#talk to your doctor if you feel like a nonhuman every month it is not supposed to be like that 💫

[thislittlekumquat]

Still absolutely flummoxed by my doctor's solution to my pmdd-driven mental health woes. Last month felt like a miracle. This month is going great so far too.

[itsclydebitches]

(WLW anon) I really don’t like the “bad rep is better then none at all”. I hate that. We should want good rep, because bad rep has been used time and time again by homophobes as to say we shouldn’t get representation. To me it’s not “gay can have the same flaws as het”, it’s “fix the flaws in the het”. Also I know Renora being independent was a good, I was just saying in comparison BB. Also, yes, they were separated, but also didn’t stop thinking about each other. Especially bad with Yang.

Indulge me for a moment because I want to take a trip down memory lane and list some—just some—of the queer rep that has been important to me over the years:

Ellen comes out both as herself and as her character… years later, she’s a hated millionaire who is criticized for how she treats her staff

The wildly influential Buffy gives us two women entering a loving relationship… except then Tara is killed off, Willow goes evil for a time, and Buffy comes under fire for Joss Whedon’s everything

The beloved and respectable headmaster of one of the most popular book series ever published is revealed to be gay… except it doesn’t count because it wasn’t in the text and now all of Harry Potter is cancelled because JKR is transphobic

Kurt is an unambiguously gay teen in a hugely popular TV series, acting as one of the first overt representations a generation has seen… except he’s way too stereotypical and Glee is a joke now

Orange is the New Black gives us a number of queer women, including one of our first trans characters… but isn’t it problematic that they’re all criminals?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine hosts an out gay captain and gives us a bisexual coming out story that resonated with many, myself included… except now we’re supposed to hate all the characters on principle because they’re cops

Korra and Asami walk off into the spiritual sunset together… but they never kiss or anything, so that doesn’t count either

Steven Universe gives us a queer relationship and a wedding… but it’s an issue that this is just a kid’s show and, really, does it count when the rep is embodied by space rocks whose entire species only creates a single gender? Feels like a cop-out

Same with Good Omens. Yeah, Crowley and Aziraphale clearly love each other… but you never see them kiss or declare their intentions. It’s great ace rep though! Unless you want to level the criticism that asexual characters are always nonhuman

A character intended to be a minor guest becomes a show staple and eventually declares his love for one of the two main characters… except then Castiel immediately dies, Dean doesn’t respond, and they never meet on screen again

I finished Queen’s Gambit the other day and the main character had a one-night stand with a woman! … but everyone is talking about how bisexuality is used to represent her lowest point, so that’s bad too

I could go on for literal pages. Some of these arguments I agree with (Dumbledore), others I’ve pushed back against quite strongly (Crowley and Aziraphale), but all of them are valid criticisms depending on what part of the queer community you’re in and what your expectations are. My point here is that it’s all “bad rep.” I mean that seriously. If anyone reading this is scrambling for the comment section to say why [insert media title here] is actually fantastic rep, I guarantee that someone disagrees. Or if they don’t, give it some time. Just wait until the characterization becomes offensively outdated, or another part of the story ruins the relationship, or it comes out that the author did something truly horrific, or the terminology changes and it’s labeled as “problematic” now… just wait. At some point, any rep we feel is good rep now will be criticized, cancelled, and dragged through the mud. The rep that I personally haven’t seen much push-back against—like the beloved Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who, or Schitts Creek that just won a ton of awards—is wrapped up in the criticism, “So it’s all just about able-bodied, cis, (mostly) white dudes, huh? :/”  Even the argument that queer characters need to be written by queer authors doesn’t hold up. I absolutely adored Sense8. “Wow, a gay main character in a loving relationship with another gay man, both of whom enter a loving poly relationship with a woman, another lesbian trans main character who marries the love of her life on screen, an entire cast arguably queer due to them sharing orgy scenes centered around the emotional intimacy they share, everyone survives, and this was written by two trans women! Great, right?” Well, not according to the wealth of opinions explaining how Sense8 is horrible rep, actually. Every piece of rep we’ve got is either currently flawed or will become flawed in the future.

So what do we do with that?

That’s where my “I’d rather have bad rep than no rep at all” comes in. For me, that’s not waving the white flag. That’s not an oath that I won’t expect better rep in the future (I do) or that I won’t criticize the rep we get (BOY DO I), but rather just an acknowledgement of reality. The vast majority—if not the entirety—of rep is “bad rep” in one way or another, but I’d still rather have it than nothing at all. Because I’ve lived just long enough and studied media just enough to know what nothing looked like. It was watching all queer characters meet untimely deaths. Before that it was watching queer characters be derided and treated as jokes. Before that it was nothing but coding, where queer characters didn’t exist except in our own headcanons and interpretations. Obviously “bad rep” covers a very large range of issues and “They haven’t even confirmed this relationship yet” is a bigger issue than “This queer character embodies one or two, mild stereotypes,” but ultimately I’d take any of it over nothing at all. And enjoying what we’ve currently got doesn’t mean I’m willing to settle for it indefinitely.

