#2000s male german

[ipso-faculty]

Today's rabbithole: the origins of "dyadic" as opposite of intersex/h-word

TLDR: "dyadic" seems to come from 1970s radical feminism and seems to have entered intersex vocabulary via gender studies. This implies it is NOT a term coined from within the intersex community.

I've been reading Cripping Intersex since it's this month's pick for @intersexbookclub (and it's not too late for you to pick it up yourself! 💜). One thing that caught my attention is Orr spends a bunch of time presenting the origins of "endosex" and "perisex" as disputed for whether these terms were coined by intersex people or not.

Orr does this because they clearly prefer "dyadic" and are trying to justify why they're talking about "compulsory dyadism" rather than "compulsory endonormativity/perinormativity" etc. 🤨

Interestingly enough, Orr makes absolutely zero attempt in the book to find an origin for the word "dyadic". ��� Orr also never questions whether the term "dyadic" actually came from the intersex community. 🧐 So..... rabbit hole time!

Before I get into what I found on dyadic, I wanna quickly fact check Orr on the origin of endosex. Best as I can tell, the term was first used in German in 2000 by Heike Bödeker. Bödeker is controversial for supporting autogynephilia 😬, but I've never seen anybody doubt Bödeker having mixed gonadal dysgenesis. If anybody knows of an older use of endosex, please send it my way! But as far as I can tell, "endosex" was coined by an intersex person.

Okay, onto the origin of dyadic. Orr presents this word as though its only detractors come from its implication there is a sex binary, even though as @intersex-ionality discusses here there are other reasons people don't like it. One reason is that the term is considered to originate from outside the intersex community.

Orr never questions the origins of dyadic. But intersex-ionality's post got me wondering if I could track down an textual origin.

So I went to Google Scholar, searched for "dyad" or "dyadic" plus "intersex" or the h-word and kept changing the time period increasingly far back in time. (Initially I just used intersex until I remembered the h-word slur would be more common in older articles 😬.)

I went into this thinking maybe dyadic would be related to how in early intersex studies literature like Critical Intersex (2009) you can see authors trying out terms like "dimorphic" and "dimorphous" that reference sexual dimorphism. (Neither "dyadic" nor "endosex" show up in the book.)

But the earliest works by intersex scholars that invoke dyadic tend to use it in a way that implies to me it has its own origin - e.g. Malatino (2010) talks about "at one pole, the dyad of the dimorphic heterosexual couple and, at the other, the hermaphroditic body" and "the heteronormative promised land of proper dyadic, dimorphic sex" which gives me the impression dyadic has a more sociological origin rather than the biology origin of dimorphic.

This 2010 gender studies article by Mandy Merck that talks about the intersex rights movement was my first solid lead. Merck draws a direct connection between the intersex rights movement and the 1970 book The Dialectic of Sex by Shulamith Firestone. 😯

In the book, Firestone explicitly talks about the "male-female dyad". This book had a fairly big impact when it came out. Firestone was a big-name second-wave radical feminist. And as Merck puts it: "[Firestone's] aim is to release women and men from the culturally gendered[5] dyad of the “subjective, intuitive, introverted, wishful, dreamy or fantastic” and the “objective, logical, extroverted, realistic”[6] into a society undivided by genital differences. This she calls “integration.”" (emphasis mine)

Pushing the search terms to before the 00s, I found I there were some 1980s botanists kinda using "dyad" as an opposite to "hermaphrodite" (example). I don't know how standard this was though, and with Google Scholar it is important to remember that digitization becomes less common the further back you go. 🤷‍♀️

Judith Butler used "dyadic" in a 1985 article about Foucault's Herculine Barbin.

The Butler article got me searching for more generally - "dyad" or "dyadic" plus "sex-roles male female". I found lots of results using dyadic to talk about female/male sex roles from the 1970s.... and a rather sudden paucity of such articles in the 1960s. 🤔

When I restricted the search to anything before 1970, I get results from symbolic interactionist sociology. I.e. the sociology use of "dyadic" (i.e. any social interaction happening between a pair of individuals).

So looks like dyadic as a sex role thing entered the academic lexicon in the early 70s. Which lines up pretty damn well with The Dialectic of Sex coming out in 1970. 👍️ And indeed, many of the 70s uses of "dyadic" explicitly cite Firestone.

I'm guessing Firestone was probably influenced by the interactionist term. Lots of sociologists were talking about dyadic relationships and/or interactions such as teacher-student, parent-child, husband-wife, etc. In this context, it's not surprising that Firestone would pick dyad as a term to talk about male-female sex roles and interactions.

Other than the 1980s botany articles I didn't actually find much from the pre-2000 biology world, and no leads from the medical literature. This doesn't mean "dyadic" wasn't being used by physicans, just that it isn't showing up in my searches on Google Scholar.

I'm coming out of this with the impression that Merck's got it right to be connecting the intersex-related use of dyadic as originating from the writing of Shulamith Firestone. If anybody knows of competing evidence for an origin, *please* do send it my way as I'd be super interested. But in the absence of other evidence, I'd tentatively say that the term dyadic came out of second wave radical feminism and *not* the intersex community.

[evidenceof]

Source: Richard Winters, Band of Brothers Interview September 29, 2000

Interesting going through the records to see the version of Dick Winters' War which was something else entirely. After the war, he, in a meeting set up by Ambrose, touched base with the German Fallschirmjäger commander Friedrich Freiherr von der Heydte (misspelled in the transcript as "Vonder Hite"), whose company made contact with Easy in Carentan. The meeting and dialogue that followed solidified a few things for me especially after he described the enemy as a, "first-class enemy."

War to Dick, seemingly, was a war to be the best soldier, company, country—likened to a football game. And it shows so much in the writing of Band of Brothers, the eventual show, the corrections and correspondences he's had with all those involved in the narrative. Cutting down what could have been unflattering whether that's how his men reckoned with the war after the fact, or the hell the 101st paratroops raised while in between battles.

Source: Richard Winters, Band of Brothers Interview September 29, 2000

This is a long-ass post so the rest is under the cut if you want to swallow the All-American pill.

Source: Richard Winters, Band of Brothers Documentary Interview

This is isn't going to be a pretty picture at all, mind you. And I mean it's Dick, his blond hair blue-eyed, Christian, (Republican) All-American glory in Class As or a football jersey in the 1940s. His mindset followed suit: that of the White American (male) during the height of America's empire. Persecution for people like him was next to nothing, and a battle could be a battle to prove something to yourself. To have high regard for your enemy, actual Nazis, to regard them by their skill in battle and the neatness of their uniform and march is a take of like the highest privilege.

It echoes a lot in his choices, viewing the war as a battle for who can outclass the other, to prove they're best of the best; the best soldier. Him joining the paratroops with the idea that the doughboy and the run-of-the-mill infantry man wouldn't be the elite arm ("You volunteered and it was the notion that you wanted to do something in order to be with the best. [...] That's the kind of a guy I want to be with. They were in shape. Everything the did, they did it the double."). When he described his men, if he began it with an unappreciative tone about their behavior and conduct, is ended with, "but he was a great soldier on the field." Inefficiency was the enemy. German forces were just the tool to show you where you had holes in your line and which nationality could fight the war the best.

Up until the point of discovering the camp, as an officer, as himself, Dick saw the war as a number of objectives to take over successfully for the sake of the mission, for the sake of keeping his men alive. Only when they find the camp does it seem to really hit him, outside of his disgust for the bombing of Pearl Harbor, why they're fighting this war.

“You’ve never seen anything like this. It’s a complete shock. It just stumps every feeling of emotion that you have. The horror of it…you could never imagine anything like this. [...] Now I know why I am here!” - Dick re: the discovery of concentration camps as told in 'Hang Tough'

The much critiqued Ep. 9: Why We Fight circling on Nix (seeing Dick's irl reaction of him being happy his friend had a larger part in the series), followed by Ep 10 is such a fucking whiplash in tonality not just for the cheeriness of the last ep. But also in showing the atrocities of the concentration camp and then literally giving a platform to a German general talking about how they fought well, having LIEBGOTT OF ALL PEOPLE, to translate feels so deranged. Dick is able to view these the German troops for their individual action and functionality as a soldier instead of a collective ideology of hate and persecution. He then can't comprehend the anger Liebgott had (he tsks a lot about Joe's treatment of the Nazi POWs in the memoirs).

Source: Richard Winters, Band of Brothers Interview September 29, 2000

Dick cared for his men, (my god did he care so much for his men; this is a different conversation that I will yap about some other time), but a lot of the times I feel like compassion couldn't budge beyond that point of understanding. The horrors of the Axis forces were only reality to him if and when he saw them upfront: bombed towns, civilians shot down by 88s, concentration camps. Anything that edges outside that periphery is beyond the objective and therefore inconsequential. "To fight and be the best for the guy beside you in a foxhole," felt like a whole ethos that he carried with him and that propelled him forward.

Dick's view of the world and the war is very much aligned with the white America's vantage point at that time. Liberators, of what and for whom it wasn't always clear to them within the confines of the American logo map that we know America to be today—what mattered was that they were the Good Guys, Victory Joe. They liberated, they did not take. And it ties up so, so neatly for the narrative of Tom Hanks and Co propaganda. What else is there to do after a football game but to shake hands with the opponent?

[hiskillingjar]

Glory Hole (Strade/MC)

*into a megaphone* my fetish for german men strikes again

i’m going to berlin in like three weeks and if i don’t get my dick sucked in a gay club, i’m gonna be mad as HELL.

day 21: glory hole second person. gay male reader. early 20s strade and takes place in the early 2000s.

"I'll only be gone for an hour!"

You had told your friends back at the hostel, while they were all relaxing after a heavy meal and too many glasses of beer, all getting ready for the guided tour tomorrow morning. 

It was probably the sensible choice, you knew that much, but it didn't feel right to have an early night on a Friday, especially not when you were in Berlin, one of the most famous "nightlife" cities in the world. You almost couldn’t believe that they were all passing that up to get an early night for a walk amongst the gravestones, or something equally boring like that.

You might have been a lame faggot who enjoyed all that historical shit too, but you weren't lame enough to let it completely derail your capacity to have a good time.

Just for an hour, you kept in your mind, as you left the hostel with the "Best Gay Clubs in Berlin" street map you had printed out back at home, several big ones close by circled in red - a 'must-attend’ sort of place, the blog post had stressed in bold typeface.

"Lachmannstraße," You murmured to yourself, a hand in your (freshly dyed, thank you very much) hair, peering from the map to the street signs you approached and doing your best not to be distracted by the students and rowdy tourists pouring out of theatres and bars to chase a similar high as you. "And then...mm, Urbanstraße. Yep, that's right."

