#retrospective diagnoses

[theromaboo]

The Ninth Day of Julius Caesar

As a person who enjoys looking at retrospective diagnoses maybe a little bit too much, I have read quite a significant amount of works regarding Julius Caesar. He is traditionally said to have had epilepsy (though we don't know for sure if it's true or not) and so many people have done medical speculation over him over the years.

However, no one's perfect!

My favourite source on this topic will always be Julius Caesar's Disease by Francesco Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian. It's a very neat book about the history of this topic and it looks at bunch of other people's theories, but mainly it argues that Caesar did not have epilepsy but transient ischemic attack. I don't like it because I hate the epilepsy theory and really like this new theory (I consider myself to be neutral in this topic because we can never know), I like it because it is the first thing I've read on this topic that actually had some common sense and wasn't making mistakes all over the place!

However, it's pretty recent, from 2015, and people writing between 2004 and 2015 couldn't use it, so they all went and used a source I don't really like.

Enter "Dictator Perpetuus: Julius Caesar—Did he have seizures? If so, what was the etiology?" by John R. Hughes.

A hint about what I dislike about this source is that it was published in a medical journal. If a retrospective diagnosis work is published in a medical journal, prepare for good medical information but bad historical information. And if it is published in a history journal, vice versa. Context matters! Everyone publishing stuff about this are either doctors or historians and usually it's easy to tell which one the writer is.

Anyway, this one... it could be worse. It's certainly not the most diabolical thing you could read in the whole retrospective diagnoses of Caesar topic (that would go to "Searching for Neurological Diseases in the Julio-Claudian Dynasty"!) but there are a few parts of it that are very poorly done. And for some reason, the only parts that had any influence at all are the poorly done parts!

In the abstract, there is one silly sentence that is the bane of my existence: "His son, Caesarion, by Queen Cleopatra, likely had seizures as a child, but the evidence is only suggestive."

The evidence is only suggestive? I didn't know that was a euphemism for "I cited a modern historical fiction novel," because that's where the evidence came from. Historical fiction!

At least Hughes is pretty honest about where his information comes from and he does say that the only source for that is historical fiction and not ancient sources. But, why put it in?

Anyway, probably from the vague wording in the abstract, it's become a common misconception that Caesarion had epilepsy. People keep saying that and citing this work but if they had actually read it, I don't think they would've been impressed or convinced. Because in the text itself, it's clear that the source is historical fiction! It's only ambiguous in the abstract.

Maybe Caesarion did have epilepsy, we don't know much about him, but there is no evidence at all because historical fiction doesn't count as evidence.

This is actually mentioned in Julius Caesar's Disease! Unfortunately I cannot find the book right now, but I remember that it basically said "I like Masters of Rome, but I don't cite it!"

The author of one of the historical fiction novels actually said in the author's note "This detail about Caesarion I made up and there is no ancient sources that support it. It's not completely impossible, but don't cite this," and guess what happened? I feel so bad for her. If I was unwillingly the cause of a misconception, either my ego would balloon or I'd run away and become a hermit.

(Did you know that once an AI plagiarized me? I was talking to a chatbot about ancient Rome and I was really agreeing with it. I was like "wow this is literally exactly what I would write about this" and then I realised that it was literally exactly what I wrote about it because the AI had stole my words! Seeing my idea somewhere else certainly made my ego ten times bigger so maybe if I start a misconception it'll have the same effect?)

What's funny is that if I had a nickle for everytime this happened (someone citing a historical fiction book in which a male teenager who had a famous father and could've been heir to him and who is a part of Roman history during the first century BC to the first century AD had a medical condition in the historical fiction novel that is not supported by any ancient source and then a bunch of people citing the person who originally cited the historical fiction book until that detail becomes a misconception), I'd have two nickles. How does this happen twice? And how it that the two historical figures are so similar too? This misconception (not the Caesarion one) made its way onto Wikipedia so that's fun!

I know this misconception isn't actually about Caesar, but Caesarion. It's somewhat relevant to Caesar so it's fine! Alright guys remember, historical fiction is not a good source. This theory about Caesarion doesn't have "suggestive" evidence, but no evidence at all.

