#Doctors' Discussion Forum

[doctorseekaustralia]

https://www.doctorseek.com.au/doctors-discussion-forum-voluntary-assisted-dying-in-australia-an-ongoing-debate/

In recent years, voluntary assisted dying (VAD) has become a significant topic of discussion within the Australian medical community. According to a new report, around 1% of all deaths in Australia result from voluntary assisted dying, highlighting the growing acceptance and implementation of this practice. However, this statistic has sparked debate and discussion among healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public alike

[jupiter049]

Always remember that Steven Moffat used to post and comment on forums discussing Doctor Who many years before he became a writer for the series. The future showrunner of the show could at this very moment be lurking somewhere on social media posting about how The 12th Doctor is a butch lesbian.

[isagrimorie]

Because the whole Tuvix wank is rearing its head every week on Trek forums, I finally decided to rewatch this episode. I mostly avoided it because I am So Tired of the wank and how it's been relitigated for YEARS.

I was over it when it first popped up and I was even more over it with the way it's used as a bludgeon to promote 'psycho Janeway'.

But what's left out in the discussions is Kes's part in all of this, from the jump, Kes was troubled with the merging of Neelix and Tuvok, and anytime Tuvix tried to make advances, she just kept getting more uncomfortable.

(When Tuvix unconsciously touched Kes's shoulder, it looked like she had to consciously not flinch.)

To Tuvix's credit, he did give Kes space and respected her wishes but she was not happy with the whole merge because her relationship with Neelix and Tuvok is different.

We don't see the other people grieve but we see Kes's grief and confusion, which was shared by Janeway. But also, the moment the EMH had a solution to separate the two people in Tuvix, Harry jumped at the chance.

And he's already spent weeks with Tuvix.

The irony is that Janeway was coming around to thinking of Tuvix as an individual but the cure presented itself, but also as the Ship's Captain she has an obligation to care for her crew and absent or not that meant advocating for the two voices who couldn't speak up: Tuvok and Neelix.

Kes was the deciding factor. Kes made her plea to separate Neelix and Tuvok.

Kes was the biggest reason why Janeway decided to separate Tuvok from Neelix.

It was such a cop-out from the Doctor that he refused to do the procedure he made and pioneered. And forced Janeway to execute it instead.

Janeway is clearly not happy about the decision and she's caught between a rock and a hard place.

In Nothing Human Janeway verbalizes it.

"Any consequences of this decision will be my responsibility. Dismissed."

Janeway's constantly put into a wheelhouse of trolley problems, as the only high-ranking Starfleet officer, she is the final authority. In Nothing Human everyone is locked in an endless debate about the morality of using the Cardassians' methods to save B'Elanna's life. Meanwhile, the clock was running down to zero and B'Elanna could have died more.

(Honestly, the story should have been more B'Elanna, Doctor, and Janeway-centric than it was. Nothing Human is a weird episode. Especially since Seven was barely in it and seems to be the Acting Chief Engineer -- amusingly enough because the writers thought they killed Joe Carey between s2 and 3. Alas, poor Vorik, he's not getting any promotions either).

TLDR: Janeway is constantly living through what the Doctor of Doctor Who is living through. Or as the 12th Doctor once said: "Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose."

[bolshefem]

if you think people are more empathetic to women than men you are straight up fucking delusional. men have proved themself almost INCAPABLE of empathy for women, and this is statistically and empirically supported. they are incapable of understanding that women have an internal life, do not see us as humans with emotions who exist external to them. look at the comments on a post of a man talking about self harm vs a woman. "men's mental health matters too🥺" "I'm proud of you" vs "attention whore" "sideways for attention downwards for results" "ugly bitch trying to get sympathy"

this is what happens for ANYTHING regarding sexual assault, mental health, suffering, trauma.

or an overweight man vs woman "keep your head up king👑" "you got this bro, I believe in you" "these women don't deserve you." (like totally unprompted not discussing relationships) Or often no comments on his weight at all if he's not talking about it. For a woman, no matter WHAT she is posting about "landwhale" "starve yourself" "put down the burger" "kys fat b*tch" and the most vile and insanely cruel comments The amount of threads and forums dedicated to eviscerating degrading and insulting overweight women on places like lolcow and kiwi farms and just social media in general and I genuinely have never seen one for a man. Same thing with things like facial deformities, the comments are unbelievably cruel to these women.

the level of vitriol is not even remotely comparable, and I don't even think it's mostly a double standard. I think they just lack the capacity to feel empathy towards women and perceive them as human and capable of feeling pain. Things are solely perceived in how they relate to them and thought to be performances for men. Women exist to serve them and if they don't give them a boner they don't deserve to be alive. If something, no matter how innocuous, pisses them off in the slightest they don't have a single qualm because they just don't view them as real people and full human beings with internal lives. women having emotions is inherently manipulative, anything they say or do is a performance for men. And like look at things such as the gender credibility gap https://www.tedxmilehigh.com/gender-credibility-gap/ Women are systematically less believed as witnesses in a courtroom, reporters, academic authorities, in claims of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment.*

Women's reports of pain symptoms are less likely to be believed by doctors, and they are staggering more likely to not receive proper medication, go undiagnosed and untreated. Women are 32% more likely to die post-op if their surgeon is a man. "Womens' pain not taken as seriously as mens' pain. Researchers found that when male and female patients expressed the same amount of pain, observers viewed female patients' pain as less intense "(sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210406164124.htm) "Nearly three-quarters of cases where a disease primarily affects one gender, the so-called “men's diseases” are overfunded, while the “women's diseases” are dramatically underfunded."

https://www.concernusa.org/story/gender-bias-in-healthcare/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/interactive/2022/women-pain-gender-bias-doctors/ https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/gender-bias-in-medical-diagnosis#how-does-it-affect-diagnosis https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/women-and-pain-disparities-in-experience-and-treatment-2017100912562 I could literally go on on this topic forever. The gender empathy gap is a form of epistemic violence against women.

