#in order to get basic fucking healthcare

[alexkablob]

Continuing my Dorley reread and in many ways Dorley is a comedy and one of the most horrifying ways in which Dorley is a comedy is the comedy of watching Steph's idiot self be convinced that she can pull one over on a cult to get transition services from them without herself getting radicalized by said aforementioned cult

[ceilidhtransing]

The discussions around whether or not to vote for Kamala keep being dominated by very loud voices shouting that anyone who advocates for her “just doesn't care about Palestine!” and “is willing to overlook genocide!” and “has no moral backbone at all!” And while some of these voices will be bots, trolls, psyops - we know that this happens; we know that trying to persuade progressives to split the vote or not vote at all is a strategy employed by hostile actors - of course many of them won't be. But what this rhetoric does is continually force the “you should vote for her” crowd onto the back foot of having to go to great lengths writing entire essays justifying their choice, while the “don't vote/vote third party” crowd is basically never asked to justify their choice. It frames voting for Kamala as a deeply morally compromised position that requires extensive justification while framing not voting or voting third party as the neutral and morally clean stance.

So here's another way of looking at it. How much are you willing to accept in order to feel like you're not compromising your morals on one issue?

Are you willing to accept the 24% rise in maternal deaths - and 39% increase for Black women - that is expected under a federal abortion ban, according to the Centre for American Progress? Those percentages represent real people who are alive now who would die if the folks behind Project 2025 get their way with reproductive healthcare.

Are you willing to accept the massive acceleration of climate change that would result from the scrapping of all climate legislation? We don't have time to fuck around with the environment. A gutting of climate policy and a prioritisation of fossil fuel profits, which is explicitly promised by Trump, would set the entire world back years - years that we don't have.

Are you willing to accept the classification of transgender visibility as inherently “pornographic” and thus the removal of trans people from public life? Are you willing to accept the total elimination of legal routes for gender-affirming care? The people behind the Trump campaign want to drive queer and trans people back underground, back into the closet, back into “criminality”. This will kill people. And it's maddening that caring about this gets called “prioritising white gays over brown people abroad” as if it's not BIPOC queer and trans Americans who will suffer the most from legislative queer- and transphobia, as they always do.

Are you willing to accept the domestic deployment of the military to crack down on protests and enforce racist immigration policy? I'm sure it's going to be very easy to convince huge numbers of normal people to turn up to protests and get involved in political organising when doing so may well involve facing down an army deployed by a hardcore authoritarian operating under the precedent that nothing he does as president can ever be illegal.

Are you willing to accept a president who openly talks about wanting to be a dictator, plans on massively expanding presidential powers, dehumanises his political enemies and wants the DOJ to “go after them”, and assures his supporters they won't have to vote again? If you can't see the danger of this staring you right in the face, I don't know what to tell you. Allowing a wannabe dictator to take control of the most powerful country on earth would be absolutely disastrous for the entire world.

Are you willing to accept an enormous uptick in fascism and far-right authoritarianism worldwide? The far right in America has huge influence over an entire international network of “anti-globalists”, hardcore anti-immigrant xenophobes, transphobic extremists, and straight-up fascists. Success in America aids and emboldens these people everywhere.

Are you willing to accept an enormous number of preventable deaths if America faces a crisis in the next four years: a public health emergency, a natural disaster, an ecological catastrophe? We all saw how Trump handled Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. We all saw how Trump handled Covid-19. He fanned the flames of disaster with a constant flow of medical misinformation and an unspeakably dangerous undermining of public health experts. It's estimated that 40% of US pandemic deaths could have been avoided if the death rates had corresponded to those in other high-income countries. That amounts to nearly half a million people. One study from January 2021 estimated between around 4,200 and 12,200 preventable deaths attributable purely to Trump's statements about masks. We're highly unlikely to face another global pandemic in the next few years but who knows what crises are coming down the pipeline?

Are you willing to accept the attempted deportation of millions - millions - of undocumented people? This is “rounding people up and throwing them into camps where no one ever hears from them again” territory. That's a blueprint for genocide right there and it's a core tenet of both Trump's personal policy and Project 2025. And of course they wouldn't be going after white people. They most likely wouldn't even restrict their tyranny to people who are actually undocumented. Anyone racially othered as an “immigrant” would be at risk from this.

Are you willing to accept not just the continuation of the current situation in Palestine, but the absolute annihilation of Gaza and the obliteration of any hope for imminent peace? There is no way that Trump and the people behind him would not be catastrophically worse for Gaza than Kamala or even Biden. Only recently he was telling donors behind closed doors that he wanted to “set the [Palestinian] movement back 25 or 30 years” and that “any student that protests, I throw them out of the country”. This is not a man who can be pushed in a direction more conducive to peace and justice. This is a man who listens to his wealthy donors, his Christian nationalist Republican allies, and himself.

Are you willing to accept a much heightened risk of nuclear war? Obviously this is hardly a Trump policy promise. But I can't think of a single president since the Cold War who is more likely to deploy nuclear weapons, given how casually he talks about wanting to use them and how erratic and unstable he can be in his dealings with foreign leaders. To quote Foreign Policy only this year, “Trump told a crowd in January that one of the reasons he needed immunity was so that he couldn’t be indicted for using nuclear weapons on a city.” That's reassuring. I'm not even in the US and I remember four years of constant background low-level terror that Trump would take offence at something some foreign leader said or think that he needs to personally intervene in some military situation to “sort it out” and decide to launch the entire world into nuclear war. No one sane on earth wants the most powerful person on the planet to be as trigger-happy and careless with human life as he is, especially if he's running the White House like a dictator with no one ever telling him no. But depending on what Americans do in November, he may well be inflicted again on all of us, and I guess we'll all just have to hope that he doesn't do the worst thing imaginable.

“But I don't want those things! Stop accusing me of supporting things I don't support!” Yes, of course you don't want those things. None of us does. No one's saying that you actively support them. No one's accusing you of wanting Black women to die from ectopic pregnancies or of wanting to throw Hispanic people in immigrant detention centres or of wanting trans people to be outlawed (unlike, I must point out, the extremely emotive and personal accusations that get thrown around about “wanting Palestinian children to die” if you encourage people to vote for Kamala).

But if you're advocating against voting for Kamala, you are clearly willing to accept them as possible consequences of your actions. That is the deal you're making. If a terrible thing happening is the clear and easily foreseeable outcome of your action (or in the case of not voting, inaction), in a way that could have been prevented by taking a different and just as easy action, you are partly responsible for that consequence. (And no, it's not “a fear campaign” to warn people about things he's said, things he wants to do, and plans drawn up by his close allies. This is not “oooh the Democrats are trying to bully you into voting for them by making him out to be really bad so you'll feel scared and vote for Kamala!” He is really bad, in obvious and documented and irrefutable ways.)

