#Health Myths

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

The right to bodily integrity, like all human rights, is non negotiable.

It cannot be applied just in-part, or in some areas, or to only certain members of society.

It cannot be superseded by any religious faith, nor by the wish of a parent, women’s preferences, or by cultural expectations.

The right to one’s body, belongs to the individual.

No “ifs” or “buts”, no asterisks, and no compromises.

Much of the modern world has come to understand this when it comes to girls’ bodies, as FGM continues to be criminalised and rightly punished, falling out of favour, and slowly into the history books.

In most countries FGM is universally illegal, no matter the extent, or context.

Even just a prick is forbidden, because really, the extent of violation needn’t matter, if that procedure is being done on an unconsenting baby.

But not for boy babies.

And I don’t care what people say about circumcision’s so-called “medical or hygienic benefits”, because the medical benefits are virtually non-existent, and we don’t cut off body parts to avoid cleaning them.

Do we cut off our head to stop us getting dandruff?

What about lopping off our feet to rid the world of athletes’ foot?

I mean, why not go the whole way, and cut off the whole penis, if you’re not a fan of cleaning it?

The fact is, there are very few good enough reasons to remove half the nerve endings of a baby boy’s penis, as well as its most sensitive parts.

There is no reason to subject a boy to the risk of erectile dysfunction, desensitisation, PTSD, sexually transmitted disease, or even death…

No reason to tie a baby boy’s limbs down, and as he screams, slice away at his penis, without anaesthesia.

Nobody’s first few days of life should be welcomed by that, and no journey of parenthood should begin with child abuse.

So when will we treat circumcision with the same universality as FGM, where we say “no”, regardless of the severity, scale, or context?

When will a boys bodily integrity supersede religious faith?

When will we give our boys the same rights as girls?

When will we ban infant male circumcision?

-

National medical organisations against circumcision: https://circumcision.org/circumcision-policies-of-international-organizations/

--

https://sci-hub.scrongyao.com/10.3149/thy.0401.71

Baby boys can and do succumb as a result of having their foreskin removed. Circumcision-related mortality rates are not known with certainty; this study estimates the scale of this problem. This study finds that approximately 117 neonatal circumcision-related deaths (9.01/100,000) occur annually in the United States, about 1.3% of male neonatal deaths from all causes. Because infant circumcision is elective, all of these deaths are avoidable. This study also identifies reasons why accurate data on these deaths are not available, some of the obstacles to preventing these deaths, and some solutions to overcome them.

[monarch-of-weird-girlboy-nation]

Found some sources :) and yeah, this is, according to my research, all correct.

♡♡♡ Love languages ♡♡♡

https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/study-refutes-concept-of-love-languages/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/14/love-languages-are-hugely-popular-but-theres-very-little-evidence-they-exist-at-all

☆ MBTI ☆

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/03/10345603/personality-tests-persona-documentary-hbo

https://medium.com/@simonspichak/the-racist-origin-of-the-popular-myers-briggs-test-49c735da660a (need to sign up to view)

◇ IQ ◇

Found an actual professional article titled the iq myth, but you HAVE TO PAY AHH, so I couldn't really read it, but I did find:

https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/iq-load-bs/

●●BMI●●

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-02/the-problem-with-the-body-mass-index-bmi/100728416 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215#:~:text=BMI%20(body%20mass%20index)%2C,of%20Medicine%2C%20University%20of%20Pennsylvania.

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publications/health-matters/is-bmi-accurate

And for the racism fat phobia thing

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/893006538

https://csw.ucla.edu/2020/11/23/fearing-the-black-body-the-racial-origins-of-fat-phobia-by-sabrina-strings-nyu-press-2019/

Finally,

▪︎The brain develops at 25 ▪︎

https://www.sciencefocus.com/comment/brain-myth-25-development

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/ (basically, the quote that says ur prefrontal cortex is done cooking the rest of your brain isn't.)

Hope I helped!

I can't keep having the same conversations about love languages, mbti, iq, bmi, "brain fully formed at 25" and shit over and over again...