* "Suicidal behaviour and self-harm in women can be viewed by family, health professionals and the community as attention-seeking, manipulative and non-serious, which can negatively influence how young women are treated." (Curtis, 2016) *Men with overweight tend to be perceived as wise or experienced, while women's credibility tends to decrease with excess weight... women seem to experience higher levels of weight stigmatization than men, even at lower levels of excess weight (Flint et al., 2016)

*Women are at greater risk for weight/height discrimination than men (Puhl et al, 2008)

*so many papers on this but "Across the board, women are perceived to be less credible than men. Especially women’s testimonies of rape and sexual harassment are widely trivialized and disregarded, even though reports of sexual abuse are not more likely to be false than reports of other crimes" (Schreurs, 2020) more like Mack, 1993

[leftistfeminista]

Trolls Used Her Face to Make Fake Porn. There Was Nothing She Could Do.

Sabrina Javellana was a rising star in local politics — until deepfakes derailed her life.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/31/magazine/sabrina-javellana-florida-politics-ai-porn.html

Most mornings, before walking into City Hall in Hallandale Beach, Fla., a small city north of Miami, Sabrina Javellana would sit in the parking lot and monitor her Twitter and Instagram accounts. After winning a seat on the Hallandale Beach city commission in 2018, at age 21, she became one of the youngest elected officials in Florida’s history. Her progressive political positions had sometimes earned her enemies: After proposing a name change for a state thoroughfare called Dixie Highway in late 2019, she regularly received vitriolic and violent threats on social media; her condemnation of police brutality and calls for criminal-justice reform prompted aggressive rhetoric from members of local law enforcement. Disturbing messages were nothing new to her.

The morning of Feb. 5, 2021, though, she noticed an unusual one. “Hi, just wanted to let you know that somebody is sharing pictures of you online and discussing you in quite a grotesque manner,” it began. “He claims that he’s one of your ‘guy friends.’”

Javellana froze. Who could have sent this message? She asked for evidence, and the sender responded with pixelated screenshots of a forum thread that included photos of her. There were comments that mentioned her political career. Had her work drawn these people’s ire? Eventually, with a friend’s help, she found a set of archived pages from the notorious forum site 4chan. Most of the images were pulled from her social media and annotated with obscene, misogynistic remarks: “not thicc enough”; “I would breed her”; “no sane person would date such a stupid creature.” But one image further down the thread stopped her short. She was standing in front of a full-length mirror with her head tilted to the side, smiling playfully. She had posted an almost identical selfie, in which she wore a brown crew-neck top and matching skirt, to her Instagram account back in 2015. “It was the exact same picture,” Javellana said of the doctored image. “But I wasn’t wearing any clothes.”

There were several more. These were deepfakes: A.I.-generated images that manipulate a person’s likeness, fusing it with others to create a false picture or video, sometimes pornographic, in a way that looks authentic. Although fake explicit material has existed for decades thanks to image-editing software, deepfakes stand out for their striking believability. Even Javellana was shaken by their apparent authenticity.

“I didn’t know that this was something that happened to everyday people,” Javellana told me when I visited her earlier this year in Florida. She wondered if anyone else had seen the photos or the abusive comments online. Several of the threads even implied that people on the forum knew her. “I live in Broward County,” one comment read. “She just graduated from FIU.” Other users threatened sexual violence. In the days that followed, Javellana became increasingly fearful and paranoid. She stopped walking alone at night and started triple-checking that her doors and windows were locked before she slept. In an effort to protect her personal life, she made her Instagram private and removed photographs of herself in a bathing suit.

Discovering the images changed how Javellana operated professionally. Attending press events was part of her job, but now she felt anxious every time someone lifted their camera. She worried that public images of her would be turned into pornography, so she covered as much of her body as she could, favoring high-cut blouses and blazers. She knew she wasn’t acting rationally — people could create new deepfakes regardless of how much skin she showed in the real world — but changing her style made her feel a sense of control. If the deepfakes went viral, no one could look at how she dressed and think that she had invited this harassment.

[tibbycaps]

Okay okay tell me if I’m going insane but I remember you saying for the hitman AU Grian’s essentially being trained to be the government’s superweapon and can I just say I love that idea it’s messed up such in an interesting way! If you have any more specifics on that it’d be awesome to hear about em!