And if you believe that “both parties are the same on Gaza” (which, you know, they really aren't, but let's just pretend that they are) then presumably you accept that the horrors being committed there will continue, in the immediate term anyway, regardless of who wins the presidency. Because there really isn't some third option that will appear and do everything we want. It's going to be one of those two. And we can talk all day about wanting a better system or how unfair it is that every presidential election only ever has two viable candidates and how small the Overton window is and all that but hell, we are less than eighty days out from the election; none of that is going to get fixed between now and November. Electoral reform is a long-term (but important!) goal, not something that can be effected in the span of a couple of months by telling people online to vote third party. There is no “instant ceasefire and peace negotiation” button that we're callously overlooking by encouraging people to vote for Kamala. (My god, if there was, we would all be pressing it.)

If we're suggesting people vote for her, it's not that we “are willing to overlook genocide” or “don't care about sacrificing brown people abroad” or whatever. Nothing is being “overlooked” here. It's that we're simply not willing to accept everything else in this post and more on top of continued atrocities in Gaza. We're not willing to take Trump and his godawful far-right authoritarian agenda as an acceptable consequence of feeling like we have the moral high ground on Palestine. I cannot stress enough that if Kamala doesn't win, we - we all, in the whole world - get Trump. Are you willing to accept that?

And one more point to address: I've seen too many people act frighteningly flippant and naïve about terrible things Trump or his campaign want to do, with the idea that people will simply be able to prevent all these bad things by “organising” and “protesting” and “collective action”. “I'm not willing to accept these things; that's why I'll fight them tooth and nail every day of their administration” - OK but if you're not even willing to cast a vote then I have doubts about your ability to form “the Resistance”, which by the way would have to involve cooperation with people of lots of progressive political stripes in order to have the manpower to be effective, and if you're so committed to political purity that you view temporarily lending your support to Kamala at the ballot box as an untenable betrayal of everything you stand for then forgive me for also doubting your ability to productively cooperate with allies on the ground with whom you don't 100% agree. Plus, if the Trump campaign gets its way, American progressives would be kept so busy trying to put out about twenty different fires at once that you'd be able to accomplish very little. Maybe you get them to soften their stance on trans healthcare but oh shit, the climate policies are still in place. But more importantly, how many people do you think will protest for abortion rights if doing so means staring down a gun? Or organise to protect their neighbours from deportation if doing so means being thrown in prison yourself? And OK, maybe you're sure that you will, but history has shown us time and time again that most people won't. Most people aren't willing to face that kind of personal risk. And a tiny number of lefties willing to risk incarceration or death to protect undocumented people or trans people or whatever other groups are targeted is sadly not enough to prevent the horrors from happening. That is small fry compared to the full might of a determined state. Of course if the worst happens and Trump wins then you should do what you can to mitigate the harm; I'm not saying you shouldn't. But really the time to act is now. You have an opportunity right here to mitigate the harm and it's called “not letting him get elected”. Act now to prevent that kind of horrific authoritarian situation from developing in the first place; don't sit this one out under the naïve belief that “we'll be able to stop it if it happens”. You won't.

[bisexualseraphim]

Really not sure why I’ve got so many 19 year olds in my notes going “LMAO KAMALA HARRIS IS NOT A LEFTIST WHAT PLANET DO YOU LIVE ON”

“Leftist” just means “someone with left-wing politics.” Which Kamala Harris overall has. It does not mean “person who prays nightly to a portrait of Stalin and has a prep bunker for overthrowing the government.”

Like I’m sorry to break it to you all but most people in the real world are not as far on the left as basically everyone on this website. I don’t know if being on here has skewed your views of the political spectrum or what but someone can very much be a leftist without openly advocating for all cops to be hung drawn and quartered in the streets.

So no, Kamala Harris is not a centrist just because she has some opinions which you or I may personally find pretty sour. And also saying “she’s not a leftist she’s a liberal” is redundant because in the modern United States liberalism is generally accepted as a left-wing ideology. There’s a reason people on the right love using “liberal” as an insult.*

(And because so many of you apparently love to put words in my mouth and invent things to get mad at, no, I’m not fucking saying I disagree with far left politics and agree with everything Kamala Harris believes. Have a good night)

*Okay, the people who can’t read have found another way to “um actually” me and seem to think I believe liberals are on the left just because those on the right use it as an insult. Um. No.

Essentially, the world “liberal” in the United States often means something different depending on who is using it. Conservatives think liberals are left-wing. Liberals themselves tend to think they’re left-wing. And those further on the left think liberals aren’t left-wing enough and believe they’re centre-right. It also depends on which type of liberalism is being referred to: there is classical liberalism, traditional liberalism, modern liberalism, social liberalism, neoliberalism, economic liberalism, conservative liberalism, etc. Modern and social liberals are, by definition, left-wing, whereas the others tend to fall closer to the centre or somewhere on the right. The one thing uniting all forms of liberalism is the belief in equality.

However, when discussing liberalism as a whole from a definitive standpoint, the form that is widely accepted to be the one that most are referring to when they talk about liberals in the United States today is modern liberalism, which focuses on equality, personal autonomy and social justice. Modern liberals advocate for access to education, welfare and healthcare, as well as voting rights, reproductive rights and rights for LGBTQ people. In terms of economics, beliefs can differ but since the Obama administration, modern liberals generally believe in higher taxes for the wealthy. Additionally, contrary to the beliefs of those further on the left, modern liberals see state and government as essentials to maintain both equality and order, and see it as the state’s obligation to make sure everyone in society has equal opportunities. Classical liberals, however, believe that although the state is necessary and should exist, it should still have minimal involvement and intervention in the individual’s private actions and beliefs of no harm is being done. This belief that some form of state should exist what makes a lot of leftists detest liberals, since those further on the left commonly reject state and government entirely as opposed to the idea of a state with regulation.

If you apply what I have just listed to Kamala Harris, then yes, she is indeed a liberal, and she is also left-wing. She may not be as far left as many would prefer, and may even hold some beliefs many here might associate more with the centre or the right, but overall she is still both liberal and left-wing regardless. Incidentally, she is recently being described in the media as “the most liberal US senator” (whether that’s true is a separate conversation), and this is in the context of her being the most left-wing.

You can argue whether she’s left-wing “enough”, but the reality is she is more left-wing than the vast majority of major US politicians in history, especially when taking into consideration that the Overton window has shifted to mean that basically anything that doesn’t abide by the GOP is seen as liberal/left by many. Some Republicans are now advocating for Kamala Harris, and that doesn’t suddenly mean it’s because she’s become a fascist; they have simply decided that Donald Trump is just way too far right for them, and they are willing to put differences aside and advocate for someone who promises to try to undo at least some of the damage he has done. (Some people on here could learn from that, ironically.)

Anyway TLDR Kamala Harris is a liberal and that isn’t a bad thing when you consider the fact she follows the most left-wing form of liberalism and the normalisation of fascist ideals in the US means that a liberal government remains ideal for social progression. Also yes some things she said at the DNC and in the CNN interview gave me the ick but she’s still worlds above Donald Trump and you still need to vote for her to keep that genocidal maniac white supremacist far away from the White House. I’m going back to bed now

[napakmahal]

Nobody gets me

Tadashi x Health teacher! Reader

It’s about time I posted this

You’d been grading for what seemed like days. Admin was cracking down on all the teachers to get their grading done before the end of the quarter and you still had several classes unit tests. It didn’t help that this year you’d been ordered to teach two sports medicine classes for your fifth and sixth period.