To use an iffy analogy, imagine there’s a factory. This factory makes plates. So. Many. Plates. Big plates, small plates, plain plates, decorative plates, plates for every possible occasion in your life—and everyone with a steak for dinner is pleased as punch. You though? You’ve got soup. You need a bowl. Your entire life you’ve been struggling to eat your soup off a plate (it doesn’t work) and listening to friends and family claim that the plate with a slightly raised edge could be a bowl if you squint (it’s not). To say it’s frustrating is an understatement.

But then, one day, the factory starts producing bowls too. Hurray! Except as soon as you get your hands on one, you’re told you really shouldn’t be using it, let alone praising it. Look at the state of that bowl! It’s cracked right down the middle, ugly as hell, shoddily made all around… you’re not really going to settle for that, are you? And no, you obviously still want the factory to produce better bowls, but at the same time, this is a bowl. You’ve never gotten one before and you can finally enjoy your meal, even if the soup leaks at times. Sometimes a lot. But you’re still feeling better about your meal than you ever have before. And what you then begin to realize is that lots of the plates are a mess too. They also have cracks, they’re also ugly, many are also shoddily made. The difference is that the factory is producing so many plates at such a rapid pace that every steak eater is able to get by. One plate breaks completely? You’ve got a thousand fallbacks. Don’t like the look of this one? A thousand other options. You disagree about what “shoddily made” means? Luckily there are enough plates that everyone can find what they prefer! But the bowls… there’s only a few. Some are really expensive. Others are only available for a limited time before they suddenly disappear. Your bowl breaks and you have to wait months, years sometimes, to get another one. You’re constantly told to go buy this one obscure bowl no one else has heard about and yeah, you like it... but you’d also like to buy one of the bowls everyone is already enjoying. You find yourself looking at the plates and thinking, “I’d like that. I’d like to have so many options that the flaws, while still a problem, are much more bearable.” You’re still going to demand that the factory get its shit together, you’re still going to (rightly) complain about the awful quality of your bowl… but it’s still nice to have a bowl, period. There are still things you like about it, even if it’s a mess: the color, the size, the beauty of the shape of it. Its potential. You’re still pleased you have something to enjoy and that helps serve the need you’re looking to fill, even if that something is imperfect.

That’s “bad rep is better than no rep.” To bring this very long response back to Blake/Yang, I don’t think their problems negate their benefits. Is their relationship currently non-canonical and filled with a number of writing issues everyone has a right to be angry about? Yup. I express that anger a great deal. Are they still half of a team on a very popular show that is (presumably) set to be canonized as queer? Yup. I’d much rather live in a world where big shows like RWBY try to include queer rep and fail in a multitude of ways—with the expectation and hope that they’ll continue to improve—rather than in a world where authors a) don’t care or b) are too scared to try. Because that’s where a “good rep or no rep” stance leads. The danger isn’t homophobes because they’re, well, homophobes. It doesn’t matter if the rep is good or not, they hate it on principle. But if queer authors writing for other queer identities, or allies writing queer identities, or even queer authors writing their own experiences (like in Sense8) continually come under non-stop fire for their attempts… there’s a good chance that many people won’t ever try. We’re already seeing that here on tumblr with young authors admitting that they wouldn’t touch [insert topic here] with a ten-foot pole because just look at what happens when you get it wrong. And authors will get things wrong because authors are fallible people forever unlearning their own ignorance. So though it might sound strange coming from a blog that has turned into such a RWBY critical space, I am glad that RWBY’s queer rep exists, despite all the frustrations that I share about it. I think a RWBY with various types of “bad” queer rep is better than a RWBY with no queer rep at all, particularly when “bad” or “good” is so intensely subjective. There’s a middle ground between passively accepting whatever we’re given, and tearing into rep with such ferocity that we end up rejecting it all. There’s a space where we can be critical of rep and embrace the parts that work for us, simultaneously.

I hope and expect the het rep will get better too, but… that’s never going to happen instantly. To quote RWBY, there’s no magic wand we can wave to fix all our problems. Rather, it will take slow, plodding, meandering, lifetimes’ worth of work to see that change occur and I personally don’t want to spend the one life I have waiting for that perfect rep to show up. Because it’s unlikely that it will. While we work, I’d rather find the good in what rep we’ve already got.  

