#trans dean agenda

[transmascsam]

ummmm. thinking about sam starting T in s2 or 3 and dean teaching him to shave. sam's nervous and a little embarrassed about learning something like 10 years late but dean understands and doesn't crack (too many) jokes at sam's expense. that's why dean gave him the shaving cream for christmas it was a congratulations for learning to do it himself

[moon-mountain]

Me too Dean, me too...

[bedlund]

castiel trans zine. click for quality. bibliography under the cut

2street2car (2021). Romantic Theory. Archive of Our Own. Available at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31427978

@bedlund (2021). There is a crack, a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in. Tumblr. Available at: https://bedlund.tumblr.com/post/667421049623805952/there-is-a-crack-a-crack-in-everything-thats

@bedlund (2022). *lying on my stomach kicking my legs grinning and giggling* cas became something other than an angel because he has a body and the ability to consent to possession. he’s literally the first of his kind (also he’s trans). Tumblr. Available at: https://bedlund.tumblr.com/post/690873746717818880/lying-on-my-stomach-kicking-my-legs-grinning-and

@calamitysong (2020). cas is trans because he came into being without gender and then became a gay man. dean is trans too. Tumblr. Available at: https://calamitysong.tumblr.com/post/635674769551966208/cas-is-trans-because-he-came-into-being-without

Edlund, B. (2011). Supernatural 6x20 'The Man Who Would Be King' Promo. Youtube. Available at: https://youtu.be/TvJd7NCoKVw?si=cwUWr7UdHflZx2ko

Edlund, B. (2011). Supernatural Preview: 'Lies, Omissions and Secret Agendas' Play Into Castiel-Centric Hour by Gelman, V. TVLine. Available at: https://tvline.com/interviews/supernatural-preview-ben-edlund-castiel-213629/

Edlund, B. (2013). Angel Warrior - The Story of Castiel Featurette. Youtube. Available at: https://youtu.be/FqgJYoM_sc0?si=J7am-hrW6r92hTCD

Edlund, B. (2021). “O, Angel” #officeart, sharpie on paper, acetate, Supernatural, Season 8. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/ben_edlund/status/1440730181237305350

Kraaijeveld, K., Gregurke, J., Hall, C., Komdeur, J., Mulder, R. A. (2004). Mutual ornamentation, sexual selection, and social dominance in the black swan, Behavioral Ecology, Volume 15, Issue 3. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arh023

@marxandangels (2021). If we talk about Cas himself, as a character that’s a result of interpretation, he is a trans man. A trans man who is, importantly, gay and a father. All three of those things are essential parts of Cas as a character. Tumblr. Available at: https://marxandangels.tumblr.com/post/648648117339734017

seperis (2014). Down to Agincourt. Archive of Our Own. Available at: https://archiveofourown.org/series/110651

@steveyockey (2022). #easiest refutation of my life. cas developed into something other than an angel because he literally has a body and the ability to give  #other beings consent to possess it. Fin. Tumblr. Available at: https://steveyockey.tumblr.com/post/680206404343234560

Taleb, N. N. (2007). The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Random House Publishing Group. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1324807

@themanwhowouldbefruit (2022). “knowing you has changed me” SHUT THE FUCK UP KNOWING ASS CHANGED ASS BITCH. Tumblr. Available at: https://themanwhowouldbefruit.tumblr.com/post/699695907897262080/knowing-you-has-changed-me-shut-the-fuck-up

Walton, R. (1997). Typographics 2: Cybertype : 'zines + Screens. Hearst Books International. Available at: https://books.google.com/books?id=QWpSKQAACAAJ

if anyone reads this far and is interested in a copy hit me up

[vague-humanoid]

Gabe Woolley, a Republican candidate for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, appeared on a show hosted by Holocaust denier Stew Peters and decried the so-called “trans agenda.” Following their friendly interview, Peters, a white nationalist who once called Adolf Hitler a “hero” and promoted Mein Kampf, wished Woolley the “best of luck.”

Woolley is an elementary school teacher and virulently anti-LGBTQ candidate for Oklahoma’s 98th District. During the Republican primary, Woolley faced off against J. David Taylor and the incumbent, Rep. Dean Davis. Both Woolley and Davis advanced to the Aug. 27 run-off, separated by a single vote.

