahuan languages. Language is extremely important and many should start realizing that the Mexica, Acolhua, and Tepanec are all Nahuas. They're a subethnicity, same as Tlaxcaltecs. Not all Nahuas are them, but they're all Nahua subethncities. It is annoying to refer to deities like Xipe Tired/Xipetz Tuteku as just "Aztec" deities when they were worshipped outside the Aztec empire. This only retroactively makes sense for deities that were more confined to their space like Huitzilopochtli. Nahuatl is a language, not an ethnicity and not all Nahuas, even in Mexico, speak Nahuatl. Many also speak Nawat, Nawal, Mexicano, etc. Terminology is important!

For example:

Doña Malintzin was a Nahua woman who spoke the Nawat of Tabasco.

This is factually and historically correct.

NOT:

Doña Malintzin was an Aztec woman who spoke the Aztec language.

OR

Doña Malintzin was an Aztec woman who spoke the Nahuatl language.

[loveridden1999]

i need people to start caring about trans rights all around the world, not just american. the lok sabha (parliament of india) just passed the transgender amendment bill of 2026 according to which they're removing a person's right to self determination of gender unless they're examined & approved by a medical board. it's hard enough for people here to get a gender defining surgery because of poverty and being shunned by society as is, & now they're taking away their right to exist. the medical boards are bigoted as fuck. despite protests all around the country they passed it. it is so fucking bleak out here.

[loveridden1999]

An Analysis Of The Transgender Persons Act And The 2026 Amendment Bill

Legislative changes and constitutional protections are crucial in the context of the Transgender Persons Act and the 2026 Amendment Bill. Th

read it

[creatingblackcharacters]

I'm gonna say this, and it's gonna spark a defensive reaction within some of you, but I need you to listen to me and let it sit for a moment before I explain further. It is not a personal stain against your morality.

From both my experience reading works by white writers, and my experience running this blog, I have come to the conclusion that many white writers are too used to relying on Whiteness being understood as the default experience of both your characters and your readers, and it makes you weaker writers with weaker technique overall.

[creatingblackcharacters]

One thought I find myself having often is "well, what do you do for your white characters?" I've grown to understand... Many of you don't 😅 you don't actually understand or apply character design techniques because it is Assumed™ that the reader understands- that the reader has the white gaze. It doesn't need to be Said that your character is white, and will do familiar white things. It is Assumed™ that white characters fall under the Magicking It Away rules automatically, while Black characters have to have reality applied to them first. You don't actually have to... Well, write.

The brilliant Toni Morrison explained this in an interview of hers (here's another; watch her doc!!!) that there's this assumption that one's readers are white. So when she would purposefully- and there's a difference!- write stories for the Black gaze, that certain things didn't have to be explained because we Understood, it would get frustrating for white readers. They felt left out, unappealed to, hurt.

And yet, that's standard fare- and everyone's not writing such specific stories like Toni! To be "fair", we did understand y'all. We had to. But those same techniques, both in writing and in media consumption, I believe are atrophied from white viewers ("I don't watch this because I don't relate!" Or projection of ones own identity into Black characters to be "relatable") because it's not Socially Required for you to apply them.

It's why I'm always telling y'all to study Black creations about Black people. Writing is a craft, and a craft has to be honed!! You have to practice!! I had a whole lesson on this and I feel like everyone glossed over it lmao. I promise it'll make your writing of EVERY character better overall. 🙏🏾

[grendel-menz]

Article 1 | Article 2 | Addameer

Reading through these articles by Al Jazeera and the HRW had my heart stop cold. Not only do military trials of Palestinians have a 96% conviction rate and prisons full of horrible, torturous conditions, but now there's this. Just vile. Please give the articles a read if you've the time. There's more out there as well.

If you are interested in helping a family survive and escape Gaza, please consider contributing to my friend Hamza's fundraiser, or supporting him other ways. His family has several young children, and I worry about them deeply.

[florallychaotic]

Im gonna be so real can yall actually talk about ways we can support trans women in the UK instead of giving all the attention to fucking JKR. I already know that Harry Poter sucks, I wanna know how to actually HELP people. Something something you have to love the oppressed more than you hate the oppressor

[snowonthebeachmp3]

trans actual uk - trans led and run advocacy, education and empowerment organisation

fiveforfive - collective fund for trans women and girls and transfem causes

gendered intelligence - trans led advocacy org

mermaids - supports trans youth

akt - lgbtq youth homelessness charity

loving me - domestic abuse service for trans people in england

not a phase - for trans adults

[matamatoki]

Here's some from Wales

Trans Aid Cymru - supporting trans people in wales

Queer Emporium - hub of queer businesses and events

And ones who operate in Wales but also across the UK

TIN Wadrobe - supplying clothes for trans and gnc people

G(end)er Swap - resources and events for trans style and gender expression

[severalowls]

Adding some from Scotland I have experience with and afaik take donations, some are broader but with good trans inclusion:

Scottish Trans - Trans advocacy, information and social events. Run by the Equality Network, a broader Scottish LGBTQI advocacy group.

LEAP Sports Scotland - Sports charity that advocates for queer inclusion in sports, runs trans sports groups (Trans Active) in at least Glasgow and Edinburgh that I can absolutely recommend.

