im gonna start a fight; and, at the same time, i need you to take this in the most good-faith way possible, but:
videos that involve body-checking and intentionally (and uncritically) show a mealplan of an unhealthy number of calories are just a revamped version of pro-ana food diaries.
and yeah, i know there's arguments. i address some of them under the cut. but at the end of the day, we're just coming back to romanticizing mental illness; we've just found a better platform for it.
this is already something we've done. we knew it was wrong and tried to stop it. and tbh. it just wasn't enough.
there are people who argue "well, what if you have an eating disorder, you can't help it if you don't eat!" except that as someone with an ED; we are not infants. we know what we're doing. part of having an ED is that you are like, maybe too self-aware. even if we can't help our own food choices, we don't need to fucking romanticize the disorder - something we've been warning you about since 2013. there are hours of setup, filming, and editing that go into these videos. they do not happen to fall into place randomly. there is a reason they are pieced together to be beautiful, bright, inspiring.
there's this woman who pretty much only posts daily plans under a normal amount of calories, and everyone defends her saying but it's better than nothing! and i'm like. except she opens those with images of her showing off her body and provides no context in the video or caption that suggests that she believes what she's doing is unhealthy. she has hundreds of thousands of followers on a platform designed for young kids and teens. i refuse to believe that by accident her content just happens to be cheery advice on "healthy" versions of starving.
for any other symptom of mental illness, we would be incredibly enraged by this kind of placid acceptance of a "tips and tricks" fast-start guide. imagine if people posted pink & pretty videos saying "best places to cut yourself" as if it was a fucking storytime. we, as a society, are so fucking fatphobic that we would rather accept blatantly harmful displays of self harm than admit that we are obsessed with a hyper-thin body type.
i am not suggesting someone never talks about their disorder. i talk about mine. actually, it's a plot point in my book.
here's the difference: i recognize it's a fucking mental illness. i am very careful to never mention a specific weight, eating pattern, or calorie plan. i always make sure to position it as something that ruined my fucking life. i do not put cheery music in the background and hearts and sparkles over my worst moments. i do not film it in bright light. i do not start each passage with an image of a thin body followed by "here's how to look like her."
eating disorders should not be framed as aspirational. and the problem is that society worships the "after" image, so long as you don't get too sick. there is a reason so many people who quit being "influencers" will later admit - i wasn't eating well that whole time; an obsession with food was completely destroying my life.
we let any uncredited, uncertified person write the most backwards, fucked up shit about how to get the body you desire! because the underlying, secret belief is: well, at least they're thin! and the real thing that fucking gets me each time - they make fucking money off of it. their irresponsibility and societal harm literally pays off for them.
"why do you care so much." "don't like it don't look." "so what if people experiment with new ways of thinking of food?"
thank you for asking. we're about to get extremely personal. it's because when i was 18 i discovered "thinspiration"/"thinspo." and it absolutely influenced, shaped, and codified my pre-existing eating disorder. i went from having some troubling habits and traits to being incredibly unwell within what felt like a matter of days. there were actual pages designed to train me on how to have an ED correctly. it was all so suddenly easy. i was sick; and the nature of the illness meant - i wanted to be sicker.
it takes an average of 7 years for a person to fully recover. i know this personally - even now, 10 years from the worst of it, i still fucking struggle. i am so much happier now and i eat what i want and i literally don't think about food at all (19 year old me would shudder) and yet - i still fucking know the calories of plain toast with butter.
an eating disorder is one of the deadliest types of mental illness. over 1 in 4 people with an ED will attempt suicide.
and i'm sorry. i just do not see the exchange rate of "high rate of engagement" versus "the value of a human life."
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Herb Guide to HRT for Warrior Cats
Have a warrior OC you would like to show being on hormone replacement medication? I’ve gone through herbs historically associated with femininity/masculinity, as well as those with effects on sex hormones, that a wild cat could hypothetically find and use.
Of course, this would still require a bit of a leap as there’s no herb in nature that can replace our friend Spironolactone... but if you’d like some herbs with a grain of truth or history to them that wouldn’t poison a semi-realistic cat? Here you go!
(DO NOT USE THESE HERBS ON YOURSELF OR A REAL ANIMAL.)