'Keep your eyes out for the rainbow flag over the door', you had written on the map, and you squinted your eyes in the darkness to assess the row of doors and shops, lighting up when you spotted the rainbow flag in question.

You probably could have guessed that it was a gay bar, though, even without the pride paraphernalia. 

Pounding techno could be heard from where you were standing across the street, thumping loudly as a line stagnated outside to get in. One bouncer, a tall guy with a beard and gauges, was chatting and joking around with the more attractive types that tried to get into the club, most pretty bachelorettes that could charm their way in, while the other seemed a little less chill, keeping the… less appealing away with a firm hand.

That was fine, though.

You were good at chatting up bouncers back home (though your friends blamed your luck on your ‘twinkish good looks’ as opposed to being especially charming or good at conversation), and you had studied enough German in the previous semester to schmooze yourself through most conversations.

“Hello!” You greeted, a little too eager this late at night. “Price for…um, ticket, please!”

The stricter looking bouncer had spotted you approaching, crossing his arms and looking terse as he looked you up and down, seemingly ready to turn you away...until, he noticed the slight struggle you were having to speak German.

Shit. Maybe you weren’t as good at this as you expected.

"English, ja?" He asked, his tone and demeanour completely changed as he switched to a different language, smiling politely and seeming almost friendly now.

"Is it obvious?" You asked with a self-concious chuckle, in...okay, decent-ish German. Your accent could have used some work. "Busy tonight?"

He just chuckled and shook his head, waving you down to join him away from the long line.

"I could tell. I've become quite the expert at spotting tourists." He swapped back over to German, perhaps just to humour you (you had done all that practice, after all). "But...yes, busy tonight, as always. Though,” He gave you a quick once over with another smile. “I could possibly spare a spot inside for you, if you want. Skip the line, as it were. You here alone?"

"Alone," You nodded, beaming at his offer. "Nobody wanted to come out with me, hah. I’m in the hostel back on, mm, Lachmannstraße, so-"

"Hah! Well, their loss, I say." He laughed and shrugged, before putting a hand on your back and escorting you past the long line. "Sometimes it is better to go out alone. No limits that way, no?"

You barely suppressed a slight shiver at the hand on your back as he guided you into the club, into the cave of red light and pounding music that always made your head pulse. You couldn’t help it though, that’s what you told yourself, you were in a different country, experiencing new things, speaking a new language, and…well, the bouncer was a really good-looking guy. 

Built and an inch or two taller than you, dark features, hair past his shoulders, and a piercing through his nose. 

The kind of guy you always went crazy for.

"Thank you," You kept smiling, speaking over the music. "Um, ah...have an hour?” You said, your German becoming much worse all of a sudden. "Dance with me?"

He turned to look at you, his hand still on your back (drifting down the crease of it, where your shirt was slightly riding up) as he leaned in to speak directly in your ear.

"I have a better idea. Come with me," He murmured, his low voice sending another lovely shiver through your body and his hand moving to your hip, as he led you past the dance floor, through the throngs of people there. “I’ll show you a good time.”

You were almost starstruck as he pushed you ahead through the mass of grinding, dancing bodies, silently ecstatic that you were really hooking up with someone on a college vacation (like all the movies and books had spoken about, a real vacation romance!), before noticing that he was pushing you towards an LED 'WC' sign.

Okay, not exactly romantic. But still, pretty exciting.

He idly led you through to one of the stalls at the very end of the heavily graffitied bathroom (the only other attendees pissing in a urinal and making out against the sinks), nudging the door open with a kick of his boot and pushing you inside roughly, quickly shutting the door behind him, and locking it.

"Nhh!" You grunted as you stumbled back against the toilet, your body forced to straddle as your back hit the tile and piping roughly, painfully. “H-Hold on, can we just-”

"Relax, relax, don’t make so much noise, hm?" He murmured in a raspy whisper, a darker look crossing his eyes as he moved to pin you against the wall by your wrists, his larger body pressing against yours. "I'm sure there's better things you could be doing with that mouth, ja?"

"O-Oh," You stammered, eyes widening as you struggled against him. "N-No, I, uh...I'm sorry, I wasn't, um," You swallowed hard. "Ah, 'arbitten'? Soliciting?"

He just laughed at your attempts to struggle, his grip on your wrists tightening.

"Nein, you were not. You’re not wetlos enough to be doing that," He leaned down to speak in your ear again, his breath hot on your neck, making goose bumps rise on your skin as he said words you didn’t understand. "But you were certainly…mm, flirting, just a moment ago, outside, hm?"

"I wasn't...hah," You breathed out as his hips pressed against yours, trembling even more.

"No? So I must have...misheard you, then, ja?" He shrugged with an easy smile, before he forcefully moved your wrists above your head, holding them still with one hand as the other curled into the back of your hair, pulling it tightly as he pushed your body down onto your knees, expensive denim colliding with the wet ground. “Easy mistake to make. Don’t worry, I forgive you~”

God, you hoped that was just water.

"Ngh!" You grunted as he kept your head raised upwards and your wrists aloft. "E-Easy!"

He may have been about to speak, but you were both interrupted, however, by an idle knock on the (only) other side of the bathroom cubicle and your head strained against his firm grip to peer towards...a hole in the wall.

Well. This was a gay club, after all.

"Well…”

His attention turned, too, as he looked towards the knock and the telltale hole in the wall, before looking back down at you, a filthy chuckle escaping his smirking lips.

“It looks like we have some...company, don’t we?"

Your eyes widened slightly as he forced your head against the wall, the knock hard enough to rattle your brains in your skull, watching helplessly, through the hole, as the stanger on the other side started to unbutton his jeans.

"Couple?" The guy in the other cubicle asked, his accent thick but neither English or German.

"Yeah," The bouncer responded with an unseen nod, tightening his grip on your hair as he spoke, forcing your head to stay straight and his gaze remaining fixed on you. "Care to...ah, join us, ja?"

"He clean?" The guy asked gruffly.

"Mm, he looks it," He responded with an idle shrug, looking you over for a moment with a wry smirk, before looking back at the hole in the wall, like he was talking to the guy’s face. "Want to see for yourself, though?" He then asked as he pushed your still-pinned body closer to it.

His hand curled tighter in the back of your hair, forcing you closer towards the glory hole as the guy shoved his half flacid cock through it, dripping with coagulated pre-cum and grime.

This guy was a real fucking hypocrite, asking if you were clean.

"Go on...show him what that mouth can really do~"

Stuck between a rock and a hard place (figuratively and, somewhat, literally), you swallowed down your complaints and pride with a silent grimace and opened your mouth obediently, sticking your tongue out and idly smoothing it down the wrinkled head of the guy’s cock and foreskin.

"Upff," You groaned at the taste, eyes watering as you struggled not to gag, all while the guy moaned and groaned himself, and braced himself against the cubicle wall, pushing himself further into your mouth and down your throat.

"Take well at both ends?” The guy murmured through a groan. “Might need to test...make sure..."

You squeezed your eyes shut at the lewd suggestion (and the grody taste of aged semen rubbing into your tongue, there was no way in hell you would ever let this guy fuck you, not in a million years), your thighs tensing together as the bouncer held your head still, snickering to himself.

“You know Americans,” He murmured, letting go of your wrists (he didn’t need to hold you still when he was standing in front of the only exit) to rub at his own growing bulge, idly squeezing himself as you bobbed your head up and down, your forehead and nose bumping against the cubicle wall. “They act like prudes but they’re desperate for it, ja?”

You moaned your complaints against the soft flesh between your lips, but you could feel a worrying heat begin to pool at your core and your own cock twitch in your jeans.

Fuck. How were you getting turned on by this?

The older man’s eyes flickered from your gagging lips and down to your thighs, tensing and squirming as you planted your hands against the cubicle wall and started to work your mouth up and down the other guy’s cock…barely with any help at all. “Mm, I knew you’d be the deseprate sort,” He murmured, his voice giving away a deep amount of praise as he unbuttoned his trousers and pulled out his own cock, dark and thick and fuck, you would have much prefered going down on him than some grimy stranger. “You liiike iiiit~ How cute!”

You moaned again, your eyes locked on his hand, idly jerking up and down his length, as you forced yourself to move quicker against the glory hole, just wanting this all to be over with.

“Ah ah, not too fast, mein herr…let yourself savour it, hm?”

[djuvlipen]

MYTH: The Nordic Model is more dangerous for sex workers than decriminalisation

There is a vocal campaign for “decriminalisation of sex work”. By “decriminalisation” campaigners don’t just mean that selling sex is decriminalised, but so is buying sex, brothel keeping, pimping, and advertising prostitution. They want prostitution to be treated just like any other job and claim that this makes “sex workers” safer – and that the Nordic Model is more dangerous for “sex workers”.

For example, the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) claims that the Nordic Model, “undermines sex workers’ safety” and is more dangerous than full decriminalisation. A number of other organisations make the same or similar claims, often quoting studies that purport to back up these claims – although many of the studies that we have looked at appear to have multiple flaws.[*]

The Nordic Model is based on the understanding that nothing can make prostitution safe and so it aims to reduce the size of the industry. It has several planks: It decriminalises selling sex and provides support, routes out and genuine alternatives to those caught up in the industry; it makes buying sex a criminal offence – with the aim of changing men’s behaviour; and it has strong laws against pimping, brothel keeping, sex trafficking, and advertising prostitution.

It is well known that male violence against women and girls (VAWG) is generally under-reported to the police, and that this is particularly true for the endemic violence that men perpetrate against women and girls involved in prostitution. Levels of reporting of these crimes are affected by changes in education and awareness, how well victims expect their complaints to be dealt with, and how prostitution is understood by the authorities. These and other issues make it difficult to compare rates of violence against women involved in prostitution between countries with any accuracy.

This is why the homicide data is of particular interest – a dead body that has met a violent end is an unarguable fact.

Therefore to test the claim that the Nordic Model is more dangerous for “sex workers” than full decriminalisation, we looked in detail at the homicide data for women involved in prostitution whose murders were related to their prostitution. This data is collected and collated by German social scientists who run the Sex Industry Kills project (the website is temporarily down for maintenance).

If the claim is true that the Nordic Model is more dangerous than decriminalisation, we would expect to see higher rates of homicide of women involved in prostitution in countries that have implemented the Nordic Model and lower rates in countries that have implemented full decriminalisation – or legalisation, which is similar.

In fact the data shows the exact opposite as we will demonstrate.

We chose Sweden, Norway and France as examples of the Nordic Model, and New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands as examples of full decriminalisation and legalisation.