I'm sorry that I've really been slacking with my series. And I'm sorry that today's post is probably completely unreadable (I was really struggling to make words make sense). I promise I'll finish eventually, because once I finish this series, I'll finally be free.

[pollenallergie]

do people with adhd have special interests? do we do that? cause i’ve been in my free willy shark week marine biology era for a solid decade now and like shit has not changed.

[henswilsons]

on that note today i blew out the back tyre of my bike and when i took it in to the bike repair shop the man at the desk was like "what's the bike's name" and i said "natalie" and he stared at me for a really long moment and said "i meant what make"

[proteuus]

turns out those may have been symptoms of the disorder

[sammygender]

had no idea he was actually autistic so did a quick search on this - from what i can see a lot of the assumption that he was autistic comes from the imitation game which obviously is full to the brim of stereotypes and as covered isn’t accurate, but reading how people described him and his life it’s definitely highly possible he would’ve fit the criteria.

article going into more detail: https://autisticandunapologetic.com/2021/06/13/was-alan-turing-autistic-what-the-father-of-modern-computing-was-really-like/

just wanted to add to clarify for anyone else who’d never actually heard this before

sometimes I get so angry thinking about ‘The Imitation Game’ that I have to go in a little ‘upset big tantrum room’ in my head for a calm down

like, Benisnatch Cumberque played the same character he’s always plays as an asshole genius and we were all supposed to be okay with it, but it’s basically character slander

at different parts of the movie Turing is described as ‘arrogant, “inhuman,” “narcissistic,” and even “a monster,” in the film he goes against those around him and is shown to periodically ignore and belittle his colleagues

And. I. Am. So. Angry.

Alan Turing was described by his friends and people that knew him as “intensely shy and kindly”, he was said to “inspire loyalty and affection among those who appreciated his unusual gifts” and was “unfailingly generous with his time and expertise, especially toward younger recruits”

He was kind, he was kind, HE WAS KIND, he was kind

he was kind and geeky and awkward and gay, I don’t care if the whole of society doesn’t find that compelling, I don’t care if we don’t value kindness as an attribute in men, he deserved to be loved and respected as he was, not as we wish he was

I am so sorry Alan Turing, I am so sorry your story was not told with care and thoughtfulness, I am so sorry you didn’t get to be shown to be deeply in love with the men you loved, I am sorry your great and terrible tragedy was never unfolded as a kind and brilliant man abused by a horrible homophobic system

You are a hero that turned the tides of history like no other and I am so sorry

[thenixkat]

just, i keep seeing reasons why Ted Kord didn't have to die and multiple points that could have been changed

but that's wild stop using a character at all once he becomes disabled only to bring him back to gruesomely murder him

just already I'm picturing like actually using the Scarab, going off the stuff from when it brought Dan back to life evil, and Ted seeing a mechanical entity inside his mind from the Scarab trying to tempt him with its power. In the story where Ted died, he'd put down his costume a good while ago due to the heart condition but he's back in it due to everything going to shit and having no one to help him with the conspiracy he's uncovering especially after Booster gets hospitalized by a villain trying to help Ted in a fight where Ted got jumped by the Madmen plus an extra superpowered villain. like that sounds like the kind of shit building up where maybe taking the Scarab and using it b/c he's not got many options left

like could let the dude save the world at the cost of his own alignment due to Khaji Da's influence. Like it's not completely taken over since Khaji Da is still broken and doesn't have its instruction manual downloaded into Ted, but between the stress of everything leading up to the shit it works as a push.

and like shit if we wanna take the Blood Beetle stuff from the New 52 into account you can still have Jaime gain powers from getting a sliver of Khaji's armor stuck in him that becomes a new scarab

just idk thinking about shit

[chilledstrawberrysoda]

Do you ever just get really hung up on small injustices in your past that aren't THAT big of a deal but we're so pivotal to who you are as a person and felt like the end of the world at the time and everything turned out okay but you still get caught up on the what if of it all occasionally and mourn the person you may have been?