[heruhook-blog]

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[nikkidarks]

Lola Doveling ; A Motherly Touch

The sound of a child’s laugh can cure the worse wounds in the world, and a child’s cry can turn the brightest day black. And a woman called Lola knew this very well. The most loving of women, she cared for each and every child on this world, not matter what or who they were, she’d try to give every child a chance for a good life. She was a nurse in a Horrell hospital, worked at the children’s section. All of the kids would remember Lola, they all loved her. She brought hope into their eyes. But don’t get fooled, Lola is anything but a joyful woman, there is a deep, dark secret behind those happy cheerful eyes. And those caring laughs. Lola has experienced a dark moment in her life. When she and her husband decided to conceive a child, they were so excited, hopeful, they bought all of the clothing they could find, and even arranged a baby shower. The most beautiful of all. But in the next 9 months, Lola was going to find out, what true darkness feels like. Lola was about to break... Nine months later, she was sitting in her cozy fur covered chair that she always loved and adored, the chair in which she’d sit while reading the kindergartner’s stories and play games with them. And suddenly, she’d feel a sudden chill in her body, she was afraid, and suddenly she started feeling horrible pain, pain she never felt before. She screamed and yelled for her husband Gerald. He ran into the room as fast as he could and picked up Lola. They immediately got into the car and Gerald drove them off to the hospital. “What is going on Gerald!? Why is it so cold!?” She screamed and yelled, the poor woman had no idea what was about to happen to her. “I don’t know honey! Just try to keep calm! I am trying to get us there as soon as possible! It’s all going to be OK dear!” But it wasn’t going to be OK. When they arrived to the hospital the nurses immediately got Lola into a room and prepared for the childbirth. The nurses encouraged Lola to push, to focus, to be strong! And Lola tried to follow, but when it was all over, and the child was in the Nurse’s arms, it all went quiet. Not a single sound. “C-can I have it doctor, please, I wish to see my beautiful baby.” The nurse slowly looked up at Lola and said “Mrs Doveling, I don’t know how to tell you this, but, the child is dead, it was stillborn.” Lola’s life was destroyed, right in front of her eyes. The poor woman, who devoted her entire life’s energy in protecting children, giving them love and care, just witnessed a child dying. Her entire world was in ruins. She couldn’t even cry, she just sat there, after a few moments, she just said “Gerald, could you please take us back home, I think I have some work left to do, don’t want to disappoint the kids at the hospital tomorrow.” The nurse tried to explain how she couldn’t go home yet, that she needs to rest first, but Lola kept asking and begging to go home until they let her. Poor Lola, didn’t even let out a sound in the car, just looked out through the window. Sitting quietly, mourning... Lola’s irrational feeling of guilt forced her mind to crash down on itself, eating her alive, so she decided to do something, risky. One day when her husband left for work she went down into her basement, or how she liked to call it “Lola’s Laboratory.”, corny and plain, but it made her happy to have a corner of her own. This is where Lola worked on new medicine, cures for diseases, it was her main job after all. Lola went through her notebooks, her papers, her journals, everything, until she found her old project she dropped. A project  that would strengthen a young human body, give it pseudo natural immunity to certain wounds and diseases. And then Lola remembered, why she gave up on this. The story that her daddy used to tell her, about how before she was born, the doctors suggested her mother an abortion, due to noticing nonhuman DNA in her. How it could hurt her mother. But her mother wouldn’t give up on her, no matter what the price was. Lola remembered what her daddy told her about her mother, she never gave up on Lola, so Lola shouldn’t give up on those hurt kids either, no matter what. Lola opened up the blueprints and recipes and started preparing everything. Lola worked for several months until perfection, though Lola still couldn’t test the medicine on anyone. Lola decided to get dressed, grab her medicine with her and head off to the hospital, back to her job, the life she loved. But just before leaving, she remembered something. This medicine would need a name, a name to remember! So she named it Spexocain, she was never really good at names, but it was good enough in her eyes. She got out of her house and into her care, she then took off straight to the hospital. Lola was filled with energy, excitement, unruly joy. Upon arrival she was greeted by all of her old colleagues. Her old friends. But when she wanted to go back to her old job, they old her she couldn’t, told her how she didn’t work for a long time and that she couldn’t just go back to being a nurse/surgeon. After one of the nurses told her that, she noticed a young man in a stretcher being carried into the hospital and then into one of the rooms. Lola then asked one of the nurses if she could at least use her bathroom, told them that she needed to freshen up. They smiled and nodded while waving at Lola. Lola waited in the bathroom until all of the nurses left, and until all of the halls were quiet, she waiting for the moment when the boy was left with his parents. Once she noticed that it had gone quiet, Lola walked out of the bathroom and went into the boy’s room. She greeted the parents with a smile and a