#gender diversity matters

[ultraspacetraveler]

Hm. I took the Skitty to the Pokecenter and the PC freaked the fuck out when trying to display its information. Gender win for unnamed Skitty I suppose.

[nakibistan]

Trans and non-binary folks have always existed in this world. We can trace their history back in many pre-modern civilizations.

Native Americans have a rich history of gender diversity. There were approximately 400 distinct indigenous nations in North American region. Of that number, 155 have documented gender variant & genderfluid traditions among native & indigenous folks. Many indigenous communities recognize at least four genders (feminine female, masculine female, feminine male, masculine male) as well as transgender, and most indigenous tribes have specific terms for gender fluid members. All of these non-normative & fluid gender folks are currently known as two spirits.In the 1990s, many gay and lesbian Native American activists in the United States and Canada began to use the term "two-spirit people" to describe themselves instead of the "berdache".

Asia is known for it's recognition of multiple trans and gender variant identities, including hijra/kinner, aravani, khawaja sara/khwajasira, mukhannith, mustarajjil, mutarajjil/mutarajjila, köcek, bakla, nat kadaw, bacha, khanith, sida-sida, doh-jens/ dojence, waria/banci, kathoey, kothi, jogappa, calalai, calabai, bissue, etc. Gender & sexual fluidity was celebrated among the earliest animists, pagans, hindus, buddhists, christians, jews and muslims. It is worth noting that, gender-diverse folks weren't never seen as threat to 'traditional family values' before the colonialization.

I feel very disappointed when I see those anti-trans laws are used as a justification of protecting [so-called] religious & moral values, traditional family institution & [cis] women. They really don't care how many trans lives are gone for transphobia in this world.

Shame on you, right-wing extremists, filthy republicans, evangelist conservatives. Shame on you bloody TERFs. Shame on you guys, who weaponize trans-hatred, queer hatred, under the disguise of "so called" religious moral, women's safety, and family values. Your cruelty will be met with justice one day. Your harmful actions will catch up to you through the karma 👊

[perrypixel]

Do you ever see post saying ‘i would ship lunter if hunter wasn’t white/boy’ and think what does matter what gender or race hunter is, what matter is the dynamic itself

[fencesandfrogs]

I’ve decided I’m keeping plants pretty similar to earth plants, because botany is so ridiculous that I don’t even need to make shit up. Also, Tuvok hybridized a Vulcan flower with an earth orchid. So like. Plant hybridization is crazy, but this is like the Spock mammal thing.

Anyway I’m considering having my CAM plants be a major branch because like. What are the odds of convergent evolution creating that change multiple times on TWO planets. …high enough that I’m only considering having CAM be a major decision.

Plants also lend support to my thoughts on the Forge: there’s a carnivorous vine from that hat area, and.

Y’know what no i’m not using my walk home to type out half formed thoughts on low nitrogen environments. Please research carnivorous plants if you’re curious; pitcher plants are a favorite of mine.

So anyway they don’t really make sense in an arid desert environment IMO. But by an oasis?? Oh yeah, now we’re talking.

I’m not 100% sure that I’m keeping the major divisions of plants from earth, but like. I didn’t take botany for nothing. Ya boy knows his gymnosperms and monocots and so on and he wants to be able to use that knowledge.

[thatrandombystander]

"He or she" is such a pet peeve of mine. Inclusivity aside, "they" is fewer words, quicker and less awkward to say, and doesn't call attention to itself with how people always seem to vocally stress or add small pauses while saying "he or she" and disrupting the flow of their words.