[spootsaline]

To be entirely real I stepped away from all mental illness community's at large when the entire autism vs adhd special interest debaucle went down years ago. So I only ever see stuff like this through the grapevine. So yeah seeing this really came out of nowhere to me.

But the fact that people genuinely believe any that is absurd?

I've only ever seen or been around people who are generally accepting and have a decent grasp that mental illnesses do indeed share symptoms? But obviously I've been lucky in that regard. Even though one would that would be a common and shared stance?

The fact that people are trying to shame you (and others with your disorders) and saying things like you can't experience hyperfixation (which is also news to me??? I've only ever seen it as always including autistic folk and adhd ppl?) , and emotional dysregulation when it has never in the history of ever been an ADHD thing is, mindblowing. (And the fact that it's evil apparently on top of that? Hello?)

I had no idea RSD was being used like that in particular, especially when it came to demonizing other disorders that share the same/simular set of symptoms. So now i do understand the hostility when it comes to people using the term, I genuinely had no idea that people were being so despicable with it?

Also with the manipulatation of keeping ADHDer in a stress loop I've ALSO never seen. Again probably bc I'm not in those circles anymore.

(Though insta has shown me that some lovely people think that all adhd people are Actually Autsitic, and can't have symptoms such as sensory issues or stim. Which hails back to the special interest thing, which...is also what is going on here. Wow. We never stop running each other in circles, do we?)

But no seeing this post initially had just read to me as yet another, "people with adhd aren't allowed to do/have anything" post, and it being the first one in years was...a shock. Even if it wasn't intended to be read like that.

Safe to say this only further enforces my general urge to stay away from these circles. But I'm also sorry for coming at you with apparent ignorance in this situation, it's definitely not my intent. I had no idea I was missing out on so much.

rsd is not a condition. rsd is not a diagnosis. rsd is not a medically recognized symptom of adhd and the experience “rsd” describes is not exclusive to adhd at all. this does not mean people with adhd can’t experience rejection sensitivity, but “rsd” as an “adhd” thing is a concept with no emprical backing developed by one man, with claims of it being brain-based without any evidence behind that claim, as well as many other claims surrounding the “nature” of rsd. adhd is a condition characterized by executive dysfunction, which can involve emotional dysregulation, but acknowledging that is different from the framework of “rsd” and seeing people on this site pass this around without critical thought and even claiming rsd is “adhd only >:(” makes me sick. you’re buying into what’s basically pop psychology instead of scientific research.

emotional dysregulation and rejection sensitivity is by no means adhd exclusive, and people with adhd experiencing those things doesn’t need to have its own special label or whatever when there’s no meaningful difference between someone with adhd experiencing those things and someone without adhd experiencing those things. that’s not logical and a ridiculous mentality of “rsd is adhd ONLY because our rejection sensitivity is SPECIAL” completely goes against building common ground with other neurodivergent people for petty and invalid reasons.

the amount of misinfo going around about adhd on this site is uncanny. please investigate claims others make about disability and do your research - actual research, which doesn’t include tumblr posts that lack citation and oft unreliable sources like ADDitude Mag and WebMD. it would be INFINITELY more productive to operate on a shared experience of emotional dysregulation and rejection sensitivity among varying groups of neurodivergent people than to feed into this nonsensical idea of “adhd-only special super rejection sensitivity.”

[platformcowboyboots]

thinking about that summer when I was 14 and zero computer and phone access (I had gotten Cs) but I got it into my brain that I should watch all of inuyasha so I'd use the family's tablet and watch it for a couple hours after everyone else went to bed. I did that for two months straight every day.

[finneander]

So I know I should probably go to my GP or someone about my mental health at this point but I don't know how to go about it like do I just. Show up and say oh hey mate I think I might be depressed and life is pain can you help a fella out

[redflagshipwriter]

Fast Car Three (of four)

masterpost

“Why would I ever need help from Victor?” Danny scrunched up his brow and puzzled aloud after his passenger got out. He didn't mean to be rude but he was genuinely confused. Vic seemed nice enough, but he was kinda delicate, wasn't he? He was scared of Batman. What for? He was just some guy who was so risk-averse that he wore a motorcycle helmet out in public. He probably held the world's record for diagnosed anxiety disorders or something. 