[familythings]

Can Cabbage Really Fight Cancer? A Closer Look at the Claims

The health benefits of cabbage are often discussed in health articles, with some recent claims that eating this vegetable may help prevent cancer. A report in an American medical journal states that cabbage might lower the risk of tumors, especially in the spine, which is a concern for meat-eaters. But how strong is the evidence for these claims? Should we start eating more cabbage? Cabbage is…

[aralintheobsessive]

Hey @the-perks-of-neurodivergency I recommend Nutrition By Kylie on youtube. She's a dietician that's recovered from disordered eating and focuses on giving advice on how to eat healthy without bringing weight into it. She also has realistic tips on things like meal prep when you're time poor, overcoming ADHD executive dysfunction to eat meals, how to get more nutrition out of a tight budget, etc. Like she has a video on making $5 meals from the dollar store and a series of shorts on realistic tips for eating better with low effort.

fatphobia and ableism is so insidious. You can look up like, food, and it'll say "eating a lot of food causes diabetes" and you're like oh dang what? I thought we didn't know the cause of diabetes. So you look up what causes diabetes and it says "we still don't know what causes diabetes" bruh they're just making shit up to give people eating disorders

[ecomehdi]

Unraveling the Cholesterol Enigma: Navigating the 42% Higher Dementia Risk

Cholesterol, the often-misunderstood compound in our bodies, has been a topic of debate for decades. Recent studies have revealed a surprising connection – a 42 percent higher dementia risk linked to what we commonly refer to as ‘good cholesterol.’ In this article, we will unravel the complexities, explore the science behind the statistics, and understand what this means for our overall…

[collegetalks]

Discover 15 Pregnancy Myths That You Never Knew

Pregnancy is a special time in a woman’s life. However, there are many myths and misconceptions surrounding pregnancy that can cause confusion and anxiety. In this article, we’ll explore 15 pregnancy myths that you may not have known. Myth: You should avoid exercising during pregnancy. Truth: Moderate exercise is safe and beneficial during pregnancy, as it can help to reduce the risk of…

[casscainmainly]

Cassandra Cain and Asian Stereotypes

So I've seen people debating whether Cass is a racist character or not because she falls into certain Asian stereotypes. While this discussion is valid and important, a lot of the conversation (on this website and beyond) is steered by White/non-Asian people, or people who haven't read a lot of Cass' stuff. This is my take on Cass and Asian stereotypes as a Chinese Cass fan. I do not speak for all Asians, or even all Chinese people, who are absolutely free to disagree with any of these arguments.

Stereotypes I will cover here: Silent Asian, Model Minority, and Hypersexuality.

The Silent Asian Stereotype

The most obvious stereotype Cass runs into is the Silent Asian. I would recommend reading the linked article for more information. Silent Asian characters are Asians who are part of a core cast, but rarely speak. Kimiko Miyashiro in The Boys, Lilly in Pitch Perfect, and Katana in Suicide Squad are all examples of this. The article also mentions Ben from Umbrella Academy, who can only communicate with one character, thus limiting his dialogue.

Why does this happen? Removing Asian characters' dialogue reflects the Western conception of Asians as demure, rule-following, and meek, never speaking up or acting out. It also means writers don't have to spend as much time writing these Asian characters, who are secondary to White protagonists.

The problem with the Silent Asian, then, is not the silence itself, but the consequences of silence. Mute Asians exist, as do Asians who don't speak much; in media, Silent Asians are harmful because they indicate an unwillingness to focus on the Asian character.

This is why Cass, even before she learns to speak longer sentences, is not a Silent Asian. While her conception undoubtedly has unfortunate echoes of this trope, she defies it by being the protagonist of the story. A protagonist cannot be a Silent Asian, because a requirement of the trope is being a secondary character. Cass' feelings and actions are the center of Batgirl (2000), so allegations of this stereotype don't actually make sense.

Furthermore, the trope is about passivity and acquiescence to a White authority. From her introduction, Cass is neither passive nor acquiescent - her origin story is literally about defying David Cain, a White male authority figure. Beyond her not speaking much, she ticks none of the boxes for this stereotype. I think it's time for people to stop mentioning this stereotype in conjunction with Cass, who in every possible way subverts it.

The Model Minority Stereotype

The model minority myth is the belief that Asians are more successful and talented than others, particularly other minoritised groups. Like the Silent Asian, the model minority myth paints Asians as obedient and submissive. This is, in many ways, more insidious than the Silent Asian - there are still people who believe this stereotype (and jokes like 'of course you're good at math, you're Asian') is somehow not racist.

Though this myth seems positive, make no mistake that White people invented this tale for two reasons: to put down Black and Brown communities, and to prevent Asians from ever fully assimilating into White culture.