[mantisgodsdomain]

we think that if we answer this question truthfully then you will probably be very mad at us

[transgaysex]

got an email from the government asking me if im a faggot

[mxanunnakiraymarquez]

A New Important Word: Endosex

An important new word that honors the existence of intersex people: “ENDOSEX” A person is ENDOSEX if not born with INTERSEX physiology. Both can be assigned wrong At birth.  Both can change their gender identity or sex traits, and be valid in who theybecome. A human being can be of any gender identity, man, woman, both or neither, and all the amazing ways we can define ourselves as human…

[crybabydraws]

They just banned TikTok at my college. No school wifi for me I guess 💀

(please read the tags)

[gab-has-adhd]

Oh by the way, March 31nd is already over for me, but:

🏳️‍⚧️HAPPY TRANS DAY OF VISIBILITY🏳️‍⚧️

I am Gab, agender and proud 💖 Please use they/them or he/him pronouns for me ✨️

Transgender and nonbinary people are valid 💕

Trans lives matter 💕

Trans rights are human rights 💕

Additionally:

Fuck terfs 🌸

Radqueer identities are offensive 🌸

There is nothing rad or even queer in having paraphilias, get help 🌸

Toodles 🏳️‍⚧️

[thatonebirdwrites]

For those that may not realize this, but trans people really did build these spaces.

Look up Miss Major Griffin-Gracy who was a leading pioneer for the queer movement. (The film Major! chronicles her life.) She especially fought hard for queer and trans people in prison.

Read up on Marsha P. Johnson. (Marsha P. Johnson wrote her own autobiography actually. I own it and its lovely. Also check out Happy Birthday Marsha, as that's an excellent film about her life and friendship with Silvia Riveria).

Check out Silvia Riveria and STAR, which also helped build queer spaces. Silvia also built up programs to help queer and trans youth and homeless.

There's a lot of other trans pioneers within queer history that keep getting erased because cisgender queer people refuse to see us as real people that are worthy of taking up any space at all. Silvia Riveria and Marsha P. Johnson, for example, got shoved out of the queer movement that they helped build because of cisgender people viewing trans issues as too extreme for their goals of assimilation into popular culture and gay rights.

Gay rights / Queer rights would not exist if not for trans pioneers. I highlighted the two above, but there was a hell of a lot more. Look at the riots before Stonewall and Stonewall itself. Majority of people there were transsexuals and/or transvestites, along with a lot of butch lesbians.

Trans people's history goes back to ancient times -- there is plenty of cultures across time and space that had up to six genders. (See the PBS Independent Lens Gender-Diverse Map). We've always existed to some degree, and some cultures treated us with respect and others did not. Anthropology lately has discovered evidence of us in digs and in literature from specific time periods. We've always been here.

A big historical tragedy within trans history was when the Sex Institute in Germany was destroyed by Nazis (their first bookburning was about trans people). It was the leading Institute in research that aided trans people and queer people alike, and had a lot of history and medical procedures that ended up lost due to the book burnings. (Notice the parallel today! Anti-trans legislation that is literally getting us killed. Purging books about us from schools and libraries. Legislation that makes it near impossible for us in certain states to access healthcare or even use a public restroom. History certainly does rhyme, doesn't it?)

So when we get thrown out of queer spaces for not being "fem" enough, it's people enacting the oppression of our society on a vulnerable population.

You aren't being radical nor engaging in justice when you do this.

In fact, if folks really want to be radically queer, they'd interrogate their own biases on why they might feel intimidated by trans people, and then do better.

Because I can guarantee that most folks feeling intimidated is rooted in transphobia that was socialized into all of us. Society tries to paint trans people as evil predators in order to justify the horrendous treatment and dehumanization. We should not continue to perpetuate these isolating and harmful tactics within queer spaces.

We all have to look inside ourselves and continuously learn more and do better. That's part of being radically queer too. Interrogate biases, learn, do better, and stop perpetuating the oppressive tactics of our society on one another.

So instead of kicking out trans people that don't dress or act the way you think queer people should act, please read up on actual queer and trans history, interrogate your own biases, and learn about the wonders of welcoming people for who they are.

Because that is the whole point of the queer movement. It's what trans people started and pushed for -- welcoming people for who they are, pushing for our rights to be honored, helping people thrive as their authentic selves.

By not allowing trans people to thrive as their authentic selves? By isolating us?

