#within-group variability

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Stages of Decomposition

The decomposition process occurs in several stages following death:

Pallor mortis

Algor mortis

Rigor mortis

Cadaveric spasm

Lividity

Putrefaction

Decomposition

Skeletonization

PALLOR MORTIS

The first stage of death.

Occurs once blood stops circulating in the body.

The cessation of an oxygenated blood flow to the capillaries beneath the skin causes the deceased to pale in appearance.

In non-Caucasians, the pallor may appear to develop an unusual hue; the skin will lose any natural lustre and appears more waxen.

Occurs quite quickly, within about 10 minutes after death.

ALGOR MORTIS

The cooling of the body after death.

The cooling process will be influenced by many factors, including the deceased’s clothing, or whether they are covered with bed linen such as blankets or duvets.

The body will typically cool to the ambient room temperature, but this alters if there is heating in the room or if there is a constant draught cooling the body.

RIGOR MORTIS

Can occur between 2 and 6 hours after death.

Factors including temperature can greatly affect this.

Caused by the muscles partially contracting, and the lack of aerobic respiration means that the muscles cannot relax from the contraction, leaving them tense, subsequently resulting in the stiffening we associate with rigor mortis.

This stage typically begins in the head, starting with the eyes, mouth, jaw and neck, and progresses right through the body.

The process is concluded approximately 12 hours after death (although, again, certain variables may occur) and lasts between 24 and 72 hours depending on circumstances.

Contrary to popular belief, rigor mortis is not a permanent state and is in fact reversed, with the muscles relaxing in the same order in which they initially stiffened.

The reversing process also takes approximately 12 hours, when the body returns to its un-contracted state.

It is possible to ‘break’ rigor mortis by manipulating and flexing the limbs. This is usually done by undertakers, pathologists or crime scene investigators who are attempting to examine or move a body – or by a murderer trying to hide their victim in the closet or the boot of a car.

CADAVERIC SPASM

A phenomenon that can be misinterpreted as rigor mortis.

The instantaneous stiffening of the body (most commonly the hands) following a traumatic death.

Unlike rigor mortis, the stiffening of the affected limb is permanent and is not reversed, causing the deceased to maintain the rigidity until such time as putrefaction causes breakdown of the particular muscle group.

Examples:

The deceased following an air crash were later discovered still clutching their seatbelts or arm rests in a final, desperate act of survival.

In a drowning case, the victim was discovered with grass from the riverbank still grasped in their hand.

Perhaps the most famous case of cadaveric spasm involves the rock band Nirvana’s lead singer, Kurt Cobain. Cobain reportedly committed suicide in April 1994. His body was discovered a few days after his death with a shotgun wound to the head, and tests revealed he had large traces of heroin in his system. He was reportedly discovered still clutching the gun in his left hand, due to cadaveric spasm. However, a great deal of controversy surrounds the veracity of this latter assumption, and indeed the cause of his death, with many people insisting and attempting to prove that he died as the result of foul play rather than suicide.

LIVIDITY

Also known as livor mortis, hypostasis, or suggillation.

Once blood can no longer circulate, it will gravitate towards the lowest point of the body.

Example: A supine body will display pinkish/purple patches of discoloration where the blood has settled in the back and along the thighs.

Occurs about 30 minutes after death, but will not necessarily be noticeable until at least 2 hours afterwards as the pooling process intensifies and becomes visible, finally peaking up to between 8 and 12 hours later.

Once it is complete, the lividity process cannot be reversed.

Therefore a body discovered lying on its side, but with staining evident in the back and shoulders, must have been moved at some point from what would have been a supine position at the time of death.

It is worth noting that if the body has had contact with the floor, a wall or other solid surface, lividity would not occur at the points of contact as the pressure would not allow the blood to seep through the capillaries and pool. The specific area of pressure will be the same colour as the rest of the body and a pattern of contact may well be evident.

PUTREFACTION

Derives from the Latin putrefacere, meaning ‘to make rotten’.

The body becomes rotten through the process known as autolysis, which is the liquefaction of bodily tissue and organs and the breakdown of proteins within the body due to the increased presence of bacteria.

The first visible sign is the discoloration of the skin in the area of the abdomen.

Bacteria released from the intestine cause the body to become bloated with a mixture of gases; over time these will leak out, and the smell will intensify to unbearable proportions.

Typically, this will attract flies that will lay eggs, which develop into maggots.

Bloating is most evident in the stomach area, genitals and face, which can become unrecognizable as the tongue and eyes are forced to protrude due to the pressure of the build-up of gases in the body.

At this stage, the body will also begin to lose hair.

The organs typically decompose in a particular order: starting with the stomach, followed by the intestines, heart, liver, brain, lungs, kidney, bladder and uterus/prostate.

Once all the gases have escaped the skin begins to turn black: this stage is called ‘black putrefaction’.

As with all the other stages of death so far, the rate of putrefaction depends on temperature and location. A body exposed to the air above ground will decompose more quickly than a body left in water or buried below ground.

During putrefaction, blistering of the skin and fermentation can also occur:

Fermentation - a type of mould that will grow on the surface of the body. This mould appears white, and is slimy or furry in texture. It also releases a very strong, unpleasant, cheesy smell.

As the putrefaction process comes to an end, fly and maggot activity will become less, which leads to the next stage.

DECOMPOSITION

The body is an organic substance comprising organisms that can be broken down by chemical decomposition.

If the body is outside, any remains that have not been scavenged or consumed by maggots will liquefy and seep into the surrounding soil.

Thus when the body decomposes it is effectively recycled and returned to nature.

SKELETONIZATION

The final stage of death is known as ‘dry decay’, when the cadaver has all but dried out: the soft tissue has all gone and only the skeleton remains.

If the cadaver is outside, not only is it exposed to the elements but it also becomes food for scavengers such as rats, crows or foxes.

As the remains are scavenged, the body parts become dispersed so it is not unusual to find skeletal remains some distance from where the body lay at the point of death.

The way in which skeletal remains are scattered in such cases is of interest to archaeologists, and is referred to as taphonomy.

Where a body has lain undiscovered at home for a period of time it has also been known for family pets, typically dogs, to feed on the body. The natural instinct of a pet is to attempt to arouse the deceased by licking them, but once it gets hungry, its survival instinct will take over and it will consider the body as little more than carrion: it will act with the same natural instinct as a scavenger in the wild, which will feed on any corpse, be it animal or human, if it is starving.

Obviously the number of pets, the body mass of the deceased and the time lapse before the body is discovered will influence to what extent it has been devoured.

For further research on the stages of decomposition and the factors that affect it, look up body farms. These are medical facilities where bodies are donated for research purposes so scientists can specifically observe the decomposition process. However, be aware that some of the images are quite graphic.

Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ Autopsy ⚜ Pain & Violence ⚜ Injuries Bereavement ⚜ Death & Sacrifice ⚜ Cheating Death ⚜ Death Conceptions

Writing Resources PDFs

[wondersimp]

He Tries

Unless it's for patrol, Jason Todd rarely leaves Crime Alley.

Most of your relationship together consists of home dates. Going out means a walk around the neighborhood, maybe a trip to the local Batburger if you're feeling adventurous. Anything beyond that is like pulling teeth with him.

He's not exactly a recluse, but his time after the Lazarus pit has made his paranoia reach the same levels as Bruce's and so he's rather stay within his home turf.

Despite the name, Crime Alley was his safe zone. It's where he grew up. He knows the people, the streets, has every nook and cranny there is to find memorized. Outside of the area? It's a minefield. Too many variables for him to account for.

He's already uncomfortable with how others view him. The fact that he's built like a tank alone makes him self-conscious, (We're not even getting into his autopsy scars.) Dealing with his family is stressful enough, so trying to interact with people he doesn't know or trust, and on top of unfamiliar territory? Fuck that, it's not worth the hassle. He'll stick to what he's familiar with, thank you very much.

Eventually, people in your social circle start to notice, and they have questions. Why is it so rare to see you two together at social gatherings? How come you always have to run errands on your own? When will they actually get to meet the guy?

His absence will be interpreted as his not caring, and they'll start to speculate the seemingly low-effort he puts into your relationship. Shouldn't he make more of an effort, plan for more elaborate dates? Maybe he's not as invested in the relationship. They might even hint that he's not worth the time, and it's time to cut your losses. Maybe find someone more dedicated and serious about pursuing a future together.

You promptly tell those people to go and fuck off.

Look, this man has been through hell and back. He's died and come back to life with a serious case of trauma as a souvenir. Before you, he never intended to step foot into civilian life again.

But for you? Oh God does he try.

You can tell when you catch him one morning psyching himself up to pick you up from a group hangout. You can tell in the way he finally agrees to try that cafe by your work and never lets go of your hand. His knuckles will be white from how hard he’s gripping the counter, but the one around your hand could not be more gentle. You can tell when he works up the courage to introduce you to Alfred, despite still having trouble with anything connected to his life in the Wayne family.

You definitely know when one day you find yourself required to attend a Wayne Gala for your job. Surrounded by Gotham's highest elites has you feeling out of place and absolutely terrified of making the slightest misstep, so you call your boyfriend for a pep talk. The second he clocks in on your anxiety, the man's on his way and arriving in minutes, a suit and tie haphazardly thrown on (fitting him WAY too well) and his hair wild from the drive up on his bike as he’s scanning the room for you.

This was the man that would rather take a crowbar to the knee then spend a night among Gotham's socialites. Not even Mr. Pennyworth himself could get him to go. Yet here he is with an arm around your waist as you navigate around the crowded ballroom. He'll be stiff as a board the entire time and speak only a handful of words in total to the other guests, but he never stops the slow circles he makes on your side with his thumb.

You know Jason has his personal demons, and things that were no big deal for others was an incredible struggle for him. You also knew that there was nothing he wouldn't fight through if it was for you. Whether it be an army or himself, he'd always continue to try.

For a life with you, he'd learn to live again.

And that was more then you could ever ask for.

