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sukunasdirtylaugh · 2 years

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JJK Men on Your Period

Mentioned: Gojo, Yuuji, Megumi, Sukuna, Toji, Nanami, Yuuta, Choso, Mahito

In honor of my period starting and it being a bitch, I give you this. Also- you can thank my stepdad for setting the bar low. Very low. Like underground low. He's like 'you got a period? fuck that' vibe going on. So yes, I could use a Nanami or a Yuuji right about now. (Please universe, I beg of you).

Gojo

Cocky mf.

He's all smug when you ask him for help that when he comes back from the store, he brings the wrong size.

"Hey babe, what size is your-"

"GOJO!"

If you are having a particularly hard day, worry not. He's already booked you a 3-hour session at a 5-star spa.

Rich boy. Would bring you that one gold expensive candy you see for Valentine's day.

He's pretty open to do whatever you want if you're not feeling well. And by that he watches chick flicks with you.

Your typical 00's movies.

White Chicks, 13 Going on 30, and his favorite- Legally Blonde.

Doesn't understand what foods you need or don't so he just assumes whatever is expensive is the best.

"Gojo, I don't need exotic pineapple cake imported from Indonesia, I just need Chamomile tea."

How They Get Pads-

As stated earlier, he does somewhat of a good job. The first time you ask, he brings 3 more packets. One for light flow, heavy flow, and one for when you don't really need a pad, but you need it there just in case.

He's pretty open and not too shy to ask the women next to him for help (good for him!). They're usually nice, seeing as he's being a good partner.

He'll buy a stuffed animal for every month you're on your period. It sort of becomes this weird tradition of yours.

"Gojo... you got me a bumblebee?"

"I did! I saw the crochet ones on TikTok, so I wanted the prettiest one I could find."

You were sobbing.

9/10

Yuuji:

He would be really sweet about it all. He won't really understand the basics, and he'll wonder why cramps keep you from possibly standing, but once you explain things to him, he's as understanding as a beside nurse.

Yuuji is always at your side if you ever need anything. Sweets? Grains? Something warm? He's there. If you want time to yourself, which he can notice, he'll be in the living room watching a movie. Occasionally taking the time to check up on you every now and then.

If you don't want to be alone, he'll settle for watching a movie. Cuddling is his best medicine, so you're more than insured on that department. Since his love language is physical touch, you'll be getting more of it during these days.

It's not until after your period that Yuuji notices you're extra needy on those days, so he frowns. He misses those days and hopes your next period comes around soon (weird, huh?). But you get the point.

He's already coming up with new things to do when the next wave hits.

I know I said that, but he sees it as an opportunity to show his love, so you bet your ass he's treating it like an assignment.

This mf even has a week outlined on the Calander for every month. And he refuses to tell you why (out of embarrassment).

How They Handle Getting Pads-

He's already out the door when he hears you from the bathroom. Telling him you've run out of pads. Up until he reaches the store, does he realize he does not know anything about pads. Other than the fact they all look the same. So, he picks up Nobara for help.

"You're so lucky to have me as a friend," Nobara instructs as she walks down the feminine product aisle. "Get her night pads and ultra-thin pads."

"What's the difference?"

Nobara shoots him an 'are you serious?' look. "Do you seriously not know the difference?"

He shakes his head no.

"Make sure to get her snacks too. Oh, and maybe flowers. Quick! What sort of flowers does she like? Is she really angry or very sad?"

"Umm... both?"

He's so confused someone help him.

You're so confused when he comes home with a dozen items. Kind of like that episode from Spongebob where Mr. Krabs spoiled Mrs. Pufff with the accessories.

(Awww)

Overall, he's one of the purest. He's trying his best, ok?

9.9/10

Megumi

He knows what periods are, he just doesn't know what to do in this case. Is there a specific routine? Ritual? Is he supposed to offer his kidney or something? *humor*

After your first day, he's already doing research on his own. He's too shy to ask you, so he goes to the internet instead. Over the past hour, he's read 6 professional articles on periods: 2 written by Doctors, 1 on the tax system and pads, along with a few videos. One of which happened to be What Did Women Use Before Pads in History.

Let's just say he's really informed

But also, really really overwhelmed.

"Hey, don't drink that. It's not good for you."

"But it's my iced Boba!"

"Exactly," he answers, taking it from your hands. "Iced. You can't have ice on your period."

"But my period is already gone."

"You still have a pad on, so no ice. I saw the wrappers in the trash, so don't try to fool me."

It's during one of these interactions when it strikes you that he really does care for you. So you nod, a smile creeps on your lips.

"Okay, can you hold it for me until it's over?"

"Of course, I'll put it in the fridge-" he freezes when you've stepped in and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Thank you."

How They Handle Getting Pads-

Fairly well. As inexperienced as he is, he knows he can never go wrong with bringing more than one option. He can always return the ones he doesn't need, so he's not too worried.

On his way back from the store, he makes sure to head to your local TK-Noodle shop and buy you Pho on the way home.

"Do you need a blanket, or anything?"

He's very serviceful during these days. And like Yuuji, his love language truly shows. He's there during it all. Even when you're ugly throwing up, he's already got medicine on the counter waiting for you.

All he hopes for is to make the (unpleasant) week as pleasant as he can.

9.9/10

Sukuna-

Mf is grossed by the idea of periods.

"Sukuna you've literally killed and seen blood before, this-"

"You're comparing two different things. Get that away from me."

HE'S THE SENSITIVE ONE

He's like the type of person that would be cooking with oil but wearing a sweater and doing it as far away as possible.

Doesn't really care. But if you ask him for water, maybe he'll oblige.

'it's that bad that I can't give you a 0, so I give you, a 1.'

1/10

How They Handle Getting Pads-

No.

Just don't.

Toji-

Just like Sukuna. He's nearly avoidant.

If you're in pain, he'll toss you some painkillers and a water. That's all you get.

How They Handle Getting Pads-

On his way to the grocery store, he gets the first thing he sees and leaves. He hates getting near the feminine product aisle that it's the first and last time it happens.

"I got your stuff." he says as he tosses you the package, "So when can we have sex?"

2/10

Nanami

FINALLY

A man who can safely handle things.

I'm not saying Yuuji and Megumi can't handle it, they do a great job, but this man is your gold star.

Brings you baked goods on your period.

Apart from baked goods, if your lower abdomen hurts, he'll offer to give you a back massage. And LORD ARE THEY GOOD. You'll be wishing for more cramps to get this mans hands on you. Relief has never felt so good.

He frowns on men who see periods as gross. In his eyes, all men come from a woman, so how can you be grossed about that? In all eyes, he sees that as a red flag.

You wake up and stain the bed? He won't tell you. Instead, he'll coax you out of bed and prepare you a warm bath. While you're bathing, he'll wash the sheets. So by the time you come back, you're sleeping in sweet scented (warm) sheets.

During your period, you notice how well he cares for you. He does a fantastic job, and you thank him for it. Actions like these, make you wonder if he will be a great father. And you nearly wish to be Pregnant, just to know, see, and feel how he would care for you.

How They Handle Getting Your Pads-

"Hey sweetheart, I'm at the store. Do you need anything? Ok. What kind? Thin? Or..."

He asks all the right questions. And he won't get any creepy looks, instead, he'll be getting flirty looks from middle aged-young women. They all want him and envy the woman waiting for him at home.

He handles it so well 11/10.

Like Yuuji, he has his electronic Calander highlighted in pink for every month. indicating your time of month to remind himself to be extra gentle with you.

While you're on your period, I like to think that you like to have him lay in your chest as you massage his scalp. It's kind of your thing now, so he likes that you are extra physical during this week. But he also likes taking care of you like you do on your normal days.

It's just that on these days he can show it best.

Yuuta

Poor baby doesn't know a thing about periods. He may know that heating pouches are needed, so he'll buy you one from Amazon.

You now, the ones you can throw in the microwave and place over your abdomen.

Once he has a good idea of what it is you're going through and how you're feeling, he will either offer you comfort, or give you alone time.

He will also ask lots of questions.

"How are you feeling? Do you need to be alone? Want me to be here? Or should I go?"

This is as blunt as he gets but know he does it to get a clear idea of what you need. Since he doesn't know how else to come across, it usually works well.

How They Handle Getting Pads:

He's very shy to say the least.

He waits until there's no one on the same aisle as he is, and even then, he rushes. He picks the happiest (pinkest) package with flowers and butterflies.

No one notices him (luckily), but he his least favorite part is the checkout.

That's why he goes to self-checkout stores instead (whenever he's dealing with this type of emergency).

Overall 6/10.

Choso

Oh sweet baby boy

After being on this Earth for 150+ years, he has no idea what a period is. So you have to (thoroughly) explain it to him. And answer his questions.

"Does it also come out from your...? Oh, okay."

Respectful af.

He's very empathetic towards your pain and mixed emotions.

When you're usually in your days, he makes everything he can to make your workload lighter. That means doing more chores around the house, being kinder than usual, and he'll be reminding you how he's there for you.

One day, when you're sick, seeing you in bed hugging your pillow makes him twitch. It awakes something in him, and he didn't know what it was until he picked you into his arms.

He wants you to need him. He wants to be there for you and wants you to use him.

He is, quite literally, at your service.

How They Handle Getting Your Pads-

It has to be a while through your relationship where you feel safe enough that he can go on his own.

And he does well. He just doesn't know what exactly you need. So you write down on a piece of paper what you need. However, nearly the bottom half shelf is labeled with the same thing.

So he takes 2-3 packets. Just to be safe.

When he comes home, he's ready to be in your arms again. And he's always asking how you feel. Honestly a solid 7.5/10.

Mahito

Wtf is a period?

Get this man away from your blood. Unless you want him to collect it and do some witchcraft on you, seriously get tf out.

How They Get Pads

Funny of you to assume you need pants.

You'll be using his hole-poked underwear as your pads now. Have fun. You asked for it.

-5/10

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dsmplorehistory · 3 years

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(I sectioned all event into 3 'Seasons', so it wasn'tas much cramped together. This is part one to be clear.)

When Tommy joins the Smp, it is a very small server. Members are Dream, George, Sapnap, Alyssa and Ponk. Callahan and BadBoyHalo are also whitelisted, but don’t really play. That said, they’ve built the Community house, the nether area and a few other buildings and things and have had some scuffles with each other, such as burning down Ponk’s lemon tree.

Anyway, Tommy makes his humble home in the side of a hill as Tubbo, Fundy and Punz also join the server. Purpled joins too a couple days later. There’s some conflicts and things and Tommy finds two music discs, Mellohi and Cat.

=> So, you got the disc war, where Tommy (and Sapnap) was picking a fight with Dream, causing him to take the music discs from him as a punishment. Tommy was therefore trying to reacquire his music discs, Cat and Mellohi, back from Dream. This ended with them both safely inside his ender chest. During this little saga was also where Wilbur invited Dream to meet him in Brighton. Wilbur supposedly met up with both George and Dream though the promised Vlog never came out (and its since been revealed that he only met up with George).

=> Over the next little while, things were normal. Many towers and structures were built on the server. There were a few smaller conflicts, like Tommy accidentally killing Tubbo’s bee. I believe Eret joined the server over this time period. Jschlatt also got whitelisted onto the server, played for a few hours before being banned, likely due to the outcry on twitter (Dream claims it was unrelated but let’s not pretend that wasn’t a factor), Tommy loved the experience of playing with Jschlatt because he’s like his hero and highly values both the Cuck shed, which he built, and Blocks, the music disc he listened to with him.

=> Then Wilbur logged on again to play with Tommy. This time he wanted to do a Breaking Bad style drugs plot, building a caravan full of brewing stands. They then tried to acquire all the blaze rods from the other players. It ended up with them in Jail/on the run. Purpled, Punz and especially Sapnap were the ones who really interfered with them. Notably they all had Netherite armour while Wilbur and Tommy had much more basic gear.

=> This led to Wilbur’s greatest plan - to secede from the Dream SMP by creating a new server for all the European people. They soon came up with the name L’Manberg and began building the walls. Wilbur declared it a safe place with special server rules: no weapons or armour to be worn in L’Manberg. Tommy was keen to be his right-hand man (and he goes through a little arc during the L’Manberg war saga). They also all get new skins with revolutionary outfits and make a lot of Hamilton references. Tubbo and Eret both join the new nation. Dream declares war on them.

=> Fundy logs in inside the newly built walls of L’Manberg, beginning the story that he’s Wilbur’s son, the first citizen born in L’Manberg. There weren’t presently any women in their nation, so his mother is a Salmon from the river. It makes as much sense in context! Anyway, they build up the walls and late that night, Dream attacks, burning down trees, firing TNT cannons, creating an ugly cobblestone wall and burning down Tubbo’s old house. On Tommy’s next stream, Dream’s kind of busy with a serious stream at the same time but comes on to demand their surrender once more before blowing up Tommy’s base. No Mercy! War day comes, and it ends in defeat when Eret bought them to The Final Control room and betrays them. Tommy then demands a bow duel from Dream, betting a music disc for their independence. Tommy loses but offers both Cat and Mellohi in exchange for independence, which Dream accepts. Thus, despite their losses, they had a sort of victory as L’Manberg has been recognised as its own independent nation and they have peace.

=> In the Aftermath, some rebuilding is done. Niki and Jack Manifold both join the server and join L’Manberg - though Dream tries to tempt Jack away. Things begin to get back to normal though Tommy is still anxious to get his discs back. Quackity and later Karl Jacobs both join the server too. Oh, and Eret and Fundy engage in a bit of a prank war with each other, messing with each other’s builds in creative ways. Eret is now King of the Dream Smp - that was the price of his betrayal.

=> Then we get to a lot of interesting isolated incidents - a theatre where they performed some Hamilton and Macbeth, Dream trading away one of Tommy’s discs (Cat) to Skeppy, the railway war where Dream gets run over by a minecart on Tommy’s newly built railway and he takes Dream’s stuff and try to ransom a music disc back, Big Law (Tubbo) and the King’s court, Church Prime, where they build a holy land to ask for Twitch Primes, a conflict between Fundy and Punz - Fundy kidnapped his favourite bee. And, most critically, the Pet war.