cheerful hello, said how she’s here while the other nurses are on their breaks. Told them how she is here to give the patient more morphine. Lola then injected the Spexocain into the boy’s IV and slowly walked out of the room. A few moments later, the boy’s body started to morph, to change. Mutate. The boy’s body got hairier, bulkier, dog like, until the boy became this huge, monstrous canine. Lola was crying, crying of joy. “I saved the boy... I saved the boy! I saved him! The boy is OK! I saved a child! It worked!”, Lola was screaming, crying and laughing while the canine started to trash the room, even hurt its parents, all while Lola was happy, happy that she saved a boy’s life. The canine soon ran out of the room and started attacking the rest of the staff. Lola noticed that there was another heavily wounded child in one of the other rooms, a girl, burnt alive, barely even breathing. “I will not let any child down, ever, I WILL PROTECT YOU! I WILL MAKE SURE YOU ARE OK!” Lola then quickly injected what ever was left of Spexocain into the girl’s IV. She then watched the girl’s wounds slowly disappearing and soon started to feel that the air was getting thick, that she couldn’t breathe well, she was sweating from the heat. The room started smoldering, getting lit on fire and soon burning. Lola was then grabbed by someone, but before she could see who she blacked out from the smoke. Next day Lola found herself laying on a hospital bed with her husband sitting next to her. “Lola, you’re awake! Oh honey you got me so scared! Are you OK?”. Poor man was so worried, but all Lola did was give him an affirmative nod. A few moments later, a person she would have never expected walked in, Jordan Klein himself, he greeted Lola, asked her how she is doing and then asked her husband to leave for a few moments. Gerald got up and walked outside of the room while blowing kisses to Lola. Jordan stood in front of Lola’s bed and asked her if she was interested in a job, a well paid one. She asked him about what kind of a job it was. He told her that all she needed to do was inject her unstable version of Spexocain into an IV of a patient called Nikki Darks and he’d make sure she had a full time, well paid job and a better home, but if she would to fail the job, he’d take everything she had from her. Lola accepted his offer. Jordan lifted his hand and shadowy flames started burning Lola’s wounds and healing them. “You should get dressed, the patient will be arriving shorting. Just before Jordan left he turned around and said “Oh and, you might need this, no need for you to go back to your house.” just as he put a syringe on her bed. Right after leaving Lola got dressed and put the unstable Spexocain into her uniform pocket. She got out of the hallway and looked around for a room with Nikki Darks in it, once she finally found it she noticed how young Nikki actually was. This dreadful feeling of fear and anxiety took over Lola. She didn’t think she could do this. She introduced herself to Nikki, told him her name, and all of the basic information. Once she looked at her patient notes, she noticed that Jordan has written her everything she needed to say. After talking to Nikki she told him she had to go get something and immediately ran out of the hospital. Poor Lola was drowning in tears. She couldn’t hurt a child, she just couldn’t. She swore to protect children, at any cost, just like her mother did with her. Lola got into her car and started driving home. While driving she could see a huge cloud of smoke coming from the street where her house was. Once she got close enough she could notice that her house was destroyed. The fire took it all. It was all charcoal and ashes. Jordan came from behind Lola and softly told her “You better become a nice little housewife that you’ve always been Mrs Doveling and clean up this mess before your loving husband comes home.” and then he dispersed into smoke and disappeared. Lola noticed that he hasn’t gotten to her lab, she quickly got down into her basement just to noticed that it was all destroyed. Her recipes and blueprints burned, everything was gone. Lola then decided to grab a piece of rope. Once the rope touched her hands, a feeling of chill went through her body. She was destroyed. She pushed some bricks under a metallic beam that was still standing and threw the rope around it.  Lola then put the rope around her neck and said her final words “I am sorry Gerald, I failed you,  I failed us, just like I failed our child.”. Just as she pushed the bricks away from her feet she could feel the rope tighten around her neck as the room got darker. A few moments later a shadowy silhouette appeared in front of Lola, told her how it can give her another chance at redeeming herself, how she can make it all right, but at a price. Lola nodded her head as much as she could and then the shadow cut her down. Lola was crying, she could barely say “Yes! Yes please!”. The shadow told her that she would not be allowed to help another child ever again, but she’d gain powers that would give her the ability to create any type of medicine, or toxic she could imagine. Lola shamefully agreed. The shadow then dispersed into smoke that went into Lola’s eyes. The shadows burned Lola’s head, filled her with straining, painful thoughts. Guilt, remorse. A voice kept repeating a line in her head “You betrayed them Lola, you betrayed them all.”. After some time Lola got up on her feet. She picked up a piece of glass from one of her broken syringes. Soon shadows swirled around the piece of glass and turned it into a syringe, a syringe filled with... Spexocain. Lola started laughing, she was hysterical. “I will help them! I can still help them! I CAN STILL SAVE THEM ALL!”