Comparing the data across these countries for the years that the various legislative approaches were in force is complex. There is considerable variation in when the legislation in question was introduced. For example, the Nordic Model was introduced in Sweden in 1999, in Norway in 2010, and in France in 2016. Full decriminalisation was introduced in New Zealand in 2003. The legalised approach was introduced in 2000 in the Netherlands. Legal brothels have existed in Germany since the 14th century and its red-light districts as we know them today were established in the 1850s. However, it wasn’t until 2002 that pimping was legalised in Germany – so we have used that as the start date.

There is also considerable variation in the size and populations of these countries – ranging from New Zealand with a population of only about 5 million to Germany with a population of about 84 million.

This shows a lower homicide rate in the Nordic Model countries and none at all in Sweden. (There was a murder of a prostituted woman and another of a prostituted transwoman in Sweden during this time. We have not included these murders because they were not directly tied to their prostitution.)

This leaves no doubt that the rate of homicide of women involved in prostitution is significantly higher in fully decriminalised New Zealand and legalised Germany and the Netherlands than in the Nordic Model countries of Sweden, Norway and France.

This shows that the claim that the Nordic Model is more dangerous for women involved in prostitution is false.

Rather, this is evidence that the more prostitution there is, the more women will be harmed in it – sometimes fatally. All the evidence suggests that legalising or decriminalising the entire industry leads to an increase in its size. Therefore policy and legislation should aim to reduce the size of the industry.

We do not claim that the Nordic Model is safer – because we do not believe that anything can make prostitution safe.

The Nordic Model aims to change men’s behaviour, prevent new women and girls being drawn into the industry, while providing women (and others) caught up in it with routes out and viable alternatives so that the prostitution industry reduces in size. The homicide data suggests that when well implemented, this approach does reduce the overall size of the industry and therefore the overall amount of harm to women involved.

Prostitution – the most dangerous occupation of all

We need to bear in mind that these numbers are likely to be an underestimate, because many women involved in prostitution are isolated and are not reported if they disappear and few countries keep accurate records of this data. The Sex Industry Kills team works hard to gather data from a variety of sources, including official statistics (where available) and media reports.

Many women who have been involved in prostitution – whether on the street or in brothels – for any length of time say that several women they knew disappeared suddenly and they always wondered what had happened to them and often suspected they had been murdered. Not least because they feared that they themselves would be murdered every single day that they were in prostitution.

Just as in other forms of male violence against women and girls, for each murder there are typically many other women and girls who are violently abused and attacked. The Sex Industry Kills team is aware of 64 attempted murders of prostituted women in Germany during the time frame we are looking at.

Research in the United States found that punters perpetrate a large proportion of the lethal and non-lethal violence perpetrated against women involved in prostitution and that prostitution is the most dangerous occupational environment of all in the United States.

We do not accept that any woman should be facing these odds – particularly as prostitution serves no essential role – unless you consider the subordination of women and the shoring up of male supremacy as essential.

This is why we campaign for the Nordic Model and against full decriminalisation.

Appendix: Raw data

The charts in this article are based on the data in the following table.

Source: Sex Industry Kills project and United Nations Population Division

The Female Population column shows the average total female population for the years the legislation was enforced, not the female population in 2023 alone. For example, for New Zealand, it shows the average female population for the years 2003 -2022. This is used in the bar chart that shows the average annual rate of homicide.

Further reading

Remembering the women who didn’t survive prostitution

‘Decriminalisation of the sex trade vs. the Nordic Model: What you need to know’

FACT: Prostitution is inherently violent

  [*] For example, see:

MYTH: The Nordic Model hinders the global fight against HIV

MYTH: Amnesty’s research in Norway has proved the Nordic Model is harmful to “sex workers”

Response to the Queen’s University Belfast review of the operation of Northern Ireland’s sex buyer law

Critique of the Médecins du Monde study into the Nordic Model law in France

Do prostitution laws in Europe affect the incidence of rape? – Analysis of a recent study

This page was first published on 25 August 2023.

[justforbooks]

Richard Woodman

Writer who drew on his own experience at sea in a series of novels and historical works about the British merchant navy

“The end was anticlimax. We slipped home unnoticed. Britain turned no hair at our arrival, as just as she has turned no hair at our extinction.” When Richard Woodman published Voyage East in 1988, he knew that the mercantile world depicted within it, which he had joined aged 16, was gone.

The first-person novel – which never reads like fiction – describes the voyage of a cargo liner carrying goods and passengers from Liverpool to Singapore, Hong Kong, Kobe and Shanghai in the mid-1960s. There is a moment, off the coast of Borneo, when the captain sees a vessel with half a dozen grey aluminium boxes on her foredeck: “What the devil are they?” he asks the pilot. “‘They’re containers, Captain,’ the Pilot replied, and no one on the bridge heard the sentence of death pronounced upon us.”

Woodman, who has died aged 80, became the memorialist of the merchant fleets. Between 2008 and 2016 he wrote the history of the British merchant navy in five volumes, followed by A Low Set of Blackguards, a two-volume history (2016-17) of the East India Company.

His outstanding contribution came through his three second world war convoy histories: Arctic Convoys (1994), Malta Convoys (2000) and The Real Cruel Sea (2005). These are works of passion, based on experience and scrupulous research.

The loss of life among merchant seamen was proportionately greater than in any of the armed services and the recognition they received far less. From the beginning of the war a seafarer’s pay was stopped the minute his ship was sunk. “Time spent fighting for his life on a float or lifeboat was an unpaid excursion,” wrote Woodman.

While Winston Churchill acknowledged the crucial importance of the Battle of the Atlantic to national survival, it was not until 2012 that those who had served in the Arctic convoys, and had taken the highest casualties of all, were retrospectively honoured.

Born in north London, Richard was the elder son of Rosalie (nee Cann) and Douglas Woodman, a civil service administrator. Though he was far from the sea, his imagination was captured by the works of Arthur Ransome, Daniel Defoe, RM Ballantyne and Alan Villiers, and his enthusiasm nurtured by Sea Scout membership.

He was the youngest member of the Sea Scout crew that sailed the ex-German yawl Nordwind in the 1960 Tall Ships race and, despite failing all but two of his O-levels, he was accepted as an indentured apprentice with the Alfred Holt (Blue Funnel) line in 1960.

His first long trip to Australia came as a midshipman on the SS Glenarty, returning via the US: “I had been round the world before I would have been allowed inside a British pub.” Life on board ship took place in an uncompromising, all-male environment: the almost compulsory swearing, drinking and sexist banter encouraged the development of “a carapace behind which we hid our private selves”.

Woodman responded eagerly to the hands-on education in seamanship and navigation, developed his writing and sketching through the log-keeping and read his way through the excellent ships’ libraries provided by the Marine Society. He completed his four-year apprenticeship and gained his second mate’s certificate. He was, however, in love and hated saying goodbye to his girlfriend, Christine Hite, an art student, for many months at a time.

He left Blue Funnel in the mid-1960s and went to work for the Ocean Weather Service, where he discovered how vicious the North Atlantic winter weather systems could be – and how pitilessly an ex-second world war corvette would roll. Fortunately it was not long before a temporary position became available with Trinity House, the corporation charged with the maintenance of navigation marks around England, Wales and the Channel Islands.

The position became permanent; he and Christine married in 1969 and settled in Harwich, Essex, near the Trinity House east coast depot, and he served the corporation for most of the rest of his life.

The work at sea was varied, challenging, sometimes dangerous. Precise navigation, seamanship and attention to detail were essential qualities, but Woodman also found time to write. His first novel, The Eye of the Fleet, was published in 1981. This introduced a series of 14 adventures featuring the young Nathaniel Drinkwater, a hero somewhat in the Horatio Hornblower mode but bearing the unmistakable stamp of a writer who was also a sailor.

Despite his professional career being in motorised vessels, Woodman loved traditional gaff-rigged yachts, particularly his own Kestrel and then Andromeda, in which he and Christine explored the east coast rivers and beyond. The action of his nautical novels often turns on neat, seamanlike manoeuvres as well as including varied and closely observed seascapes.

His productivity was astonishing. He often wrote two or three novels a year and soon added non-fiction to his output. When he became captain of Trinity House Vessel Patricia, he achieved this by having two desks, one from which he could conduct official business, the other hidden behind a door, with a page from the work in progress always ready in the typewriter.

Meanwhile, in his job he was extremely focused, conscientious and painstaking. Although some remember him as being of the “old school”, Jill Kernick, the first woman in almost 500 years to work at sea for Trinity House, credits him with helping her break through traditional barriers in the early 80s.

In 1997 Woodman retired to write full time, but was soon elected a Younger Brother of Trinity House, and then an Elder Brother, the first time a former employee was accorded this honour. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 but there was no let-up in his work rate. His last completed novel, A River in Borneo (2022), harks back to 60s Indonesia but sets its final scene in a Colchester hospice.

He is survived by Christine and their children, Abigail and Edward, and grandson, Arlo.

🔔 Richard Martin Woodman, master mariner and author, born 10 March 1944; died 2 October 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[my-deer-friend]

The post you reposted about not hating historians was really interesting, thank you for sharing it. Do you have recommendations for historians who are researching queer history in the 18th century?

Do I!

(Note that I'm using "queer" below in the modern sense of "behaviour outside the sanctioned/accepted gender or sexual norms of the time".)

Strands of scholarship

I've come to see two broad approaches in historical queer studies, at least those focused on the 18th century; these are my own observations, and not formal groupings (as far as I'm aware).

One one side, you have those scholars who have a very open and loose conception of queerness, and are usually interested in "queering the past" – aka using a queer scholarship lens to investigate historical social-cultural behaviours. They often focus on literary analysis and tend to be more liberal about applying modern queer terminology to the past, and usually lean social constructionist or postmodernist.

On the other side, you have strict queer scholars, who have much more stringent definitions of what is "definitely queer" and what isn't, and are interested in making sure that only those historical figures who are "truly" queer are labelled as such. They tend to focus on official documents like trial records and homosexual acts as the most valid kinds of evidence of queerness. These are most often critical realists.

The first group risks taking an over-broad approach to historical queerness, while the second risks being overly narrow, so the majority of scholars tend to fall somewhere in the middle. I do however think it's important to be aware of the differing entry points that a historian might be taking, so that you can read more critically.

All that said...

Here are some recommendations

Haggerty, G. E. (1999). Men in love: Masculinity and sexuality in the eighteenth century. Columbia Univ. Press. For me, this is the gold-standard starting point. Haggerty takes a very pragmatic and compassionate approach to investigating historical queerness. He has also published a more recent book about Horace Walpole which I've skimmed and it looks excellent (Haggerty, G. E. (2011). Horace Walpole’s Letters: Masculinity and Friendship in the Eighteenth Century. Bucknell University Press.)