Woolley claims to have “struggled with same sex attraction” before leaving “the LGBTQ brand,” and recently produced an anti-trans movie called Trans Oklahoma: Dark Side of the Rainbow. He’s praised anti-LGBTQ figures like Chaya Raichik (a.k.a. “Libs of TikTok”) and Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

[destieltropecollection]

DESTIEL TROPE COLLECTION 2023 | DAY 27 | Omegaverse

The Ruse (WIP) | Destielshipper4Cas (AO3)

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 3,533 Main Tags/Warnings: Prince Dean, Commoner Cas, Falling In Love, Strangers to Lovers, False Identity, Mistaken Identity, Omega Castiel, Alpha Dean, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Bottom Castiel, Top Dean, Happy Ending Summary: Castiel, a lowly commoner, is supposed to travel to the Winchester kingdom as a decoy, posing as Prince James who is to mate Prince Samuel of Winchester. On the way, he gets kidnapped by a group of bandits, led by a rugged alpha outlaw with an alluring scent. He has no idea that ‘Dean’ is actually the elder Winchester prince, heir to the throne, who has his own agenda.

south by | @sharkfish​

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 4,367 Main Tags/Warnings: Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Dean, Omega Castiel, Trans Omega Castiel, Gender Euphoria, Gender politics, Sharing a Bed, Coworkers Summary: “We have one king ready for you through Saturday night,” the beta says, starting to pull out keycards for them. “Wait,” Dean says. “There’s supposed to be two rooms.” She checks the computer again, frowning. “I’m sorry, sir, but there’s only one reservation here.”

The Rut Pact | Destielshipper4Cas (AO3)

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 16,113 Main Tags/Warnings: Best Friends, Bisexual Disaster Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester in Denial About Sexuality, Internalized Homophobia, Porn with Feelings, Bottom Cas, Top Dean, Alpha Dean, Alpha Cas, Happy Ending Summary: When Dean finds out that his best friend Cas is alphasexual, he comes up with a great plan that means neither of them will have to spend their ruts alone anymore. Just alpha buds helping each other out. Good thing Dean is straight. Otherwise, he might fall in love with his best friend.

boombox & cookies | @sharkfish​

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 16,659 Main Tags/Warnings: Alpha Dean Winchester, Omega Castiel, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Non-explicit references to past abuse, Non-explicit references to alcoholism, Gender politics, Tooth-Rotting Fluff Summary: “I think I misjudged you,” Castiel says. Dean shuts and then opens his mouth like an idiot fish. “What do you mean?” “I don’t do well with alphas and I’m not interested in being flirted with.” “Hey,” Dean interrupts, “I swear that’s not —” “Dean.” Castiel’s voice is deep and firm enough to shut Dean up. “I understand that now, but my original assumption was that you’re the kind of aggressive alpha who just wants to get his knot wet. You're not like that."

On Breeding Vacation | Destielshipper4Cas (AO3)

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 23,345 Main Tags/Warnings: Mutual Pining, Strangers to Lovers, Breeding Kink, Mpreg, Bottom Castiel, Top Dean, Happy Ending, Porn with Feelingsm Fluff and Smut, Dorks in Love, Cuddling & Snuggling, Bottom Castiel, Top Dean, Omega Castiel, Alpha Dean, Mating Cycles/In Heat Summary: Cas wants pups, but without an alpha, that dream seems out of reach. Luckily, fertility ranches have long since specialized in giving omegas who are incapable of being loved the family they so desperately desire.

Wrapped Up In You | @roobear68

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 28,030 Main Tags/Warnings: True Mates, Alpha Castiel/Omega Dean Winchester, Secret Admirer, Begging, Knotting, Slick, Rimming, Oral sex, Castiel/Dean, Gabriel/Sam, Castiel & Gabriel, Dean & Sam, Toby (the Chihuahua), Castiel, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Gabriel, Benny L., Balthazar, Bobby Singer, Ellen Harvelle, Alfie (supernatural) Summary: Cas was intrigued by the delectable scent left on these anonymous gifts. The alpha was determined to find this mysterious omega. He was unaware that his little dog, Toby, had decided that very same thing.

Entre Nous | @pleasetakethis​

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 33,840 Main Tags/Warnings: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha Castiel/Omega Dean Winchester, True Mates, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Porn with Feelings, Pining, Oblivious Dean, Self-Sacrificing Castiel, Scenting, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Top/Bottom Versatile Castiel/Dean Winchester, Oral Sex, Knotting, Anal Sex, Mating Bond, Recreational Drug Use Summary: Dean Winchester didn't consider himself much of an omega. He avoided dating alphas and he'd taken heat suppressants since he'd presented, so it wasn't an issue--until he learned suppressants were affecting his heart and he'd have to stop taking them. His doctor recommended a medical match website to solicit an alpha's assistance during his breakthrough heats to minimize stress on his heart, and that was how he met Castiel Novak. Castiel wasn't a typical alpha. He had hypothyroidism, a low hormone disorder that left him with mild ruts and a scent many found unsettling. He'd long written off the idea of finding a compatible mate, though his doctor had begun to push services that matched alphas and omegas to help combat the progression of his disorder. Castiel's brother showed up one night carrying the scent of mate, and that was how his relationship with Dean Winchester started. ...or Not Relationship. Because Dean made it clear he didn't date alphas, and Castiel wouldn't tell Dean they scent bonded during the first shared heat because they were true mates. Castiel isn't like any alpha Dean has known, but Dean isn't ready to let his guard down until his heart makes it clear he has no other choice.

