genderkoolaid - Tumblr blog

[genderkoolaid]

its so fucking funny how the normal workday is 9-5 so like

if you need anyone to do work at your house e.g. a plumber

oops the time they want to come in is also the time you're at work

there are a bunch of minor ways that society is designed around the assumption there will be someone at your house to answer the door at all times of the day

[genderkoolaid]

“I can say that the university does not handle sexual assault allegations well,” Wren said. “I know several people that were sexually assaulted on campus by a student or by someone who was employed by the university. And they tried to report it and the university did nothing.” [...] In Brown’s case, his transgender identity may have compounded the issue, said Dr. Arial Moore, a sexual health educator and adjunct professor at UL who said she was concerned about the safety of other students. “I am concerned about the entire student body being with these people, this person,” Moore said of the accused. Further, Moore wondered whether the university’s relative silence on Brown’s death was related to his gender identity and the allegations made against faculty. “Either they’re not speaking because of the sexual assault claims or because Basil is trans,” Moore said. When Brown died, several students said the university failed to communicate properly by not sending out a notification to avoid the area, failing to properly inform professors ahead of Monday classes and eventually sending out an email many of them found to be inappropriately vague. [...] Another student, sophomore Brianna Mills, said she warned a friend not to walk by the parking garage after seeing Brown’s body. Mills said she sought on-campus counseling to process what she saw. Both Meaux and Mills said they didn’t understand why no emergency alert was sent out to students, a common procedure in which students and faculty receive notifications on their phone and via email. “I didn’t need to see that,” Meaux said. “No one who was just innocently walking from the cafeteria should have seen that.”

tw suicide, s/a

hi i wanted to submit something for the antitransmasculine violence archive. unsure if it counts but basil brown was a genderqueer disability activist recently who killed themself after being raped on campus. the school is covering it up, they're being misgendered everywhere, and it hurts. I knew them.

https://www.kadn.com/news/local/an-unspeakable-loss-ul-releases-statement-after-student-suicide-on-campus/article_4b6797c2-f5c1-11ee-bfc4-9326f10eb630.html

https://twitter.com/Georgeroyde/status/1777602502298345748?t=-7gb5o5HL3lE3UQziTG5yg&s=19

same anon that sent about basil. just found out libs of tiktok posted about them. sick to my stomach

Yes, this absolutely counts. Thank you for sending me this.

From their Instagram I can see that they were on T at some point and used to identify as trans man; if anyone can find out if they were still comfortable being grouped under the "transmasculine" umbrella by the end of their life, it would be much appreciated. I am going to put them on the list for the sake of visibility, but I want to make sure their full genderqueer identity isn't being ignored.

Basil wrote this Instagram post, apparently in reference to a trans boy who died (according to this, also by suicide) and was misgendered by the Louisiana School for Math, Science and Arts, now unfortunately too relevant in their own death:

Honor Max. Use his name, use his pronouns. Be brave enough to handle the consequences, and stand up for him. It is equal parts heartbreaking and blood boiling for you to make the choice to disrespect him, even in death. Protect trans kids.

They link a neocities website in their Instagram bio, which appears to be a product of their own creation. Its very interesting and full of art, so if you want to check it out to honor their memory, go to ocimum.neocities.org

Their name was, and is, Basil Brown.

UPDATE: According to a friend, Basil used he/they pronouns at the time of his death.

Additionally, I want to point out that one of the people Basil accused of raping them is a professor at the university they were attending. The university has only put out the vaguest nothingburger of a response (linked above) to a student's on-campus suicide & accusation of rape.

[genderkoolaid]

If a worker who isn't the owner says ANYTHING similar to "I'm not really supposed to do this but-" and then does something that helps you, under no circumstances inform the business, including through reviews. You tell them that the worker was polite, professional, the very model of customer service and why you like to go there. You do not breathe a word of the rulebreaking.

[genderkoolaid]

you know i don’t think we often talk about how difficult it actually is to suddenly realize that a belief you thought was good and moral and correct was actually really fucking toxic. how you have to look at something and go ‘oh shit, oh i fucked up. oh this is going to take probably years at minimum to deprogram from my brain because of all the little ways this shit pervaded the rest of my beliefs’

so. to all the people picking up all the pieces of a recently shattered world-view and trying to figure out what is safe to keep and what has to be thrown away and started over

to all the people having to relearn how to even listen to other people

to all the people putting in the work to do better while struggling with the guilt that comes from finding out you were the asshole

i’m proud of y’all.

it’s hard to admit being wrong and even harder to change in the aftermath. just keep doing the best you can and just know that the effort is appreciated. everyone can change. everyone can do better. keep fighting.