Godbeer, R. (2009). The overflowing of friendship: Love between men and the creation of the American republic. Johns Hopkins University Press. Another excellent foundational work, this one focused more on America.

Tobin, R. (2000). Warm Brothers: Queer Theory and the Age of Goethe. University of Pennsylvania Press. This book focuses on queerness in late-18th/early-19th century German culture, but has lots of useful cross-cutting insights.

Sedgwick, E. K. (1985). Between men: English literature and male homosocial desire. Columbia university press. Sedgwick doesn't pull many punches, and that puts her ahead of her time; you'll find many theorists leaning on her study.

Malcolm, N. (2024). Forbidden Desire in Early Modern Europe: Male-Male Sexual Relations, 1400-1750 (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. I have heard great things about this book and it's somewhere on my long, long reading list – but by all accounts it's worth a look, and is the most recent source on this list, so it should contain the most up-to-date scholarship.

Cleves, R. H. (2014). Charity and Sylvia: A same-sex marriage in early America. Oxford University Press. This one takes place in the early 19th century, so not quite what you're looking for, but is an interesting investigation into (the scarcer field of) female same-sex relations.

Norton, R. (Ed.). Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. Updated 17 December 2023. http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/. An invaluable resource of source documents and analyses (with the small caution that Norton very blatantly uses modern queer terminology in historical context).

These are all books, so they serve as a good starting point for a broad exploration; all of these authors have also published academic articles, which go into much more depth on narrower topics. I also have some more focused resources, if there is a specific topic within this massive field that you have a particular interest in!

[nesiacha]

Facepalm during the podcast of 2000 ans d'histoire Madame Tallien

I am really a masochist. What was I thinking, listening to a podcast of the show "2000 Years of History" about Theresa Cabarrus, knowing what awaited me? Anyway, just two or three things that shocked me:

In the podcast, they talk about the misogyny of the Jacobins in 1794, implying that after Thermidor, it was the liberation of women. If the French Revolution was a missed period for women's rights despite certain male deputies in favor of women's rights like Condorcet, Carnot, (who worked with him in women's education along with Pastoret and Guilloud, ) Guyomar, Charles Gilbert Romme, in 1795, it was even worse for women's rights because a decree of the assembly stated that women were no longer allowed to attend assembly sessions.

Françoise Kéramina, despite being a historian, says in her own words that Robespierre had the indignity to propose to Madame Tallien to save her life if she testified against Tallien. Moreover, the reason she gives is that he mistrusts Tallien. Firstly, it’s not just simple mistrust that Tallien inspires in him but a feeling that he is rightfully evading justice. One can reproach Robespierre for many things, but not for being angry against Tallien during his actions on Bordeaux. I won’t repeat myself, so here is a link to what can be reproached to Tallien and why heroizing him is wrong: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/745840835710582784/propaganda-mediatic-around-tallien-and-french?source=share. Secondly, has the show forgotten that Robespierre absolutely does not decide alone? A majority within the Committee of Public Safety, the agreement of the Committee of General Security, and often also the majority of the Convention are required (brief summary). It is far from me to absolve Robespierre, but the decisions were primarily collective. Moreover, what happened is not irregular; it’s called proposing a deal to an accomplice who testifies against another in the same case they are accused of. I know we must be careful with anachronisms, but nowadays we call this, at least in the common law system, a deal; the Romano-Germanic system is a bit more complicated in this matter: a representative of the public prosecutor's office comes to offer a deal to an accomplice to testify against another for a reduced sentence. It’s a judicial deal. Of course, it’s much more problematic if it incites false testimony, but Theresa was an accomplice, and her case was less serious than that of Tallien, who was a deputy and, therefore, a representative of the nation, unlike her. It is logical, then, that this deal was proposed to her. Nothing shocking to me as a law student.

However, in the show, it is said that Tallien had courage on the 9th Thermidor by brandishing a dagger and threatening to kill Robespierre. Well, in this case, it is no longer indignity but courage. Someone needs to explain to me how one can endorse the murder of a deputy (or a person ) outside of laws and judicial frameworks. Moreover, the 9th Thermidor was above all well-prepared theater . So no bravery of Tallien. Anyway, I didn't have the courage to go to the end. I got fooled into thinking that with a historian, there would still be a minimum of seriousness.

Edit: I said 1895 instead of 1795 XD Sorry :)

[bunnysrph]

hey!

would you be able to suggest some male actors of latina / south american descent? preferably in their twenties?

thank you <3

below are some  SOUTH AMERICAN face claims, in their 20s. they are listed in alphabetical order, with their birth years && ethnicities. those in bold are my personal recommendations. please  LIKE / REBLOG  if you find this useful.

alejandro speitzer (1995, mexican && unspecified other)

andrew matarazzo (1997, brazilian, italian && unspecified other)

benjamin wadsworth (1999, mexican, iranian, swedish, dutch && english)

booboo stewart (1994, argentinian, italian, french-canadian, english, scottish, japanese, chinese && korean)

chance perez (1997, mexican, english && irish)

d’pharaoh woon-a-tai (2001, oji-cree, guyanese, english, irish, german, dutch, chinese && african)

diego tinoco (1997, mexican && colombian)

eduardo franco (1994, mexican)

froy gutierrez (1998, mexican, caxcan && unspecified white)

gabriel conte (1994, cuban && colombian)

gavin leatherwood (1994, mexican, irish, british, german && cherokee)

jake t. austin (1994, puerto rican, argentinian, spanish, polish, english && irish)

lino facioli (2000, brazilian, austrian, italian, portuguese && german)

matt hunter (1998, colombian, scottish && italian)

michael garza (2000, mexican)

nico greetham (1995, colombian && scottish)

noah urrea (2001, mexican, dutch/frisian, english, scottish && german)

omar rudberg (1998, venezuelan)

ricardo hoyos (1995, ecuadorian, peruvian, irish, british, french-canadian && guernsey)

william shewfelt (1995, guyanese, indian && german)

xolo maridueña (2001, cuban, ecuadorian && mexican)

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 19 December 1908, photographer, socialist and anti-fascist Gisele Freund was born to a Jewish family in Germany. She photographed the German anti-fascist movement until one of her friends was jailed and murdered, upon which she went to France where she began a relationship with avant-garde poet Adrienne Monnier, who arranged for her to marry a male friend to remain in the country. Following the Nazi invasion of France she fled to Argentina, where she worked for Magnum Photos until forced to break ties following the American Red Scare. After publication of photographs she took of Eva Peron wearing lavish jewellery, she was forced to leave the country as it contradicted the Peronist propaganda about austerity. She eventually returned to France where she lived until her death in 2000. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2165700273615111/?type=3

[black-arcana]

CLÉMENTINE DELAUNEY Talks How 'Pirate Metal' Has Changed Course Of VISIONS OF ATLANTIS's Career

By David E. Gehlke

"Pirate metal" officially became a thing in 1987 when Germany's RUNNING WILD ditched their JUDAS PRIEST-styled denim and leather for a wardrobe that would have made Blackbeard and Calico Jack flash a toothless grin in appreciation. The Germans proceeded to take it pretty far on European shores, becoming a regular headliner on the small-to-mid-sized venue circuit and one of Noise Records' best-selling bands. Scotland's ALESTORM and New Jersey's SWASHBUCKLE notwithstanding, Austria's VISIONS OF ATLANTIS is the first band since RUNNING WILD to give pirate metal some legitimacy, a fact highlighted on their upstart new studio album, "Pirates II - Armada".

VISIONS OF ATLANTIS is not a new band (they formed in 2000),but the pirate angle has breathed new life into a career that previously found them occasionally drifting toward the dreaded center of the crowded female-fronted symphonic metal scene. After finding their inner buccaneer and entrusting male vocalist Michele Guaitoli with songwriting duties, VISIONS OF ATLANTIS have come into their own, something female vocalist Clémentine Delauney was happy to share with BLABBERMOUTH.NET.

Blabbermouth: What has the embrace of pirate themes done for VISIONS OF ATLANTIS's career? It's not like you're dipping your toes in the water — it's become a full-on thing.

Clémentine: "It has completely changed our mindset. It has given us a direction. We now have the coordinates on our compass; we know where we're going and what we stand for. Being a pirate, sure, you can look at it like, 'They're doing the Jack Sparrow thing!' meaning that pirates are fun. Oh, 'They're a gimmick band now.' You can look at it that way and it's totally fine. But for us, pirates and the way we present pirates, our version of pirates, is way more complex and we're dealing with the idea of freedom. Freedom in the world we're living in. Freedom to be ourselves. Freedom from our own demons. So, it has a very deep meaning. It's very much related to who we are as individuals in the band. Therefore, it's enabling us to be who we truly want to be, even as people. We decided to be pirates as musicians. We decided to be ourselves in a magnified, romanticized way if I can say it like that. It's touching us very much on a very personal level. It gives us a real direction, a real identity and something to strive for, something to look up to. It has totally inspired a new approach to writing music and lyrics, to find our messages."

Blabbermouth: You are in a very crowded field of bands. The pirate theme has definitely given you an identity, which is invaluable these days.

Clémentine: "This is what happens when you try to be unique and follow your gut and create a world that is absolutely yours. Of course, we're not the only pirate band out there, but the way we are designing our pirate world and the fact it's not entirely accurate and we implement a little bit of magic here and there and blend these historical characters with fantasy and a mix of genres, we've created our own thing. When you do that as an artist, you stand out because suddenly, you stop being in a trend or anything. You're just being yourself. It's what artists consciously or unconsciously try to do — they try to be unique."

Blabbermouth: Are you a RUNNING WILD fan?

Clémentine: "Yeah, of course. I'm not a fan musically speaking, but I respect them very much for what they've done. They have a lot of catchy songs."

Blabbermouth: Was there a quick transition into the "Pirates II" record? Were there songs left over from "Pirates"?

