ostensiblyfunctional

[ostensiblyfunctional]

grey wagtail

character from The Wildercourt, the graphic novel I'm very slowly but very persistently working on

[ostensiblyfunctional]

Happy Trans Day of Visibility 2023! I love being trans – the part that makes it difficult is the transphobes.

Tell me in the replies/tags/reblogs what trans joy looks like for you. :D

Transphobes do not touch this post.

Image ID: 10-image cartoon comic featuring Joey, a boy with short hair. Image 1: Joey smiles and gesticulates to the title of the comic which reads: “Accessing gender-affirming care as a minor has allowed me to experience trans joy as a transgender adult!”. The words “trans joy” are in large block letters the color of the trans flag. Image 2: A younger Joey wearing a sweater and boxers receives his first T shot from a nurse. The text reads: “I started testosterone 5 days before my 17th birthday after spending the year jumping through a bajillion hurdles. Today, my home state is trying to criminalize my care and specifically shut down the trans specialty clinic that cared for me. Throughout all of this false ‘debate’ about best-practice medicine, I have seen no politicians, reporters, or cis allies talk about trans joy.” Image 3: A younger Joey in a hoodie stands at the stove cooking. He is happy, and there are music notes around his head. The text reads: “When I realized that I was trans years earlier, the world became lighter. I suddenly had answers for why I felt the way I did, and I knew that I wasn’t alone. I found myself humming and singing again”. Image 4: Joey is posed stretched across the frame. He’s wearing suspenders and plaid pants and throwing up a peace sign. The text reads: “I discovered my fashion sense for the first time. I had never been happy in any clothing, but realizing that I was a boy let me explore and find the clothes that made me feel great”. Image 5: Joey’s hand holds up a phone, and on the screen are thumbnails of videos of his face. The text reads: “Most trans people can tell you the day they started hormones (or another transition milestone). It’s like having a second birthday! I’ve got a digital diary recording my monthly changes from the first 2 years.” Image 6: Joey sits on the ground next to a friend, and they are both drawing in notebooks and smiling. Joey’s friend has glasses, an undercut, earrings, and facial hair. The text reads: “I have the most wonderful trans friends who enrich my life every day. I am so lucky to be part of such a loving community”. Image 7: Joey holds hands with his boyfriend, who is a taller boy with long hair in a ponytail and facial hair. The text reads: “Realizing that I was a boy made me realize that I was gay. Up until then, I just thought that I couldn’t experience attraction at all (which is also perfectly normal, by the way!). A wonderful boy and I fell in love 5 years ago, and we get to watch each other grow. Image 8: Joey is shirtless and holding a toothbrush while his boyfriend hugs him from behind. They are both smiling. The text reads: “He often reminds me of how good I look, and boy do I know it! I love my trans body. It’s perfectly me!” Image 9: Joey is shirtless and showing his chest and top surgery scars. The text reads: “Like most places, my clinic does not refer minors for surgery. But when I turned 18, I got top surgery to remove my (bountiful) breast tissue. It’s one of the best things to ever happen to me. I adore my chest. I’ve been freed.” Beside a small doodle of a cat, the text reads: “My cat sleeps on my flat chest every night”. Image 10: Joey has his arms behind his back and is addressing the reader. The text reads: “In the midst of purposeful misinformation and frankly genocidal language and laws, I’d like us to remember the joy of getting to be ourselves. Gender-affirming care not only saves but enriches lives for people of all ages. The joy of being oneself is what the Right wants to eliminate. It is imperative that we preserve and encourage the continuation of trans joy by allowing all trans people to safely thrive.” The comic is dated March 31, 2023. End ID.

[ostensiblyfunctional]

People are talking about how reading Dungeon Meshi gives them an internal monologue Senshi for eating properly I think we all need to adopt an internal monologue Chilchuck at work. Like the boat is literally sinking and he's just watching it happen because he's on his lunch break.

[ostensiblyfunctional]

Funniest (fantasy) way to find out you're trans I think. Assigned male by ancient prophecy

[ostensiblyfunctional]

I am nursing a hangover because my neighbors invited me over for a dinner last night that was actually a high school graduation party for their eldest daughter but what it actually actually was was 16 Hindu families getting drunk and having a dance party in the basement teaching me, the Lone Jew, how to do Indian dances and getting me Quite Drunk while the kids watched YouTube upstairs

[ostensiblyfunctional]

making a collection

[ostensiblyfunctional]

On the subject about parents needing to control their child's reading and invade their privacy in order to "protect" them from "inappropriate material:

Until I was in....college? At least? The vast, vast majority of the books I read were either a) assigned by my school or b) (the vast majority of my reading) provided to me by my mother.

My mom is a librarian. She filled our rooms with books, picked especially for us. She pointed out books on the shelves in our home library (separate from our bedroom shelves) that she thought we would like. She bought us books for birthdays, Christmas, and just stacks of recommendations. She once paid me $10 to read one of the Cirque Du Freak books because she said I needed "to be exposed to bad literature."