You're The One That I Want | @roobear68

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 36,620 Main Tags/Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Graphic Depictions of Violence,True Mates, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mating Bites, Knotting, Angel Babies, Past Rape/Non-Con, Tiny Amount of angst, John Winchester A+ parenting, BAMF Mary Winchester, BAMF Castiel, BAMF Dean Winchester, Fallen Angel, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Sam Winchester, Protective Castiel, Protective Gabriel, Emmie, Past violence, Past child abuse, Past violence, Castiel/Dean, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Mary Winchester, Archangel Michael Summary: Dean is an Alpha Angel who was ready to be mated. Cas is an Omega Human who wanted the same. Cas wanted to have his own family with lots of pups. Dean wanted the same thing. Dean knew he was about to meet his True Mate. Cas knew he was about to be murdered.

Unwritten | @porcupine-girl

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 75,784 Main Tags/Warnings: No Archive Warnings, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bookstore Owner Dean, Writer Castiel, Alpha/Alpha, Alpha Dean, Alpha Castiel, True Mates, Medical Procedures, Denial of Feelings, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Mating Bond, Mating Bites, top Cas/bottom Dean Summary: A spontaneous scent bond is the stuff of romance novels: an alpha and an omega meet by chance, and they happen to be so compatible that their pheromones are perfectly aligned, drawing them irresistibly together to mate and bond for life. Neither bookstore owner Dean Winchester nor science fiction novelist Castiel Novak have ever thought it sounded romantic. Your hormones going nuts and tricking you into tying yourself to a complete stranger for the rest of your life? No thanks. But when Castiel comes to Dean's store for a signing, they feel an inexplicable pull toward each other, and into a powerful bond that neither of them wants. A bond that shouldn't even be possible for two alphas. At least they agree on one thing: they will not let biology determine their fate.

Life of young omega Dean | A-heller-cockles-truther

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 77,247 Main Tags/Warnings: Omegaverse, domestic, ptsd, alpha castiel, omega dean Summary: Story of Dean, he was born as omega in a world that sees them mostly as walking wombs, he was born to an alpha dad that had hate for omegas but mostly not stable emotionally using alcohol as cure while neglecting Dean and Sam. All his life he hid him being omega until he couldn't anymore but Bobby was there, he learned to accept who he is and true love it is. Dean's life was not easy but he got his brother Sam Bobby who like his dad and new friends he found in the new life he built away from the toxic environment of his dad and hunter life. Dean journey where he realize people love him, the world not always bad and horrible and he never be like his dad John

The Lord of Amara (WIP) | @diminuel​​

Rating: Mature Word Count: 92,143 Main Tags/Warnings: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Arranged Marriage, Omega Castiel/Alpha Dean Winchester, Cas pretending to be an alpha, Past Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn Summary: The people of Amara cherished tradition and stability. For 700 years the Novak alphas have ruled the country. As the young Lord of Amara, Castiel understands the burden of duty he owes to his blood, his country and his allies even if it means a life of secrecy and sacrifice. Their neighboring Kingdom of Winchester is struggling with a secret of its own regarding crown prince Dean. When Sam, on a desperate quest to find help for his brother, accidentally uncovers a truth about the Lord of Amara, he has no other choice but to ask Castiel to put his signature on a marriage contract to Dean Winchester. Castiel has to leave Amara behind to go to a country on the brink of ruin and a husband that wants nothing more than to be left alone.

Big Alpha Energy (BAE) | @valandrawrites​

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 97,401 Main Tags/Warnings: Prostitution, Sex Worker Castiel, Alphas who Bottom, Alpha Dean/Omega Cas, secondary gender dysphoria, Discussion of Past Suicide Attempt, Suicidal Thoughts, Sam Winchester Takes Care of Dean Winchester, Dom Castiel, Castiel and Dean Winchester Need to Use Their Words, Sexual Identity, Charlie is Sus, Mechanic Dean, PhD Student Castiel, Explicit Sexual Content, Anal Sex, Fisting, BEWARE SPOILERS AHEAD, Mpreg, Pregnant Castiel Summary: Alpha/Alpha relationships are illegal under Great Plains Nation Pack Law. With plummeting birth rates and discrimination against Omegas, the worst thing an Alpha can be is a bottom. Afraid of designation re-eduation, if he’s found out Dean has resisted acting on his most basic, primal need. Until now. With one failed suicide attempt already under his belt, Dean can’t take it anymore, which is how he finds himself at The Queen of Moondoor’s underground brothel, asking for the one thing he knows he shouldn’t want, but can’t live without.