For a moment, you’d wished you just made the test easier because then it’d be easier to grade. But you knew better. To make the tests easier this late in the year would make your seniors unprepared, and your seniors could not afford to fail a class this close to the end of the year.

All this work for the small amount you made was not fucking worth it. But it wasn’t like you were in the position to just quit and you liked your students. So you sat on your boyfriends bed grading till your hand cramped around your red gel pen.

After a while you let go of the pen to shake your hand out but cramps can hurt like a bitch. You let how and was instantly faced with a sharp shooting pain in your thumb.

“Shit, ow.” You hissed, forgetting about the voice controlled box next to the bed.

A whirring sound followed by a sound of inflating air filled the room. You cussed at the inconvenience and felt the beady eye of the cameras on you.

“Hello, I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said ‘ow’.” The first time you met Tadashi’s robot was a complete shock. You knew what he did but when you came to visit him on campus to eat lunch with him he left mid meal to use the bathroom. While there you sat directly on the bone of your ankle and whispered “ow” to yourself. Baymax was activated and scared the shit out of you.

“Hi Baymax, I’m alright. I just had a little cramp.” You sighed.

He said in his robotic voice, “On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your pain?”

“A zero, I promise. It’s gone now, I’m all good.” You try again.

“I will scan you for injuries…scan complete. You have a contraction muscle spasm in your hand. I would suggest taking a break and hot and cold compress.”

You laughed through your nose. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

Then he said the magic words. “I can only deactivate if you say you are satisfied with your care.”

“Thank you, Baymax. I’m 100 percent satisfied with-“

You paused. In the corner of your vision you could still see the stack of tests you were going to grade. “Actually, could you help me with something?”

Tadashi was coming back from a nighttime lecture. He felt bad leaving Hiro at the lab by himself but he’d insisted he needed to do more work and frankly, Tadashi was exhausted. He walked into the cafe with a small amount of customers still lingering getting late night meals and typing away on their laptops.

Aunt Cass was clearing out the remainder of the freshly baked goods into boxes. “Hey rockstar, how was class?”

“I’m tired.” He sighed and reached into one of the boxes to grab himself a donut hole. “My professor decided to write especially small and quickly today.”

“Have you eaten? I think there’s some leftover pasta.” She ran her fingers through his hair.

Tadashi rubbed his eyes. “Hiro and I got food earlier.” He eased her. “Is she upstairs?”

“Hasn’t come down since you left. I tried to get her to take a break but she refused.” Aunt Cass took another pot of coffee off the counter and began doing her refill rounds.

Tadashi made his way up the stairs, basically dragging his feet. He could hear two voices coming from his room, both he knew very well. One voice he loved and another he created. “Hey love…and Baymax.”

You smiled and took off from your bed to greet him. “Baymax is helping me.”

He kissed your forehead. “Yeah I can see that. You guys getting a lot of work done?”

“We are grading Unit test 1B: Macromolecules and nutrition.” Baymax responded robotically.

The two of you laughed and flopped onto his bed. The stack of graded paper was now higher than the ungraded ones. Tadashi scrolled through the questions on the test and was shocked at how surprisingly difficult they were.

He joked, “I’m so glad you feel comfortable using my robot to grade your papers.”

“Well you made him to help people.” You playfully rolled your eyes. “He’s helping me! Right Baymax?”

“Correct.” He simply responded. The two of you laughed and Tadashi joined in on your grading party.

When you were finished, Baymax went back to his cherry red case and you were left to watch a movie with your boyfriend.

“Does this mean I get my girlfriend back?” He asked, muffled into your neck. All the grading had you booked and busy for the past two weeks.

You gently pet his hair and laughed. “Yes, you get her back.”

“Yay. I miss her.” He pressed a few lazy kisses to the side of your neck. “Your kids are doing good. You’re doing good.”

You often vent to Tadasi about your students scores and potential. Your philosophy being: if they did bad you were doing a bad job. “Thank you. How was class today?”

“Tiring. My professors are being especially difficult this time around.” He said still pressed against your neck. “But this is nice.”

You kissed the top of his head and pressed your nose into it. Both of you exhausted from your weeks resting and recharging against one another. You breathed out with relief and calmness, “Yeah, this is nice.”

[fangirleaconmigo]

Abortion in The Witcher Books

Would anyone like to come along with me on a deep dive regarding abortion in The Witcher books? Not enough people talk about the fact that Geralt of Rivia is explicitly pro-choice and that the sorceresses are seen providing reproductive care, including abortion, on multiple occasions. So, let's do that.

There are a lot of things you can say about The Witcher books, feminism, misogyny, and the male gaze. (I am considering doing my first video on this very topic. It is complicated. This is not a 'the books are perfect' post) But one thing we can never say is that they are wishy washy about bodily autonomy, and more specifically, abortion. (In fact, that is the entire point of Ciri and Geralt's arc, which I will get to at the end of the post)

This topic came up awhile back because a 'witcher school' was closed after the owners were found to have ties to far right organizations, including anti-abortion organizations. So, I did a little thread on twitter about it, wondering how you can call yourself a Witcher fan (to the extent that you license a fan activity business!), and miss the entire fucking point. It was my most popular (and ofc hated by others) tweet ever, which was interesting, but I was mostly surprised that so many people were shocked to learn that Geralt of Rivia is, as a character, canonically, verbally, explicitly pro-abortion rights.

So I’m going to put the info here too in case any of you here find it interesting. Obviously there will be spoilers for the books.

TW: discussion of sexual assault, pregnancy, and basically anything having to do with reproductive health.

Before I start, I want to say that the book refers to abortion in reference to rights for women throughout, so that is the language in this article. I want to be clear that I (as an individual) understand that abortion is relevant to other genders and that I support it for trans men, non binary people, literally anyone. Abortion should be safe and on demand for all. But this is not a post analyzing my views on abortion, but the appearance of abortion in fictional psuedo medieval-esque fantasy world of The Witcher books.

Ok, I’ll start with the fact that sorceresses provide reproductive care in the books, including abortions.

In, The Last Wish (p210) Geralt tries to give Nenneke money to help Yen with fertility treatments. (In the books he does not mock her desire to have a child) He knows Yen wants to be a mother, and he wants to help. Nenneke replies that she does not need his money, and that providing abortions pays a hell of a lot better than witchering.

"You're more of an idiot than I thought." Nenneke picked up the basket from the ground. "A costly treatment? Help? Geralt, these jewels of yours are, to her, knickknacks not worth spitting on. Do you know how much Yennefer can earn for getting rid of an unwanted pregnancy for a great lady?"

Witches as providers of abortion is a very common trope in fantasy fiction for a very good reason. In order to stamp out paganism and polytheism, European colonists vilified the village wise woman as a murderer of children, hence the 'boil them in a pot, stuff them in the oven' stories about witches. Many people interpret this as the vilification of abortion. In the classic 1972 feminist text Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers, Ehrenreich and English quote Malleus Maleficarum, the witch hunting manual written by Catholic clergymen in 1487, to show that women providing reproductive healthcare was one of the 'characteristics' of a witch.