A/n: Was it good? Was it bad? Heck if I know, but gotta show my love for Mr. Jason Todd somehow :P

[genderless-naper]

tattooed fingers

trafalgar law x alt!strawhat!reader

tw: slight choking, jealous law hehe

wc: 1.5k, lowercase intended !

a remark about his fingers might leave you feeling speechless

the crew was lively as usual traveling the seas on the sunny. everything was where it was meant to be except for one unknown variable: trafalgar law. the current alliance your captain accepted without much thought was questioned by all your crew mates. still they held hope in their captains decisions, and welcomed the unknown pirate on the ship. it was obvious he wasn’t much of an engager; especially when he gave blunt responses to any of the crew mates attempts of conversation.

instead he was an observer. specifically an observer of you. you stood out in the group of pirates. it was hard for him to avoid looking at you. your confident demeanor, your bold personality, and your style of clothes were all setting his attraction levels on an all time high.

he fought hard to push away the thought of your fishnets clinging to your thighs, and how he would rip them open to do unspeakable things to you. he tried to deny any sense of captivation, but when he sees your choker hugging your neck he becomes angered that it isn’t his hand choking you instead. his attempts to ignore you seemed impossible with the way your boots clanked against the deck boards. the strain it put on him to imagine how you two would sound with one of your legs held in the air and him in between.

at the end of the day it didn’t matter. you were a strawhat, so he did the best thing to make sure you stayed away from him.

he never responded to you. he never looked at you when you talked to him. he never addressed you when he talked to the group. he needed to make sure you didn’t get close to him so he wouldn’t fall for you more than he has. he buried his feelings inside him in hopes they would go away on their own.

during the day you decide to show off the new garter belt you were gifted to your crew. you were excited to finally open it up and try it on. the belt wrapped around your waist perfectly and connected with a section that hugged one of your thighs. you tightened it as you expressed your excitement to your crew. nico robin had gotten it for you knowing it would fit your wardrobe perfectly. your sense of style made her your biggest admirer (second to law). you thanked her with a big smile.

after cooping himself within the sunny the tattooed man surfaces to the deck solely for a refill of his coffee cup. during his coffee breaks he did his best to avoid you. he made the grave mistake of overhearing your conversation with nico robin about the garner belt. his eyes gazed over to your figure, and the leather belt wrapped around it. he couldn’t stop looking you up and down while fighting his feelings from resurfacing. he watched as you two laughed together effortlessly, and how she tighten the belt for you. she was dangerously close to you for his comfort.

after your laughing fit with the woman you finally saw law glaring down nico robin. after constant horrible interactions you’ve found yourself to heavily dislike the man standing near you. you crossed your arms as you spoke to him in annoyance, “can we help you? the kitchen is that way you caffeinated freak.” you pointed to the kitchen on the other side.

law snaps out of his thoughts. in an attempt to hide his emotions he responds without much thought, “so why exactly are you dressed so edgy?”

you rolled your eyes at the pure hypocrisy coming from him, “says the guy who has ‘death’ tattooed on his fingers on both hands. youre the most edgiest man i’ve ever met.”

law glances down at his fingers as a realization hits him. the reason he was so drawn to you was you two shared so many similarities. having nothing left to exchange with this man you turn back to nico robin and continue your conversation.

he spent the rest of the day trying to steal glances of you, but them just being ruined by you being so close to nico robin. he didn’t understand why you were so attached to her. if he couldnt have you then why should she?

he hated the way your conversations flowed so perfectly. how you could talk to her for hours and she would just admire you. he especially hated when you touched her arm while laughing at her joke. if he couldn’t experience those things when why could she?

it went on for the rest of the day. the two of you becoming closer and closer. the sharing of intimate platonic energy went well into the night as well.

the last thing that broke his patience completely was went she asked you if you’d like the stargaze with her. he looked at you in disbelief when you agreed excitedly. he expected you to reject the offer. a ting of jealousy crawled up his throat as you laid close to her to share a blanket. she pointed to the different constellations to show you.

“look there y/n” she points to the sky at a group of stars. you tried to follow her finger to the stars and she talks, “thats called the andromeda constellation.”

“robin i dont know what youre pointing at!” you pout slightly. nico robin takes a hold your face to help you look at the constellation properly as she connects the stars together, “do you see it now y/n?”

you nod fast, “its so pretty robin!”

the women smiled softly while starring at you, “its pretty just like you y/n.”

you blush slightly. before you had the chance to respond you hear footsteps approaching you both.

law had enough of seeing robin all over you. he could deal with you two talking and laughing together, but laying under the stars together while she called you pretty? thats where he drew the line.

he towered over you. your annoyance all starting to come back again from earlier in the day. you sat up ready to shoot him a sassy remark before you feel him grab your arm and pull you up. you try to tug your arm away, “let go of me trafalgar! what the hell do y-“

before you could process whats happening you find a blue bubble engulf you both. law activated his power to get you both away and somewhere more private.

he mumbled in annoyance not expecting you to hear, “i couldn’t stand watching her all over you like that.”

you raised a brow, “all over me? what are you talking about?? thats just how we are. not that its any if your business anyways!” you yank your arm back and cross it.

a fire lights in his eyes as he narrows them at you slowly, “so you’re both all over each other all the time..? are you serious y/n-ya?”

you were confused at his sudden acts. he was making you feel like you did something wrong. the memories of law ignoring you or being rude still fresh in your mind. you scoffed, “i don’t know what the hell you’re trying to say right now.”

law shot back without thinking, “i’m saying you need to stop that shit right now. i don’t want you cuddled up with someone watching the stars. i’m sick and tired of being in the background having to accept you be gifted stuff like this.” he loops a finger in the belt around your waist to pull you closer to him, “i like you too much for you to be tainted by these other people.”

you were shocked at the words coming out his mouth. he was probably just as shocked as you were, but the jealousy was overriding his chances of thinking logically. the thought of nico robin’s arm around your waist or the way she grabbed your face burned fresh in his mind. you pushed him away with annoyance setting back in, “all this caffeine is driving you insane.”

he shook his head, “you’re the one driving me insane y/n-ya” at this point he realized he couldn’t lock his thoughts away anymore. there was no going back, but did he really wanna go back when you stood in front of him looking so perfect?

he slowly raised his hand to your neck. he felt you tense as he brushes his fingertips against the skin above your choker. he stared at it with envy before he speaks in a commanding tone, “take this off.”

you hesitated to follow his instructions. you slowly open the clasp and take it off. the difference of having it off didn’t last long once it was replaced with law’s hand gripping your neck gently.

he smirked as he rubbed his thumb along a vein pressing on it slightly, “so what exactly were you saying about my tattooed fingers?”

[eelliotss]

— A Curse Between Us, part 2

Bound by a curse and centuries of longing, he scours the universe to reclaim the woman who once shared his soul, only to find her fractured by forgotten memories and a life that no longer includes him. As he fights to reignite their bond, you emerge— a black box of secrets and power capable of shattering the fragile balance of his kingdom and plan, a new variable that alters the balance of his life

“I was supposed to be the last of us,” he breathed.

Will she always be his fate, or will your introduction into the picture tip the balance of his destiny?

⚠️ Spoilers to Sylus’s myth. Reader is not MC, and in this story, Sylus is still a dragon.

word count: 3.2k

SLOW BURN

masterlist

previously:

“I was supposed to be the last of us,” he breathed, the words heavy with a mix of wonder and dread. The room felt smaller now, charged with an energy both of you have not felt in centuries. The air was pressing down on your lungs as adrenaline coursed through your body.

“This shouldn’t be possible,” you whispered. A frown quickly crawled up your face as you hurriedly turned away, dashing into the crowd. Before Sylus could react, a voice rang in his ear: “Sylus, can I use your card?” That small distraction was enough for him to lose you. Somewhat annoyed, he answered, “Don’t bother me with such trivial matters.”

In that moment, the Onichynus leader knew the balance of power had shifted.

This was no mere encounter. It was a collision of forces that would change everything.

◆◇◆─◆◇◆─◆◇◆

He stood motionless for a moment, his crimson eyes fixed on where she had been moments before. The energy she left behind lingered faintly, a tantalizing hum that refused to dissipate. It unsettled him. Another one of his kind? It was impossible. It had to be.

But he didn’t have time to entertain impossibilities.

Shaking off the unease clawing at the edges of his mind, Sylus turned his attention back to the voice ringing in his ear. “I’ll take this for a million,” she spoke, reminding him of the task at hand. Whatever Relia’s presence meant—whatever secrets she carried—would have to wait. There were more pressing matters to attend to. She was waiting for him.

“Five million.”

◆◇◆─◆◇◆─◆◇◆

The corridors of the auction were buzzing with activity, the hum of conversations and the clinking of glasses filling the air. Sylus navigated the crowd with ease, his towering figure parting the sea of attendees without effort. He caught sight of her near the center of the auction floor, standing amidst a group of bidders. The soft light of the chandeliers above bathed her in a warm glow, making her stand out even among the richly dressed crowd.

She was laughing. It was a rare sound, light and carefree, and it sent a pang through his chest. She was pretending, of course. That laugh was just part of the role she was playing—an act to keep the bidders’ attention away from him and the true purpose of their visit here. But even knowing that, it was enough to stir something deep within him.

Sylus stopped a few feet away, leaning casually against a nearby pillar as he watched her. She was radiant, even in her feigned joy. His jaw tightened. She shouldn’t have to do this. She shouldn’t have to risk herself for this mission. But she had insisted, as she always did, and he hadn’t been able to refuse her. Not when she looked at him with that fire in her eyes, that unyielding determination that reminded him so much of the girl he had fallen in love with.

But she wasn’t that girl anymore. Not yet.

Sylus approached MC just as a well-dressed man leaned in closer, his expression filled with thinly veiled intent.

“That pendant,” the man said, gesturing toward the delicate piece resting on her chest. “It’s extraordinary. I’d offer you a fortune for it, along with a dance, if you’d indulge me.”

MC’s smile was tight, polite, but before she could reply, Sylus stepped forward with the ease of someone who owned the entire room. His smile was sharp, cutting through the tension. “Its a gift from me,” he said smoothly, his crimson gaze locking onto the man. “And, as for the dance, I’m afraid she already owes me one.”

The man hesitated under Sylus’s piercing stare before chuckling nervously. “Ah, I see. My apologies, then.” He bowed slightly, stepping back before disappearing into the crowd.

MC turned to Sylus with an arched brow, her irritation barely masked. “He was about to offer me ten hightowers for a dance. What are you going to offer me?”

Sylus’s lips curved into a knowing smirk, his usual arrogance gleaming in his expression. “My charming company,” he quipped, his tone teasing.

“Now, stop wasting time. The aether core. Do you know where it is?” She sighed, her demeanor shifting back into sharp focus.

Sylus’s smirk deepened as he gestured toward the far end of the auction hall. “Don’t ask useless questions. They took the bait. Let’s hurry before things get chaotic.”

He led her through the building’s corridors and stairwells until they emerged onto the rooftop. The air was sharp and electric, crackling with the unstable energy of a protofield. A swirling vortex of power surrounded the rooftop’s center, where a large, jagged stone pulsed with erratic light.

Sylus’s expression remained calm as he gestured her forward. “After you,” he said, his voice tinged with amusement.

MC stepped closer, her focus fixed on the glowing stone. As she approached, the energy intensified, swirling into chaotic patterns. Sylus stayed close behind, his presence steady as he guided her through the unstable field.

The moment she activated the stone, the air split with a deafening screech. From within the vortex, a massive electric-type wanderer emerged—a bird-like monster with jagged wings crackling with raw energy. It spread its wings wide, arcs of lightning cascading into the night sky.

MC’s breath hitched, but Sylus’s voice cut through her fear. “Don’t worry,” he said, his tone low and reassuring. “We’ll handle it.”