That's betraying the queer movement. It's not justice. It's oppression. Stop it.

tried to vent in a trans space about how, as a trans man who’s been on T for a long time (over 7 years now), i have noticed that the more i pass as a man, the less welcomed i am in queer spaces unless i go out of my way to feminize myself. and how that sucks! and it’s isolating!!! and it feels horrible to see ppl who used to like you and be close to you drift further and further the more masculine (& therefore more comfortable in urself) u become…

only to get ppl replying to me and saying “well if you dressed more fem then ppl wouldn’t be intimidated by you. you signed up for this”

i’m sorry but i didnt sign up for social isolation when i transitioned, i signed up for gender euphoria and comfort in myself and my life. and i had hoped that the ppl in my life would be able to see how much joy that brings me and continue to love me.

[truitt-story]

Breaking Ranks | Self Para

Date: October 2024 Featuring: Nora, The Bridesmaids For Context: It's So Confusing to Be a Girl Warnings: Complicated feelings around clothing/gender/sexuality

A crucial part of the wedding planning process hits a snag...

"Sooo, did anyone's dresses come in yet?" Nora said, eyes sparkling like she was a kid on Christmas waiting to open her gifts.

Tiana, for the record, still felt conflicted about being here after her conversation with Vixey. But with everything so precarious lately, she had also sort of bought into the idea that they just needed to get through the wedding and they could figure everything else out afterward. Al just seemed so excited about getting married, about being a husband, about being a dad, even...

He had to have a perfect wedding day. Everything else could come after.

So yeah, Tiana was here at the hen party, the current stage of which was a trendy tapas bar in NTO. Cooing over dresses. With Nora. It wasn't like she didn't like dresses, after all, and each of the mix-and-match styles that the other girls showed off. It was kind of the Nora of it all that was the problem. And the way she kept conveniently leaving the only seat open next to Violet, like this was some fucked up game of Gay Microaggression Musical Chairs.

"What about you, Tiana?" Nora asked once just about everyone else had shown off their dress.

Tiana, quite honestly, had thought she was exempt from this conversation. She'd mentioned to Nora before (albeit out of context) that she didn't like dresses and tried to avoid them if she could help it. And Nora had told her she thought that was really chic and modern of her, that she always wore jumpsuits and blazers to black-tie events. So... Tiana had figured it would be fine.

"Oh, uh, I was gonna order from another site. They didn't have a pants option, but I figure I can probably find somewhere with a similar fabric..." Tiana trailed off when she saw that Nora looked, suddenly, very panicked.

Oh no. Ohhh, this was a really bad look on her face. And Tiana could tell Nadine had seen it, too. In fact, everyone had, and suddenly it occurred to Tiana that she'd broken the cardinal rule of hen parties: Thou Shall Not Cause Problems For The Bride, She Has Enough On Her Plate As It Is.

Tiana just hadn't realized that this would be a problem.

Nora laughed nervously. "Well, if it's all gonna look even, you have to order from the site," she said. "It's, like, their own special fabric they use. You probably can't find it anywhere else. You really didn't like any of the options?"

Now it was Tiana's turn to chuckle, uncomfortable. "Uh, I just don't really do dresses..." she explained. "But hey, uh, worst-case scenario, I'll just go with what the guys are wearing, right?"

Tiana had thought the lighthearted comment (which she also thought was a decent idea, all things considered) would lighten the mood. But Nora just looked horrified.

"Well- no," she said, looking like she was trying very hard to keep it together. "Look, it's just one night, right? Is it really that big of a deal?"

Tiana looked around at all of the faces staring at her over their plates of ham and olives and glasses of wine, and suddenly it wasn't funny-awkward anymore. It was just straight-up uncomfortable. Like she was another problem that had suddenly arisen too close to the wedding.

And she wished she didn't have to be a problem. But Tiana didn't know how to explain it, just how wrong she felt in a dress. When she had first come out, Tiana had felt like she could finally stop looking over her shoulder, wondering if people were judging if she was adequately doing the Being A Girl thing right. She was a girl, she was pretty sure, she did like that word and most of the associations with it— but there was something freeing about being able to totally reject the conventions of gender and sexuality at the same time she was figuring her own out. So Tiana had stopped wearing dresses and makeup, had cut her hair short, had gone to prom in a suit and felt really herself for the first time.