The witch that provides reproductive healthcare fits in very well in the witcher world, where Geralt and the witchers are embodiments of the working class who are used as tools and exploited. They are loathed until they are needed. The same is true of abortion providers. They are hated until they are needed, and they are always needed.

It also fits in well with the themes of class. In the Witcher books, it is stated multiple times that it is upper class women who are accessing this care from sorceresses. That is real. It is the truth that outlawing something very very often only means outlawing it for the poor and working class. The wealthy always find a way.

In Season of Storms, the sorceress Coral and her assistant Mozaïk provide reproductive healthcare to "wealthy, upper-class ladies" on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Geralt comes to speak to Coral in chapter sixteen and both of the women are wearing white doctor coats. They have just helped a woman deliver a baby and it is implied that the baby died and they are both upset. They do not want Geralt there, because (it seems to me) they need space to grieve, and they do not expect him to understand. They send send him away, suggesting he go spend time with Dandelion.

She walked over and kissed him on the cheek without a word. Her lips were cold. And she had dark circles under her eyes.

She smelled of medicine. And the fluid she used as disinfectant. It was a nasty, morbid scent. A scent full of fear.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she forestalled him...She looked at him and it was a faraway look, from beyond a chasm of time and events between them. He needed a few seconds to understand how deep that chasm was and how remote were the events separating them.

"Maybe the day after tomorrow would be better. Go to town. Meet that poet, he's been worried about you. But now go, please. I have to see a patient."

After she had gone, he glanced at Mozaïk....

"We had a birth this morning," she said, and her voice was a little different. "A difficult one. She decided to use forceps. And everything that could have gone badly did."

"I understand."

"I doubt it."

"Goodbye Mozaïk."

There are multiple other references to abortion in relation to sorceresses; I won't quote them all. But I'll leave you with one other reference. In Lady of the Lake (pp114), in a very funny moment, Angoulême says she has a 'small problem' and Fringilla replies:

"I understand," nodded the sorceress. "It's nothing dreadful. When was your last period?"

Angoulême is rather put out at the thought of being pregnant.

"What do you mean?" Angoulême leaped to her feet, frightening the chickens. "It's nothing of the sort. It's something completely different!"

So, sorceresses provide abortions and other reproductive care.

But what about the men? What about the heroes?

Well, several of the male protagonists state explicitly in no uncertain terms that abortion is an inalienable, sacred right. That includes Geralt himself.

Here is Geralt taking to Queen Calanthe in Sword of Destiny (p345). She asks him whether he hates his mother. In the course of his answer, Geralt says that abortion is “a choice which should be respected, for it is the holy and irrefutable right of every woman.”

"A choice. A choice which should be respected, for it is the holy and irrefutable right of every woman."

That’s a strong goddamn statement. There’s no doubting his meaning or the strength of his conviction. And it isn’t just Geralt. Dandelion (Jaskier), Cahir (he is traveling with Geralt as part of the hansa in the books, please set aside anything you think you know about him from TWN), and Regis (Geralts dear friend) all explicitly support abortion rights, quite passionately.

In Baptism of Fire (p317), one of Geralt’s dear friends (my favorite, the love of my life, Milva) shares that she is pregnant. They are on a brutal journey through a war zone looking for Ciri. So it’s complicated. Another friend, barber surgeon vampire Regis has prepared an elixir for her to induce an abortion. So, not only do sorceresses provide abortions, but so do vampire barber surgeons, one of the most lovable heroic characters in the books.

But before he administers it, Regis gathers the rest of the company. Regis knows Milva feels like shit at the prospect of burdening them, so he is worried that she is making the decision under duress. They don’t immediately understand why he is bringing the matter to them.

At first they think he is asking for opinions on whether she should get an abortion. They are baffled. Cahir answers first. He says in Nilfgaard it is always a woman’s right to choose.

"In Nilfgaard," Cahir said, blushing and lowering his head, "the woman decides. No one has the right to influence her decision. Regis said that Milva is certain she wants the medicament. Only for that reason, absolutely only for that reason, have I begun-in spite of myself-to think of it as an established fact. And to think about the consequences. But I'm a foreigner, who doesn't know...I ought not to get involved. I apologize."

So, Cahir says that maybe it’s a foreigner thing. Maybe it’s different for them. Dandelion (Jaskier) is offended and outraged by the implication that they believe any differently.

"What for?" the troubadour asked, surprised. "Do you think we're savages, Nilfgaardian? Primitive tribes, obeying some sort of shamanic taboo? It's obvious that only the woman can make a decision like that. It's her inalienable right. If Milva decides to--"

At this point, Geralt cuts Dandelion off. Geralt alone actually understands that there is something else happening here, that they are misunderstanding Regis and further questions are in order. Geralt begs Dandelion to stfu, which the bard misinterprets. He thinks Geralt is disagreeing with him and is considering opposing Milva's right to choose. Dandelion LOSES HIS TEMPER at the thought that Geralt would deny Milva her right.

Geralt becomes even more irritated and angry at the implication that he would do such a thing.

So, not only do we have witches as abortionists in The Witcher books, we have men, the hero (Geralt) his best friend (Dandelion), my beloved Regis, and Cahir say explicitly that abortion is an inalienable right.

And that should be no surprise.

Bodily autonomy and reproductive rights is at the very heart of the story. You do not have The Witcher story without it. It drives the narrative, the conflict, and Geralt and Yen's character arcs.

There is a criticism I see floating around quite a bit, that having Yen's story driven by her desire to be a mom and to physically reproduce is anti-feminist, or at least a tired reductive trope of women being defined by their maternal instincts.

I get that. I get tired of womanhood being defined by reproduction and motherhood as well. Biological essentialism when it comes to gender is exhausting and regressive. However, in this context, it is entirely clear to me that the point is NOT that all women should want to be pregnant. The point is the bodily autonomy, to be pregnant if you want to, and to not be pregnant if you don't want to.

Look at Ciri. She essentially becomes the main character by the end, and the idea of being pregnant repulses her.

So, in Lady of the Lake, Ciri is being held captive by elves, who want to do the same thing to her that everyone else does--breed her. The deal they offer her is, she does not 'have' to have sex with anyone until she is impregnated, but if she doesn't, she can't leave. (So, if she is to access what every human wants--freedom--she has to. This is still rape. It is coerced sex) She is understandably distraught and enraged. The part of that deal she seems most disgusted by, is the idea that she could be pregnant.

"But I don't want to!" yelled Ciri so loudly that the mare skittered beneath her. "I don't want to, understand? I don't want to! The thought of a bloody parasite being implanted in me is sickening. I feel nauseous when I think the parasite will grow inside me, that--"

She broke off, seeing the faces of the elf-women.

So yes, she is distraught that her bodily autonomy is being taken from her yet again. But perhaps the most upsetting part is the idea that she could be pregnant. It physically repulses her.

Now. Let's put this in context.

In this psuedo-medieval-esque setting with royal families, being used as a brood mare is COMMON and ACCEPTED. IN FACT, Calanthe, Ciri's OWN GRANDMOTHER was marrying her off against her will, betrothing her as a child. No one thought this was weird. It's your duty, right? No big deal. Even Geralt, when he first met Ciri, thought it would be a better life for her. Sure, it's against her will. But it's physically safe and luxurious. And he leaves her behind in Brokilon.