The battle that followed was fierce. The wanderer was fast, its strikes relentless, but Sylus moved with precision, his chains coiling and striking with deadly accuracy. MC supported him, her movements deliberate as she worked to weaken the creature’s defenses. Finally, with a combined effort, the bird let out a final, piercing cry before collapsing into a burst of energy.

Amid the remains of the creature, the aether core sat gleaming faintly. MC approached it cautiously, her hand reaching out to claim it. The moment her fingers brushed against its surface, it glowed faintly before shattering into pieces.

“What…?” MC’s voice was filled with confusion as she stared at the fragments. “What… happened?”

Sylus remained silent for a moment before answering, his voice quiet but steady. “That’s what happens. The core breaks as soon as its power enters you.” He glanced at her briefly before turning his gaze upward, his expression distant.

The rooftop felt heavier now, the silence pressing down on them. Sylus’s eyes scanned the dark sky above, but his mind was elsewhere. This place—it wasn’t just a battlefield. The setting resembled his graveyard of memories, the place where it had happened. Where she had been tortured. Where she had driven the blade into him, ending their shared tragedy with her curse.

And now, she stood here again, her gaze filled with curiosity and confusion, with no recollection of what had transpired. Of what they had been.

He swallowed the surge of emotions rising within him, his voice low as he finally spoke. “Let’s go,” he said, turning away from the sky. “We’re done here.”

MC followed, unaware of the storm of regret and longing swirling within him.

◆◇◆─◆◇◆─◆◇◆

The journey back to Lincoln was uneventful for MC. He watched her departure from the shadowed balcony of one of his many hideouts in the N109 Zone, his crimson eyes fixed on the car as it disappeared into the distant haze of polluted skies. A part of him wanted to follow, to keep her within his reach, but he forced himself to stay. She was safer in Lincoln, far from the chaos that defined his domain.

But even with her gone, her presence lingered, clawing at him like a restless ghost. His fingers brushed against the red pin on his blazer as he leaned back against the cold metal railing. Memories of her—of their past—haunted him, as vivid as if they’d happened yesterday. He had been so close to her tonight, closer than he’d been in what felt like lifetimes, yet the distance between them felt greater than ever.

He pushed the thought aside, turning his mind toward the storm brewing in the N109 Zone. The auction’s aftermath had left ripples throughout the city, whispers of what had transpired spreading among its dangerous inhabitants. The acquisition of the Aether Core would draw attention, but Sylus knew how to handle such matters. What concerned him more was the unexpected element that had revealed itself during the auction.

You.

The memory of you lingered in his mind, your eyes and calm demeanor a stark contrast to the chaos around you. You weren’t just another player in the Zone’s intricate web of power struggles. You were something else entirely—a black box, a variable he hadn’t accounted for.

The N109 Zone was his domain, a place he had shaped and bent to his will. He knew every player, every hidden agenda, every unspoken alliance. And yet, you had slipped through his grasp, your presence unexpected and unaccounted for.

He tapped a button on the console embedded in his desk, summoning his second-in-command, Kieran. The door to his quarters hissed open moments later, and Kieran stepped inside, his crow mask reflecting the dim light in the room.

“You called?” Kieran asked, his tone casual but attentive.

Sylus turned from the document in his hands, the list of the auction’s attendees, his crimson eyes meeting Kieran’s. “I need information. On her.” He tossed the paper onto the table, a red circle highlighted one name on the list.

Kieran raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise breaking through his usual stoic demeanor. “The princess of the N109 Zone? Thought she wasn’t on your radar.”

“She is now,” Sylus said sharply. “I want everything—her movements, her alliances, her purpose here. And I want it yesterday.”

Kieran nodded, his expression turning serious. “Consider it done. But… if I may, why so suddenly?”

Sylus didn’t answer right away. His mind was already racing, piecing together the threads of a plan. “She’s an anomaly,” he said finally.

Kieran hesitated for a moment, then nodded again. “Understood. I’ll have a report for you within the day.”

As Kieran left, Sylus returned to the window, his gaze distant. The pendant in his hand grew warmer, its glow intensifying for a brief moment before fading again. It was a reminder of what he was fighting for, what he had sacrificed everything to protect.

◆◇◆─◆◇◆─◆◇◆

As expected of the right hand man of Onychinus’ leader, Kieran entered the boss’ office within a few hours, a stack of documents in his hands and a bemused expression on his face.

“Got something for you,” Kieran said, dropping the papers onto Sylus’s desk. “But, uh… don’t expect anything groundbreaking.”

Sylus arched an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued despite himself. “Go on.”

Kieran gestured to the papers. “Yn. Turns out, she’s exactly what you’d expect. The adopted daughter of Darian Graves, the second most influential man in the N109 zone. She was adopted when she was seven into power because of Grave’s inability to have kids despite years of trying, he boasted about how him finding her was destined, and showered her with anything a girl could dream of. She’s the true definition of daddy’s girl. Barely steps out of line, barely makes appearances except in her father’s place or companies her dad to events, keeps to herself most of the time. The only thing remotely interesting is that she doesn’t seem to care about the politics of the Zone. She’s more focused on… well, nothing, really. Just a quiet life under her father’s shadow.”

Sylus frowned, flipping through the documents. The information was mundane—locations you frequented, interactions with key figures, a few inconsequential purchases. Everything painted a picture of someone perfectly normal. Too normal. Well, as normal as the daughter of a black market business owner can be.

Kieran smirked, leaning against the wall. “Seems like you’re wasting your time on her. She’s as harmless as they come.”

Sylus didn’t respond immediately, his eyes scanning the pages with precision. Harmless. The word didn’t sit right with him. He’d felt the hum of her presence, the weight of something far more dangerous beneath the surface. This couldn’t be all there was to her.

His fingers paused on a photograph tucked among the papers—a candid shot of you walking through a crowded market, your expression calm and distant. Dark eyes, straight black hair, and an aura that seemed almost too composed. Sylus stared at the image for a long moment, his mind churning.

“Harmless,” Sylus murmured, his tone laced with doubt. “We’ll see about that.”

◆◇◆─◆◇◆─◆◇◆

It wasn’t long before the opportunity to learn more about you presented itself.

A week passed. The N109 Zone was as chaotic as ever, its underbelly teeming with activity. Sylus spent his days managing his organization, keeping the Zone’s delicate balance of power in check. Yet his thoughts kept drifting back to you. Your presence had disrupted the careful structure of his world and the reality he had always believed.

His chance came when one of his subordinates reported a gathering of high-ranking figures in the Zone. A private meeting, hosted by none other than Darian Grave, your father, second most powerful figure in the N109 Zone. The meeting itself wasn’t unusual; such gatherings happened often, as rulers of the Zone’s territories maneuvered for influence. What caught Sylus’s attention was the guest list: you were rumored to be attending.

Sylus decided to go, not as a participant but as an observer. He rarely attended these meetings, preferring to operate from the shadows, but this time, curiosity won out.

The meeting was held in a sprawling underground hall, its walls adorned with symbols of wealth and power. Sylus arrived unnoticed, his presence concealed as he watched the proceedings from a shadowed alcove. The room was filled with familiar faces—warlords, smugglers, and mercenaries, all vying either for dominance or a powerful ally in the Zone. Desire laced every part of the room, from people’s eyes to the air within. He was well too accustomed to those looks.

The ballroom was a masterpiece of excess and elegance, a stark contrast to the chaos of the N109 Zone outside its walls. High vaulted ceilings stretched above, their intricate carvings illuminated by chandeliers dripping with crystal shards that refracted light like fractured stars. The air was thick, almost suffocating, with the pungent scent of colognes—bold, sharp, and overbearing. It was the kind of smell that tried too hard to assert dominance, an attempt to mask insecurities and project an air of power. The notes were harsh, peppery, and metallic, layered with a faint undertone of sweat and stale cigars. It clung to the room like an invisible fog, mingling with the distant tang of industrial steel that seeped in from the Zone outside.

The floor, a gleaming expanse of black marble streaked with veins of gold, reflected the movement of the guests as they glided across it. Women in shimmering gowns of every jewel tone imaginable swirled past men in sharp suits adorned with subtle metallic accents. The soft swish of fabric and the click of polished shoes against the marble provided a rhythmic counterpoint to the hum of conversation and the occasional burst of laughter.

In one corner, a live string quartet played a hauntingly beautiful melody, their music weaving through the air like a silken thread. Each note rose and fell with precision, managing to carry over the noise of the crowd without feeling intrusive. The sound was accompanied by the faint clink of glasses as waiters moved deftly through the room, balancing trays of crystal flutes filled with golden, bubbling liquid.

And then you appeared.

You entered the hall with an air of quiet confidence, accompanying your father like a jewel that adorned him, your movements fluid and unhurried. You wore a sleek black gown that shimmered faintly in the dim light, your dark orbs scanning the room with practiced indifference. Your aura was subdued, almost hidden, but Sylus could still feel the faint hum of your power—a reminder of your true nature.

Your father stated a grand speech, thanking everyone for joining his annual ball. And thus, the game officially began. People scurried to those they thought would benefit them, greed and lust lacing the air they breath out. After all, this ball was one of the gatherings of the most powerful people in the N109 zone. Unsurprisingly, the crowd around your father and you was one of the largest, with people almost begging to be seen by Darian— the man only second to the notorious Onichinus leader. You didn’t speak much, content to let your father dominate the conversation. Yet your mere presence commanded attention. Sylus studied you intently, his mind working to piece together the puzzle you presented. Your calmness was unnerving, your lack of overt ambition unusual for someone in your position.

As the mingles drew out, you found a way to excuse yourself from your father’s side. You glided to a server nearby to grab a glass of something that, hopefully, could drown out some of the noice around you. The peace was short-lived.

“Miss Yn,” a man approached you. Of course you saw their eyes, the eyes of men brimmed with lust, eyeing you from head to toe. The need in their eyes— for your wealth, power, and body— sent shivers down your spine. Your gaze met his with a soft smile on your lips. “I’m Alex,” he introduced. He rambled on about his business, seemingly boasting about how competent he is. You simply listened with a polite curve on your lips, occasionally throwing in a chuckle at his flat jokes, if you could even call them one. You must’ve acted your part a bit too well, giving him the confidence to inch closer and placing a hand on the top of your waist. “I heard you do not have a partner tonight,” his voice dropped along with his gaze. “How about we step away from this crowd and… get to know each other better?”

Bile rose in your throat as his suggestion hung in the air. You shifted slightly, sliding out of his grasp with practiced ease. You shifted slightly, creating just enough space to remove his hand without making a scene. “I appreciate your… enthusiasm, Alex,” you said, your tone calm but edged with frost. “But I’m afraid I must decline.” He frowned, his smile faltering. “Come on,” he pressed, stepping closer again. “Don’t be like that. I can—” “You can leave,” you interrupted, your voice sharper now, cutting through his excuses. Your midnight eyes met his with an intensity that made him pause. “I’ve been polite, but my patience has limits. Don’t make me repeat myself.” Alex hesitated, his confidence wavering under the weight of your gaze. His hand twitched as if considering another move. “You’re done here,” you said, your voice dropping lower, almost a growl. “Walk away before you embarrass yourself further. You wouldn’t want me calling for my father, would you?” The flicker of fear in his eyes was brief, but it was enough. He stepped back, muttering an incoherent excuse before retreating into the crowd, his bravado shattered.