=> The pet war is a bizarre conflict where everyone was rather hungry for another server war and a lot of shots got fired but things never quite escalated. Sapnap kills Nikki’s fox Fungi - (and one of Tommy’s cows) - Niki was furious. In retaliation, Tommy captured Beckerson and Mars from Sapnap’s house - two of the oldest pets in the server. Dream was ready to trade a disc for them back. It kinda ended with them scamming each other but Tommy got Mellohi back (and a fake) while keeping hold of Spirit (the remains of Dream’s old horse) while Dream got back his sword and both fish. Fundy was not done though. He wanted further revenge on Sapnap, so he and Niki killed one of his pets. Then Sapnap killed more animals and destroyed the grave they made for Fungi - it was quite a mess. Tommy was somehow in the position of playing mediator and trying to avert another war. Fundy eventually challenged Sapnap to a duel to settle things - he even builds an arena which referenced the Dream vs Technoblade duel.

=> Wilbur and Tommy come up with a new plan - they’re supposedly in charge of L’Manberg but they don’t have a lot of power as no one’s been listening to them while a Civil war’s been practically breaking out. Wilbur decides the problem is legitimacy and declares an election where he will run to become the elected President of L’Manberg - though he’s already incumbent. Their initial plan is to run as a single party, so victory is assured but Quackity declares this unfair and announces his own candidacy against them - Swag2020. George joins Quackity as his running mate. Wilbur and Tommy brand their campaign Pog2020. Wilbur explains that the viewers will get the chance to vote in this election. Fundy and Niki also decide to run as their own party, Coconut2020 - a twist given how Fundy was Wilbur’s son and yet he’s against them.

=> On the day voting begins, Tommy and Wilbur first get Vikkstar to endorse them and then Schlatt - who they got unbanned for the occasion - but Schlatt refuses to support them, declaring Democracy a fraud. He runs against them too - as Schlatt2020. Quackity and Schlatt also form a coalition, pooling their votes together. (Hbomb also joins the server). In the end, this coalition narrowly wins by 46% to 45% and Schlatt becomes President. His first act is to banish Wilbur and Tommy - and he orders Tubbo to hunt them down.

=> It’s chaos. The walls of L’Manberg get destroyed, as do various other builds. Schlatt speaks of expanding, taking over the entire SMP server and changes the name to Manburg. Out with the old! Niki opposes, Eret is keen to redeem himself and wants to help Wilbur and Tommy while Fundy burns down the L’Manberg flag. Deep in the woods, Wilbur and Tommy hide, having lost everything and not sure who they can trust. They accept help from Technoblade and the three of them form an underground resistance, Pogtopia, to overthrow the new Government, with Tubbo working as a spy for them.

=> The server is divided. Dream decides to support Tommy, at first quietly offering him tons of resources to help. When Sapnap kills yet another animal (how?!) Tommy’s precious cow Henry, Tommy is sad/enraged and does some grieving which leads him into a little war against Sapnap, BadboyHalo, Skeppy and Antfrost (who rather recently joined the server). So, Dream decides to more vocally help Tommy out as an ally of Pogtopia, fighting the others, along with Technoblade (and Punz too). Dream even gives Tommy an important fish - Mars. Tommy’s side wins the battle.

=> Schlatt decides to organise a festival in Manburg. Wilbur questions whether he and Tommy are doing the right thing and decides to embrace being a villain with some destruction. He plans to blow up Manburg, aided by Dream. Tommy intends to stop him.

=> At the festival, Tubbo is outed as a Pogtopia spy and Schlatt orders Technoblade to execute him. He does, albeit reluctantly, and then kills most of the audience too with his firework crossbow. Tommy is enraged, feeling like Techno’s betrayed him. Nikki’s furious with Schlatt’s actions and joins Pogtopia.

=> After the festival, Quackity also leaves Schlatt after an argument where he points out how messed up everything is and how little he’s respected. Tommy finds him and they ally. Wilbur goes to blow up Manburg but Tommy and Quackity come with him and carefully talk him down. Wilbur relents and agrees to follow Tommy as they all plan for a way to defeat Schlatt once and for all.

=> Quackity’s plan to oust Schlatt fails. So, Wilbur tries to blow up Manburg and this too fails as Schlatt has secretly removed the TNT he planted. They retreat to Pogtopia where Fundy reveals he’s secretly been a spy this whole time and has secretly recorded Schlatt’s weaknesses. Wilbur, suddenly realising that the rest of the server is on their side, regains confidence to take down Schlatt the right way.

=>Then Dream appears. He declares his support for Schlatt and reveals that there’s a traitor in Pogtopia’s ranks. The last person they’d expect. Another war is approaching. If things go badly, Wilbur intends to blow it up. Tommy wants to stop Wilbur and win everything back.

=>The war does not go well. Schlatt is cornered - but then he dies of a heart attack while everyone just watches. Wilbur declares it a victory and announces Tommy as President. Tommy refuses the honour. So, Wilbur appoints Tubbo, who accepts.

=>Techno is enraged at their formation of a new Governmentand shoots Tubbo. Wilbur, meanwhile, runs away and denotates the TNT in the presence of Philza - who just joined. Techno then sets off a pair of Withers, aided by Dream. The newly renamed L’Manberg is all blown up.

=>The withers are defeated. Philza kills Wilbur. Tommy affirms that Tubbo is still the president as they go listen to a music disc together, and they plan to rebuild everything despite Techno being out there - now their greatest adversary.

THIS INCLUDES ALL EVENTS UP TO THE 18th OF DECEMBER 2020

#dream smp #lore #dsmp lore #manburg war #manburg vs pogtopia #lmanberg #tommy and tubbo #techno mcyt

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the-necessary-unnecessary · 4 years

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This might be a weird question but how do professional female athletes deal with their periods? I know every women is different so some might not find their period to be a problem but what about those who have bad cramps and other symptoms? Does the coach keep track of players’ periods and play them accordingly? I heard that during important competitions some delay their periods on purpose, is that healthy in the long run?

This isn't weird at all, in fact it's a very interesting topic which is neither discussed or researched about enough! Different athletes in different sports suffer varying consequences of periods. High demand sports which start at a very young age and demand your body to stay 'child-like' much after you could have hit puberty seem to suffer the longest lasting consequences with periods either never beginning or stopping completely, with all the growth and hormone side effects this can bring with it. All types of gymnastics are notoriously worst for causing this.

But all sports, regardless of average age and physical demand, are certainly influenced by women having their periods. With this either changing the game or the sport changing period effects or sometimes both.

1) They can be a factor in the likelihood of players getting serious injuries. There have been links of ACL injuries happening around periods as, although there's not been enough research done to prove this connection, they seem to be affected by fluctuations in hormone level. Bone injuries are also more likely as oestrogen helps develop strong and dense bones. Illness likelihood also factors in here.

2) Varying Hormone levels can affect atheletes' performances with side effects like cramps, headaches, heightened emotions etc. Varying hormone levels can put athletes off their best, affecting things like biomechanics, laxity of ligaments and muscular firing patterns [source]

3) The physical consequences of periods can undoubtedly affects athletes' performances also. Cramps can render athletes unable compete/train, with a lot of other symptoms causing similair problems too.

There's still issues around how periods are monitored and over how/if alterations in how they play or train should be made

The majority of research on how female athletes should train is based on what has worked for men, which does not take into account menstrual cycles alongside other factors like physical differences, other hormonal ones etc. Leading on from this, there's also not enough research into what changes should be made to make training programmes more beneficial for women.

There's not enough education given on menstrual cycles with some saying that up to 70% of professional athletes have not received this. By flagging these issues as “normal” or having male coaching staff that are more likely to overlook such factors, one becomes more prone to the issues above. This is something that Dawn Scott in particular has tried to pioneer raised awareness in within women's football, getting experts to give teams and players educational talks about effects and methods of prevention.

In team sports like football where there can be over 25 women training at a time, it is near impossible to individualise sessions as many players may be at different stages of their cycle. This is a practical difficulty and so coaches may alter a few things but cannot map out 25 slightly different programmes per day.

Everyone is affected differently by their periods. As you said some may not be affected by monthly symptoms, but others will go through days and days of pain and very noticeable hormone variations. It's both hard to cater for and also can have massive effects on their performances.

However, there are starting to become ways to monitor periods and to try and maximise what one can get out of every player

Tracking apps. Each day an athlete may be asked to fill in an online questionnaire on an app, asking how they feel, whether they're on their period, and even stuff like the colour of their urine. This allows for daily close monitoring and for any small modifications to training eg. Not participating in more injury prone exercixes or allowing for more rest if period side effects are present. It also helps tailor diets to suit for cycle.

Pills. By tracking your period you can be clued into when you're due and so take a painkiller the day before it's supposed to start. This gets you ahead of possible symptoms like cramps and so hopefully minimises the impact of them. Also, if they're very bad, players might be more likely to be recommended to go on the contraceptive pill even if they're not likely to get pregnant since this also regulates hormone levels and stops one's period entirely (note: this has varying levels of success on different people and can play even more with hormones especially when you have to be at your peak performance level, so pills aren't always used too widely)

Education. Through raising awareness of one's menstrual cycle an athelete is more likely to not treat it as a taboo subject, becomes more receptive to voluntarily tracking and allowing her team to access the information, increases awareness over how she should look after herself to minimize the effects, and also benefits male coaching staff. This will mean they're less likely to shy away from the topic themselves and/or generally ignore the nuances of it during trainings.

Individual plans. In team sports such as football this is a lot harder to achieve, but manager Emma Hayes has been one of the pioneers to speak out about how they are doing just this at Chelsea. Again, tracking player's cycles allows one to do this. Nutrition is the easiest to individualise, but also factors like having sessions for particular things at different points in the cycle eg. taking into account that in phases 1 and 4 coordination may be lost.

All in all, it's only recently that women in sports have stopped being treated as just 'little men' and their different needs and nuances have begun to be taken into consideration. I hope some of this helped to answer your question, periods are still quite a rocky unresearched terrain so there really isnt a definite answer to a lot of period-related things. But, with the help of pioneers like the physical performance coach Dawn Scott and, in others sports, teams like Team GB Hockey who have been tracking periods since the 2012 Olympics, then slowly but surely we are making progress in this field!

#i know it's very very long but im on mobile so cant cut it #long post sorry #futfem #engwnt #chelsea wfc #uswnt #woso #periods #og #the asks

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classprojecttransexperience · 3 years

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The War for Biological sex

Both Terfs and many trans activists seem to agree one one thing--biological sex is real. This is untrue. Biological sex is not any more real than birds are. Let me illustrate. Below are two statements, of which one is a fact and the other is not. Option one: Chickens lay eggs. Option two: Chickens are birds. On the surface, both of these “facts” seem true--however, only the first one is. This is not because chickens are mammals, but rather, because “bird” is not a fact at all--it is a category within a classification system that humans made up. This isn’t to say that classifying chickens as “birds” is bad or harmful--in fact, it is useful to a great many people to classify chickens as birds. However, we cannot pretend that classifying chickens as birds in fact makes them birds. In her misinformed Terf manifesto essay, J. K. Rowling mentions that she is afraid that transgender activism, or rather, the recognition of transgender women as legally women, might impact a charity she donates to which researches Multiple Sclerosis, which is more common in women. It is difficult to understand exactly what it is that Rowling fears--after all, even if the most hysterical Terf future were to come true, the name you apply to women will not actually make them less or more susceptible to MS.

The exact link between biological sex and MS is unknown, and correlational evidence about MS risk is complicated by the fact that everyone who is alive does not experience the same access to care. For example, it has long been thought that African-Americans were less likely to get MS than were White Americans--however, some recent data disputes this, claiming that African-Americans are actually at increased risk, and previous studies that showed decreased risk actually neglected to take into account that African Americans on average were less likely to see a neurologist who specialized in MS. Furthermore, there are real medical consequences for conflating “womanhood” with the mythological biological sex with being assigned female at birth. There is a large amount of variation among people who are legally identified as women, and forcing everyone to retain the legal sex they were assigned at birth would not change that. Some people who are listed as biologically female in medical records are actually intersex, and up to 12% of those assigned female at birth have a condition called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, which can include higher than typical levels of testosterone in the body, as well as other symptoms, which can be serious. (PCOS is in recent years becoming identified as an intersex variation, but for a long time people thought it was caused by being fat and thus, even though PCOS can cause facial hair growth which can make women targets of harassment, people with PCOS were blamed for their own condition and it was not recognized as being an intersex variation. In general, traditional intersex variations account for 1.7% of the population, but if PCOS is counted as an intersex variation that number jumps to between 4.7 and 7.7% of the population)

Thus, by insisting that biological sex is real, diverse and already marginalized bodies, such as trans bodies, intersex bodies, and overwhelmingly, women’s bodies (both cis and trans), are ignored in favor of a letter. Chickens lay eggs, bodies are real--but biological sex, like the category of “bird”, is nothing more than a category that we humans made up. It may be a useful category to some, but we cannot talk about trans issues without acknowledging the fact that biological sex is entirely made up, and many, many people do not fit within the concept of the sex binary.

Transphobes would use my bird metaphor to justify arguing that transgender women are not real women or are not biologically female; however, my counterpoint to them is that no one is a man or a woman, those are categories that humans made up and that are based in social constructions and not biological realities, and that a person’s right to place themselves within (or outside) of those categories should not change based on their identity as a transgender person. I’m sure there’s at least one Terf out there who administers a chromosome test to everyone she intends to sleep with--and I’m sure that, has she had more than a few sexual partners, she’s surprised some of them. Most of us don’t know our chromosomes, because biological sex is not based on chromosomes (although there are more than two combinations of chromosomes humans can have)--biological sex is based on a lot of things, hormones, genitals, secondary sex characteristics, height, menstruation or lack thereof, etc, and a transgender man may have high testosterone, a penis, no breasts, and be tall, while a transgender woman may have high estrogen, breasts, a vagina, menstrual cramps and other period symptoms without bleeding, and be short. A cisgender man might be assigned male at birth but have breasts and be able to lactate. The biological sex one was assigned at birth cannot and should not be used to dictate healthcare--rather, doctors should pay attention to their patients’ bodies, not the label they were given based on what their genital situation looked like when they were born.

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midnight-strays · 4 years

Note

Hello! Could I please request head cannons for young Dazai, Chuuya, akutagawa and anyone else you like not knowing what menstruation is and while on a mission with their S/O they get separated and find them in an ally, doubled over in pain and bleeding. -sorry that it's weird

//Not weird at all my love! I think I went a lil over board though haha.

