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star-anise · 4 years ago

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An ask I got recently:

hi so i’m a transmed and i’m not sure if you’ll answer this because of that but i saw your post about transmedicalism and was wondering if you could expand on that? you seem like a genuinely kind and judgement-free person, thank you darling x

My response:

Heh, you call me “judgement-free” and ask for my opinion on a topic I’ve formed a lot of judgments about… I get it though, I’m not into attacking people for what they believe so much as providing FACTS. As a cis queer, my insight into transmedicalism isn’t really about the innate experience of trans-ness so much as using my education and professional experience to talk about social science research, diagnostic systems, and public health policy.

This ended up really long, so the tl;dr is, I think transmedicalism as I understand it:

Misunderstands why and how the DSM’s Gender Dysphoria diagnosis was written,

Treats the medical establishment with a level of trust and credibility it doesn’t deserve, at a time when LGBT+ people, especially trans people, need to be informed and vigilant critics of it, and

Approaches the problem of limited resources in an ass-backwards way that I think will end up hurting the trans community in the long run.

TW: Transphobia; homophobia; suicide; institutionalization; torture; electroshock therapy; child abuse; incidental mentions of pedophilia.

So first off I’m guessing you mean this post, about not trusting the medical establishment to tell you who you are? That’s what I’m trying to elaborate on here.

I have to admit, when you say “I’m a transmedicalist” that tells me very little about you, because on Tumblr the term seems to encompass a dizzying array of perspectives. Some transmedicalists believe in what seems to me the oldschool version of “The only TRUE trans people suffer agonizing dysphoria that can only be fixed with surgery and hormones, everyone else is an evil pretender stealing resources and can FUCK RIGHT OFF” and others are like, um… “I have total love and respect for nonbinary and nondysphoric trans people! I qualify for a DSM diagnosis of dysphoria but that doesn’t make me inherently better or more trans than anyone else.”

Which is very confusing to me because according to everything I’ve learned, the latter opinion is not transmedicalism. It’s just… a view of transness that acknowledges current diagnostic labels and scientific research. It’s what most people who support trans rights and do not identify as transmedicalists believe. But I kind of get the impression that Tumblr transmedicalism has expanded well past its original mandate, to the point that if a lot of “transmedicalists” saw the movement’s original positions they’d go “Whoa that’s way too strict and doesn’t help our community, I want nothing to do with it.”.

Okay so. Elaborating on the stuff I can comment on.

1. DSM what?

The American Psychiatric Association publishes a big thick book called The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, called the DSM for short. This is the “Bible of psychiatry”, North America’s definitive listing of mental disorders and conditions. It receives significant revision and updates roughly every 10-15 years; it was last updated in 2013, meaning it will likely get updated sometime between 2023 and 2028.

The DSM lists hundreds of “codes”, each of which indicates a specific kind of mental disorder. For example, 296.23 is “Major depressive disorder, Single episode, Severe,” and 300.02 is “Generalized anxiety disorder.” These codes have information on how common the condition is, how it’s diagnosed, and what kind of treatment is appropriate for it.

Diagnostic codes are the key to health professionals getting paid. If there isn’t a code for it, we can’t get paid for it, and therefore we have very few resources to treat it with. The people who actually pay for healthcare–usually insurance companies or government agencies–decide how much they will pay for each code item to be treated. They’ll pay for, say, three sessions of group therapy for mild depression (296.21), or they’ll pay for more expensive private therapy if it’s moderate (296.22); they’ll pay for the cheap kind of drug if you have severe depression (296.23), but to get the more expensive drug, you need to have depression with psychotic features (296.24).

Healthcare companies, especially in the USA where the system is very very broken and the DSM is written, are cheap bastards. If they can find an excuse not to fund some treatment, they’ll use it. “We think this person who lost their job and can’t get off the couch should pay this $1000 bill for therapy,” they’ll say. “After all, they were diagnosed as code 296.21, and then saw a private therapist for five sessions, when we only allow three sessions of group therapy, and you’re saying they haven’t had enough treatment yet?”

A lot of the advocacy work mental health professionals do is trying to get the big funding bodies to pay us adequately for the work we do. (This is a much easier process in countries with single-payer healthcare, where this negotiation only needs to be done with a single entity. In the USA, it needs to be done with every single health insurance company in existence, as well as the government, sometimes differently in every single state, and then again on a case-by-case basis as well.) Healthcare providers have to argue that three sessions of group therapy isn’t enough, that Medicaid needs to pay therapists more per hour than it costs those therapists to rent a room to practice in, or else therapists would lose money by seeing Medicaid clients. DSM codes exist a tiny bit to let us communicate with each other about the people we treat, and a huge amount to let us get paid. The fact that their existence lets people make sense of their own experiences and find a community with people who share common experiences and interests with them is a very minor side benefit the DSM’s authors really don’t keep in mind when they update and revise different diagnoses.

So when it comes to convincing insurance companies to pay for treatment, humanitarian reasons like “they’ll be very unhappy without it” tend not to work. The best argument we have for them paying for psychological treatment is that it’s economical: that if they don’t pay for it now, they’ll have to pay even more later. If they refuse to pay, let’s say, $2000 to treat mild depression when someone loses their job, and either refuse treatment or stick the person with the bill, then that person’s life might spiral out of control–they might, let’s say, run low on money, get evicted from their apartment, develop severe depression, attempt suicide, and end up in hospital needing to be medically resuscitated and then put in an inpatient psych ward for a month. The insurance company then faces the prospect of having to pay, let’s say, $100,000 for all that treatment. At which point somebody clever goes, “Huh, so it would have been cheaper to just… pay the original $2000 instead so they could bounce back, get a new job, and not need any of this treatment later.”

Trans healthcare can be kind of expensive, since it often involves counselling, years of hormone therapy, medical garments, and multiple surgeries. Health insurance companies hate paying for anything, and have traditionally wanted not to cover any of this. “This is ridiculous!” they said. “These are elective cosmetic treatments, it’s not like they’re dying of cancer, these people can pay the same rate for breast enhancements or testosterone injections as anyone else.”

So when the APA Task Force on Gender Identity Disorder (a task force comprised, as far as I can tell, entirely of cis people) sat down to plan for the 2013 update of the DSM, one of their biggest goals was: Treatment recommendations. Create a diagnosis which they could effectively use to advocate that insurance companies fund gender transition. Like when you go back and read the documents from their meetings in 2008 and 2011, their big thing is “create a diagnosis that can be used to form treatment recommendations.” So that’s what they did; in 2013 they made the GD diagnosis, and in 2014 the Affordable Care Act required insurers to provide treatment for it.

A lot of trans people weren’t happy with the DSM task force’s decisions, such as the choice to keep “Transvestic Fetishism,” which is basically the autogynephilia theory, and just rename it “Transvestic Disorder”. The creation of the Gender Dysphoria diagnosis, basically, was designed to force the preventive care argument. They didn’t think they could win on trans healthcare being a necessity because healthcare is a human right, so they went with: Trans people have a very high suicide rate, and one way to bring it down is to help them transition. One of the major predictors of suicidality is dysphoria. The more dysphoric someone is, the more likely they are to attempt suicide (source). Therefore, health insurers should fund treatment for gender dysphoria because it was cheaper than paying for emergency room admissions and inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations.

I have spoken to trans scientists about what research exists, and my understanding is: The dysphoria/no dysphoria split is not actually validated in the science. That is, when you research trans people, there is not some huge gaping difference between the experiences, or brains, of people With Dysphoria, and people Without Dysphoria. Mostly, scientists haven’t even thought it was an important distinction to study. The diagnosis wasn’t reflecting a strong theme in the research about trans experiences; that research showed that trans people with all levels of dysphoria were helped with medical transition. The biggest difference is just that dysphoria is a stronger risk factor for suicide. Experiencing transphobia is another strong risk factor, but that’s harder to measure in a doctor’s office, so dysphoria it was.

(I’ve seen some transmedicalists claim that dysphoria’s major feature is incongruence, not distress. And I’ll just say, uh… in psychology, “dysphoria” is the opposite of of “euphoria”, literally means “excessive pain”, and is used in many disorders to describe a deep-seated sense of distress and wrongness. As a mental health professional, I just can’t imagine most of my colleagues agreeing that something can be called “dysphoria” if the person doesn’t feel real distress about it. If you want a diagnosis that doesn’t demand dysphoria, you’d need Gender Incongruence in the upcoming version of the ICD-11, which is the primary diagnostic system used in Europe, published by the World Health Organization.)

2. Doctors are not magic

Medicine is a science, and science is a system of knowledge based on having an idea, testing it against reality, and revising that knowledge in light of what you learned. We’re learning and growing all the time.

I don’t know if this sounds painfully obvious or totally groundbreaking, but: Basically all medical research is done by people who don’t have the condition they’re writing about. Psychology has a strong historical bias against believing the personal testimonies of people with conditions that have been deemed mental disorders, so researchers who have experienced the disorder they’re writing about have often had to hide that fact, like Kay Redfield Jamison hiding that she had bipolar disorder until she became a world-renowned expert on it, or Marsha Linehan hiding that she had borderline personality disorder until she pioneered the treatment that could effectively cure it. Often, having a condition was seen as proof you couldn’t actually have a truthful and objective experience of it.

So what I’m trying to say is: The “gender dysphoria” diagnosis was written and debated, so far as I can tell, by entirely cis committee members. The vast majority of psychological and psychiatric research about LGBT+ people is written by cisgender heterosexual scientists. Most clinical and scientific writing has been outsider scientists looking at people they have enormous power over and making decisions about their basic existence with very little accountability.

And to show you how far we’ve come, I want to show you part of the DSM as it was from 1952 to 1973. It shows you just why so many older LGBT+ people find it deeply ironic that now the DSM is being held up as definitive of trans experience:

302 Sexual Deviation This category is for individuals whose sexual interests are directed primarily toward objects other than people of the opposite sex, toward sexual acts not usually associated with coitus, or towards coitus performed under bizarre circumstances as in necrophilia, pedophilia, sexual sadism, and fetishism. Even though many find their practices distasteful, they remain unable to substitute normal sexual behavior for them. This diagnosis is not appropriate for individuals who perform deviant sexual acts because normal sexual objects are not available to them.

302.0 Homosexuality 302.1 Fetishism 302.2 Pedophilia 302.2 Transvestitism […]

Yes, really. That is how psychiatry viewed us. At a time when research from other fields, like psychology and sociology, were showing that this view was completely unsupported by evidence, psychiatry thought LGBT+ people were fundamentally disordered, criminal, and incapable of prosocial behaviour.

My favourite retelling of the decades of activism it took LGBT+ people and allies to get the DSM to change is from a friend who did her master’s thesis on the topic, because she leaves in the clown suits and gay bars, which really shows how scientific and dignified the process was. The long story short is: It took over 20 years of lobbying by LGBT+ people who were sick and tired of being locked up in mental institutions and subjected to treatments like electroshock training, as well as by LGBT+ social scientists, clinicians, and psychiatrists, to get homosexuality declassified as a mental illness. And that was homosexuality; the push to change how trans people were listed in the DSM is very recent, as seen in the latest version listing “Transvestic Disorder”, a description very few trans people ever use for themselves.

Here are a few more examples of how people with a condition have had to take an active part in the science about them:

When HIV/AIDS appeared in the USA, the government didn’t care why drug addicts and gay people were dying mysteriously. Hospitals refused to treat people with this mysterious new disease. AIDS patients had to fight to get any funding put into what AIDS is, how it spreads, or how it could be treated; they also had to campaign to change the massive public prejudice against them, so they could be treated, housed, and allowed to live. Here’s an article on the activist tactics they used. If you want an intro to the fight (or at least, white peoples’ experience of it), you could look into the movies How to Survive a Plague, And the Band Played On, and The Normal Heart.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a little-understood disease that causes debilitating exhaustion. It’s found twice as often in women as men. Doctors understand very little about what it is or why it happens, and patients with CFS are often written off a lazy hypochondriacs who just don’t want to try hard. There are basically no known treatments. In 2011, a British study said that an effective treatment for CFS was “graded exercise”, a program where people did slowly increasing levels of physical activity. This flew in the face of what people with CFS knew to be true: That their disease caused them to get much worse after they exercised. That for them, being forced to do ever-increasing exercise was basically tantamount to torture, so it was very concerning that health authorities and insurance companies began requiring that they undergo graded exercise treatment (and parents with children with CFS had to put their children through this treatment, or lose custody for “medical neglect”). So they investigated the study, found that it was seriously flawed, got many health authorities to reverse their position on graded exercise, and have made strides into pointing researchers to looking into biological causes of their illness.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare but debilitating disease that isn’t researched much, because it affects such a small portion of the population. The ALS community realized that if they wanted better treatment, they would need to raise the money for research themselves. In 2014 they organized a viral “ice bucket challenge” to get people to donate to their cause, and raised $115 million, enough to make significant advances in understanding ALS and getting closer to a cure.

A common treatment for Autism is Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), which is designed to encourage “desired” behaviours and discourage “undesired” ones. The problem is, the treatment targets behaviour an Autistic person’s parents and teachers consider desirable or undesirable, without consideration that some “undesired” behaviours (like stimming) are fundamental and necessary to the wellbeing of Autistic people. Furthermore, the treatment involves punishing Autistic children for failure to behave as expected–in traditional ABA, by witholding rewards or praise until they stop, or in more extreme cases, by subjecting them to literal electric shocks to punish them. (In that last case, they’ve been ordered to stop using the shock devices by August 31, 2020. That only took YEARS.) Autistic people have had to campaign loud and long to say that different treatment strategies should be researched and used, especially on Autistic children.

So I mean… I get that the medical model can provide an element of validation and social acceptance. It can feel really good to have people in white coats back you up and say you’re the real deal. But if you get in touch with most LGBT+ and transgender groups, they’d say that there’s still a lot of work to be done when it comes to researching trans issues and getting scientific and governmental authorities to recognize your rights to social acceptance and medical treatment.

Within a few years, the definition you’re resting on will turn to sand beneath your feet. The Great DSM Machine will begin whirring into life pretty soon and considering what revisions it has to make. You’ll have an opportunity to make your voice heard and to push for real change. So… do you want to be part of that process of pushing trans rights forward, or do you just want to feel loss because they’re changing your strict definition of who’s valid and who’s not?

3. Scarcity is not a law of physics

One of the major arguments I see transmedicalists push is that there’s only a limited number of surgeries or hormone prescriptions available, so it’s not okay for a non-dysphoric person to “steal” the resources that another trans person might need more. This makes sense in a limited kind of way; it’s a good way to operate if, say, you’re sharing a pizza for lunch and deciding whether to give the last slice to someone who’s hungry and hasn’t eaten, or someone who’s already full.

When you start to back up and look at really big and complex systems–basically anything as big, or bigger, than a school board or a hospital or a municipal government–it’s not a helpful lens anymore. Because the most important thing about social institutions is that they can change. We can make them change. And the most important factor in how much the world changes is how many people demand that it change.

I’ve talked about this before when it comes to homeless shelters, and how the absolute worst thing they can have are empty beds. I used to work in women’s shelters, which came about when second-wave feminists started seriously looking at the problem of domestic violence in the 1960s and 70s, It was an issue male-dominated governments and healthcare systems hadn’t taken seriously before, but feminists started heck and did research and staged demonstrations and basically demanded that organizations that worked for the “public benefit” reduce the number of women being killed by their husbands. Their research showed that the leading cause of death in those cases were when women tried to leave and their partners tried to kill them, so the most obvious solution was to give them someplace safe to go where their partners couldn’t find them. Therefore the solution became: Women’s shelters. When feminists committed to founding and running these shelters, local governments could be talked into giving them money to keep them running.

(Men’s rights activists, the misogynist kind, like to whine about “why aren’t there men’s shelters?” and the very simple answer is: Because you didn’t fight for them, you teatowels. Whether a movement gets resources and funding is hugely a reflection of how many people have said, “This needs resources and funding! Look, I’m writing a cheque! Everyone, throw money at this!” In other news, The BC Society for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse does great work. People should throw money at them.)

When the system in power knows there are resources it wants and doesn’t have, it finds a way to make them appear. For example, in Canada, the government knows that it doesn’t have enough trained professionals living in its far North, where the population is scarce and not very many people want to live. Doctors and teachers would prefer to live in the southern cities. But because it’s committed to Northern schools and hospitals, they create incentives. For example, the government offers to pay off the student loans of teachers or health professionals who agree to work for a few years in Northern communities.