Clémentine: "No. The thing is, our main songwriter is Michele, the male singer. He became our songwriter and 'Pirates II' is completely his music. There are no songs that come from someone else or our producer. This time, 'Pirates' is 100 percent Michele. The thing is, he's constantly having music come to mind. I'd like to say he's a jukebox. He's continually having new tunes and new songs in his mind. As soon as we have a little time at home, he's putting himself in front of the computer and laying down the basic ideas for all these songs. For 'Pirates I', there were songs that were written at the last minute. We wrote a lot during Covid. That was slowing the process down because you have to send files around to everyone. That was not the easiest. We didn't write more songs for 'Pirates I' than those that ended up on the record, but if a song didn't make it for 'Pirates I', they didn't make it for 'Pirates II'. We always want to raise the bar and improve. We always want to make it better than last time. We've learned from our experiences. We've grown as musicians. Michele has been practicing guitar even more after 'Pirates I'. He was starting to riff harder and going, 'I can play that! I can make a song out of it.' I said, 'Go for it. We're a metal band.' That's why we have heavier songs on 'Pirates II' because he's getting better. His creative flow is perpetual and continuous. Even though 'Pirates II' had way more songs than we needed—it's not like we were struggling to finish the record. This was a nice luxury to have, like, 'We have 16 songs and we have to get down to 12. How do we choose?' That was the hardest part. It was, 'We love all these songs. How do we create the best tracklist?' The songs have to be good individually, but a record is a combination of songs and the journey you take the listener through when you start with that song and end with that one. We had to create a nice story, a nice adventure for the listener with the tracklisting. Yeah, in the end, he had more songs and Napalm Records always likes to make special editions. For the special edition, we had bonus tracks. We had more than what we needed. So, no, there were no songs left over from 'Pirates I' that made it to 'Pirates II'."

Blabbermouth: There's a good balance between more direct songs and epic songs like "The Dead Of The Sea" and "Where The Sky And Ocean Blend".

Clémentine: "'The Dead Of The Sea' is Michele and my favorite song on the record. We've been fighting to have that as the single because even though it's ten minutes long, as a single, it works. We have other strong songs that will be singles. That was a complicated decision—which single to have for this record? In my opinion, on the record, it could be a single. But, the thing is, we're a symphonic metal band at our core. This is the music we love making because we love movie scores and cinema. We have a journey in our head, a movie in our head when we write music and lyrics. We're happy to have those catchy songs and to-the-point songs like 'Armada' and 'Monster', but a record just with those kinds of songs would feel a little too easy. We love to write to let ourselves be free and explore what the songs are about. We sit down and write songs like 'The Dead Of The Sea', and we allow it to unfurl. We allow it to be taken to other places and be developed. We feel like there is more we can say and more we can write out of what is shaping under our eyes and ears. Sometimes, you don't want to cut it down. Sometimes, we're like, 'The song is already four minutes long. It doesn't matter because I feel like we can go this way and can open this part to another part afterward.' These are the songs—and because we're a symphonic metal band—we love that style and allow ourselves to have long songs where it's no longer about being catchy. We're creating a story. It's a short story, and we take the listener deep into a topic and ask questions. Maybe the song answers it or brings up even more questions. It's beautiful to let music be. It doesn't have to be radio friendly. This is also what metal is about. Metal didn't care about the centers of radio or mainstream like you have the first chorus after one minute. Fuck it! [Laughs] We love these songs because they also reflect the core of who we are as musicians, where we can express deeper emotions and a deeper state of the mind and soul because of the topics we're touching."

Blabbermouth: It's always nice to have a handful of compact, three, four-minute songs, but the longer, more "epic" tracks can usually make or break an album.

Clémentine: "Yeah, of course. That's what VISIONS OF ATLANTIS have been about for so long. We're showing that you can be consistent and deliver good music no matter the format. If it's a single and it's very catchy where you can capture the best riffs and melody in three minutes, that's great. If you're able to make a real, long journey of a seven-minute song where you keep that quality and intensity and you let the music be, and in VISIONS, we'd never be able to do just three-minute or seven-minute-long songs. We do both. Live, it creates such a dynamic."

Blabbermouth: This is your fourth record with VISIONS OF ATLANTIS. Has it been easier than expected to settle into an established band?

Clémentine: "It's been an amazing journey. It's been a journey of, I would say, self-revelation. It's the moment when we're writing songs from the heart of VISIONS OF ATLANTIS where I am able to express myself as a singer and songwriter and lyricist. Suddenly, I'm part of the core of the essence of the birth of the music. From the first drafts of the songs, because I can work so easily with Michele now, we developed a lot of the songs together. From the first moments, I can already have a picture of what I want to say and where I want to take the story or which situation, and it feels very fulfilling to feel part of the birth of a song from scratch. I've never been able to do it with [previous albums] 'The Deep & The Dark' and 'Wanderers'. The songs were written by our producer back then. It was, 'This is the song and sing it.' I had to write lyrics, which was great, but the music was already written and not in my voice. Michele wants my voice to shine. He pays attention to the fact that I need to be comfortable and I can showcase my power because our band knows I give power to the songs. If I am constantly uncomfortable about my vocals, like, 'Is this in my range? Is this the right key?' then I'm not going to deliver what I'm capable of. With Michele and since 'Pirates', it's been great for me. There are songs on 'Pirates II' that I feel are how I intended the songs to sound when I hear my words and voice. I've been able to achieve over a hundred percent of my potential as a singer. I feel accomplished as a singer working this way. I feel like that journey from the 'The Deep & The Dark' to now has been a journey of creating music that is more and more fulfilling for me as an artist and as a singer."

Blabbermouth: Is it okay to go out on a limb and wonder whether VISIONS OF ATLANTIS can reach the same point AMON AMARTH has with its Viking stage setups? Is that a goal?

Clémentine: [Laughs] "I'm dreaming huge probably because the first artists I looked up to were Michael Jackson and Madonna, who are examples of dreaming the biggest ever. My absolute dream is that we end up playing stages that are big enough to host everything with a pirate-based production where every song has its own environment and universe. It wouldn't become a theatrical show but a mixture of what a musical, metal show and cinema could be. It would be something that would be a multi-dimensional experience for the fans. They come into the venue and forget about their problems and they're attending a powerful, immersive experience. That would be the absolute dream."

[6mayhem]

top ten men??

okay.....this is a long personal post BE PREPARED!!! to find me cringe after this

in no particular order and most are also gonna be fictional LOLOLOLOLOL starting with the real people tho

gerard way...what can i say..... just 10/10 who I'm trying to be. All my problems would be solved if I could 100% embody him body mind and soul circa mid 2000s because spiritually that's who i was born to be. also the music is good very good. does he even count as a man anymore everyone's a transgender nowadays. anyway i don't actually know anything abt him apart from the stage persona and that's the way I'm trying to keep it bc everything i learn about celebrities I learn against my will

manuel germanletsplay. god i was so obsessed with him as a teenager. for the americans: he was of the biggest german gaming/minecraft youtubers and national heartthrob among teen girls. everyone shipped him with his friends including me THE FANFICSSSS..... he inspired a lot of transgenderism in me due to his twinky nature and his piano talent and long hair and the fact he never (to this day) showed his face. his persona was like a real life creepypasta character when it comes to sex appeal

isak valtersen skam..... skam is like my longest running hyperfixations i first watched it circa 2017 and have been rewatching at LEAST twice a year since then. idc that it's a teen show.......... he contributed greatly to my transgenderism. I love manipulative teen guys who are just the absolute fucking worst when you look at it objectively. he was such a male manipulator the whole s1 arc rlly made him out to be such a mastermind supervillain it was so silly. and then he got rlly pathetic in s3 ❤️❤️❤️❤️ anyway awesome outfits also..And anger issues

mickey milkovich shameless.... don't feel like I need to explain. WHAT AN ARC !!! he's a terrible person but like somehow the most sympathetic character in the entire show. everything past s7 was such flanderization it made me mad as hell but before that waowwaow.....he deserved better. my meowmeow. would move mountains and literally kill people for the most average annoying guy ever (real mickey fans hate ian) (jk hes fine minus the last 2 seasons)

syd march antiviral. what a fucking freak. he's got everything. blood kink. appearance of a sickly victorian child. horrible daddy issues. bisexuality. a thinly veiled transgender subplot. he's just so slimy and greasy and you just wanna punch him the entire movie I love it. big fan. also a male manipulator..U never know how much of his weakness is real and how much is faked to gain people's trust. he's just like me when it comes to obsessing over random beautiful women!!

sven kretschmer from ich hasse liebeslieder. no one knows this book because it was posted in like 2015 on a german fanfiction website but it permanently changed my brain chemistry. wow. i love him so much. he's everything to me. eyeliner wearing bisexual emo with greasy black hair who canonically looks like gerard way and struggles with every mental issue under the sun. erectile dysfunction subplot. has an abusive father. my favorite band is only kj because that's HIS favorite band. you could trace back 90% of who I am as a person to sven. HE BECAME A TATTOO ARTIST ALSO THAT'S SO COOL!!! and he's the most loyal bastard ever just a kicked puppy kinda guy i love men who are really clingy in relationships. but at the same time he also has insane anger issues which I ALSO love in a man GRIN 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 ^^^^ see above faves this is a whole archetype of guy for me

jack as you are.... See profile pic!! you already knowwwww!!!!! he's just like me fr. sheltered/seen as weak and sensitive and longing to be rebellious and do things to impress other men (in a homosexual way). maybe transgender? maybe killed his best friend/brother/lover!! again...greasy long hair YAYYY!!! the whole movie could be a forcemasc fantasy

mirco from this sorta obscure book called landeplatz der engel....his mother rejected him. the woman who took him in is a prostitute.... he says ableist slurs but is the least ableist person in the whole book...he wears a ring with a jewel in the shape of a boar head how cool is that?? and he stole a car. and does illegal car races. and ditched his girlfriend for his new male best friend. and he's secretly really traumatized but never wants to be a victim and gets mad when you imply his past affected him 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 idk I just love how he never pretends to be a better person than he is, but the opposite of it. He never gives himself credit for how kind he is

will graham... What a fucking freak(2). proves that your life isn't over at 30 you can still find the love of your life and do really weird shit because you decided that the only thing you care about is what a freaky european cannibal thinks of you.

adam saw....what can i say. he's awesome. he's transgender. he's funny. he's tragic. he's in love with a man twice his age while his brain can't decide if it should see him as a father figure or romantic interest. relatable to me personally

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

my oc neph bell because he's awesome and basically me

steve harrington and eddie munson from stranger things bc i still ship it (there's zero canon moments but idgaf about canon its stupid anyway) bc 1. Tragic blond failson with daddy issues and 2. eddie gave me aesthetic aspirations fuel for like a full year before i figured out who i wanna be. so yeah. I'm only a little bit ashamed of this

tyler durden fight club because yeah. and by extension the narrator bc the moments where he acted like a proper weird fucker were so funny and also meeeeeeee x3

nezumi no.6 you edgy fucker

mo folchart inkheart bc i always wanted him to be my father

kurt cobain

my other oc cesar liehmann bc he embodies everything i like re: blond men with anger issues who have to compensate for their average height by acting more confident than they are

free space for whoever i might be forgetting rn. I always have a LOT of thoughts about fictional men....