You exhaled softly, the tension in your muscles easing as you released your tail from its hold. Lifting the champagne glass to your lips, you took another sip, savoring the bitterness that lingered.

“Handling your admirers with grace, I see,” came a familiar voice from behind you.

You didn’t need to turn to know it was Sylus. He leaned casually against the nearest pillar, his crimson eyes gleaming with amusement. Your eyes met his without surprise. If you were startled by his sudden appearance, you didn’t show it.

“You’re not very subtle,” you said, your tone as calm as ever.

Sylus smirked, leaning casually against the wall. “And yet, you noticed me. Maybe I wanted to be found.”

You tilted your head, studying him with a faint hint of amusement. “Or maybe you’re just bad at hiding.”

The exchange was brief, but it was enough to confirm what Sylus had suspected. You weren’t just another player in the Zone’s power games. You were something else entirely—a force that could reshape the rules of the game itself.

And for the first time in a long time, Sylus found himself intrigued.

[hezenkossapologist]

Controversial opinion but I really like Taash’s depiction, as an autistic person who experiences all the things they talk about.

I know it’s not true for everyone but I AM a very stereotypical autistic person who you can go down the checklist of DSM5 and ICD10 (I was diagnosed via the ICD bc I am not USamerican) and tick off every box. They literally did that when they diagnosed me. The people in my family are all very stereotypical autistics with variable functioning and support needs: one of the things I really really liked about Taash’s relationship with their mum is that you can feel the intergenerational autism conflicts happening and causing such catastrophic communication issues!

And the reaction to Taash has frankly been a masterclass in demonstrating how people react cruelly and with no benefit of the doubt or grace for autistic people, especially people who have very strong stereotypical presentations (flat affect, bluntness, social impairment). I just left my autism support group today and we were talking about how people react to us, and it was all these different autistic people expressing that they have ALL experienced the exact kind of reaction Taash has gotten.

Like ofc the world finds Taash annoying, whiney, aggressive, rude, annoying, boring, repulsive; that’s literally how people like us are received everywhere, all of the time.

Do I have a long wishlist of disability studies texts that in a perfect world the DA team would all read before depicting disability, allowing them to think through the ways that disability is created and changed by the cultural context a person is encountered within? Ofc.

Is it also really satisfying to see this autistic-ass person living their life and having autistic struggles but also being able to function bc they have built a life that largely supports their needs instead of working against them? YEAH.

I have a long long long long long list of things I wish Veilguard had had the interest, opportunity, and freedom to do with DA. I was really disappointed by it, I won’t lie.

I’m also really excited to buy my 14 year old autistic queer family member this game, specifically because I think it will be transformative for them to meet Taash, someone who is so so like them, yes in their symptomology, and who is in a fantasy game.

Idk guys at a certain point complaining about a depiction of autism as too stereotypical is actually just complaining about autistic people like me and my family getting depicted!

[serpentface]

Four (relatively) distinct types of livestock guardian dogs in the Imperial Wardi region. (Left to right: hnorai dam, chin-tsimouna, dírgrahdain, and chin na Hittsanaedi)

Dog breeds in the modern sense of the word in which a dog is selected for highly specific physical traits and carefully bred to retain 'purity' is virtually nonexistent in this setting (and where similar practices occur, it's usually as an outlier situation surrounding a single dog rather than as a standard practice). Most working dogs first develop out of landraces via natural selection, and are bred according to their function above all else. Their forms are the results of natural pressures from their environments, the demands of their jobs, genetic isolation (or lack thereof), and often some degree of selectivity or preference for coloration or features.

These are the four types that occur within the region, all derived from a progenitor landrace guard dog (the last common ancestor of all four contemporary types probably existed about 950-1000 years before present). All share commonalities of a large size, rain-resistant hair, notably dense winter coats, a loud and deep bark, thick muzzles, and strongly sloping chests. They must be able to hold their own (usually through intimidation but occasionally in fights) against large predators that often physically outmatch them- lions, king hyena, hyenas, and wild dogs being most threatening to livestock. They also may have additional functions in dissuading theft and poaching of livestock by humans, and they may sometimes double as basic guard dogs of homes or villages.

Dogs here are bred almost entirely according to their function (you breed LGDs with LGDs, it doesn't usually matter if they look different or come from different stock), with the main exceptions being 'breeds' that are aspects of important cultural heritage or that have specific culturally/regionally preferred aesthetic traits. The chin-tsimouna is the most common of the three and is the result of minimally selective breeding (though some populations form unique strains or have a selective local status), while the other three are semi-isolated heritage types (the hnorai dam for some North Wardi groups, the dírgrahdain for most of the Hill Tribes, and the chin na Hittsanaedi among Ephenni Riverlanders).

---

Hnorai dam: Very rare in the contemporary, with undiluted animals of this stock surviving in some of the most isolated parts of the region's north. This type is distinct for typically having a somewhat stockier build than the others, solid coats, pointed ears, and a tail held upright and curved when relaxed. Most are solid white, gray, or black, and will often be assigned to horses of matching color. This is also the most 'basal' of the regional LGDs, a dog close to this in form (but probably not with solid coloration) was the common progenitor of all other livestock guardian breeds in the region. Variants on 'hnorai dam' are the common name, simply meaning 'guard dog' in the North Wardi language (as they are often used as village/household guards as well as livestock guardians).

Chin-tsimouna: This is the most ubiquitous type, occurring region-wide (and beyond) and used by a variety of peoples (throughout the core Imperial Wardi sphere and among the Cholemdinae, with some usage among the North Wardi, Hill Tribes, and Wogan). They have the most significant foreign ancestry (largely from Burri and Yuroma dogs) and most frequent 'crossbreedings' with feral populations. Due to these factors, the look of these dogs is highly variable (with the 'chin-tsimouna' name functionally being a catchall for any LGDs not of an otherwise specified type). There ARE some broad commonalities (beyond strictly the underlying features common to all these LGD types). The ears are rarely pointed, and usually are bent or lay flat. Fawn coloration with a melanistic mask is by far the most common, with white, gray, and black dogs coming in second (often semi-selectively bred or chosen to match the coats of their charges). Solid colored chin-tsimouna are very rare. There are numerous regional names for type-variants, but 'chin-tsimouna' is the most common descriptor for the overall type, meaning 'horse-dog' (in reference to their typical charges, who they uniquely live among).

Dírgrahdain: This is the native livestock guardian dog of the Highlands. They are the most physically distinctive from their counterparts, and their traits are among the most consistent (due to rarity of feral dog populations in their native range and their status in shared cultural heritage encouraging maintenance of their distinctive traits and discouraging crossbreeding). The most distinctive features are a dense mane, pointed ears, and tightly curled tail. An extended melanistic mask is highly common, and very pale 'evil eyes' are favored in this population, believed to be the most frightening to predators and evil spirits. The name dírgrahdain means 'liondog', mostly referring to their mane. [Extended dírgrahdain post here]

Chin na Hittsanaedi: This is the 'youngest' of the distinct types, and derives from a period of significant crossing between dírgrahdain and chin-tsimouna within the Ephenni riverlands (region south of the soutwestern Highlands, between and around the convergence of the Erubin and Nedachemi rivers) due to significant interaction and overlap of territory between the Ephenni and the West Rivers Hill Tribes under Imperial Burri occupation. The curled tail and pale eyes of the dírgrahdain is common in this population, though the pointed ears are rare and the 'mane' is less developed or absent. Most other traits are typical of the chin-tsimouna type. Dogs of this stock are mainly used in rural parts of the province of Ephennos, and their significance to aspects of modern era Ephenni cultural identity dissuades intentional breeding with both of their progenitor types. The name chin na Hittsanaedi means 'Riverlands dog' (more literally 'dog of the Riverlands').

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Reptilia - Ciconiiformes

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Our next order are the Ciconiiformes, which contain one family, Ciconiidae, commonly called “storks”.

Storks are superficially similar to the unrelated cranes and herons, with a long neck, bill, and legs, but they are more heavy-set. They have large bills, with sizes and shapes that vary between genera, adapted to their different diets. Storks usually hunt by wading in shallow water, but some will also stalk through grasslands. Most storks eat frogs, fish, insects, earthworms, small birds, and small mammals. Some are also scavengers of carrion. Storks live all over the world, except for the North and South Pole. They live in a variety of habitats, and can survive in drier environments than other waterbirds, but they are most diverse and common in the tropics. Many stork species are migratory, and soar on thermals to conserve energy.

Storks range from being solitary breeders through loose breeding associations, to fully colonial, nesting in colonies of a few pairs to thousands of pairs. Some colonies may include other species of storks, cormorants, herons, egrets, ibises, and/or pelicans. Storks use trees in a variety of habitats to breed including forests, cities, farmlands, and large wetlands. Their nests are often very large and may be used for many years, with the pair returning and building onto it each year. Most storks are generally monogamous, but some species exhibit regular extra-pair breeding. Both parents take care of the young.

Like most families of aquatic birds, storks seem to have arisen in the Palaeogene, around 40–50 million years ago, with living genera dating back to the Middle Miocene (about 15 mya).

Propaganda under the cut:

The characteristic feeding method of storks involves standing or walking in shallow water and holding the bill submerged in the water. When contact is made with prey the bill reflexively snaps shut in 25 milliseconds, one of the fastest reactions known in any vertebrate. The stork is also able to sense whether its bill is making contact with prey or an inanimate object within those 25 milliseconds, and it is still not known how they do this.

Openbills (genus Anastomus) are specially adapted to feed on freshwater molluscs, particularly apple snails. They feed in small groups, and sometimes African Openbills (Anastomus lamelligerus) (image 4) ride on the backs of hippos while foraging. Having caught a snail it will return to land or at least to the shallows to eat it. The fine tip of the bill of the openbills is used to open the snail, and its saliva has a narcotic effect, which causes the snail to relax and simplifies the process of extraction.

Various terms are used to refer to groups of storks, two frequently used ones being a “muster” of storks and a “phalanx” of storks.

The Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer) (image 2) is the largest stork, at a height of 152 cm (5 ft) tall and weight up to 8 kg (18 lb). With a wingspan of 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in), it joins the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) in having the widest wingspan of all living land birds.

Although it is sometimes reported that storks lack syrinxes and are mute, they do have syrinxes, and are capable of making some sounds, although they do not do so often. However, their syrinxes are "variably degenerate", and the syringeal membranes of some species are found between tracheal rings or cartilage, an unusual arrangement shared with the ovenbirds (family Furnariidae). Instead, storks mainly communicate by clattering their bills.

