solidwater05

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Best way to be an ally to intersex people is if you see something, SAY SOMETHING!

Someone using hermaphrodite, baeddel, futanari? (all slurs against us).. Say something.

Someone misunderstanding what intersex means? (thinks it bigenital, think its a 'third sex', etc).. Say something.

Someone thinks intersex people can't be trans, cant have an AGAB, have an 'easier' time transitioning, etc? Say something.

The only way for social change to occur is if you put in the leg work to call stuff out when you see it. If you are unsure, ask questions (to intersex people..) about what you're unsure about then regroup. Education is power. Peace and love.

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"the birth of the red king", 2021 colorized

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some screenshot redraws from the outreach!

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chicken jockey being the last possible 4chan post is fucking hilarious but there's so many amounts of comedic irony to it.

it's like a tyrant dying from falling over a medium sized brick wall. humiliating end.

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yay!! its doneee

joel is so skrunkly i seriously can get enough ARG

also i have a instagram now<3 follow it @ lavvvenderrr_

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Can we get a aqua artimators coach martyn ^^

today's mini fellas is aqua artimator coach martyn! 🩵✨

[solidwater05]

"Transandrophobia" Primer

There's a wild amount of misinformation about the term "transandrophobia" going around, and has been for a long time. So let's dig in a bit and set the record straight.

What it is

"Transandrophobia" was coined as an alternative to "transmisandry", and describes the unique oppression targeted at and faced by transmasculine folks (and people perceived to be transmasculine).

Transmascs experience oppression not just on the basis of being trans, or (typically) AFAB, and certainly not on the basis of being men alone. What we experience is unique to being transmasculine, and the way cissexist society categorizes and responds to us: not as women, not as men, but as an "other" that lies between the two.

Some quick examples of transandrophobia:

Trans men are the most likely group in the trans community to have negative experiences with healthcare providers.

AFAB trans people in general are most likely to be denied HRT.

Trans men are most likely to be denied surgery coverage.

Trans men are most likely to avoid healthcare out of fear.

Nonbinary people and trans men were most likely to report having never, or only sometimes, been treated with respect by law enforcement.

Trans men are more likely to experience problems with airport security.

Trans men are most likely to avoid public restrooms.

Over half of all AFAB nonbinary people and trans men experience sexual assault. These are the highest rates in the queer community.

9 out of every 10 trans men seriously consider attempting suicide. This is the highest rate in the queer community.

About half of all trans men attempt suicide. This is the highest rate in the queer community.

What it Looks Like

Transmascs are generally placed in one of two categories: confused "girls" they believe can be saved, and evil, dangerous "other" they believe are beyond saving. There's a ton of overlap in these two categories, both in what they experience, and in the fact that oftentimes the two are experienced simultaneously; even in the same situation.

A quick, incomplete list of how these things can manifest:

Infantilization ("soft", "little")

Removal of autonomy

Stereotyping as "whiny", "hysterical", or "entitled".

"Butch flight" or "ROGD" - the idea that transmascs are stealing butch lesbians.

Pressuring transmascs to be more feminine/womanly, either through overt force, or through subtler manipulation.

The desire to "make transmascs women" via sexual assault (corrective rape).

The idea that testosterone causes aggression; emotional, physical, and sexual- therefore transition is dangerous, and transmascs who transition are dangerous.

Fearmongering around transmasc transitions; "binders can never be safe", "vaginal atrophy is untreatable", "you'll get fat/ugly/acne/sweaty/oily/smelly", "phalloplasty is too dangerous/expensive/unsatisfying to be worth it", etc.

Medical professionals dissuading transmascs from transitioning; stressing risks that can in actuality be mitigated easily, nitpicking family history without presenting options, etc.

The idea that transmascs only become trans to "escape misogyny" or to "gain male privilege".

Erasure of transmasc experiences, esp. experiences with misogyny and transphobia.

Lack of resources for transmasc abuse survivors.

Lack of resources for transmascs in need of reproductive healthcare on the basis of "male" gender markers, names, voices, and appearances.

Why We Call it That

"Transandrophobia" can be broken down in two ways:

"Trans" + "androphobia" = the "trans version" of "androphobia", a fear of men or social bigotry toward men.

"Trans-andro" + "phobia" = a social bigotry directly specifically at trans men/transmascs.