Let’s identify what we’re looking for;
Hormone suppressing herbs = antigonadotropins
Prevents production and recognition of present hormones. This is going to be big for an agender transition; but even in a binary one, they’re often taken with-
Hormone producing herbs = estrogen/estradiol & testosterone/androgens
Make sure your warrior doesn’t start on huge amounts! Smaller, controlled doses are more effective. Too much can cause the opposite effects and slow down transition.
Historical precedent = Just Cool
If I find a cool story I’m just going to include it, but note that it doesn’t hold pharmacological basis.
I considered also including some thoughts on surgical treatments as well, but I’ve decided I’ll save that for a follow-up. This guide is purely focused on medication to stay SFW!
Hormone Suppressants
Lycopus (also known as Wolf’s Foot, Water Horehound, Bugleweed) is such a widespread species and has several other medical uses. Not only is it THE most well documented antigonadotropin I came across, but its different species have a wide variety of medical use, including treating anxiety, heart palpitations, stopping bleeding, and respiratory illness. This is also a mint that is not toxic to cats. Also it can be used as a dye.
THERE IS A CAVEAT; if Lycopus supplements suddenly stop or overdosed, it can cause thyroid enlargement. Keep this in mind if your trans warrior ever gave up their medication to a sick clanmate in leafbare!
Lithospermum ruderale (Aka western Stoneseed or Lemonweed) has similar suppression properties, but only in American fanclans, and not as many secondary uses.
Comfrey ROOT can also be used for this purpose, in addition to its canonical uses (funfact this plant is also called knitbone). But can cause liver failure in high doses.
Rosemary suppresses feminine hormones in the uterus, for warriors going from Female to Male. Additionally, it’s an excellent antifungal, smells great, and can be used as a cooking spice.
Molly to Tom (Female to Male)
Pine Pollen (particularly from the Scots Pine), can be added to water or foods and increase testosterone.
Stinging Nettle ROOT could also be taken for a transmasc warrior. The above ground plant can be processed for use with allergies, but the relevant part here is the root underground, which has no stinging hairs.
Sarsparilla ROOT is historically associated with testosterone, though modern studies haven’t held up the claims... but, it is a plant an American clan would have access to, and is also used to make root beer.
Tom to Molly (Male to Female)
FENNEL?? AGAIN??? It’s true.
Through Fennel, all things are possible
It has estrogenic properties in all sexes and has been explored for the creation of synthetic estrogen since the 1930s. This can be used for a transgender warrior, as well as for a cisgender queen with a hormone issue. It must be remarked though; it looks alarmingly similar to poison hemlock, and should not be collected by untrained cats.
Hops (Humulus lupulus) is up next, but first I think this education is worthwhile; phytoestrogens aren’t exactly like true estrogens, but in high enough quantities (as in, much, much more than a plate of soybeans or a mug of beer) they can have estrogen-like affects.
Hops are the uncontested queen of these, and they grow wild in several continents. Hops can sometimes be toxic to cats, based on a genetic predisposition, and mostly to the ‘cone’ (female flower). For the best hormonal effect, the ‘flower‘ (male flower) would be dried and eaten.
Flax flowers don’t contain nearly as much phytoestrogen, but are safer for cats. Additionally, flax is extremely useful in construction, and can be used to make fabric or twine if your Clan is advanced enough.
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Have you seen that short where Marcille goes to an "ex-dungeon lord support group"?? It's so funny that it EXISTS at all but it ends with her being awkward because everyone there lost something great and she's sitting there like "uh... I lost the will to do my hair." But it's so sweet because her hair is styled in that short by someone who cares for her 🥺
I did!! If I recall correctly, I think Pattadol actually set it up because she wants to help former dungeon lords heal?? It's very sweet and also SO funny.
And kind of tragic. Marcille thinks she got off easy because she doesn't remember how much she used to love taking care of her hair. It was such a huge part of who she was as a person and now she doesn't even remember it well enough to grieve it. She says "oh well, I guess I'll cut it short" like she didn't spend years growing it and taking care of it. Like it wasn't a point of pride for her, like it wasn't something she really loved about herself.
Sure. It's not as bad as what happened to Mithrun and Thistle, who had their entire selves taken away. But the demon still took a fundamental part of her in an active attempt to make her more vulnerable, and she doesn't even think it was a big deal...
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