Cass plays on this myth very interestingly. I've discussed in this post how David Cain and Bruce's assertion that she's 'perfect' is a blatant reference to the model minority myth - by describing her as 'perfect' to them, they are centering their own desires, erasing Cass' individuality.

This is partially why I don't like 'Cass is Bruce's favourite' and 'Cass is an angel who can do no wrong' interpretations when people are just saying it without context. Cass being Bruce's favourite, or Bruce seeing her as an angel, is not a good thing - it is a representation of his biased attitude towards her. He is unable to accept her being a murderer because he is trapped within the model minority mindset. This is not saying Bruce is a full-on racist, but that his actions and perspectives are coloured by his Whiteness.

Cass' abrasive personality, willingness to defy Bruce and David, and very real flaws (her inability to see grey areas, communication difficulties, etc.) make her avoid this stereotype. Additionally, her close relationships with Black characters like Onyx and Duke are essential to combating the anti-Blackness at the core of the model minority myth. Her character evokes the stereotype (perfect martial arts silent fighter), but ultimately defies it through being the star of her own story (and also not being good at math. The fact she doesn't have anything to do with tech is actually one of my favourite aspects of her character, because I am TIRED of tech Asian characters).

The Hypersexual Asian Woman Stereotype

Asian women are often exoticised and fetishised as the ideal sexual partner; think of the term 'yellow fever', which describes men lusting after Asian women. The hypersexualisation of Asian women in media once again goes hand-in-hand with Asians being submissive. They are seen as innocent and child-like, while simultaneously being seductive and sexually experienced.

This stereotype is genuinely perpetuated in Batgirl (2000), mainly by the art in Horrocks' run. Where in Puckett's run there is refreshingly little sexualisation of Cass, once you hit Horrocks' run you get a LOT more shots of her lying down, sexually suggestive covers, etc. People have discussed this already, probably to more effect than I will do here.

However, as I wrote in my Gender and Sexuality posts, the writing is actually fairly defiant of this trope. Cass is vocally uncomfortable with hypersexualisation, and neither of her male love interests stick around. The problem with the Hypersexual Asian Woman is the focus on White sexual interests, where the woman is objectified for the White male gaze. Simply because Cass is the protagonist, the writing focuses on her sexual interests, and in the end it's about gaining control of her gender presentation and sexuality.

Cassandra Cain Vs. Asian Stereotypes

The through-line that connects all these Asian stereotypes is a lack of agency. There's a reason passiveness is the main trait for all of these tropes- the Asian body must be weaker than their White counterparts, in order to be tools or weapons against other minoritised groups.

Cassandra Cain, a character born from a choice that defies White male authority, rises above this passiveness with flying colours. The details of her character certainly fall into some of the above tropes, and the way her character is handled later (evil Cass, New 52), is certainly racist. However, the reason she means so much to me is because at its core, her story is a story of Asian agency. And that in itself is unstereotypical.

[thingsphoenix21]

*olympus breakfasts* Dionysus: Father? Zeus*sighs*: Yes? Dionysus: it's okay if use a knife to butter my own toast? Or you're worried I do something crazy with it. Zeus: You can butter your own toast. Dionysus: Oh good, you see the toast too. I was afraid I was imaging it. Zeus: Dionysus! Hera*first cup of coffee of the morning*: Okay that's enough you two. Ares*walking in*: What's going on? Hera*sighs*: Nothing is going on, everything is fine. Hebe*thrilled by the drama*: I'll tell you later. Dionysus: Father believe I'm mentally unstable. But since I'm his child I guess there's a genetic component, I guess it's possible. Zeus*thundering forming*: I know you're angry right now, but you're not going to be disrepectful. Hephaestus*drinking juice quietly* Dionysus: You know fits of rage are signs of psychosis. Athena explained them to me. Athena*nods awkwardly as Artemis and Apollo laugh* Zeus:I'll show you fits of rage. Hera*chugs coffee*: Enough both of you. Both of you are acting like lunatics.

[fem-lit]

A man’s thigh is for walking, but a woman’s is for walking and looking “beautiful.” If women can walk but believe our limbs look wrong, we feel that our bodies cannot do what they are meant to do; we feel as genuinely deformed and disabled as the unwilling Victorian hypochondriac felt ill.

— Naomi Wolf (1990) The Beauty Myth

[corpsesrottinginacelestialgarden]

The canonical differences between Demon and P1 Dude: How mischaracterizations lead to sanism.