[letsdiscussrobots-blog]

TFP Decepticons learning what a period is? As much as I hate having periods there's some comedic gold when you mix it with nonhuman characters

Truly the height of comedy 

Megatron is disgusted, to say the least. He doesn’t like fleshies on a good day but this? This takes the bloody cake. But if need be he’ll send Soundwave out to get some period products for you. He also makes sure nobody bothers you.

Starscream is like “um, ew, wtf? Every month? WTF?!” However, he takes pity on you and gets you chocolate and a heating pad. He talks about how inefficient the human body is, and how Cybertronians are far superior in every way.

Soundwave doesn’t think much of it. He pets your tummy when you’re sore and will get you pads and snacks if you’re not feeling well enough to get them yourself. 

Knockout is kind of grossed out, but he’s a doctor so it’s not like… the worst thing he’s heard of. He gets you what you need and keeps extra pads in the medbay and his subspace. And if he drives you anywhere you’d better not leak on him. In fact, maybe you should put a towel down just to be on the safe side.

Breakdown feels awful that periods are a thing. You’d think he was watching ASPCA commercial  the way he’s looking at you. He makes sure he’s stocked up on period products and takes you out for ice cream. If you’re cold he’ll cuddle you, because he’s nice and warm.

Shockwave isn’t effected. He gets that’s just how your body works, and he’s researched human anatomy so it’s nothing new. He lets you rest in his lab if the ship gets too noisy, but unless menstruation suddenly becomes relevant to his experiments he’ll leave you alone about it.

[liasfinalportfolio]

How has the Study of Psychology Changed our Dominican Society?

Lia Nuñez

Catherine Domareki

Composition: The Act of Understanding

28 November 2019

How has the Study of Psychology Changed our Dominican Society?

Our world wouldn’t be the one we know without psychology. The psyche has been an enigma since the beginning of time and even though psychology only became a scientific study in 1879, humans have been trying to understand the workings of the human mind for centuries. However, attempting to decode the way people think, and why they act the way they do hasn’t been an easy task. Even to this day, we still don’t understand all there is to know about the human brain and psyche.  

In this essay, I will explore the changes psychology and psychotherapy have had in the 

The Dominican Republic. From the public’s opinion of it to the change in the practice itself. 

As a relatively new science, there still are some people who think psychotherapy isn’t needed. People who believe studying psychology is a waste of time since all you need is common sense. However, that is not the majority, just as the study of psychology itself has changed in various ways throughout the years, the way people look at seeing a psychologist or needing therapy has changed too. The stigma is less strong nowadays, and so is the shame.

In the past, psychologists have conducted controversial and even inhumane experiments to test their theories, both with humans and with animals.

A good example of an unethical and merciless study would be what the American psychologist, Harry Harlow, called the pit of despair. 

For that experiment, Harlow wanted to test how depression worked in monkeys. He let the monkeys bond with their mothers, before putting them in what he referred to as the ‘pit of despair’; it was a pyramid-like cage where he isolated the monkeys up to twenty-four months. The result was severely psychologically disturbed monkeys. As the American literary critic Wayne C. Booth wrote: "Harry Harlow and his colleagues go on torturing their nonhuman primates decade after decade, invariably proving what we all knew in advance—that social creatures can be destroyed by destroying their social ties." 

An example of an unethical psychological experiment would be the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971). In it, Dr Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University took some willing participants to do some form of roleplaying, in which half acted as prison guards and half acted as prisoners. The purpose of this experiment was, as their website says, ‘to understand the development of norms and the effects of roles, labels, and social expectations in a simulated  prison environment.’ [1]

After only a few days, the volunteers didn’t feel like they were participating in an experiment, but rather like they were in an actual prison. Prisoners reinforced that belief by telling each other that quitting was impossible, that this was a real-life prison. The prisoners felt like they didn’t have authority or options, and many had to be retired early because of mental stress.  One-third of the guards became hostile and strict, they seemed to enjoy the prisoner’s humiliation and the authority they were given.

The experiment was supposed to last two weeks, however, it ended up being terminated after only six days, after witnessing extreme guard brutality and being questioned about the morality of the experiment by Christina Maslach, a recent Stanford PhD. 

Those two are only some examples of the various immoral experiments that have been conducted. The team behind the Stanford Prison Experiment didn’t have bad intentions, and lots of old experiments were like that too, however, they were still less than ideal, and while we learned valuable things from them, they should never be repeated.  

Nowadays there are rules and regulations in place so that kind of thing won’t happen again. Just like child labour laws, in the Dominican Republic, we have an ethics code, which is confirmed by the executive power, and every psychologist is bound to it.

Another thing that has changed is the fact that psychologists and doctors now treat patients who aren’t suffering extreme conditions. No longer is seeing a psychologist something only people who are a harm to society or themselves do. If you want a better relationship with your marriage partner, if you want to love yourself, if you want to be a great parent, all of these are valid reasons to go see a psychologist. As therapist Ryan Howes said, ‘In fact, therapy is just as useful in the wellness model of getting healthy, achieving potential, and making a good life better.’ 1

In the times we live in, more and more people have been seeing therapists, and little by little we’ve been breaking the stigma that surrounds psychotherapy. While we still have a long way to go, soon we’ll get to the point where people aren’t ashamed to ask for help, just like they aren’t ashamed (usually) to go to the doctor or to the gym.  Like Howes said; ‘For comparison, look at two ways you manage your physical health: a visit to your M.D. versus working out at the gym. You go to a physician to treat a medical problem: You feel symptoms and seek treatment to return to your “normal” state. By contrast, you go to the gym to get healthy, achieve a higher physical potential, and generally make a good life better. Two different approaches to health, one focused on illness and the other wellness. Therapy is unique in that it acts as the psychological equivalent of both the M.D. and the gym. We go to therapy to treat problems as well as improve an already decent life.’