Also I might he making more silly art for the AU. >:P

so basically once Grian accidentally gains Watcher powers (he's an architecture student, one day he's at some old ancient ruins studying the buildings and accidentally touches a Watcher artifact that gives her powers), he's considered an 'anomaly' by the NHO and is too dangerous/unpredictable to just be released back into society until they can figure out what's up with him and assess the situation. That includes running a lot of tests, gathering data, etc. Nothing painful or crazy - I imagine it's a lot of studying her vitals, having her sit with weird devices attached to his head to monitor brain activity, etc. but Grian is definitely Very tired of it and develops a newfound dislike of labs, doctors offices, and things of that sort. Some of the lab techs are nice, at least (Mumbo Jumbo,,)

Once they have a better understanding of Grian's powers, it's obvious that he's an extremely rare case and too powerful to just be let free back into society, so the NHO decides that both for Grian's safety and (more importantly) theirs, it's better that Grian stays working for the NHO under watchful eye and use his powers for good. Grian is free to say no to this, but... the other option is staying in a high-security prison 'Government Facility' where they'll continue to run a bunch of tests and gather data. So, Grian is in a very similar situation to the ConVex here, which is part of the reason they work so well together. After gathering data on Grian's Watcher powers the NHO basically goes "Okay so now that we know more about this, how do we use this" and decide to have him join the ConVex to act as a spy/support for their team. He helps them on their missions with his sixth sense abilities, and in return convex is tasked with keeping an eye on her, training her but also making sure things don't get too out of hand. Grian is powerful but also very new to this and very unstable, both in regards to controlling her powers and also just, like, emotionally. You have to remember that before they all became hitmen, ConVex were professional criminals, but Grian was Just Some Guy and is very new to the whole, top-secret governments and fighting high-profile crime bosses thing.

i think the Watchers in this universe are a very ancient entity that's not super well-known and considered mythology by most who are familiar. that's why the NHO is so surprised when they hear some architecture student touched a freaky artifact and had symptoms that were consistent with the fabled watcher powers. If anything, I think Martyn has a better understanding of Watchers than the NHO does. he's out here running forums of like, 6 people dedicated to discussing Watcher Lore and archiving all known data about them. the NHO's knowledge on watchers comes from them needing to be aware of magical entities that could pose a threat to peace and order in their world, but Martyn's knowledge comes from pure passion and hyperfixation and is definitely more detailed.

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

This Poll, about Doctor Who original characters

Has made me go all wistful and nostalgic. Because of her:

Eloise, the Pro-Fun Troll.

You see, she was conceived, and most at home, in the very specific Doctor Who fandom environments of the Usenet* newsgroups* Rec.arts.drwho and Alt.drwho.creative (mostly rec.arts.dw).

RADW earned something of a reputation for negativity, and a common refrain on the forum was "You are a pro-[X] troll, and I'm putting you in my killfile!" (like Tumblr's block list).

Supposedly, Usenet Newsgroup threads are still archived. But I tried, just now, to find my earliest posts about my little troll character, and coming up with nothing on the general, Public, internet, with every other place I've linked to her early existence also going dead -- including the music forum Mudcat.org.

But those links were not yet dead in 2003, and that's when I found, and copied, the record of her "Conception" into my private LiveJournal, which I later imported into my Dreamwidth:

Eloise was born (erm, popped into existance) on Feburay 5, 2000. It was during one of those perennial times in radw when bouts of "You are a pro-___ troll!" seemed to show up in every other thread. In one thread, there was a discussion of how Doctor Who monsters aren't really all that scary, and I made the following comment (just found this through Google -- ah -- the memories!): Hear, hear! I'd much rather have an engaging, fully-fledged story with cardboard props than a cardboard story and million-dollar props! to which another poster replied: A Doctor Who fan! Wow!! What are you doing here?? Me again: Having a great deal of fun, if you must know... to which a friend of mine replied: You are a pro-fun Troll, and are now in my killfile. Shocking what some people will admit to on this ng In that instant, the image of a pro-fun troll popped into my head, pot belly, long nose and all, only instead of living under a bridge, she lived under my computer desk, and was so small she had to sit on my lap to type her messages. The next day, I dismissed her existence as make-believe, but she wouldn't go away, and she's grown and developed a biography of her own over the years (she is now grown to the height that the top of her head is even with my shoulder when she stands beside me as I type ;-)). By March 12 of that year this Pro-fun troll and I decided that something had to be done about the nasty trolling and flame wars on RADW, and together, we posted the "Pro-fun Troll Manifesto" (or [What it means to be a Pro-Fun Troll] <-dead link) and launched the first round of "Pro-fun Troll Games."

The point of the Pro-Fun Troll Games was to take over the "Weekly Stats" in the newsgroup. And the rules were simple:

Put [Pro-fun] in the title of the thread

Any post put in the thread had to be on-topic for Doctor Who (and this was very loosey-goosey)

Praise what you enjoy before criticizing what you don't

When you do criticize something, it must be reasoned and constructive.

(basically, they were an early version of "What counts as good manners" in my pinned post, except for the Doctor Who-specific rule, of course).

The ethos of the Pro-Fun Troll "movement" is that we are all trolling for attention and validation. And that, in itself, is not bad. It all depends on what we bait our hooks with. And Trolling for laughter and fun, and making an effort to focus attention on creativity and kindness is good, actually.

After the decline of Usenet, I made some effort to get the pro-fun movement to spread to other places on the Internet. But people saw the word "troll," assumed all trolls were bad, and wouldn't join in.

For about three years, there was a little community of us. And for a while, we did succeed in taking over the Weekly stats. And we had a lot of fun doing it.

But the environment where we met each other is gone, now, and so many friendships have faded away.

And that's what makes me wistful.

[olderthannetfic]

For the anon who keeps asking about dicks.