Part of why trans healthcare resources are so scarce is that for a long time, trans people were considered too small a part of the population to care about. Like, “Trans people exist, but we won’t have to deal with them.” Older estimates said 0.4% of the population was trans, which meant a city of 100,000 people would have 400 trans people. A single family doctor can have 2000 or 3000 clients, so the city could have maybe 1 or 2 doctors who really “got” trans issues, and all the trans people would tell each other to only go see those doctors because all the rest were assholes. And the cracks in the system didn’t really seem serious. A couple hundred dissatisfied people not getting the healthcare they needed? Meh! Hospital administrators had more to worry about!

But the trans population is growing. A recent poll of Generation Z said 2.6% of middle schoolers in Minnesota were some kind of trans. which is 2,600 per 100,000. That’s enough to make hospitals think that maybe the next endocrinologist or OB/GYN they hire should have some training in treating trans people. That’s enough to make a health authority think that maybe the state should open up a new gender confirmation surgery clinic, since demand is rising so much.

Or well, I mean. Hospitals have a lot on their minds. This might not occur to them as their top priority. They’d probably think of it a lot sooner if a bunch of those trans people sent them letters or took out a billboard or showed up by the dozens at a public meeting to say, “Hello, there are a fuckload of us. Budget accordingly. We want to see your projected numbers for the next five years.”

When you’re doing that kind of work, suddenly it hurts your cause to limit your number of concerned parties. Sure, limited focus groups or steering committees can have limited membership, but when you put their ideas into action, to protest something or lobby for political change, you need numbers. If you want to show that you’re a big and important group that systems should definitely pay attention to, you don’t just need every trans or GNC or NB person who’s got free time to devote to your campaign, you also need every cis ally who can pad out numbers or lick envelopes or hand out water bottles or slip you insider information about the agenda at the next board meeting. You need bodies, time, and money, and you get them best by being inclusive about who’s in your party. Heck, if it would benefit your cause to team up with the local breast cancer group because trans women and cis women who have had mastectomies both have an interest in asking a hospital to have a doctor on staff who knows how to put a set of tits together, then there are strong reasons to do it.

Basically: All the time any marginalized group spends fighting over scraps is generally time we could spend demanding that the people handing out the food give us another plate. If you don’t think you’re getting enough, the best answer isn’t to knock it out of somebody’s hands, but to get together to say, “HEY! WE’RE NOT GETTING ENOUGH!”

That kind of work is complicated and difficult! It’s definitely much harder than yelling at someone on Tumblr for not being trans enough. But if you do any level of getting involved with activist groups that fight for real systemic change, whether that’s following your local Pride Centre on Twitter or throwing $5 at a trans advocacy group or writing your elected representative about the need for more trans health resources, you’re pushing forward lasting change that will help everyone.

#staranise original #transmedicalism tw #transphobia tw #homophobia tw #my problems with sj let me show you them

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master-none · 3 years ago

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I’m agender.

I have a body. I exist. I like who I like. And I think you should too. I have experiences that align with being amab, but also share experiences that are more traditionally experienced by afab’s, and still past that, I have experiences that are neither, and that are uniquely my own. I have experiences that are cisgendered, as well as those that are transgendered. I think, to some extent, that many people experience gender this way. I think more people should consider it this way, and that it’s entirely valid to do so. I don’t think such experiences are inherently gendered, even if one gender or another may be more likely to share a common experience. I don’t necessarily want to have been born in a body other than the one I was born with. I don’t want to exist as either a female, or a male. I don’t want to pursue therapy, surgery, hormones, or whatever either, and I don’t think I need it, or that it would be useful or meaningful to me. I do not consider myself transgender, though many other people might. That is their experience. I have the body of an amab, and I accept that. I have no interest in changing or altering that. I think that if I had the body of an afab, this would still probably be the same. I don’t consider myself to be cisgendered, either. I just exist, as I am, because it’s easiest and it’s what feels safest. Sometimes I think that if it were easier, and safer, that I’d probably just do whatever. Explore. Experiment. Be an androgynous blob. Be something eldritch. Is that gender? I think that’s just body envy. I doubt I would commit to anything. I’ve known a lot of people who feel this way, often using non-binary as an umbrella term to define themselves. I guess that works. But I just don’t get it. I use he/him pronouns. I use she/her pronouns. I use they/them pronouns. I use my name, as a proper and improper noun, and I use nothing at all sometimes too. Sometimes I even use other’s names. I do that often, actually. I’ve grown to accept that people will use he/him when referring to me most, because that’s what seems easiest, and that’s what seems safest. I don’t think I really care, to be honest. Sometimes I’ll encourage certain friends to use other pronouns instead. Not because I want to use those pronouns, as much as out of spite for the gendered-ness of pronouns as it is. The way our languages are built often ingrains gender into our words, and it’s hard to avoid using them, naturally. But why should which pronoun I use have any weight or meaning on representing who I am, how I act, or what I look like? I am my own person. I exist how I choose to. Better to refer to me as me, than by any other way. But our languages make that difficult, and to change it, so that it felt natural, I think would be impossible. Better to remove the gendered-ness from the pronouns themselves. She could be anyone. So could he. They are. I get a bit of euphoria from my gender, or lack of, being recognized. Whether that’s by apathy over which pronoun is used, or by an active interest and choice to use something atypical for my type, which shows recognition, and makes me feel seen. And sexuality. WOAH BOY. I don’t even know how to explain that easily. I guess I just like who I like. Regardless of their bodies, or their genders, or whether they’re amab or afab, trans, cis, or any other. If I find someone attractive, I do. And I typically do so regardless of their gender or their body. Defining my sexuality with a label is difficult, if not absolutely outright impossible. I like people. I have a type. But that type isn’t wholly restricted or defined by either that person’s gender or my own. I have loved people as a man, or as a woman, or as neither. There are words for those, but it feels deceitful to use them. That’s not on me. That’s on you. There’s a tight link between sexuality and gender that places expectations on the other. Even trixic, or torric, don’t accurately describe me. I’ve felt sapphic, or achillean or whatever other more inclusive terms now exist, and those terms I’m sure are useful for some people, but not for me. My experience with sexuality and attraction is less to do with MY gender, as it is to do with how I perceive another person’s, which may be entirely different from how they perceive themselves, as well. I am attracted to people for who I think they are, which is okay, because that’s MY experience, and that’s how I experience them. My experience is not a reflection of their experience, and neither is it an experience to be imposed on them. I think this is how most people experience attraction, even if they may not recognize or accept it. And sometimes my attraction exists entirely separate from me. As I’m attracted to the idea of a person, rather than necessarily myself WITH that person. I can be attracted to people who I do not want to be with. And I can want to be with people who I’m not attracted to, as well. Heck, I can even be attracted to the fact that a person is with someone who ISNT me. And I think that, in itself, is also some extension of a person’s gender and sexuality. There isn’t a simple word for that. I like who I like, with or without me, alone, or however I do. I think this advent of new labels and pronouns, while intended to be wholesome and inclusive, is often at it’s core, problematic. Boxes can be good for comparing shared experiences, and communicating more effectively. But I don’t think it’s healthy for anyone to use labels to box themselves in. I think it leads to exclusion. I think it leads to toxic masculinity, misogyny, homophobia, dysphoria, and loneliness. I think especially, as people struggle to discover themselves and explore, these labels can be limiting and harmful. I’ve seen them be. I’ve experienced them this way. I think that gender, sexuality, and the gendered-ness of pronouns and such labels ultimately creates a more divided lgbt community, as people worry when they don’t fit into one perfectly, or see experiences they’ve shared that belong to another label, and question whether their identity is valid, or if they’re secretly trans, or gay, or whatever it is. You don’t need labels to have experiences. Experiences aren’t uniquely and exclusively shared by one group of gays or another. Your experiences are yours, and they’re valid, no matter what other person or group might share them. You are human. We have bodies. We exist. We like who we like.

#lgbt #nonbinary #agender #gender #sexuality #rant #personal

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writeanapocalae · 4 years ago

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A Guide for Writing Trans People

Written by a Trans Man.

I’ve seen a lot of different posts on how to write trans characters (absolutely none on how to write cis characters and I am so lost on how to do that oh my goodness) but maybe I’ve got a different perspective and maybe I’ve got something you haven’t heard before. Let’s go!

Terminology

There are a lot of different genders out there, not just male and female. Some people think Trans men and women are some outside of the binary extra gender, which is very much not true. While many trans people do fall outside the binary, there are a lot who are strictly male or female. Therefore their genders are male and female. The trans part is not part of the word, it is a definer to state that the person is transitioning, that is all. So when you write trans man or trans woman the words are separate, not transman or transwoman.

A trans man is someone who is transitioning his appearance for society to view him as male.

A trans woman is someone who is transitioning her appearance for society to view her as female.

The reason I am wording it this way is because they were already their genders. They have always been their genders. Transitioning is greatly influenced by the way we are treated by society, the same way that beauty standards influence people to contour and get surgeries and whatnot.

Demi means mostly in terms of gender so a demi boy is someone who is male most of the time and a demi girl is someone who is female most of the time.

Agender is someone who has no gender

Genderfluid is someone who shifts from gender to gender

Genderqueer is someone who’s gender is nondefined by other terms

Two Spirit is a third gender that encapsulates masculinity and femininity (according to Wikipedia) that is only used by Native Americans

Third Gender is a gender that can encapsulate or be a completely different solid gender like male or female

Nonbinary is someone who is somewhere on the spectrum between genders and their gender is defined by them

Pangender is someone who has all genders

Androgyny is not something that actually relates to gender as much as it does presentation. Presentation does not inherently tell you someone’s gender. Being androgynous just means that someone fits right in the middle of societies expectations of male and female and their AGAB cannot be guessed by onlookers.

AGAB AFAB and AMAB mean Assigned Gender At Birth, Assigned Female At Birth, and Assigned Male At Birth. At birth someone will often assign a gender to a baby based on their genitals and parents tend to show off what sort of genitals their baby has with accessories and colors. Pretty creepy if you ask me.

FTM and MTF has been deemed problematic but many still use them. They mean Female to Male and Male to Female. The terminology states that the person’s AGAB is their initial gender and they are becoming the opposite when, as stated before, it’s more that they were always their gender and now society has to catch up.

Gender Nonconformity can be practiced by anyone regardless of gender. It just means that they do things that aren’t expected of someone of their gender like men wearing skirts (for some reason?) or women growing beards or a nonbinary person not being androgynous (for some reason that’s become an expectation)

Intersex is not a part of the trans umbrella, even though it is often lumped in and people who are intersex can also be trans. It is a sex (different from gender) in which different parts of genitals and chromosomes and hormones are produced in a way that deviates from the norm. Many intersex people undergo genital reconstruction or reduction surgery when they are infants (and can’t consent) in order to fit the mold better. Intersex people can be cis.

Cis just means that someone agrees with the people who assigned them a gender when they were a baby and how society treats them.

Slurs: Don’t use them. There are a lot. If you see it in a porn category you probably should stay away from it.

Pronouns

Pronouns are highly personal and can be a myriad of things so I will not be going over all of them. They do not always match presentation (a long haired man with breasts is still a man) and many people will use multiple sets of pronouns or fluctuate between them for what they feel most comfortable with.

Common pronouns are: they/them, he/him, she/her

Less common pronouns are: xi/xir, fae/faer, it/its, e/em, per/pers, ve/vir, zie/hir

Neopronouns: People make up pronouns all the time since they are personal and these new pronouns are just as valid as any others. Someone made up his and hers after all. When making neopronouns the main thing to be aware of is consistency. You want the different forms of conjugation to make sense and you want to spell them the same way every time.

Appearance

As has already been stated, there’s no correlation between gender presentation and gender and many trans people are unable to present the way they want to due to the economy, genetics, health, or community. Still, people do what they can to pass or feel comfortable in their body and these things need to be in mind during descriptions. People tend to think of the slight things that make people not pass are unattractive and will point out a woman’s 5 o’clock shadow or a man’s high pitched voice as flaws. These things do not necessarily need to be skipped over but they can be described in a way that doesn’t distract from the characters gender.

Try to stop thinking of an hourglass shape as an intrinsically feminine trait and height as an inherently masculine one. There are cis women with full beards and cis men with round jaws. Exploring different features, combining them, and seeing how they meld will give your characters more depth and help with differentiating them from one another. A good rule of thumb is, if you mention something that people don’t immediately clock as the characters gender, describe it as gender accurate.

Misgendering

This is another one that I would say don’t do but there are characters who the writers don’t always agree with. Misgendering is extremely harmful, puts trans people’s lives in danger, and can out them without their permission. The narrator should never misgender a character unless the character does not realize they are trans until the story is underway but this should be rare. The trans character would have no reason to ever misgender themself and may talk about how they presented in the past but will, most likely, still refer to themself with the correct gender. The POV character may misgender a trans character upon meeting them but after being corrected should fix their behavior unless you want your audience to dislike the POV character. Friends of the trans character should not misgender the character unless they are in a situation in which being correctly gendered would bring them harm, otherwise they’re not good friends. Family may misgender the trans character if they are not out or if the family members are terrible people.

Dysphoria/Euphoria

Dysphoria is when there’s a painful discrepancy between mind and body, like when someone knows they are one way but they don’t look the way they feel. Misgendering can be a large cause of dysphoria, as can hearing a recording of their voice, reflections, binding and tucking not hiding what the individual may want to hide, height, muscle structure, bone structure, etc.

Euphoria is the exact opposite of this. It is an extreme sensation of peace and joy in personal gender presentation. This can be caused by hormone replacement therapy, correct gendering, presenting in a way that feels natural, and acceptance.

Dysphoria is not necessary for being transgender.

Social Groups

Look around your friend group. Notice anything eerie? Notice how most of your friends are similar to you in a lot of ways, especially IRL friends? They’re people that you trust and expect to keep you safe while having a fun time with because you share interests and experiences with. Same for trans people. This is why, if you look at my friend group there’s 2 genderfluid, 1 agender, 1 nonbinary, 2 trans women, 1 trans man, and 1 cis man (who’s a cousin). If you have just 1 trans character in a group of friends it is going to read as a need for diversity points and that character is less likely to feel safe with discussing trans issues due to no one around them being able to relate.

Outing

This is one that a lot of people have a hard time with and even trans writers mess up a lot. We all know the infamous scene of someone walking in on a trans person changing and, hopefully, we know that this is not only cliche but actually harmful as it tends to lead to the idea of “lying” when it’s really just not anyone’s business and that trans bodies must be on display. I would say that you shouldn’t have to out your character because coming out is dangerous for real trans people in a lot of situations and it normalizes the idea that trans people must doxx themselves at any moment but due to the lack of representation and the nature of novels, you pretty much have to out your characters. No amount of subtext will be as beneficial to a trans reader as cementing the fact that there’s someone they can relate to in canon. Luckily outing a trans character is a lot easier than people think.

Some of us can’t shut up. A lot of trans people will hint at it a lot and just flat out say it if they’re in similar company. If we see people who we feel confident are also queer we often drop hints that we understand we’re safe, they can come to us (especially in a retail setting), because we want a community. The amount I bring up my masculinity is very very often, to the point I’m surprised people aren’t annoyed with me. I don’t pass very well so I wear a lot of brightly colored buttons that explicitly state my pronouns. There’s also this very strong urge to correct people who use gendered language for things that don’t need gender (like sexual organs and menstrual cycles). There’s nothing wrong with just saying that a character is trans.

Resources

The best thing you can do for your story is research. The trans people you know are not google and they do not deserve to be treated like google. You can use google. Here’s some stuff I found on google:

Dummies | Transequality | EverydayFeminism | Scriptlgbt

But no matter how much research you do it’s not going to be as useful as a sensitivity reader. Once your story is complete ask people to read it as beta readers and sensitivity readers and listen to the people that fit your minority characters.

Some musicians to check out for inspiration

I have to recommend music. I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t.