In the past, psychology wasn’t covered by insurance, since back then insurance companies did not see psychological issues as medical problems in the Dominican Republic. Nowadays however, insurance companies like Humano can cover therapy visits, just like with other health issues.

Nowadays psychology isn’t just being used for extreme cases only. Since it has become more mainstream, kids with learning disabilities, people with self-confidence issues, all of them are getting the help they need. While in the past people didn’t dare talk about having a therapist/psychologist, now, in the Dominican Republic, it’s become almost a trend. Some years ago, the ‘phone psychologist’ movement (in which you could call a number for psychological advice) started happening. It only lasted a few years, however, it too influenced on how people look at psychotherapy. Nowadays, even people without mental issues just go there to rant, to feel heard. 

Psychology has evolved in many ways throughout the years, and with it, the people’s opinion. The change, however, has been largely positive and I’m sure a world without stigma, at least in regards to psychotherapy, is just around the corner.

Works Cited

Howes, Ryan. “8 More Reasons to Go to Therapy.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 10 Mar. 2014, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-therapy/201403/8-more-reasons-go-therapy.

Stamp, Clifton. “What Are The Top 10 Unethical Psychology Experiments?” Online Psychology Degrees, 12 Sept. 2019, www.online-psychology-degrees.org/study/top-unethical-experiments-psychology/.

[purify-orre-blog]

PRE-DV2 : The Conference

TW/CW: Dehumanizing Talk , Threats of Murder , Purposeful Misgendering (Until Called Out On It)

TL:DR; Michael only talks at 2 panels. The Conference goes... decently? Scribner talks in “” and italics. Hastings talks in “”. Michael talks in ‘’. Zacharias, for his 3 lines, talks in ‘’ and italics.

“Scribner Kelpman on behalf of the Kantonian Board of Scientific Discoveries here to introduce our academic friends to our ‘Pokemon Experiments Gone Wrong And You’ Panel. As you’ll recall, last year we had a talk with Bill, the man who fused himself accidentally with a Clefairy. Filling in for Professor Elm is Professor Hastings from the Ranger Union. We also have one other guest.”

“I’ve been told that your panel has an exclusive the likes of which our guests have never seen, is that right, old boy?”

“Right you are, Professor. We’ve an exclusive with the Phenac City Phoenix.”

“Ah, yes. I do recall being informed of that. He’s up in the cloud right now and we’ll watch him through that?”

“… No, Professor. The projector and screen behind us is set up to remotely stream its appearance.”

“Scribner, can I call you that?”

“I’d prefer Kelpman, Professor.”

“Well, Kelpman. I’m sure the lad would prefer we call him a he.”

“Professor, it’s not even human, its-”

“That young man is no less human than the rest of us, and we should treat him as such. For that matter, we should treat all Pokemon with this respect. They all have their own chosen names and pronouns. Beyond even our nicknames and interpretations of their gender. We should take the time to ask them how they feel and honor that.”

“That’s… quite the radical statement.”

“It’s no different than respecting any other person. We should respect others, just as they respect us. Don’t you think so, Kelpman?”

“I… Yes, Professor. Of course we should respect other people…”

“And Pokemon too, Kelpman?”

“… And Pokemon too.”

“Right then, old boy. Let’s make haste. Pull the lad from the cloud for us!”

“Right away… Professor.”

‘Hello? Is this connected?’

“What’s that lad? Please do speak up! These ears aren’t what they used to be.”

‘Um. Hello? Is this better? I’ve turned up the volume on my computer to it’s fullest.’

“… You’re still too quiet for the Professor. You should-”

“Ignore Kelpman here, lad. You’re doing just fine. We’ll simply turn up the volume of your connection some. Kelpman, give me the remote for a moment.”

“Professor, accommodating for that being will put your Union to shame-”

“And treating this young man rudely will put my soul to shame. It seems you have no qualms with it, though.”

“… I’m truly sorry for my words.”

‘That’s okay... Um, but if I may?’

“Yes lad? What do you need?”

‘Well, you’re Professor Hastings, and that’s Doctor Scribner Kelpman. Both respected men in you fields. But… I don’t think everyone knows who I am?’

“They know you’re not human-”

“You do seem to be right, young man. Why don’t you introduce yourself?”