You might be interested to learn about bottom surgery for trans guys. If there's one group of people who are going to have self esteem issues about their dicks, it's guys without dicks.

So basically, there are two kinds of ftm bottom surgery. One can give you a massive schlong, and you can choose exactly how it looks and how big it is, but it'll have limited sensation and functionality. The other gives you a tiny dicklet, and the size and shape really depend on what you already have going on, but it has plenty of functionality and sensation. Trans guys will choose one or the other based on what's personally the most important to them, and some will choose neither because having a dick at all isn't worth the trouble, and some will choose neither because neither option is actually good enough.

There are as many reasons for these descisions and as many emotions about them as there are trans men.

Cis guys are going to have the same huge range of needs, desires, and emotional baggage about their junk as trans guys, they're just not going feel quite as intensely about it (because they actually have dicks in the first place) and they're not going to talk about it as much (because so few of them would actually benefit from medical intervention so there's not that much to talk about).

People who are insecure about their junk, cis or trans, any gender, might discuss it with their partners, doctors, or therapists, and people who are really having a rough time might seek a support group of some kind (online forums and informal friend groups included). But in general, most people aren't actually that broken up about having unimpressive junk, not even trans people (dysphoria is a much broader issue than just genitals). And people who are don't go around discussing it casually.

--

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Gerald Posner

Published: Mar 4, 2024

Newly leaked files from the world’s leading transgender health-care organization reveal it is pushing hormonal and surgical transitions for minors, including stomach-wrenching experimental procedures designed to create sexless bodies that resemble department-store mannequins.

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health documents demonstrate it’s controlled by gender ideologues who push aside concerns about whether children and adolescents can consent to medical treatments that WPATH members privately acknowledge often have devastating and permanent side effects.

Yet the US government, American doctors and prominent organizations nonetheless rely on WPATH guidelines for advice on treating our youth.

The files — jaw-dropping conversations from a WPATH internal messaging board and a video of an Identity Evolution Workshop panel — were provided to journalist Michael Shellenberger, who shared the documents with me.

Shellenberger’s nonprofit Environmental Progress will release a scathing summary report, comparing the WPATH promotion of “the pseudoscientific surgical destruction of healthy genitals in vulnerable people” to the mid-20th-century use of lobotomies, “the pseudoscientific surgical destruction of healthy brains.”

‘Arbitrary’ age limits

The comparison to one of history’s greatest medical scandals is not hyperbole.

It is particularly true, as the files show repeatedly, when it involves WPATH’s radical approach to minors.

When the organization adopted in 2022 its current Standards of Care — relied on by the National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization and every major American medical and psychiatric association — it scrapped a draft chapter about ethics and removed minimum-age requirements for children starting puberty blockers or undergoing sexual-modification surgeries.

It had previously recommended 16 to start hormones and 17 for surgery.

Not surprisingly, age comes up frequently in the WPATH files, from concerns about whether a developmentally delayed 13-year-old can start on puberty blockers to whether the growth of a 10-year-old girl will be stunted by hormones.

During one conversation, a member asked for advice about a 14-year-old patient, a boy who identified as a girl and had begun transitioning at 4.

The child insisted on a vaginoplasty, a surgery that removes the penis, testicles and scrotum and repositions tissue to create a nonfunctioning pseudo-vagina. It requires a lifetime of dilation. Was he too young at 14?

Marci Bowers, WPATH’s president and a California-based pelvic and gynecologic surgeon who is herself transgender, said she considered any age limit “arbitrary.”

But she would not do it. Why?

“The tissue is too immature, dilation routine too critical.”

In lay terms, that means boys who are too young do not have enough penal tissue for the surgery and the surgeon must harvest intestinal lining to build the faux vagina. Even Bowers admits that can lead to “problematic surgical outcomes.”

She would know since she has performed more than 2,000 vaginoplasties. Her highest-profile patient is 17-year-old Jazz Jennings, the transgender star of reality TV show “I Am Jazz.”

Three corrective surgeries were required to fix problems from the original vaginoplasty.

“She had a very difficult surgical course,” Bowers admitted in a 2022 appearance on the show. “We knew it would be tough — it turned out tougher than any of us imagined.”

Still, Bowers told her colleagues in the internal discussion forum of the best age for an adolescent to undergo surgery: “sometime before the end of high school does make some sense in that they are under the watch of parents in the home they grew up in.”

Christine McGinn, a Pennsylvania plastic surgeon and herself transgender, agreed. McGinn has performed “about 20 vaginoplasties in patients under 18” and thinks the “ideal time in the U.S. is surgery the summer before the last year of high school. I have heard many other surgeons echo this.”

Waiting until teens are older than 18 and in college is problematic, she said: “there are too many stressors in college that limit patients’ ability to dilate.”

Dangers downplayed

WPATH assures patients that surgical and hormonal interventions are tested and safe. It is a different matter in private.

President Bowers, for instance, said publicly in 2022 that puberty blockers are “completely reversible,” although in the internal forum she conceded it is “in its infancy.”

What about children who are infertile for life since they started hormone blockers before they reached puberty?

Bowers told her colleagues the “fertility question has no research.”

At other stages, members talk frankly about the complications for the transition surgery for girls, a phalloplasty in which a nonfunctioning pseudo-penis is fashioned from either forearm or thigh tissue.