Nowadays, Tiana's relationship with traditional ideas of femininity was a bit more like filling up a plate from a charcuterie board. She picked some things she liked, and left behind the things she didn't. Dresses fell squarely in the latter category. And putting one on, even for one night, even for Al's wedding... it just felt to Tiana like she was back to hiding a part of herself all over again. Like she was back in the earliest years of secondary school again.

"I- uh, maybe we should sidebar. Another time," Tiana said, her eyes darting around nervously. "Sorry. Didn't realize it would be, uh..."

She gestured vaguely. The conversation moved on. Tiana didn't say much. She still felt like she was under a spotlight, melting from the heat of it.

Nadine cornered Tiana later, as Nora and Nancy belted out some ABBA tunes on the stage at karaoke.

"Hey," Nadine said, glancing furtively at the stage. "I think we should talk."

Never really a good thing to hear from the Maid of Honor. But as embarrassed as Tiana was about the way things had gone down earlier, she still wasn't gonna do it. She just couldn't. Surely Nora could understand that...

Well, maybe she couldn't. Tiana was just hoping she'd be flexible anyway.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Tiana said, which earned a brief look of relief on Nadine's face, until Tiana continued. "I guess that wasn't the right time for that conversation. But I stand by what I said. I mean, honestly, I don't think it's that big of a deal, if I just wear a jumpsuit..."

"It's what Nora wants, Tiana. And it's her big day. I really think we should all respect that, you know? And if you can't..." Nadine sighed. "I don't know, I just wonder if you really knew what you signed up for? I mean, it's kind of common sense to me..."

When Tiana glanced over her shoulder, she could see more eyes on her. And dress or not, she was back in those early days of teenagerhood, when she'd felt constantly like she was performing something— and doing it badly.

"I'm not doing this to be difficult," Tiana said. "I just genuinely can't-"

"Then... I don't know, Tiana. Maybe you should reevaluate some things."

Tiana blinked, stunned. Was she really being kicked out of the bridal party by the Maid of Honor? Was that even her call to make?

No, it probably wasn't. But Tiana was almost thirty. She'd worked in the restaurant industry all her life. She absolutely knew the gentle art of Making Someone Want To Leave If You Can't Kick Them Out Yourself.

Al wouldn't make her wear a dress. Tiana knew he wouldn't. And if she brought this up to him, she knew he'd defend her... but was it worth it to cause problems between Al and Nora so close to the big day? In most situations, Tiana was loud and vocal in how she stood up for herself and what she believed in. But right now, it seemed best to take the path of least resistance.

The one she could stomach, at least.

"Wow. Okay," Tiana finally said. "Alright. Well, I guess I'll talk to Nora-"

"After this weekend is over," Nadine said, her eyes narrowing. "Don't ruin her night. If you wanna get an Uber now, I can tell her you weren't feeling well."

And then she was back to her placid Maid Of Honor Smile. Like she was doing Tiana a favor.

Yeah, Tiana really needed to get out of here.

"Alright. Thanks." Tiana barely tried to make it sound sincere. "Y'all have fun tonight, alright?"

The whole Uber ride back, Tiana went back and forth. Was it worth it? Just because of a dress?

But it wasn't just because of a dress. Tiana knew that. She'd already been uncomfortable with this whole thing long before it was about a dress, when it was even just about not getting to be on Al's side simply because she was a woman, and then Vixey not being a part of this, and then the general uncomfortable feeling of being an outsider every time they got together. This was kind of the final straw, wasn't it?

She felt guilty. And she hated that, because Tiana thought she was past the point of apologizing for who she was. And she knew Al would understand if she ever explained it to him. But right now, she just didn't feel she could.

Tiana pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the car window and willed the wine headache that was setting in to go away. But it pressed on, persistent as the images in her mind from the night. She just hoped she was making the right choice.