‘My name is Yamichaelas Thunderbolt Krane-Westley. I’m here on behalf of the HQ Coordination Lab in ORRE. But those in the audience may know me as the Phenac City Phoenix. However, that’s not relevant right now. Since I think this might keep the attention more on the good Professor and Dr., I think I should mention the first panel I was on was over… that incident. And it was streamed live by the convention staff. So you can watch more on the official website if you weren’t at that panel… Dr. Kelpman here requested I come to talk about being the MICHAEL of MISSNO. fame.’

“Precisely. Following last year’s guest, Bill of the PC system, no other human has come close to what you’ve done. No one has violated the laws of nature so profoundly and lived.”

“Now I’m a well-learned Professor, but I’m afraid I’m rather in the dark when it comes to standard Pokedex nonsense. Us in Fiore are used to the Browser, don’t you know?”

‘And in ORRE we’re not much for Pokedexes either. Dr. Kelpman, could you please explain to us and those in the audience what MISSNO. Is?’

“That’s precisely what I’m here to do, Professor and Michael. A MISSNO., Missing NO. or Missing Number all refer to an unregistered or unidentifiable Pokemon and/or Pokemon-like creature of Cartoon origin. Once caught and/or registered, until properly disputed and accepted by the Regional League, these MISSNO. creatures will still show up under that Professor-restricted subset instead of in any official records. Of course, due to the Public Information mandate of nearly a decade ago, all MISSNO. creature names and base logged info can be found via the Regional Leagues website a month after upload.”

“Well I’ll be! Does that mean standard toon-folk show up under that branch?”

“I’ll admit, I’m not entirely sure. My studies have mostly been about molecular changes via the capturing process. In theory the answer is yes… But the list only applies to registerable creatures, which do have to be caught first… So I can’t say.”

‘Professor, Dr., I can answer this one. Standard toon-folk, and those who are half-or-less like me, do not automatically show up as MISSNO. It’s just as Dr. Kelpman said. You have to be registered or else you don’t show up.’

“And how do you know that, MISSN- Michael? Nonhuman hybrids like yourself aren’t legally allowed to hold Pokedexes, let alone become registered to use one.”

‘Uh. Um… well, when I was caught, my OT, um-’

“I’ll admit I’m curious to that as well. But this seems like a question best saved for later, perhaps when the panel is over?”

‘Uh, yes! Thank you Professor. Yes, exactly.  Dr. Kelpman, I’ll be willing to answer any questions you have right after we’re done.’

“… Moving along, then. Michael, is it true that you didn’t actually catch yourself despite your first… thesis… saying the opposite?”

‘…Oh, Shoot, I’m awfully tempted to lie and stick to saying I did, but you both caught me say OT back just a bit ago…’

“My word, lad. Are you saying you’ve actually caught yourself? In a Pokemon Ball?”

‘Well, yes. That’s what this panel is about, Professor. Didn’t Dr. Kelpman brief you too?’

“He sent me some files, yes. But I only skimmed through them when it became apparent he only cared for slander and libel. You’re just a young person that went through some tough times.”

“Libel? Professor, I’m appalled that you would even insinuate I would stoop that low about a murderer like-“

‘’Kelpman, I don’t believe I was talking to you. I was talking to Michael here.”

“… Fine. Talk over me on my panel. I don’t care.”

‘Professor? Please don’t be mad at him for doing his job.’

“Young man, I’m disappointed in the Dr. for being so rude to you. I’m angry at this whole convention for using your unfortunate circumstances to force you to talk here. You should be in school, not locked in a room with a security guard and your younger brother over there.”

‘He’s older than me, actually. And my current TRAINER, not my brother.’

“Ah, I see. Well, the point remains. You shouldn’t have to be here for your lab’s accreditation. Not when you’re still so young. You have so much to do and see. More than reminiscing over lies, certainly.”

‘I’m afraid that whatever the Dr. there sent you was likely true. The Phenac Incident was… bad… And I did steal Pokemon from licensed TRAINERs. I’m not heroic or anything, I’m a bad guy.’

“See. It- he admits to his guilt! He’s a menace. A menace that’s currently abusing tons of private funding to pal it up with the brightest young minds and taint them. He’s ruining my panel. He’s-”

“Mr. Kelpman. That kind of speech will not be tolerated in this convention environment. Or any environment. Certainly not in a work environment. You are an academic mind above all else, and you are the only one here ruining your panel.”

“How dare you-”

‘Professor, please. He’s just scared because I’m in the VIP Fairy-Variant room. But it’s okay! If I act out again or these panels go badly, I’ll be put down. There’s no need to be mad at him!’

“Young man, what was that bit?”

‘Nothing, Nothing! Um, let’s just get back to the panel, okay?’

“… This panel is over. Everyone out.”

‘No, no! Please Dr. Scribner. Please Keep it going. If my guard finds out…’

“Professor, can your authority let Michael free? This… doesn’t sound like convention policy.”