It requires a full hysterectomy and surgical removal of the vagina. They also discuss other serious consequences, including pelvic inflammatory disease, vaginal atrophy, abnormal pap tests and incontinence.

A 16-year-old girl who had been on puberty blockers for several years before she was put on testosterone for a year had developed two liver tumors that an oncologist concluded the hormones had caused. Another member described “a young patient on testosterone for 3 years” who had developed “vaginal/pelvic pain/spotting . . . [and] atrophy with the persistent yellow discharge.”

Several colleagues described patients with similar conditions, some with debilitating bowel problems or bleeding and excruciating pain during sex (“feeling like broken glass”).

Vaginal estrogen creams and moisturizers as well as hyaluronic acid suppositories “can be helpful.”

One WPATH member seemed surprised: “The transgender people under my surveillance do not complain about this matter. However, I confess that I have never asked them about it.”

Rise of ‘de-gender’ surgery

The litany of transition surgery’s side effects did not stop WPATH from endorsing far more radical “nullification” surgeries for patients who do not feel either male or female and identify only as nonbinary.

Several dozen so-called “de-gendering” surgeries are designed to create a sexless, smooth cosmetic appearance that is unknown in nature. There is even an experimental “bi-genital” surgery that attempts to construct a second set of genitals.

In 2017, when tabloids reported a 22-year-old man had spent $50,000 to surgically remove his sex organs so he could “transform into a genderless extra-terrestrial,” it seemed a one-off oddity.

But WPATH has enshrined that concept in its Standard of Care — the same document in which the group endorsed for the time first time chemical or surgical castration for patients who identify as eunuchs. (WPATH even linked to the Eunuch Archives, where men anonymously share castration fetishes.)

These science-fiction-like surgeries are not only reserved for adults.

“How do we come up with appropriate standards for non-binary patients?” asked Thomas Satterwhite, a San Francisco-based plastic surgeon who has operated on dozens of patients younger than 18 since 2014. “I’ve found more and more patients recently requesting ‘non-standard’ procedures.”

What are nonstandard procedures? They include “non-binary top surgery,” a mastectomy without nipples. There are brutal procedures for girls that eliminate all or part of the vagina and for boys that amputate the penis, scrotum and testicles.

The goal, as one San Francisco surgical clinic proclaims on its website, “is a smooth, neutral body that is cosmetically free of sexual identification.” On TikTok the trend is called a “flat front.”

‘Too young to understand‘

A particularly intense subject of discussion was whether minors could understand the lifelong consequences of their gender treatments. Minors are presumed by law to be incapable of making an informed decision about having a vasectomy or tubal ligation.

Gender surgeries are an exception, however.

WPATH’s Standard of Care allows all procedures so long as the minor “demonstrates the emotional and cognitive maturity required to provide informed consent/assent for the treatment.”

In a May 2022 internal workshop, “Identity Evolution,” WPATH members conceded that was all but impossible.

Daniel Metzger, the British Columbia endocrinologist who cowrote the Canadian Pediatric Society’s position paper on health care for trans minors, said, “I think the thing you have to remember about kids is that we’re often explaining these sorts of things to people who haven’t even had biology in high school yet.”

Metzger noted adolescents are incapable of appreciating the lifelong consequence of infertility. “It’s always a good theory that you talk about fertility preservation with a 14-year-old,” he said, “but I know I’m talking to a blank wall. They’d be like, ‘ew, kids, babies, gross.’ Or, the usual answer is, ‘I’m just going to adopt.’ And then you ask them, ‘Well, what does that involve? Like, how much does it cost?’ ‘Oh, I thought you just like went to the orphanage, and they gave you a baby.’ . . . I think now that I follow a lot of kids into their mid-twenties, I’m always like, ‘Oh, the dog isn’t doing it for you, right?’”

There is extensive research showing adolescent brains are wired to have little control over rash behavior and are not capable of grasping the magnitude of decisions with lifelong consequences. It is why society doesn’t allow teens to get tattoos or buy guns. Car-rental agencies set 25 as the minimum age for renting a car, and Sweden sets the same limit for deciding on sterilization.

Detransitioners ignored, shunned

Although many WPATH members privately doubt that adolescents can give truly informed consent to life-altering procedures, they must affirm whatever children say about their gender.

Unless, the WPATH files disclose, the patient wants to reverse course and become a so-called detransitioner.

WPATH members mostly dismiss those cases as insignificant or overblown by the media and question whether minors who want to revert to their birth sex really understand what they are doing.

It’s a question that would never be asked for minors who declared themselves to be gender dysphoric.

One case involved a 17-year-old boy, just graduated from high school, who had been on testosterone for two years. He was reported to be “very distraught and angry. He reports he feels he was brainwashed and is upset by the permanent changes to his body.”

A self-described “queer therapist” did not believe any young person could be brainwashed. “In my experience, those stories come from people who have an active agenda against the rights of trans people.”

WPATH President Bowers said that “I do see talk of the phenomenon [detransitioners] as distracting from the many challenges we face.”

‘Frankenstein files’

The leaked files put a spotlight on the danger of mixing ideological activism with medicine and science. They should serve as an urgent wakeup call for the medical associations and government agencies that rely on WPATH guidance for transgender health.

The files might even prompt investigations into how those with distorted personal agendas seized control of the organization at the expense of science and patients.