Osamu Dazai

It happened when you and Dazai were about 16 years old.

Dazai was struggling with Chuuya’s mere existence in the Port Mafia and he was almost completely swamped with world lately.

Usually he’d try dodge the work but you had forced him to remain in his office and finish a sufficient amount before he was allowed to come back out.

During the few days this took, you were supposed to have your period... only it was late.

Cue mini heart attack because you and your boyfriend were very much sexually active, not to mention, you didn’t like playing it safe all the time, sooooo...

A few days later, you still had yet to see any signs but you were beginning to experience cramps, so that was a potentially good sign.

You weren’t completely panicked about the lateness of course. You knew this stuff happened at times and with your lifestyle, no shit it would happen.

That night however, you had just gotten into the shower when your phone started ringing.

You reached out of the shower and answered the call, putting them on speaker.

As you listened to what they had to say, you washed away the dirt and grime on your body while keeping you eyes on the small device.

“I’ll be right there sir. Do not engage the target until I get there. Am I understood?”

During this, you neglected to notice the red tinted water swirling down the drain until it was gone.

Still confident that you were fine, you popped a painkiller for good measure and got dressed, rushing to the scene where you were needed.

From there, things had become chaotic.

Bullets were flying and you were barking orders while Dazai worked on things from the other end. It was supposed to have been a quick engagement, take out some guards, get the info and leave. Only things took a dangerous turn when ten guards turned into fifty and you were severely out numbered.

The dust settled and most of the Port Mafia was still standing. Dazai came out, chucking a driveto someone before looking around for you. Where were you?

“Where is (Y/N)?”

When no one gave him an answer, he looked around again.

You weren’t amongst the bodies so you had to be there somewhere. So he searched.

He almost walked past you, right part you had it not been for a low groan passing your lips that he craved for oh so often.

During the battle, despite the pills you had taken earlier, you had felt a sharp, unholy pain in your abdomen.

You ignored it at first, but it became all that more fierce the longer you pretended it wasn’t happening and eventually, you had to duck away into an alleyway, where you proceeded to throw up your dinner from the pain.

After that you remained curled up on the ground, in a somewhat crouched position, waiting for the chance to finally stand up and get back out there. That moment didn’t come soon enough it seems.

When Dazai saw you curled up like that, he thought for sure that you had been shot. He came to your side, setting a hand on your back.

“(Y/N)? Have you been shot?” He asked, trying to encourage you to sit up so he could see.

That’s when the strong smell of iron hit him.

“You’re bleeding. Where? Show me damnit.”

You refused to uncurl now, more so from embarrassment than pain now. There was no way out of this situation was there?

You shook your head no and carefully uncurled, standing up but keeping your thighs firmly together.

“I wasn’t shot. Let’s just go.”

You started to head towards the end of the alleyway but another wave of pain sent you crouching down again.

This time, despite the shitty lighting, Dazai could see the darker patch of black on your pants and he stepped forward again, grabbing you by the arm, pulling you back up.

“Tell me what haopened. We need to get you help.”

He’d insist that he carry you back and get you help but you kept refusing, frustrating him to the point where he’d try to grab you anyway but you would duck away.

“I’m on my period idiot! That’s why I’m bleeding, now back off,” you’d finally hiss in annoyance.

There would be a moment of awkward silence. On your part because this was embarrassing and on his part because he was trying to remember what a period was.

When his mouth parted in an ‘oh’ fashion, you knew he finally got it.

You couldn’t blame him for not knowing what a period was. He was a young boy, surrounded mostly by men, with a very different upbringing than most other boys.

Like a switch though, he was from serious to his usual, silly self.

“Oh, ew, right. Let’s get back then shall we?”

He was still a little panicked inside because he didn’t completely understand but was better once he saw you again later in a much better condition.

Cue a few days passing and his curiousity getting the better of him.

“Hey Boss... What’s a period?”

Chuuya Nakahara

How was such a terrifying experience turned into an incredibly embarrassing one you ask? Well, let me tell you.

To start, you had no idea what Chuuya did in his spare time. You knew he had friends as they constantly came by to drag him away to do whatever. They wore matching arm bands too su=o surely that meant something to him.

One day the band was gone though and he suddenly didn’t have as much time as before.

He told you that his mother had caught him skipping school so she was now him schooling him to make sure he got somewhere in life.

That being said, you had no reason to question him.

The important thing in the end, was that he still managed to make time for you.

After school, you’d walk out and there he would be, leaning again the main gates, waiting for you.

Your friends constantly complained about how they wanted such a committed boyfriend and it made you feel great.

Today was a weekend however, meaning he was going to be picking you up from your house instead.

You were a little unsure about this weekend, considering you were on your period but you’d never had any problems before so you went for it.

You styled your hair and slipped on a nice white dress- mistake number one- before saying bye to your guardian and headed out to meet Chuuya out the front.

Today he was taking you to a small cafe, a harmless little plac that allowed the two of you to have the kind of date you’d been lacking the last few weeks.

You both ordered your drinks and something to eat, bouncing back and forth in conversation between each other happily.

Early on during the date, he also made it Lear that he was going to pay for everything- which led you to wonder where he was getting the money from. Did he find a part time job? That would explain why he had less time to come out.

Everything was going smoothly until something small wizzed past, right between the two of you, embedding itself in the wall on the other side of you.

You looked at it with wide eyes while Chuuya was jumping over the table, pushing you down to the floor yelling, “Get down!”

Just on time, a barrage of bullets came flying in your direction.

With little shelter from the attach, Chuuya shielded your body from the bullet.

“You need to move with me.”

Despite your fear, you ended up running with him, trying to stay down as much as possible while he protected you.

Eventually shoving you into an alleyway, you discovered how Chuuya wasn’t dead yet. He had an ability. He sent to bullets flying back to where they came from.

He gave you a very brief order to stay put before running off, much to your dismay.

You didn’t know how long you were sitting there, but it was long enough for crippling cramps to disturb the tiny amount of peace you had left.

Curling in on yourself nice and tight to try will away the pain, you didn’t notice it was all over until you heard Chuuya’s voice again.

“Hey, are you okay (Y/N)?”

You looked up at him with teary eyes but still heals yourself tightly. You didn’t know what to say to him. How do you answer that after what just happened?

He looked you over himself and at first, he thought you were okay until he saw the red on your dress. That wasn’t there before...

“You’re bleeding!”

Eyes widening, you jumped up and pressed yourself against the wall to hide it the best you could. It hurt to stand but you didn’t want to go through this right now.

“No I’m not Chuuya. I’m fine. I’d like to go home now if that’s okay...”

You were too in shock to actually process the fact that people were just trying to kill you both. Or just him?

“No, you’re bleeding, I saw the blood on your dress. Just let me see.”

“Don’t come any closer Chuuya!”

He would step back a little in shock at your outburst. He couldn’t blame you really.

Seeing he needed an explaination, you sucked in a deep breath and told him without making eye contact.

“I’m on my period.’

“... What the fuck is that?”

Cue your jaw dropping to the ground in disbelief.

Seriously?

“Really?

Some of those old friends of his were women!

He has a mother! Or does he...

“Just give me your jacket and take me home.”

Ryuunosuke Akutagawa

Periods weren’t completely foreign to Akutagawa. He has a younger sister after all.

However, this doesn’t mean he’s comfortable with it by any means.

He’ll help his sister if need be but if she doesn’t need help, he doesn’t want to know about it.

Same goes for you.

He’ll give you a hand with something if you really need it but he doesn’t want to know you’re on it.

That being said, he had no idea you were on your period when you were out on a mission.

As embarrassing as it was, you were actually on a pan/tampon run when you got called in.

With nothing but toilet paper protecting your clothes from your current unholy condition, you rushed to the scene.

It was supposed to be your day off too, so you were in much brighter clothes than usual, instead of the dark clothing you would usually wear in association with the Port Mafia.

You and Akutagawa were side by side, working together as much as you could to do what had to be done.

The building you were in was a completely maze, so, you split up.

It was as you were searching, that you encountered your tasrget’s thugs.

Bullets were flying, bouncing off the walls and making a hell of a noise that echoes throughout the place.

Despite the dull ache in your absorbent, you did all you could to fend them off.

When all were on the ground, you clutched your mid-section and dropped to the floor in pain, letting out a small whine of pain.

You were well out of your comfort zone. Your period, wrong clothing, very little to protect your clothing from your own blood... This wasn’t ideal.

You then heard the click of a gun, the barrel being pressed to your head. One of the men had been faking defeat.

Eyes wide and seeing no escape, you braced yourself for the worst, only for nothing to happen a moment later.

Looking up, you saw the man hanging in the air, a black tendril impaling his chest with an almost red electricity buzzing around it.

“Rashomon...”

The man dropped to the ground as the young man behind you let out a few small coughs.

“Have you been shot?”

“No.”

“Then why are you bleeding?”

The two of you would have realised it at the same time. You’re would have jumped to you feet and turned around the hide the stain on your pants and his face would be turning red.

“Just go home.”

“Akutagawa, you know I can’t do that.”

“I said go home. I’ve got this- take care of... that.”

Despite his insistence though... you weren’t allowed to just leave like that, meaning the air was thick with awkward tension for a good while.

At least you could both say you suddenly became more determined to finish the mission faster,

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fanficobsess3d · 5 years

Text

period headcanons

wow I can’t believe I haven’t put out an anime fic yet, damn I really AM behind

this is my first headcanon for ~the boys~ so bear with me, but I just know that these are all fucking canon and yall can @ me

Also, I’m a little bitch on my period - I’m on it now and lemme just say BOY - so I’m basing this off of my experiences. I have heavy, painful, and emotional periods so….. if you cannot relate just enjoy what could be from the boys of class 1-A

Bakugo

He’s one of the only boys that will know what the fuck is going on with you

His mom is hella loud so it’s obvious that she’d educate her son on it

He may be a prideful asshole, but he was taught to be respectful and educated

He’s also not the type of guy to whine

So be prepared to hear a lot of insults when you whine

“oH mY FuKinh GOODDDDD!!!!”

“You are so annoying! I don’t sound like that!”

“Well, I’m so fucking sorry princess, I hate to break it to you, but you do fucking sound like that with your constant bitching!”

Yeah he highkey roasts you every single time you wanna start whining

But don’t be mistaken, the second you really start to feel the pain he’s genuinely worried

There have been a few times you’ve gotten really bad

You typically start feeling nauseous all day and don’t eat

So you collapse

Curled into a ball on the floor, groaning and moaning

The girls had been with you and hissed with sympathy, but you could already hear Bakugo yelling from the hall

“WhAT THE FUCKKK!”

He instantly scoops you up to hide in a classroom away from everybody

Setting you on the desk, you can see the worry in his eyes

He knew how you got when you were hit with the monthly hellfire rain waterfall

So he was prepared for this

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get mad about it

“Jesus fucking CHRIST Y/N!”

“‘M sorry, Katsuki….”

You were playing with your thumbs as he lightly knocked against your head with his knuckles with a scoff

“You need to take better care of yourself, dumbass. I feel like my hair’s gonna go gray every damn time you fucking collapse like that.”

“I tried! I felt like I was gonna get sick this morning! And the pain pills don’t work anymore!”

“Then we’ll fucking skip. Next time, don’t wait to tell me that it’s gotten that bad as you fall like a fucking idiot on the goddamn floor. Dumbass.”

You let a small smile slip onto your face

You knew that he had his own way of showing affection, so you couldn’t help it every time he went even the tiniest bit soft on you

You guys normally skip class after that

You sneak into your dorm to cuddle in your bed with your fuzzy blankets

And yeah you don’t forget the heating pad -- you have Bakugo: the human heater

He keeps a close eye on you the rest of the night, making sure you eat and pumping you full of pain meds to try and keep the pain at bay

But god FORBID you start crying

He is not the most emotional person so the second you start crying he’s like um

He just curls his hand around the back of your head and pushes your head into his chest

Letting his head fall into the crook of your shoulder as your sobs die down

“God, you’re so fucking dramatic, babe.”

“Shut up! The cat was fucking cute okay?!”

But he’s still there whenever you need something

Ask him to get stuff from the store for you and yeah he’ll do it

Prepare for the whining and groaning about it though

He’ll literally be on the phone with you the entire time just so he can be petty and grumble about it

But he’ll never admit that seeing you so distressed every month is more scary and stress inducing than literally everything else in his life

Because you’ve become his life

Not that he’ll tell you that

As for the sex part, I feel like he’ll only do something if you really ask for it or if you’re pissing him off

He’s a complete control freak, so if you think for a second that he’s gonna let you off after your attitude earlier….

Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy you’re IN FOR IT

But he knows how much pain you might be in so he’s only gonna do it if the mood’s right

Otherwise he’s not gonna put any of him near any part of you because he accidentally read the situation wrong once and you freaked and then cried because you told him no

Yeah, that was a fun conversation

Bakugo was pissed when he found out the background about that answer

But if you are up to it, yeah y’all are going like seven rounds I SWEAR

That boy has the stamina of a fucking rabbit

Todoroki

This is also the only other guy who’s gonna know about uterus period stuff because of his sister

Yeah, he doesn’t know the specifics as much as Bakugo

But he’s aware of what’s happening

Honestly I feel like he’s one of the best ones to be around on your period tbh

Yeah, he’s quiet, but that makes your life much much easier when all you want to do is cry and scream at people all day

The second you get mad at something, he gives you that look

Everything will be fine, calm down

And it’s like everything is fine

You also know that he’ll be a little petty bitch if you decide to get mad at him about something

But then you’ll start crying because you didn’t mean to get mad at him and he’ll just smile at you because he knows that you genuinely do feel bad

As for the cramps, he’s already prepared

The second your period hits he just…. Knows

He knows you so well that he can instantly feel when your personality starts to change

So not even a period later he’s shoving chocolate and a teddy bear with a cute picture of you two, in your face

He does get really worried when the cramps get really bad though

Pain meds don’t really work on you, so the only thing that he can do is massage you with his left side

He knows that the heat helps so anytime your face contorts and your mouth lets out a grunt of pain he’s instantly massaging your stomach or back

My fatass cANNOT relate but N E WAYS

He’s not as dramatic as Bakugo but yeah, he does get really worried

He gets quieter than usual, if that’s even possible, and he never leaves your side

But that’s more for him than you since he knows that you get so caught up that you forget to take care of yourself sometimes

And he worries about you all of the time

Be prepared for a look if you start whining, though

He’s not really used to that

so if you start taking the immature route

whether because you feel bad or because you want to piss him off

Get ready for intimidating Todo

He kind of looks at you like you need to remember who you’re talking to.