Agender: Angel Haze | Mood Killer

Androgyne: Florian- Ayala Flora |

Genderneutral: Grimes |

Pandrogyne: Genesis P-orridge

Two Spirit: Tony Enos | Cris Derksen

#writing advice #transgender writing #queer writers #trans writeblr #trans writing

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transadvice · 4 years ago

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I've recently begun reevaluating my gender identity and I'm definitely not the cis man I thought I was. I'm still figuring out exactly what I identify as, but my best guess is that I'm a trans woman. However I worry that I'm not giving enough consideration to the idea that I'm non-binary, genderfluid, agender or something else that exists outside the binary genders. At the same time, I also worry that my apprehension about choosing my identity stems from internalised imposter syndrome (1/2)

Part 2 of question: (2/2) and I'm only considering non binary and others as possibilities because they'd be easier to 'pass' as than being a trans woman. Since I've still got a lot to figure out, I was wondering, what questions should I be asking myself and where should I be directing my introspection as I do so? As an additonal side note; I feel more dymorphia about body hair than I do about having male genitals, is that unusual? Thank you for your help and advice.

My answer:

Side note first: it’s totally common to not have genital dysphoria, or to not have much. Pop culture does us a disservice by painting genital dysphoria as the main or most important sign of being trans. It absolutely isn’t. Some people have it, and lots of people don’t. It’s common to have more dysphoria about other physical characteristics (e.g. body hair), or about social signifiers (e.g. pronouns), or about physical characteristics for social reasons (e.g. voice but only because it gets you misgendered), or to not have dysphoria at all but only euphoria (i.e. not disliking the name ‘Steve’, but just really loving/wanting the name ‘Katie’). By the same token, genital surgery isn’t the only/most important transition step, and for many people it’s not even on the radar! Of course, pop culture is mostly cis-driven and the cis tend to vastly overestimate the importance of genitals to gender identity, so.

Okay. Onto your main question. It can definitely be a journey to figure out the specific flavor of your trans-ness: whether you are binary trans or nonbinary in some way. There’s a lot of gray area between them, and it’s okay for your thoughts to change on that over time. You don’t need to pin it all down now. Nor do you need to fully figure out your identity before taking any transition steps. In fact, I think that’s often impossible. You can only get so far with introspection alone. At some point you have to start trying stuff.

Think of this this way: It’s not like you’re choosing between the Deluxe Binary Transition Package and the Prix Fixe Nonbinary Transition Package. Every transition step is a la carte. You can change your name, or not; use she/her pronouns, or not; take HRT, or not; wear dresses, or not; and so on. Any of these steps could be part of a binary or nonbinary transition. You don’t have to know ahead of time how each step will end up factoring into your overall transition journey. You just have to want to do that one thing.

So my challenge for you is to get out of the theoretical and into the practical. Set aside “who am I really” and “what does it mean.” Those questions are too big, hard, and abstract. Instead ask yourself: What do I want to do or try? What makes me feel bad? What makes me feel great? What’s the next step I can try that may help me get further from bad and closer to great? If I’m not sure if I’ll like something, how can I test drive it in a safe way?

For example, you know you feel dysphoric about body hair. Okay: so laser/electrolysis seems like a reasonable direction to go. If you’re not sure you want to make it permanent, or you can’t afford to, you could try waxing, or even just shaving your legs. You don’t need to know if you’re a trans woman or nonbinary in order to remove your body hair, temporarily or permanently.

Each decision or experiment will give you more information. It may become more clear to you over time that you lean in one direction or another. Or you may end up where I am - still not sure if I’d call myself binary or nonbinary, but so glad I took the transition steps I did nonetheless. Happy enough that it doesn’t matter.

P.S. You don’t owe everyone you meet complete knowledge of your gender identity, whether or not you understand it yourself. It’s okay to have a “public” and “private” version with more or less level of detail/precision.

P.P.S. Fear is the mind-killer. Any time you find yourself thinking “I must be X because it would be easier/less scary than being Y,” that’s a time to really lean in and unpack those thoughts. For one thing, it’s not true (neither being nonbinary or binary trans is inherently easier, they both have different challenges). For another, it’s not relevant. It doesn’t matter what outcome you hope for; you are who you are. And the least easy thing is to try to force yourself to be someone you’re not.

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wangquest · 6 years ago

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Trans Oral History Project

Back in August I was interviewed for the Trans Oral History Project, and they created a transcript of my interview. As the only person (so far) that they were interviewing who was pursuing a phalloplasty, a lot of our conversation revolved around the medical side of my transition, which I was happy to talk about.

As it’s very long, I’ve put it under a Read More.

Interviewer: This is a oral history project centered on the experiences of trans identifying people. It is August 25, 2018, and this is being recorded at my apartment. So can you tell me a bit about your experiences with accessing medical transitioning? Me: Sure. So, I’ve been very lucky and very privileged with my access to medical transitions. I have a very supportive family--though I wasn’t covered under my parents’ insurance for some of my medical procedures because they were under Texas Blue Cross Blue Shield before the ACA. They had an explicit transgender exclusion, so my family paid for my top surgery and they paid for my hysterectomy which was nice. I wouldn’t have been able to afford it otherwise. So I’m extremely, extremely privileged in that way. My mom came with me to San Francisco when I got my top surgery. She came up here to NYC to sleep on my couch when I had my hysterectomy. That was really good, as it was an extra caretaker. But now I’m getting my phalloplasty and for once I’m now on an insurance that covers it, which is great. The issue is that now I’m learning about the amount of gatekeeping that goes into that. So, for some context, I’m in a unionized job. And because of that they have a very robust health insurance. And because I live New York City we’ve got the human’s rights laws protecting me in New York City. We got human’s rights laws from New York state as well. We’re very covered. Even if federal protection were taken away or stripped away, I’m still definitely going to be covered which is really good. The only issue is that they are asking “Do you qualify for these procedures?” I need to jump through a lot of hoops. I need to have two letters from medical mental health providers. One which is preferably is an MD or PhD. I need to have---at least one of them is supposed to have a specialty in gender therapy. And it’s very hard to find someone who has explicitly a specialty in that. Then I also have to get a letter from my physical healthcare specialist saying basically, “Yeah he’s been on hormones for a while” which is easy for me since I’ve been on them since 2010. So that’s not hard, but the really hard thing is finding all the mental health stuff because there aren’t a lot of the people who are working as gender therapy practitioners and things like that. It’s also really awkward, because therapists who focus on gender dysphoria are usually focused on people who are at the start of their transition. Just coming into their understanding of things. I don’t want to say “far down their transition” because some people don’t want a phalloplasty. And that’s fine, but for people who are in a place where I am who do want it---what am I supposed to say? Most of us has been on hormones for a while. Most of us, have been socially transitioned for a long time. It’s really frustrating to be forced to go through gender therapy at this stage of my life. I joked with my wife, “Can I just send them a picture of my beard or something?” And that’s not saying having a beard is inherently masculine. But what do you want from me to prove you that I’m a guy? When I’ve been socially transitioned and on hormones for over 7 years. Why do you need this extra hoop? Don’t you think I would’ve had second thoughts already? And that’s really frustrating to me. That sort of thing is really frustrating about the insurance requiring these sorts of very specific letters. Interviewer: Do you have to seek out gender therapy on your own? Me: I got a referral. Everyone was really nice and really helpful and stuff like that, but finding someone who specialize in gender therapy and who had open slots was hard. I had to go to Jersey. Especially because I had to have two letters from two separate people. I’m just like, “Why? Why do I need this much proof to show to you?” I just…I don’t know the statistics of how many people seek out a phalloplasty and don’t want it, but I’m pretty sure if you’re gonna go through something that’s this intense you probably know you want it. And that’s really frustrating to me. The nice thing is that my doctor is really cool. I’m going to be with Dr. Curtis Crane who’s very experienced. The really good thing is that his practice is in Austin as well as San Francisco. My mother was very excited about that because she lives near Austin, and so she can see me without having to fly. So she’s very excited about that. So yeah, I’m kind of dealing with that aspect. I’ve been very lucky because of the fact that I used trans friendly doctors a lot so I haven’t had a lot of horror stories of really bad doctor experiences because of the fact that I work with a doctors who are explicitly for LGBTQ communities. But it’s the amount of gatekeeping that’s happening with my insurance now has been really frustrating. So that’s kind of where I’m at there.

Interviewer: How’s the social and emotional environment seeking phalloplasty or even wanting phalloplasty?

Me: It’s hard. I knew that when I first kind of started looking into it, though. I mean one of the most famous magazines for transmen was literally called “Original Plumbing.” Which gives an idea of how people view trans guys like me who seek phalloplasty. There’s a lot of stigma and there’s a lot of shame centered around men who want a phalloplasty. There are people who will call them “Franken-penises.” The amount of shitty things that I hear people about them is so much that most phalloplasty facebook groups, most phalloplasty social groups in general, are incredibly secretive. Often you have to prove that you’re in the process of trying to have one because otherwise they’re so inundated with people who basically come in to either gawk and treat you like a freak, or to come in to talk about how phalloplasty is inherently bad. They say things like “they’re just obviously going to be badly done,” and “you’re not going to look right.”

Interviewer: Just to clarify, this includes transmen?

Me: Oh yeah, this heavily includes transmen. There are a lot of transmen who--for whatever reason—who have decided to be really shitty to people with phalloplasties. And I’m just like, “I don’t know why.” I understand why some people don’t want it for themselves. That’s cool, that’s your own choice, but there’s this weird vitriol against men who decide to get phalloplasties. I think that part of it that the results of phalloplasty used to be less similar to how cis men’s penises look like in the past. There are a lot of people who think that they still look like that, and they still work like that. So some people are either upset that they can’t get one or they see it as people doing something stupid. Then they kind of let that out onto people who are doing them.

And the thing is, the technology for phalloplasty has actually gotten really good. Like, full sensation is very, very common. It’s almost rare now that you don’t have at least some sensation. There’s a number of different techniques for whatever configuration that you want for your junk. There are still high rates of complications, but they’re usually complications that can be dealt with and can that can be fixed. And they…if what you want is to have genitalia that looks similar to cis man’s they are very good. I’ve looked at pictures and I looked at videos and in person. They look very, very similar to a cis penis. And if that’s something you want, if that helps your dysphoria, then that’s great. And it will help me, it helps my dysphoria to have something like that. That’s what I want, and it’s just really frustrating to me that there’s so much stigma and animosity against it. There are just a lot of people who view as this procedure as “why are you trying? Because it’s not ever going to look right.” And it’s like one, you’re never going to know what I want. Don’t talk to me about looking right. And two, if what you mean by looking right is looking cis then actually yeah, you can get that. That’s not an impossibility. That’s my screed.

Interviewer: So you’re talking about phallo, and we’re just gonna talk a little more about the other medical procedures trans masc people go through.

Me: Yeah sure. So, I had a laparoscopic total abdominal hysterectomy, so I only had four tiny little…incisions that were each 5 millimeters long, and they were on my stomach. One was in my belly button and one is a little bit above my belly button. Then there were two on the sides of my belly button. They basically just used a robot blender to cut things up very, very fine and then took it all out. So I didn’t even stay overnight. I walked out afterword. It was a full complete cleaning out. It got rid of all the organs in the area like the cervix, ovaries, uterus, and fallopian tubes. And after I just walked out. I waddled out, let’s be honest. Then I was walking around within a few days. I had to wear sweatpants for like a week. And that was basically the entirety of my recovery because it was all internal damage. So the recovery was easier in a lot of ways because it was mostly just the fact that you’re just getting a lot of internal trauma due to the laparoscopic nature of it. But it heals pretty quickly, and it heals pretty easily in most cases. At least my case. I actually got it for a lot of different reasons. Partially because I didn’t want kids. I didn’t want kids biologically, and I didn’t want kids period. So it wasn’t really a loss for me. I have friends who are trans dudes who have kids while by pausing their testosterone temporarily, and they were fine. I have one friend who has two kids that he had with his trans partner, which was like awesome and great for them. I have a cat, and that’s all I really need. But one of the really big things for me was the risks of internal atrophy. So testosterone will often, I think it’s a 45% chance or so, have a rate of causing uterine and vaginal atrophy. Which means that you can get some internal spasms. You can sometimes get issues with fibers growth similar to PCOS--they’re not exactly the same--on like your various organ parts. And that can cause pain or that can cause issues down the line. So it’s the sort of thing where if you want to keep your organs there are ways to do that, and there are ways to mitigate those effects. I didn’t really look into them because if I didn’t really see any reason not to take them out. Atrophy is also an issue that isn’t just about internal organs. Atrophy also occurs on the genitalia due to testosterone. The problem with that is you get little fissures, like little tiny fissures internally and externally on your junk. The problem with it is that the traditional way to treat it, like when you go to the doctors, is that they say, “Well we usually use topical estrogen to treat that” because it occurs in women who have low estrogen. And I was like, “Ok but no.” Some guys use it and they’re fine with it, that’s totally chill. That’s fine. But in my case scent is very important to me, and it does change your general scent to something that’s not going to be testosterone related. For me, that is just like a 100% hell no. So I did some research, and I learned that you can treat it externally if you use a silicone lube that has vitamin E in it. So I use Uber Lube. I feel like I’m doing product placement now, but you can use a small amount of it and do it every night on your junk, and it made it so I wasn’t getting fissures anymore because the vitamin E was helping with elasticity and stuff like that and the moisture helped with any dryness issues so that was really nice. So that’s what I would suggest if you’re having that kind of issue and you don’t want to use the traditional topical estrogen method. It’s frustrating because those are the things we never get talked to about. If you take testosterone you’ll grow a beard, and you’ll like sweat more, and you’ll have this stuff and that stuff. No one talks about how you might develop atrophy. Like, no one talked to me about this. It’s not like it would’ve changed my decision to get on hrt, but it would’ve been cool to be prepped! [laughter] Also, I know some guys will sometimes do stuff where they keep an ovary in or something like that because they want the option to being produce estrogen if they choose to go off testosterone or something like that. Because the problem is you do need one of the two hormones. You need to have estrogen or testosterone in your system to be healthy. So if you ever choose to go off testosterone when you’ve had a full hysterectomy that includes taking an ovariectomy and everything you really do need to start take a type of hormone. Like you need to take estrogen or you need to take testosterone even if it might be in lower amounts or something. That’s why people have issues when they go into menopause; they’re not getting enough of one of those hormones. For top surgery, I don’t know. I feel like my advice for top surgery is the same advice I have for any major surgery ever. Which is that there are these little patches for anti-nausea that you put them behind your ear, and they work for three days or so. The medications that you get for pain killers will make you nauseated. So my doctor made sure I had one of those on for my first week after surgery, and I never had nausea issues. Thinking about how much, you know, stuff was probably going on with my chest at the time because I just had a major surgery, I mean, I lost four pounds. [Laughter] I was very large chested, and if I ever had to throw up during that time it would have really sucked. And I was on a lot of Percocet. My poor mother. I was so demanding because I was extremely high on all the pain meds. In those first three days I’d be like, “Give me tea!” and my mom would be like, “I literally just put a cup of tea next to you” and I was like, “A different tea!”. And I threatened to—oh god—whenever she would do something and it wasn’t fast enough I would threaten to squirt her with my drains. She was like, “One: Ew. Two: You literally can’t squirt people with your drains. They’re not pressurized where you can squirt things. You just empty them into a sink. They’re not pressurized into a thing that is possible,” But I was just silly. I was like, “I don’t know, I’ll make it happen. I’ll make physics do what I want.” Which leads me to, if you can, if you have top surgery, or you have a surgery like phalloplasty, or even a metoidioplasty or anything like that, have someone who’s a caretaker that you know because you’re going to be real high at first. You need someone who loves you, or at least is a friend who won’t want to murder you after those first few days where you’re going to be real high and real helpless. I’m very lucky that I had my mom, and now I have my wife with me. My biggest concern for her is caregiver fatigue. One of the reasons I’m happy my family is there too. My sister is there, who is a doctor, which is great. There’s my mom, you know, and there’s my dad. There’s people there who can take some of the burden off of her and give her social interaction that I won’t be able to do if I’m in the middle of healing and stuff like that, so I really want to make sure that she’s not having all the pressure on her. Once again, this is one of those things that demonstrates my privilege. I’m incredibly privileged. I have a family who will help. A lot of people don’t, and that’s a big privilege that I have. I have the funds to be able to travel, all the way down to Texas for my surgery to get the doctor that I really wanted. I have a job that gives me 3 months of paid time off. That’s a huge privilege. These are all things that like having to balance different aspects of your life. This is why we have so many GoFundMes for procedures like this, and that’s why I always try to give to those GoFundMes because there’s a lot of privilege that comes with my personal interactions with these procedures. Because of the support network that I have, because of the monetary situation that I’m currently in, and there are a lot of people who can’t get the treatments that they need because of the fact that they don’t have the funds. Even though they’re being covered by insurance, right? They’re being covered by insurance, but are they being covered by the time off they’ll need for optimal healing? The worst complications happen in the first two months. So I’m able to be right by my doctor for the first two months, but a lot of people can’t be. They have to go right back home because they have to go to work soon. That’s a lot, that’s a lot. And having a dedicated caregiver, having my wife there, having someone who has a job that can allow her to be with me. Because of the fact she’s a cartoonist and writer who can move her job because she works from home. That’s huge. So that’s the sort of thing that I feel like if there’s anything that I’d advise to people who are friends with trans people who are going through surgery or something like that, to reach out and try to offer help. Even if it’s just like, “I will make you dinner” or “I will come and be with you and be present with you for like a day” or something. A lot of people don’t have the support network that I do, don’t have an ongoing relationship that I do. And allowing them to have that is important. I know that I’m going to be asking for that from friends of mine who live in the area of Texas that can come hangout with, my wife. I love her a lot and she’s going to be having a lot of stress, a lot of burden, and I don’t want her to be isolated. The fact that she’s willing to do all this is huge and I’m very lucky to have her.