Investigating what has gone wrong at WPATH might prove uncomfortable for some gender progressives in the Biden administration, none more so than Adm. Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health. Levine, the first transgender four-star military officer, is a WPATH member and has lavished praise on the organization.

She says it “assesses the full state of the science and provides substantive, rigorously analyzed, peer-reviewed recommendations to the medical community on how best to care for patients who are transgender or gender non-binary. It is free of any agenda other than to ensure that medical decisions are informed by science.”

Either Levine is unaware of the hormonal and surgical experimentation the group promotes or refuses to acknowledge it.

“The Frankenstein files.”

That is how a pediatrician described the leaked documents after I shared them with her.

Unfortunately, this is no horror novel.

It is a medical travesty playing out in real time, and the casualties are our children.

[doctorseekaustralia]

 Doctor Seek is a leading Australian platform that serves as a comprehensive resource for both patients and healthcare professionals. Designed to simplify the process of finding local General Practitioners (GPs), Doctor Seek also offers a robust forum where doctors can engage in meaningful discussions about health-related topics. As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, so too do the discussions on Doctor Seek. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the top trending topics on Doctor Seek that are driving conversations among Australian doctors and patients alike.

1. The Future of Telemedicine in Australia

One of the most prominent topics currently being discussed on Doctor Seek is the future of telemedicine. The COVID-19 pandemic brought telemedicine to the forefront of healthcare, and its ongoing role is a hot topic among doctors. On the Doctor Seek forum, discussions often center around how telemedicine can be integrated into everyday practice, particularly in rural areas where access to healthcare professionals is limited.

Key Discussion Points:

Accessibility: How telemedicine can bridge the gap between urban and rural healthcare services.

Patient Satisfaction: Evaluating the effectiveness of telemedicine in providing quality care.

Technology Integration: The challenges of incorporating telehealth into traditional healthcare models.

2. Voluntary Assisted Dying: Ethical Dilemmas and Practical Challenges

Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) is another significant topic trending on Doctor Seek. With VAD now legal in several Australian states, doctors are navigating the ethical and practical complexities of this option. The forum discussions range from personal reflections on the morality of VAD to the practicalities of implementing these laws in healthcare settings.

Key Discussion Points:

Ethics vs. Compassion: The moral debate surrounding voluntary assisted dying.

Implementation: Best practices for doctors who are involved in VAD.

Patient Communication: How to handle conversations with patients and families considering VAD.

3. Mental Health Awareness Among Healthcare Professionals

The mental health of healthcare professionals has become a critical issue, especially in the wake of the pandemic. On Doctor Seek, there is a growing conversation about the mental well-being of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers. The forum provides a space for medical professionals to share their experiences, discuss coping strategies, and advocate for better mental health support within the industry.

Key Discussion Points:

Burnout Prevention: Strategies for managing stress and avoiding burnout.

Work-Life Balance: The importance of maintaining a balance between professional and personal life.

Support Systems: The need for robust mental health support networks for healthcare workers.

4. Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

Antimicrobial resistance is a global health threat, and Australian doctors are keenly aware of its implications. On Doctor Seek, doctors are discussing ways to combat AMR, including responsible prescribing practices and public education efforts. These discussions are crucial for developing strategies to mitigate the impact of AMR on public health.

Key Discussion Points:

Prescribing Guidelines: The importance of following strict guidelines to reduce the risk of resistance.

Patient Education: How to inform the public about the dangers of antibiotic misuse.

Innovative Treatments: Exploring new treatments and alternatives to antibiotics.

5. Vaccination Policies and Public Health

Vaccination remains a critical issue in Australian healthcare, particularly in light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Discussions on Doctor Seek often focus on the role of vaccinations in public health, the challenges of vaccine hesitancy, and the strategies needed to promote vaccine uptake among the population.

Key Discussion Points:

Vaccine Hesitancy: Addressing the concerns that lead to vaccine refusal.

Public Health Strategies: Effective ways to increase vaccination rates in different communities.

Future Vaccinations: Planning for future vaccination campaigns, including booster shots and new vaccines.

6. Lifestyle Habits and Their Impact on Public Health

Lifestyle habits such as diet, exercise, and substance use have a significant impact on public health. On Doctor Seek, forum discussions often revolve around how lifestyle changes can prevent chronic diseases and improve overall health outcomes. These conversations are not just relevant to doctors but also provide valuable insights for patients looking to make healthier choices.

Key Discussion Points:

Preventative Care: How lifestyle modifications can reduce the risk of chronic illnesses.

Public Health Campaigns: The role of public health initiatives in promoting healthier lifestyles.

Patient Engagement: Strategies for encouraging patients to adopt and maintain healthy habits.

Conclusion

Doctor Seek is more than just a platform for finding local GPs; it is a vibrant community where Australian doctors and patients can engage in meaningful discussions about the future of healthcare. The topics trending on Doctor Seek highlight the challenges and opportunities facing the medical community today, from the integration of telemedicine to the ethical dilemmas posed by voluntary assisted dying.

Reference url on Trending Health Topics on Doctor Seek: Insights & Discussions

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

Writing Resources: Chronic Pain and Illness

Sp's resources for Content Creators Materialist

Trigger warnings for discussion of chronic pain and illness. Other authors are more than welcome to add their own points and I will update the link in the masterlist as more is added. Alternatively, send me an anon ask or DM if you want to remain anonymous. I have more than one chronic issue myself, I will use the block unbutton if you're an ass about this.

