gwynnion

gwynnion, 11 hours ago

Like most people, though, I'm not defined by exclusively or stereotypically feminine personality traits or interests.

I wanted to be a superhero! I wanted to be a scientist! I also wanted to be a mom. All of these were subordinate to being female as far as I was concerned. Because women can be anything we want, right?

Little miss junior feminist, me.

gwynnion, 11 hours ago

One of the big problems with the old gatekeeping model was you could girl your heart out trying to obtain hormones and be denied because some guy didn't think you were attractive enough.

And if you were a butch trans woman, you would likely get nowhere at all without putting on this very stilted performance for the doctor's sake.

Because the whole thing was sexist as hell and as trans women, we were extremely vulnerable over the ways in which we are perceived.

gwynnion, 11 hours ago

Likewise, life can be hell for gender nonconforming men because society construes maleness and masculinity is opposition to femininity.

Being perceived as female is almost required to be feminine without being attacked for it in some way.

The "gender ideology" panic is motivated in part by men who don't know how they would measure up if masculinity were not entirely based in biology.

The same men who have been socialized to attack feminine AMAB people on sight to "prove" themselves.

gwynnion, 11 hours ago

And obviously, the reverse is also true: socially, being feminine is almost required to be perceived as female.

But these things are all made up.

"Masculine" and "feminine" are labels for clusters of traits everyone has to some extent. How you're perceived is largely about which traits are salient and to what degree; a lot like sex hormones, actually.

Whether this perception is positive or negative frequently comes down to how congruent it is with your actual, perceived, or desired sex.

gwynnion, 11 hours ago

Drag queens have demonstrated for years how perceptions can be gamed.

But once you realize it's all perceptual, you see what a messy business sex and gender really are, how fraught gatekeeping is, and how easily preconceptions weigh on the process.

This is especially true with trans children, who have to navigate a medical system using their parents as proxies or intermediaries, if they can even access it at all, meaning their parents have veto power over every step of the process.

gwynnion, 11 hours ago

If you asked me as a teen or preteen, I would have said give me any surgery, any hormones, anything to make me, if not biologically female, physically indistinguishable from it.

I would still say that.

And I didn't need any coaching! I didn't know anything about trans people, drag culture, queer culture, anything. I didn't even know hormonal and surgical treatments were an option or I would have been INSUFFERABLE.

But you know how doctors and parents would react to that.

They still do.

gwynnion, 11 hours ago

And you know, I'm the cliche. I'm the kid who always knew.

But most kids who come out as trans at that age are in a similar boat.

They know who they are.

They know what they want.

And at that age, let me tell you, the weird societal expectations seem -- well, weird? I wanted to be Rogue from the X-Men for a while. Stop trains with super strength! While looking fabulous!

I didn't think that diminished my femininity or my femaleness one bit.

And it didn't.

But you know how adults are.

gwynnion, 12 hours ago

Biden can unilaterally freeze military assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act.

He and Secretary of State Blinken have been overriding State Department findings on Leahy Law violations in Israel in order to avoid doing so.

Biden can recognize a Palestinian state right now if he wants to.

He can impose sanctions.

He can direct his UN ambassadors to stop protecting Israel at the security council.

He isn't helpless to act.

He just doesn't want to.

gwynnion, 13 hours ago

And of course, young people have realized a college degree doesn't necessarily mean jack when it comes to the job market and whether they'll get a living wage even if they do land a job. And I assume the cost of university has gone way up in the UK just like in the US.

gwynnion, 13 hours ago

There's a legitimacy crisis brewing at all levels of society as people do the math and realize systems are consistently gamed against them for the benefit of a wealthy few. When governments aren't responsive, they're setting the stage for a breakdown of some kind and probably a populist / fascist takeover as people lose faith in democracy's ability to fix it.

gwynnion, 14 hours ago

Learn the "secret" history of "Navigator" and its humble but stupid origins as a misguided webcomic idea!

Amuse / horrify yourself with nineteen new stories on the themes of "how do I deal with this shit" and "how can I flip off reality even harder?"

Visit the past, present, and (possible) future and some strange new worlds where it's annoyingly difficult to get food delivered!

Please like it! 💜

gwynnion, 2 days ago

Israel is where a lot of Democrats reveal themselves to be war hawks, for example, even if they don't want to get their own hands dirty.

Republicans generally just admire the apartheid state and the genocide and hope the endless conflict starts the apocalypse.

Both parties see it as a way of feeding defense contractors and protecting American business interests like shipping in the Suez Canal.

Israel is also a convenient launching point for American military power.

gwynnion, 2 days ago

White people don't generally bother learning about Black people's lived reality but feel comfortable dictating the terms of their identities and experiences anyway. Men don't learn about women. Cis people don't learn about trans people. Americans don't learn how our "foreign policy" affects others.