“Mr. Scribner, I do believe it can. I think we should on-record stop the panel and-”

‘Please don’t end the panel early! Please!’

“Why not, Michael? The guests have all left.”

“Kelpman is right, young man. This is something we need to report to the board.”

‘But you can’t stop it early. Please.’

“To reprimand you like that is against nearly every rule in the book. It’s been illegal to put down VIP’s since before you were born.”

‘My lab needs the accreditation just as much as you want Professor status, please Dr. Kelpman. Ask me more questions about how I recoded the Premier Ball or something.’

“Hybrid or not, my personal feelings on your murders aside… This isn’t okay.”

“Kelpman, my boy, for once we agree on something. Michael, my lad, we have to set you free.”

‘Dr. Scribner, if you stop it early, this’ll be my third strike. You know the room itself is STEEL. You know if I’m kicked to the ground and forced there it’d kill me. Please. Please, don’t stop the panel.’

“… Professor, can a panel still be run with only one host and one guest if the other is taking a bathroom break?”

“Why yes, it can. I’ll be off to the restroom.”

‘You’re making a mistake, Professor. I just need to sit through the panels. It’ll be okay. You don’t need to go out of your way-’

“Onto my next question. Michael, was it true that you stole a prototype Pokeball from- Actually. Let me ask something else.”

‘… The Professor left.’

“Michael. Did you ever make good on your plans from the end of your thesis?”

‘You read my paper? Your work on berries has always been an inspiration of mine. It’s what I’m going to talk about at my solo panel and-’

“I’ll say. Your thesis on the Pokeball system came out the same year mine did. It received more acclaim despite mine being vastly superior. You cited working on it for 2 years. Mine took a decade. The only difference was you took anecdotes from actual Pokemon.”

‘Yours was much better than mine! The amount of experiments and control tests you went through to come up with your findings was astounding!’

“But I wasn’t young enough. You gained my praise. Everywhere I turned, my masterpiece was compared to your fantasy novella.”

‘But I really did talk to all those Pokemon. They were my friends. And they’d never lie to me.’

“That’s precisely why it’s fantasy, Michael. You know how Pokemon, how friendship works! They were only telling you what you wanted to hear!”

‘I don’t think they were? I’ve been in a Pokeball too, remember? Besides, our collective findings basically say the same thing, I don’t see the big deal.’

“You wrote a newspaper article and got into the Hope’s Peak. I wrote an encyclopedia and didn’t even break into my field. You ruined my career.”

‘Are you sure both of our success wasn’t up to luck?’

“… Maybe it was. If only I was lucky enough to have a fan.”

‘Well, for what it’s worth. I’m your fan.’

“… That doesn’t make me feel better.”

‘… Also, I did.’

“Excuse me?”

‘What you asked about. I did. Do… that to myself too.’

“But you don’t seem any different. You don’t seem changed.”

‘Just a few weeks back I went through a PURIFICATION process, actually.’

“Did it help any?”

‘Not really. Not as much as going to therapy and relying on my family, friends and boyfriend has been.’

“I see… Are you happy together?”

‘Huh?’

“You said boyfriend. Another Hope’s Peak student, I’m guessing?”

‘Oh, ha ha. I did mention him, didn’t I? Yeah, uh… Yeah, he is…’

“And you’re happy together?”

‘I’m not sure. I mean, I’m happy with him. I’d do almost anything for him. But I never really asked if he’s happy with me. It’s hard to tell, you know? He’s so out-of-my-league…’

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Especially if they’re really open with affection towards everyone. It’s hard to tell if you really deserve it or it’s just something they’d do for anyone.”

‘Yes, exactly! I feel that way with my friends too! Like Zacharias, Eve, and Espella! They’re always being way too nice! Why, do you deal with that too?’

“My husband Yew made me feel the same way for a long time. And… is that him there?”

‘Huh?’

“Your TRAINER from before who’s struggling on that smartphone. Is he also your boyfriend?”

‘No, that’s my friend Zacharias. My boyfriend is someone else entirely.’

“May I know his name?”

‘Well, see, I’ve also never asked if I can tell people who he is… But, since you told me your husband’s name, I’ll say his name also starts with a Y.’

“That’s… something I guess. And, it looks like the Professor is there.”

‘It… sure does. Did he really have to knock out the poor security guard?’

“It looks like your friend was ready to pull out that prop sword of his, I think it’s for the best.”

“Michael, my lad! Michael’s TRAINER! Let’s get you two out of here!”

‘Are you the Search Engine Pizza man?’

“I’m Professor Hastings from the Ranger Union.”

‘With our desert pizza?’

“Why would I have a desert pizza?”

‘I ordered one through the Google search on behalf of a request from some Magical Phone Royalty.’

“It seems you’re going to be fine. I should let the convention goers know everything is okay.”

‘Dr. Kelpman, thank you for your help. You can hang up the call now.’

“Will do.”