‘I’m lucky he's so reactive,’ Danny chided himself not to be ungrateful. ‘If he wasn't, like, hyper-vigilant I might have had to talk to Batman. Horrific.’

He shuddered at the thought. He had planned to work a little more, but Danny decided to go back home and rest for a bit. His nerves were a little shot after the excitement of the morning. 

Oh, right. He hadn't checked what his tip was yet. Danny unfolded the bills and his eyes bugged out. “This is fifty dollars,” he said incredulously. “He paid me fifty dollars to take him like 10 blocks, with a 50 block detour.” 

Was Victor, like, okay? Danny cast a dubious look back in his rearview mirror and caught the barest glance of Victor's ridiculously jacked form disappearing into one of the murder warehouses. What a guy. Why'd he do-

“He was hitting on me?” Danny's voice reached a whistle pitch. Ah! Ah!!! Holy shit. What the hell? His face burnt red and he floored it back to his apartment complex, trying to get his heart rate under control. 

It was so obvious in retrospect! The weird awkward pauses in conversation! The huge tips! Asking for his number! 

Danny pulled to a stop at a yellow light rather than run it explicitly so that he could bang his head against the steering wheel. 

“I don't even know if he's hot,” Danny wailed. Instantly he knew it was a lie. He didn't know what Victor’s face looked like. He didn't remember what the photo had looked like anymore and the information was long gone. But he knew that Victor was tall, fit as fuck, and had really nice hands. 

Danny bit his lip and howled sadly. It helped, a little. He stole a glance at the receipt with Victor's phone number on it. He couldn't help but memorize the number. 

“I'm not going to call,” Danny told himself. Even if it was flattering. Victor might be a sketchy guy! Only sketchy people were out at the hours Danny worked. Danny couldn't afford association with anyone like that because he needed the authorities to never ever look at him. 

Also, and probably more importantly: you can't go to medical school if you have any kind of criminal record. If Danny was going to be Doctor Fenton the fourth and be able to provide his and Ellie's medical care, he needed to be a model citizen. He couldn’t trust that Vic would keep him out of whatever weird shit he was involved in.

Well. It wasn't like he was complicit in anything. Danny parked his beloved shitty car in the garage and took the stairs up to his apartment. He opened the door, saw Batman in his kitchen, and closed the door.

“Fuck.” 

Danny turned intangible and dropped like a rock through the floors. He was back in the driver's seat in less than 5 seconds. He turned it on and called Victor with one hand, because he'd just gotten the guy's number and he didn't exactly know a lot of Gothamites. “Hey, what do I do if Batman is in my apartment?” He said as soon as it connected. He turned the car on and peeled out onto the street.

“Wha- move, I guess. Is he there for fucking real?” Victor's electronic voice somehow managed to come across incredulous. “You probably shouldn't go back there. You're in your car?” A horn honked in the background. “You're faster,” Victor said. His confidence gave Danny a little. “I'll send you my gps point. Come to me and we can strategize how to get him off your tail.”

Danny swallowed hard. “Okay,” he said, and violently repressed the part of him asking why this nervous ass Gothamite would know any better than he did. At least Victor was a local. His phone pinged and he opened up the address. “Got it.”

“See you soon.” Victor hung up. 

Danny burnt rubber out of there, heart all the way up in his throat. Why was Batman after him? What did he know? He gasped for air, feeling like he was choking. He needed to be normal. He needed to- to get his degree and get his career and never ever have a whole fucking militaristic brancho of the government after him. He was one guy. When he was 14 he'd thought it was a funny game and the GIW were a bunch of chumps. But they were a bunch of chumps with money, weapons, and numbers. He couldn't afford to fuck with them. The fact that his parents gritted their teeth through associating with the GIW was the only thing that kept suspicion off of Danny.

He cycled through a panic attack and then into anger. What the hell, dude? Danny got that Batman had a bee up his ass about metahumans “in his city” (like he fucking owned it??) but Danny wasn't causing crime or fighting it. He was going to classes and trying to survive. Batman had no right to get involved in his business. 