But he does understand that there are some days when every little thing gets to you

So he’s always prepared to listen

“Why is it that I’m the only person on this planet who suffers!???? I swear to gooddddd my uterus is about to fuckING EXPLODE!!! AND THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT ITTTT! AAAAAA!”

“Baby-”

“Oh my god!!! You called me baby!” suddenly you’re bawling again

He picks you up and sets you in his lap, letting you latch onto his shoulders and neck

I highkey feel like he’s one of the guys who’d try and help by sex ngl

Like if you’re in his lap for longer than a second

Oop you’re getting it

It’s inevitable

You really don’t mind tho cause BOY is an orgasm on your period fucking hEAVEN

Shoto’s also a switch so like

Since you’re such a goddamn sub baby on your period, what he says goes

the second you throw a fit, BOOM you’re gettin fucked

he’d prefer if you cry over an orgasm than a shitty dog commercial and that’s the tea on that

Izuku

Little baby over here has no fucking idea what a period is

he was never really around girls much, so he never really learned

not to mention that schools barely cover it as it is

He knows it involves blood

He knows it involves your parts????

…. and yeah, that’s pretty much it

So the second you start complaining about it he gets all blushy and confused

You didn’t have time to explain, so the rest of the day was an adventure for him to try and figure it out

He gets instantly focused

He starts murmuring weird theories and writing down weird stuff as the day goes on

Noticing your weird habits and how you seemed to act like Kacchan

You became impulsive and you cried like four times before the first class ended

Not to mention how many arguments you got into

he was convinced for a wholeass solid period that a demon had literally possessed you

He was very, very, confused

But he wanted to find out why you were like that

Later on, you sat him down and explained everything

Granted, he blushed like a little school boy and it was an awkward conversation on his part

But you were irritated because it was so annoying to have to explain it to every boy ever

but you were just glad that he was respectful about it

He felt bad that you had to sit down and explain something so normal and commonplace to him

then you felt bad because you didn’t mean to be mean to him

or make him feel bad

Yeah, you started crying again

But now he understands everything and he feels, like, really bad

He doesn’t get why it’s the girls that have to suffer through everything

he also doesn’t understand why nobody pushed for more education about it

he now understand more of the stigma around women and he feels really bad about that because he genuinely had no idea

And wow you gave him a pat on the back after that came out of his mouth

That got him so lovely bonus points

But he has that glint in his eye that you know very well, and you instantly sweat drop as he begins to mutter ideas to himself

The next morning you show up to class and he instantly greets you with a hug and chocolate and very cooey gooey words that made Bakugo gag at his desk

Later on that night, he makes you guys the comfiest blanket fort and sets up a bunch of movies to watch

Every time you cry he borderline cries himself, hugging you to his chest and wrapping you guys with the blankets

Every time you are in serious pain he feels really bad and hovers over you like a mother hen

One time you collapsed and he instantly picked you up and ran to Recovery Girl in the health center

He genuinely thought you had died or something

But no, the cramps made you nauseous and you didn’t eat so your iron levels dropped really low and you passed out

He instantly freaked and kept shoving food in your mouth for the rest of the week

Now for the sex part

You were in pain more often than not, so it was a bad idea for anything sexual to happen

But yeah, you got horny on your period like, half of the time

Somehow the topic of period sex was brought up between you and Izuku and he had no idea that that was a thing

The look on his face when he realized it was probably the funniest fucking thing ever

His eyes bulged out of his head like those weird animal pens

But he actually thought about it and literally a look at you would have you pouncing on him

It was 50/50 on whether you’d be in the mood, though

Sometimes you just wanted to fuck

Sometimes you wanted to suck his dick until he cried

Other times you just wanted to cuddle his chest

and, yeah, sometimes you wanted to throw a plate at a wall

honestly i felt that

After the first time you’d had a successful sexual encounter on your period

You wished him luck on trying to figure out when to do each

He just looked at you with wide eyes

“Yeah, I’ll just warn you now, because of how wacky my emotions are, if you tried anything like what we just did and I was not in the mood, my uterus would’ve had a royal fit.”

“What do you mean?” he looked at you cautiously

You turned to him, your eyes a dark glint, “I mean, if I’m not in the mood for sex, I’m either going suck you, cry, or punch you. Good luck figuring out when I wanna do each one.”

He looked at how close you were in proximity and promptly scooted back a few inches, almost falling off of the bed

But you grabbed his arm and yanked him back until he was pushed into your neck

“Yeah, also you can’t stop cuddling me until I say so, either.”

“... so as long as I do what you ask you won’t kill me, right?”

you had to giggle at that, he was just so naive at times

you hadn’t meant to come off so intimidating, because you were really happen that he was nice enough to take care of you like t

a lot of boyfriends you’d had in the past had been real assholes about it

“H-hey this is serious! How can I take care of you if i’m dead?!?!”

you turned to look at him

“That’s your only concern?” there was weird glint in your eye

“... am I supposed to be worried about something else?”

yeah, you jumped him again

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aion-rsa · 4 years

Text

How Ginger Snaps Explored the Subversive Horror of Womanhood

https://ift.tt/30jSLcc

In 2000 Mission: Impossible 2 topped the box office, Gladiator triumphed at the Oscars, and the first X-Men movie ushered in a new era of superhero movies. Meanwhile in Canada, while no one was watching, a new hero was emerging. Her name was Ginger, she was a 16-year-old girl, and ok, she might have turned into a monster and killed a few people but, wow, was she a ferocious figurehead for females everywhere.

“That’s what she’s about. She’s about fuck you, fuck the patriarchy, fuck the standard, fuck society, fuck the norm. And to me, that’s a hero,” says Katharine Isabelle, speaking with Den of Geek via Zoom from her home in Vancouver, 20 years after the film’s debut. Isabelle was just 17 when she stepped into Ginger’s very cool boots and she had no idea it would become a massive cult hit.

“When it first came out, no one fucking watched it. It did well with some critics at a few festivals, but no one cared. No one went to see it,” she recalls. “It wasn’t until it hit the VHS circuit in small town Canada that people were like, ‘Oh, Ginger!.’ Emily [Perkins, who plays Ginger’s sister Brigitte] and I thought we’d be the only people that liked it because we were weird and dark. We had no idea that through the generations it would continue to have an effect on people.”

Watching 20 years on and Ginger Snaps absolutely holds up. More than that, in fact, it looks positively progressive and even transgressive in a year where we were onto our third Scream, our second Urban Legend, and our first Final Destination. Glossy teen slashers were the thing, which didn’t often make for great parts.

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“In the ’90s, as a 17-year-old girl it was ‘be hot, get murdered’,” says Isabelle. “There weren’t a lot of really interesting characters coming out of that, especially in my small Vancouver, Canada acting world. So to see this and be like, ‘Holy shit, this really speaks to me, I am this dark, insecure, troubled, deep, dark humored girl who feels outcast and misunderstood by everybody,’ I was just like, ‘Yes. 100%.’”

Written by Karen Walton who would go on to write for Queer as Folk and Orphan Black, and directed by John Fawcett (one of Orphan Black’s co-creators), Ginger Snaps was a fresh take on the werewolf subgenre and a brand new slant on teen horror. This was about girls for a start – sisters Ginger and Brigitte who are weird outsiders fascinated with death. Though there’s sex in the movie it’s really a love story between the two females while the only male character who we have any sympathy for is a drug dealer who has no sexual interest in either. There are dog maulings along the way, and as we head towards the climax with Ginger becoming more and more monstrous, there’s plenty of gore.

But the most scandalous splash of blood is Ginger’s own first period.

Period piece

“You never see that. The visual of bloody panties is so shocking,” says Isabelle.

“It’s what, 2020 and we’re just seeing feminine hygiene products using red dye instead of this fucking blue shit? We’re always so mortified by this human experience that half of the people on the planet go through. And you know what? At the same time you should be, because being female is a fairly horrific fucking experience in itself. So guess what? Why don’t you fucking look at it once in a while? For it to be labeled as shocking is just so boring to me.”

It would be bold even in 2020. That color matching company Pantone only last month released a new shade of red inspired by periods as part of a campaign to end menstruation stigma shows it very much still exists. So to be this open in discussing it in 2000 in a horror movie – traditionally assumed to be the playground of young men – was a brave move.

“I remember a friend of mine, his older brother had taken his friends to see it and he was like, [Isabelle does impression of bro-tastic young man] ‘Oh yeah, we were all screaming and throwing shit at the fucking screen and then we walked out. All this fucking women shit.’ I was like, ‘Cool. Thanks, buddy. Awesome.’ Fuck you! They thought they were going to see hot girl tits and werewolf stuff and they weren’t prepared for an actual look into what the female experience is like. And they couldn’t handle it. Pussies.”

Suddenly it’s like I’m talking to wolf-Ginger, fierce, articulate, full of fire, the Ginger that punches the mean girl in the face for hurting her sister, the Ginger that isn’t going to stand for any of your shit any longer, the Ginger that could tear the flesh from your bones if she wanted to.

The metaphor of werewolf transformation and puberty is a no brainer to Isabelle.

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“You’re going along your life perfectly fine, something happens to you, boom. In one day, you have all these strange urges, you have all these weird thoughts. Your body is completely abandoning you and morphing into something else that you are not comfortable with,” she says. “It’s a complete betrayal of everything you know and how you feel. And it creates this monster in you that you have to reckon with and deal with. It’s a brilliant allegory.”

Ginger Snaps is body horror. It’s a movie about a woman’s own body destroying her from the inside out. Before she knows what’s really going on Ginger is bleeding, weak, crippled with cramps. Weird hair starts sprouting – a shaving scene really hammers home the horror of teenagers taking razors to their legs.

But with this pain comes power. Ginger is suddenly confident, beautiful, strong, the boys at the school all desire her and she knows it. She will take who she wants and do what she wants – there’s some serious wish fulfillment going on at the same time as the trauma of her transformation.

Being Ginger

It’s not really surprising that Isabelle is so like this iconic character. She says she had an immediate affinity to Ginger – both sides of Ginger, the troubled outsider as well as the she-wolf.

“At that time, I wasn’t a good enough actor to have acted it. I just had to be myself,” she laughs, “They showed a pieced-together trailer halfway through to the cast and crew and I had a complete panic attack. It was my first panic attack, and I was like, ‘I’m fucking this up.’ This is the best character in the best movie and I clearly have no idea what I’m doing. I’m obviously the worst, this is terrible. I’m ruining this, I should just die. So all of the insecurity and the manicness…”

This just in: it’s shit being a teenage girl. Even more so when you’re 17, on location without your mother for the first time and working 18 hour days.

“I nearly fucking died!” she says. “Towards the end, it’s like a seven hour prosthetic piece when I’m full blown werewolf. I was living off of Oreos, McCain Deep Delicious Chocolate Cake, cigarettes, and Coca Cola. It was not good. And honestly, I wasn’t a good actor. So everything in that was just me being manic and sleep deprived and upset and insecure.”

Whatever was driving it Isabelle is excellent, flitting from difficult outsider with an undercurrent of fury to a whirlwind of teenage angst, sex, hunger, and violence that feels absolutely authentic.

Becoming the wolf

The effects are practical rather than CGI, which helps Ginger Snaps not to look dated on a rewatch. Ginger transforms gradually from woman to full blown wolf over days – she’s not a traditional werewolf who only becomes a wolf during the night of a full moon, instead once she turns fully she’s not coming back. Her different looks in the movie are cool and iconic – unsurprisingly Ginger Snaps cosplay is a ‘thing’ – which pleases Isabelle. The prosthetics procedure was somewhat less pleasing, however.

“I didn’t understand what the process was,” she says. “You see it in your head like you do when you read a book or whatever, or how the movie is going to be. You don’t think of the six hours on top of your 18 hour shooting day that you’re going to be inhaling alcohol-based paint until you’re high out of your fucking mind.”

The transformation came with other obstacles too.

“The process of losing my senses was a first for me. By the time I’m in the very late stage werewolf with the hair, the contacts and the claws, I can’t see anything, I can’t hear anything, I can’t smell anything, I can’t talk. I have fangs. I had to ADR most of the movie when I have fangs in. Because I had a lisp, so I’d be like, ‘Ask Tham. He’th the exthpert.’” She says, mimicking a line from the movie.

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“It’s just terrible. I couldn’t touch anything and there is blood all over me, and it’s drying and I was trapped in my own body nightmare. You don’t really realize that when you go into it. So now when I read scripts, ever since then, I’m very like, ‘What does that exactly mean for the physical torture I will be experiencing through the duration of this?’ Let’s take a step back and just really look at this more closely,” she laughs.

Pain and gain

Isabelle is funny – like Ginger, she has a dark sense of humor and though we genuinely get the sense that the shoot was traumatic (“We were all fucking ill and we were shooting nights for about three weeks in a row, so you do not see daylight. You lose your mind. It wasn’t quite Apocalypse Now, but it felt like that to me when I was 17.”), she’s got great stories. Like the time she gave herself a concussion…

“There’s a scene where I slam my head on a desk and I was like, ‘Ginger probably really slammed her head on the desk.’ So I really did it a bunch of times and then woke up the next day with a fucking full on concussion headache. They had a doctor come in because I was fucked. He gave me Tylenol T3s and I took them on an empty stomach. I’m vomiting on set and they’re holding the roll, and I’ve got a bucket I’m puking into. And then immediately I had to do the slow motion walk down the hall scene. I was so fucked they had to put tape on the floor. I couldn’t walk in a straight line. I’m so mad every time I see that. I’m like ‘Fuck, you only get so many slow motion walking down the hallway looking cool and hot in your whole career, and you really fucked this one.’”

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Of course, it doesn’t play that way on screen. It’s a key moment in the movie and even 20 years on, Ginger’s look still stands out. Costume designer Lea Carlson put together her outfits from thrift stores to create a kind of indie/goth cool with spot on accessories for an aesthetic that matched Ginger’s newly awakened give-no-fucks vibe.