[genderkoolaid]

via trans.pl8s

[genderkoolaid]

Twitter LGBTs are so sanitized it’s embarrassing

[genderkoolaid]

We've had strap ons since at least 400 BC, and people still have the nerve to go on gay hook up apps and ask "how can an FTM be a top?"

[genderkoolaid]

one of the things about the cass report is that she says that trans men are choosing to transition because of pornography. like. what is that even about

got this and went ugh. now i have to go read it to figure out what the fuck this is about

so they bring up porn on page 110 to talk about violence towards women & throw this in:

“Research commentators recommend more investigation into consumption of online pornography and gender dysphoria is needed. Some researchers (Nadrowski, 2023) suggest that exploration with gender-questioning youth should include consideration of their engagement with pornographic content.”

Which like. which research commentators! I wonder!

So the paper she cites is “A new flight from womanhood? the importance of working through experiences related to exposure to pornographic content in girls affected by gender dysphoria.” A very very neutral and unbiased title for a very neutral and unbiased article about how the uptick in people assigned female being trans is because they watch Evil Addictive Sicko Porn™, as well as hypothetically experience online or offline sexual abuse, which leads them to no longer identify as female:

Possible avenues of how pornographic content may increase the shame and fear of becoming a woman include the acquisition of misogynistic sexual scripts based on false assumptions on sexuality including the normalization of the violation of females as pleasurable for them, peer influence among female friendship groups, the susceptibility of our medical systems to “mass hysteria” phenomena, easier access of adults with sexually abusive intentions to youth through social media, sexual abuse and victim blaming on females, as well as the influence of pornography on mentalization capacities.

And of course they also throw in this for flavor:

"Girls affected by autism might be at higher risk because of their reduced mentalization capacities."

So it's just TERFism 101, right down to the sex negativity and ableism. All the trans guys and enbies are just pornsick sexually abused hysterical girls who are too stupid to know themselves!

[genderkoolaid]

Trans men face deep isolation in Pakistan. The country, with a conservative Muslim majority, has entrenched beliefs on gender and sexuality, so trans people are often considered outcasts. But trans women have a degree of toleration because of cultural traditions. Trans women in public office, on news programs, in TV shows and films, even on the catwalk, have raised awareness about a marginalized and misunderstood community. The Pakistani movie and Oscar contender “Joyland” caused an uproar last year for its depiction of a relationship between a married man and a trans woman, but it also shone a spotlight on the country’s transgender community. Trans men, however, remain largely invisible, with little mobilization, support or resources. Trans women have growing activist networks — but, according to Aman and others, they rarely incorporate or deal with trans men and their difficulties. “It’s the worst,” said Aman. “We are already disowned by our families and blood relatives, then the people we think are our people also exclude us.” Trans women have been able to carve out their space in the culture because of the historic tradition of “khawaja sira,” originally a term for male eunuchs working in South Asia’s Mughal empire hundreds of years ago. Today, the term is generally associated with people who were born male and identify as female. Khawaja sira culture also has a traditional support system of “gurus,” prominent figures who lead others. But there is no space within the term or the culture surrounding it for people who were born female and identify as male. “Every khawaja sira is transgender, but not all transgenders are khawaja sira,” said Mani, a representative for the trans male community in Pakistan. “People have been aware of the khawaja sira community for a long time, but not of trans men.” He set up a nonprofit group in 2018 because he saw nothing being done for trans men, their well-being or mental health. Trans people have seen some progress in protecting their rights. Supreme Court rulings allow them to self-identify as a third gender, neither male nor female, and have underscored they have the same rights as all Pakistani citizens. Although Mani was involved in the trans rights bill, most lobbying and advocacy work has been from transgender women since it became law. “Nobody talks about trans men or how they are impacted by the act,” said Mani. "But this is not the right time to talk about this because of the campaign by religious extremists (to veto changes to the act). I don’t want to cause any harm to the community.” Another reason for trans men’s low visibility is that females lead a more restricted life than males in Pakistan, with limits on what they can do, where they can go and how they can live. Family honor is tied to the behavior of women and girls, so they have less room to behave outside society’s norms. On a practical level, even if a girl wanted to meet trans people and get involved in the community, she wouldn’t be able to because she wouldn’t be allowed out, said Aman.

[genderkoolaid]

Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman. History jeers at the attempts of physiologists to bind great original laws by the forms which flow from them. They make a rule; they say from observation what can and cannot be. In vain! Nature provides exceptions to every rule. She sends women to battle, and sets Hercules spinning; she enables women to bear immense burdens, cold, and frost; she enables the man, who feels maternal love, to nourish his infant like a mother. Of late she plays still gayer pranks. Not only she deprives organizations, but organs, of a necessary end. She enables people to read with the top of the head, and see with the pit of the stomach. Presently she will make a female Newton, and a male Syren. Man partakes of the feminine in the Apollo, woman of the Masculine as Minerva. Let us be wise and not impede the soul. Let her work as she will. Let us have one creative energy, one incessant revelation. Let it take what form it will, and let us not bind it by the past to man or woman, black or white. Jove sprang from Rhea, Pallas from Jove. So let it be.