Chronic pain and illness have little to no representation in fanfiction. If you wish to add these to your story and you don't experience the subject yourself, please do research using medically accurate sources.

Patient Care and Health Information - The Mayo Clinic. Look up the condition in the search bar.

The NHS website Look up the condition in the search bar.

Another good resource is forums and subreddits.

2. Even people with the same condition have different experiences, be careful not to make blanket statements.

3. Women, POC and members of the lgbtqia+ community are less likely to get treatment, more likely to be treated like drug seekers and are more likely to be misdiagnosed or have to wait much longer for an accurate diagnosis. Similarly, their issues are more likely to be blamed on mental health issues and hypochondria.

4. Someone living with a chronic condition may not have a 'normal', or what they consider normal may be disordered. Some people with chronic conditions may not know what not being in pain or being well-rested is like. When I was younger and before my current treatment, I was never hungry or out of pain, this shocked people when I told them, it was as normal as breathing to me.

5. Doctors can suck, some people are outright terrified to get treatment due to past experiences. I was treated like a drug seeker once and now get the shakes before seeing a new doctor for fear of being called an addict.

6. The things people experiences do not care what you have going on. They can steal happy moments in a flash and render someone unable to leave their home, it's common for someone with a chronic condition to need to plan everything down to the second (or feel like they need to), cancel at the last minute or worry that they won't be able to enjoy something they have looked forward to.

7. We are not looking to be babied, I know my own limits and will express them. There is a line between a character being caring and infantilising. Having said that, there are times when I haven't expressed my needs for fear they will be ignored. If you are writing a caretaker scene or character be careful to ensure the other person still maintains their autonomy.

8. Empathy, not sympathy. Sympathy is looking down at someone in a hole and telling them they can climb out, empathy is getting in there are helping them out. Sometimes the best thing someone can hear is "I have no idea what you're going through."

9. Chronic conditions are systematic, it's not just pain, it's also brain fog, being unable to sleep or stay awake, having problems controlling emotions, and changes in appetite and sex drive.

10. There is never a magic cure, chronic conditions are a part of someone. Making them disappear doesn't mean a happy ending because, in real life, they don't disappear. It doesn't make someone less than others if they don't get better.

Part Two: Chronic migraines

[victusinveritas]

Hi Folks, those of you (probably few and far between) academically inclined and with departmental backing to send you to Iceland might be interested in this...

The Háskóli Íslands Student Conference on the Medieval North

  "CALL FOR PAPERS

We are accepting abstract submissions for the fourteenth annual Háskóli Íslands Student Conference on the Medieval North.

The Háskóli Íslands Student Conference on the Medieval North is an interdisciplinary forum for postgraduate students (masters and doctoral level) and early career researchers working in the broad field of medieval northern studies, held every April in Reykjavík, Iceland. Students who have not given papers at an academic conference before are especially encouraged to submit. The conference will be held April 10th-12th, 2025, online and in-person at Háskóli Íslands.

This conference seeks proposals on the theme of “Other Things.”

The Other has been a perennial subject in the study of the medieval north. We ask: what constitutes an Other? What Others have been ignored? How is Otherization expressed across the field’s subdisciplines? We playfully consider the double meaning of “things,” seeking consideration of objects forgotten or buried beneath academic attentions. What critical lenses have been neglected? What Other Things are there left to discover?

We accept abstract submissions on a wide range of topics connected to this theme, including but not limited to art history, archaeology, digital humanities, folklore, gender and queer studies, literary studies, manuscripts and paleography, philology, reception of the medieval period, and religious studies.

We ask that submissions address the theme.

Presenters will have the opportunity to submit their papers for a conference proceedings volume, to be published as an e-book in the autumn of 2025.

Interested student scholars should email an abstract of 250-300 words, along with a brief biography containing name, pronouns, institution, and program of study, to histudentconference@gmail.com by DECEMBER 2nd, 2024. Please indicate whether you intend to attend the conference online or in person. The Committee reserves the right to make selections based on quality of written abstracts, adherence to submission guidelines, and timely submission.

Detailed submission guidelines are here:

The languages of the conference are Icelandic and English. Individual paper presentations will be 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes for discussion. There is also a Poster Session for students to present their material in poster form. Students may apply for either a paper or a poster. The conference committee may offer a poster presentation to some paper applicants. Please direct any further inquiries to the Conference Committee by email.

Áfram!"

[matrixoftimeserver]

⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊ Welcome to Matrix of Time ⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊

This is a dual Doctor Who roleplay and DW discussion server that has a heavy focus on the roleplay aspect. We're looking for new, active members to join our community. If you ever wanted to roleplay Doctor Who this server is the place to go! If you want to chill with other whovians let the staff know and we'll get you set up!

All Doctor Who lore is welcome on the server. We allow most characters outside of Doctor Who as long as they fit in the Doctor Who universe. This is a freeform/sandbox server so your plot matters! Create your own plots and explore all the possibilities! That means there is no singular plot in the server, no roleplay locks, and no taken characters. We want you to explore what you want to explore so if that interests you, this is the place to do it! The friendly and professional staff members are ready and willing to help you with all of your needs! We are open-minded, kind-hearted, and drama-free. If you're looking for a place to enjoy Doctor Who come on in! We look forward to seeing you on the server soon!

