#QUIBBLING!!!!!

[lucybellwood]

NOBODY DOES IT LIKE ROBERT MACFARLANE

[communistkenobi]

"Sex" is commonly used to refer to a person's status as a man or woman based on biological factors. Although sex reflects a person's biology, as opposed to gender, which is generally considered to be socially constructed, the biological aspect of the body that determines a person's sex has not been legally or medically resolved. Traditionally, a person's legal sex is established by the sex that the birth attendant places on the birth certificate. Thus, for infants born with unambiguous external genitalia, the external genitalia typically control the sex determination. If the genitalia appear ambiguous, sex is assigned, in part, based on sex-role stereotypes. The presence of an "adequate" penis in an XY infant leads to the label male, while the absence of an "adequate" penis leads to the label female. A genetic (XY) male with an "inadequate" penis (one that physicians believe will be incapable of penetrating a female's vagina when the child reaches adulthood) is "turned into" a female even if it means destroying his reproductive capacity. A genetic (XX) female who may be capable of reproducing, however, is generally assigned the female sex to preserve her reproductive capability, regardless of the appearance of her external genitalia. If her phallus is considered to be too large to meet the guidelines for a typical clitoris, it is surgically reduced, even if it means that her capacity for satisfactory sex may be reduced or destroyed. In other words, men are defined based on their ability to penetrate females, and females are defined based on theis ability to procreate. Sex, therefore, can be viewed as a social construct rather than a biological fact.

— The Road Less Traveled: The Problem with Binary Sex Categories by Julie A Greenberg in Transgender Rights (2006)

interesting to note that 1) the introduction of chromosomal information doesn’t actually provide more “biologically accurate” precision in sex assignment, only a more complex set of administrative and medical instructions on the procedures of assignment, 2) the only concern in sex assignment is maintaining the distinction that “females make babies” and “males penetrate females to induce pregnancy.”

This is why the idea that “sex is biological” or that we can just drill down to find the sex atom of the human body, be that chromosomes or gametes or whatever else, is premised on the notion that sex assignment is simply a record of a self-evident reality, not the construction of the category of sex as the mythological foundation of cis-heterosexual reproduction

[quibblegoobe]

uhm. hayden beach outfit anyone

[bitegore]

Zionists want you to conflate Judaism and Zionism. Zionists want you to believe that Judaism cannot exist without Zionism and that all Jews are Zionists. Zionism would have Jews believe that a Jewish state is the only way that they can be safe from antisemitism and will point to any instance of antisemitism as proof that Zionism is the solution- so Zionism wants gentiles to be antisemitic in their support of Palestine. They want you to conflate all Jews with Zionism and the state of Israel, and they want you to treat all Jews regardless of political affiliation as the face of Israel. Antizionist Jews exist, and incidences of antisemitism ostensibly acting against Zionism will not help dismantle the forces propping Zionism up.

Don't do their work for them.

[birdnonsense]

Anyone ever read Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett? I recently finished it and oh my god The trans men and non-binary monsters are all iconic sir terry you were a real one

[bedazzlecunt]

kink is supposed to be fun and fulfilling and positive. if it starts to leave you empty instead of full, despondent instead of joyful, feeling alone instead of closer to your partner — then you need to stop playing, at least for a while. taking care of yourself is an essential part of play. i love you, stay safe.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Sky News is Private UK Media]

Washington and London opted to strike Yemen with precision bombs rather than accelerating efforts to end violence in Gaza, where more than 20,000 people have been killed in three months. Regional diplomats say the longer that conflict continues, the less possible it becomes to contain.

The language being used by Biden administration is interesting.

"Iran is a primary - if not the primary - enabler or supporter, sponsor of the Houthis and Iran has been involved operationally in the conduct of these attacks," a Biden administration official said.

They don't talk about Iran directing the attacks against shipping or US military in the region in the way that they might have done not long ago.

