#gender and diversity

[mineaction]

Beyond Oslo - Taking stock of Gender and Diversity mainstreaming in the Anti-personnel mine ban convention.

Considering improvements in gender & diversity mainstreaming within mine action?

Our "Beyond Oslo" report analyzes the effectiveness of current strategies & explores potential paths forward.

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) is a reference in gender and diversity mainstreaming. In its latest Action Plan, known as the Oslo Action Plan (OAP), APMBC States Parties committed to take a number of practical steps to integrate gender perspectives and the diverse needs and experiences of people in affected communities into all aspects of mine action and programming.

As the OAP enters its final year of implementation, this report provides an overview of the implementation of action points covering gender, diversity, and inclusion, with the intention to assess its impact and reflect on the way forward. Drawing on official reporting and statements made by States Parties, as well as on a survey conducted with key actors in mine action, this report outlines instances of progress achieved regarding gender and diversity mainstreaming, as well as challenges and areas for improvement that could be addressed in the next Action Plan.

Citation: Renata H. Dalaqua, Paula Jou Fuster and Hana Salama (2023) "Beyond Oslo: Taking Stock of Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming in the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention", UNIDIR, Geneva.

[the-crooked-library]

so within the universe of Dune, gender roles abide by a rigid false dichotomy created by the bene gesserit - men lead the noble houses, while the women may join their order, and the powers of both are kept intentionally separate. at the same time, the plot demonstrates repeatedly that the role of paul atreides as a character is that of the border between the concepts juxtaposed within dichotomies: he is both an outerworlder and fremen, both harkonnen and atreides, both a duke and a disciple of the bene gesserit.

as such, it follows that within the in-universe gender structure, he occupies the roles of both male and female, thus being functionally and societally nonbinary. in this essay, i will -

[trans-androgyne]

Okay, you can say you’re respecting transmascs’ gender when you kick us out of or bar us from “women’s spaces” once we transition. But consider that in many cases there aren’t other spaces for transmascs. There don’t tend to be men’s spaces to talk about gendered oppression and sexual assault — the latter of which trans men experience at a higher rate than cis and trans women. I know because I have had to create new spaces for trans men myself, using my own time and money. And it’s not easy, and I shouldn’t have to do it. I’ve strained my mental health with it; I can’t expect other transmascs to do the same in their locality.

I want you to evaluate the purpose of these spaces. If your space is specifically about discussing womanhood, that’s its own thing, though I would still ask you to consider including people with a complex relationship with womanhood due to their gender experiences and want to discuss it. But if your reason for making it a “women’s” or “women’s and non-binary” space is to make it “safe” for discussing things like queerness, misogyny, and sexual violence? I am begging you to understand that without other resources you are shutting transmascs out in the cold. Our masculinity does not make us unsafe.

[goblintelligence]

It is okay to not have bottom dysphoria. At all.

You are not less trans, you are not perverted, you are not your agab because of what's on your bottom half.

And it's also okay if you change your opinion on this later, but it's very valid if you don't, it's not a bad thing to be content with your bits.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ryan Adamczeski at The Advocate:

Donald Trump claims he has "nothing to do" with Project 2025, but he has a playbook of his own that would be devastating for LGBTQ+ Americans and other marginalized communities. The former president's reelection website features a section entitled Agenda 47, which hosts dozens of videos of Trump outlining his policies for if he returns to office. Several policies threaten the LGBTQ+ community, spanning across education, health care, and the military. In one video titled "President Trump's Plan to Protect Children From Left-Wing Gender Insanity," Trump promised to outlaw gender-affirming care for minors at the federal level, and “cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age.” He also promised to ban transgender athletes from competing on teams that match their gender identity.

Trump stated that he "will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female — and they are assigned at birth.” He then claimed that being transgender was "invented" by the "radical left," though he did not use the term "transgender" once throughout Agenda 47. “No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender — a concept that was never heard of in all of human history — nobody’s ever heard of this, what’s happening today," Trump rambled. "It was all when the radical left invented it just a few years ago.”

[...] As for public education, Trump vowed to "cut federal funding for any school or program pushing critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children." He also promised to "create a new credentialing body to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values."