He was steaming mad by the time he pulled up to where Victor was waiting for him. Victor hauled open an old style garage door and ushered him in quickly. Danny parked inside and sighed over the steering wheel. It took a few moments to center himself and then he got out. “Hey.” He lifted a hand in greeting and then shoved it in his pocket, feeling unimaginably weary. It wasn't even 5 am, jeeze. What was his life? “Thanks for answering.” He cleared his throat and bumped his butt against the hood of his car. “Helluva morning,” he complained dryly.

“It's no problem.” Victor seemed a little stiff and uncomfortable, standing in the middle of the other parking space. Either that or he was posing. “It's not your fault.”

Danny let out a snort. “It's not, but what does that matter?” He shrugged. And then he realized- “Wait, do you know what I am- scratch that.” He made a hand gesture to wave that away. Victor had known what Amity Park was offhand and he'd had a chance to see Danny phase the car through solid matter. “I guess what matters more is why Batman is on my ass. D’you think he knows?” 

Victor looked at him for a long time. “No…” 

“No, what?” Danny narrowed his eyes up at the taller man. 

“I don't think Batman knows that you're…” Victor made a gesture at Danny that explained nothing. “Whatever you are. I think he wants to ask you what you know about me.”

Danny stared blankly at him. “About you,” he echoed. He gave Victor a dubious look. “Why would he care about you?” 

Victor lifted a gloved finger and pointed at his helmet as if that was supposed to mean something. Danny tilted his head to the side like a bird and raised one eyebrow. “Because I'm the Red Hood?” Victor said dubiously. “You know that, right?” 

“You're Victor,” Danny said. He furrowed his brows. “Is - is The Red Hood like, your drag persona or something? Cool for you but it's not really relevant -” 

Victor tore off the helmet to reveal a face that was a lot younger than Danny had anticipated. “It's not a drag persona,” he snapped. “It's- I'm the Red goddamn Hood! You have to have seen me on the news!” 

Danny mutely shook his head. He thought about saying that he didn’t watch the news, but he sort of felt bad for the guy. It was probably safer not to comment.

“It's been non-stop,” Victor said, and Danny could really tell how incredulous he felt without that goofy voice filter effect removing the pout from his voice. “I dropped 13 human heads off at the police station yesterday. Come on!” 

He blinked. 

Wait.

One.

Second.

“You had me take you to the police with contraband?” Danny roared, incandescent with fury. 

“Uh.” Victor looked a little shifty now, even with that dweeb ass mask covering from his eyebrows to his cheekbones. “Yeah, I guess-”

“I'm going to go to medical school!” Danny roared, and suplexed the bastard. Victor went down with a howl and a valiant attempt to dig out Danny's eye with his bent index and middle fingers. Danny went selectively intangible and rolled them both over to start slapping Victor on his stupid face. “I-” slap “can't” slap “have” slap “a criminal record!” He leaned so far forward that his lips were nearly touching Victor's. “Capiche?” Danny jabbed a finger into Victor's stupidly ripped chest. 

“Um.” 

“Capiche? Understand? Do you get my meaning?” Danny howled. “I am an illegal entity! My paperwork is suspect!” He dug his knees a little harder into Victor's sides, struggling to control his strength. 

“Hey man, me too,” said Victor. He seemed mildly surprised by this commonality. “That's why I can't get a driver's license.” He put his hands up by his head. The movement made his incredible biceps sort of…pulse. Bulge? 

Danny blinked, attention caught by something about what Victor had said. “How'd you get your Uber account verified without- oh my god!” He threw his hands up in disgust. “You're not even Victor, are you? Your first word to me was a lie?” 

Not-Victor laughed. Danny was surprised enough that he loosened his grip. But the other guy didn't try to get out. “You're fun,” he said. He had a nice smile, crooked and kissable. Oh, fuck.

Danny felt his whole face burn red. Shit. Abort. He scrambled up, suddenly mortified that he was sitting on the other guy. “What's your name?” he demanded, trying to sound unaffected and mean. 

“Jay.” 

“You're sure this time?” Danny managed to work up a little more indignation. 

“Hands to god, on my grave,” Jay promised. Danny sort of hated that he believed it. 