But at some point, Geralt puts two and two together. He connects his trauma with hers. He makes a decision that even if almost no one around him in his culture or on the continent, sees the importance of her bodily autonomy or agrees with him, he's protecting her. Not just against death, but against anyone taking her choice from her. When he is having a mental breakdown in Brokilon, worried about her, he tells Dandelion that he is trying to protect her from what happened to him. He doesn't say, she can't die. Or I can't let her be killed. He says she cannot be alone. She cannot go through what I went through. Here, I"ll let him say it: (Time of Contempt, p240)

"Listen to what?" shouted the Witcher, before his voice suddenly faltered. "I can't leave---I can't just leave her to her fate. She's completely alone...She cannot be left alone, Dandelion. You'll never understand that. No one will ever understand that, but I know. If she remains alone, the same thing will happen to her as once happened to me...You'll never understand that..."

"I do understand. Which is why I'm coming with you."

Honestly, I tear up thinking about it.

And Yen, well, she has a similar arc.

Yen has been abused and used as a tool, and along the way she has accepted that this is the way things are. Yen has even done the same to others. But she looked into that little face, those wide green eyes, and at some point she also connected the dots. There's another way of doing things, and maybe it is possible for a little girl to choose for herself. And even if it isn't possible, maybe the important thing is to fight for it. Maybe Yen can give her whole life to let a child just be a child.

Yen goes through torture and imprisonment for Ciri. She shoots lightning at a god, she shouts at a goddess, she drops through a portal into the sea, she gives up every last shred of political power she has spend ninety years accruing, she WILLINGLY tries to give her own life MULTIPLES TIMES, to save Ciri.

And from what? Death? Not always. At the heart of all this sacrifice is that Yen has made a decision that Ciri gets be a human who is given the dignity and respect of deciding what to do with her own body. To be a kid, not a tool. To be a person. To be free.

So Ciri gets to say, actually, for me, the idea of pregnancy is terrifying and repulsive and therefore, I don't want to do it.

In the end, Geralt, a person whose body was tortured and experimented on before he was too young to consent, and Yen, a woman who was abused and used, and BOTH of whom had their reproductive rights taken from them, decide to love Ciri and protect her bodily autonomy at any and all costs.

That is what drives the story. It drives the narrative. It drives both Geralt and Yen's character arcs. It is, in fact, the entire point.

So it should not be a surprise that abortion, and the right to have an abortion if necessary, is an inextricable part of The Witcher world. No, you cannot analyze these books and find 'perfect politics'. They are not politically correct. And there are many parts I can critique. I mean, we can critique anything. (and I do)

But I find it endlessly interesting that people who are conservative or right wing think that this property 'belongs' to them, and they want to push everyone else out, when all they have to do is pay the most minimal amount of attention and have really only two (2) brain cells to rub together, to see that they are indeed, incorrect.

[drtanner]

Genuinely wish I had the energy to talk more about UK politics here given that Tumblr is so US-centric and desperately needs the added perspective, but there's genuinely fuck all happening here that hasn't been par for the course for the last ~14 years. Tories gonna Tory.

A brief rundown for interested parties:

After a long and arduous battle to convince everyone that it should be legal to do so, our government has commenced with its plan to shove asylum seekers who attempt an extremely dangerous Channel crossing on small boats to find safety here onto planes and ship them off to Rwanda, a country with significant human rights issues. There does not seem to be any desire to do anything about the "criminal gangs" who are supposedly trafficking these asylum seekers and sending them here, or to ask any questions about what might make people so desperate that they'd risk crossing the Channel in a tiny boat in the first place.

Having sent everyone back to the office despite COVID still very much being a thing so that we can oil the wheels of the UK economy with our blood and to prevent their portfolios from losing value, the same ghouls are now proposing that disabled people "do their duty" by being forced to work from home, or else lose their benefits. They're also proposing mandatory work placements for people who fail to find work within 18 months.

Transphobia remains the culture war du jour, despite all evidence showing that it is a vote loser. Our government continues to be obsessed with policing the genitals of children and ensuring that trans people receive abuse from every possible direction, having recently released "guidance" for schools that essentially instructs them to deny trans kids any kind of shelter or agency whatsoever and to refuse their requests for basic dignity whenever the opportunity to do so arises, whilst simultaneously attempting to introduce the term "gender ideology" into mainstream parlance.

The Online Safety Bill, which proposes that social media sites should require ID in order to sign up, is also a porn ban.

We (and the US) are still bombing people in another country, without it having been approved by vote beforehand, in order to prevent Israel from suffering any economic hardship while it continues to commit a genocide using weapons that we (and the US) provide. Our government assures us that this will continue for as long as Israel wants it to, and is still talking about "humanitarian pauses" instead of any kind of actual, real ceasefire.

Labour (the supposed "opposition" party) has wholeheartedly supported every part of this and in some cases seems to think that the current government doesn't go far enough.

We're still in the middle of a cost of living crisis, by the way. Also the climate crisis, with more and more people losing their homes and livelihoods to flooding with every passing year. No one's talking about any of that, though. There might be a transgender child receiving lifesaving healthcare somewhere, or maybe an immigrant being treated with respect, which is obviously much worse.

So that's where we are right now. We've been promised an election this year but given that Labour haven't opposed any part of the cruelty this government has been visiting upon everyone but the white, cishet, ablebodied rich, it's unclear whether getting the Tories out will actually materially improve anything. If you've got the Greens or Lib Dems as candidates in your constituency, I guess it's time to make peace with voting for them instead of Labour, maybe.

So, yeah. v( ._.)v

[cripple-woe]

My specialist physiotherapist said she thinks I don’t have HSD (hypermobility spectrum disorder) and instead have hEDS (which shares some common traits, but also has a lot of other issues and connections, etc.) however, the closest place to get a diagnosis of hEDS pretty far away and basically IMPOSSIBLE TO REFER TO.

She suspects a significant number of her HSD patients are actually hEDS patients, but just aren’t anywhere near a place that can diagnose any of us.

Next week she’s taking a trip to London (out of her own pocket) to attend the only conference about EDS in Europe (out of her own free time / paid holiday days) in order to both learn more and also to see if she can secure help, funding, or anything else to help me and other patients.

She’s literally a fucking angel in the form of a healthcare worker. I love her so much.

[spitblaze]

thoughts continue to percolate on Jobswap AU

So, as aforementioned, Therion is a surgeon apothecary who lost faith in himself and his profession after losing a patient who had some significance to him after a preventable accident and then being accosted by the family in his grief. He gave up the whole thing for several years, living in relative isolation close to Bolderfall. Until one day, when a desperate woman shows up at the door and begs for his help. She had heard he was an apothecary with knife skills, and sought him out immediately. Her younger sister, she says, has a giant growth on her neck, and if it doesn't come off soon, it's going to kill her. Other apothecaries have tried, but they all said it was impossible, that it was too difficult to remove it without damaging her wind pipe or major arteries. Or something. Idk. The point is that this situation is really dire and this kid reminds him of the patient he lost so he pulls the scalpel out 'one last time' to save her. She lives, and he remembers why he took up the mantle to start- the purpose of the apothecary. Doing this, he takes his journey.