The second is the more common interpretation and usage, largely because the first can be interpreted, by some, to mean that those using the word are suggesting that it's actually (cis) women who oppress (cis) men, that we don't believe patriarchy exists, etc. This, of course, has never been the intention of the word.

The first break-down above could also be interpreted to refer to patriarchy's negative stereotyping of men- as aggressive, dangerous, and sexually predatory.

While that doesn't translate to systemic oppression of cis men, those same feelings- a general disgust and fear toward the concept of manhood- do inform how society responds to transmascs. As a group of people who are oppressed on the basis of being transmasculine, those feelings do play a role in transmasc oppression.

What it Isn't

"Transandrophobia" is not an attack on, or accusation toward, any other group of people.

The word does not imply that trans women oppress trans men, that transmascs have it worse than anyone else, that transfems are horrible bigots, that transfem issues do not deserve the attention they receive (or, ideally, far more attention than they currently receive).

It does not imply that cis misandry exists, that "MRAs were right", that patriarchy and misogyny aren't real, or that feminism isn't necessary.

It does not signal bigotry toward other groups. Whatever your personal opinion of the word, of who uses it, or of who coined it, the word is a word and it stands alone from those things. It belongs to the transmasculine community.

It does not demand anyone pay any less attention to other important issues. It does not accuse other trans people of oppressing us. It does not dismiss the existence of patriarchy or structural oppression of women. It does not belong to any one individual.

Why We Need it

There are real, tangible issues within the transmasc community- things that are unique to transmascs- and those things happen because of a unique bigotry toward transmasculinity.

In order to address those problems, we have to be able to talk about what they are and why they happen.

In order to talk about that, we need a word for what it is. "Transandrophobia" is that word.

Don't get me wrong: the word might change at some point, and that's fine. If the transmasc community as a whole decides that we would like a new word, and creates one together that suits those new needs, that's fine. But as of now, this is the most common, recognizable, easy-to-understand word we have.

"Transandrophobia" belongs to the transmasc community, and it's up to transmascs to define, interpret, create or remove associations, revise, and replace, as it sees fit.

What You Can Do

If you're transmasc:

Talk about your experiences. Connect with other transmascs. Join transmasc community spaces, create new ones, and maintain a positive, productive, and inclusive culture within those spaces. Uplift transmascs with different experiences from you.

Be an ally to other trans people, to people of color, to disabled people, and to other marginalized groups. Do not allow resentment toward the trans community- any part of it, and especially toward transfems- to fester in any space you inhabit.

If you're not:

Listen to transmascs. Seek transmascs out to listen to. Uplift transmasc voices. Learn. Ask questions, even if they're scary, and be ready to be surprised by the answers.

Think for yourself. Own your opinions, and own where they're coming from; don't blame them on other trans people. Acknowledge your limitations in experience. Know that you don't need to understand in order to respect us. Try to understand anyway.

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RGAB means Reassigned Gender After Birth

This refers to the experience of an intersex person having their gender scrutinized (usually in early childhood but sometimes at puberty), and ultimately reassigned socially and often medically. This is done due to the intersex person's original AGAB having been determined to be more difficult to impose due to their body. This is a form of ISIG (Inconsistent Societally Imposed Gender).

Examples:

AFAB-RMAB refers to an intersex person assigned female at birth, but reassigned male after birth. A reason for this may be due to a child who had a vulva at birth later being found to have testicles, XY chromosomes, undergoing testosterone-dominant puberty, and experiencing masculinizing of their genitalia, such as significant growth of the genital tubercle (clitoris), to the point it could be classified as a clitorophallus or phallus, etc. Due to this, it would be determined to be "more accurate" or "easier" to reclassify the individual as male.

UAB‐RFAB / UAB-RMAB refers to an intersex person not assigned at birth but assigned female or male after birth. A reason an intersex person may be unassigned at birth is having ambiguous genitalia, or a lack of external genitalia. Sex determination in this case is generally based on sex characteristics which require further testing to observe combined with the biases of the parents and doctors. The vast majority of intersex people UAB will experience RGAB.

AMAB-RFAB refers to an intersex person assigned male at birth, but reassigned female after birth. A reason this may be due to a child having a large genital tubercle structure that could be classified as a phallus. The child may later be found to have XX chromosomes, a uterus, small or closed vaginal opening, go through estrogen-dominant puberty, etc. Due to this, it would be determined to be "more accurate" or "easier" to reclassify the individual as female.