The two species in the genus Ephippiorhynchus are unique among storks for having colored sexual dimorphism. Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) (image 1) males have brown eyes and small yellow wattles, while the females have yellow eyes and no wattles. Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) males also have brown eyes while the females have yellow eyes.

Many ancient mythologies feature stories and legends involving storks. In Ancient Egypt, Saddle-billed Storks were seen as being amongst the most powerful animals and were used to represent the ba, the Ancient Egyptian conception of the soul, during the Old Kingdom.

Greek and Roman mythology portrays storks as models of parental devotion. Storks were thought to care for their aged parents, feeding them and even transporting them, and children's books depicted them as a model of filial values. The 3rd century Roman writer Aelian, noted in his De natura animalium that aged storks flew away to oceanic islands where they were transformed into humans as a reward for their loyalty towards their parents. The Greeks held that killing a stork could be punished with death.

According to European folklore, the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) (see gif above) is responsible for bringing babies to new parents. German folklore held that storks found babies in caves or marshes and brought them to households in a basket on their backs or held in their beaks. The babies would then be given to the mother or dropped down the chimney. Households would notify when they wanted children by placing sweets for the stork on the windowsill. Subsequently, the folklore has spread around the world to the Philippines and countries in South America. In Slavic mythology and pagan religion, storks were thought to carry unborn souls from Vyraj to Earth in spring and summer. This belief still persists in the modern folk culture of many Slavic countries, in the simplified child story that "storks bring children into the world".

[i-draws-dinosaurs]

Would any dromaeosaurs have likely had bald heads like turkey vultures?

It's certainly possible, and I'd go so far as to say quite likely!

We do have some fossil evidence for dromaeosaurs with feathered heads:

Image sources: Tianyuraptor, Sinornithosaurus, Daurlong, Microraptor.

As for the rest though, we don't have a clear fossil of a bald-headed dromaeosaur! To be certain, we'd probably need to find specific impressions of naked skin around the head, which to my knowledge has not been found yet.

The feathered fossils above belong to either small (right side) or medium-sized (left side) dromaeosaurs, so it indicates that any dromaeosaurs up to a Velociraptor-type size certainly could have had feathered heads.

That being said, the level of head feathering is very variable in modern birds even within the same group. Some vultures have bald heads which may help with cleaning their faces and heat regulation, but there's much wider variation than you might expect! Even just within the clade Aegypiinae, we've got:

Image sources: hooded, griffon, red-headed, lappet-faced, white-headed, cinereous.

There's a whole range from nearly full plumage to fully naked skin folds to Justin Timberlake Ramen Hair, and I'd say there's no reason to think that dromaeosaurs and other feathered dinosaurs couldn't have had the same level of variation between species!

It's the kinda situation where in the absence of direct evidence, I'd consider varying levels of head baldness in dromaeosaurs as pretty reasonable speculation! So here's a Deinonychus decked out with a variety of different styles that are within the realms of possibility:

And that's not even taking into account that in a lot of bald-headed birds that skin space is prime real estate for all sorts of flippy flappy dangly bits and colours and lumps and bumps.

So basically, it's not like we can point at any particular dromaeosaurs and be like "that one probably had a bald head", but unless there's contrary evidence I feel it's very likely there was a lot of variation in how feathery the head was!

[sonic-the-hedgehog-2006]

GUN's decryption unit has presence in Soleanna, with the head of the unit, Frances, seeking to enlist local analysts in the military. After stating the "thinking work" is probably not Shadow's cup of tea given his apparent disposition for action-heavy missions, Shadow desires to "prove her wrong" by applying for the division.

After successfully completing the logic puzzles that follow, Frances begs for Shadow to join her team as with the tests results she estimates his IQ to be "about 200."

In another town mission, a mathematician named Alfano claims to have "a higher IQ than the famous Einstein" and regards Shadow as someone who's "always using muscle, and not enough brain." When Shadow completes his set of mathematics puzzles, Alfano becomes surprised and admits Shadow's brain is shockingly impressive. This makes sense, as scholarly sources tend to estimate Einstein's IQ as ranging between 140-160 (though he never took an official test, despite having been alive during their standardization). This humorously creates a range in which Shadow's IQ could be even higher than Alfano's, assuming Alfano's IQ is not many deviations higher than the high-average for Einstein.

Despite a proven accuracy on an individual level with low variance even in decade long control groups, IQ is often questioned as a quantifiable measure of "general intelligence." It is a score meant to measure relative understanding of academia and not definitive understanding, and does not measure broader forms of intelligence such as sociability and adaptiveness to a shifting median—things Shadow has been shown to struggle with, an example being his often portrayed lack of proficiency with modern computers (as in The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and, to a lesser extent, Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)). That said, estimated proficiency in academia is regularly proven accurate based on IQ scoring above the median curve.

Shadow's IQ is over 6.5 deviations above the mean—a category often unnamed due to its rarity (though categorization is, again, often broad and inaccurate), and being within the 0.03 percentile (meaning Shadow's IQ range would be shared only by an estimated 2.4 million people on Earth). Worth noting is that—despite what could be assumed—medical studies show past instances of isolated memory loss don't affect a person's intelligence, general knowledge, awareness or attention span, but on occasion PTSD has been shown to cause decline in those categories listed (with no evidence of variability by the severity of trauma experienced).

The number for graduates specifically is difficult to find from scholarly sources, but students pursuing a PhD have an average IQ of 125. That said, and again, Shadow would still likely lack the general skills required to acquire such a degree in modern society.

[benito-flakes]

The regressive nature of sysmedicalism in regard to trauma survivors

Sysmedicalism is usually attributed to being directed towards endogenic systems in particular, but what happens when those beliefs are turned against the groups they wish to protect? Where does the line get drawn between the seemingly noble desire to stop misinformation and the outright witch-hunting of systems online? 

As a system who has relabeled their identity after years of self-discovery, I have engaged with sysmed rhetoric from the side of an endogenic system as well as from that of a traumagenic one. Unfortunately, I continue to find myself negatively impacted by its effects even now. Despite being the very thing that would be recognized affirmatively in the eyes of a sysmed, I worry I still am not good enough. 

This feeling of personal inadequacy is mixed with a sense of fear, a sinking dread of never fitting a diagnostic mold that will validate me in the eyes of my traumagenic peers. I have no reason to feel this way; I have a trauma history beginning in childhood and my therapist has affirmed the existence of both my system and the individual identities within. I have rushed after a CDD diagnosis to assuage my own fears when my treatment without one has yielded positive results regardless. 

Why do I continue to feel this way? A large part of it is how online communities handle system origins. I find that in attempting to protect traumagenic and/or disordered systems, the medicalized plural community has inadvertently left scars on their own members. When encountering the level of vitriol often directed at non-traumagenic, “non-valid” system types it becomes very easy to develop a mindset of fear. 

Sysmed rhetoric is inherently exclusionary. It promotes dichotomies fundamentally designed to separate: 

Individuals as “valid” vs “invalid” Experiences as objective truths vs experiences as subjective realities “Them” vs “us”  The truth, of course, is that individual experiences are widely variable even within a clinical environment. Diagnostic criteria serve as guidelines but cannot hope to fully encompass the range of structures that function within it.

The hyperfocus on these comparisons is of course problematic, but it is especially so in a community full of traumatized individuals. Knowing that you will be turned on for not fitting a mold, feeling a growing anxiety at presenting yourself in an inoffensive manner, never speaking, behaving, or acting out of line. The need to fawn and placate for fear of harassment and abuse is a perpetuation of trauma cycles that many of us have experienced firsthand. More drastic results of sysmedicalism–fake-claiming and targeted harassment–come from a place of pain; a need to exert control over perceived threats real or imaginary. 

We silence because we have been silenced. 

We tell others they are not good enough because we have been made to feel not good enough.

We hurt because we have been hurt. 

It is not my goal to attack or condemn others for feeling their feelings. What is my goal, however, is to invite plurals to approach one another more compassionately. Viewing my therapy process as personalized to my lived experiences has been incredibly healing when engaging with spaces that often push one-sided viewpoints. Trauma healing and mental health treatment is an individual, tailored process, and that is what we traumagenic plurals should be emphasizing. 

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Scientific Inquiry

Scientific Inquiry - a form of problem-solving and questioning that helps people come to a greater understanding of observable phenomena.

An understanding of this style of scientific reasoning forms the basis upon which the nature of science itself rests.

Once you become familiar with scientific inquiry, you can use it for specifically science-related study or as just one additional tool in your arsenal of critical thinking skills.

Core Elements of the Scientific Inquiry Process

From encouraging scientific questions to facilitating well-reasoned conclusions, the scientific inquiry process helps illuminate our understanding of the world. Here are 7 core elements to the scientific inquiry process:

Asking constant questions: At the center of both the scientific method and general scientific inquiry lies the ability to ask questions well. Make observations about a particularly interesting phenomenon and then pose questions about why such a thing happens. Let preexisting scientific theories guide your questioning, but keep in mind every theory continues to be just that—a theory—until scientific inquiry definitively proves or disproves it.

Testing your inferences: Scientific progress hinges on your ability to experiment and test inferences about evidence. To do so, you need to set up an independent variable (something you will use to test) and a dependent variable (the thing or things you are testing). Seeing how well your inferences or predictions match up with the reality of a given experiment is essential to scientific inquiry.

Making connections: As you make observations about a specific phenomenon, make connections with every other relevant topic you can remember from your past science lessons or research. Scientific knowledge is as much a result of old realizations as it is of new discoveries.

Seeking evidence: As you seek to understand the natural world, there’s no substitute for hard evidence. Collect data and gather evidence relentlessly throughout your scientific investigations. The more evidence you have to answer your initial questions, the more ironclad your ultimate case will be when you draw conclusions.

Classifying data correctly: Science is as much a process of data collection and classification as it is of asking and answering questions. This means knowing how to elucidate or graph out your discoveries in a way other people can understand. It also means using citations from other scientific journals and texts to bolster your ultimate argument as to why a particular phenomenon occurs.

Drawing conclusions: Eventually, you need to draw conclusions from the data you collect. After you’ve made an exhaustive study of your specific focus, use inductive reasoning to make sense of all the new evidence you’ve gathered. Scientific ideas are always malleable and never completely concrete—alternative explanations are always possible, and new evidence should lead to new questions and conclusions.

Sharing findings: Science is an innately group-centered discipline. The more people interpret data, the better chance there is to ensure there are no loopholes in new research. No one person’s understanding of science content is infinite, so it’s important to let other qualified people ask questions of your conclusions. Natural science is more of a never-ending collaborative process than one with a concrete point of termination.

Teaching science means ensuring learners understand how to conduct qualitative and inquiry-based learning.

Science teachers must utilize a pedagogy that foregrounds hypothesizing, experimenting, and drawing on other scientific knowledge in both theoretical and practical ways.