There is a lot of ableism/sanism in the Postal fandom, especially surrounding P1 Dude. I'm tired of people thinking that Demon and P1 Dude are the same entity/personality/have the same moral conduct. I understand how easy it is for misinformation to spread about old indie games. I am not here to attack anyone. I just wanna shed some light on a few things.

There is a reason that P1 Dude's journal entries sound and look completely different from Demon's. P1 Dude was completely detached from reality and believed he was killing monsters to "save humanity," not innocent people. Yes, P1 Dude was a terrified, anxious, traumatized, psychotic man. Meanwhile, Demon was a cold sadist who enjoyed killing and spouting off goofy one-liners. They have distinctive personalities.

RWS has stated many times that P1 Dude was an average guy that was really going through it before he "went postal". He was not plotting, planning, or scheming to kill a bunch of people. (He is not like Notim from Hatred.) Quite the opposite. He only purchased a Kevlar vest and armed himself at the point he felt his life was in mortal danger.

He lived in a dangerous area of Paradise in which he heard gunshots and screams after dark every night. When he began to feel genuinely threatened, he purchased a singular gun. (This is all in the lore.) The rest of his weapons are found and collected in-game. He did not begin shooting at anyone until the cops literally came barging into his front yard shooting at him first. While that doesn't justify him going on a killing spree, it is the moment that set off his paranoid delusion fully.

We know from the lore that Paradise is a fucked up place filled with dangerous people. There is something genuinely wrong with Paradise that pushed Dude to this point (even if he likely already had mental health issues). The real-world threats he was experiencing amplified the delusion that everyone was out to get him. Chronic stress and trauma can make a person become highly psychotic. You are not immune.

The wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time makes all the terrifying difference. RWS stated he is an "everyman". He is meant to be related to without condoning what he does. The whole idea behind Postal 1 is that this could happen to anyone in the right circumstances. Absolutely anyone can develop psychosis if they experience enough stress.

In P1 Dude's journal entries, he repeatedly stated that he was scared and thought people were trying to kill him. He was straight up visually perceiving the people shooting at him as creatures infected with the "hate plague". Many of the loading screens show what people looked like through his eyes. They have heavily distorted, skeletal, and monstrous faces. On the flip side, Demon's journal entries are quite sadistic, playful, and a bit poetic. Demon speaks completely differently from Dude, aside from a few later journal entries when his sanity slips further. It seems like the delusion is worsening at that point and Demon (if real) is possibly taking over further. It is important to note that Dude never speaks in-game. That is all Demon's voice speaking. RWS confirmed this.

According to RWS, no one else can hear this voice but him. It was deliberately left ambiguous as to whether or not this is an actual demon possessing him, or merely part of his psychotic delusion. Nonetheless, P1 Dude completely lacked agency over Demon's thoughts/behavior. Thus, wholeheartedly blaming P1 Dude as if he was somehow aware of what he was doing during his psychosis is straight up nonsense.

You could say he was like a puppet for Demon/his delusions. To say there is no difference between P1 Dude and Demon is to fundamentally misunderstand how this character was written. He did not know what happened until the end of the game when he realized he was attempting to harm children. That's what made him collapse to the ground in shock and horror. Everything I have stated is 100% canon and can be sourced directly from the original Postal 1 manual, in-game lore, canon information in the game files, RWS' social media accounts where they answer fan questions, and old interviews with the original dev team.

This may be a tough pill for some to swallow, but there are people with psychosis so extreme that they are 100% lacking in awareness of their own behavior. That is a real thing that happens to people all the time. There truly is a lot of ableism, sanism, and misconceptions about how psychosis works in this fandom. Please don't contribute more stigma toward psychotic people if you can help it.

With all that being said and done:

Do I think what he did is ok? HELL NO!!! I can deeply empathize with a traumatized psychotic man who thought he was “saving humanity” by killing monsters without condoning his actions. So can you, even if it is solely cognitive empathy. Severe persecutory delusions are no joke! That's a pretty tragic situation to be on either end of. Imagine thinking you were doing something akin to killing off a zombie outbreak…only to realize you committed absolute atrocities. That's peak psychological horror, my dude. That's raw and real as hell to me.