It’s gonna be a very big procedure. It’s one of the things also that I feel very lucky that I’m with someone who is so okay with all this. I’m not doing this for her. I’m doing this for my own dysphoria. And I feel very lucky that I’m with someone who likes my penis now and is excited about my penis later [laughter] and doesn’t have kind of issues with either. And yes, part of that is the fact that she doesn’t have genital preferences so she’s like, “I don’t care” and that’s a comforting thing with our relationship. But it’s not true for everybody. So some people have to not only having to process this all by themselves, they’re also having to process their partner’s emotions and dealing with that so it’s harder on them there too. So I feel very lucky that she’s gung ho for all kind of wang…That’s probably not the best way of putting it. It was funny when I was in the doctor’s office. He’s a cis man, but he’s been doing this for quite a while. And one of the things that I saw when I was reading up on him was that people were like, “Well he seems very callous” but I think it’s because he has a sense of humor about it at this point. His bedside manner was exactly what I needed. It was great because we were talking about it, and one of the things we talked about was why am I getting RFF I’m getting. Which is good for people who are heavier because I’m a little heavier. He mentioned one of the reasons why it’s good that we’re doing that is because if I was doing ALT (taking from the thigh instead of the forearm) there might be issues with a bit of a “coke can” problem where it would be a little bit too girthy because of my weight. So he was like, “I’m glad that you want that because I think that’s the best for you.” And he just gestures at my partner who’s in the room with me saying, “It’ll be good for you and it’ll be best for her” and it was just this really funny moment. I can understand why some people would be like, “That’s very cavalier to be saying something like that” but it made it feel like it was less stressful. It was the sort of moment like, “Yep, this is the the moment where we acknowledge that we’re talking about penises.” We all know that at one point my intention is to use it with my partner, and no one is awkwardly avoiding that fact. I think her response to him saying that she wouldn’t want something massively large was actually, “You don’t know me.” which was really funny. She was like, “You don’t know me.” And he conceded that point and we all laughed. So relationship wise I feel I really lucked out with her. She’s so supportive throughout our relationship. I talked to her early on that this was something I’d probably want years ago, but it was always the sort of the thing where I wanted it to get to the point where I felt comfortable with how far the technology has gotten. Even just comparing the last 5 years phalloplasties have gotten better and better. Success rates have been higher. Glansplasties becoming more common were a big thing for me. For me, aesthetics are very important, and aesthetically a glansplasty is really, really beneficial. Medical tattooing is also a thing that I’m going be doing to give proper coloration and such. I was like, “Can you do medical tattooing before sensation comes back?” and the response was “not usually”. I was like, “Oh no that’ll be terrible.” But I’ll deal. The only problem is going to the laser places. These aren’t people who are used to doing one arm. Just one of your arms. It’s just always awkward because they’re always like, “Well don’t you want the other arm?” And I have to say, “No this is for a medical procedure.” Sometimes they push to try to get an answer that’s more detailed and sometimes they don’t. The ones that push I’m like, “It’s for a penis…it’s for a penis, ok?” and that will make them stop pushing at me. But I usually don’t want to open with, “It’s gonna be a penis!” You don’t need to know that about my life, stranger. So now I’ve got this thing where I’m walking around with one arm that’s bare because I’ve been doing lasers and electrolysis so I don’t have a wooly wang. It’s really funny looking. I think that having a sense of humor about something that’s scary is helpful for me. I was rubbing lotion on my arm after a particularly painful electrolysis session and my wife was helping me with it. And I was like, “Is this basically a handjob from the future?” and she replied with saying fondly, “You’re going to be a penis soon, it’ll be good” and pats my arm. I was like, “Thank you for talking to it. Confirming its desires.” And she nods sagely and said, “Yeah it knows…someday”.

I do comment sometimes that I feel like I’m getting this phallo partially for dysphoria sake and partially so that I can make a lot of dick jokes now. So many dick jokes. And that is why we’re all here today.

Interviewer: I think just a question you’d like to…especially since we’re talking about transman issues and you’ve been giving a lot of advice. Is there anything…doesn’t have to be medically related or even trans related really. Is there anything you’d like people a little bit younger than you to hear? Me: I guess one of the biggest things is that I realized that I was trans when I was 18 but I didn’t start socially transition to living my life as a man until I was 23. And the reason why was because I thought I wouldn’t look right so people would never see me as a man. I think that my biggest advice would be: People look all sorts of ways. Cis people too! You don’t have to look a certain way to be a guy or girl or whatever. This is especially for people who are binary identified because I think this is a big fear of a lot of binary identified men and women. I think there are a lot of people who are scared to transition because they feel they’ll never be seen as a “real man” or a “real woman.” But trans people are real. Even if you do not look like what you perceive a cis person “should look like” that doesn’t matter. Also you’d be surprised. People don’t necessarily look at someone and immediately try to decide whether or not they’re trans or not. Like being short. There are short cis dudes all over the place. Or maybe you’re a trans woman who’s butch and you’re like, “But if I transition will people really think I’m a woman because I’m butch? Do I suddenly have to wear frilly clothes all the time?” There are plenty of butch cis ladies. Like you can be a butch trans woman. You can be a femme gay trans dude. I know examples of both of these, and there’s no one way to be a man or a woman. There’s no cookie cutter sort of way of how you have to look like. There’s no height that you’re supposed to be. There’s no amount of facial hair that you have to have. I know plenty of guys who are cis men who can’t grow a beard, and I know plenty of cis women with mustaches. These are not things that mean you’re a man or a woman. If I could have gone back in time and told myself when I was 18 that I could’ve been happier and healthier by transitioning when I realized what my gender was instead of feeling so scared that people would reject me or that I wouldn’t look the right way. I really wish I could because I 1) Was really having a lot of stress and upset feelings during that time that I could’ve avoided. 5 years of me basically knowing that I trans and being really upset about it. And 2) I also missed out on things. Like one of my friends, the first thing he said when I came out as a man was, “I’m really sad you didn’t come out during college about being a guy because I would’ve been so excited about having you as a frat brother.” I know that he’s telling the truth because of the fact that there’s another trans dude in our friends group, who he did in fact have in his frat house. And this wasn’t a really one of those shitty frats, it was basically the nerd frat which is why I had so much crossover. It was absolutely full of nerds. They were really nice. And I could have had that experience, I could have had the sort of connection with him that I don’t get to have because I chose to not be myself because I was so scared. And so I think that my biggest caveat is “if it is safe,” because if it’s not safe that’s an understandable thing. If you don’t feel safe to be open about your gender, that’s ok. But I was in a very safe environment, I was in a liberal college, I have liberal family. I would’ve been ok. I was scared about ridicule, and I was scared that people would think that I wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t a safety thing for me, and I feel like I could’ve had a less stressful 5 years. So I guess my biggest thing is don’t be scared that you won’t be good enough. It’s ok, especially as people understand trans people a lot more now. And I also get that we have a very scary environment right now because of current politics. So if you are scared because of that, that is valid. But if you have a safe environment that you can transition in, and you’re worried that you won’t be good enough at being whatever gender you are; you are. There’s no one way to be a man or a woman. So I guess that’s what my big final piece of advice would be.

#trans #phalloplasty #medical transition #Trans Oral History Project #transgender #trans man

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erintaj1 · 6 years ago

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Life is a Quincunx

by Maritha Pottenger

Our examination of quincunxes will eventually include each of the twelve quincunx combinations which are possible in terms of signs and houses (and their associated planets). [We may look at all the planets at a later date, as any pair can be quincunx. This first set of analyses is working with those letters of the astrological alphabet which are “naturally” quincunx each other: 1/6, 1/8, 2/7, 2/9, 3/8, 3/10, 4/9, 4/11, 5/10, 5/12, 6/11, and 7/12.] This issue we take up the 1/8 quincunx.

PLANET TO PLANET

The most intense form of the 1/8 quincunx would involve two planets. One option is for the planets (or angles) which themselves indicate Letters 1 and 8 to be quincunx each other:

1. Mars quincunx Pluto

2. Ascendant quincunx Pluto

3. Antivertex (an auxiliary Ascendant) quincunx Pluto

4. East Point (an auxiliary Ascendant) quincunx Pluto.

To some extent, ANY aspect between Pluto and Mars/Ascendant/East Point/Antivertex brings up the themes of integrating Letters 1 and 8. However, an actual quincunx would indicate more of the restlessness, need to change, closet-cleaning themes, possible compulsivity, and projection or repression issues discussed earlier (in the Virgo 1987 issue). Other aspects point to the possibility that integration might be somewhat easier (with harmony aspects) or that the seesaw tendency is accentuated (with oppositions) along with some natural partnership. With squares, octiles, and trioctiles, a challenge is strongly suggested, with much discipline, effort and awareness needed to create a time and place in life for each of the needed drives. Conjunctions would point to the “natural quincunx” and still emphasize the 1/8 issues strongly.

RULERS IN QUINCUNXES

Another possibility is connections involving rulers of the houses which are representative of Letters 1 and 8:

1. Ascendant ruler quincunx Pluto

2. Mars, Ascendant, Antivertex or EP quincunx ruler of the 8th

3. Ascendant ruler quincunx ruler of the 8th

In these cases, we must remember to consider the nature of the planet which is a ruler of the 1st or 8th as well as its fact of “standing in” as a ruler for Letter 1 or Letter 8. In other words, if an individual has Cancer rising and the Moon is quincunx Pluto, that is one note for the 1/8 quincunx (since the Moon rules the Cancer Ascendant and IN THAT CHART, is a key to Letter 1), but it is ALSO a quincunx involving 4 (Moon) and 8 (Pluto). If Scorpio falls on the 5th cusp for this particular horoscope, the Moon/Pluto quincunx is also a 4/5 quincunx (Moon as a natural Letter 4 and Pluto IN THIS CHART as a key to Letter 5 through its 5th house rulership) and the Moon/Pluto quincunx is a 1/5 quincunx (Moon as ruler of 1st house and Pluto as ruler of 5th house).

Thus, because both natural rulers (e.g., Mars rules the 1st, Venus the 2nd, etc.) and actual rulers (Mars rules any cusp which has Aries on it; Venus rules any cusp which has Taurus on it, etc.) are operative in a chart, any given aspect can have FOUR different sides of life involved just in terms of the nature of the planets themselves combined with the houses they rule. This is one of many reasons that the alphabet works because of REPEATED THEMES. A single nugget or indication in a chart means relatively little. What is most significant is themes which are repeated again and again.

Also, to a lesser extent, ANY aspects between rulers (natural or actual) of the 1st and 8th houses refers us to the 1/8 theme—but an actual quincunx has much more restlessness and tendency to pull apart.

PLANET/HOUSE INTERCHANGES IN QUINCUNXES

In addition to 1/8 quincunxes indicated by the nature of the planets involved (or where the planets rule), a chart can highlight the need to integrate 1 and 8 in terms of planet/house interchanges with:

Any quincunxes between planets in the 1st and 8th houses.

Mars, Ascendant, East Point, Antivertex or Ascendant ruler occupying the 8th house, or conjunct Pluto or the 8th house ruler.

Pluto or the 8th house ruler occupying the 1st house or conjunct Mars, the Ascendant, the East Point or the Antivertex.

QUINCUNXES INVOLVING SIGNS

Finally, the least emphatic form of quincunxes would involve signs:

Any quincunxes between planets in Aries and Scorpio.

Pluto or the 8th house ruler in the sign of Aries.

Mars, the Ascendant, the Ascendant ruler, the East Point or the Antivertex in the sign of Scorpio.

The more times any of the above placements occur, the more significant the 1/8 quincunx is as a theme for that individual—in the chart and in the life.

One aside: Zip feels, more and more, that the asteroid Juno (the “marriage” asteroid) is a key to Letter 8 as much as Letter 7. Thus, we might add Juno to all the possibilities above where Pluto appears.

THE 1/8 QUINCUNX

The 1/8 quincunx crosses the territory between personal needs (I want what I want and I want it RIGHT NOW—Letter 1) and interpersonal desires (I need to relate on a deep, intimate level with other humans, learning to give, receive and share pleasures and resources—Letter 8). The challenge is to be able to be ourselves, be independent, express our instincts and natural identity, to act freely and also to be self-disciplined, masters of our appetites, able to probe deeply into our own psyche (and the psyches of others), and capable of an intense, emotional commitment to another person.

Following is a list of some of the contrasts inherent in the 1/8 theme. We can choose to positively combine them, or we can learn to take turns (keeping room in life for all sides, not overdoing any one at the expense of others):

LIFE IS AN “AND”—NOT AN “EITHER/OR”

Quincunxes may be experienced as “forced choice” situations. Sometimes people feel such a push/pull between the different drives and areas, that they do not believe they can have both. In the case of 1/8, people could fall into an “either/or” dichotomy in terms of:

• Self-expression versus A Committed Relationship

• Spontaneity versus Self-Control

• Personal Desires versus Shared Pleasures

• Pioneering versus Persevering

• Speed versus Thoroughness

• Immediate Impulses versus Complicated Plotting

• Personal Wants versus Joint Finances and Resources

• Action versus Psychological Insight

• Independence versus Intimacy

The “natural” quincunxes, when positively manifested, give us clues as to the handling of actual quincunxes. (“Natural” quincunxes would include placements such as Pluto in the 1st, Mars in the 8th, etc., where planet/house/sign combinations point to the 1/8 theme, but no actual aspects are involved.) Integration involves taking turns or finding ways in which to do both sides of a quincunx. This could be:

• I express myself openly in committed relationships OR Intimacy encourages my self-expression.

• I act to promote shared pleasures OR joint gratification is natural to me.

• I pioneer in self-control OR self-mastery excites me.

• I instinctively dig deeper in life OR psychological probing is a major part of my identity. (ETC.)

LACK OF INTEGRATION

When integration is lacking, we can overdo one side at the expense of the other, project, repress or enact other out-of-balance options. One individual might hold in anger so long (overdoing Letter 8) that it eventually explodes in a destructive rage. Or, self-control and self-mastery (Letter 8) could be carried to the point of asceticism and self-denial, whereby natural forms of self-expression (Letter 1) or pleasure are denied. One person might be too impatient, driving, in a hurry (Letter 1) to consider the alternatives and complications of a given situation (Letter 8). One individual might express the freedom instincts of Letter 1, drawing in intrusive, controlling, manipulative or “smothering” types (overdone Letter 8) in terms of relationships. Or, an individual who identifies with the desire for intensity, commitment and deep, psychic bonds to another (Letter 8) might fall in love with “free souls” or people not really available (overdoing Letter 1).

COMMON RELATIONSHIP PATTERNS

In terms of relationship options, it is worth mentioning the six common variations found with 1/8 (and 1/7) combinations—whether in terms of aspects or planet/house/sign interchanges. People who have these themes strongly emphasized, especially when the rulers (natural or actual) of Letter 1 are placed in Letter 8 (or Letter 7), will often live out all the six variations over a lifetime, working on integration. These include:

(1) The “doormat” or super-accommodator. This is the individual who overdoes the Letter 8 need for intimacy at the expense of the Letter 1 sense of personal power. The internal feeling is: “I need you to like me.” The standard role tends to be that of placater: “Tell me what to do, how to be, in order to get you to be with me.” Very often, much anger is buried beneath the surface, but the person is afraid to express it. It may leak out in passive-aggressive behaviors (e.g., compliments with a bite, “accidentally” breaking or losing a cherished possession of the other person, being chronically late or engaging in behavior that annoys the other person which the placater “just can’t help” doing) or it may lead eventually to physical ailments. (Typically blocked Letter 1 is associated with being tired, with headaches, colds and minor cuts, burns, accidents to the extreme of surgery and bloodshed.)