LGBT Health & Wellbeing - Not trans specific but includes trans specific, trans led and trans inclusive support and social events, and supports a variety of smaller community-run subgroups.

And another couple UK-wide:

Gender Identity Research & Education Society - Trans led charity supporting research on trans matters and education/training on trans inclusion. Does consultancy for public and private sector organisations.

Trans Kids Deserve Better - Trans advocacy and activist group led by and for trans kids. They do good work.

[mesekoclan]

Ms/Ko

[stuckinapril]

Has anyone figured out what’s so viscerally wrong with this woman yet

[stuckinapril]

She’s so one dimensionally evil you guys 😭😭 how is she real

[mintedwitcher]

read this and remember it. read this and remember that she is going to use the profits of her fucking ego-stroking reboot to decimate trans rights. read this and remember that every time you pay into her IP, you are emboldening her to hurt us more.

our lives matter more than your fucking nostalgia.

trans lives matter more than your fucking nostalgia.

[calebwittebane]

the absolutely brutal backlash against BLM including all the backstabbing and scapegoating in the liberal media really did set political action and organizing in the usa so far back its so bleak

[trans-girl-nausicaa]

it was so infuriating to see the media in lockstep proclaim “the protestors are antifa terrorists” and the liberal politicians in lockstep proclaim “we’re increasing police funding. eat tear gas, fuckface.”

[anti-parent]

constantly thinking about how "abolish the police" was too radical and "defund the police" was still too radical and now we have massive urban warfare training facilities all over the country and flock cameras watching our every move. it's all so fucked

[buffalo-tracks]

"I'd support them if they weren't being violent or destroying property"

So that's why everyone just sat by when Biden treated them like domestic terrorists? What was the national reaction to Tortuguita being shot point blank trying to protect Weelaunee Forest from Cop City? First ever environmental activist to be shot by police in a protest btw.

Now they're all wondering why nobody is protesting Trump like people protested for BLM.

Because despite politicians saying they cared about black lives and police violence they still boosted & funded police the moment that they realized standing with Black lives meant sacrificing their conservative voter base.

And not only did their democrats & liberal supporters eat it up, they abandoned protesters & Black people the moment that protesters were called violent & terrorists.

[achillesinhighheels]

Michelle Kingdom’s

Curious Embroidery

[tpwrtrmnky]

I've seen "I can't take gender-affirming HRT because of an autoimmune disease" come up a few times, always like that, never specifying which disease, and a cursory search of the internet only got me a vague link between menopausal HRT and a small risk of developing one. This reeks of a classic "doctors looking for any excuse to deny transition case" situation to me, so does anyone know what the actual evidence basis for this case looks like?

[tpwrtrmnky]

Like in terms of plausibility, I definitely know that specific medications can be an allergy risk, but I find the idea of a blanket, "cannot take estrogen/testosterone ever" autoimmune reaction to be a bit suspicious, because those are already in everyone's bloodstreams always.

So without evidence to the contrary I'm inclined to assume it's doctors being obstinate and refusing to consider the wide variety of HRT options available, but I am interested cause I could be wrong!

[queeranarchism]

There are some medical conditions that can be negatively impacted by HRT, to name a few: hormone-dependent cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer, liver failure, kidney failure, heart failure, coagulation problems, polycythaemia, cardiovascular disease, gallbladder disease. These are serious conditions and introducing a new hormone into the mix can come with serious risks.

However, when these medical conditions present in cisgender people, the answer is almost never 'put them on blockers so their hormones to not make it worse' or 'get rid of their testicles or ovaries to make sure that their hormones do not make it worse'. The answer is almost always 'provide appropriate medical care and carefully monitor the impact of their hormones on the situation'. The reason is that estrogen and progesterone in cis women bodies is seen as the nonnegotiable, while in trans women bodies it's seen as optional. Same with testosterone in cisgender vs. transgender men.

Now, if as a trans person you chose to delay or not do HRT because it presents medical risks for you: ok. It is your body, it is your choice. I'm so sorry that that is a choice that you are faced with but it is your choice. You can make any decision you want. But if a doctor refuses HRT for a trans person because it's 'too risky', they are almost always acting on a double standard where hormones that are nonnegotiable for cis people are treated as optional for trans people.

[wheelie-sick]

while this is by no means a "can't" there are autoimmune diseases that are affected by sex hormones. the first one to come to mind is lupus. lupus is very heavily affected by estrogen (which is why over 90% of people with it have E-dominant endocrine systems). lupus can be a very dangerous autoimmune disease so I imagine some doctors might warn against people with more severe lupus going on E as it is known to be tied to severity of symptoms. with that said, problems with lupus can often (not always) be solved with changes in medication (there are trade offs with this as many lupus meds are very harsh on the body).

but again, not a "can't" and hasn't really been researched with HRT- they just know there's a link between E levels and symptom severity

[oilpalette]

Stare 2, 2026 by Emmanuel Daniel (Nigerian, b. 1999); Acrylic and oil on canvas, 14x12 in.

[factss]

This is a fucking PAINTING my god

[thererisesaredstar]

Bubonic Plague | Influenza | Measles | Whooping Cough | Typhoid

Excerpts from First Nations artist Ruth Cuthand's Trading series of traditionally beaded micrographs.