“When that infection hits and she’s got that fucking attitude, it’s like, don’t we all wish we could just walk around with that attitude like a hero?” says Isabelle.

She says she can watch the movie now and enjoy it, though she couldn’t for a while.

”I haven’t seen it in 15 years because I tend to not revisit my most awkward moments on film as a teenager,” she laughs. But she now speaks fondly of this “wonderful sisterly love story.”

Ginger and B

She and co-star Perkins had known each other “forever” before filming began, having even been born in the same hospital and gone to the same elementary school so they auditioned for Ginger Snaps together. Perkins as the younger Brigitte (even though Isabelle is actually four years younger than Perkins) is sympathetic, awkward, vulnerable, and eventually heroic and there’s an obvious chemistry between the two. Isabelle recalls how between one of the auditions and the first time director John Fawcett came out to meet them Emily had shaved her head.

”I was like, ‘What are you doing? You’ve fucked this for us!’, I didn’t even recognize her in the room. And then thank God, we got the part. And that’s why she’s wearing this wig, this very offensive wig throughout the film…”

Why did she shave her head during casting for this movie? We can’t not ask…

“I don’t know. I don’t know. She was having a moment. She’s a very smart, progressive woman, and she was feeling her oats,” Isabelle laughs.

Despite the traumas of the prosthetics and the shoot, Isabelle has clear affection for the movie and a character who rings incredibly true even 20 years later, largely because of her authentic performance “It connects still to this day with people who weren’t even born when it came out. And that’s always shocking to me,” she says.

So what would today’s Katharine Isabelle tell her 17 year old self, 20 years ago?

“Oh, God. Fucking suck it up, you whiny bitch.” she says, all wolf-Ginger before swapping back to pre-transformation Ginger. “No, I would be like, ‘Yo, this is good, and you’re going to be okay. You’re gonna be good, and you’re not going to hate yourself as much as you think you do. And eventually, in 17 years, you’ll be able to watch this without having a total meltdown about how obviously terrible and insecure you are.”

She pauses.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

“Isn’t that what everyone says to themselves 20 years ago? ‘You’ll be okay, don’t be so insecure, believe in yourself, you got this?’ I think that’s what everyone would say to their younger self. Also, ask for more money.”

The post How Ginger Snaps Explored the Subversive Horror of Womanhood appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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the-diagnosis-archive · 4 years

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Appendicitis

Appendicitis is an inflammation of the appendix, a finger-shaped pouch about 5 to 10cm (2 to 4 inches) long that projects from your colon on the lower right side of your abdomen. It's a medical emergency that almost always requires surgery as soon as possible to remove the appendix. Luckily, you can live just fine without it. Appendicitis causes pain in your lower right abdomen. However, in most people, pain begins around the navel and then moves. As inflammation worsens, appendicitis pain typically increases and eventually becomes severe.

Although anyone can develop appendicitis, most often it occurs in people between the ages of 10 and 30. It most commonly occurs in the second decade of life. Standard treatment is surgical removal of the appendix. Nobody knows exactly what the appendix does, but removing it is not harmful. The exact role of the appendix is not clear. It may be an area that hosts friendly bacteria, which help digestion and fight infection. It may also be related to the immune system and influence the body’s ability to fight off infection. More than 250,000 appendectomies (removal of the appendix) are performed in the United States each year.

If left untreated, appendicitis can cause your appendix to burst. This can cause bacteria to spill into your abdominal cavity, which can be serious and sometimes fatal.

Causes:

In many cases, the exact cause of appendicitis is unknown. Experts believe it develops when part of the appendix becomes obstructed, or blocked.

Many things can potentially block your appendix, including a buildup of hardened stool, enlarged lymphoid follicles, intestinal worms, traumatic injury or a foreign body (something inside you that isn’t supposed to be there), or cancer. Blockage may also result from infection, since the appendix can swell in response to any infection in the body. When your appendix becomes blocked, bacteria can multiply inside it. This can lead to the formation of pus and swelling, which can cause painful pressure in your abdomen.

As the causes of appendicitis are not fully understood, there's no guaranteed way of preventing it. If the obstruction causes inflammation and swelling, it could lead to increased pressure within the appendix, which may then burst.

Symptoms:

What Are the Symptoms of Appendicitis?

The classic symptoms of appendicitis include:

A temperature between 99° and 102° Fahrenheit

Abdominal bloating

Appendicitis pain may start off as mild cramping. It often

being sick

Constipation or diarrhea

feeling sick (nausea)

Flatulence

inability to pass gas (break wind)

indigestion

loss of appetite

low-grade fever and chills

Low-grade fever that may worsen as the illness progresses

Nausea and vomiting soon after belly pain begins

Pain that worsens if you cough, walk or make other jarring movements

painful coughing or sneezing

progressively worsening pain

stomach swelling

Sudden pain that begins around your navel and often shifts to your lower right abdomen

Sudden pain that begins on the right side of the lower abdomen

However, these symptoms appear in only 50 percent of cases. Some patients may experience symptoms such as stomach pain very slightly or not at all. Others may have less common symptoms.

Other less common symptoms of appendicitis include:

Dull or sharp pain anywhere in your upper or lower belly, back, or rear end

Painful or difficult peeing

Vomiting before your belly pain starts

Severe cramps

Constipation or diarrhea with gas

If you have any of these symptoms, see a doctor right away. Timely diagnosis and treatment are important. Don’t eat, drink, or use any pain remedies, antacids, laxatives, or heating pads.

The site of your pain may vary, depending on your age and the position of your appendix. When you're pregnant, the pain may seem to come from your upper abdomen because your appendix is higher during pregnancy. Appendicitis typically starts with a pain in the middle of your tummy (abdomen) that may come and go.

Within hours, the pain travels to your lower right-hand side, where the appendix is usually located, and becomes constant and severe.

Appendicitis in kids

An estimated 70,000 children experience appendicitis every year in the United States. In children and teenagers, appendicitis often causes a stomachache near the navel. This pain may eventually become more severe and move to the lower right side of your child’s abdomen. They may also:

lose their appetite

develop a fever

feel nauseous

vomit

Children and infants may not experience pain in one specific area. There may be tenderness throughout the body, or there may be no pain. Children and infants may have less frequent or no bowel movements. If diarrhea occurs, this may be a symptom of another illness. While children and infants may not experience precise pain as older patients do, research suggests that abdominal pain is still the most common symptom of appendicitis symptom for this age group.

Symptoms in older adults and during pregnancy

Older adults and pregnant people may also experience different symptoms. The stomach pain may be less severe and less specific. Possible symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and fever. During pregnancy, the pain may shift upward toward the upper right quadrant after the first trimester. There may also be some back or flank pain.

If there is stomach pain, this may result from another condition.

Acute appendicitis

Acute appendicitis is a severe and sudden case of appendicitis. The symptoms tend to develop quickly over the course of one to two days. It requires immediate medical treatment. If left untreated, it can cause your appendix to rupture. This can be a serious and even fatal complication. Acute appendicitis is more common than chronic appendicitis.

Chronic appendicitis

Chronic appendicitis is less common than acute appendicitis. In chronic cases of appendicitis, the symptoms may be relatively mild. They may disappear before reappearing again over a period of weeks, months, or even years. This type of appendicitis can be challenging to diagnose. Sometimes, it’s not diagnosed until it develops into acute appendicitis. Chronic appendicitis can be dangerous.

Diagnosis:

To help diagnose appendicitis, your doctor will likely take a history of your signs and symptoms and examine your abdomen. Tests and procedures used to diagnose appendicitis include a physical exam to assess your pain. Your doctor may apply gentle pressure on the painful area. When the pressure is suddenly released, appendicitis pain will often feel worse, signaling that the adjacent peritoneum is inflamed.

Your doctor may also look for abdominal rigidity and a tendency for you to stiffen your abdominal muscles in response to pressure over the inflamed appendix (guarding). Your doctor may use a lubricated, gloved finger to examine your lower rectum (digital rectal exam). Women of childbearing age may be given a pelvic exam to check for possible gynecological problems that could be causing the pain.

The patient will be asked to provide details about what symptoms they are experiencing, how severely, and for how long. Reviewing the patient’s medical history. To rule out other potential health issues, the doctor will want to know details about the patient’s medical history. That include:

any other medical conditions or surgeries the patient has or has had in the past

whether the patient takes any medications or supplements

whether the patient drinks alcohol or takes any recreational drugs

Doing a physical exam

Depending on the results of your physical exam, your doctor may order one or more tests to check for signs of appendicitis or rule out other potential causes of your symptoms. If your symptoms are not typical, further tests may be needed to confirm the diagnosis and rule out other conditions. It can sometimes take a while to get the test results. Your surgeon may recommend a laparoscopy to examine your appendix and pelvic organs if the diagnosis is still uncertain.

abdominal CT scan

abdominal MRI scan

abdominal ultrasound

abdominal X-ray

Blood test to see whether your body is fighting an infection

Examination of your abdomen to look for inflammation

pregnancy test for women

Rectal exam

ultrasound scan to see if the appendix is swollen

urine tests, to identify a kidney or bladder infection

If a doctor is unsure whether you have appendicitis, they may recommend waiting up to 24 hours to see if your symptoms improve, stay the same or get worse. Diagnosing appendicitis can be tricky. Symptoms are often unclear or similar to those of other illnesses, including gallbladder problems, bladder or urinary tract infection, Crohn's disease, gastritis, kidney stones, intestinal infection, and ovary problems. If they suspect your appendix has burst, you'll be sent to hospital immediately for treatment. Removing the appendix is usually recommended if appendicitis is suspected, rather than risk it bursting. This means some people will have their appendix removed even though it's eventually found to be normal.

Treatment:

Appendicitis treatment usually involves surgery to remove the inflamed appendix. Before surgery you may be given a dose of antibiotics to treat infection.

Surgery to remove the appendix (appendectomy)

Appendectomy can be performed as open surgery using one abdominal incision about 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) long (laparotomy). Or the surgery can be done through a few small abdominal incisions (laparoscopic surgery). During a laparoscopic appendectomy, the surgeon inserts special surgical tools and a video camera into your abdomen to remove your appendix. In general, laparoscopic surgery allows you to recover faster and heal with less pain and scarring. It may be better for older adults and people with obesity. But laparoscopic surgery isn't appropriate for everyone. If your appendix has ruptured and infection has spread beyond the appendix or you have an abscess, you may need an open appendectomy, which allows your surgeon to clean the abdominal cavity. Like any surgery, there are some risks associated with appendectomy. However, the risks of appendectomy are smaller than the risks of untreated appendicitis. Expect to spend one or two days in the hospital after your appendectomy.

If your child develops symptoms of appendicitis, contact their doctor right away. Treatment normally begins with antibiotics and intravenous fluid. Some mild cases of appendicitis can be treated completely with fluids and antibiotics.

Draining an abscess before appendix surgery

In rare cases, appendicitis may get better without surgery. If you have an abscess that hasn’t ruptured, your doctor may treat the abscess before you undergo surgery. To start, they will give you antibiotics. Then they will use a needle to drain the abscess of pus. Or if your appendix has burst and an abscess has formed around it, the abscess may be drained by placing a tube through your skin into the abscess. Appendectomy can be performed several weeks later after controlling the infection. Depending on your condition, your doctor’s recommended treatment plan for appendicitis may include one or more of the following:

needle drainage or surgery to drain an abscess

antibiotics

pain relievers

IV fluids

liquid diet

The most common next step is surgery, known as an appendectomy. Removing the appendix decreases the risk of it rupturing. Early treatment is important to reduce the risk of complications, which can lead to death.

Source: x x x x x x x

#appendicitis #bacterial infections #this stuff is killed by antibiotics #but take the full course

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outerspaceisbetterthannothing · 4 years

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I was just reading your anon message about periods and I just wanted to add a few things that I think may have been overlooked: While you are correct that most times pain, especially severe pain, associated with periods is the result of an underlying medical condition, there are a subset of women who experience cramps without any underlying conditions/diseases. These women typically experience a decrease in the amount of associated pain over time, but sometimes the pain persists (1/?)

Similarly, you are also correct in that exercise can be a great tool for some women (chronic conditions or otherwise) in managing and controlling cramping, however it works to varying degrees and is not effective for everyone. The anon was correct in noting that cramping is the result of contractions of uterine muscles to expel the lining of the uterus which it so nicely built up in anticipation of a baby that ultimately never came (2/?)

I'm unsure on what you mean when you say the abdominal muscles are overtoned? I'd love some clarification as I'm sure some women experience pain from a different source during menstruation. Lastly, the natural fluctuation of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone during menstruation & ovulation can cause some women to experience mood swings and while the majority of the time this can be well managed with diet and exercise, in some cases it may not fully negate the potential for swings (3/?)

