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librarycards · 1 year ago

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Hello! Sorry if you’ve posted about this somewhere already/if it’s redundant, but I thought your coinage of “transMad” was very cool and I’m wondering what that term means to you? I’m really happy to see other people talking about madness being intertwined w their gender/transness and looking forward to checking out your reading lists :))

thank you so much for asking about one of my favorite things to infodump about!! rather than rehash a bunch of stuff, if it's okay, I'm going to borrow a few quotes from past!me that i've published in different places // offer you some things of mine to read.

broadly, though, i use transMadness as a way to explore the identificatory, epistemological, methodological, and theoretical implications of an orientation (to use Sara Ahmed's term) toward bodymind noncompliance and self/selves-determination. this orientation refuses to delineate diagnostically between Maddened / transed experiences of the world/our many worlds, and instead takes this shared/overlapping ground as a jumping off point for solidarity and speculation - that is, something that allows us to imagine otherwise worlds / make them manifest through creativity and collaboration.

(Ha, and I claimed i wouldn't talk too much...famous autistic last words)

ANYWAY. here are some clips that might help explain more dimensions of transMadness. note that, in my dissertation-in-progress, i'm focusing on xeno/neogender and/as self-diagnostic cultures among queercrip and transMad internet users. i'm interested in the anti-psych liberatory potential of this digital community work, especially as it centers forms of knowledge and scholarship devalued within Academia Proper, especially because so much of it is made by and for disabled, Mad, queer, trans people, esp. youth. Onward to quotes!

On transMad epistemologies: citation/power/knowledge:

I’ll spend most of this piece looking not at what transMad is, but what it does. First and foremost, transMad cites. Even its name alludes to other portmanteaus: neuroqueer and queercrip being the best-known among them. Many people have offered many different (ever-“working”!) definitions of these terms; today, I offer co-coiner Nick Walker’s (2021) definition of neuroqueer: a verb and an adjective “encompass[ing] the queering of neurocognitive norms as well as gender norms” (p. 196). In terms of queercrip, I also return to its coiner, Carrie Sandahl (2003), who for whom the queercrip (as person and as method/movement) confuses the diagnostic gaze, bears sociopolitical witness, and performs glitchful[4], incongruous, confusing in(ter)ventions into possible community. At base, “queer” and “crip” appear as analogous, reclaimed slurs signifying marginalized transgression. When combined, they describe a loop, perhaps a Möbius strip: crip (ani)mates queer, queer tells-on crip. The specter of crip haunts queer—and even more explicitly, as we will see, trans—and the crip(ped) bodymind holds, moves, and fucks queerly. Who knows where “queer” stops and “crip” and “neuro” begin? Likewise, transMad, whose citational style leaves little room for diagnostic clarity amidst a pastiche of noncompliant text.

On transMad epistemologies: multiplicity (h/t @materialisnt):

They encourage us to remove others’ names from our bodies, to reign in unruly citations, to set “boundaries” which violate Mad, crip ethics of care (see Fletcher, 2019). In truth, any framing of individual authorship in which the body text is “mine” and the citations gesture “elsewhere” belie the inherent interdependence of all intellectual life, and particularly of transMad intellectual life. transMad plural scholar mix. alan moss (2022) argues in relation to the pathologization of multiple systems: “all people, indeed all that exists, is a system that itself is constantly enmeshed in several overlapping and interconnected systems.” In short, I am full of Is, and will continue as many more. Just as disability justice helps us understand all life as interdependent and deserving of access, a transMad approach sees our selves as numerous and fuzzy. We have permission to dispense with the need for tidy texts, with our interlocutors, edits, and iterations either obfuscated entirely or exclusively relegated to a bibliography. transMad citation may thus be considered akin to visible mending[6], creating flamboyantly messy, multiplicitous work that does not seek to pass as objective or discrete.

On the value of (crip) failure and/as "virtuality":

Don’t get me wrong: Zoom PhD work is a failing enterprise. That is to say, it is a queercrip, transMad enterprise, which is to say, it is a beautiful, beautiful project. Mitchell, Snyder, and Ware describe such “fortunate failures” in the context of “curricular cripistemologies.”5 Coined by Merri Lisa Johnson, the term “cripistemologies,” refers to “embodied ways of knowing in relation, knowing-with, knowing-alongside, knowing-across-difference, and unknowing,” ways which frequently exist outside the purview of mainstream academia.6 Curricular cripistemologies, then, refer to an intentional, queercrip deviation from normative pedagogical approaches which trades the corrective impulse of “special ed” and other rehabilitative programs, and offers instead a generative noncompliance.7 That is, rather than trying to identify, isolate, and ameliorate difference, curricular cripistemologies lean into difference as it is experienced by disabled students ourselves, querying how atmospheres of in/accessibility shape normative approaches to education and how the embrace of “failure,” not as a last-resort but as a first choice, poses potentially transformative possibilities.

On transMadness and fat liberation: (for @trans-axolotl's Psych Survivor Zine)

A transMad, fat approach to disorderly eating requires making connections with humility and understanding, and, as I discussed above, engaging in compassionate, critical interrogation of our own anti-fatness.