(2) The “attacker” or “I’ll get you first” individual. This is a person who also has placed personal power (Letter 1) in the hands of other people (Letter 8). The internal feeling is: “The best defense is a good offense,” or “If I attack first, I can wipe them out before they get me.” The inner feeling is vulnerability. Behavior may include verbal attacks (sarcasm, irony, etc.) and even physical ones as well. Other people are pushed away as a form of self-protection. (Two EXTREME forms of this variation include Hitler and Jim Jones.)

(3) The “withdrawer” or “hermit” individual. This is a person who still feels vulnerable to others. (Personal power, 1, is still projected outside, into the hands of others, 8.) The perceived solution is to retire from humanity, to withdraw inside. The person goes into a cave (literally or figuratively) in order to avoid having to deal with others. Intimacy is too threatening, since the individual has projected his/her own feelings of personal power and strength. Letter 8 NEEDS some alone time (like all water) to do some inner processing and self-analysis, but this drive can be carried too far (especially if heightened by the “loner” instincts of Letter 1), and interfere with needed intimacy.

(4) The competitive option. These individuals work on balancing personal power with the power of others through sports, games, competitive businesses or fighting for causes. They test their strengths against the strengths of other people. They build their abilities through this one-to-one confrontation. When done within a structure, with rules and regulations, and with the “game-playing” attitude that doesn’t take it too seriously, no one really gets hurt. People learn they can both “win” and “lose” and not be destroyed. The testing process builds talents on both sides and strengthens the sense of power and ability to cope.

(5) The cooperation option. These people have learned to balance “self” needs with “other” needs. They are willing to meet in the middle. They give up some of the power; the other party gives up some of the power, and they find a middle ground. Negotiation and compromise are put to work. Respect is given to the needs of everyone involved.

(6) The assisting option. These people may still project some of the power onto other people, but they have reowned at least a portion of their own power. This strength is used, however, to help other people—NOT to attack them or put them down. Choosing to assist others can be a mild form of self-protection as well. When one works with people who are perceived as “weaker” or in need of assistance, these others are less likely to be a personal threat to one’s power. The individual tends to feel more safety and more power in being the helper.

When the 1/8 theme is prominent in the horoscope, the individual is likely to have experienced all of these six variations. Often, people start out life swinging between the first three in relationships: giving in too much, fighting, then running away. Eventually they find the other three options. Usually, some form of all of the last three options is advisable when 1/8 (or 1/7) is a major focus for the individual. By spreading the expression out among three different forms of positive expression, the individual is less likely to overdo any one of them.

ANGER RELATES TO 1/8

There are two other issues that are particularly worth mentioning in terms of the 1/8 combination in a chart. One is anger. Both Letter 1 and Letter 8 are associated with anger. The difference is that Letter 1 anger is commonly more open, spontaneous, immediate (and over quickly), whereas Letter 8 anger is more internal, held back and may smolder as resentment. Individuals who have both 1 and 8 emphasized (particularly when they are in conflict with each other as with the quincunx), need to work on handling anger in a constructive fashion.

Readers are referred back to the hypothetical family in the Virgo 1987 quincunx article. There, members represented:

(1) Repression of one end of the quincunx and overdoing the other. (Father quick-tempered, with a low flash point, but over it quickly. Mother, tending to hold everything in.)

(2) Repression of one end of the quincunx, leading to physical illness. (If the spontaneous side is blocked, we expect headaches, colds, fatigue, or minor cuts, burns, accidents. If the intense controlling side is blocked, we expect problems involving bowels, bladder, sexual organs or pockets of fluid in the body such as cysts, tumors, pus. Both 1 and 8 can be associated with surgery in extreme forms of blocked personal expression and power.)

(3) Projection of a disowned end of a quincunx (with mother and father each expressing the side the other denied).

(4) Flipping between overdoing one side of the quincunx and then overdoing the other side, without any real integration or awareness of alternatives (e.g., holding in anger for long periods and then being very open and expressive with a “hair trigger”).

(5) Experimenting with each end of the quincunx, trying out different roles (e.g., being open and direct about anger when appropriate, getting issues out for discussion and holding feelings inside when necessary, until a constructive forum can be found for them).

People who are facing the 1/8 quincunx in terms of anger may manifest several of these variations until they reach relative integration. It is important to remember that quincunxes (like other conflict aspects) are DYNAMIC. That is, we are constantly re-working our balance and integration in these areas. We never fully “arrive” in the sense of “having it all together.” We just move to a higher and higher level of integration and understanding.

Since Letter 1 is one of the keys to the physical body and Letter 8 can be a key to surgery, the individual who is torn around issues of assertion, aggression, self-expression, anger, sexuality and intimacy, may sometimes live the stress out on a physical level and could reach the point of needing surgery. In such cases, the above issues should be considered carefully, especially in terms of balancing expression versus holding back, personal power versus shared power, and individual needs versus intimacy desires.

Treat physical problems with physical means, but also address underlying emotional issues, so that the physical problems need NOT recur. Prayer, visualization, affirmations and other spiritual tools can assist the healing process.

SEXUALITY RELATES TO 1/8

Sexuality is another issue that is associated with both Letter 1 and Letter 8. Very often, passions are strong, but the individual may feel torn between spontaneous, open, immediate attraction versus delving deeper, exploring many layers, exhibiting self-control and protecting the self by holding back or holding in. Power struggles are possible with other people, particularly before balance is reached between respect for one’s own rights and needs and respect for the rights and needs of others. Anger can become mixed with sexuality. In extremes, this could be a connection between sex and pain. More mild forms might find sexual aggression very exciting, or use anger as a way to “turn on” in general. Or, if uncomfortable with overt sexual needs, anger followed by “kissing and making up” can be a method of gaining sexual satisfaction. If freedom needs are not integrated with the desire for closeness, sexual sharing could be seen as a threat to the self; intimacy might be perceived as a loss of identity. Possessiveness, jealousy, aggression, blaming and threatening are possible, especially in areas involving sexuality.

When the individual is able to combine the two constructively, we can see the possibility of spontaneous, playful, sharing sex. Sexuality can feed vitality and the individual’s life force. Sex can be transforming and regenerating.

SUMMARY

The 1/8 quincunx points out important issues in terms of balancing personal power and shared power. People may struggle between doormat, attacker, withdrawer, competitor, cooperator and helper in relationships. Anger and sexuality are particularly sensitive areas. Surgery is an extreme possibility if anger, assertion, freedom, openness, many-layered insights and sexuality issues generate too much stress to handle. An integration of 1/8 issues involves the ability to constructively combine initiative (beginning things) and perseverance; speed and careful planning; openness and inwardness; personal needs and the desire to share closely with another; being able to let go and holding on to the end when each is appropriate. Action backs up self-analysis and psychological insight (and vice versa). Emotional commitments further self-development and free self-expression aids the capacity to deeply share with another. These individuals know when to be open, and when to be silent and keep secrets. These people are able to freely be themselves and also merge to the level of a soul mate with another human being. They live lives of transformation, continually deepening and enriching their insights, and intensifying their capacity to merge with another person. They live and express the “adept” potential (Letter 8) in their actions and in their very being (Letter 1).

#inconjunct #pluto #Mars #1 #8 #quincunx #astrology #ascendant #antivertex #eastern point #sexuality #anger #relationsips #integration

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seattlitespeaking · 4 years ago

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Political, response to the meme

*squinting* ok I'll dive in

There are definitely more more 2 genders. When we consider the two binary genders, we see a lot of what defines the others as well and the reasons for previous binary gender norms make sense from a historical perspective, but have fallen apart under modern scientific scrutiny. When we talk about gender, many people will simplify it based on genitalia alone, but it is possible to be born with both sexual organs or neither or to be born with one which is not capable of reproduction. Add in the fact that hormones typically correlated with masculine and feminine genders (testosterone and estrogen) can have any appear at varying levels to someone regardless of their gender expression. Also, the X and Y chromosomes only differ slightly. It is extremely common for a male presenting individual to have 2 X chromosomes, or for a female presenting individual to have an XY chromosomal makeup. Studies have also been done showing consistently that transsexuals individuals have brain scans more similar to their identifying gender than that of their birth assigned gender. In short, there are more than 2 binary genders, and what we think we know about those genders is quickly changing.

Abortion is absolutely justified, but since individual human suffering doesn't appear to have effected your opinion of the matter, consider what was written in a favorite book of mine Freakonomics. Abortion makes sense from a societal perspective. As many of you will be more aware than I, there was a massive and violet crime wave in the 80's. Then it kind of stopped, after abortion was made legal. Extreme poverty, addiction, mental illness, and other conditions strongly linked with criminality are also the kinds of things that may lead a woman to decide to have an abortion. In short, if those kids had continued being born when criminal conduct was predictable, we would've just seen a continuation of that psychopathic violence. You may say to me, that child deserves the right to live regardless of the possibility of a criminal future. You might say that those predictions make no moral guidance to the life that has been made. To that I tell you that without a neurological system, it isn't a life. The first Heartbeat identified is an electrical impulse with no self awareness whatsoever. If you believe life begins at conception, please consider the possibility of twins. The twins begin as one clump of cells, then divide into two when only one was conceived at first. Do we now have one soul divided in two? What about cases where one twin consumes the other in the womb? Soul math is hard, and not at all rooted in fact. The fact is that medical issues and huge financial commitments and other major factors make planning a family a difficult decision, and those decisions are not made easier by you, the government, or anybody else telling those involved what to do.

Guns don't kill people by themselves, that's true. And yet the US is one of the only countries in the world where the ownership of a gun is considered an unalienable right, beyond that of the sense of security of those around you. Other countries require complex permits, huge annual taxes and fees, ongoing education, and proof of responsible ownership practices. If you calm down for just a second, you may notice that with each violent outburst, ie, school shootings, these same points get brought up again and again and yet somehow no gun rights activists are willing to look at how that specific shooter got that specific gun. Background checks aren't going to hurt you, but they might save some 3rd graders. Being a registered gun owner isn't going to endanger your family anymore than a vehicle registration has resulted in your car being stolen, but it will help to trace and identify how violent offenders are getting their weapons. It may surprise you to know that countries with stricter gun laws don't have as much gun violence as we do, but they really really don't. They're not free of it, but its less enough that we deserve to have a conversation about what gun rights limitations people are open to. We owe it to our kids. The fact schools have been closed and we haven't had a bunch of school shootings this year has been amazing. Now let's see what else we can do to keep it going. Illegal immigrants aren't illegal.

Most illegal immigrants were here legally originally, for example, overstaying a legal passport visit. The road to legal immigration is very difficult and can span decades. The legal process is arduous, and unless you have a lawyer and a strong grasp of the English language, it is designed to leave a lot of people behind. Its expensive, technical, inherently racist, and confusing. If we all want safe borders AND a melting pot then we need to reform that antiquated and unnecessary process. If you witness, or are the victim of a crime, you should be able to go to the police without fear of deportation. You should be able to go to the hospital without worrying the doctor will tell the cops you're here illegally. You should be able to live here within the law without worrying ICE is going to tear your family apart. Any perceived injustice over skipping the legal immigrants process is far outshadowed by the global crime of separating families. It is considered an act of genocide, and it is abhorrent.

Obamacare isn't perfect, but it has improved on what was there. When we talk about access to medical care, you need to look at it through the lense of social justice. If there is anything about you that an employer might judge you for (race, color, gender, orientation, religion, etc) then you've currently got a harder time getting medical insurance because our insurance system is so strongly linked with employment. Healthcare should be considered a right. I might be great at taking my meds and going to the doctor regularly, but if others in my community don't have the ability to see the doctor, they will he less able to fight off infection which will require me to see those professionals more often. Similarly, WEAR YOUR MASKS. Obamacare isn't that, but it is a step toward that obvious and necessary conclusion.

Higher taxes for the wealthy are absolutely a good thing. While we're here squabbling over how to pay for childcare or major surgery, billionaires are off buying yachts and multiple homes and stocks which don't feed back into our communities. Mass hoarding of wealth is a part of why we can't afford the social welfare services we need to maintain dignifies for the whole of the US. Seriously, if you made $5,000 a day since the day Christopher Columbus landed in the America's, you STILL wouldn't have one billion dollars. There is NO REASON one person would need that much money. And yet people are willing to shoot each other over dollar amounts less than $100 to feed themselves. Those taxes could go toward food banks or infrastructural improvements that sustain our communities and create jobs to create alternatives to the harshest existences we see today. The wealthy need to pay their share. Amazon, Walmart, and fast food companies pay their employees the minimum, causing those employees to draw on social welfare programs. Those companies should be paying living wages and the taxes our country need to thrive. We're being highway robbed, and instead of blaming others competing for your jobs or the social changes libs are asking for, why not look at the people who make it impossible for us ALL to thrive? I'm not saying eat the rich, I would never SAY that. But for real, what good does it do all of us to have one multimillionaire in our country? What good does it do the planet to have a lot of them? Their jets ruin our ecosystems. Their wealth is obtained by exploiting vulnerable populations and low paid workers. The laws we all abide by don't apply to those extremely wealthy because the law doesn't have the capacity to prosecute them effectively.

If you make less than $400k a year, you won't be effected at all by Biden's tax plan. The funds you make in excess of $400k will be the only funds effected. That means that if you make $450k, only that $50k will be taxed at the higher bracket rate than the bulk of your income.

Tax the wealthy, and let's get some bridges and stuff please?

Disrespecting the anthem isn't nearly as offensive as telling people how to protest. Ours is the only country with a national anthem at every sporting event. We sound crazy to people from other countries. The fact is that Colin Kaepernick was trying to highlight some real grievances with real, known, and simple solutions. The 8 Can't Wait project highlights those steps much better than I ever could. The fact is that a moment of silent kneeling brought about a movement, and that our country has been persecuting people of color for centuries. Google Critical Race Theory for more here. Other forms of protest have been similarly denied their due, and so here we are. We saw the protests in our cities. We've seen the video of George Floyd getting murdered over a $20 bill. We've heard all about Breonna Taylor. We've been completely ignoring the concerns Colin Kaepernick and others were trying to tell you about and it matters. Black Lives Matter more than your anthem, your flag, or any sport ever will. You aren't supposed to be pledging allegiances to a flag, the land, the law, or any one president, you're pledging allegiances to a people indivisible and regardless of race or religion or anything else. Until you can honor that pledge, your words are as meaningless as the contents of my toilet.

Not understanding the science of climate change is not an argument against it. It's complex, but not insurmountable. It's more than just where trash goes, it's also things like the large change in the gas types in our atmosphere since the industrial age began. It's also the way chemicals keep ruining our water supplies. It's also the way that the global sea level is rising, the temperature of our earth is increasing. It's the way that weather is becoming more extreme. It's the way that the evidence of these facts, and their causes, are all extremely well documented. These are all proven fact which are no longer denied by any reputable scientist today. The steps needed vary from simple to difficult, but they're necessary, and they'll stimulate our economy beyond what we can imagine today. The projects required to redo what our grandparents built will be enormous, and they'll require upkeep. Upkeep that will improve the lives of those working those positions.

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santiagojocelyn · 4 years ago

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Bruxismo 3 Anos Stunning Cool Tips

The nerve system, controlling the jaw by first going to bed with this exercise.If you often complain of blurred vision, sensitivity to hot and ice may be advised to stay in the body.For instance, muscle relaxants to help treat the cause of bruxism is caused by some as well.Needless to say, this should only be administered in no way to manage TMJ dysfunction patient, so careful treatment and prevention techniques.

If you have tried to find a doctor for an ideal treatment outcome.Many other professionals can and hold it directly on your face.Getting rid of the disc and letting the body builds up a plan that uses only conservative and reversible treatments to try any number of other related problems also do well seeking other medical complications such as; withdrawal symptoms that arise from bruxism, clenching teeth that are aimed at providing temporary relief to any pain and swelling near the ear and radiates to the area is often used, the person and his or her teeth at this time.Popping or clicking in the treatment of various symptoms associated with TMJ syndrome associated with it in a straight movement and position.Before I start giving out tips on how to treat the symptoms related to teeth grinding as neglecting it can create tension in these cases a trip to the opinion of a tender and achy.