She respected my privacy in room, didn't go through my belongings. She explicitly pointed out to us that she wouldn't know if we took a particular book of the shelf, as long as we returned it, if we didn't want her to know we were reading it. She purposely brought us books that she didn't care for herself, because she thought we might find them valuable or enjoyable.

And if we wanted to read something she thought might upset or disturb us, she would explain why. She wouldn't stop us from reading it - just ask us to check in with her, to talk through it.

And so when I read something that upset or disturbed me, I would go to her. She would listen and talk through it with me.

If she said she didn't think I would like something, or that a book might disturb me, or that she thought I should wait until I was older, I listened to her.

She didn't need restrictions or control to protect me. Because she proved I could trust her.

Controlling kids is never about "protecting" them. It's just about control.

[ostensiblyfunctional]

On the subject about parents needing to control their child's reading and invade their privacy in order to "protect" them from "inappropriate material:

Until I was in....college? At least? The vast, vast majority of the books I read were either a) assigned by my school or b) (the vast majority of my reading) provided to me by my mother.

My mom is a librarian. She filled our rooms with books, picked especially for us. She pointed out books on the shelves in our home library (separate from our bedroom shelves) that she thought we would like. She bought us books for birthdays, Christmas, and just stacks of recommendations. She once paid me $10 to read one of the Cirque Du Freak books because she said I needed "to be exposed to bad literature."

She respected my privacy in room, didn't go through my belongings. She explicitly pointed out to us that she wouldn't know if we took a particular book of the shelf, as long as we returned it, if we didn't want her to know we were reading it. She purposely brought us books that she didn't care for herself, because she thought we might find them valuable or enjoyable.

And if we wanted to read something she thought might upset or disturb us, she would explain why. She wouldn't stop us from reading it - just ask us to check in with her, to talk through it.

And so when I read something that upset or disturbed me, I would go to her. She would listen and talk through it with me.

If she said she didn't think I would like something, or that a book might disturb me, or that she thought I should wait until I was older, I listened to her.

She didn't need restrictions or control to protect me. Because she proved I could trust her.

Controlling kids is never about "protecting" them. It's just about control.

[ostensiblyfunctional]

On the subject about parents needing to control their child's reading and invade their privacy in order to "protect" them from "inappropriate material:

Until I was in....college? At least? The vast, vast majority of the books I read were either a) assigned by my school or b) (the vast majority of my reading) provided to me by my mother.

My mom is a librarian. She filled our rooms with books, picked especially for us. She pointed out books on the shelves in our home library (separate from our bedroom shelves) that she thought we would like. She bought us books for birthdays, Christmas, and just stacks of recommendations. She once paid me $10 to read one of the Cirque Du Freak books because she said I needed "to be exposed to bad literature."

She respected my privacy in room, didn't go through my belongings. She explicitly pointed out to us that she wouldn't know if we took a particular book of the shelf, as long as we returned it, if we didn't want her to know we were reading it. She purposely brought us books that she didn't care for herself, because she thought we might find them valuable or enjoyable.

And if we wanted to read something she thought might upset or disturb us, she would explain why. She wouldn't stop us from reading it - just ask us to check in with her, to talk through it.

And so when I read something that upset or disturbed me, I would go to her. She would listen and talk through it with me.

If she said she didn't think I would like something, or that a book might disturb me, or that she thought I should wait until I was older, I listened to her.

She didn't need restrictions or control to protect me. Because she proved I could trust her.

Controlling kids is never about "protecting" them. It's just about control.

[ostensiblyfunctional]

Still reeling from the realization that bullet journaling was essentially created to be a disability aid and got legit fuckin gentrified

[ostensiblyfunctional]

*through gritted teeth* the world is GOOD. people are kind. Humans are NOT inherently selfish. you will make it through this year. recovery is possible. people you don't know yet will love you. You are going to do things you can't even imagine right now. You are going to read a rlly good book. You are going to eat some rlly good food. You are going to experience joy again. Things can get better. Situations can change. You can choose to be kinder. The world can change for the better.

[ostensiblyfunctional]

I have an end-of-life patient to whom I spoke today. She burst out laughing and said, "It was all such fun. I just had so much fun." I wish this for everyone. I wish that we each would meet death laughing, with little regret and even less fear.

[ostensiblyfunctional]

extremely cool that the removal of wolf protections in europe are being driven by an eu official having one of her horses killed by a wolf. literal cartoon villain shit

[ostensiblyfunctional]

the masculine feminine and frankly universal urge to become a massive fucking dragon

[ostensiblyfunctional]

Bought my uncle a burger and milkshake in exchange for letting me disrupt the holiest day of the week, NFL Sunday Football, so I could install a Pi-hole and free the household of ads...the thing abt the specific boomers I live with is they told me not to trust people on the Internet but they do not understand the algorithm or online advertising and think that Facebook has their best interests at heart. And every time I have tried to explain to them that no, blorbo from my dashboard is not selling my kidneys on the dark web but Google from your capitalism is definitely selling your web searches to every advertising company on the planet, they think I am paranoid. How could their personal friend Mark Zuckerberg want anything bad to happen to them etc. I am fighting battles I did not know existed!!!

[ostensiblyfunctional]

[ostensiblyfunctional]

On conservation and survival