They talk about Iran being the "enabler" rather than the puppet master. And that's because they know that the "Iranian proxies" in the Middle East are no longer puppets.

Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza - all are established forces making strategic decisions, aligned with Iranian ideology of course and with Iranian-made weapons, but driven by their own ambitions.[...]

The Houthis have claimed their attacks on shipping are in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

They frame it as an international shipping lane-based protest against what they call a genocide.[...]

But make no mistake, among regional populations, the Houthis are seen, not insignificantly, as having chosen to back support for Gaza with material action.

America and the UK chose military action to try to stop the Houthi missiles. They chose to bomb the world's poorest nation with precision bombs. That's risky and optically awkward, to say the least.

Another course would have been to seek to remove the Houthi pretext by accelerating efforts to end the Gaza conflict and solve the Israel-Palestine question.[...]

The Americans have shown an unwillingness or inability to influence Israeli actions in Gaza.

And for that, they have not just lost credibility among regional leaders. America has lost populations in the Middle East these last few months.[...]

[C]rucially, [senior regional diplomats] say that while Iran doesn't seek to escalate all this into a regional war, it cannot mitigate for potential miscalculation in Lebanon, Yemen or Iraq because the groups operating there are more and more independent.

What's happening how is this in Sky [12 Jan 24]

[baejax-the-great]

Still thinking about how Ajax isn't even in the Odyssey yet Homer twice is like, remember that guy? Remember Ajax? Damn that dude was sexy. Okay moving on.

[shieldfoss]

Hottest take I've seen this year so far

[rivertalesien]

KAOS is up there with The Old Guard and Nimona for the kind of queer-centric fantasy productions we've been missing a whole lot of.

Jeff Goldblum is perfect as Zeus, Janet McTeer blows everyone out of the water as Hera and there isn't a chiseled Greek statuesque body in sight. It's refreshing seeing such a diversity of body types and ethnicities on-screen (though why the King of Krete has an Irish accent is a little beyond me).

Suzy Izzard? Oh yes. trans-positive representation? Hell yes. Faces familiar to Doctor Who fans? You know it.

Great storytelling, often hilarious, riffing off old myths, though given a 21st century sensibility: this is Zeus Trump or Musk or whatever weirdo billionaire you like, living in his glorious bubble, in capable of nothing but feeding his own desires and deep insecurities. He has one loyal son, Dionysus, who is out of his depth, but still wants dad's approval (and something beyond his current lightweight duties). Brother Poseidon (Chris Curtis) is all about that super-yacht life, willing to let his favored city of Krete do as it will, but only up to a certain point.

Hera might be heartless, but she is definitely The QUEEN.

The myths of Persephone, the Minotaur and Orpheus and Eurydice are all played on here, and we've got TERFish Amazons and the defeated Trojans bear no small political resemblance to Gazans, under the thumb of controlling Krete (and "segregated for their own protection").

The Fates, the Furies and the non-unionized workers of the Underworld are all accounted for.

Great satire and fantasy together? This one is a treat.

[scorpius-rising]

I think part of what's making the Hades II art seem to have less 'pop' is simply the fact that the overall colour scheme for the game is more green and blue, rather than the red and gold associated with Zagreus in the first one

[ruusukultakruunu]

[quibblegoobe]

take this doodle of the them , , ,,

[lunarharp]

kitchen of witch hat vibes

[marisatomay]

“Taylor Swift was writing bangers before she was old enough to drive a car. Through every stage of her career, she’s made bangers. More than anything else, those bangers are the reason why people care about Swift’s personal life. Whenever she’s encountered a transcendent moment of joy, heartbreak, anger, fear, confusion, exhilaration, or anything else, her response has been to write a banger about it. But now, the lore has come to swallow the music. With some exceptions, the songs on The Tortured Poets Department are simply not strong enough to support the weight of all that fucking storyline. It’s starting to feel like the lore is all we have. It’s not enough.”

[daily-hanamura]