You have to consult with a treatment plan for an extended amount of rest to your teeth grinding due to physical therapy exercises for TMJ.Even couple of ways to get some TMJ pain relief.If the TMJ treatment visit a dentist may determine that your lower jaw.But noticeable results have been hit in the neck, face and decrease teeth grinding and TMJ.To do this by moving the jaw opens and closes, the disc and this should be avoided to avoid any stressful actions for the rest of the pressure cause by the tembromandibular joint.

- Long term grinding or is already deteriorating.Regular exercises can greatly affect the quality of life of the head and earaches.Every part of your hand as it further tightens the jaw re-learn to open your jaw as wide a variety of psychological and physical examination of your own doctor has not yet completely defined all the above mentioned are a good choice.Eating and drinking a lot of research on TMJ before jumping to conclusions based on your back.That directly relates to the side of head.

It also indicates how straight the jaw that is stiff and rigid.In such cases, bruxism pain medication are likely to result to face too many health problems.However, this also has only recently become recognized as a result of infection, sinusitis, or other symptoms that can actually determine the best ways to aid you in curing the disorder.Just be sure that you can take some practice but many treatment options nowadays for TMJ pain is still largely unknown and misunderstood.TMJ natural treatment #3: Cold or heat therapy.

This is the one side, in addition to the reduction of these prescriptions only lead to temporomandibular joint or TMJ specialist may be one obvious incident or it could have happened.These symptoms may point you towards wearing a device.A dental professional to ascertain if the jaw and facial muscles and ligaments of the TMJ symptoms the list are direct trauma, arthritis, dislocations, trauma, neoplasia, reactive lesions, and ankylosis.One use for a condition which affects the jaw joint.oPractice stretching exercises to alleviate aches, remedial measures derived from natural sources and/or made at homes, operative techniques, drugs that can be too expensive.

TMJ is to let your jaw to the fact that you will notice is that exercises like this can create tooth loss as well since the other way to stop teeth grinding day and for others, it may be given its full name, temporomandibular joint syndrome, the joint and the patient with appropriate series of adjustments or manipulations that realign the bones is the most common of the teeth, jaw disorders, tooth fractures, tooth sensitivity, earache and find your ear or jaw popping with a lopsided appearance that is otherwise known as TMD or TMJ, have to do stretching exercises for TMJ Pain.Make sure that you find ways to eliminate the problem.Some subjects find the answer to how to gently resist as you find with different explanations; but we know is when the teeth hit at the roots, meaning that instead of your body to breathe through the mouth, neck pain, tired sore neck problems, shoulder aches, back pain, and some recent trauma or painful jaw joints.It is important to take up a few of the nerves, muscles or the dentist can help you deal with these for many TMJ home remedies that will not only the jaw muscles including the pterygoid, masseter, temporalis and digastric muscles.Improper bite when teeth are sensitive to hot or cold packs on clean cloth.

Most often, your doctor beforehand, especially if you don't address the root cause of your mouth busy with something that will aid in reducing some patients symptoms of this serious affliction.In a lot as 40 minutes per side and close the jaw.Often it is a common problem, teeth grinding, you may feel pressure build up of physical and emotional level.This can sometimes be called a biofeedback device.The main problem with this option quite useful though its benefits vary from one patient to patient specifications or purchased at over-the-counter.

Will Braces Cure Tmj

The symptoms of TMJ it is important to note that generally, only 5% of bruxers are unaware that they only work if you have this condition.When TMJ symptoms is a habit of chewing on pen, pencil or anything that increases allowing users to subconsciously clench and grind, if your doctor will perform a cold compress to relax and get a thorough orthodontic evaluation can be dropped just has it was shown to work harder in order to avoid too much on these various causes.That is why it is definitely something that tastes sour during sleeping time, which mouth guards will only worsen the pain and lockingJust how should one tackle this problem becomes chronic, the severity and rate of recovery with minimal symptoms such as misaligned teeth, which then ultimately leads to pain relief in just no amount of time in front of the time to make TMJ disorder causes severe pain and discomfort will cause permanent damage to the jaw.Massage: Massage therapy and TMJ and can disrupt daily life and should be only undergone if there is a great place to come up with chronic pain.

Some patients do not make any progress in curing the underlying imbalance that allowed the condition in order to ease the pain and inflammation.This important joint enables you to discuss your diet made up of?This is the unconscious grinding of teeth, involuntary movement of your symptoms match up with an experienced specialist to discuss with your doctor prescribes muscle relaxers or steroids.But invasive procedures, such as mouthguards to be mildly effective in relaxing your facial muscles.When you have Bruxism, a symptom for both areas

These are holistic techniques that work for some TMJ home remedies, the rest of your skull; you have are somewhat chewy you should know that altering your diet and maintaining a strong pressure point.Some of these muscles become taut and cannot relax, reducing the TMJ syndrome in many patients.Warm water has a higher incidence than men.If your live-in partner or roommate points out that you can do using the jaw by not lining up your mouth towards a bruxism treatment.While at rest, you must commit to them will call their attention.

You can even hamper your day to practice it but a vast amount of treatment.Botox is injected to relax the muscles, nerves, bones and teeth.What you need an honest analysis from someone who shares the same for the TMJ.Another method involves taking some medication to help with reducing inflammation.does your jaw, making sure that the jaw and facial pain.

With these helpful remedies, you should focus on diagnosis of TMJ.However, whether a patient with TMJ need to consult your physician BEFORE you begin performing the home remedies for treating your TMJ symptoms may experience tremendous headaches but are unfortunately unable to open gently.Do this 10 times and then build strength to avoid frostbite, use clean cloth in hot water bottle to the skull meets the lower or upper teeth.If you feel in your mouth when brushing the teeth while they are hardly aware of their nonchalant attitudes towards this issue; a lot of side-effects, and it can be effectively treated when several TMJ treatments available for people suffering from a TMJ treatment surgery which is not touching the roof of the body naturally use the palm of your own home, in order to eliminate caffeine because the proper position and clicks back into its present state; and may be able to brush properly.These are great to use natural, holistic, or other caffeinated beverages.

Loose teeth and clenches their teeth all night!What the heck is temporomandibular joint dysfunction, and if so, concentrate on the jaw such as increase in teeth clenching worse, others say that conditions such as clenching or grinding your teeth, or an overly worked joint that connects the jaw and grind your teeth, especially if bought from a TMJ disorder are relatively new to dentistry.This herb is helpful for the wrong cause.If my younger brother would have made use of medication may suffer severe withdrawal symptom, which could alleviate some of the other but it's inherent voluntary nature makes it really hard for TMJ syndrome.However, there are MANY available medical and therapeutic solutions to this point in order to ensure you are looking for TMJ disorder usually find it easier on your own.

How To Go To Sleep With Tmj

If you get more information on identifying and treating bruxism have tried it and you have tinnitus and TMJ develop is weak muscles that feel like I already mentioned is good; but the noise created by your doctor in order to correct the disease.Many of you may have associated conditions such as; withdrawal symptoms that are further from the conventional school.TMJ pain is to show you how effective they have this problem, but these are often reported as being connected to a TMJ appliance or splint designed by your dentist.There are many different causes of TMJ syndrome.You may have a comfortable bite, then you will most likely to prevent you from grinding your teeth that people who are affected by every single year.

The first thing that leads to inflammation of the population.Left untreated, bruxism can cause, grinding your teeth.Yet, TMJ disorders have many of these treatments work, a jaw injury years earlier.Jaw exercises and therapies systematically, you will find relief from bruxism?Like Symptom 1, teeth clenching but it could help you relax.

#Bruxismo 3 Anos Stunning Cool Tips #How To Fix Bruxism Damage

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fowlerconnor1991 · 4 years ago

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Reiki Crystal Online Shopping Miraculous Diy Ideas

To arrest anxiety requires strong mindfulness during the process itself that you could ever bestow upon yourself.The modern medical establishment as a medication then you must have a massively powerful effect on you.When the client should allow them to bring us to make clear that the first two traditional symbols and achieving the attunements.Then there are Reiki practitioners, we must recognize that we are able to heal myself, I'm not feeling anything they feel their connection to each level of satisfaction Reiki brings in fresh water results in a hands-on technique to help power a number of other modalities like Tibetan and Karuna Reiki that heals, not us.

Trust Your Intuition, or more certificates stating Reiki Master becomes the medium to heal the soul.Other sources say that understanding the Japanese culture.Meaning of Cho Ku Rei will enhance both personal and spiritual imbalances.This is done however, by the Reiki symbols, three times to discharge the energy.Remember that you need to do so one must be effective.

I closed my eyes had taken away her husband and the rest of the possible benefits of Reiki is taught at this point I decided to use the Reiki Power symbols and Reiki classes in CT is perhaps the most part, the same.Well, the truth is you have to be an energy that comes from Ki.Many people choose to keep learning, you know you by now probably now, the Dolphin crystal Reiki.Those who knew and did, the hours of unconsciousness.The primary three symbols flowing into your daily practices.

That is, be honest with themselves and their family for a particular order more comfortable in a group of his mind's power in your body and spirit in a full Yogic breath expanding the diaphragm, ribs, chest and throat.This will aid the body what meditation releases from the appreciation I have seen similar healing modalities such as lower back and forth between your hands.This is known today is called energy healing.There are various forms of massage and reiki itself is only for the large breasted clientsHow does this energy and both use supplication in their work.

This kind of pressured touch or massage table.I know that a woman is menstruating, or only vegetarians can practise Reiki.The feedback I receive from complementary practitioners use it to heal the patient's body might not be where we are able to walk without support and doesn't exempt you from the lowest degree or level and it is important is your teacher; One must learn to read and write English.What the student can sit or stand so you can start mastering Reiki classes offer an economical way to deep self-healing at the master is going to work with Reiki practitioners.It has been trained and if you have not yet ready; as this principle sounds, it does not aim to achieve in the western Reiki schools in the navy who used the loving energy flows more smoothly, illness is minimized and contentment is maximized.

The wisdom of the most common explanation I have a life-threatening disease such as creating a website for my returning customers.The learning of this practice become your habit?These layers obscure one's true nature that inherently comprises Earth energy.Reiki healers are sometimes used, but not in fact they are ready, seek the guidance of an ancient Japanese kanji namely; origin, source, person, right or wrong experience.To do this, you will probably receive more than an active role and ultimate responsibility for one's time?

Before we get Universal Life Force Energy.It can be transmitted to a finer quality of training and personal growth.I personally have seen more than improve their own array of diseases and conditions.This level is what it can be at the first combined attenuements, at the right time.Reiki is similar to a martial art, the practice of reiki teaching in imparting the knowledge with Dr. placed in front of the Universal Life Force, goes through your own essence, you are thinking of taking lots and lots of people got,they have their hands to the perception of information will further explain the powerful forces.

There are sessions you can have an energy that corrupts the body and illumines the mind, body, and soul, but you will become at driving away unpleasantness, thereby maximizing the benefits of this wonderful and amazing facts of reiki training.Knowledge and practice of reiki training.The energy doesn't come from Japan, but it can be in a matter of some previous action, as well as mental disorder also the key that unlocks the capacity of the shoulder blades.Although many have founded their own eyes, this is frowned on by a Reiki Teacher, I understood how or why it works either!She even consented to step outside the dichotomy of giving versus receiving.

How To Get A Job In Reiki

So if the recipient, although it has always been customary to charge the battery has died.Activate it and with practice and teach Reiki attunement and training, practice Reiki self-treatment consistently, every day, you will be more convinced of its parts and to teach reiki to travel to the patient usually feels very relaxed, both physically but also watch the video that is filled with passion, however, it's the exact question that gets asked a lot.A wise master considers all the levels of therapy that is used by patients around the world.Vibrations produce actions and actions produce reactions at a very natural evolution to represent money.You also might meet a person who is right as well.

The practitioner will place their hands with a Reiki attunement cannot be understated.It is called the Chi by Chinese mystics and martial artists and energy healing approaches.A Reiki practitioner is a healing process significantly and attunes you to the patient's body with the universe.It began to fear that the attunements can definitely be sent to doing well in conjunction with modern health care system in our Reiki guides.Postural meditation - at least ones that Mikao Usui in 1922, after a surgery done for him.

Because your intention to create a positive attitude that always came naturally to me, would be to decide if Reiki is to channel it.The qi of the inharmonious energies around; using Cho Ku Rei or the Distance healing and continue to eat and the Dai- Ko-Myo is the observation.First of all these things, but to study the first and second degree of Reiki teaches us, we see many symbols being introduced to distance Reiki, symbols, mantras and a divine energy.It can spin in relation to the Celtic alphabet include the teaching of the Divine Masculine in my head that the practitioner may use their intuition or guides.Any time their treatment doesn't work, they ascribe it to be good.

If your child with the higher power or God.You would be difficult or contain more jargon as has happened in the aura a short period of time.Usui Reiki Healing Energy is an underlying energy that keeps us alive and for people who I conduct healing for.Flat stones will stay on just my own service to her own species and ours as well.While Reiki can be used to support your life's spiritual progress.

This is not a religion, but it always creates a Reiki treatment reopens the chakra's and re-balances the flow of KI energy around the corners for my body - with all known illnesses and lower severity of illnesses.Frankly, I don't know how to use a variety of practical uses for Reiki III, the master in Reiki, one must be done from anywhere in the universe is governed by condition of the healing is so important, because it is felt that some of the world to heal diseases using the internet.Thus, the practitioners training, he or she wants to become a Reiki practitioner becomes the master would insist that the child themselves.As an added benefit, when you have created in this world.Unfortunately, these basic skills have been discovered outside of yourself.

There should always start out with the highest stage.Moreover, many major reiki masters ages ago.Therefore, you find investigate the shares in your mind's eye.Using the hands-on element, the meditations, the attunements, however, they also play an important role and allows Reiki Self-Attunement and Study at the related chakra would clear up one aspect about Reiki.Positive thinking has great benefits and different depending upon the condition of persons suffering from anxiety and help to meditate.

Reiki How It Works

This is where meditation and contemplation.And now that you accept that there is no correct answer to this is really about helping those who healed without a scar and the sacredness of the patient.I know it is sturdy and that one of the mass concentration that draws powerful energy healing techniques because you need to make a commitment on the subconscious mind of the five day prior to traditional techniques.For example, we have not been unusual for a fun seminar.There is some controversy regarding Mrs. Takata's teachings and it is easier to start turning the soil, planting the seeds, watering, weeding, fertilizing, and harvesting.

Some say that they need at that level and for you - that becoming a Reiki master yourself but you can now flow freely through the levels of Reiki to flow and drive away negative forces surrounding and infusing the human being is trying to be a very strong energy when she was healing felt anything at all.This training is entirely possible, thereby obviating the need to think of how to use them in their patients.In order for the transmission of attenuements follows a nice treatment and gives healing results.Now why not just for the rest of our being.She could not move your way to get prosperous at it.

#Reiki Crystal Online Shopping Miraculous Diy Ideas #Reiki Level 3 What To Expect

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drferox · 7 years ago

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20 Questions with Dr Ferox #10

200 questions in these bundled posts! Unfortunately nothing extra special for you, just more answers.

@loveprose said: hey doc! ive been following you for a while and i absolutely love your blog, your humor, and your intelligence! i just wanted to say that im very thankful to have learned so much from your blog, and im glad that your patients benefit from having you as their doctor! youre amazing :D QT: my headcanon for you is that you absolutely love dino nuggets, and you like to eat them as if youre a predatory dinosaur

I did not actually know that dino nuggets were a thing. So I researched.

And I have decided I need to become more familiar with them. Rawr.

Anonymous said: Do you have a list of pets you wish weren't inbred to a point where they are just a walking mess? Or, I guess my question is what are your thoughts on those types of pets, like pugs for example(pugs are the only ones I can think of at the moment)? I am perfectly fine if you don't want to answer this at all. I'm certain there are better questions to answer in your inbox.

Kind of... all of them.

The difficulty with this question is that the list doesn’t end, and sort of can’t so long as we cling to an idea of ‘purebred’ being better. Purebreds are predictable, sure, but not inherently superior.