Sorry last one (4/4) Although you are sort of hitting on a bit of truth in noting that mood swings should not be largely affecting your daily life. Typically if they are, as you said, it's indicative of a larger issue that could be addressed.

thanks to the anon for mostly agreeing with me. i’ll also add some shit.

one more (and the last, because i do believe that i’ve said more than enough on the topic) time:

feeling pain and mood swings is natural. but the fact that it’s natural doesn’t mean you should tolerate it in silence if it affects your normal everyday life. so if it does, go see your doc and check things just to find out why you feel pain so much. it can be nothing serious but although dishormonal things being mostly not very dangerous, it can influence your normal life and so it’s always better to check and be sure everything’s fine.

also note please, that feeling stronger pain during your puberty is also more natural, but with time it should decrease and you can help your body with it.

if you’re sure you’re okay and there’s no medical condition that should be adressed, just educate yourself on what can effect your health. there’s nothing wrong with it! knowing your body is very important for your life, imo. there are lots of sources online that can explain basic things, like stress, diet and habits influencing your periods pain.

here are some links from the top of the search

https://helloclue.com/articles/cycle-a-z/period-cramps-101-why-menstrual-cramps-and-pain-occur-and-how-to-relieve

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319579

https://time.com/4761733/yoga-pms-period-cramps/

here are two whole ass researches on the topic of diet and yoga influencing pain

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5963185/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4962262/

if you don’t wanna read, here’s in short: researches show that if you drink a lot of water, eat more healthily, eliminate big amounts of salt, fast carbohydrates, fat, soda and packeted juices (that have much more sugar in them than anything good) there’s an extremely high chance you’ll feel better during periods. also, stop smoking, don’t take a lot of caffeine, start exercising, little things, no one says you should be an Olympic athlete to feel better. the level of your stress is also one of the most common triggers.

here are some poses from yoga for when you feel period cramps

https://www.lunette.com/blogs/news/7-yoga-poses-to-help-ease-menstrual-pain

my favourite is Viparita Karani (number six), it brings better blood flow to your abdomen and relaxes muscles real quick (that’s what i meant under muscles being overtoned). they are fast and can be done every day in the morning, periods or not, and in a long run it will definitely make you feel better. taking a look at eastern systems like yoga in general can be benefitial, as it is a huge system with lots of tips on achieving mental health and physically helathy life style, like diets and stuff. you don’t need to become a faithful follower to exercise some parts of this system in your every day life. just try and maybe you’ll find something for yourself.

so, take care of yourself and remember that you’re not obliged to live in pain. i mean, cold or headaches are also natural, but everyone cures them. you can “cure” your pain, limit it to the point when it doesn’t influence your life. patriarchal world has been telling women they were born to suffer for so long that in modern times i see so many women agreeing on it silently, without asking any questions. and it breaks my heart.

love yourself. study your body. visit doctors regularly. learn how to help yourself.

live a happy painless life, darling girl. you fully deserve it.

#anon #periods talk #note please #if you disagree with my opinion please don't message me #i've spent years learning this things and i know for sure what i'm talking about #i won't reply on further messages because i do think i've said enough #i am a firm believer of painless life for women #so thank you for your opposite opinion you can post it on your blog #asks

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tidtrek2020 · 4 years

Text

My names Mary Tidbury, I’m 21 and I was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Antiphospholipid Syndrome when I was 14 years old. I’ve written my story; I really hope you all read it. Thank you in advance.

On July 20th, 2012, my 14th birthday, I started to get bad pains when I breathed/ sneezed/ yawned/ laughed. I was away with my nan on one of her bowls holidays and I had a go at playing. On the final night of the holiday I started getting these pains when I breathed in and me being a young just turned 14 healthy child surrounded by all these older people who had aches and pains of their own, I bit my tongue and smiled my way through the night. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I’ve told my mum and dad about these pains at this point, so mums booked me a Drs appointment and dad has told me there’s nothing wrong I’ve just pulled a muscle from playing bowls. At this point the pain has increased I’m only taking short breathes, I learnt how to not sneeze, yawn and definitely not laugh. I went to the doctors and one of the first things they said to me was “it could be lupus, but then again you’re too young for that so we won’t test for it”. I would just like to point out in this moment that Lupus can affect anyone of any age. However, It mainly effects women of childbearing ages from 15+. I was one year younger than that age. Anyway carrying on, when I went to bed I had to find a comfy position so I could breathe normally and every night I would wake up and not be able to get comfy again so I’d wander the landing whimpering and crying about being in so much pain but not wanting to disturb anyone but also wanting everyone to wake up and take this pain seriously, I ended up having to sleep sitting up in a corner leaning against a pillow, it was the only way I could fall back asleep. Fast forward again a couple of months to end of October, I think I’d been tested for pretty much everything possible except for lupus. They finally after almost 4 months decided to scan my lungs. To which they found multiple blood clots on my lungs and it was extremely serious. It was then that they did the lupus test and found that I had SLE and APS. I would just like to say at this point I was only aware of the SLE. I was immediately referred to see a rheumatology Dr and the haematology Dr; I was but on Hydroxychloroquin by my rheumatology Dr and Warfarin and Fragmin injections by the haematology clinic. For a good few weeks I was making daily trips to the haematology clinic to check my INR it then turned to weekly when my INR was put in a range of 2-3 and I was taken off of the Fragmin injections. The clots had finally gone away and I was back to full health but left with an illness that no one knew about and so I felt very isolated and alone. I would play down the symptoms I was experiencing daily as no one around me knew what it was like to live with a chronic illness. So, it was a very lonely period of my life.

In between 2012 and 2015 I started to fully get symptoms of lupus. I started to get bad joint pain, the worst of this was when I woke up one morning before school and I couldn’t move cos my hip was in so much pain. This does still happen occasionally, but I just need to take pain killers and it can usually help.

Moving on to the end 2015, I’d left secondary school and I was working as a horticultural apprentice at a garden centre. I had been put onto Rivaoxyban in replacement of Warfarin. I started to get twitching movements in my right arm, I thought nothing of it at first I carried on with my life as usually over the next few months and into 2016 the movement I was getting in my right arm was worse than ever I had no control over it and my speech started slurring and my right leg had started moving involuntarily. I was signed off work and was undergoing tests left right and centre to try and figure out what was wrong with me, at first they thought it was a stroke so I was referred to a neurologist where I underwent numerous MRI scans and CAT scans but everything was coming back clear. I went back to my rheumatology Dr and was told that I had something called the Chorea movement. This is a flare up of lupus, I was put on Quetiapine which is an antipsychotic drug, and this suppressed the part of my brain that was telling my body parts to move and my speech to slur. By June 2016, I was back to full health and back working again and was taken off the Quetiapine.

In this time also I was having double vision with my eyes. We think it was part of the chorea and I went to plenty of eye Drs but nothing. I still occasionally feel the pressure of it on my eyes, but it did slowly fade away in the end. But I’m still not 100% sure what that was as it was never confirmed.

Moving on to 2017, now this next part I literally just don’t talk about because I find it very embarrassing but to be honest it was one of the scariest months of my life. In July I had been put on Sertraline, the Antidepressant. I was at a very low time in my life, and this was helping. Moving on to September of that year, being completely honest I also have PCOS (polycystic ovaries syndrome) so I never know when my periods are going to come, and I usually go 2 months between them. So basically, I started my first period since going onto Sertraline at the beginning of September. To cut a long story short, I bled for 4 weeks constantly and extremely heavily. I remember my mum and dad were away for the 1st 2 weeks and it was when my mum came back that I told her that I was worried because it just didn’t seem to be stopping, at this point I was very tired and had very little energy. A week later it was still going on but me and my mum had way before planned to go pick my brother Stanley up from Paris where he had spent a year as a cast member in Disneyland. 2 days before this trip I was sent home from work as I just wasn’t ok and my manager (who is luckily my bestie Lucy) saw this. However, this didn’t stop me from going on this trip with my mum.

On Thursday 28th September me and mum travelled to Paris by car I pretty much slept the whole way, we got there late at night, so I basically just got out the car and then got into bed at the hotel and slept the whole night through. The next morning me and mum went off to spend the day at Disneyland Paris as Stanley could get us in for free, we went to Hollywood Studios where Stanley was and when he was on his break we went to queue to go on Crush’s Costa, we went through the backstage area and as we were 3rd in line I suddenly became really sick and dizzy. I turned to Stanley and I think I just looked at him ran back the way we came and threw up in the backstage area and went back outside to meet my mum. It was this moment I knew I seriously wasn’t ok. We carried on though and we stayed there for the entire day, I ended up in a wheelchair and I only went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride but all in all I still had a really great day being surrounded by the Disney magic. I can’t really remember the next day I had very little energy left and just know that we went shopping and I got the cosiest trackies and slippers.

On the Sunday we came back home. I have flashes of what happened in this journey and my mum has always told me it was the longest and scariest journey. We had to make a detour on our way home to drop Stanley off at Warwick where He was starting Uni, I remember just sleeping the entire way. I literally had no energy I was so tired and felt so ill. I remember having to get out of the car so that they could unpack all of Stanley’s stuff but then I carried on sleeping. I vaguely remember waking up when it was just me and mum in the car and saying, “don’t take me to A&E, just take me home I’ll just sleep it off”.

Next thing I know we’re at the JR, mums telling me to get out the car and go book myself in she’s just going to park. I didn’t make it to the reception, mum ended up finding me in the ladies bathroom. I can’t remember how long I was waiting in A&E for, but I remember just wanting to lay down and sleep. They kept on taking me into rooms and getting me to lie on the bed so they could review me and then send me back out to sit on the chairs back in the waiting room. The 3rd time they did this I remember just thinking fuck off and let me sleep, I closed my eyes and he was like ‘ok you can stay there’.

That night I was admitted to hospital and proceeded to have 2 blood transfusions, they immediately stopped my blood thinners and was taken off of Sertraline as they believed that this had interacted with the Rivaroxyban and caused this to happen. I was in there for around a weeks’ time until I started to feel a bit livelier. It took me around 3 weeks to fully recover. I was now completely off the Sertraline and they changed my blood thinners to Apixaban.

I’ve never said this to anyone, but this scarred me really badly and still does to this day. The fear I have whenever my period comes around and is really heavy. It stops me from doing anything, I panic constantly and for the week it goes on for my anxiety is sky high. I panic if it goes on for a little too long or if it doesn’t look to be slowing down. I remember the time I was literally knocking on deaths door and makes me really emotional every time I think about it.

On the 3rd January 2018, I was at work which at the time was in a restaurant so lots and lots of walking around and long hours. I was half way through a 12 hour shift just finished my lunch break and went back to work when I suddenly started to get cramp in my calf on my left leg, it would build up after I’d walked a while and I’d ignore it and it would eventually become unbearable and I had to stop what I was doing and wait for it to go.

This went on for 2 weeks before I was adamant that something was not right and I believed it was a blood clot, I’d had a previous clot, so I knew what it felt like. My mum took me to minor injuries in Abingdon and they refused to review me because I wasn’t injured. They booked me an emergency appointment with my GP, and we went straight there, I went in and I said to them I think I have a blood clot in my leg. They asked me several questions and did a Doppler test on my ankles to test if they could hear my pulse. They could. The Dr turned to me and said you haven’t got a blood clot we can hear your pulse fine; you’ve probably just got a sprain and should be fine in 8 weeks’ time. 8 weeks come and go and I’m still in absolute agony when I walk, I’ve been diagnosed with social anxiety anyway so social situations become non-existent because I became so terrified of having to tell people I needed to slow down or stop completely that I didn’t got out. I carried on working and bit my tongue and got on with it because that’s what you got to do! I went back to the Drs after 8 weeks as I was still getting cramp when I walked a short distance. I go through a Doppler test and they are now struggling to find my pulse in my left ankle. A week later I get a call from the Dr to say that they are referring me to the Vascular unit at the John Radcliffe. My appointment was booked for the 18th April but was cancelled and they had scheduled a new appointment in May. I couldn’t make this appointment as me and my eldest brother Will were going away for a month from the 10th May - 10th June to travel round Europe. I tried to get an earlier appointment so that I could be well for the trip, but this didn’t happen. The week before we went away, I went out for dinner with my parents and when I came home, I started to get a dead right leg and after about 20 minutes it finally went away. The next day at work I found that I was no longer getting cramp in my left leg, but I was getting it on my right. I carried on as I would as I was going to see a specialist after I got back. This trip was the best month of my life and despite being in agony I took plenty of codeine and powered through. I think this was the first time I didn’t let Lupus/APS flare up win (at the time I didn’t know it was a lupus thing but still) but usually I hole myself up and become very depressed (even more so than usual). But this time I was outside every single day and night and getting fresh air constantly. I got back on the 10th June and my appointment wasn’t scheduled until the 18th. Me and my sister Annie went to see Ed Sheeran at Wembley stadium on the 15th, coming out of that show I think it was the first time in the 6 months I’d been experiencing this pain that my sister actually realised how much agony I was in. We were walking back to the station I was powering through and pretending I was fine and speed walking; I just couldn’t do it I was on the verge of bursting into tears and sobbing and Annie looked over at me and she made us stop.

At my appointment with the consultant on the 18th he performed more Doppler tests and he came to the conclusion that I didn’t have a blood clot everything felt and sounded fine. He was going to set up a scan for me just so they could look at my veins and arteries, but he was 100% positive that the scan results would come back clear...

Fast forward to the 10th July, 3 days before I was due to have the scan me and my brother Stanley were going into Abingdon to do some shopping, we’d parked on the 3rd floor of the multi-storey car park. We got back to my car after walking up 3 flights of stairs and my right leg was fully cramped up, I sat in the car and said to my brother that we’re going to have to wait I need to let my leg to stop cramping. A couple of minutes turned to 5 and it still wasn’t going if anything it was getting worse. I’d gotten out the car tried walking it off, taken my shoe off but none of this worked, I was in complete agony I turned to Stanley and told him he would need to drive us home. I remember sitting in the passenger seat of the car with my eyes scrunched shut because I could feel tears coming but I just breathed through it, we finally got home and I hopped over to the sofa and as soon as I sat down I lead there and just remember letting out a huge wail of a cry and continued to cry my eyes out. I was in so much pain Stanley called my mum and dad and they came home from work. I remember thinking I can’t see an end to this pain, I was so scared, and I was even begging everyone to just make it stop. I was vomiting because of how much pain I was in.

The only way I can describe this pain is imagine getting cramp in your calf muscle, and imagine it not going and getting more and more painful, that’s what it was like.

My mum had rung 999 and an ambulance was on their way. They finally got there, and they ran some tests on me and took me away to the hospital. I can’t remember how long I was waiting in A&E before a Dr saw me but I know before they did I had a cat scan of my legs, I was wheeled into a room where the on call vascular Dr told me I had 3 clots in the arteries in my legs. One on my right groin, one behind my right knee and one on my left groin. I was being admitted to hospital and needed emergency surgery to take the one out of my right groin. The next morning, I was first on the table. My mum was stuck in traffic trying to get to the hospital and I was sat in my room with all these Drs and nurses coming in drawing on my leg about what they need to do. I remember being absolutely terrified that I wouldn’t wake up and that I’d die without telling my family how much I love them. This without a doubt was the most terrifying hour of my life. Not even 5 minutes before they take me down my mum walks through the door and although I was terrified of what was to come, I’ve never felt so much relief.

The surgery luckily went really well. Later, that day they do a few more scans on me so they can figure out where these clots have started. They did an echocardiogram on my heart and saw something there but couldn’t get a good look at it, so they decided to look at it with a camera. I was heavily sedated so I would fall asleep and they could stick a camera down my throat. Knowing my luck of course the meds wore off 5 minutes to quickly and I woke up whilst they still had the camera down my throat. I was a very panicked experience and I think my throat was cut up for about a week afterwards.