[riot-control-camp]

hey guys just finished ep 129 and i'm fucking WRETCHED ENOUGH TO VOMIT (/hj) but anyways the day before the strawhats left do you think nami and vivi got tattoos because I Fucking Do Actually. i think nami has vivi's peacock slasher pattern as an anklet and vivi has namis climatact with a raincloud in the middle. not ever going to shut up about this concept actually!! my namivivi heart is fucking collapsing!!! fuck!!!! AUGH!!!!

[inkskinned]

the thing is that they're so fascinated by sex, they love sex, they can't imagine a world without sex - they need sex to sell things, they need sex to be part of their personality, they need sex to prove their power - but they hate sex. they are disgusted by it.

sex is the only thing that holds their attention, and it is also the thing that can never be discussed directly.

you can't tell a child the normal names for parts of their body, that's sexual in nature, because the body isn't a body, it's a vessel of sex. it doesn't matter that it's been proven in studies (over and over) that kids need to know the names of their genitals; that they internalize sexual shame at a very young age and know it's 'dirty' to have a body; that it overwhelmingly protects children for them to have the correct words to communicate with. what matters is that they're sexual organs. what matters is that it freaks them out to think about kids having body parts - which only exist in the context of sex.

it's gross to talk about a period or how to check for cancer in a testicle or breast. that is nasty, illicit. there will be no pain meds for harsh medical procedures, just because they feature a cervix.

but they will put out an ad of you scantily-clad. you will sell their cars for them, because you have abs, a body. you will drip sex. you will ooze it, like a goo. like you were put on this planet to secrete wealth into their open palms.

they will hit you with that same palm. it will be disgusting that you like leather or leashes, but they will put their movie characters in leather and latex. it will be wrong of you to want sexual freedom, but they will mark their success in the number of people they bed.

they will crow that it's inappropriate for children so there will be no lessons on how to properly apply a condom, even to teens. it's teaching them the wrong things. no lessons on the diversity of sexual organ growth, none on how to obtain consent properly, none on how to recognize when you feel unsafe in your body. if you are a teenager, you have probably already been sexualized at some point in your life. you will have seen someone also-your-age who is splashed across a tv screen or a magazine or married to someone three times your age. you will watch people pull their hair into pigtails so they look like you. so that they can be sexy because of youth. one of the most common pornography searches involves newly-18 young women. girls. the words "barely legal," a hiss of glass sand over your skin.

barely legal. there are bills in place that will not allow people to feel safe in their own bodies. there are people working so hard to punish any person for having sex in a way that isn't god-fearing and submissive. heteronormative. the sex has to be at their feet, on your knees, your eyes wet. when was the first time you saw another person crying in pornography and thought - okay but for real. she looks super unhappy. later, when you are unhappy, you will close your eyes and ignore the feeling and act the role you have been taught to keep playing. they will punish the sex workers, remove the places they can practice their trade safely. they will then make casual jokes about how they sexually harass their nanny.

and they love sex but they hate that you're having sex. you need to have their ornamental, perfunctory, dispassionate sex. so you can't kiss your girlfriend in the bible belt because it is gross to have sex with someone of the same gender. so you can't get your tubes tied in new england because you might change your mind. so you can't admit you were sexually assaulted because real men don't get hurt, you should be grateful. you cannot handle your own body, you cannot handle the risks involved, let other people decide that for you. you aren't ready yet.

but they need you to have sex because you need to have kids. at 15, you are old enough to parent. you are not old enough to hear the word fuck too many times on television.

they are horrified by sex and they never stop talking about it, thinking about it, making everything unnecessarily preverted. the saying - a thief thinks everyone steals. they stand up at their podiums and they look out at the crowd and they sign a bill into place that makes sexwork even more unsafe and they stand up and smile and sign a bill that makes gender-affirming care illegal and they get up and they shrug their shoulders and write don't say gay and they get up, and they make the world about sex, but this horrible, plastic vision of it that they have. this wretched, emotionless thing that holds so much weight it's staggering. they put their whole spine behind it and they push and they say it's normal!

this horrible world they live in. disgusted and also obsessed.

[hyperlexichypatia]

This is a semi spinoff of this post, but really its own thought.