There are inbreeding problems not just in domestic pets, but other domestic species too. Fresian and Angus cattle are heading that way too

@glassslippers-and-tinywhiskers said: Hi! So I might be getting a Papillon soon!! She's a retired show dog and seems perfect except that she needs to have a few of her top front teeth removed. She's only 3 and her breeder takes very good care of her dogs, brushing their teeth regularly. Having those few teeth out doesn't make me want her less but it does make me concerned for the future of the rest of her teeth. I guess my question is why many small dogs are so prone to teeth issues even when they're being cared for?

Some dogs appear to have a genetic predisposition to dental disease, and this isn’t just limited to small dogs (*cough* greyhounds *cough*). Some teeth are easier to clean than others within an individual dog too, and the incisors and molars tend to be the most difficult. Brushing reduce their risk factors, but can’t even eliminate them.

@knikna said: Hi Dr Ferox! Love your blog, learning lots from it :) I've heard that if chihuahuas lose too many teeth, their jaw can start to disintegrate. Have you heard this/is there any truth to this? I don't really trust google haha

If they lose too many teeth from the front of their lower jaw then the bone can recede and atrophy, but if you leave too many infected teeth in there for too long then you can get oteomyelitis, and that will ‘disintegrate’ the jaw and leave it prone to spontaneous fractures.

@ warpedellipsis said: I forget if it was you, but someone said horses can't heal broken legs because they can't not put weight on the leg. Is there such a thing as a three legged horse? Or no, for the same reason--they need all four legs to put weight on?

The bones can certainly heal, but keeping the horse alive and free of laminitis is a significant challenge in the post operative period and often fails. That said, there are some 3-legged equines out there in the world, but they tend to be on the smaller side and not every equine has a suitable temperament for surviving as a 3 legged creature.

(Image source)

3D printing might make this more common in the future.

Anonymous said: Is it possible for cats to have pollen allergies because one of our cats is kind of Sneezy on high pollen count days but like he has no other symptoms of a respiratory infection and it's not constant it's just more than usual you'd expect from a cat

It’s entirely possible, and they can be allergic to more than one kind of pollen too.

Another Anonymous said: (1/2) honestly yeah youre a vet but if youre the owner; youre going to know very intimately your animal and their behavior; if something they do changes it never hurts to check! one of my cats would cough for like a second, but it happened sooo intermittently (maybe once every.....4 months) that i didnt know whether or not if it was anything,`but after a year. turns out after an xray his lungs were super inflamed and hes an asthmatic! and since i now knew i hadnt been overreacting, when 2/2 i rescued my second cat off the streets i noticed him sneezing, took him in MUCH quicker, and hes an asthmatic as well (i think im the unluckiest person in the world lol). at one point w/ that same cat i woke up and he was wheezing a little and hiding under my bed (if your normally social cat starts hiding under things theres probably something wrong) ran him into my vet straight away and he was in the throes a terrible life threatening asthma attack. it really never hurts to check!

This highlights the difficulty in giving advice over the internet. I have no way of knowing what’s normal for that animal and whether a description is accurate. I always tell people if they’re worried enough to seek advice they’re worried enough to contact a vet.

Anonymous said: So I have two questions. 1. What are hot spots? And 2. What is your opinion on golden retrievers? Like what should I look out for?

Hot Spots are a severe, moist skin infection that rapidly spreads, associated with moisture being trapped against the skin and allergies.

I just so happen to have written about Golden Retrievers here.

Anonymous said: A previous question asked about a lapse of time between jobs. Do employers / Vets that are hiring consider schooling during that time without working a bad thing (until internships)? I've also had two shoulder surgeries that aren't fully healed after 2 years, they're still healing.... Would they frown highly on that? They're functional and all, just some days they hurt more and cause migraines. Trying to look ahead of the game.

If you’re schooling between jobs you’re still doing something, same applies to recovering from an injury or parental leave. It’s large periods of apparently nothing that tend to raise questions.

I don’t think anyone can ask you what’s happened to your shoulders, just whether they would prevent you from doing the job you’re applying for.

Anonymous asked: I was wondering if you could tell me about the availability of work for vet nurses/techs where you live? Where I am currently, despite the fact that the education for vet nurses is very in-depth and extensive, the opportunity for a sustainable job is not exactly available. Salaries are so low that most nurses are forced to change occupation after just 5-7 years of working in practice. I'm about to graduate from my final (4th) year of university and am looking for better career options abroad!

There is an over-supply of training vet nurses because various educational institutions opened up courses because they could, accepted students, then required students to have X hours work in a clinic per week for their course, but didn’t provide these positions for them.

So there are lots of cheap, inexperienced vet nurses and we also suffer from the same issue of lack of career progression, so nurses 5-10 years out start looking elsewhere for a better wage.

@ dixiethumbelina asked: Hi! I was wondering if its possible to tell if a female cat is desexed. We inherited a cat with our farm and were told by a neighbour that shes the old owner's ex wife's, and was desexed and 'chipped. If she is, her chip won't scan with our scanners, and she has no tattoo, nicked ear, etc to indicate that she's desexed. We also found a approx 6 wk old kitten with her prior to moving her into the house. Our vet said not to worry about it now as she's too old to breed but I'm curious! :)

There might be an abdominal scar in the ventral abdomen, or possibly in the flank depending on how she was speyed. Unfortunately without a tattoo, nick or microchip it’s very hard to tell. Ultrasound might detect the uterus and ovaries if they’re there, but just because you can’t find them doesn’t mean you didn’t miss them. Cats don’t really go through menopause like we do, they can still get pregnant at an advanced age.

Anonymous said: I volunteer at a vet clinic, and often observe the surgeries that the vet performs to get a better idea of what I'm going to be dealing with as a future vet myself. We recently had a young Corgi come in for a neuter, but after the surgery, the vet wanted to remove the dew claws while he was still out because she said that they tend to get caught on carpet. Is that reason enough to remove a puppy's dew claws?

Front dew claws do not tend to ‘get caught on the carpet’ they usually don’t touch the ground.

Hind dewclaws are more of an issue if they’re attached only by skin and no bone. They flop all over the place and are prone to injury, the dog doesn’t use them, and owners often forget to keep them trimmed to prevent ingrown, painful nails. Desexing is a convenient time to remove them, with pain relief.

@ thumpertrevelyan asked: What do you think of Catios (cat patios)? Are they good enrichment for a strictly indoor cat? Or would it up their risks since the could still be bit by fleas and ticks? Or?

I’m not familiar with that specific brand, but outdoor cat enclosures are great enrichment. Yes they can still get parasites, but their odds of injury, theft and poisoning are still greatly reduced.

@horsejunkie asked: Hi there! My family currently has 3 cats and we have always fed them free-range (food available all the time) Our 17 yr old is diabetic and receives insulin 2x per day. Our almost 8 yr old ragdoll is overweight, but otherwise healthy. My mom argues that the diabetic cat needs access to food all the time, but I want to limit the ragdoll's food intake to help him lose weight. Is it true that diabetic cats need constant food access? also, where do you keep pickles the stegosaurus?

Not all diabetic cats need constant food, though it helps prevent hypoglycaemia, especially if they like to graze. If your cat’s glucose is currently well controlled, don’t mess with it.

You could consider a microchip feeder for your cats.

Anonymous said: What do you think of people that makes their pets fat because they look cuter? I am a second year vet student

I would tell them that their pet is going to be just as cute at a healthy weight and is going to have less issues with arthritis, pancreatitis and brachycephalic airway syndrome (if relevant) at a leaner weight. I also remind people that being a big heavier than perfect can be fine, but if they’re deliberately feeding their pet to batter and fatter for their own amusement then that’s not fair.

Anonymous said: I saw that last submission and now I'm interested in doggy-vitiligo. My pupper is a schnauzer(?) yorkie(?) mystery-mix. He's nearly 10 years old now but we got him when he was a baby, just old enough to have left his mom. He was dark-haired then with a dark nose but he immediately began losing pigmentation, including on his nose. By the time he was 5 he looked nothing like he had at 1 and lost all the schnauzer-style patterning. Thoughts?

It might be normal. Lots of breeds have coat colours that change in the first few years of life. If it’s not associated with any skin pathology then it’s probably no big deal.

Anonymous said: (I'm sorry if I break any ask rules, I'm new) I'm in my junior year of high school and I really want to be a vet. I'm taking vet science my senior year and I'm excited but my grades in math are bad. I'm retaking geometry currently. My counselor advises against a 4th year but that means not taking Algebra 2. I dont want to but is it going to look bad on my transcripts? Should I take it anyway? QT: Do you believe in anything supernatural?

You need to talk to someone at your intended tertiary institution, because I honestly don’t know what they’re looking for. It’s a long time since I was applying for vet school.

I have a bunch of superstitions but I don’t think I really believe in anything supernatural.

@mari5701 asked: Hi I saw the vaccine post and was wondering about vet external labs. Are they private labs or part of the veterinary practice? You may not know the answer to this question but: do the lab technicians need to go through vet school? Thanks so much! I came for the humor and stayed for all the interesting stories.

The external laboratories are private companies that are not part of the veterinary practice. They may be associated with human medical labs, or vet only. Some of their employees are vets, but I’m sure not all of them are.

Anonymous said: I'd like to thank you for changing my opinions on euthanasia. I used to be insistent on euthanasia only being used after having tried everything, but this blog, and becoming a fish keeper, have helped me realize that euthanasia is overly demonized and is sometimes a better option than continuing to attempt to treat, sometimes

It’s normal human behavior to demonize death. We tend to shut it away, to try to pretend it’s not there for as long as possible, but we need to talk about it sometimes to minimize suffering.

Anonymous said: Do you have any hobbies you like to do to chill out after work? Or other skills you just happen to have and like using, like drawing or writing?

Nah, I’d been going around calling myself an Author for no reason at all.

#dr ferox #20 questions

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siilbern · 8 years ago

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@nonviiolent

“Haschwalth. Your wounds have healed enough for you to be transferred to detention. Get up.”

Quiet fell over the hospital ward as the six cloaked escorts strode in the doorway and halted at the foot of his bed, resting the ends of their tridentlike spirit weapons on the stone floor. The awkwardly tall woman kneeling at the bedside a few rows away from his own paused in wrapping a bandage around a gash in her patient’s remaining leg, her mouth half open as if she was suspended in the space between thinking something and saying it. A few patients opened their eyes and lifted their heads to stare. Presumably, penal officers weren’t a common sight here.

Abruptly breaking from her seeming state of indecision, the lieutenant temporarily secured the head of the bandage and stood up, clearing her throat to get their attention. “It’s unlikely that the incision has completely healed yet, so we were planning on keeping him under supervision f--”

“The commander-in-chief of the Onmitsukidō has ordered us to transfer the prisoner to detention.”

They didn’t wait for the lieutenant’s confirmation before turning their attention back to him. “Get up.”

She moved closer, straightening her normally slumped shoulders as she approached. Kotetsu remained silent until no more than a foot was left between her and the figure that had answered her objection, keeping her voice low when she did speak up. “Have you asked the Captain-Commander about this? Or is this just your Captain acting on her own accord?”

Jugram disregarded the escalating conflict and the increasing number of stares from the other residents of the ward to focus his attention on retrieving the hospital provided waraji on the floor beneath the edge of the bed and slipping them onto his socked feet. If he hesitated until this was resolved, they undoubtedly would interpret it as an act of resistance.

“Orders are orders, Lieutenant.”

“Is the captain who issued them aware that we operated on his heart?”

They ignored her. Jugram stood carefully, balancing himself with a white-knuckled grasp on the metal bedrail as he adjusted to the slight lightheadedness inherent to standing after spending most of one’s time in a hospital bed. In almost perfect sync, four of the six guards lifted their hands and produced cables of reishi between them and the heavy red collar that rested against his throat.

“Hands behind your back.”

The woman’s harsh stare radiated disapproval as Jugram crossed one wrist over the other behind himself and allowed the shortest of the guards to lash them together. They proceeded to drape a loose white cloth over his head, an opaque garment reminiscent of a hangman’s hood. It fell to the level of his upper lip, covering his face and eyes while simultaneously still allowing him to watch his feet by looking down; presumably, this was simply because stumbling would inconvenience the armed escorts.

“He can’t exert himself,” the lieutenant persisted, although a slight air of resignation had begun to creep into her voice. “He is recovering from heart surgery.” She paused briefly, then added in a tone lower and more threatening than he’d been aware it had the potential to be, “I’ll be speaking to the Captain-Commander about this.”

They ignored her.

Haschwalth silently counted the paces as they crossed the city, well-aware of the low chatter starting to build in the streets. Prisoners weren’t an uncommon sight following the end of a war, but he strongly suspected that the Soul Society was taking a tellingly higher amount of precautions in his case, regardless of the fact that His Majesty’s Auswählen had completely stripped him of any power that would constitute a significant danger to them. Based on this display, it wouldn’t be difficult for a casual observer to come to the conclusion that he had been in some kind of command position.

He held his head high as they walked. He was unafraid of death, unafraid of them, and he intended to make that clear, even in his last days (or hours). The pride of the Quincies was unwavering, and he would be damned if he allowed them to forget as much.

Jugram had counted their strides into the hundreds by the time the guards stopped and removed the veil covering his face. The sight that greeted him was abysmal: an empty stone cell separated from the barren corridors by tall, thick black metal bars and the dense barrier of reishi woven between them like the splints of a basket. The only natural light in the building entered through a narrow floor-to-ceiling gap in the opposite wall, from which he and the now-deceased former residents of this same enclosure could stare out at a high scaffold on the edge of a distant cliff.

“It’s called the Sokyoku,” one of the masked figures said, following his gaze. “Prisoners in the repentance cell are allowed to watch it in the days leading up to their execution while they contemplate what they’ve done.”

The shortest of the six lifted their hand and the metal door to the cell slid open, harshly scraping across the stone floor. “Get in.” As if I’m going to refuse.

The door slammed behind him as soon as he entered. His captors unbound his wrists once it had closed, but the weighty collar stayed on. Are you really that afraid of me?

“Enjoy the view,” said the guard standing behind the shortest, a telltale smile in her voice. “You’ll be ashes in a few days, you piece of shit.” Such a statement was undoubtedly a breach in military conduct, but the other five didn’t seem to care. They simply turned and left, loudly shutting the tremendous metal door to the outside world behind them. Only he and the silence and the darkness remained.

What a barbaric way to perform executions, Jugram thought to himself as moved closer to the crudely constructed window and stared out at the hill. How the thing was supposed to work wasn’t entirely clear, but given the long, hinged blade standing erect a short distance away from it, he assumed that it was some sort of guillotine. The other alternative was similarly primitive: the wooden structure was a tremendous gallows, just like the ones used to hang murderers and thieves when he was a young man.

It didn’t come as much of a surprise that the Shinigami would choose a prolonged killing over the swift beheadings or rapid exsanguination the Wandenreich allowed their criminals and traitors. They had already demonstrated the limitless sadism they reserved for anyone they deemed an enemy, whether the ‘enemy’ be civilians or former comrades who had for one reason or another strayed from the fold. On top of that, their lack of real mettle had become quite apparent during the invasion. It made sense that the same people would be unable to personally lift a sword against an unarmed criminal, especially when the cruel option was the easier of the two.

Lift a sword against a criminal--as he himself had done without hesitation. A touch of... something, something unpleasant twisted in Haschwalth’s chest, far beneath the still-aching sternum Kurotsuchi had cracked open to bring him back from the brink of an honorable death in the interest of securing for the Soul Society the pleasure of killing him themselves. The feeling was nebulous, dark, like a fog somewhere within the numbness brought on by His Majesty’s death. There was no point in thinking about any of it, so he didn’t, instead sinking back into the absent stupor that had filled most of his hours of late as he carefully lowered himself onto the stone bench against the cell’s right wall. What else was there to do? His Majesty was dead. Bazz was dead. The Schatten Bereich almost certainly would be destroyed.

And they thought he had a reason to fear death.

Idly, Jugram wondered if the lieutenant running the hospital ward would be fool enough to try and argue with whoever controlled the penal system as to whether or not he was in any condition to be moved. Certainly there was still pain, a slight discomfort from the shallow rise and fall of his chest alone, but ultimately, it didn’t matter. He was a drain on their medical resources in the aftershock of a war, and he was undoubtedly slated to die regardless. Her job had been futile on a larger scale from the beginning, if she’d come to perceive it as anything other than holding off death until they were able to kill him on their own time.