Danny relented. “Fine.” It wasn’t like he had any moral high ground to stand on about maintaining secret identities, if he was honest. He huffed and crossed his arms. “How do I get Batman off my ass? I'm guessing you don't want me to talk to him about you.”

[quasi-normalcy]

Thoughts about Buffy season 6:

Not actually as bad as I remember.

I actually really liked the whole "being expelled from Heaven" concept

Sorry, but the attempted rape in "Seeing Red" is actually entirely in keeping with Spike's character.

And so, actually, is him going off to get his soul back. He's a predator who remembers being a romantic. The contradiction is what drives him mad.

The only characters I actually felt were ill-used here were Giles and Xander. I don't believe that either of them would have done what the plot mandated.

The magic addiction thing was a bit forced.

The Trio seem, in retrospect, like a surprisingly prescient forecast of what has become of nerd culture and Silicon Valley in the decades since.

(Also of Joss Whedon himself. Zero points for correctly diagnosing what's wrong with himself and then refusing to do anything about it)

I Saw the TV Glow (2024) is the best thing to come out of this season

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Chloe Cole

Published: July 28, 2023

On Thursday, her 19th birthday, Chloe Cole testified to Congress with a “final warning” that medical treatments to change the gender of confused children is horrific. Cole, who was given surgery as a teenager to become male and soon regretted it, said what she needed most was therapy, not a scalpel. Here is what she told lawmakers:

My name is Chloe Cole and I am a de-transitioner.

Another way to put that would be: I used to believe that I was born in the wrong body and the adults in my life, whom I trusted, affirmed my belief, and this caused me lifelong, irreversible harm. 

I speak to you today as a victim of one of the biggest medical scandals in the history of the United States of America. 

I speak to you in the hope that you will have the courage to bring the scandal to an end, and ensure that other vulnerable teenagers, children and young adults don’t go through what I went through. 

Deceit & coercion 

At the age of 12, I began to experience what my medical team would later diagnose as gender dysphoria.

I was well into an early puberty, and I was very uncomfortable with the changes that were happening to my body. I was intimidated by male attention. 

And when I told my parents that I felt like a boy, in retrospect, all I meant was that I hated puberty, that I wanted this newfound sexual tension to go away.

I looked up to my brothers a little bit more than I did to my sisters. 

I came out as transgender in a letter I sent on the dining room table.

My parents were immediately concerned.

They felt like they needed to get outside help from medical professionals. 

But this proved to be a mistake.

It immediately set our entire family down a path of ideologically motivated deceit and coercion.

The general specialist I was taken to see told my parents that I needed to be put on puberty-blocking drugs right away. 

They asked my parents a simple question: Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living transgender son? 

The choice was enough for my parents to let their guard down, and in retrospect, I can’t blame them.

This is the moment that we all became victims of so-called gender-affirming care.

I was fast-tracked onto puberty blockers and then testosterone. 

The resulting menopausal-like hot flashes made focusing on school impossible.

I still get joint pains and weird pops in my back.

But they were far worse when I was on the blockers. 

Forever changed 

A month later, when I was 13, I had my first testosterone injection.

It has caused permanent changes in my body: My voice will forever be deeper, my jawline sharper, my nose longer, my bone structure permanently masculinized, my Adam’s apple more prominent, my fertility unknown. 

I look in the mirror sometimes, and I feel like a monster.

I had a double mastectomy at 15.

They tested my amputated breasts for cancer.

That was cancer-free, of course; I was perfectly healthy.

There is nothing wrong with my still-developing body, or my breasts other than that, as an insecure teenage girl, I felt awkward about it.

After my breasts were taken away from me, the tissue was incinerated — before I was able to legally drive. 

I had a huge part of my future womanhood taken from me.

I will never be able to breastfeed.

I struggle to look at myself in the mirror at times.

I still struggle to this day with sexual dysfunction.

And I have massive scars across my chest and the skin grafts that they used, that they took of my nipples, are weeping fluid today, and they’re grafted into a more masculine positioning, they said. 

After surgery, my grades in school plummeted.

Everything that I went through did nothing to address the underlying mental health issues that I had.