As a result of this scan they found a massive clot on my heart. At this point I was having infusions of heparin and was back on warfarin. Trying to get these clots gone.

I was in hospital for 16 days, one of which was my 20th Birthday. I spent 6 days in the vascular ward and 10 days in the heart centre before I was finally given the all clear to leave. This isn’t where this story ends though, I was still getting cramp in my right leg so In January 2019 I had minor surgery under local anaesthetic to sort out a narrowing in my artery behind my knee. I’ve also been left with scarring on my heart from the blood clot and will need to have my aortic valve replaced at some point in my life.

Once my right leg was sorted and the cramp was no more, I realised that my left leg still was cramping up. I went for more scans and it was confirmed I needed major surgery again to remove the last clot.

I went in on the 6th of November 2019 and was out by the 8th. Surgery went very well, I also can’t thank the nurse who was on every night I was there enough for how much she got me through, I was very distressed for the time I was there, and she was an absolute godsend to me!

I had a very tricky recovery from this op I was signed off for 2 months in total as my wound became infected.

I’m now happy to say that I’m fully recovered and in no pain.

I just want to say I know there are a lot of people who are worse off than me but this is my story and it’s fucking shit and has left me both mentally and physically scarred. The last 8 years have been incredibly hard but I’ve hopefully come out the other end of it now, but I still find the memories painful and writing this has left me in tears as for some stupid reason I feel like I’m attention seeking when I talk about all this stuff and I’m really panicking about putting this out there.

Anyway, thank you for reading...

Peace out ✌🏼

https://www.lupusuk.org.uk/

https://www.mind.org.uk/

https://www.aps-support.org.uk/

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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ask-hunterxhunter · 5 years

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Would the adultrio comfort their s/o during her period? If so how?

Illumi

He is notgood at this sort of thing… Not at all. At first, Illumi may even be confused depending on how your period affects you (mood changes, cramps, cravings, etc) and bequite clueless about it until you actually saythat you’re in that time of the month and not sick, being possessed or dying(though it can all feel quite similar). And knowing it won’t make him handle thesituation any better.

Oh, he willbuy you pads, give you whatever food you’re craving and if you want a massageor a heating pad, Illumi will do it without an issue. If you want more affection,he might be confused, but will cooperate if he is in the mood (don’t be surprised if his affections seem robotic. It is Illumi). But the matterof actual “comfort” is something different altogether: Sorry to tell you, butIllumi is that kind of moron who doesn’t get periods (and what absolute hellthey can be), so if you’re feeling like you’re being stabbed from the insideout with burning knives with a serious cramp, he may tilt his head to theside and ask why you’re acting like this, it can’t possibly be that bad, aren’t you just exaggerating?

Feel free totoss a vase/book/rock at his head. Not that you’ll hit him, but maybe it willteach him to be quiet.

Illumi is a proudguy at times, so there are low chances he will ask his mother for advice (and deepdown, he considers it a bit embarrassing), but if Kikyo notices what is going on,she might tell him some tips of what he should do anyway.

Hisoka

Do you need padsor painkillers? He buys them without a care. You have cravings? He is totallyokay with taking you out for eating, no matter what time it is. You need amassage? You don’t even need to ask. Seriously, Hisoka may not know much aboutperiods, but he is not at all bothered by them (or knows just enough), including having sex during it.Honestly, after everything he has done, it’s not some blood that is going to disturbhim.

Hisoka willpay attention to you during the first times as to learn how to better deal withit and what makes you feel better. You prefer to be alone or do you becomecuddlier than usual? Do your nerves get annoyed easily or your become sensitive?His behavior towards you will depend on how your period affects you. He may beuncertain with some stuff, such as mood changes that he doesn’t follow, but becauseHisoka does know better than to provoke a girl during this time, you’re safefrom stupid comments or jokes and if you say your cramps are painful as hell,he will take your word for it.

Withoutbreaking his “cool” exterior, he will give you extra care and attention. Youwant to spend the afternoon watching movies and cuddling? Hey, he’s got the popcorn.Others may not notice the change, but you will. However, don’t expect him tomiss a big fight for you. If it’s just some guy, then he might do it, but if it’sa fight he has been waiting for (such with Chrollo or even Gon), then no.

Chrollo

Knowing about something in theory and having to experience it are very, very different things and Chrollo is awareof it. His knowledge about periods is basic, mostly just the general “biological”aspect and a bit of what he has observed of the women from the Troupe (when their“condition” was obvious. Heck, the whole Troupe learned to not mess with them).

As such, truth is… Chrollo is the kind of man whofeels completely clueless about periods, so he will ask what he can do to makeyou feel better. All he knows is that you’re bothered (and in pain), and he hates that. Even if you are one of thelucky few who don’t get severe cramps, headaches, nausea or a sluggish feelthat makes your whole body heavy, Chrollo will still be worried.

He has noproblems buying food or painkillers (he will likely bring you some chocolate ifhe thinks it might help), but he will probably be a little embarrassed if youask him to buy pads or tampons. Oh, he will do it if it’s necessary (or if hecan’t ask Machi to do it for him) and you don’t have to worry about him buyingthe wrong brand. He won’t even seem to be embarrassed at the store, honestly.In the end, Chrollo’s main way of dealing with you in your period is making sureto take good care of you and giving some extra pampering

However, sexduring this time is a no-no. Look, he loves you, he wants you to feel better, this would disturb him a little (which is a surprise considering the things this guy does), so don’t bother to ask.

#hunterxhunter headcanon #headcanon #hxh headcanon #period #comfort #Illumi #Hisoka #Chrollo #Illumi Zoldyck #Periods are hell #kuroro #hxh

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bezoarcureforpoison · 5 years

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VANCOUVER—Canadian doctors and abortion care providers say a new anti-abortion film premiering in Canada on Friday misrepresents the facts about abortion.

Unplanned is based on a memoir by Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who became an anti-abortion advocate and now leads an organization that provides support for abortion care providers who want to “leave the abortion industry.”

Unplanned depicts a period in Johnson’s life when she personally accessed two abortions and rose up the ranks of Planned Parenthood, starting as a volunteer and eventually becoming the director of a clinic in Texas. The pivotal moment comes when she assists with an ultrasound-guided abortion and sees a fetus “twisting and fighting” away from the abortion instruments — a scene many health-care providers have condemned as unrealistic.

Several pro-choice organizations have spoken out about the potential dangers of the film.

The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada calls Unplanned “a dangerous piece of anti-abortion propaganda” containing “vicious falsehoods.” National Abortion Federation Canada Director Jill Doctoroff said she’s concerned that “it looks like a regular movie,” but “really it’s more propaganda.”

“It can be hard for people to distinguish between what’s really based on true facts and what’s been changed from reality,” Doctoroff said in an interview.

Johnson, however, maintains the film is accurate.

“While there may be a few abortion supporting doctors who state that the film is inaccurate, there are many other physicians who have publicly responded, stating that this is exactly what abortion looks like and that the film is entirely medically accurate,” Johnson said in a statement provided to Star Vancouver via email.

Read more: Anti-abortion movie ‘Unplanned’ set to screen in Canada amid protests, free speech arguments

Star Vancouver has viewed the film and fact-checked a few of its most questionable portrayals and claims about abortion, consulting with Abby Johnson and experts provided by the film’s PR team, as well as with prominent medical experts not affiliated with the film.

FACT CHECK:

The movie: In the first scene, an ultrasound is performed on a woman who is in the process of having an abortion. The 13-week fetus is depicted with a large head approximately 1/3 the length of its body, which has somewhat developed limbs and joints.

What the filmmakers say: Abby Johnson said this was normal growth and referred to a page on thebump.com, which stated a fetus would be “as big as a lemon.”

Fact check: Dr. Jen Gunter, a U.S.-based OBGYN with experience providing abortions, and author of the upcoming book The Vagina Bible, said that while it would be difficult to tell the age of the fetus by simply looking at an image, it was likely the fetus would be “more advanced” than 13 weeks.

“You’d have to know measurements ... in real life it’s really small, just a few centimetres,” she said.

The movie: The doctor insists on using an ultrasound as a guide while he performs an aspiration abortion. He pushes a catheter tube toward the fetus, and it squirms and flails away. The doctor says “They always move, that’s why I do it this way,” referring to the fetus attempting to evade the vacuum suction of the tube. The woman receiving the abortion appears to be in pain and is crying.

What the filmmakers say: The film’s team provided the Star Vancouver with a response from Dr. Kathi Aultman, a retired OB/Gyn and former abortion provider, who said that “such reactions by the fetus have been scientifically documented in numerous studies” and said the depiction of this abortion “was not sensationalized but very accurate for the gestational age and technique that was used.”

Aultman, a former abortion provider, is a devout Christian and anti-abortion advocate. In a November 2018 video interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Aultman compared abortion to murder, and said she is a “mass murderer” for having performed abortions. She said that she healed from her past wrongs with a counsellor who prayed with her and spoke in tongues.

Fact check: Gunter told Star Vancouver that this scene from the film was “100 per cent bullshit.”

“Fetuses are not capable of purposeful movement,” she said. “That’s not proven scientifically ... That’s just not a thing.”

She added that pain can vary depending on the patient, but that if someone was in a lot of pain during a procedure, doctors would stop and check in.

“Most people are not in a lot of pain with modern techniques,” Gunter said. “Some people might be more emotional, you can image how traumatic it might be for someone who has had a sexual assault, but we would stop if someone was in a lot of pain.”

The movie: Abby’s character in the film says she regrets her abortion. “Anger disappeared only to be faced with self loathing,” she says, and various depictions of women who had abortions throughout the film suggest that this is how people can expect to feel after having an abortion.

What the filmmakers say: “It’s one of the many feelings associated with having an abortion,” said Johnson in a statement.

Fact check: Women who have abortions have varying emotional responses, medical experts say. A 2017 peer-reviewed articlepublished in JAMA Psychiatry titled “Women’s Mental Health and Well-being 5 Years After Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion” studied 956 women over 5 years and concluded that while women who had abortions did present with adverse psychological outcomes, there was greater risk of those symptoms for women who were denied abortions.

These findings also do not support policies that restrict women’s access to abortion on the basis that abortion harms women’s mental health. Having worked in abortion care for ten years, Doctoroff said most clients are grateful for the professional and compassionate care they receive, a sentiment echoed by women who shared their abortion experiences with Star Vancouver.

The movie: In another scene, Abby takes the RU-486 pill, also known as the abortion pill. She is told that the cut off to take the pill is nine weeks.

Fact check: Gunter confirmed that nine or 10 weeks is the cut off for the abortion pill.

The movie: An hour after Abby takes the pill, she is shown screaming and stumbling for the bathroom, blood dripping from her legs while she vomits. She passes large clots and more blood into the tub. Abby says she spent “12 hours in agony” before the pain went away, and it was followed by “eight weeks of blood clots, eight weeks of excruciating cramps.”

What the filmmakers say: Johnson describes this experience as “very common.”

Fact check: Gunter said this depiction “wouldn’t be normal at all” for someone taking the abortion pill. While some bleeding does occur, Gunter said that “people aren’t sent home to bleed in the bathtub.”

However, she said pain levels can vary, and are usually dependent on how much pain a person has during their monthly period. “Some women have such painful periods that it’s worse than a heart attack ... Usually it’s like a really heavy, crampy period.”

The movie: In another scene, a clinic staff member tells Abby about the “products of conception,” or POC room, in which she says doctors keep the fetus parts from an abortion and must reassemble the baby parts to make sure “nothing is left in the patient.” She says there are usually 30 to 40 petri dishes of these fetus remains by the end of the day.

What the filmmakers say: Johnson says that abortion clinics must have a POC procedure. “The clinic staff needs to make sure that no parts of the fetus are left inside the woman because that can cause serious infection and other complications.”

Fact check: While she agreed that biological matter from abortions are referred to as “products of conception,” Gunter, who has performed abortions at U.S.-based hospitals, said this depiction wasn’t entirely accurate.

She said medical staff would examine the tissue to ensure it looked like “placental type tissue,” but it would never be done in another room — it would only be completed while the procedure was taking place. She said that the same would be done in any form of surgery to ensure that everything that needed to be removed from the patient was removed.

The movie: In a scene when Abby becomes a clinic director, she says “Part of my job was selling abortion and I was really good at it.” At an annual meeting, a Planned Parenthood manager says that “Each of your clinics are being assigned growth targets to double the number of elective procedures.” Later, the manager says “abortion pays your salary, it pays for everything.”

What the filmmakers say: Johnson refers to the story of Sue Thayer, a former Planned Parenthood staff member, who maintains there are quotas.

Fact check: “I would be surprised that anybody ever said we need to get abortion numbers up,” said Gunter.

The film depicts a U.S.-based Planned Parenthood clinic, so while abortion clinics may have different financial structures, experts say that the core principles would be the same.

“Aspiration abortions or medication abortions are part of out health care system — it’s not profitable in Canada. It’s something that we, as a tax base, invest in,” says Michelle Fortin, executive director of Options for Sexual Health.

She also said abortion is not profitable in the United States either.

Planned Parenthood in the U.S. is a non-profit organization. According to its 2017-2018 annual report 72 per cent of its operating budget comes from private donations, government health services reimbursements and grants.

The organization provides sex education and sexual and reproductive health care at clinics and lobbies governments for increased access to health care. Clinics also provide STI testing, birth control, cancer screening, abortions and more.

Cherise Seucharan is a Vancouver-based reporter covering crime and public safety. Follow her on Twitter: @CSeucharan

Tessa Vikander is a Vancouver-based reporter covering diversity, inequality and education. Follow her on Twitter: @tessavikander

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nerdswithpassion · 6 years

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PJO/HOO Headcanon

Annabeth Chase does have a super power /ability. She can communcate nonverbally through mental conversations with anyone she makes out with for a full 10 seconds or more. Percy and Annabeth originally thought they could do it because of their times in Tartarus, where she developed this ability after the Mark of Athena. But when Annabeth made out with Piper at Percy's 23rd birthday party (after drunken Percy had egged them on of course) she realized she could start hearing when Piper was thinking about her. And Piper thought about her quite a bit after that party. Don't get me wrong, they were still with their boyfriends. Jason had come out as bisexual to Piper (and everyone that night) and they had been closer than ever. Piper had been realizing she also was a little queer ever since that party. Let me explain what happened...