Educational research indicates that it can help students see the correlation between scientific inquiry and everyday life, whether in elementary school or high school.

This sort of analogization helps people understand that a scientific frame of thinking is quite intuitive when you observe it within more commonplace parameters.

As a simplistic example, imagine a student has a hard time understanding the effect of heat as an abstract force.

Allowing them to observe the degree to which bread burns at different temperatures in a toaster would help make the point clear in a more hands-on way.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andy L.

Published: Apr 14, 2024

It has now been just little under a week since the publication of the long anticipated NHS independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, the Cass Review.

The review recommends sweeping changes to child services in the NHS, not least the abandonment of what is known as the “affirmation model” and the associated use of puberty blockers and, later, cross-sex hormones. The evidence base could not support the use of such drastic treatments, and this approach was failing to address the complexities of health problems in such children.

Many trans advocacy groups appear to be cautiously welcoming these recommendations. However, there are many who are not and have quickly tried to condemn the review. Within almost hours, “press releases“, tweets and commentaries tried to rubbish the report and included statements that were simply not true. An angry letter from many “academics”, including Andrew Wakefield, has been published. These myths have been subsequently spreading like wildfire.

Here I wish to tackle some of those myths and misrepresentations.

-

Myth 1: 98% of all studies in this area were ignored

Fact

A comprehensive search was performed for all studies addressing the clinical questions under investigation, and over 100 were discovered. All these studies were evaluated for their quality and risk of bias. Only 2% of the studies met the criteria for the highest quality rating, but all high and medium quality (50%+) studies were further analysed to synthesise overall conclusions.

Explanation

The Cass Review aimed to base its recommendations on the comprehensive body of evidence available. While individual studies may demonstrate positive outcomes for the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in children, the quality of these studies may vary. Therefore, the review sought to assess not only the findings of each study but also the reliability of those findings.

Studies exhibit variability in quality. Quality impacts the reliability of any conclusions that can be drawn. Some may have small sample sizes, while others may involve cohorts that differ from the target patient population. For instance, if a study primarily involves men in their 30s, their experiences may differ significantly from those of teenage girls, who constitute the a primary patient group of interest. Numerous factors can contribute to poor study quality.

Bias is also a big factor. Many people view claims of a biased study as meaning the researchers had ideological or predetermined goals and so might misrepresent their work. That may be true. But that is not what bias means when we evaluate medical trials.

In this case we are interested in statistical bias. This is where the numbers can mislead us in some way. For example, if your study started with lots of patients but many dropped out then statistical bias may creep in as your drop-outs might be the ones with the worst experiences. Your study patients are not on average like all the possible patients.

If then we want to look at a lot papers to find out if a treatment works, we want to be sure that we pay much more attention to those papers that look like they may have less risk of bias or quality issues. The poor quality papers may have positive results that are due to poor study design or execution and not because the treatment works.

The Cass Review team commissioned researchers at York University to search for all relevant papers on childhood use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for treating “gender dysphoria”. The researchers then graded each paper by established methods to determine quality, and then disregarded all low quality papers to help ensure they did not mislead.

The Review states,

The systematic review on interventions to suppress puberty (Taylor et al: Puberty suppression) provides an update to the NICE review (2020a). It identified 50 studies looking at different aspects of gender-related, psychosocial, physiological and cognitive outcomes of puberty suppression. Quality was assessed on a standardised scale. There was one high quality study, 25 moderate quality studies and 24 low quality studies. The low quality studies were excluded from the synthesis of results.

As can be seen, the conclusions that were based on the synthesis of studies only rejected 24 out of 50 studies – less than half. The myth has arisen that the synthesis only included the one high quality study. That is simply untrue.

There were two such literature reviews: the other was for cross-sex hormones. This study found 19 out of 53 studies were low quality and so were not used in synthesis. Only one study was classed as high quality – the rest medium quality and so were used in the analysis.

12 cohort, 9 cross-sectional and 32 pre–post studies were included (n=53). One cohort study was high-quality. Other studies were moderate (n=33) and low-quality (n=19). Synthesis of high and moderate-quality studies showed consistent evidence demonstrating induction of puberty, although with varying feminising/masculinising effects. There was limited evidence regarding gender dysphoria, body satisfaction, psychosocial and cognitive outcomes, and fertility.

Again, it is myth that 98% of studies were discarded. The truth is that over a hundred studies were read and appraised. About half of them were graded to be of too poor quality to reliably include in a synthesis of all the evidence. if you include low quality evidence, your over-all conclusions can be at risk from results that are very unreliable. As they say – GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out.

Nonetheless, despite analysing the higher quality studies, there was no clear evidence that emerged that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones were safe and effective. The BMJ editorial summed this up perfectly,

One emerging criticism of the Cass review is that it set the methodological bar too high for research to be included in its analysis and discarded too many studies on the basis of quality. In fact, the reality is different: studies in gender medicine fall woefully short in terms of methodological rigour; the methodological bar for gender medicine studies was set too low, generating research findings that are therefore hard to interpret. The methodological quality of research matters because a drug efficacy study in humans with an inappropriate or no control group is a potential breach of research ethics. Offering treatments without an adequate understanding of benefits and harms is unethical. All of this matters even more when the treatments are not trivial; puberty blockers and hormone therapies are major, life altering interventions. Yet this inconclusive and unacceptable evidence base was used to inform influential clinical guidelines, such as those of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which themselves were cascaded into the development of subsequent guidelines internationally.

-

Myth 2: Cass recommended no Trans Healthcare for Under 25s

Fact

The Cass Review does not contain any recommendation or suggestion advocating for the withholding of transgender healthcare until the age of 25, nor does it propose a prohibition on individuals transitioning.

Explanation

This myth appears to be a misreading of one of the recommendations.

The Cass Review expressed concerns regarding the necessity for children to transition to adult service provision at the age of 18, a critical phase in their development and potential treatment. Children were deemed particularly vulnerable during this period, facing potential discontinuity of care as they transitioned to other clinics and care providers. Furthermore, the transition made follow-up of patients more challenging.

Cass then says,

Taking account of all the above issues, a follow-through service continuing up to age 25 would remove the need for transition at this vulnerable time and benefit both this younger population and the adult population. This will have the added benefit in the longer-term of also increasing the capacity of adult provision across the country as more gender services are established.

Cass want to set up continuity of service provision by ensure they remain within the same clinical setting and with the same care providers until they are 25. This says nothing about withdrawing any form of treatment that may be appropriate in the adult care pathway. Cass is explicit in saying her report is making no recommendations as to what that care should look like for over 18s.

It looks the myth has arisen from a bizarre misreading of the phrase “remove the need for transition”. Activists appear to think this means that there should be no “gender transition” whereas it is obvious this is referring to “care transition”.

-

Myth 3: Cass is demanding only Double Blind Randomised Controlled Trials be used as evidence in “Trans Healthcare”

Fact

While it is acknowledged that conducting double-blind randomized controlled trials (DBRCT) for puberty blockers in children would present significant ethical and practical challenges, the Cass Review does not advocate solely for the use of DBRCT trials in making treatment recommendations, nor does it mandate that future trials adhere strictly to such protocols. Rather, the review extensively discusses the necessity for appropriate trial designs that are both ethical and practical, emphasizing the importance of maintaining high methodological quality.

Explanation

Cass goes into great detail explaining the nature of clinical evidence and how that can vary in quality depending on the trial design and how it is implemented and analysed. She sets out why Double Blind Randomised Controlled Trials are the ‘gold standard’ as they minimise the risks of confounding factors misleading you and helping to understand cause and effect, for example. (See Explanatory Box 1 in the Report).

Doctors rely on evidence to guide treatment decisions, which can be discussed with patients to facilitate informed choices considering the known benefits and risks of proposed treatments.

Evidence can range from a doctor’s personal experience to more formal sources. For instance, a doctor may draw on their own extensive experience treating patients, known as ‘Expert Opinion.’ While valuable, this method isn’t foolproof, as historical inaccuracies in medical beliefs have shown.

Consulting other doctors’ experiences, especially if documented in published case reports, can offer additional insight. However, these reports have limitations, such as their inability to establish causality between treatment and outcome. For example, if a patient with a bad back improves after swimming, it’s uncertain whether swimming directly caused the improvement or if the back would have healed naturally.

Further up the hierarchy of clinical evidence are papers that examine cohorts of patients, typically involving multiple case studies with statistical analysis. While offering better evidence, they still have potential biases and limitations.

This illustrates the ‘pyramid of clinical evidence,’ which categorises different types of evidence based on their quality and reliability in informing treatment decisions

The above diagram is published in the Cass Review as part of Explanatory Box 1.

We can see from the report and papers that Cass did not insist that only randomised controlled trials were used to assess the evidence. The York team that conducted the analyses chose a method to asses the quality of studies called the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. This is a method best suited for non RCT trials. Cass has selected an assessment method best suited for the nature of the available evidence rather than taken a dogmatic approach on the need for DBRCTs. The results of this method were discussed about countering Myth 1.

Explainer on the Newcastle Ottawa Scale

The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) is a tool designed to assess the quality of non-randomized studies, particularly observational studies such as cohort and case-control studies. It provides a structured method for evaluating the risk of bias in these types of studies and has become widely used in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

The NOS consists of a set of criteria grouped into three main categories: selection of study groups, comparability of groups, and ascertainment of either the exposure or outcome of interest. Each category contains several items, and each item is scored based on predefined criteria. The total score indicates the overall quality of the study, with higher scores indicating lower risk of bias.

This scale is best applied when conducting systematic reviews or meta-analyses that include non-randomized studies. By using the NOS, researchers can objectively assess the quality of each study included in their review, allowing them to weigh the evidence appropriately and draw more reliable conclusions.

One of the strengths of the NOS is its flexibility and simplicity. It provides a standardized framework for evaluating study quality, yet it can be adapted to different study designs and research questions. Additionally, the NOS emphasizes key methodological aspects that are crucial for reducing bias in observational studies, such as appropriate selection of study participants and controlling for confounding factors.

Another advantage of the NOS is its widespread use and acceptance in the research community. Many systematic reviews and meta-analyses rely on the NOS to assess the quality of included studies, making it easier for researchers to compare and interpret findings across different studies.

As for future studies, Cass makes no demand only DBRCTs are conducted. What is highlighted is at the very least that service providers build a research capacity to fill in the evidence gaps.

The national infrastructure should be put in place to manage data collection and audit and this should be used to drive continuous quality improvement and research in an active learning environment.

-

Myth 4: There were less than 10 detransitioners out of 3499 patients in the Cass study.

Fact

Cass was unable to determine the detransition rate. Although the GIDS audit study recorded fewer than 10 detransitioners, clinics declined to provide information to the review that would have enabled linking a child’s treatment to their adult outcome. The low recorded rates must be due in part to insufficient data availability.

Explanation

Cass says, “The percentage of people treated with hormones who subsequently detransition remains unknown due to the lack of long-term follow-up studies, although there is suggestion that numbers are increasing.”