When a job pays less than a living wage, it generally attracts one of two types of employees:

Desperate people (usually poor and/or otherwise marginalized or with barriers to employment), who will take any job, no matter how bad, because they need the money, or

Independently wealthy people (usually well-off retirees, students being supported by their families, or women with well-off husbands*), who don't care about the pay scale because they don't need the money anyway.**

And sometimes, organizations will intentionally keep a job low-paying or non-paying with the deliberate intent of narrowing their pool to that second category.

People sometimes bring this up when discussing the salaries of elected officials -- yes, most politicians are paid more than most "regular people," but they're not paid enough to sustain the expensive lifestyle politicians have to maintain, and that's on purpose. It's not an oversight, and it's not primarily about cost-cutting. It's a deliberate barrier to ensure that only rich people can run for office.

The same is true, albeit to less severe effect, of unpaid internships -- the benefit of "hiring" an unpaid intern isn't (just) that you don't have to pay them; it's also that you can ensure that all your workers are rich, or at least middle-class.

When nonprofits brag about how little of their budget goes to "overhead" and "salaries", as if those terms were synonymous with "waste," what they're really saying is "All our employees are financially comfortable enough that they don't worry about being underpaid. Our staff has no socioeconomic diversity, and probably very little ethnic or cultural diversity." ***

This isn't a secret. I'm not blowing anything wide open here. People very openly admit that they think underpaid workers are better, because they're "not in it for the money." This is frequently cited as a reason, for example, that private school teachers are "better" than public school teachers -- they're paid less, so they're not "in it for the money," so they must be working out of the goodness of their hearts. I keep seeing these cursed ads for a pet-sitting service where the petsitters aren't paid, which is a selling point, because they're "not in it for the money."

"In it for the money" is the worst thing a worker could be, of course. Heaven forbid they be so greedy and entitled and selfish as to expect their full-time labor to enable them to pay for basic living expenses. I get this all the time as a public library worker, when I point out how underfunded and underpaid we are. "But... you're not doing it for the money, right?" And I'm supposed to laugh and say "No, no, I'd do it for free, of course!"

Except, see, I have these pesky little human needs, like food. And I can't get a cart full of groceries and explain to the cashier that I don't have any money, but I have just so much job satisfaction!

And it's gendered, of course it's gendered. The subtext of "But you're not doing it for the money, of course" is "But how much pin money do you really need, little lady? Doesn't your husband give you a proper allowance?"

Conceptually, it's just an extension of the upper-class cultural norm that "polite" (rich) people "don't talk about money" (because if you have to think about how much money you have or how much you need, you're insufficiently rich).

*Gendered language very much intentional.

**Disabled people are more likely to be in the first category (most disabled people are poor, and being disabled is expensive), but are usually talked about as if they're in the second category. We're told that disabled people sorting clothing for $1.03 an hour are "So happy to be here" and "Just want to be included," and it's not like they need the money, since, as we all know, disability benefits are ample and generous [heavy sarcasm].

***Unless, of course, they're a nonprofit whose "mission" involves "job placement," in which case what they're saying is "We exploit the poor and desperate people we're purporting to help." Either way, "We pay our employees like crap" is nothing to brag about.

[the-uncanny-dag]

Related to my previous post: it's amazing how the setting of Muir's novels contrasts with the depth of character writing focused on queer WOC. Bc it doesn't matter how woke and diverse John Gaius' Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Catholicism is from the audience's first glance at the dramatis personæ, the Nine Houses are still a fascist theocracy cracking liveable planets like walnuts & making sure not a single denizen of the colonies has a moment of peace, and it was built by a man who grew up in the 21st century and whose female (citation needed) partner he killed, ate & put in the fridge. Women are still assigned value by their physical appearance (like the twins), their treatment still hinges on their gender expression (compare treatments of Gideon's body vs Harrow's), they still aren't taken seriously at work (like Mercy), interclass marriage (necrocav couple Abigail & Magnus) is scorned, reproductive rights and healthcare in general are abysmal (Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth for different reasons). "Does the narrative respect women" and "Do the characters in the story respect women" are two completely different questions with sometimes completely different answers