Chapters two and three are mostly unrelated, basically chapters of Black Jack. Therion goes from town to town, sometimes charging ridiculous amounts of money for surgery, sometimes performing completely free of charge. He saves whoever he can, and those who abuse his abilities for their own gain find themselves with karmic retribution. Throughout the whole thing, though, there's the undercurrent of something worse happening. Another surgeon like him, traveling and charging ridiculous fees. He's a miracle worker, they say- he provides entire new organs when old ones fail, pulls people back from the very brink of death. But when his patients can't pay up, they mysteriously disappear...

Chapter four. Therion meets Darius. Fellow apothecary, wealthy fellow, personal doctor to the Ciannos. He has a proposal for Therion- they go into business, establish their own practice, charge out the nose and turn away all who don't pay. They both have reputations- Therion is the Beast Apothecary, a medic who works so fast and so precise it's almost inhuman, not afraid to use unorthodox methods to achieve his results. Darius is the Miracle Apothecary, a man who can seemingly bring people back from the brink of death with tools and materials nobody else has. The two of them together could do whatever they want, and who would stop them? Therion declines- he prefers the freedom of traveling where he pleases and doing as he wishes. A partnership would complicate things, and put him on more of a leash than he'd like. Besides, he's heard...rumors about what happens to his patients that don't pay up. Darius threatens him and leaves, and Therion investigates later on. Maybe follows some goons from the home of someone who hasn't paid, maybe scopes out Darius's 'hideout' by putting together information given to him by locals. Either way, he gets in, and discovers that Darius has been kidnapping the patients who don't pay up and harvesting their blood and tissue and organs. Horrifying! He fucking kills Darius. Darius tries to give him that 'you're no better than me' schtick but it doesnt work because he's regained his faith! In himself! In his profession! And I'm American so in my head it's a whole criticism of the for-profit healthcare industry!!! FUCK you Darius

Because I like it when stories cross over and it isn't actually a game trying to make sure you can complete all the stories in whatever order you want, Darius is also a major player in Alfyn's story! Alfyn lost his parents to the plague that swept through Clearbrook as a child. He survived thanks to a traveling apothecary, but he had nowhere to go after that ('but what about zeph' idk shh dont worry about it), and ended up turning to a life of petty theft after hitching a ride to Saintsbridge. He joins up with a group of thieves called the Red Hoods, as their newest and youngest member. They're all pretty cool people, somewhere between Robin Hood and Ye Olde Mutual Aid Organization. They look out for themselves and the little guy, steal from the rich, give to the poor, skim a bit off the top.

These guys are his best friends for years, he hones his skills as a thief, learned how the world works and how to help, basically everything he knows he learned from the Red Hoods. All is well until six years before present day, when Alfyn is fifteen. The Red Hoods plan a heist on the Ciannos, a crime family that's been terrorizing locals and hoarding money. Alfyn is briefly held up by helping a kid do something, look for their cat or whatever but makes it to the meeting point in time to see that they were lured into a trap. He peeks from behind a doorway, seeing a red-haired figure laugh about how gullible they were, how trusting and naive they all were for trusting each other. All of his friends are beaten and bloodied, some already dead. One sees him from the doorway and tells him to run, to get out while he still can. To keep the Red Hoods alive. Unable to act, Alfyn flees, only barely evading becoming a victim himself.

Years later he's still saddled with grief and survivor's guilt, thinking that if he had just said no to the kid who asked for help, if he had just taken a different route, if he had just been there to scout ahead, if, if, if. He's carried on the name of the Red Hoods as a one-man gang, unable to bring himself to allow anyone else into his heart that he could just lose in an instant again. He leaves calling cards after robbing the wealthy and unjust blind and redistributing it among the lower class. He does this until he happens to redistribute the wealth from the one family he shouldn't have- the Ravuses. From here it's basically Therion's story, except with Alfyn. You know how it goes. Get the Dragonstones and we'll remove the Blackmail Bracelet.

The end of his story coincides with Therion's story (also thematically appropriate bc im incapable of not giving them a slow burn romance) when they finally confront Darius. Darius comments on how the 'little coward thief' or whatever finally grew a spine, and how he can meet his end like the rest of his little friends. No longer afraid, Alfyn loudly declares that as long as he's alive, the Red Hoods will never die, and in a moment of solidarity, the rest of the party declares that they too are Red Hoods. Its very touching and inspirational and worthy of some Toby Fox music and then they beat the everloving shit out of Darius.

I am aware there are several holes in this story. And to that I say: Don't Worry About It.

[five-by-five]

the psychs/nurses/etc i have to see during medical transition diagnosis are so fucking weird and misinformed im just gonna start listing shit they said because otherwise im gonna go insane

had to write a life story that THEY THEN READ OUT LOUD TO ME and started commenting on. which i guess is a basic thing which happens in more places. but on god them forcing you to write out childhood traumas and shit and then hearing some monotone richgirl read it in her faux snob accent (nederlanders die dit misschien lezen: ze had een zieke aangeleerde Gooische R) and then going "wow....heavy" without a shred of emotion is going to radicalise me

lead psychologist is two years younger than me. I am 26. at that age over here you're fresh out of psych master's degree. she is clearly and honestly inexperienced. why is she in charge of my diagnosis .

lead psychologist didn't believe i was working a fulltime job as a pharmacist... she looked me up on linkedin later, i saw it in my notifs

overall just assumptions that i want to ... dress more femininely once im further into my transition? they literally asked if i wanted to start wearing nail polish or some shit. like no? i am literally sitting across from them dressing traditionally masculine and passing and saying im comfortable with it???

"why didn't you just go on hormonal birth control if you hate your periods so much"

psych: "you should reconsider having your eggs frozen" me: "no <3 i do not want that. Also do you know what you have to inject in order to prime your body for the retrieval? (hormones that even make cis women who Actually Want Kids miserable?)" psych: "well i think you should reconsider anyway" -> i half contemplated walking out right then and there but i was paying €280 for that appointment and i cant switch psychs without being put on another waitlist so i had to smile and wave for it

"i don't think you're right about testosterone changing your chest" and she then deflected after i pointed out fat redistribution. girl WHAT

not a single word about bottom growth being a thing. literally zip. nada. it is an effect i am very much aware of and actively WANT but imagine being not super informed/preferring to get your info from your healthcare providers over google and encountering these people??? Lmaooo

nurse appt who was supposed to inform me about surgery (pre-intake) didn't know no-graft was a thing. didn't know how drains worked.

SHE ALSO SAID SHE DIDN'T THINK MY VOICE AND BODY HAIR WOULD CHANGE MUCH ON T WHICH LMAO. OKAY. OKAY. STAY TUNED LADS

[miniquiny999]

and really i shouldnt be surprised but this is one of the only downsides of like. optimism and faith in humanity.

its fucking STAGGERING to me that the scum who vote for bastards like donald trump are just like, completely devoid of any personal values whatsoever? Like a lot of people like to claim that they vote red because ThE eCoNoMy but that just makes it clear that they lack any basic understanding of the economy or how business works. And I understand that my knowledge of these things is very surface level but corporations are not hiding the fact that their primary goal is always to make a lot of money for investors at the expense of anything and everything else including paying their workers, the economy as a whole, and making a good product. They do not care about those things. they havent cared about those things in at least 150 years. they ONLY care about raising the value of their stocks so that "people" can get a bigger boner using those stocks to gamble for fun.