SHIN TSUKIMI FROM YTTD LOL I REMEMBER BEING CRAZY ABT HIM

max zerophilia... just completely embraces his sexuality and status as a Z. shamelessly in love with both luke and luca. HOT!!!! kind of bad at flirting but it works for him. AND HE'S ALSO HOT AS MICHELLE AND I'M BISEXUAL SO THAT'S THAT

[pixies-love-envy]

Too Sweet: Jude

Character Intro

Name: Jude Fox

Nickname: Fox/Foxy

Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs (they are physically male)

Role in story: Antagonists

Bio/summary/description: They’re a political science major going to Redwood University. They aspire to be a political journalist but are currently working at a pizza restaurant. Harlow Knight, is close friends with them even though they happen to be Cricket St. James ex partner. They broke up with her hoping she would fight for their relationship instead of just accepting it. They were wrong and want her back desperately. When they meet March Starling in one of their classes they become fast friends, however, when they discover March is courting Cricket their intentions turn sour.

DOB: February 29, 2000 (Pisces)

Sexuality: Queer

Ethnicity: German American

MBTI: ENFP-T (Campaigner)

Occupation: Dishwasher at a pizza joint

Appearance

Height: 5 feet 9 inches

Hair: Blonde fluffy wolf cut

Eye: Green

Build/physique: Lean build (semi-muscular if you squint)

Notable features: Heart shaped key on their left wrist, flower and vine tattoos up and down their right side starting from their neck going down their shoulder and onto their hand. They also wear a silver chain.

Clothing style: A mix of grunge and punk aesthetic

Extra

TRAGIC BACKSTORY

Quote: “Did you know socialists can really fuck.”

Traits/quirks:

They’re pretentious. They think that because they know about politics they are better than everyone.

They’re deeply insecure and need constant affirmations and affection.

They’re afraid of commitment.

They’re very creative with their art but not so much in other parts of their life.

They call themselves a pessimist but they hold out hope that the world will change for the better

They’re extremely passionate in their efforts to make the world a better place for everyone.

Fun facts/headcanons:

They are extremely minimalist They have maybe 7 outfits and 12 personal possessions, so they're constantly asking everyone if they can borrow things from them. They completely refuse to buy their own stuff (despite definitely having the financial means to) but they never explain themselves and nobody knows why

They steal from people sometimes just for the thrill of it. They don’t steal anything big and they’re not being malicious (most of the time). They just swipe a fork off someone’s table or take a penny out of someone’s purse.

They’re polyamorous because they aren’t really a jealous person and also it’s less pressure on them to care for their partner if they have someone else to lean on.

They plan on living with friends as long as possible because they’re afraid of growing up.

Hobbies/skills: Vexillology, video games (specifically fallout), drawing, political theory, map making, playing guitar, and studying history

Likes: abandoned buildings, talking to homeless people, various drugs, punk shows at bars, crystals (only because they look pretty), Star Wars, and rupaul’s drag race

Dislikes: fascism, capitalism, organized religion, politicians, police, hyper realistic art, pop music, social media, mainstream news, and house parties

Fun fact about Jude is that I unintentionally made them into my ex boyfriend. So, I decided to lean into it and now they’re like twins but Jude is cooler and prettier lol. This is what healing through writing looks like 😌

Too Sweet Masterlist

@mundanemoongirl tagging you because you seem to be interested in updates!

IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED IN TOO SWEET CONTENT PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

[dead-reflection]

About me / Sobre mi.

𖤓♋☾♉↑♐

Based in Medellin - Colombia. He/Him. Straight. I don't give a shit about pronouns anyway, fuck that shit.

Barista and coffee Lover.

English/Spanish and currently learning German. Posting on the first two ones. lol

27 years old. Male, Straight.

My favorite bands are Seether, Silverstein and Green Day. I'm obsessed with 90's alternative rock and 2000's emo/nu metal but i listen to a lot of things.

I have a lot of kinks and i love long conversations about music, art movies and books. You just have to ask me. dm me if u wanna be treated like a slut or just wanna talk. :)

Formerly known as @rebirthed-by-the-sound. I'm in Spotify as GiRNoX.

Posting a lot of music i've found.

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT.

//////////////////////______________________//////////////////////////////////////////

Soy de Medellin - Colombia. Hetero. Hombre. Me importan una mierda los pronombres.

Barista y amante del cafe.

Hablo español, Ingles y algo de Aleman. Posteo solo en los dos primeros.

27 años. Hombre, Hetero.

Mis bandas favoritas son Seether, Silverstein y Green Day. Tengo una obsesion con el rock de los 90's y los 2000's pero escucho de todo en general.

Tengo varios fetiches y amo hablar sobre musica, arte pelis y libros en general. Se vale preguntarme de cualquier cosa. Manda mensaje si quieres que te trate mal o si solo quieres hablar :)

Antes era @rebirthed-by-the-sound. En Spotify me pueden encontrar como GiRNoX.

Posteo mucha musiquita que me voy encontrando.

NO APTO PARA MENORES.

𖤓♋☾♉↑♐

[dnangelic]

full name. niwa daisuke (丹羽大助) / dark mousy (ダーク・マウジ) / kokuyoku (黒翼) pronunciation. knee-wa die-skay / dark mow-see ( mau-jee ) / ko-ku-yo-ku meaning of name.  kanji for red/rust-colored + wings/feathers, english for lacking light + timid or lacking in character / black wings aliases. dark / dark, sagami yuma, gondawara saburouta, whatever else he feels like age. 14-15 / 2000+  date of birth. nov 11 place of birth. azumano, jp zodiac sign. scorpio species. human / live artwork race. jp nationality. jp gender. male sexuality. it's complicated profession. middle school student, phantom thief, hikari artwork tamer

appearance.

height. 5′2 (160cm) / 5'11 (180cm) weight. eety bitty but not too eety bitty / skinny ass twink  eye. red / red or violet hair. red / black or violet complexion. fair / light  build. small, but fit / tall, fit and acrobatic voice. soichiro hoshi (if i had to pick between him or miyu irino) / onosaka masaya (sorry okiayu) traits. perpetual rosy red flush on his cheeks. easily prone to tears. when he transforms into dark, his pupils are often the first thing to change. very fluffy hair. / slit, almond-shaped pupils. canines a little too sharp. black wings, retractable 'talons' (nails). no fingerprints, few visible hand grooves, extremely cold hands. feathery, lightweight hair.

parents. emiko and kosuke niwa. daiki niwa, daisuke's grandfather, also lives within the niwa family mansion. siblings. none, unless you count argentine for dark given others have called them 'like brothers' before.  children. n/a enemies. hiwatari, krad, the hikari at large, but also not really. figures related to law and law enforcement are the natural enemies of any thieves.

mental.

education. still in middleschool / has all sorts of random, excessive skills and talents, none of them particularly useful literacy. jp, eng, assortment of european languages (french, italian, german, etc) languages. same as above  disorders. well he's quite literally cursed for one thing. avoidant and occasional dissociative tendencies, absorbs much of dark's depression / deeply ingrained learned helplessness and depression, any other mental illness you can imagine an ancient isolated personality that learned to cope through theater kid methods can have habits. toying with and unlocking imaginary locks with his hands when he gets nervous. curls up into his knees and refuses to move when he gets depressed. fleeing from others as soon as he feels his heartrate pick up. / grinning, smirking, sneering, etc. he's naturally grabby and handsy and performs a lot of skillful, dexterous tricks with anything inanimate he can grab or touch around him.

traits.

positive. compassionate, responsible, good under pressure neutral. impulsive/quick-acting, protective/possessive, sensitive, sentimental, independent, rebellious negative. self-blaming, reckless, insecure, volatile, impatient

moral alignment.

jung. INFP / ENFJ enneagram. 2w1 (caregiver/reformer), 8w7 (challenger/noncomformist) four temperaments. melancholic / choleric tropes. red eyes take warning, satan is good, magnificent bastard, obfuscating stupidity, beauty and the beast/fractured fairy tale archetypes. innocent / joker tarot cards. the moon / the tower, the devil

[koi-koi-fish]

Youjo Senki college AU part 3.

expanding on the backstories of the main characters.

Tanya:

Her parents were HS sweethearts that graduated in April 2001. But after the 9/11 attacks her father enlisted in the US military. He deployed in November 2002. Tanya's mother learned she was pregnant in January 2003. Tanya's father died during the invasion of Iraq, March 2003. Tanya's mother couldn't handle the heartbreak but carried on to give birth. Tanya was born on July 18th 2003. However, at two months old she was left at a church in Denver, Colorado without any documents on September 24th 2003 which is now her legal birthday.

Tanya grew up in the church orphanage until she turned 7 when she was then put into the foster care system. She spent many years moving from family to family until at age 12, she was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Williams. Tanya was the fourth and youngest child in the household, her older adoptive siblings were the bio kids of Mr. and Mrs. Williams. Though not overtly abusive, they did neglect Tanya and overlooked the bullying she received from her adoptive siblings. Mr. and Mrs. Williams only did the bare minimum legally required of them.

Yet despite the bad circumstances, Tanya persevered and managed to graduate HS at 16. When Tanya turned 18, Mr. and Mrs. Williams kicked Tanya out once the government money stopped arriving. Tanya was expecting this though and had gotten a scholarship for college and moved into the dorms. But as a result of years of abuse, she's very slow to trust and has a food insecurity resulting in her hoarding food and constantly checking the kitchen.

tragic backstory over. Let's get to the good part. After starting college, Tanya really came into herself and found people she considers family. She's incredibly frugal and prefers wearing men's clothes since they're more durable and cheaper in the long run not to mention the functional pockets. Same with soap, Tanya uses men's 5 in 1 instead of buying many different hygiene products. As a result she's often mistaken as a young boy on first impression because of her androgynous looks, male clothing, and small stature.

Visha:

Visha is half White and half Mexican. Her mother, Natasha, is a Russian who moved to the US in 1992 shortly after the Soviet union fell. Her Father, Alejandro, and his family have lived in the Texas since 1850. While Natasha was attending college in Arizona she met and fell in love with Alejandro. They got married on his family ranch on August 16th 2000. Alejandro decided to take Natasha's last name of Serebryakov because he thought it was beautiful. Visha was born on February 5th 2001.

Growing up, Visha had a good childhood. She learned how to ride a horse, care for animals such as cats, dogs, cattle, and horses. Alejandro taught Visha how to be self-sufficient so she wouldn't need to rely on a man so she could truly get together with a man out of love and not necessity. Visha started working on her family ranch when she turned 16 and started to learn how to handle guns. Under parental supervision she practiced a lot and got pretty good.