— "The Great Lawsuit" by Margaret Fuller (1843)

[genderkoolaid]

Is there a reason why common binding advice isn't pulled from this study: Health impact of chest binding among transgender adults: a community-engaged, cross-sectional study? It seems to me like the most comprehensive research yet, but all online binding advice I see just repeats the "8 hours a day or less" advice but never mentions the "give yourself days off from binding" advice which was found to be more important.

I think most people probably just haven't heard of it! Although it is important to recognize that this is just one study. Still, it is good to see research being done by people who recognize the importance of binding for trans people's mental health and safety.

The full article can be read here for free. Here's the part being referenced from the Discussion section:

Binding frequency, or average days per week spent binding, was the factor most consistently associated with risk for self-reported negative health outcomes in adjusted analyses (22/28 outcomes). This suggests that taking ‘off’ days from binding could potentially reduce risk for negative health impacts. This is notable given that over half of participants bind daily and do not regularly take off days. Current community resources largely recommend reducing binding intensity (i.e., hours per day spent binding) to reduce negative physical effects (Hudson 2004; TransGuys 2014), but our data do not necessarily support this recommendation, as intensity was largely unassociated with physical health outcomes in multivariate analyses. Based on this study, individuals may consider reducing the frequency of binding, in addition to or instead of reducing the daily intensity of binding, to minimise or prevent negative physical symptoms. Binding intensity was associated with many outcomes in bivariate analyses, which may be why binding intensity is perceived to be associated with negative health impacts. However, after adjusting for other binding practices, intensity was unassociated with most outcomes in multivariate models, and was in fact negatively associated with four outcomes (numbness, lightheadedness, fatigue and weakness). This puzzling finding may indicate issues of reverse causation whereby individuals who experience negative health outcomes reduce their average binding intensity, so that lower intensities appear associated with negative outcomes. Given that many community resources recommend reducing binding intensity if negative symptoms are experienced, this explanation is plausible, but longitudinal data are needed to fully understand the relationship between binding intensity and negative physical outcomes.

They also discuss binding duration (how many years spent binding) and which types of binding had the least negative outcomes.

[genderkoolaid]

A reminder!

[genderkoolaid]

people just think there are sooooo many "trans-identified females" nowadays because now that there is more trans visibility (and less systematic sexism, thinking about that post where it says "the reason you think trans men never existed before recently is bc for a long time before now women and "women" had far less rights and access to things needed for transition") , transmascs and trans men are now becoming as visible as trans women have been. Cis people are only used to seeing trans women, hell, they're only used to seeing hyperfemme perfectly passing trans women, not even different kinds of trans women or non binary transfemmes.

its ironic that they see the rise in "TIFs" as being the product of misogyny, instead of thinking that perhaps the historical absence of transmascs could be the result of transphobic misogyny. but people only want to question transmasc erasure when they think of an answer that benefits them personally

[genderkoolaid]

i am so goddamn tired of people refusing to use the word "cisgender." use "non-transgender" if you need to but for the love of fuck stop doing this shit:

especially with the last one. if you can put in notes explaining what a trans woman is, what a nonbinary person is (inaccurately), and what intersex means, then you can fucking explain "cisgender." cis people won't explode if they aren't the center of the damn universe for five seconds.

[genderkoolaid]

Hey there! I'm not a trans masc person, but I am a very atypical dude. Is it weird I use your posts sometimes as a reminder to myself that I'm still as male as any other guy? Like, your posts seriously help me as a guy that can never fit into the masculine stereotype.

absolutely not weird! we love making connections between different experiences here. i'm very glad that my posts are helpful for you!

[genderkoolaid]

so I read the fucking report

^ what the fuck? just. what the fuck is this

^ so she doesn't even know anything about gender. gotcha

^ these lies and others like them permeate the entire fucking report

^ again. what the fuck is this. what are you suggesting here

^ WHAT. THE. FUCK. ARE. YOU. TALKING. ABOUT.

^ how can you write this as if it means anything whatsoever

^ oh would you look at that more terf talking points who would have guessed

^ WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO EVIDENCE IT GIVES TIME TO THINK THAT'S LITERALLY WHAT IT DOES

^ 'SOME' YOUNG ADULTS!? 'SOME'!? IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE GOT?

also 'let's gatekeep more! that's definitely a good idea! the problem is not enough gatekeeping!'

terf fucking island.