While Donald Trump may claim to have “nothing to do” with Project 2025, it and Agenda 47 are practically like-for-like in many key policy areas. #Agenda47 #Project2025

[kookoofufu]

[dhddmods]

Please stop sigmatizing small phalluses.

We see it in almost every queer space we go, and it is humiliating, degrading, and saddening that our own community can be so intersexist, altersexist, and transphobic, without even seeming to realize it.

We know that "small dick - big dick" is a joke, a meme, but frankly, its just not funny. Phallus size has been stigmatized and mocked so much that its caused countless people gender dysphoria, sex dysphoria, body dysmorphia, depression, anxiety, and stigma. This stigma leads to a lot of people with small phalluses having a more difficult time getting into relationships, because people are judgmental of their bodies. Small phalluses don't make a person bad in bed, nor is it something to be ashamed of.

Not only that, but it is rooted in intersexism. Micropenises are an intersex trait, and yet it is belittled, laughed at, and treated like some joke. People's bodies are not jokes.

Mockery of small phalluses, even if done with good intent or in "good fun", stigmatizes and humiliates real intersex people - people with congenital buried penises, clitoromegaly, fused labia & clitoromegaly, and similarly structured genitals. Please read (and reblog) about intersex variations & traits here, for a better understanding and compassion for their community - a community that very frequently overlaps with the trans community, and is a part of the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole.

It also stigmatizes altersex, transsex, transmasc, and non-binary people. This includes those that desire/have metoidioplasties and that desire/have T-dicks or enlarged clitorises. It also includes those that have penises/phalluses, and take estrogen (or intersex people who produce high estrogen) that causes phallus shrinking. It makes many people feel sad and ashamed of their genitals, as if there is something wrong with them.

We mean no hate to anyone that has made these jokes in the past. This post is simply a plea to expand your mindset, and think of the psychological and social damage those jokes do to real people.

Please reblog to spread awareness.

[nothorses]

What do you think gay men are attracted to in men that they can’t be attracted to in women?

It can’t be anything about femininity or masculinity obviously. That’s both sexist, and cultural so can’t be what drives men-only attraction.

It can’t be anything about stated identity because someone could lie just as easily as they could tell the truth in such a statement, and it makes no sense because homosexuality and heterosexuality exists in other species with no stated identities. It’s not like other animals without gender are all pan.

Saying idk it’s the vibes or some indescribable trait men have that women can’t but “I can’t explain” is a nonanswer.

Soooooooo what is it? Or do you think any sexuality but bi/pan is just cultural performance or an identity rather than an inborn orientation?

- [ ]

I think trying to find one perfect answer that applies universally is the critical mistake here. I mean, I am a gay man. I say this because as of yet, that's the clearest answer I have for myself personally; maybe there's a possibility I experience attraction to a woman at some point (maybe I already have???), but I don't really have clarity on that right now, and it doesn't serve me to shape or explain my identity around "maybe"s.

Trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that attracts me to other men, specifically, is also like... not that useful. I used to find myself really attracted to feminine men specifically; not feminine women, not masculine women, not masculine men, not androgynous anyone, but feminine men. Specifically, men who were feminine in a very particular, long-hair-certain-attitude kind of way.

Recently, I have found myself appreciating, more and more, a certain kind of masculine body type and gay masculinity that I was never really interested in before. I find it incredibly hot. A lot of that coincides with things I appreciate about my partner, too, and things I find myself appreciating more about my partner as time goes on- as well as things my partner expresses appreciation for about me!

And I haven't even touched on attraction to nonbinary folks here because, like, it's a massive spectrum. "Nonbinary" means something different for every individual nonbinary person. To my mind, of course there's a possibility I experience attraction to a nonbinary person; how they identity, present, and what attracts me to them are all even more impossible to know for certain than the "maybe"s and the "why"s around my attraction (or lack thereof) to men and women.