I am not primarily concerned with P1 Dude's overall sense of morality. My focus is on pointing out the clear moral discrepancies/dilemmas that were deliberately written into the lore. These are moral discussions in the context of Dude's delusional perspective. Obviously, from the player's perspective/morals, his delusion is completely fucked and not logical. It is a delusion, after all. Explanations don't and should never equal justifications. I am not focused on if he is good or evil, as I do not believe in that type of thing. My main focus is with understanding the context of his delusional thoughts and actions. I think people are just people. They're all capable of wonderful and terrible things. I am primarily concerned with the canon lore and ableism/sanism toward psychotic/delusional people I have been seeing. People do not choose their delusions or control them, period.

-Sincerely, someone who has experienced similar delusions.

Edit: I originally wrote this post when I was sick, sleep deprived, and had a hellish headache. I have since tried to elaborate on several points I feel I did not explain in a nuanced enough way, initially.

I have noticed some people quote the Postal Strategy Guide claiming that P1 Dude shot first. That is a fair concern to bring up. This is slight misinformation on the original writer's part. Even if you do absolutely nothing in the game but stand around, the cops shoot first. Paul did not work at RWS, was not a game dev, and did not write the lore. Vince Desi confirmed P1 Dude was, indeed, attacked initially. Misconceptions and errors are very common in game strategy guide books from the 90s and early to mid 2000's.

[squarebracket-trickster]

Oh my god for the last time

DO NOT USE AI FOR RESEARCH. DON'T TRUST ANYTHING IT TELLS YOU.

Do not use AI for research even if it cites its sources. Have you verified the credibility of those sources?

Do not use AI for research even if its sources are credible. Have you checked to make sure they have the most up-to-date information?

Do not use AI for research even if the sources are recent. Is this information generally accepted by experts in the field, or is it a controversial stance? Did AI source the 9/10 dentists or the 1/10? You don't know. You have no way of knowing unless you do your own fucking research!

DO NOT USE AI FOR RESEARCH. for the love of god people

"But I'm just doing research for my novel. It's okay if it's not 100% accurate."

ChatGPT told a person to glue the cheese on their pizza to make it stick. It told someone else a poisonous mushroom was safe to eat. It told another kid that Greek was a combination of four different languages. It thought there were 2 r's in strawberry.

Your information will probably not be 100% accurate. It might not be 50% accurate. It might be so completely and utterly false it would make a flat eather look informed. Just use Wikipedia of you want something quick and dirty. It might not be 100% accurate either, but it won't tell you to eat glue.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

‘It’s a world made by men, for the benefit of men.’

The patriarchy, male privilege, gender oppression… again and again, we are beaten over the head with dogmatic, absolutist, and terrifying catch phrases, each to be accepted without question.

You see, when it comes to political and structural advantage, men have it all, and women have none.

But do such theories make sense in modern society?

Why, if our male privilege is so sweet, do so many thousands of men end their lives in such tragic stories of suicide?

Why, if our society is so patriarchal, does it ignore the countless and increasingly urgent issues that devastate men and boys?

And why, if this society is designed for my advantage, no less as a straight white man, then why in the build-up to a General Election is there not one policy designed for men and boys?

I don’t understand.

And if the world hates and neglects women so much, why do our major political parties line up to offer them a plethora of well-meaning policies, showering them with taxpayer money, and words of support, compassion, and kindness?

The political agendas are out, outlining the next generation of political change, and ambition, and it’s chock full of ‘women and girls’ being a national priority.

Meanwhile any question about the other half of society, to rightfully ask ‘what about men and boys?’, will only draw sneers and squeals, eye rolls, and violence, ‘this isn’t about you’, they snap back.

Yes.

We know that already. That’s the point.

It never is.

It never is about boys falling behind and out of education.

It never is about the homeless men left to die on the street.

It never is about the millions of male victims of abuse with nowhere to go.

Those who say, ‘this isn’t about you’, have yet to realise they have missed the point entirely, whilst simultaneously impaling themselves upon it.

We know.

This isn’t about us, and it never is.

So, who, in another full house of political neglect, betrayal and failure, are you going to vote for?

[familythings]

The Truth Behind "Orizempic": Is It a Weight Loss Miracle or Just Another Trend?

In the ever-evolving world of social media and wellness trends, new weight loss tips and tricks frequently make the rounds. One of the latest fads is a homemade drink called “orizempic,” which involves soaking uncooked rice in water, straining it, and drinking the remaining water with a splash of lemon. This concoction is claimed to offer weight loss benefits similar to the popular medication…

[harrisonbrainrot]

I'm not okay.