That's when she discovered quick draw competitions and she fell in love with the sport. Her record is .38 seconds. When it came time for her to move out she decided to move to Colorado with her paternal grandparents to spend time with them while she attended college.

Weiss:

Matheus's father is German and his mother is American. His parents met when his mother was stationed in Germany during the late 90s, marrying in 1997. Matheus was born on July 26th 2000 in Pennsylvania. As a military brat he spent most of his childhood moving all over the world. It wasn't until HS when his family settled down in Colorado did he attended the same school for longer than a year.

After graduating HS in 2018 following his mother's footsteps he enlisted in the military much to her chagrin but also so he could get the government to pay for his college tuition. He did his job and performed well, however he was a bit too by the book and struggled with adapting. Though his contract was only for four years the government extended it by another year so he didn't get out till 2023.

Grantz:

Grantz was born on October 25th 2001. As the middle child he didn't get most of his parent's attention but he preferred that. His older brother was under a lot of pressure to set a good example so he was always busy and his younger sister was constantly making trouble. Grantz enjoyed being the "normal" one.

Some might consider Grantz's life boring but Grantz doesn't see it that way. He appreciates the privilege of having lived a secure life with a loving family. Grantz doesn't take for granted the hard work his parents put into giving himself and his siblings the best possible chance at life.

Neumann:

Born on July 21st, 2000 in a rough part of Albuquerque NM, Neumann grew up surrounded by hardship. But he didn't let that corrupt him. Growing up he loved helping people and protecting his classmates from bullies with his big size.

During HS he joined the wrestling team and did well. But he dropped out of HS at 17 to start working to help support his family. When working at a restaurant he discovered his love for cooking.

He studied hard to get a GED and saved money where he could so he could go to college. He finally saved enough money and moved to Denver Colorado to attend college there in 2022.

Koenig:

Born April 4th 2002 he grew up a loner, preferring to keep to himself. His parents also overworked and largely left him alone. His only real familial relationship growing up was with his paternal grandmother.

His grandmother's favorite movie was Mask of Zorro and Princess Bride. Watching these movies ignited his interest in fencing. While going to fencing classes he made friends who introduced him to anime. By HS his room was an odd mishmash of anime figurines and swords.

He decided to wait before starting college since he didn't know what he wanted to do. Then the pandemic happened and he stayed home 24/7 to act as his grandmother's live in caretaker to decrease external contact. In 2022 he started college and his grandma hired her own caretaker. Koenig still frequently visits and helps his grandma with her garden.

Factoids time. Tanya is the shortest of the friend group, standing at 5'1 (154cm for metric users). Visha is 5'7 (170cm). Grantz is 5'8 (172cm). Koenig is 5'11 (180cm). Weiss is 6'1 (185cm). And Neumann is the tallest at 6'4 (193cm).

Tanya is getting a business degree, Visha is getting an agriculture degree, Weiss is getting a history degree, Neumann is getting a culinary degree, and Koenig is getting a computer degree.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Hadley Freeman

Date: Feb 11, 2023

It wasn’t easy for Hannah Barnes to get her book published. As the investigations producer for Newsnight and a long-term analytical and documentary journalist, she is used to covering knotty stories and this particular one, she knew better than most, was complex. She had been covering the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), based at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in north London — the only one of its kind for children in England and Wales — since 2019 and decided to write a book about it. “I wanted to write a definitive record of what happened because there needs to be one,” she tells me. Not everyone agreed. “None of the big publishing houses would take it,” she says. “Interestingly, there were no negative responses to the proposal. They just said, ‘We couldn’t get it past our junior members of staff.’ ”

Whatever their objections were, they could not have been about the quality of Barnes’s book — Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children is a deeply reported, scrupulously non-judgmental account of the collapse of the NHS service, based on hundreds of hours of interviews with former clinicians and patients. It is also a jaw-dropping insight into failure: failure of leadership, of child safeguarding and of the NHS. When describing the scale of potential medical failings, the clinicians make comparisons with the doping of East German athletes in the 1960s and 1970s and the Mid Staffs scandal of the 2000s, in which up to 1,200 patients died due to poor care. Other insiders discuss it in reference to the Rochdale child abuse scandal, in which people’s inaction led to so many children being so grievously let down.

Gids treats children and young people who express confusion — or dysphoria — about their gender identity, meaning they don’t believe their biological sex reflects who they are. Since the service was nationally commissioned by the NHS in 2009 it has treated thousands of children, helping many of them to gain access to gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, known as “puberty blockers”, originally formulated to treat prostate cancer and to castrate male sex offenders, and also used to treat endometriosis and fertility issues. The service will shut this spring, following a deeply critical interim report in February 2022 by Dr Hilary Cass, a highly respected paediatrician who was hired by NHS England to look into the service. Dr Cass concluded that “a fundamentally different service model is needed”.

Gids should be an easy story to tell: many people have been trying to blow the whistle for a long time, but Anna Hutchinson, a clinical psychologist who used to work at the Tavistock Centre, told Barnes that those who spoke up were “always driven out one way or another”.

“It is really not normal for mental health professionals to talk to journalists as openly as they talked to me, and that shows how desperate they were to get the story out,” Barnes says. The clinicians struggled to be heard, just as Barnes later struggled to get her book out; some people prefer censorship to the truth if the latter conflicts with their ideology. And yet, concerns about the service had been in plain sight for years: in February 2019, a 54-page report compiled by Dr David Bell, then a consultant psychiatrist at the trust and the staff governor, was leaked to The Sunday Times. Dr Bell said Gids was providing “woefully inadequate” care to its patients and that its own staff had “ethical concerns” about some of the service’s practices, such as giving “highly disturbed and distressed” children access to puberty blockers. Gids, he concluded, “is not fit for purpose”. Many of Bell’s concerns had been expressed 13 years earlier in a 2006 report on Gids completed by Dr David Taylor — then the trust’s medical director — who described the long-term effects of puberty blockers as “untested and unresearched”.

“Taylor’s recommendations were largely ignored,” Barnes writes, and, in the decade and a half between Taylor and Bell’s reports, Gids would refer more than 1,000 children for puberty blockers, some as young as nine years old. It’s impossible to obtain a precise figure because neither the service nor the endocrinologists who prescribe the blockers could or would provide them to people who have asked for them, including Barnes. One figure they have given is that between 2014 and 2018, 302 children aged 14 or under were referred for blockers. It is generally accepted now that puberty blockers affect bone density, and potentially cognitive and sexual development. “Everything was there — everything. But the lessons were never learnt,” Barnes says.

Because this story touches on gender identity — one of the most sensitive subjects of our era — it has been difficult to get past the ideological battles to see the truth. Was the service helping children become their true selves, as its defenders contended? Or was it pathologising and medicalising unhappy kids and teenagers, as others alleged?

This reflects the fraught, partisan ways people see gender dysphoria: is it akin to being gay and therefore something to be celebrated?; or is it an expression of self-loathing, like an eating disorder, requiring therapeutic intervention? This has led to the current confusion over whether the planned conversion therapy ban should include gender as well as sexuality. “Conversion therapy” obviously sounds terrible, and politicians across the spectrum — from Crispin Blunt on the right to Nadia Whittome on the left — have loudly voiced their support for the inclusion of gender on the bill, which would thereby suggest that therapy for gender dysphoria is analogous to trying to “cure” someone of homosexuality.

But many clinicians argue that including gender would potentially criminalise psychotherapists exploring with their patients the reason for their confusion; after all, a doctor wouldn’t simply validate a bulimic’s desire to be thin — they’d try to find the cause of their inner discomfort and help them learn to love their body. Gids itself has long been conflicted about this complex issue. Dr Taylor wrote in 2005 that staff didn’t agree among themselves about what they were seeing in their patients: “were they treating children distressed because they were trans,” Barnes writes in Time to Think, “or children who identified as trans because they were distressed?”

How did the country’s only NHS clinic for gender dysphoric children not even understand what they were doing, and yet keep doing it? Thanks to Barnes and her book, we now know the answers to those questions, and many more.

Gids was founded in 1989 by Domenico Di Ceglie, an Italian child psychiatrist. His aim was to create a place where young people could talk about their gender identity with “non-judgmental acceptance”. Puberty blockers were available for 16-years-olds who wanted to “pause time” before committing themselves — or not — to gender-changing surgery. (Gids never offered that surgery, which is illegal in England for those under the age of 17, but it did refer patients to the endocrinology clinic, which provided the blockers. Blockers stop the body going through puberty, thereby making it easier — in some ways — for a person later to undergo the surgery.) In 1994 the service became part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which was known for its focus on talking therapies. By the early 2000s those working within Gids noted that certain gender activist groups — such as Mermaids, which supports “gender-diverse” kids and their families — were exerting an “astonishing” amount of influence on Gids, especially in regard to encouraging the prescribing of puberty blockers. Barnes writes in her book that Sue Evans, a nurse who worked at Gids at the time, asked a senior manager why Gids couldn’t just focus on talking therapy and not give out body-altering drugs. According to her and another clinician, Barnes writes, the senior manager replied, “It’s because we have this treatment here that people come.”

In around the year 2000, the trust asked Di Ceglie to draw up a report of who its patients were. The results were astonishing. Most of Gids’s patients were boys with an average age of 11. More than 25 per cent of them had spent time in care, 38 per cent came from families with mental health problems and 42 per cent had lost at least one parent, either through separation or death. Most had histories of other problems such as anxiety and physical abuse; almost a quarter had a history of self-harm. No conclusions were drawn and Gids continued to treat gender dysphoria as a cause, rather than a symptom, of adolescent distress.

It was a gender identity clinic in the Netherlands in the late Nineties that came up with the idea of giving blockers to children under 16, and in doing so furnished Gids with the justification it needed. The Dutch clinic said that 12-year-olds could be put on blockers if they had suffered from long-term gender dysphoria, were psychologically stable and in a supportive environment. This was known as the “Dutch protocol”. Pressure groups and some gender specialists encouraged the clinic to follow suit.

Dr Polly Carmichael took over as Gids’s director in 2009 and, in 2011, the service undertook an “early intervention study” to look at the effect of blockers on under-16s, because so little was known about their impact on children. Instead of waiting for the study results, Gids eliminated all age limits on blockers in 2014, letting kids as young as nine access them. At the same time referrals were rocketing, meaning clinicians had less time to assess patients before helping them access blockers. In 2009 Gids had 97 referrals. By 2020 there were 2,500, with a further 4,600 on the waiting list, and clinicians were desperately overstretched. “As the numbers seeking Gids’s help exploded around 2015, there was increased pressure to get through them. In some cases that meant shorter, less thorough assessments. Some clinicians have said there was pressure on them to refer children for blockers because it would free up space to see more children on the waiting list,” Barnes says.