The reported number are going to be low for a number of reasons, as Cass describes:

Estimates of the percentage of individuals who embark on a medical pathway and subsequently have regrets or detransition are hard to determine from GDC clinic data alone. There are several reasons for this:

Damningly, Cass describes the attempt by the review to establish “data linkage’ between records at the childhood gender clinics and adult services to look at longer term detransition and the clinics refused to cooperate with the Independent Review. The report notes the “…attempts to improve the evidence base have been thwarted by a lack of cooperation from the adult gender services”.

We know from other analyses of the data on detransitioning that the quality of data is exceptionally poor and the actual rates of detransition and regret are unknown. This is especially worrying when older data, such as reported in WPATH 7, suggest natural rates of decrease in dysphoria without treatment are very high.

Gender dysphoria during childhood does not inevitably continue into adulthood. Rather, in follow-up studies of prepubertal children (mainly boys) who were referred to clinics for assessment of gender dysphoria, the dysphoria persisted into adulthood for only 6–23% of children.

This suggests that active affirmative treatment may be locking in a trans identity into the majority of children who would otherwise desist with trans ideation and live unmedicated lives.

I shall add more myths as they become spread.

==

It's not so much "myths and misconceptions" as deliberate misinformation. Genderists are scrambling to prop up their faith-based beliefs the same way homeopaths do. Both are fraudulent.

[ozzgin]

Also I love your blogs sorry I’ve been spamming 🩷Hii Author, could you do another part for the small prehistoric reader, where she is actually really strong even though she’s small and innocent looking like stronger than Yujiro and Baki but she’s only really like that when she’s in heat. I wonder how the would react Yk 🤔

Sure! It’s been suggested in the comments as well and it does have a fun twist to it. Female characters stronger than the main cast is the one uncanonical construct that I deeply enjoy.

Baki Characters x Prehistoric! Small Reader Headcanons (II)

Featuring the Baki characters and a prehistoric but small sized reader that turns out to be unexpectedly strong.

[Baki Masterlist] [Part I]

The fighters keep a respectable distance from you in order to assure Pickle of your safety. They’d rather not pose as a threat to his mate, especially after seeing how protective he can get. He always keeps you under his watchful gaze, ready to interfere if you need to make use of his strength. At times he’s particularly anxious around you. Professor Payne has explained in more scientifically appropriate terms that you might be dealing with female specific issues. No one pressed it further.

This peaceful resolve does not sit well with Yuujirou. How very pathetic and boring that everyone concomitantly agreed to mind their own business. He itches for a little bit of action and what better way to rile up the prehistoric warrior than messing with his little protégé? He doesn’t want to risk fighting a half-assed Pickle, he wants the wrath, the readiness to kill. So with arrogant mockery he decides to give you a little nudge in front of everyone. Just a mere push, he does show mercy to weaklings like you. Baki is enraged and the other men join him. Everyone is waiting for Pickle to make his move, though bizarrely enough he just stands there, eyes wise in shock. Yuujirou didn’t expect this lack of reaction.

The Ogre is a man with battle experience and nothing can take him by surprise. It is to be noted, however, that sometimes a trade off for the sake of efficiency has to be made. A rational agent in artificial intelligence may have to take millions of variables into consideration in order to compute the most optimal solution and react to the environment. Realistically speaking, therefore, some less probable events are taken entirely out of the equation. So, for example, the idea that you would attack Yuujirou was not something his body expected to react against. The impact of your small fist was doubled by this element of surprise. His eyes roll back and his large body is thrown at quite the distance, leaving significant damage behind.

There’s a deafening silence that lingers for what seems an eternity. Baki feels a mild discomfort on the walls of his throat and he realizes his mouth has been hanging open for long enough that it almost dried up. Did you…did you just knock his father out with one single hit? He slowly turns his head to the other witnesses, wondering if this is a dream and the others will confirm it. Judging by the equally dumbfounded expressions surrounding him, he suspects fearfully that it is, in fact, something that just happened. Jack feels like he’s been kicked in the crotch. Katsumi is overwhelmed by a certain nostalgia, the nervousness he felt when he was a little child attending the Dojo for the very first time. Retsu purses his lips as a solemn frown creases his features. Tokugawa can feel the beads of sweat gathering in the folds of his wrinkled forehead.

The least impressed of the group is Pickle. Almost as if he expected it to happen, he walks up to you and grabs your shoulders before you can approach Yuujirou’s passed out body. Your face relaxes once again and you look up to him with a genuine smile, as if soothing his worries. You’ll stop here, no worries. You pat his large hands and turn around, prepared to leave the scene.

The frightful question now plagues the fighters within the arena: was Pickle protecting you from them, or has it been the other way round all along?

[ranticore]

colony culture is obviously really variable as cultures are but in the main character colony, their practices are strongly influenced by the characteristics of the adult dragon who's been living in the cave for a century. the dragon is large enough that it poses a threat to all else around it - you'd hardly move aside for a line of ants if they happened to be under your boot, and the dragon feels the same for the kobolds. as such the colony has had to construct additional defences to separate themselves from the grand chamber in which the dragon lives. There is a set of massive iron and steel doors, constructed from the leftover armour and weapons of would-be dragon slayers, and beyond these doors are the main warrens, a series of tunnels which make up the residential district. But these tunnels are finite and do not expand, made of very hard stone, so the colony also has a two-tier class structure wherein everyone whose ancestor managed to get a spot in the warrens gets to enjoy safety and security behind the iron doors, while a good half of the population lives in the grand cavern, at the mercy of the dragon and whatever else lives within the caves. having invented classism they proceeded to retroactively invent reasons why someone should deserve to live outside the doors; the crimes of their ancestors, their generally poor character, their unhygienic and scavenging lifestyle. People don't like to think it was random chance that separates them from the people outside the doors.

(cut for length)

There's no fire inside the caves. Ventilation is already poor, and reliant on the ice-caps of the mountain range remaining frozen (i.e those air holes would flood if the glaciers melted). Smoke and fire are dangerous, as are midden heaps, large rotting corpses, or anything else that might produce an excess of unbreathable air. The warrens especially forbid fire, relying solely on proximity to the dragon for warmth, and bioluminescent cave fauna for light. Food is uncooked or served frozen, mainly consisting of blind fish and other aquatic subterranean animals.

The concept of time is rudimentary. There's no night or day, no minute or hour. It's very difficult to convey how long ago something happened without linking it to a notable event that happened at the same time.

Outside the warrens, scavengers follow the dragon's lead - what's yours is mine. Theft is 100% acceptable so long as you're not physically taking an item out of someone's hands while they're using it. To keep a hold on precious belongings, scavengers hoard their things in remote corners of the cave system, far from society. If a hoard is found, it's fair game. But finding it is the challenge. It's accepted that everyone probably has a secret stash somewhere. The stashes usually contain items taken for their aesthetic value from dead dragonhunters, alongside curiosities from the cave itself; strange bones, crystals, mummified animals. A hoard is shared between partners, so collecting nice things is also an act of devotion and commitment.

Scavengers are broken up into broad groupings based on skill. They might work as hunters, fishers, explorers, or navigators, given their advanced knowledge of the cave system granted by having to find a good hoard spot. But they can also be outrunners, the only group of kobolds who regularly leave the cave. Outrunners are the ones bringing back evidence of plants, animals, and concepts from the outside. They may post sentries to warn of an impending dragon hunt, or sneak down to nearby human settlements to steal livestock.

The highest ranking group of scavengers, more important than any other, is the dragoneer group. They are chosen purely based on colour. If you are any variation of black and red, you can be a dragoneer. This is because the dragon's scales are black and red, and a suitably coloured dragoneer can blend in while scavenging on its body. They take scales to be used as blades and shields, shed spines for weapons, and harvest blood from the dragon by farming ticks and lice. Dragon blood is a vitally important nutrient source for the kobolds, usually consumed watered down. In concentrated form it is consumed for ritualistic purposes, the 'quickening agent' used by the mother of matriarchs to imbue her offspring with the ability to commune and share dreams with the dragon. Realistically, the high levels of heavy metals make the concentrated blood unsafe for a pregnant person to drink.

[evidence-based-activism]

IOC Study on Transgender Athletes Severely Flawed

So, to a certain extent, the question of "should transwomen be able to compete female sports?" is an ideological question (i.e., "should identity supersede reality?").

That being said, there's a recent report [1], funded by the IOC, that is being used to "prove" that transwomen do not have a biological advantage over non-trans women. This report is severely flawed and does not actually lend support to the idea that transwomen have no biological advantage in sports over female people.

(I will mimic the language used in the report (e.g., using "ciswomen").)

Significant differences noted by the report that do NOT support transwomen's inclusion in women's sports:

Transwomen were substantially taller than ciswomen

Transwomen had more lean/fat-free mass than ciswomen

Transwomen had better lung function than ciswomen, as measured by forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second, and peak expiratory flow. (See the next section for a discussion on the ratio.)

Transwomen had greater hand grip strength (a proxy for overall strength measurement)

Transwomen had higher absolute peak power (lower extremity) compared to ciswomen. (See next section for a discussion on the relative measure.)

Transwomen had the same "absolute strength" as cismen

The data showing no significant difference between transwomen and ciswomen has substantial flaws:

The sample size was too small to reliably determine differences in bone mineral density

For lung function only the FEV1:FVC ratio was lower for transwomen, but the values are generally within the normal range for both groups. The impact of this difference is therefore questionable, as the transwomen have greater absolute values on each measurement and the ratio is not showing any abnormalities. In addition, the effect size (size of the difference) is much smaller than the effect size of the absolute differences described above. The conclusion here is simply that the participants do not have any obstructive respiratory diseases, and the transwomen have greater absolute lung function. (Although there are better tests for this.) There is also one outlier in the transwomen group that is likely driving this relationship in the ratio; unfortunately they do not perform the expected control analyses to demonstrate the retention of results without the outlier. [2]

The researchers decided to examine power in the lower extremities relative to lean/fat-free mass, which yielded a lower result for transwomen compared to ciswomen. However, this methodology make absolutely no sense. We have already established that transwomen have significantly greater lean/fat-free mass, and this paper is interested in determining equitably in sport performance. In general, sports aren't divided out by mass (and certainly not by lean mass), therefore we are interested in absolute differences, not in differences adjusted by some other factor. (Particularly not when that factor is established to be significantly different between transwomen and ciswomen!)

The same criticism applies to their analysis of cardiac function. But even more importantly, "the most crucial variable influencing VO2_max was not assessed in the present study" which is a significant oversight given the stated goals of this paper.

There are numerous other limitation and issues with this report:

This study is of "cross-sectional design, making it challenging to establish causation or examine if the performance of athletes changes as a result of undergoing GAHT"

"The athlete training intensity was self-reported. Therefore, the results may suffer from selection and recall bias." [emphasis mine] -> In other words, these results may be "comparing apples and oranges" with varying rates of fitness impacting the results.