To confront Annabeth, and talk about her feelings with her closest pals, Piper organized a girls night/sleepover with the girls from the Seven + Reyna. They all dressed up and ended up having a lot of fun doing each other's makeup, playing board games (which Annabeth rocked at because of her newfound power). Somehow it seemed that Piper was doing especially well at the board games too! They played some taboo at the end, which turned out really easy for Piper and Annabeth! Reyna and Hazel were a bit shocked at how easily Piper was guessing the words when Annabeth had the card. They were all shocked honestly. Later, they all got into their pajamas and watched a new movie. They wanted to watch Spiderman : Homecoming, but Annabeth was pretty scared of the spiders. They decided against an old classic Tristan McLean movie, in favor of Deadpool 2. They all really enjoyed it, and Reyna laughed a lot during the movie! By the end of the movie, Hazel was asleep on the couch, and Reyna had drunk so much she was practically passed out. After giving Reyna some water and tucking her in bed in the master bedroom, Piper and Annabeth went to the other bedroom in the Manhattan apartment they had booked for girls night.

Annabeth knew, that this was the part of the night when her and Piper would talk about their boyfriends, update each other on all the gossip from Camp Half-Blood/Camp Jupiter, and talk about all the new projects Annabeth was working on. They did this at all their sleepovers. But the past month since the Percy's birthday party had felt odd. Her and Piper had started the become distant, but tonight things felt different. For the first time in forever, they felt in-sync. Annabeth had attributed that to the alcohol, but she really wasn't sure.

As they got ready for bed in their double bed bedroom, Piper got them some waters. They had drunk quite a bit at the beginning of the night, but the movie had really sobered them up. They were still feeling their connection though and decided to play one last game for the night. They decided to play truth or drink, but with the waters in an effort to finish sobering up before the end of the night. It wasn't too late, only about 1am since the girls (or should I say young women, at 22 and 21 years old respectively) started early that night. Annabeth felt a bit uneasy, but she was excited to share things again with her best friend of many years.

They started with camp gossip and work projects, after realizing that the boyfriend talk might be a little more serious. The two couples had recently gotten a lot closer since the night of Percy's party. Annabeth attributed Jason and Piper's closeness to be a result of Jason's coming out to everyone that night. He didn't want people to think he didn't like Piper any less because he liked guys too. That was her rationale. It made sense too, also because of the kiss. Annabeth had felt sparks that night kissing Piper for Percy's benefit, could Piper had felt something too?

After drinking a full glass of water each with the first two rounds of gossip, the conversation turned towards the boyfriends. Annabeth had to use the bathroom, so she excused herself. While washing her hands, she realized that her and Piper had subconsciously pushed their beds together for the night. She was feeling nervous, and didn't know what would happen between her and Piper! She locked the bathroom and sat down to think.

Meanwhile, Piper was using the other bathroom in the apartment to wash herself up. She had planned the night to hang out with all her girlfriends, but knew she needed to clear something up with Annabeth. The past month had felt really weird since Percy's party. After Jason came out to everyone as bi, she got much closer with her boyfriend. Later that week she came out as bisexual herself, but only in secrecy to Jason. The only other person who figured it out was Percy.

She thought back to a couple weeks ago, when Percy and Jason were joking around about their relationships in the Big House. Percy had joked about him being into more than one gender as well and they should've just made their weekly meetings a bisexuals only club. Jason and Piper were stunned- how did Percy know Piper was bisexual? Percy clarified he was coming out as pansexual, but that he had an inkling about Piper too. He loved his girlfriend, but he also realized he was also into other genders after his party and everything with Grover's girlfriend Juniper.

Typically the two power couples spent Sunday lunches together. But Annabeth was staying overnight at Mount Olympus to work on a project. She had missed Percy's big announcement. Piper smiled. She really liked Annabeth, and wondered if Percy knew if his girlfriend liked girls or not. Piper had enjoyed that kiss at Percy's party, but felt like Annabeth was totally turned off by it. She realized she had spent 20 minutes washing off her makeup while reminiscing! She quickly wiped off the rest of her face, and went to their bedroom to check on Annabeth. She wondered if Annabeth was worried.

Annabeth was worried. Annabeth was worried about her sexuality. She was worried about her relationship with Percy, who didn't know she liked girls. She was worried about Jason, who would be mad if he knew she was upset and confused about liking more than one gender. And worst of all, she was worried about Piper. She didn't know what Piper would say. Was she using the younger woman when Percy made them kiss at his party? Would Piper be disgusted by her sexuality? No of course not. But she was worried that Piper wouldn't want to be her friend anymore. Things had been weird for a while, and she worried most of all that her conciously drifting away from Piper and Jason would make them hate her.

This repeated thought was interrupted by a knock on the door. Piper was there! Piper loud whispered to Annabeth "Annabeth, are you okay!? It's almost 2:30, we should probably get to bed!" Annabeth thought for a second. Or a few, it felt like an eternity to make this decision. She replied softly "One sec, my period just started that's all." It was a lame excuse but what could she do?

Piper knew Annabeth was lying. There was no way her period had just started. They had in sync since the fall after the prophecy with Gaia. And it was only September 20th, their periods usually came in the middle of the months. Piper had just finished her period the night before, she figured Annabeth had too. But they again, she hadn't seen Annabeth in quite a while, so she might be telling the truth.

Piper knocked again. "Can I join you in the bathroom then? I wanted to talk to you about Percy." She DID want to talk to Annabeth about Percy, and the comments he had made at the Sunday lunch a couple weeks prior. But she also wanted to talk about their friendship, and their kiss from Percy's party. And how everything tonight seemed to be going so well! She heard Annabeth stand up and ask her to step away from the doorway.

Annabeth opened the door and quickly let Piper in. She felt bad about lying about her period, which she strangely had not gotten yet. Percy and her had made sure to use protection, and Annabeth was on the pill too, so nothing could happen there. But she realized it was a bit late this month. Piper quickly fished out a tampon from her back pocket, as she realized Annabeth didn't have one. "Do you still need this? I notice there's no blood anywhere."

Annabeth laughed nervously. "It's gonna come soon, the cramps have already started." She wasn't sure if her stomach pains were cramps or just nerves, but either way she thought it best to stay in the bathroom. She told Piper, and Piper agreed. They sat back down on the soft hotel towels Annabeth laid out for them. Piper asked her "So, why do you think it could be nerves?"

To be continued...

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Originally this was gonna be a paragraph, but turned into Piper-Annabeth fanfiction ❤️

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your-dietician · 3 years

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How Many Types of Depression Are There? — Talkspace

New Post has been published on https://depression-md.com/how-many-types-of-depression-are-there-talkspace/

How Many Types of Depression Are There? — Talkspace

How Many Types of Depression Are There?

There are many forms of depression. Different kinds of depression can have various symptoms, and some may even overlap or seem similar to others. It’s important to understand the various types of depression and the symptoms that are common to each if you think you may be depressed.

Most Common Forms of Depression

Though depression can come in many forms, the following are some of the most commonly experienced types.

Major depressive disorder (MDD)

Sometimes referred to as clinical depression, major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mood disorder where those affected typically have depressive symptoms almost all day, virtually every day. It’s important to note that just like a lot of mental health conditions, MDD is not situational. Even if you have a very full life with loving relationships and a great career you can be diagnosed with MDD.

So, what does depression feel like? Depression symptoms can occur for several weeks or even months. Sometimes MDD is one single episode, and other times it’s something people deal with for years or their entire life.

Major depressive disorder symptoms may include:

Difficulty sleeping

Sleeping excessively

Consistent and overwhelming worry or anxiety

Loss of appetite

Overeating

Difficulty concentrating

Feeling unable to make decisions

Feeling despondent

New or unexplained pain

Loss of interest in things you once enjoyed

Feeling worthless

Thoughts of self-harm

Thoughts of death or suicide

Persistent depressive disorder (PDD)

Persistent depressive disorder (PDD) was once commonly known as dysthymic disorder. This chronic depression lasts for two years or more. It typically won’t feel quite as debilitating as major depressive disorder, but it can still have a major impact on your life, relationships, and daily function. The severity of PDD can range from mild, to moderate, to severe depression.

Even with brief reprieves of symptoms (usually two months or less), symptoms typically return and can be quite disruptive. Because PDD symptoms can occur for such a long period, it’s not unusual for those with it to start feeling like they’re having regular behavior and thought patterns.

Symptoms of PDD or dysthymic disorder can include:

Feeling sad

Feeling angry

Feeling irritable

Feeling hopeless

Feelings of guilt

Having low self-esteem

Having a loss of interest in things you once enjoyed

Excessive sleeping

Having a hard time falling or staying asleep

General fatigue

Lack of energy or motivation

Change in appetite

Difficulty concentrating

Withdrawing from social activities

Bipolar disorder (previously referred to as manic depression)

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that results in large mood swings. Those with bipolar disorder will experience periods of mania (extreme highs) that often alternate with depressive periods (extreme lows).

There is an increased risk of suicide with bipolar disorder, and those who have the most severe form may experience delusions and hallucinations. Symptoms may differ, depending on if someone is having a manic or depressive episode.

Symptoms of a bipolar manic episode can include:

Unusually high levels of energy

Increased irritability

Feeling a lack of need for sleep

Grandiose thinking

Inflated sense of self-importance

Racing thoughts

Fast speech

Increased risky behavior, including with multiple sexual partners and activity

Self-destructive behavior

Feelings of euphoria

Symptoms of a bipolar depressive episode can include:

Feeling sad

Feeling empty

Sleeping too much

Feeling fatigued or a lack of energy

Withdrawal from social activities

Difficulty concentrating

Loss of interest in things you once enjoyed

Suicidal thoughts

Postpartum depression (PPD)

It’s clinically referred to as major depressive disorder with peripartum onset, and PPD is experienced in the weeks before and up to months after giving birth. It’s known as perinatal depression when the symptoms occur during pregnancy, and postpartum when they occur after birth. While it’s largely women who have PPD, some men also become depressed during this time.

Symptoms of PPD can include:

Anxiety

Sadness

Exhaustion

Anger

Rage

Difficulty bonding with the baby

Severe mood swings

Feeling inadequate

Appetite changes

Excessive worry about the baby’s health

Having a difficult time caring for yourself

Having a difficult time caring for the new baby

Thoughts of self harm or suicide

Thoughts of harming the baby

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is an extreme and severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). PMDD tends to have more psychological symptoms, whereas PMS on its own can have both psychological as well as physical symptoms. With PMDD, the psychological symptoms are more extreme, however. High emotions (similar to what you may experience with PMS) may present as a more intense sadness or depression that actually hinders daily functioning when you have PMDD.

PMDD is thought to be caused by hormonal changes (like PMS) but can become so severe that some women experience thoughts of suicide in some cases.

Symptoms of PMDD can include:

Headaches

Joint pain

Muscle pain

Cramps and bloating

Breast tenderness

Sadness

Irritability

Anger

Binge eating and/or food cravings

Extreme mood swings

Panic attacks

Anxiety

Sleep issues

Difficulty focusing

General lack of energy

Being overly self-critical

Thoughts of suicide

Depressive psychosis

Depressive psychosis, or depression with psychosis, occurs when someone with major depression experiences a loss of touch with reality. Delusions and hallucinations are common during depressive episodes. Depressive psychosis is clinically known as major depressive disorder with psychotic features.

For people who have depressive psychosis, these experiences are very realistic. They’re unable to recognize that what they think or feel is happening is not true or based in reality.

Symptoms of depressive psychosis can include any of the following, with the inclusion of delusions or hallucinations:

Exhaustion

Sleep disruption

Severe change in appetite

Loss in interest of things you once enjoyed

Feelings of worthlessness

Feelings of guilt

Being indecisive

Difficulty concentrating

Thoughts of death

Thoughts of suicide

Symptoms of psychosis can include:

Hallucinations involve hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling, or tasting things that aren’t real. For example, thinking someone is there when they aren’t or hearing voices that aren’t really there.

Delusions are when someone has thoughts or beliefs that are untrue or illogical.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

Also known as seasonal affective disorder, SAD is clinically known as major depressive disorder (MDD) with a seasonal pattern. People with SAD often find their depression correlates with weather and seasons. It’s most common during the winter months, and as the weather improves and spring begins, depressive symptoms may also improve as well.

SAD is thought to be related to a disturbance in the circadian rhythm of your body, and it’s more common in geographical regions further away from the equator. In extreme cases, SAD can even lead to thoughts of suicide.

Symptoms of SAD can include:

Feeling exhausted or needing more sleep

Withdrawing from social circles and activities

Weight gain

Feeling sad

Feeling hopeless

Feeling unworthy

Thoughts of suicide

Situational depression

Situational depression is clinically known as adjustment disorder with depressed mood. While many of the symptoms can look like major depressive disorder (MDD), situational depression is different because it’s brought on and experienced after a defined, specific stressful, or life-altering event.

Some common triggers of situational depression can include:

Diagnosis of a serious illness

Death of a friend or loved one

Divorce

Child custody issues

A life-threatening event

Abusive relationships

Legal troubles

Loss of a job

Financial stress

Feelings of grief are normal after any loss, but situational depression can result in interference with daily life.

Symptoms of situational depression can include:

Feeling sad

Feeling hopeless

Constant or frequent crying

Appetite changes

Anxiety

Sleep difficulty or lack of energy

Unexplained aches and pains

Extreme and chronic fatigue

Difficulty concentrating

Withdrawing from social activities and events

Atypical depression

Atypical depression, also known as depressive disorder with atypical features, strays from our normal understanding of depression. Its symptoms will temporarily go away in response to positive events in life. This common form of depression is exceptionally difficult for those who experience it because they’ll have periods where they don’t present with classically depressed symptoms.

Symptoms of atypical depression can include:

Sleeping more than normal

Bouts of insomnia

Negative body image

Increasingly being sensitive to rejection

Difficulty accepting criticism

Pains or aches

Excessive eating

Weight gain

Fatigue

Feeling pressure or weighed down

Having excessively reactive moods

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