My relationship to my own orientation was vastly different pre-testosterone versus post-testosterone, too. I was much more reserved and uncomfortable with relationships and attraction before I started T, and the only dynamic I ever felt was even a little bit tolerable was one where I was the "masculine woman" in a lesbian relationship. I didn't realize until very shortly after starting T that, actually, I like men. A lot. I felt comfortable with my body and my masculinity in a way I never had been before, and I felt comfortable in relationships with men; I no longer felt like I was The Woman By Default in contrast.

And that's all just me! This is my personal, specific, individual relationship to attraction, and how gender- both others' and my own- factors into my relationship with orientation.

I don't think it's necessarily inborn, or completely unchanging for everyone. I also don't think the same factors apply for everyone. I think a lot of different things can be true for different people, all at once, and it's not really useful to try to pinpoint a specific, universal explanation for orientation.

Everyone has a different relationship to orientation and gender; everyone will be influenced differently by cultural factors, by their own ways of processing and understanding the world around them, by the ways different aspects of their culture, identity, personality, and inborn traits and how they all interact with one another, and sure, maybe even by biological factors and tendencies.

Trying to solve this puzzle for the entire world of diverse human beings isn't going to make it any easier to understand yourself. Focus on what this all means for you, personally, and accept that you will never, can never, fully and perfectly understand anyone else's internal world and workings. Things get a lot easier when you can let go of that & just appreciate the diversity of human experiences, y'know?

[mineaction]

How do gender and diversity relate to mine action?

This #MineAwarenessDay, we release our new explainer, created together with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining - GICHD. Learn the significance of embedding gender, age, and disability insights into Mine Action practices.

UNIDIR's Gender and Disarmament Programme and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) have produced a short explainer on gender and diversity in the context of mine action. This resource explains the importance of integrating gender and diversity considerations, such as age and disability, into specific areas of mine action: Survey and Clearance; Explosive Ordnance Risk Education; Victim Assistance; and Employment. Based on examples from various regions, this resource demonstrates that gender and diversity mainstreaming can better address affected people’s needs and protect their rights, making mine action more effective.

Citation: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, and Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (2024). "How Do Gender and Diversity Relate to Mine Action?", UNIDIR, Geneva.

[drgnflyteabox]

Hmrrmmm reader running a women's rehab / shelter for current / former sex workers in poverty, offering safety / food / shelter

Hrmmrmm Alejandro helping them when he can... he's so busy but he's got a soft spot for you so you know you can go to him for help :')

Alejandro who knows you have a history and doesn't push, but you genuinely feel safe with him

Alejandro who would never have anyone on his team that would be creepy or assault any women / victims but knows why you and the others are wary of men, so its only ever his most trusted who visit you or help you :')

Idkkk I need more Alejandro and unfortunately for me I'm into gentle masculine men and I feel like Alejandro would be so masculine but so gentle:') a little old fashioned, but it's appreciated when you haven't been treated well:')

When he greets you its kisses on your cheeks and eyelids, holding your hands, so sweet and tender :'D he and his vaqueros donate food/etc and you cook pastries for him in return

Sigh

[c-0-yote-teeth]

[farmerlesbian]

Came across this call for submissions and wanted to share it with yall! I am in no way affiliated with the magazine, just want to share for anyone who might be interested.

Sinister Wisdom 📣Call for Submissions📣 Gender Diverse Lesbians! This issue seeks to honor and affirm Lesbians outside the sex/gender binary and to include nonconcrete gender identities found in all cultural specifics. We are seeking essays, short fiction, poetry, oral histories, and visual art to be submitted in one document of up to 10 pages, including a brief biography with any social media. The new deadline is August 31st — if you already submitted the first time submissions were opened, your submissions are still being considered and there is no need to resubmit! If you haven’t yet, then please send your submissions through submittable: sinisterwidsom.submittable.com! As Sinister Wisdom is completely volunteer-led, we are unable to provide compensation for contributors, however they will receive a free copy of this issue and a year-long subscription to Sinister Wisdom. Send us your best work! Sinister Wisdom Linktree

[softpastelqueer]

[tubbytarchia]

me when a female character I like gets labelled a mom for the 17th time

[smokeweedeattherich]

(I know it's not good for me but) I've taken a mild interest in the terfs of tumblr because I just want to be educated on what kind of bullshit and misinformation they're using to argue their bigoted opinions. Almost across the board it seems like these people have such a 2 dimension understanding of feminism.