☾.⭒•⋆˚☆ what does this server have to offer? ☾.⭒•⋆˚☆

★ For roleplayers we have ★ ༘⋆ Welcomes all rpers regardless of skill or writing length ༘⋆ Serious para rps, relaxed rps, or just plain silly rps are all welcome ༘⋆ Plenty of open and semi-open channels to roleplay in ༘⋆ A seeking forum to find partners for private roleplays ༘⋆ Extremely oc friendly ༘⋆ We allow duplicates of canon characters ༘⋆ Welcoming and friendly RP community ༘⋆ Several channels to help get you started on your adventure

★ For all those seeking to talk to whovians we have ★ ༘⋆ Friendly and welcoming community who love Doctor Who ༘⋆ Plenty of channels for all your Whovian needs ༘⋆ Fun channels to keep you entertained ༘⋆ QOTD and daily polls ༘⋆ Fun games to play with others

Link to join

[cipher-fresh]

Are there like, preserved forum discussions about the fan reaction to Big Finish starting to make Doctor Who audio dramas? Did they react with the same fervor and excitement like the announcement with Jodie and Mandip when Paul McGann said he’d start recording? Were they hoping particular EDA companions would get adapted?

[mizgnomer]

Behind the Scenes of Blink - Part Six

Excerpt from The Times interview with David Tennant - Titled Who's Hot - by Caitlin Moran (March 30, 2007)

Dismissing the possibility that, paradoxically, becoming the Doctor could ultimately ruin the show for him -- "I know what you mean, because all the surprises are gone, but I'd have gone mad if I'd turned it down and watched someone else do it" -- Tennant instead spends the next hour discussing the show with all the enthusiasm and mild geekery of a fan, albeit a particularly privileged one. Discussing certain titillating morsels that Russell T. Davies has thrown into previous episodes, then not returned to - such as the intriguing news that the Doctor has, at some point, been a father - Tennant yelps and says "I know!  I'll be reading these things going 'When are you coming back to that?' Often he does. But sometimes," he says, leaning forward, "he just drops them in for wickedness.  There's something he's done in the next series, and I said 'What's that all about?' and he replied 'Oh, I've just put it in because it's funny'.  The internet forums will go into meltdown." He beams.  "But you know, he knows what he wants as a fan. You want to be discussing it all the next week.  You want to float different theories on what will happen next.  That's part of the pleasure." Tennant is stalwart in his enthusiasm for his new assistant, Freema Agyeman. "It's a totally different energy - she comes from a totally different starting place. She's very upfront about fancying [the Doctor], so he has to be very upfront about not being into it. It's a completely new dynamic." It's Who 2.1, perhaps, I suggest. "Yes!" Tennant beams. "Who 2.1!"

Link to [ part one ] of the Blink Behind-the-scenes posts, or click the whoBtsBlink link, or the full episode list [ here ]

[joju-but-trek]

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episode 5: Observer's Paradox

This is the real quantumania.

A quarter of the way through the season, and things keep getting more interesting. I'm enjoying the ride overall. Specifically this episode, we got a lot of classic Star Trek shenanigans done in a new and interesting way, and they still add to the overall narrative even if they're tonally very different to last episode. I'm enjoying that the show is able to do so many different genres of Trek while still building out a coherent story. 9/10.

This episode was great for building out background lore. We get an episode revolving around Cetacean Ops, and some backfill on Chakotay. The Cetacean Ops move was genius because it keeps getting brought up, but finally being able to actually see a whale onscreen because animation allows for it is such a good move. They played with it in Lower Decks, but it was never the point of the episode.

We also got some answers on Chakotay's tribe. There's an offhand mention that he's from the Nicarao people, fixing an issue that Voyager had where he was Generic Native American from a fictional "Rubber Tree People". I appreciate that there's a fix, and I am going to do more research on the Nicarao. For anyone interested in a good article about the Chakotay problem from before the fix, here's the article that made me start looking.

This was also a great episode for Rok, really digging into her insecurities about being associated with the rest of the crew right now. I like this arc for Rok, and Rylee Alazraqui really sells the part. She also got to spend a ton of time talking to a whale, which seems like a perk.

The idea that the episode revolved around trying to understand Murf was a good concept also. It gave room for Gwyn and Jankom to try their respective skills before throwing it to Rok, who solved it with a combination of technical knowledge and empathy. There was also the cute moment of Dal and Gwyn watching Rok get excited and reacting to it that just solidified that these characters love each other.

Janeway's plot with trying to destroy the wormhole was very in line with classic Trek stories about Bad Admirals. I'm not sure how I feel about it being Jellico specifically who ordered it - Jellico works in a specific context in Trek stories and I'm not convinced that this is it - but it does work. I like to think that in a utopian world where we had more time in an episode we would have seen Janeway struggle with the decision more, but for what we got in a show where she isn't and shouldn't be the main character it was a great version of it.

We also got the Doctor getting excited about a bad holonovel he wrote, which was fun. I do have questions about how the Doctor de- and re-materializes with the Mobile Emitter on, but I'm willing to poke at that later in fan forums.

And at the end of the episode we get Gwyn teleporting through space to get visions in a visually fantastic sequence. My favorite part of that beat, though, is her and Dal discussing it and their reactions to each other. It's feeding the shippers, and it's working. I can get behind this.

In conclusion: Rok is amazing, Maj'el needs to ditch those jerks, and I guess we're doing Gwyn/Dal now.