So its obvious that Trump is not going to fix the economy!! he didnt fix it last time!! hes just gonna cut more safety regulations getting more people killed and handout more corporate bailouts while the housing crisis gets worse and basic necessities like groceries and healthcare will continue to get price gouged to hell and back simply because companies can get away with it and the average american is too complacent to learn that yes when a handful of companies control every angle of something you need to live they can kinda just do whatever the fuck they want regardless of whether its ethical or "good for the economy" or whether it would be a good business decision if we had any other option.

When you look at it from a purely economical perspective they have voted for a guy who is intentionally gonna make the economy worse for 99% of people in order to further his own personal interests despite already living in luxury, because harris committed fatal campaigning sins such as "putting a silly name on her actual policies that at least pretend to actually help actual people" and "being black"

when you look at it from the perspective of the REAL FUCKING WORLD theyve just thrown every minority group imaginable into a meat grinder as a sacrifice to the gods of insanity so that trump can gobble up the tax dollars of the last few idiots he finds too useful to kill off and spend those tax dollars on exterminating the people of palestine and probably terrorizing the rest of the world too. The lives of the average cishet white able bodied man will not even improve, it'll just marginally decline, but they don't care, all they care about is making sure its at the expense of every person of color, every queer, every disabled person, every woman, and every country in the world thats not fucking america

im so fucking exhausted.

[theslightestbitofahint]

Today is June 21.

May 21, I injured my left knee. I slid and it popped twice before I fell, bracing myself with my hands so the impact didn’t fall on either of my knees. I have had documented right knee issues for nearly ten years.

Almost two weeks after the initial injury, I finally got to speak with my new PCP. She basically said, “take it easy for a month, and then call me and let me know if the swelling has gone down. Use the crutches, but gradually try to put weight on the leg because we lose the muscles in our legs really fast if we don’t use them enough. Give me a call in a month.”

As if I had her direct extension. As if it doesn’t require a scheduled appointment to place an order for anything within the VA healthcare system. As if I can just sit around, occasionally walking a short distance, for a full month. As if I can bathe myself without assistance having less than half my typical range of motion in a major joint in my body. As if I can spend the entire day alone, reaching and cooking and managing the physical demands that come with living as an adult.

Today I got a call to schedule my MRI. It’s July 13. The only available days were weekends, unless I wanted to come in at either 6 or 7 in the morning. It’s an hour and a half from me to get to this facility.

If she had just ordered it the first time we spoke, I could have scheduled it for a month out, so the swelling would have time to go down, and reschedule if needed for a later date. But now it’ll be almost 2 months after injury. That we’re getting a good look at whatever is causing this severe instability. Before I can even think about moving forward.

Fuck.

[thekavseklabs]

We talkin abt our muses disabilities?

- Imnakit is albino and suffers from vision issues and skin issues due to it. He sunburns easily and needs to be either inside or under an umbrella at all times. His eyeballs wiggle around due to the albinism, too, and he has to wear huge fuckin glasses. He also is afraid of fire and the sun due to a lifetime of religious trauma centering around Kahieltek.

- 3 is Imnakit's child and thus inherited his albinism, and due to various factors, they also came out very unhealthy, with high blood pressure, immunodeficiency, some brain things going on, and marfan syndrome. As an adult they require constant help from machines to manage breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure, they're in constant pain, are quadriplegic, cannot go in the sun, and can only eat extremely gentle foods due to chronic malnutrition and inadequate medical treatment. Their perpetual high blood pressure from infancy has resulted in deformation of the eyes even beyond the albinism and they are fully blind without the aid of their tech. They are terminally ill and technically already dead, using their energy research to power their body beyond death. Basically a lich that still has alive people problems. Even in aus where they have access to better healthcare as an infant/child/etc, they remain very much heavily disabled, just better managed and no longer as imminently terminal, to varying levels depending on what's available to them in each au. Ex: in modern au, no longer terminal at all. In xiv, terminal still, but estimated 50s rather than 30s, and they found a workaround thanks to the Ascians. Aside from physical things, they have severe adhd, c-ptsd, and npd.

- Vynathr has gigantism from a benign tumor on his pituitary gland, which also fucks with his hormones. Gigantism inconveniences him a lot because most spaces for kei are made too small. Kei have collapsible collarbones ribs and pelvises, like ferrets, so Vyn can get around better than you'd think, but he still has a hard time and has to employ magic at times to get around. Gigantism also causes joint pain and weakness, which I experience irl, and like me, his muscles have had to get a lot bigger and stronger than they normally should in order to compensate for those joints. Aside from that, he also has pica, severe c-ptsd, and anger / self control issues. His ability to run his nation effectively is partially due to a series of measured he himself placed to force him to think through and meticulously consider his actions because otherwise he'd declare war way too often, and he knows that's horrific. He can't sleep around others, will attack violently if something enters his room while he sleeps, and is deeply afraid of meeting families despite wanting one of his own due to his childhood abuse.

- spades has adhd, osdd, depression, severe ptsd, and extensive trauma related to brainwashing and experimentation. He also has several old injuries including some prosthetics from missing fingers causing phantom pain, alongside a limp and hand tremors.

There's more, that's just off the top of my head!

[aguineapigcouldntdothis]

my fuckin lab orders have basic and easily fixable (on my doctor's end) information abt me wrong! they spell my last name wrong which is the least bad bc that happens all the time and i know how to deal with it. they also got my weight extremely wrong. it was almost 100 lbs off. i know that was a typo but do they not check what they type?? the worst is that they said i dont have insurance even though i very much do and i keep asking them to update my insurance info to be accurate. my insurance isnt applicable when i go to my primary care doctor bc that's "free" care paid for by my tuition money. it is very important that my insurance info is updated for when i see specialist doctors and thankfully i keep documentation of everything bc i get scared any scrap of paper i throw out will save my life someday.

luckily all this shit is pretty easy to fix. i can drive down to get my labs done and bring all my little cards and documents so my info gets fixed. its not far away and thats actually exactly what im gonna do as soon as i get an appointment. which i dont think will be hard they're pretty good with wait times (at least for America). but like what if i wasnt!! im super lucky that i have a working car, specialists less than an hour away, a primary care doctor thats close enough for me to walk to, and some free healthcare! if i didnt have those privileges id be so, so much more pissed that they didn't even give a fuck to check if my info was right.

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

Hiii! Since you live in the UK and you are very objective and drop the best takes (for that I respect you tons, like, I think of you as some wise inmortal wizard).

(This might be you answering our Tumblr's asks: https://images.app.goo.gl/kCMNMKwBNxDpFRDZ6)

Anyway, as I was saying, I was considering the UK to study abroad. In general, is it a nice place to live and you know, start a new life? 👀 I know that there's a lot to take into consideration but just in overall, do you consider it a nice place?

Thank you very much! 💌

ahaha, that is very kind of you to say, thank you!