I feel like the closest thing I can compare it to is generational politics. It's pretty easy to be like "oh those selfish rich boomers ruined the planet" but fact of the matter is there's poor and impoverished boomers who've suffered under the hands of capitalism so all that does is alienate you from potential allies in the class war. Likewise these self proclaimed "radical feminists" operate on flawed logic that "all men are violent and profit from the patriarchy" while there are gay and gnc men, as well as trans men and women who get punished by their peers for not performing masculinity/femininity well enough.

What these have in common is that people generalize complex issues into black and white terms, thereby alienating people who have experiences in common and could serve as worthy allies. The TERF reframe feminism not as equality between genders but as female supremacy. There lies the flaw, because of it they'd inevitably become nothing more than new oppressors with nothing about the way we run society having fundamentally changed. The ruling class will always find little ways to distract us with stupid infighting, if people would stop falling for it that would be brilliant. Trans people aren't your enemies. You have more in common with an average trans woman than a billionaire who wrote a wizard school book series as she cosplayed being poor while relatives paid her bills.

[she-is-ovarit]

Trans research and scientific consensus

(2020) - Study of 139,829 students finds that in comparison to other students, transgender identity, especially non-binary identity, is associated more with perpetrating bullying than being bullied. Non-binary identity was most strongly associated with involvement in bullying, followed by [transgender] opposite sex identity and cisgender identity. 

(2023) 21 leading experts on pediatric gender medicine from 8 countries wrote a letter to Wall Street Journal expressing disagreement over how gender dysphoria in youth is treated, voicing concerns against things such as the affirmative model and research conducted outside of the US has found hormonal interventions for gender dysphoria to be without reliable evidence. Among these international experts is Dr. Rita Kaltiala, chief psychiatrist at Tampere university gender clinic and author of several peer-reviewed studies on trans medicine and Finland's top authority on pediatric gender care.

(2023) Landmark study from Denmark on 3,800 transgender patients pulled data from hospital records and applications from legal gender changes and discovered 43% of this group had a psychiatric illness compared with 7% of non-trans group, and despite "gender affirming care" and legal gender changes, still had 7.7 the rate of suicide attempts and 3.5 times the rate of suicide deaths. Researchers state this rate is likely even higher due to missing data.

(2016) Study finds association with increased risk of multiple sclerosis for trans women taking estrogen/reducing testosterone levels.

(2023) Metadata study shows, at best, no improvement for patients in gender-affirming care. "The conclusions of the systematic reviews of evidence for adolescents are consistent with long-term adult studies, which failed to show credible improvements in mental health and suggested a pattern of treatment-associated harms. Three recent papers examined the studies that underpin the practice of youth gender transition and found the research to be deeply flawed. Evidence does not support the notion that “affirmative care” of today’s adolescents is net beneficial."

(2011) Long term follow up of 324 transgender people having undergone sex reassignment surgery in Sweden, found that trans women retained male patterned incidents and rates of violence and had a greater significance and rate of rape and sexual violence than cisgender men. The study also found, "Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group."

(2020) Largest study to date on 641,860 people finds association with autism and "gender diversity", "Gender-diverse people also report, on average, more traits associated with autism, such as sensory difficulties, pattern-recognition skills and lower rates of empathy — or accurately understanding and responding to another person’s emotional state".

(2022) US study examining 10 years of data on 952 people finds large percentages of young adults prescribed hormones for trans identity no longer getting the drugs 4 years later. Discontinuation rate for both sexes combined = 30%. Female discontinuation rate as high as 44%. The standard disinformation pushed is that only 1-2% of people who begin medical transition end up desisting. But these figures show that in this cohort of young adults, the overall rate of discontinuing hormone treatment ranged from a low of 10% to a high of 44% within a space of just 4 years.

Abruzzese et al. 2023 'The Myth of “Reliable Research” in Pediatric Gender Medicine: A critical evaluation of the Dutch Studies—and research that has followed'

More to come.