This is not an acronym for voluntary gender reassignment gotten by trans people. Do not misuse intersex terminology.

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Friendly reminder to the perisex trans folks

With some regularity I see posts from perisex trans people saying they wish they were intersex because then there'd be a biological explanation of their difference and hence Valid.

I get it. Society is transphobic and you want something to point to, to explain why you are. But as a disabled intersex person I gotta tell you this is a real monkey's paw kind of goal.

Intersex people aren't seen as valid. We're selectively aborted, and the ones who sneak past prenatal "screening" are then surgically and/or chemically mutilated.

Disabled people aren't seen as valid. We're also selectively aborted, and then the medical industry tries to "fix" us. I'm old enough to remember when Down syndrome people were a regular presence in society. Their population has been absolutely decimated by prenatal "screening" even though Down syndrome folks like full, happy lives.

Finding a biological basis for transness is bad news for the trans community. It will be weaponized immediately. Trans folks already suffer from medicalization, why are you asking to turn that knob up all the way?

To the extent that the LGB community has social acceptance, it's because it's not framed as a biological thing. If a LGB gene were identified tomorrow, the selective abortions would start the next day.

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ASAB is so often used to neglect chronically ill people seeking a diagnosis. it hurts intersex and perisex people alike.

we need to get rid of the sex binary for so many reasons and disabled liberation is one of them.

lupus is a disorder with a ratio of 9:1 people who were AFAB to people who were AMAB. it is a disorder that is wildly dominated by people who were AFAB.

doctors often treat lupus as a "women's disease" and when they're not treating it as a "women's disease" they're treating it as an "AFAB disease." there is no room in the system for intersex people (no statistics on our prevalence in the lupus population) and no room for people who were AMAB (despite them being 10% of people with lupus) the biology of trans people, particularly those who have medically transitioned, is of course not taken into account.

this leads to neglect of people who were AMAB, intersex people, and trans people (particularly transfemine but not exclusively) who have a dangerous, often life threatening autoimmune disease. doctors don't bother looking because "how could you have it? you don't fit this narrow presentation of lupus that I created in my head." people have died from this. lupus kills, especially when left untreated.

abolishing the sex binary would largely fix this problem.

the reason so many people who were AFAB have lupus is because of estradiol. (read more about why here) estradiol is a major determining factor in who develops lupus and who doesn't. it's the theorized reason for the sex disparity. .... but people who were AFAB aren't the only people with estrogen-dominant endocrine systems, and not all people who were AFAB have estrogen-dominant endocrine systems. you can develop lupus with a testosterone-dominant endocrine system but it is far less common.

so why do doctors look at ASAB instead of that actual cause, estradiol? (rhetorical question but the answer is transphobia and intersexism)

sex abolition says that in replacement of overarching categories of sex we instead identify individual traits. lupus is one example of thousands where focusing on a specific trait rather than a sex would actually be more helpful in narrowing down diagnoses.

intersex and trans people will continue to have their diagnoses missed until we abolish the sex binary and replace it with something more useful. there is no disabled liberation without intersex liberation.

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I love my bug man

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i have crazy garlic fingers from peeling and chopping garlic cloves yesterday this phenomenon is always fascinating to me because it reminds me that i, too, am made of meat, and therefore i am also susceptible to being seasoned

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little doodle of scarlet pearl and tilly! she’s rambling off her super evil plans

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Sketch request for Slabtek, Etho bothering Tango in the noodles, if you feel like it? 👀

Also hi, welcome back!!

-Jam

"if i feel like it" THIS IS MY FAVOURITE THING TO DRAW I WILL ALWAYS FEEL LIKE IT. anyway here is a small snippet from a fic wip that i half abandoned. commiseration over christmas one day i shall finish you.

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an author i love just tweeted about how “big joy and small joy are the same” and how she was just as content the other night eating chocolate and cuddling her dog as she was on her Big Trip to new york and honestly. i think that’s it. this morning i was listening to an audiobook while baking shortbread in my joggers and i realised i really didn’t care what Big Things happened in my future as long as i could keep baking and reading at the weekend and maybe that is the kind of bar we have to set to guard ourselves against disappointment. just appreciate and cherish the mundane stuff and see everything else as a bonus.

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realized i forgot to post this here

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A series of unconnected events, from another perspective

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Happy 4/13 and happy one year anniversary to Quadruple Life!