"The athletes participating in the present study represented a variety of different sports, and this would have undoubtedly impacted the results of the study as different sports stress different training and sports modalities." [emphasis mine] -> This is a significant limitation, as comparing the strength of a ciswoman weight lifter to a transwomen distance runner (or vice versa) is meaningless. It's true that measures of fitness tend to correlate, but comparing across sport disciplines for highly competitive sports (where they are focusing on improving specific characteristics) distorts the results. (They explicitly note this: "Exercise type, intensity and duration all have an impact on physiological responses and overall laboratory performance metrics.")

"Social media recruitment leaves this study open to sample bias"

"The gender-affirming treatment of the transgender athletes was not controlled"

"The participants were not screened by a clinician before participation, and any medical conditions were self-reported"

The transwomen in this study all suppressed testosterone to ciswomen's levels and increased oestradiol above ciswomen's levels. This is a limitation because this degree of success in hormone suppression is uncommon, meaning that even these these poorly-supportive results are likely inapplicable to the majority of transwomen. [3]

There is a significant conflict of interest: this study was funded by the IOC after they had already changed the rules to remove the "hormone suppression" requirement [4]

All in all, this study is a classic case of researchers misrepresenting their data in the study's abstract. The data they actually collected shows that transwomen on hormone suppression maintain significant advantages over ciswomen. Further, the flaws in the study limit the applicability of their results.

---

In addition, there are other studies that contradict this result:

This review [3] discusses numerous sources describing "the inherent male physiological advantages that lead to superior athletic performance and then addresses how estrogen therapy fails to create a female-like physiology in the male"

This review [5] found "the performance gap between males and females becomes significant at puberty and often amounts to 10–50% depending on sport" and that "longitudinal studies examining the effects of testosterone suppression on muscle mass and strength in transgender women consistently show very modest changes, where the loss of lean body mass, muscle area and strength typically amounts to approximately 5% after 12 months of treatment. Thus, the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed."

This study [6] found that transwomen "generally maintained their strength level" during "gender-affirming therapy".

This study [7] found that all physical advantages were present after one year and that some are retained even after years on hormone suppression. They also specifically hypothesized that "gender dysphoria could stimulate the opposite behaviour [differences in exercise habits] in transwomen, decreasing push-up performance and explaining why transwomen performed fewer push-ups than [cismen] prior to starting oestrogen." This motivation difference likely won't apply to elite athletes, which further supports the idea that transwomen athletes should not be competing with female athletes.

As this position statement [8] indicates we know that there are substantial differences in athletic performance for male and female people.* However, there is little high-quality, definitive evidence concerning the effects of hormone suppression/replacement on people's athletic performance. The current state of evidence suggests that hormone suppression/replacement fails to bridge the physiological gap between male and female people, but we need further higher-quality evidence to definitively prove this.

(That being said, the burden of proof here is on the people attempting to initiate a change; that is equitably between transwomen and female people should be (have been) established prior to eliminating biological sex-separation.)

*Before anyone jumps on this: this is not a moral difference. There is absolutely no reason why running faster or lifting heavier things would make someone "better". The biological difference in performance exists, but it does not in anyway suggest superiority of men over women. Beyond that, it is unsurprising that men outperform women on traditional sports given that sports were designed by and for men. In sports that cater to women's physiological advantages (e.g., endurance, flexibility), women outperform men. [9]

---

So, given all this, what would we actually need to make determine transwomen's relative advantage over female people?

The "perfect" study would involve (at least) these elements:

Random selection from the desired population(s) of transwomen (e.g., top-ranked athletes in a specific sport, non-athletic, etc.) with matched (for population) non-trans female and non-trans male controls

Observation (not self-report) of activity level prior to, during, and following a standardized treatment (hormone suppression/replacement) initiation

Continual measurement of various physical and athletic performance, preferably with a range of laboratory (e.g., spirometry, body measurements) and naturalistic (e.g., actual sports competitions) tasks along with monitoring the treatment and clinical/health issues in all participants (again, not via self-report)

Large enough sample sizes to allow for sufficiently powered tests of all groups/differences of interest

A double-blinded assessment approach (or "placebo" controlled) such that both the researcher assessing the participants and the participants do not know what is being evaluated until the study is complete. For example, you may tell one half the transwomen participants that you are tracking the long term health effects of the intervention (hormone therapy), while you tell the other half that you are assessing differences in athletic performance as a result of the intervention. This will allow for the evaluation of demand characteristics like the ones impacting [7].

There are likely even more factors I have not currently thought of. Of course, completing the "perfect" study would likely be almost impossible. It would certainly be impossible to do for every population of interest (e.g., Olympic weight-lifters, adolescent track and field athletes, sedentary office workers) at the same time.

That being said, a study that fails to include all of these factors (particularly the blinded approach, matching of control participants, and sample size) is not going to meet the standard of evidence needed to make decisions of this magnitude (i.e., choosing to change the priority from biological categorization to ideological categorization). In reality, we would likely need many studies that individually evaluate each group of interest (e.g., transwomen olympic-level weight-lifters vs female olympic-level weight-lifters), each applying as many of the ideal study characteristics as possible.

In conclusion, the IOC has failed to perform their stated duty to regulate and ensure fair competition in sports. There is no current evidence suggesting that transwomen have lost their male-advantage in sports, much less any evidence suggesting they are at a disadvantage.

References below the cut:

Hamilton, B., Brown, A., Montagner-Moraes, S., Comeras-Chueca, C., Bush, P. G., Guppy, F. M., & Pitsiladis, Y. P. (2024). Strength, power and aerobic capacity of transgender athletes: a cross-sectional study. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 58(11), 586-597.

Al-Ashkar, F., Mehra, R., & Mazzone, P. J. (2003). Interpreting pulmonary function tests: recognize the pattern, and the diagnosis will follow. Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine, 70(10), 866-881.

Heather, A. K. (2022). Transwoman elite athletes: their extra percentage relative to female physiology. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15), 9103.

“International Olympic Committee Issues New Guidelines on Transgender Athletes.” NBC News, 3 Jan. 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/international-olympic-committee-issues-new-guidelines-transgender-athl-rcna5775.

Hilton, E. N., & Lundberg, T. R. (2021). Transgender women in the female category of sport: perspectives on testosterone suppression and performance advantage. Sports Medicine, 51, 199-214.

Wiik, A., Lundberg, T. R., Rullman, E., Andersson, D. P., Holmberg, M., Mandić, M., ... & Gustafsson, T. (2020). Muscle strength, size, and composition following 12 months of gender-affirming treatment in transgender individuals. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 105(3), e805-e813.

Roberts, T. A., Smalley, J., & Ahrendt, D. (2021). Effect of gender affirming hormones on athletic performance in transwomen and transmen: implications for sporting organisations and legislators. British journal of sports medicine, 55(11), 577-583.

Pitsiladis, Yannis MMedSci, PhD, FACSM; Harper, Joanna MS; Betancurt, Jonathan Ospina; Martinez-Patino, Maria-Jose; Parisi, Attilio MD; Wang, Guan; Pigozzi, Fabio MD, PhD. Beyond Fairness: The Biology of Inclusion for Transgender and Intersex Athletes. Current Sports Medicine Reports 15(6):p 386-388, 11/12 2016. | DOI: 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000314

Ro, Christine. The sports where women outperform men. (2024). From https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240731-the-sports-where-women-outperform-men

[aspaceinthecosmos]

Happy International Women's Day!

Women are underrepresented in the fields of astronomy and physics. According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), between 20-30% of astronomers are women. While many well-known astronomers are men, there have been numerous female astronomers in history who have made incredible discoveries, but who history has forgotten. Today we'll go over some of those women and their accomplishments.

Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941)

Annie Jump Cannon is the woman responsible for our current stellar classification system, which organizes stars based on spectral types and temperature.

She worked at Harvard Observatory as a computer, working on the Henry Draper Catalogue, which attempted to map and classify all the stars in the sky. She was regarded as the best out of the computers, being able to accurately classify the stars incredibly quickly, up to three stars per minute.

Cannon's classification system (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) is still in use today, and separates stars into one of these spectral groups based on different characteristics of their absorption lines.

Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921)

Henrietta Leavitt is most well known for her discovery of the period-luminosity relationship of Cepheid variable stars.

Henrietta Leavitt was also a computer at Harvard Observatory in the late 1800s and early 1900s, working on cataloguing positions and luminosities of stars. In 1912, Edward Pickering published a paper with Leavitt's observations, which contained a relationship between the brightness of the Cepheid and the logarithm of the period of it.

This discovery, and the ensuing P-L relationship (sometimes known as Leavitt's Law), allowed astronomers to determine the distance to further objects. Because Cepheids are visible in nearby galaxies, astronomers were able to determine that these galaxies (or nebulae, as they were called then), were actually much further away than previously thought, leading to our current understanding of the universe and galaxies outside our own.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979)

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was the first astronomer to conclude that stars are primarily made of hydrogen and helium.

At the time her thesis was proposed in 1925, it was thought that the sun had a similar elemental composition as the Earth. Payne-Gaposchkin, however, had studied quantum physics, and recognized that the differences in absorption lines between different stars was due to ionization and temperature differences, not elemental differences, and that stars were primarily made of hydrogen and helium, with heavier elements making up less than two percent of stars' masses.

Her theory was met with resistance, and she even put a disclaimer in her thesis, saying the results were "almost certainly not real" in order to protect her career. She was, however, proven right within a few years, and her discovery shaped our knowledge of the composition of the universe.

Vera C. Rubin (1928-2016)

Vera Rubin is most well known for studying the rotation curves of galaxies, and finding a discrepancy that didn't align with the current understanding of physics. This discovery was used as evidence of dark matter, as proposed by Zwicky in the 1930s.

Rubin discovered that spiral galaxies didn't rotate as expected. When looking at our solar system, the outer planets orbit slower due to the inverse square nature of gravity. However, this decaying rotation curve wasn't what was found in spiral galaxies - rather, the outer edges of the galaxies were rotating at about the same speed as the inner areas.

According to Rubin's calculations, galaxies contained 5-10 times more mass than what was accounted for with visible matter. This supported the dark matter theory, and resulted in the current "anatomy" of galaxies, with the visible matter surrounded by a dark matter halo.

Jocelyn Bell (1943-present)

Jocelyn Bell discovered pulsars among a sea of data as a graduate student at Cambridge.

Pulsars (shortened from pulsating radio stars) are rapidly rotating neutron stars, which emit bursts of radiation at extremely short and consistent time intervals.

Bell discovered these, and published the findings in a paper with her thesis supervisor, Antony Hewish. in 1974, Hewish received the Nobel Prize in physics for this discovery, while Bell was omitted, due to her status as both a woman and a graduate student. In 2018, she was awarded the Breakthrough prize in Fundamental Physics for her discovery, and used the three million dollar reward to help minorities in physics.