[...]

A transMad, fat, abolitionist politic is one that makes room. We imagine beyond the cage, even if the details of that imagining are not yet clear. Just as we have carved micro-sites of support within violent digital and in-person contexts, just as we have learned to think about our lifeworlds beyond the paradigm of “recovery or death,” we can also reconceptualize fatness not as the enemy, but as another form of bodymind noncompliance in alliance and/or entanglement with disorderly eating practices. For thin disorderly eaters, this requires us to fundamentally challenge the way we view food and embodiment, even while maintaining a Mad respect for alternative ways of approaching reality.

On xenogenders, virtuality, and self-determination:

It is this very “irrationality” –– the “unrealness,” the “you’ve-got-to-be-kiddinghood,” that is most frequently weaponized against xenogenders, as well as their newly-coined sets of xenopronouns. The perceived and actual virtuality of xenogenders is often placed against the notion of “actuality,” in this case, of “real” (or “practical”) genders and pronouns to be used in one’s “real life.” Disabled activists have rightly resisted the distinction between online and (presumed-offline) “real life,” given that this categorically excludes homebound bodyminds, as well as those without IRL social and support circles. That said, I believe the virtual –– as almost, not-quite, proximite, making-do –– is incredibly useful in thinking about xenoidentities as transMad tools –– particularly, as transMad tools of underground collaboration / co-liberation.

[...]

What if gender was a project we wanted to fail? That is, what if trans- was a process not of getting better, not of moving-toward a bodymind more sane, more straight, and more cisheteropatriarchially desirable, but rather a line of flight on a longer trail to illegibility? Indeed, what if we replaced pathology’s narrow “path” with a trail lighted by the language of our comrades, whose linguistic interventions make and break gender in ways heretofore unimaginable? Xenoidentities, both individually and as a trans-gressive M.O., are fundamental to a broader transMad project of crafted, collective illegibility; intersubjective citation (imagine what it feels like for someone to be the gender that you coined!); and collective care that refuses a politics of cure. Crucially both virtual and digital, xenoidentities are furthermore a manifestation of the power of trans, predominantly disabled digital counterpublics, who overturn the hierarchy which places the IRL-real above the digital-unreal, making unruly, Mad space in which (with apologies to Donna Haraway) a hundred xenoselves might bloom.

On Maddening queer "diagnosis":

In her indictment of all “Kwik-Fix Drugs,” Gray further indicates the practice of forced treatment as in and of itself as a project of violent normalization, regardless of specific target or reason. The intentional ambiguity between her narrative of Madness and her narrative of asexuality disrupt mounting demands for a healthy (sanitized, neoliberal, and consumable) queerness. A Mad ace approach identifies these demands as, indeed, comparable with cis heteronormative notions of sexual maturity and responsibility – the idea that participation in culturally-normative sexual practices is a prerequisite for health (Kim, 2011, 481) and thus, personal autonomy (Meerai, Abdillahi, and Poole 2016, 21). By fusing the “lack of sexual appetite” attributed to her medications for bipolar disorder with her asexuality, Gray destabilizes the binary between healthy-sexual-diversity and unhealthy-psychopathology. She is once again disrupting contemporary queer impulses to dissociate from ongoing histories of pathologization. Here, Mad and queer/asexual activism are as inseparable in text as they are in Gray. Gray and her comrades collectively refuse both sexuality-as-“rehabilitation” (See Kim 2011, 486) and asexual acceptance predicated upon normative “health” (Kim 2010, 158) – that is, they Madden asexuality. Twoey, in her own voice, remixes the sources of her own pathologization, staggering the supposedly-divine pronouncement of the DSM across pages and bookending its extracts with her own writing and art. In this undermining of the DSM’s epistemological polish, Gray disrupts the domination of written prose over poetry and visual art, while also critiquing the role of the DSM in commercialized health “care.” Her zine opens with the lines “sex sells and sex is sold / sex was being sold and i didn’t buy” (Gray 2018, n.p.). Gray indicates a pathology perceived not only in a refusal to practice sex, but also in a refusal to buy (into) it. After all, a refusal to buy into existing sexual paradigms is for her also a refusal to buy into a feminized reproductive mandate.

#sector-v #thank you genuinely!#ask #transmad #antipsychiatry #xenogender #epistemology #madness

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kommandonuovidiavoli · 10 days ago

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ok first of All, thank u so much for answering my KND mourning Au question. Loved the art ! 😍 I’m sorry if I’m bothering u. There’s an AU Idea that JUST struck me like a lightning bolt ⚡️. What if Irwin,Sydney,Lou,Charlie & Ray became the DCFDTL in 1984 instead of Sector Z? How much would change? Like Sector V since Wally canonically can’t exist in that universe. Would Sector Z become members of the Adult division? Who would marry who? Would their kids become members of Sector V? Would any of the C.A.K.E episodes change. Would they find away for the 5 to come back permanently?

You don’t have 2 if you don’t wanna, I just think it’s a neat idea 4 an AU 👐🏻Anyways have a good day! 😃

Here's a little visualization of them... spoopy. As for the rest, let's go for a rant under read more.