And my doctors with their theories on gender that all my problems would go away as soon as I was surgically transformed into something that vaguely resembled a boy — their theories were wrong.

The drugs and surgeries changed my body, but they did not and could not change the basic reality that I am, and forever will be, a female. 

Depths of despair 

When my specialists first told my parents they could have a dead daughter or a live transgender son, I wasn’t suicidal.

I was a happy child who struggled because she was different. 

However at 16, after my surgery, I did become suicidal.

I’m doing better now, but my parents almost got the dead daughter promised to them by my doctors.

My doctor had almost created the very nightmare they said they were trying to avoid. 

So what message do I want to bring to American teenagers and their families?

I didn’t need to be lied to.

I needed compassion.

I needed to be loved. 

I needed to be given therapy that helped me work through my issues, not affirmed my delusion that by transforming into a boy, it would solve all my problems. 

We need to stop telling 12-year-olds that they were born wrong, that they are right to reject their own bodies and feel uncomfortable with their own skin. 

We need to stop telling children that puberty is an option, that they can choose what kind of puberty they will go through, just like they can choose what clothes to wear or what music to listen to. 

Pseudoscience 

Puberty is a rite of passage to adulthood, not a disease to be mitigated.

Today, I should be at home with my family celebrating my 19th birthday.

Instead, I’m making a desperate plea to my elected representatives.

Learn the lessons from other medical scandals, like the opioid crisis. 

Recognize that doctors are human, too, and sometimes they are wrong. 

My childhood was ruined along with thousands of de-transitioners that I know through our networks.

This needs to stop. You alone can stop it. 

Enough children have already been victimized by this barbaric pseudoscience.

Please let me be your final warning. 

Thank you.

Might as well call her a murtad and kufr.

"The medical industry mutilated me, maybe don't mutilate other kids," shouldn't require bravery or renouncing an ideology.

Reminder: A minor under the age of 18 is too young to agree to a cellphone contract. 🤦‍♀️

[bootleg-nessie]

The process of being diagnosed with autism as an adult:

Am I autistic? No, surely not, it would have come up by now

Wait a second

WAIT A SECOND

HOLD THE FUCK UP FOR JUST A GODDAM SECOND

YOURE TELLING ME I WAS AUTISTIC THIS WHOLE FUCKIGN TIME?!?!?!? AND NOBODY FUCKING SAID ANYTHING?!?!?!?

Oh

OH

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh

It all makes sense now

Wait, it’s ALL autism? 90% of my behavior and mannerisms was just autism?

How did I not see it? In retrospect it’s so painfully obvious

Imagine how much better my life could have been if I actually got the help I needed as a child

Despair

DESPAIR

Mournful acceptance

What the fuck do I do now

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

(TW: Sex - educational context) 

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

This was a requested topic: let’s talk about HIV risk and oral sex. 

First things first: It’s not considered completely risk-free, but the risk of getting HIV from receiving or giving oral sex is considered low. 

Now, in some more detail: 

Giving oral sex may be a bit riskier than receiving. This is because of the potential contact with your partners bodily fluids (vaginal fluids, menstrual blood or semen), and also because you may have small cuts or sores in your mouth without even being aware of them) but both giving and receiving oral sex is still lower risk than vaginal or anal sex. 

Mouth-to-penis sex is thought to be riskier than mouth-to-vagina sex. 

Mouth-to-anus sex is also considered low-risk. 

Something that is important to consider is that many people have oral sex AND vaginal/anal sex in the same session, which may make it harder in retrospect to say during which sexual activity exactly an infection occurred. 

While oral sex is a lower risk in general, your personal risk may be higher. For example if: 

you have sores or small cuts on/in your mouth or genitals 

you have bleeding gums

there’s menstrual blood present 

you have another STD 

As with any sexual activity, it goes here too: You can reduce the risk by practicing safer sex! For oral sex that means using a condom (penis) or dental dam (vagina or anus). You can also cut a condom length-wise and use it as a dental dam. Use a new one every time you have sex (and also if you switch from oral to vaginal or anal sex, or the other way around, during the same session).