Clinicians were seeing increasingly mentally unwell kids, including those who didn’t just identify as a different gender but as a different nationality and race: “Usually east Asian, Japanese, Korean, that sort of thing,” Dr Matt Bristow, a former Gids clinician, tells Barnes. But this was seen by Gids as irrelevant to their gender identity issues. Past histories of sexual abuse were also ignored: “[A natal girl] who’s being abused by a male, I think a question to ask is whether there’s some relationship between identifying as male and feeling safe,” Bristow says. But, clinicians point out, any concerns raised with their superiors always got the same response: that the kids should be put on the blockers unless they specifically said they didn’t want them. And few kids said that. As one clinician told Barnes: “If a young person is distressed and the only thing that’s offered to them is puberty blockers, they’ll take it, because who would go away with nothing?”

Then there was the number of autistic and same-sex-attracted kids attending the clinic, saying that they were transgender. Less than 2 per cent of children in the UK are thought to have an autism spectrum disorder; at Gids, however, more than a third of their referrals had moderate to severe autistic traits. “Some staff feared they could be unnecessarily medicating autistic children,” Barnes writes.

There were similar fears about gay children. Clinicians recall multiple instances of young people who had suffered homophobic bullying at school or at home, and then identified as trans. According to the clinician Anastassis Spiliadis, “so many times” a family would say, “Thank God my child is trans and not gay or lesbian.” Girls said, “When I hear the word ‘lesbian’ I cringe,” and boys talked to doctors about their disgust at being attracted to other boys. When Gids asked adolescents referred to the service in 2012 about their sexuality, more than 90 per cent of females and 80 per cent of males said they were same-sex attracted or bisexual. Bristow came to believe that Gids was performing “conversion therapy for gay kids” and there was a bleak joke on the team that there would be “no gay people left at the rate Gids was going”. When gay clinicians such as Bristow voiced their concerns to those in charge, they say it was implied that they were not objective because they were gay and therefore “too close” to the work. (Gids does not accept this claim.)

What if becoming trans is — for some people — a way of converting out of being gay? If a boy is attracted to other boys but feels shame about it, then a potential way around that is for him to identify as a girl and therefore insist he’s heterosexual. This possibility complicates the government’s plan — which has cross-party support — for including gender alongside sexuality in the bill to ban conversion therapy, if enabling a young person to change gender is, in itself, sometimes a form of conversion therapy.

I ask Barnes what she thinks and she answers with characteristic caution: “It’s a bit surprising that the NHS has commissioned one of the most experienced paediatricians in the country to undertake what appears to be an incredibly thorough review of this whole area of care, and not wait until she makes those final recommendations before legislating,” she says, weighing every word. (Dr Hilary Cass’s final review is due later this year.)

The sex ratio was also changing to a remarkable degree. When Di Ceglie started his gender clinic, the vast majority of his patients were boys with an average age of 11, and many had suffered from gender distress for years. By 2019-20, girls outnumbered boys at Gids by six to one in some age groups, especially between the ages of 12 to 14, and most hadn’t suffered from gender dysphoria until after the onset of puberty.

Some said this was simply because teenage girls felt more free to be open about their dysphoria. Some clinicians suspected there were other reasons. The clinicians Anna Hutchinson and Melissa Midgen worked at Gids and, after they left, wrotea joint article in 2020 citing a number of potential other factors: the increased “pinkification” and later “pornification” of girlhood; fear of sex and sexuality; social media; collapsing mental health services for adolescents, and so on. “It is important to acknowledge that girls and young women have long recruited their bodies as ways of expressing misery and self-hatred,” Hutchinson and Midgen wrote. And yet Gids’s response was to send these girls to endocrinology for puberty blockers.

The clinicians knew their patients were nothing like those in the Dutch protocol. The latter had been heavily screened, suffered from gender dysphoria since childhood and were psychologically stable with no other mental health issues. “Gids — according to almost every clinician I have spoken to — was referring people under 16 for puberty blockers who did not meet those conditions,” Barnes writes. The majority of children aged 11 to 15 referred to the clinic between 2010 and 2013 were put on blockers. The clinicians tried to reassure themselves by saying the blockers were just giving their patients time to think about what they wanted. They might even alleviate their distress. But in 2016 Gids’s research team presented the initial findings from its early intervention study, which looked at the effect of prescribing blockers to those under 16: although the children said they were “highly satisfied” with their treatment, their mental health and gender-related distress had stayed the same or worsened. And every single one of them had gone on to cross-sex hormones — synthetic testosterone for those born female, oestrogen for natal males. Far from giving them time to think, blockers seemed to put them on a pathway towards surgery. Clinicians were concerned that the service had abandoned NHS best practice. They repeatedly raised this with Carmichael and the executive team, but nothing changed. In just six months in 2018, 11 people who worked at Gids left due to ethical concerns. People who spoke up, such as David Bell and Sonia Appleby, the children’s safeguarding lead for the Tavistock trust, say they were bullied or dismissed. Appleby later won an employment tribunal case against the trust. Bell has said the trust threatened him with disciplinary action in connection with his activities as a whistleblower. He later retired.

Everything the whistleblowers tried to say has been borne out. A 2020 Care Quality Commission inspection of Gids rated the service “inadequate”, and pointed out that some assessments for puberty blockers consisted of only “two or three sessions” and that some staff “felt unable to raise concerns without fear of retribution”. Around the same time, the former Gids patient Keira Bell instigated a judicial review against the trust, arguing that at 16 she had been too young to understand the repercussions of being put on blockers, and that she bitterly regretted her transition. The High Court found in her favour that children are unable to give informed consent to puberty blockers. The Court of Appeal later overturned their verdict on the grounds that it should be up to doctors and not the court to determine competence to consent, but the damage was done: thanks to Bell’s case, it was now public knowledge how shambolic the service had become, unable to provide any data on, for example, how many children with autism they had put on blockers.

So what actually happened at Gids? And why did no one stop it? Barnes’s book suggests multiple credible factors. Activist groups from outside, such as Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence, came to exert undue influence on the service and would complain if they felt things weren’t being done their way. For example, Gendered Intelligence complained to Carmichael, the Gids director, when a clinician dared to express the view publicly that not all children with gender dysphoria would grow up to be transgender. In 2016 an expert in gender reassignment surgery warned Gids that putting young boys on puberty blockers made it more difficult for them to undergo surgery as adults, because their penis hadn’t developed enough for surgeons to construct female genitalia. Instead, surgeons had to use “segments of the bowel” to create a “neo-vagina”. But senior managers rejected calls from its clinicians to put this on a leaflet for patients and families. In the book, Hutchinson is quoted as saying, “I may be wrong, but I think Polly [Carmichael] was afraid of writing things down in case they got into Mermaids’s hands.”

Susie Green was at this point the chief executive of Mermaids and had taken her son, who had been on puberty blockers, to Thailand for gender reassignment surgery on his 16th birthday. In an interview, which is still on YouTube, Green laughingly recalls the difficulties surgeons had in constructing a vagina out of her child’s prepubescent penis. Green stepped down from Mermaids last year.

Money is suspected to have been another issue. When Gids became part of the Tavistock trust, it was such a minor player it wasn’t even in the main building. But by 2020-21, gender services accounted for about a quarter of the trust’s income. David Bell says this allowed the trust to be “blinkered”. The children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) possibly had similar blinkers. They were so overstretched it appears they were happy to offload as many kids as possible onto Gids, and then disregard what was actually happening there.

“It’s really striking how few people were willing to question Gids. As one clinician said to me, because it was dealing with gender, there was this ‘cloak of mystery’ around it. There was a sense of ‘Oh, it’s about gender, so we can’t ask the same questions that we would of any other part of the NHS. Such as: is it safe? Where’s the evidence? Where’s the data? And are we listening to people raising concerns?’ These are basic questions that are vital to providing the best care,” Barnes says.

And then there was the outside culture. Basic safeguarding failures at Gids seem to have accelerated from 2014 onwards, at the same time that there was a push for the rights of transgender people. Stonewall, having helped to secure equal marriage, had now turned its sights on the rights of trans people. Susie Green, at Mermaids, gave a TED talk that suggested taking her teenage son for a sex change operation was a parenting template to admire. Meanwhile, the TV networks weighed in. In 2014 CBBC aired a documentary, I Am Leo, about a 13-year-old female on puberty blockers who identifies as a boy — mainly, it seems, because of an abhorrence of dresses and long hair. In 2018 ITV showed the three-part drama Butterfly, about an 11-year-old boy whose desire to be a girl is expressed as a desire to wear dresses and make-up. Susie Green was the lead consultant on the show.

David Bell suggests that the Tavistock trust protected Gids “because they saw it as a way of showing that we weren’t crusty old conservatives; that we were up with the game and cutting-edge”. That the Tavistock clinic was briefly, in the 1930s, a place where homosexual men were brought to be “cured” probably also played a part in the trust’s embrace of gender ideology, as if it were an atonement for a past wrong.

As per Dr Cass’s suggestions, Gids will shut this spring and be replaced with regional hubs, where young people will be seen by doctors with multiple specialties. The obsession with gender, and the ensuing lack of intellectual curiosity at Gids about factors that might contribute to a person’s distress and sense of their identity will, hopefully, be gone.

On the one hand, it feels incredible that such a disaster happened. How did an NHS service medicalise so many autistic and same-sex-attracted young people, unhappy teenage girls and children who simply felt uncomfortable with masculine or feminine templates, with so little knowledge of the causes of their distress or the effects of the medicine? And how did Carmichael, still the director of Gids, suffer no repercussions, whereas those who tried to blow the whistle say they were bullied out of their jobs? On the other hand, it is a miracle that the information is now out. For too long, too many people have turned a blind eye to problems arising from gender ideology, including healthcare for gender dysphoric children — because they have been focused on trying to be on the right side of history, they refused to look at the glaring wrongs.

Barnes knows that some will be angry at her for having written the book. But she also knows that she had to write it: “There’s been this idea that the kind of treatment young people got at Gids — physical interventions — is safe treatment for all gender-distressed children,” she says. “But even among the clinicians working on the front line of this issue, there is no consensus about the best way to care for these kids. There needs to be debate about this, and it needs to come out of the clinic and into society, because this isn’t just about trans people — it’s bigger than that. It’s about children.”

[ Via: https://archive.is/Fv41w ]

==

Modern-day Lysenkoism.