Being that Sector Z was the best of the best, I'm more than sure that all of them got promoted to the Adult Division, and now have jobs that allow them to keep an eye on the other kids.

Specifically, they might take the roles other characters have, such as:

Alessandra is the elementary school teacher. No were-dog shenanigans, unfortunately, but everyone likes her because she's very energetic and creative; she makes sure the is school safe and fair for them. She had that mishap with Grandma Stuffum but welp... it can happen;

Lenny is one of Mr Boss' workers, taking Sydney's role. He's the one who will solve the "take your daughter to work" situation and help Kuki get everyone back;

Constance will be one of the moms... even if no one has ever seen her kids. But this way, she's allowed into other moms' spaces, and makes sure Sector V is doing their job by casually visiting the kid's moms;

David works more secretly: he's never seen around unless things get really bad. He's Vicky's second;

And then... Bruce... my boy... I am so sorry... you're the new Toiletnator BUT DON'T WORRY! You'll have a slightly different costume and approach to the character! You will crack jokes every second and make everyone laugh as you want! The best jokes are for complete distraction! You'll do great!

(obligatory pic otherwise someone is gonna kill me @numbuhinfinitys )

As for how they got there instead of Sector Z:

As I said, Sector Z will disappear in 1984. Their Soopreme Leader Numbuh 420 told them that there was some strange activity in a house down the lane in a city in Virginia, and asked them to go investigate.

Being that, at that point, Sector Z and Sector Ʌ were friends, David was the one suggesting that Sector Ʌ investigate instead, so they can show not only Numbuh 420 but THE WHOLE ORGANIZATION that they could do as good as any other sector.

Billie was a bit unsure but accepted the challenge, and the Australian group headed to this mysterious mansion.

There was a furious fight that involved lasers and gorillas and after that, Sector Ʌ disappeared.

Sector Z felt guilty and after some months of nothing, they took matters into their own hands and went to that mansion to see what was going on, only to be met by a young Father and his Delightful Children, who looked too much like their lost friends.

Since then, they swore they would find a way to bring them back, but also keep the other kids safe from them (spoiler: they took it too easy but realised how dangerous they could really be when they made Nigel bald).

INTERESTING THINGS THAT CAN CHANGE:

In Z.E.R.O. two things can happen: Sector Z comes out to help Monty fight Grandfather / Sector Ʌ is undelightfulizied and fights alongside Nigel;

Monty isn't the one that turns Sector Ʌ back to normal; it's actually David who gets the honour, and the two Sectors have a little sweet moment where they recognise each other and are told what they need to do;

Lou and Syd always hold hands, but you cannot see it because Charlie is in front of them;

Since the delightfulization works with kids who are not previously well educated, I think Irwin might sometimes snap out of it; he's had a very strict education that overlaps with the delightfulization. As we know, two negatives make a positive.

Sector V misses a Numbuh 4. In each "episode" there is a new kid filling that spot, and every time they quit because that Sector is "too much".

Around the second season, sometimes they get help from a kid with blonde, wavy hair and green eyes, and he's the one they eventually give the codename "Numbuh 4", even if it's not official. He earns their trust completely.

Yes, Irwin is Numbuh 4 and a Delightful Child, but there's no risk of backstabbing: when he's Numbuh 4, he doesn't remember anything about his Delightful status, and when he's a Delightful Children, he doesn't remember about his Numbuh 4 status;

When he's Numbuh 4, Irwin doesn't remember his real name. When he was asked what it was, Hoagie remarked how it sounded like he was from Australia > Australia has a marsupial that sounds like a name > "My name is Wallabee. Wally for short."

It's gonna be fun and sad when it comes out, but also, it will give Sector Z a new hope to bring all of them back;

Needless to say, the end of INTERVIEWS is NOT canon here. Maybe the one in the previous bullet point is the end of the Delightfuls: a hope for the future;

And since I first talked about Z.E.R.O.: Numbuh 4 is strangely absent, saying he was going to tackle the zombie invasion from another point and then disappearing. He reappears at the very end in from the wreckage of the treehouse;

Numbuh 442, Irwin, and Numbuh 4 all have different looks as seen below;

It's a kind of "Superman/Clark Kent" situation. Abby is slowly connecting the dots.

Goes without saying but HE AND KUKI WILL HAVE NO ROMANCE. Irwin is not interested in love, and even if Kuki might have a crush, he will politely reject her and ask to be friends;

To the answer "do the other know about Irwin's double identity?" I reply: no. They don't. They DO notice when he's not around (of course), but when he's Numbuh 4 the hivemind doesn't work anymore;

Back to the group: as Delightful Children, they don't have the Australian accent, and talk in plain English;

They have normal CAKED episodes, but of course, Numbuh 4 is absent in all of them;

And... that's it, nothing else comes to mind.

THANKS, NOW I HAVE ANOTHER AU TO ADD TO THE LIST SIGH.

#Delightful Switch AU #knd #kids next door #codename kids next door #sector z #sector v #sector Ʌ #delightful children from down the lane #dcfdtl

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