Hoo, boy, saddle up.

The UK is currently one of the worst developed countries in the world to inhabit. This is entirely due to our country having a Conservative government for almost fifteen years.

Far right beliefs are widespread, poverty is at an all time high and we are slowly but surely being stripped of our freedoms (freedom of movement is gone, thanks to Brexit, we no longer have the legal right to protest, breed specific legislation is being updated so that people's dogs can be destroyed based solely on appearance - these are just a few very recent ones off the top of my head)

The class divide is shocking, people are (mostly) apathetic and the working class are suffering. That's before we touch upon the rampant racism and xenophobia.

It's incredibly expensive. One of the only upsides is the NHS, which provides free healthcare, but it's currently in a state where it is basically unusable, due to the government deliberately underfunding it in order to privatise it.

Public transport and utilities are privatised, meaning they're some of the most expensive in the world. Wages don't reflect the cost of living.

It is always so incredibly fucking humid, no matter the time of year.

If after reading all of this, you're thinking "shut the fuck up, Ange, I wanna move there anyway", then don't get suckered into the pipedream of living in London. In fact, avoid the south altogether. Move to the north - the people are friendlier, it's cheaper and there are some amazing areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Best of luck to you!

[transingthoseformers]

I am having so many ideas for how this AU spirals into a larger one, but back to, a bit, Trepan, our "poor" Protagonist.

Trepan also recognizes Rung regularly and instantly. They are both much older, and Trepan remembers him vaguely from his co-worker Froid, having previously mentioned him occasionally. Heat first, he thinks he has an ally before Rung firmly contradicts him. Rung however went toe-to-toe with the Functionalist Council for literally generations and if Trepan thought Ratchet, who was still in his Prime, was annoying then the one ornamental who survived that hell while more mildly mannered is a far different creature. Especially when he keeps seeing through Trepan and is able to see what is going on.

Trepan is even tenser about Rung seeing through him because he does NOT want to come under review and is determined to be fine even when he isn't. His and Ratchet's habits are mixing, and it is getting worse. He spends a lot of his time off getting caught up on reading medical journals and reviewing techniques, a habit they had in common, but doesn't even realize he's been reading and understanding an article on virology or how out of character it is until a Pharma visits.

The official story is Trepan was attacked by a patient and us on forced recovery time.

He is checking up on his friend who is on forced vacation, lights up slightly, and gets excited or as excited as the morose jet has been lately. He had been wanting to read it himself and said he thought Antigen's discussion about the infection patterns was interesting and Trepan automatically counters it failed to take into account disease lingering in lower levels and places like the Dead End due to lack of equal treatment and if they really wanted to propose an effective counter, free and readily available virus screenings and treatments for ALL including casteless was needed.

Trepan begins to passionately argue for free and compassionate health practices, and Pharma looks ready to cry because he's both happy with his friend/semi-mentor, and he having more overlapping interests, and it reminds him of Ratchet. He mentions he's sad Ratchet never gave Trepan a chance because it turns out they had more in common than expected and apologizes for being weepy. Pharma leaves, not realizing he's thoroughly terrified Trepan who is reeling at what "he" said and throws the datapad away from him like he was scalded.

Trepan proceeds to go get drunk and try to pick someone up as a distraction only to balk because he can't remember if he is operating under his or Ratchet's preferences which is a very, very bad sign.

Trepan realizes his work may have had a point and spends the time reorganizing his mind and using an at home computer as a buffer to try and partition off the data ghost and rebuild his defenses. He can see where the contamination has started and blended and surgically goes through each and every memory file but only manages about 60%.

He knows safety standards mean he should request an extension, but he is feeling enough like himself to want to go back to work. It helps at first with him using his breaks to continue recovery, though he is still regulated to light work and teaching for the most part.

By the time he is given his newest personal assignment, he is up to 85% and fully confident and only occasionally slipping.

He thinks he is ready.

Oooo on Trepan remembering Rung too, and it's because of Froid.

Trepan: wait I can use him!

Rung: think a–fucking–gain bitch

Rung's got many opinions on Trepan, especially considering how Rung basically adopted Pharma too. Rung's been around long enough to see Trepan for the Senate's hound he is.

And for the intriguing behavioral changes which have gotta fascinate Rung at some level

Ooo on Trepan engaging in virology research

For once, Trepan is right and we know why. In order to truly stifle a disease, you've gotta treat it at every possible point even in people you don't like. But also free and easily accessible healthcare. And advocating for more ethical practices in the cybertronian medical system. Yeppp, that's Ratchet bits alright. oh Pharma. you truly miss him.

Trepan has Opinions™️ on what just happened, and he's afraid to hit on anyone in the case he's gotten (in his opinion) Ratchet's bad taste in mecha too.

Look I know Cybertronian computers are probably more advanced but I imagined one of those old 2004 clunky monitors and the world's most plain desk, which is moderately hilarious.

MN yes of course he wants to get back to work, you're not fully you but work is more important than that I suppose.

He thinks he is ready

Is he?

[identitty-dickruption]

How do theories of justice fail when you apply. Them to disability justice?

well!! it depends which theory you look at. I’ve been fixated on Rawls’ theory of justice lately, so I’m going to focus on him, but honestly a lot of these problems are true of more than just Rawls

firstly: a primer on Rawls. Rawls constructed something called “the veil of ignorance” in order to figure out what kinds of justice people would agree to IF they knew nothing about themselves or the society they would live in. the argument is that you can’t decide what is just and fair if you come in with a vested interest. anyway, through this process he arrives at two principles (well. kind of three. anyway)

every person should have basic liberties

(2a) equal opportunity: every office should be open to any person, given they have the skills required to fill that role

(2b) difference principle: any inequality in society should be to the benefit of the worst off

I have. problems! first: Rawls does not assume healthcare to be a primary good. this means that there is no basic liberty associated with healthcare. this is a massive oversight, for, I think, obvious reasons

second: Rawls is pretty open about the fact that these principles are only open to those who are participating in a paid labour market. remember the difference principle? yeah, well. if you don’t have a job, you’re discounted from “the worst off”, because you don’t count as “a participant in society”. this means that the unemployed are pretty much able to be treated however the fuck society wants to treat them

third: it’s unclear how the equality of opportunity of principle should apply to someone with fluctuating needs and abilities. if someone is the best architect in the world one day a week, and then needs to rest for the other six… should they still be treated as if they are the best person for the job? Rawls has no answer for this. it is also not clear where the burden of responsibility falls in respect to making workplaces accessible enough that people are actually able to reach their full capabilities

fourth: Rawls explicitly says that nobody behind the veil of ignorance is disabled. the veil of ignorance only chooses “the representative man” (a head of household who is able to represent the needs of the average person in a society). if you know nothing about yourself EXCEPT that you’re abled….. how on earth is disability justice going to happen?

now, because Rawls is really popular to critique, people have a variety of answers to these questions. but none of them seem super satisfying to me. adapting Rawls’ principles to fit the needs of the disabled seems disingenuous when Rawls deliberately excluded disabled people from the get-go. that being said, there are huge possibilities here for having a crack at social contract theory as a whole, so to Rawls I am genuinely thankful