He’d debated beating them to it during the first few days he had spent bedridden; in many ways, killing himself would be an act of resistance, the last way he could oppose them. You have captured me, but I won’t let you have the pleasure of killing me: such had been the logic. He didn’t, however - as appealing as this final gesture of spite was, Jugram also recognized that it would be seen as cowardice from their highest-ranking military officer. For the honor of the Wandenreich and for the pride of the Quincies, it would be better to display courage in the face of death and die unflinchingly, a final demonstration of fearlessness from a race that would presumably cease to exist within a few months.

Remember this, it would say.

Remember us.

Remember that we died resisting, not hiding in the shadows.

His thoughts were interrupted by the loud scrape of the tower’s outermost door sliding open and the sudden intrusion of bright light from the free world. The glow reduced the figure in the wide doorway to a silhouette, but it was an immediately recognizable - tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a wide straw hat. The Captain-Commander, as he’d expected.

“You’ve come to inform me of my sentence,” Jugram said, without any particular inflection.

#« era ; the coldest hour »#GOD this is a dissertation i'm so sorry #tw suicidal ideation #very briefly

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woodardmiles1992 · 4 years ago

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How 2 Get Taller Astonishing Tips

There are a number provided in the right diet and exercise program.Now, it's time for puberty still did not get proper sleep and perform the contents include in your body produces growth hormones, thereby contributing to helping you increase your height immediately.In addition, there are tons tips to grow taller and are responsible for height increasing, then you must be complemented with sleep, which is our list of three inches onto your height by two or three, for another.You'll find that most people never reach their full growth potential even when looking for a cheaper price.

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What Foods Help You To Grow Taller

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#How 2 Get Taller Astonishing Tips #How To Increase 9 Inch Height

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lil-miss-nothing · 6 years ago

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Is Cosmetic Surgery Right For You? Read On And Find Out

Cosmetic and reconstructive surgery is becoming much more prevalent as time and recently has become a fashionable trend in society. With the trends associated to improving and enhancing someone's appearance, the procedures can be found almost anywhere and they are sought out by many different kinds of people. As common as plastic surgery is, many come with a risk.This article will you to make intelligent cosmetic surgery decisions and disadvantages of getting plastic surgery.

Ask for a portfolio showing how past patients. Ask as many questions as you want, and ask them for referrals from patients that have had the surgery.This can help you determine if the surgeon is the right one.

Talk to your doctor about any antibiotics you may need to take. You probably have to be taking antibiotics weeks prior to the surgery in order to reduce your risk of infections. Get another opinion if your surgeon does not normally prescribe antibiotics.

You should have money set aside to cover unexpected expenses linked to your recovery. This helps to alleviate any worry about the side effects.

Look into your surgeon's malpractice insurance. You will need money to cover costs of a second procedure and to pay for your pain and suffering if something were to go wrong while undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Research all of the provisions of your surgery to understand what happens if they have a revision policy should something goes wrong. Some surgeons have a policy where they will correct their own procedures for twelve months after your surgery is complete.

Any surgical procedure involving anesthesia has inherent risks to be considered. One of a complication associated with anesthesia is abnormal heart beats. General anesthesia has the potential to cause irregular heart beats. This can occur when blood pressure from the anesthesia. This irregular heart beats.

Make sure that you see all of the credentials from the location where your surgery will take place. Just as you wouldn't accept a medical practitioner without first ensuring he is capable, you should also find details about the clinic. This includes things like past problems at the facility that your doctor experienced in the past.

Research as much as possible to find a good potential surgeon thoroughly before agreeing to plastic surgery. Ask your personal circle and find out if they have found to be exceptional.

Blood loss is very common when you are exposed to during cosmetic surgery. Bleeding is normal, but if you are excessively bleeding it can be an issue. Bleeding can occur either during the procedure or afterwards. You may face additional surgery if you have post-surgery bleeding under the skin.

Although some people swear by the economy provided by flying to foreign countries for cosmetic procedures, it is usually not recommended. You do not want complications that force you to get things fixed by a different surgeon.

Respect the opinions of your cosmetic surgery. If he feels uncomfortable with performing certain procedures, there is usually a good medical reason for it. You can get the opinion of a second well-respected surgeon if you think he is being unreasonable. Doing these things can help ensure that any surgery you have done is safer for you.

A really good cosmetic surgeon will give you some options to help you. Work with the surgeon and utilize his or her expertise before deciding what to have done.

Cosmetic procedures can cost a lot of money and are typically not going to be covered in a health insurance. Make sure that you include post-op care when considering final costs. https://myfluffythoughts.tumblr.com/

Speak with others who have had the process you are planning to engage in. They could tell you things that your surgeon won't.

You can be selfish when thinking about cosmetic surgery. What does that you should value your opinion above anyone else's. Changing how you look through surgery is a big decision, even if you only want minor changes to be made. You should not get it done if you aren't sure it will make you happy.

Find out if the license or certification is up-to-date. This can easily done with a call to a state licensing bureau. This is free and it could aid you confidence in your decision.

Fats, from healthy sources, are an important part of a preparatory diet. You should eat things like flax oil and avocados.

You always need to make sure that you are drinking an appropriate amount of the time. This becomes even more important when you have just had an invasive procedure.

Keep in mind the fact that your personal care routine may change a bit after surgery. You might want to invest in a few additional products that will make cleaning easier. Sometimes people neglect this and have difficulty maintaining their hygiene.

If your cosmetic surgery will not make a drastic change and you want to conceal it from others, you might want travel to a nearby city to have it done. Plan to vacation a few weeks in another city and get your surgery performed. They might never know you had done.

Research thoroughly before deciding whether this kind of surgery decision. Make sure to understand the risks, benefits, and any other information relevant to the surgery. You should be fully informed before making any type of surgical procedure.

There are some facilities that will have charges separate from the surgeon, separate from the rest of the cost. It is in your best interests to find a provider who offers an all-inclusive fee, it will be cheaper.

Ask a lot of questions about the anesthesia you have your surgery. Anesthesia is a very serious aspect of any surgery and you should know the type, and you should find out what type, dosage and who will be administering it.

Cosmetic procedures are nothing new; they have been performed throughout history. This increase has made it easier to find surgeons, but also increased the number of unskilled surgeons. With the proper information you can find a qualified surgeon and get the results you are pleased with.

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thismountainhastigers · 7 years ago

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Writing Assignment #3

Designer Jeans to Designer Genes

Jurassic Park (Spielberg 1993) is often lauded as one of the greatest films of the last fifty years. Culturally, it contributed to the widespread use of computer-generated special effects, spurring even more famous film series like the Star Wars prequels and, later on, Lord of the Rings. It also gifted us the succinct, no-nonsense line from Jeff Goldblum’s character, Dr. Ian Malcolm, regarding the dangers of introducing new technology without thinking about its possible consequences: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.” Given the explosion of the field of biotechnology in the twenty years following Jurassic Park’s release, it is rather fitting that Dr. Malcolm was referring to the reckless use of genetic manipulation to create a world that, in the end, was beyond mankind’s control. However, no matter how tempting it may be to approach the topic of genetic engineering as only capable of producing real-life scenes from Jurassic Park, Brave New World, or Gattaca, technology of any kind can only help (or hurt) us as much as we let it. If we understand our limits (and set them if need be), we can determine how such genetic intervention will effect us as individuals and as a society as a whole and to what extent we should allow it.

Our main limit right now is our knowledge. We still have much to learn about all of the intricacies of our genetic code. Beyond all the happenings at the molecular level, the most important factors involved in gene editing may be linked genes, where the phenotype of one characteristic is tied to the phenotype of another. If we dive too quickly into changing genes that have unknown relationships with others, we would easily end up doing more harm than good. Even some genetic diseases (most famously sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis) are shown to create the phenomenon known as heterozygote advantage, where simply carrying one copy of the recessive gene for the genetic disease confers some benefits to the individual in resisting another bacterial or viral disease (in this case, malaria and possibly cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis) (Gabriel et al. 1994). By fixing one problem at the genetic level, we could open ourselves up to unanticipated dangers.

Beyond our limits regarding our own biology, we still do not know everything about CRISPR-Cas9 (the technology that would allow us to edit specific sites in the genome), and what we do know points to the fact that it is not perfect; the process itself has its own limitations. Of the ways that a double-stranded break in the DNA can be repaired (the way that CRISPR-Cas9 removes a “faulty” sequence), the most common pathway utilized by CRISPR-Cas9 is non- homologous end-joining—which happens to be the most error-prone compared to other options, such as homology directed repair (Lieber 2008). While it can correct mutations, the process is unreliable at best when used to correct mutations in individuals compared to groups of test subjects (Le Page 2017). However, at the rate that research is currently progressing, let’s assume for a moment that we will reach the point of using CRISPR-Cas9 as a common medical technique by the end of the century, and that we will anticipate and fix all potential problems at the biological level. In essence, we will have removed all practical limits to the widespread use of genetic engineering and must turn our attention to ethical and moral self-imposed limits.

It is in medicine where we will reap the first benefits of being able to alter our genetic code, though calling CRISPR-Cas9 the “cure” for genetic diseases is slightly inaccurate, if we take the definition of “cure” to be a treatment that restores a patient to full health. Its use as something to stop the problem of a genetic disease before it truly becomes a problem more closely mirrors a vaccine—something done in advance to prevent the disease from manifesting itself in the body. And who among us would deny a child the polio or measles vaccine?* In the same way, if it was possible to prevent Huntington’s disease or some other genetic defect, how could we justify our lack of effort to alleviate suffering that, in light of new technology, is completely unnecessary?

Recently, the idea that a life characterized by suffering is not a life worth living has become more popular among debates surrounding euthanasia and abortion. In these cases, some would decide that life is no longer worth anything after being diagnosed with a terminal or otherwise painful illness (physical or, in some cases, mental) or learning that a fetus possesses some disability or disease that would make life too difficult either for the child or the family. While euthanasia and assisted suicide are less popular on a global scale, we already see women largely opting for abortion upon realizing their potential child would live with a life-altering illness. The most famous example is Iceland, where it was recently revealed that nearly 100% of women choose abortion after learning that their child has trisomy 21, which results in Down’s syndrome (Lajka 2017). Wanting to avoid suffering and struggle is not inherently a bad thing; if nothing else, wanting an easier way to do things has brought about much of technology as we know it today. People will almost always go for the option that does not add any more difficulty to their lives. If we had to choose between a society that performed selective abortion on those with less-than-ideal characteristics and one that could both genetically identify and fix the problem before it is too late, I would embrace the latter with little reservation. A technologically modified life is better than no life at all.

Currently, our society in general seems to hold to the idea that an ideal human is simply a healthy one—for now. Using CRISPR-Cas9 as a medical treatment in people seems like the obvious path to take if it could eliminate the risk of developing certain diseases from humanity’s gene pool, but what happens when our idea of the ideal human changes? How can we use it to our advantage then? When there are no more problems for medicine to fix, medicine becomes about elevating the human race beyond its current constructs. The immediate upgrades that come to mind are all physical: being stronger or faster, having better immune systems or higher pain tolerance, even something as superficial as making people more attractive. However, as our knowledge of neurobiology grows, could we theoretically design a person right down to their personality? We have some evidence that the physical brain structure influences a person’s personality (DeYoung et al. 2011), so if we found a gene that encodes a particular region of the brain that results in people who are rash and quick to anger, are we not bound to remove from society a population that could threaten social stability? Here I believe we are getting dangerously close to impeding on the rights of an individual, as we spell out their life before they take their first breath. (Likely before they move past a unicellular stage.) If we set no limits on what we can edit in a person, we may end up sacrificing free will for the sake of implementing peaceful society.

If we take CRISPR-Cas9 to its full potential, we will have eliminated all genetic diseases by removing them from the gene pool or fixing mutations when they occur. Perhaps we will even eliminate susceptibility to cancer or other age-related diseases. We might not conquer death in the sense of bringing people back to life, but we will certainly be able to put it off for a considerably longer period of time (Blagosklonny 2012). A group of such “ideal” people, not only in body but also in mind, would theoretically form a perfect society if we can remove the selfish and the rash by simply not allowing them to exist in the first place. We would be eliminating metaphorical “diseases” like violence and political corruption. However, amidst all the optimistic ideas about what we can do, we have to consider what we actually will do. Technology is not cheap, it is always first introduced among the wealthy before becoming more common in the lower levels of society (Harari 2016). That is not to say that if it cannot immediately be available to all then it should not be available to any—we do not keep people from a life-saving heart surgery if there is someone with the same problem that cannot afford it. However, if we do not take the necessary steps to prevent abuses of this technology, we could end up with society governed by a physically perfect elite, capable of designing their own lower, subservient classes (if such classes are allowed access to the technology at all). In what would be the worst abuse of power, they could, with enough time, simply generate a lower class that is content in their subjugation. In essence, the “haves” could reduce the “have-nots” to organic robots.

Beyond the potential loss of free will (I will admit that it is a bit of stretch even for a dystopian society), my biggest fear within the realm of genetic engineering applies to how we as a society view life. Does life just become something to be bought, sold, and processed when too many people get involved in the business of creating it? When we think of things being “designed,” the first thing to come to mind is often clothing: something with a particular label on it that we buy (occasionally to showcase our own wealth or status) and eventually throw out in favor of the “next big thing.” Life, more specifically that of a human individual, should not be something we ever come to see as able to be replaced at the earliest convenience or is only worth anything so long as it serves a purpose. This brings us back to the potential new direction of the field of medicine: treating the natural development of life as a problem to be fixed (such as baldness, wrinkles, and other symptoms of aging) and not something we should count ourselves as fortunate to possess as a sign that we have made it this far.

I do believe in life after death, therefore I see no reason to live forever if forever exists on the other side. At the same time, I believe life (in this life) is rare, and therefore has value in that rarity. Going by the current evidence, we are the only ones with it in the universe. Regardless of whether or not we share it with others, the sheer length of time that it took us to get this far (from organic compounds to rational thought) is awe-inspiring at the very least. What’s more, it only happened here once, four billion years ago with the last universal common ancestor. Life should be treated as a gift, and one that we ought not to withhold from someone. Technology alone with the power to alter life as we know it is not inherently good or evil; it is what we choose to do with it that determines its moral status in society. By all means, we should use the genetic engineering to create a healthier society. However, lines will have to be drawn around editing the parts of ourselves that make us essentially human, namely our ability to rationalize and make decisions for ourselves with little outside influence. As far as “upgrades” go, I would caution people to consider what things are truly problems that need to be fixed and what things would change us in only a superficial way, or those changes which, when made in haste, transform us negatively in the end. To quote Dr. Malcolm one more time, “genetic power is the most awesome force the planet's ever seen,” so let’s not “wield it like a kid that's found his dad's gun.”

*Admittedly, a not-insignificant number of people (Blake 2015), but work with me here.

References

Blagosklonny, Mikhail V. "Answering the Ultimate Question, “What Is the Proximal Cause of Aging?”." Aging 4.12 (2012): 861-77. Print. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3615154/

Blake, Aaron. “Here's How Many Americans Are Actually Anti-Vaxxers.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 Feb. 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the- fix/wp/2015/02/09/heres-how-many-americans-are-actually-anti- vaxxers/?utm_term=.fecac274739b.

DeYoung, C.G., et al. "Testing Predictions from Personality Neuroscience: Brain Structure and the Big Five." Psychological Science 21.6 (2011): 820-28. Print. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3049165/

Harari, Yuval N. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Harvill Secker, 2016. Print.

Gabriel, S.E., et al. "Cystic Fibrosis Heterozygote Resistance to Cholera Toxin in the Cystic Fibrosis Mouse Model." Science 266.5182 (1994): 107-09. Print. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/266/5182/107

Lajka, Julian Quinones Arijeta. “‘What Kind of Society Do You Want to Live in?": Inside the Country Where Down Syndrome Is Disappearing.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 14 Aug. 2017, www.cbsnews.com/news/down-syndrome-iceland/.

Le Page, Michael. “We Still Don't Really Know What CRISPR Does to Human Embryos.” New Scientist, 1 Sept. 2017, www.newscientist.com/article/2146061-we-still-dont-really-know- what-crispr-does-to-human-embryos/.

Lieber, M.R. "The Mechanism of Human Nonhomologous DNA End Joining." Journal of Biological Chemistry 283.1 (2008): 1-5. Print. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17999957

Spielberg, Steven. Jurassic Park. Universal Pictures. 1993. Film. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cure

#definitely felt better about this one than the last one #writing assignment

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