A condom or dental dam will also lower the risk of other STDs (such as chlamydia or herpes) and infections (such as hepatitis, which you can get from mouth-to-anus sex). 

If you both have a negative HIV test, and you both do not have other STDs and neither of you has sex with other people, it’s generally considered safe to not use condoms or dental dams. But if you are not 100% sure, it’s always better to err on the side of caution and use one. 

The same goes for testing: if you recently had oral sex and you worry you were potentially exposed to HIV during it, you probably don’t need to freak out since it’s a lower risk - but for your own peace of mind, it’s still a good idea to talk to a doctor about getting tested. (If you don’t feel comfortable going to your regular doctor or you worry about costs, there may be testing sites near you that offer free and confidential tests. For example in community health centers, pharmacies or mobile clinics. Look it up online! You may also be able to buy a self-testing kit online.) Keep in mind that HIV isn’t an automatic death sentence anymore if it gets diagnosed and treated early on! 

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

[stxrrnightjxr]

Autistic Regulus, whom I hold so near and dear to my heart, they can never take you away from me. 😔

As an autistic person, (who gets probably way to hyperfixated on certain characters) these are my HC’s:

- He was diagnosed late. Like, REALLY late. Canon compliance, he wasn’t at all, and in some modern AU it was probably late into his twenties, maybe early-to-mid-thirties, and after he was out of his parent’s hold. Because Walburga and Orion could never accept that there was something wrong with their daughter, son (because I live for trans Reggie) so why should they ever enable anyone to believe that he was ‘mental’? Or ‘slow’? No, a Black child wasn’t those things. (OOC; Just for reference, autistic people are not, nor do I think they are, mental, crazy, slow, or any of those things. I am autistic myself, and have many friends who are, and know that is not the case 💚)

This also leads to a lot of trauma for Regulus, and a lot of repressed emotions. He learned how to mask very quickly, and very well.

- he’s sensitive to bright lights (which his light blue/gray eyes do not help with), and so he squints his eyes a lot. Barty once told him he looked like he was scrutinizing his face, and Regulus simply said ‘I am, it’s ugly.’ (He doesn’t believe that, but he’s not going to tell you that.) (I love sneaking in unrelated Bartylus)

- along with bright lights, he’s sensitive to loud noises. That was hard for him when he would have to listen to, or endure, his parents screaming. When they’d scream at Sirius, Regulus would hide up in his room, in the closet, with his hands over his ears, hoping nobody called for him. When he was the one being screamed at, he’d just zone out and hope they would just go away.

- he used to be that he couldn’t bear to hold eye contact, like it physically hurt him; but his parents beat it into him that it was disrespectful, so now he’s ended up being that guy who will just dead-stare into someone’s eyes if they’re talking to him. It often unsettles them, and makes Regulus out to be some ‘weird, creepy kid.’ (Regulus was originally confused by this; wasn’t he doing it right? Do you look at their eyes or no?)

- his voice is very monotone. He was often able to get away with this, because it sounded much like his father’s. (Orion had a number of peculiar habits, and quirks. No one talked about it.)

- intimacy (even friendly touch, like hand-holding, hugging) is difficult for him. Regulus does not hug, he does not hold people’s hands. (Unless it was Sirius’, because Sirius was the one who’d hold his hand when he was melting down every other night. Sirius’ hand feels too familiar to hurt, like most others’ do.) he’s only comfortable with touch once he REALLY gets to know a person, and even then, there’s still strict no-no’s. (No touching his hair, his neck, his wrists, his legs, his feet, his stomach, (basically nothing below his waist) )- in retrospect, not much. (Those rules had more leeway with Barty, he supposed.)

- he HATES certain sounds. Cannot stand chewing, cannot stand repetitive sounds (even though he occasionally makes those, only when he’s alone), sounds of bugs, cannot stand certain textures, too- velvet, for one (formal events were nightmares, for that, and many other reasons), microfiber, and certain denims.

- he loves the water. It’s very calming, has a nice sound, has a nice texture. He listens to thunderstorm/rain sounds to go to sleep to, (because another thing is he cannot tolerate silence.)

Again, this may be me way too much projecting, but I really don’t care 🫶