[adotmbrosia]

season 7-9 spoilers, particularly abt kevin tran

thinking abt kevin tran and how FUCKED everything was for him.

sam winchester is doomed by the narrative because he is the main character and he always got to go through shit but i’ve never seen anyone talk about how kevin tran was also doomed by the narrative due to being a prophet. maybe it’s bc of his actor and his horrible actions — which i do not condone and i feel so horrible for all the victims. but kevin tran as the character is so pitiful and sad yet i see nobody in the spn fandom talk abt it.

jst bc he’s the prophet he is ripped away from his normal life at like fucking 17/18 yrs old ffs his main concern was abt his ap classes 😭😭😭 imagine living almost two decades of normalcy and you’re thrown into this world where you’re being goddamn hunted down by everybody, especially these two scary ass 6 feet middle aged men who knows too much about everything spouting shit about “responsibility.” girl i havent even paid taxes yet!! idk shit abt responsibility!

after being forced into this role of the prophet, kevin literally worked — which is grueling btw transcribing is not easy and we can see it take a toll on him as he continues to work throughout the seasons — himself to the point where the winchesters bought him fucking xanax (i may be wrong here but it was some sort of medication) to calm his anxiety 😭 like ts is NOT okay to give to an undiagnosed teenager. not to mention crowley always looking for him.

the winchester brothers say kevin is family and how much the winchester brothers cared for kevin but they never rlly show it. kevin figured out he was kidnapped by crowley bc fake sam and dean winchester were too nice to him. they were willing to go through some trouble to get him food he wanted despite there being leftovers in the fridge. if i was depending on this poor kid to save the fucking world i’d buy him some barbecue.

i mostly have a gripe with dean’s “pep-talks” he has with kevin too. kevin is rightfully unhappy about these circumstances. he’s allowed to feel fucked and scared and all of these emotions but dean pushes his agenda in kevin’s face. he doesn’t consider the nuances of the situation because dean has never lived a life where he had a choice (which is another conversation) but it’s not okay to make kevin feel like that as well. dean says shit like “oh i expected this wimp to choose the cowards way out” when kevin was literally KIDNAPPED😭 (unbeknownst to dean and sam but i digress it’s understandable he would run away from all of this) after kevin finds out that his mother is alive from crowley, he wants to go out and find her yet dean makes kevin stay once again to serve his agenda of saving the world and shit veiled by claiming kevin was family and crowley has reasons to lie. but after kevin’s death we find out that she was, in fact, alive!!!

kevin could’ve saved his mother from months(?) of torture by a demon yet dean stopped him because of what??

speaking of deans treatment we go over to sam’s treatment of kevin how he jst went AWOL on the poor kid leaving him to hide and live alone for a year despite kevin calling him Numerous times to tell sam that he was alive and Needed help

and i’m not saying that dean and sam doesn’t care abt kevin bc they have said so in many instances and have saved him many times. i jst feel like they weren’t perfectly great to him (honestly i can’t really blame them either) and the narrative has truly fucked kevin over many times.

ESPEICALLY kevin’s death which could’ve been so easily prevented, but it happened because he no longer served a purpose to the narrative. like kevin only got a few episodes where he didn’t serve as a prophet and was allowed to help the winchester brothers in his own way— which he COULD btw. he hacked into the military wifi to help them convince this lady to allow them to investigate the bus.

i also think abt how the show presents kevin. in the beginning it’s the overdone and stereotypical joke of “oh look at the asian kid who wants to go into an ivy and is in a million ap classes” and they never elevate themselves out of that box kevin is put into. not to mention his mother who when introduced the episode name is literally “tiger mommy” which is another asian stereotype that they are pushed into. which is frankly racist and jst not good writing which IK the writers are capable of bc look at sam and dean winchester at certain instances bc sometimes they fuck that up too.

[feckcops]

Spare a thought for Hilary Cass

“In the end, the anti-trans victory lap barely made it a few feet before being overtaken by hundreds of academics, experts and service users exposing the review as a sham.

“Over 100 academics signed an open letter by the Feminist Gender Equality Network condemning the review as ‘dangerous and potentially harmful to trans children’ due to its ‘unsound methodology, unacceptable bias [and] problematic and supported conclusions’. Therapists Against Conversion Therapy & Transphobia (TACTT) slammed the review as having an ‘eliminationist agenda, dressed up in the language of reasonableness’, urging clinicians to treat the Review’s findings with ‘extreme caution’. ‘Underpinning this report,’ wrote trans rights group TransActual, ‘is the idea that being trans is an undesirable outcome rather than a natural facet of human diversity.’ ...

“Cass also suggests that the rate at which young people move from puberty blockers to subsequent hormone treatments may, as anti-trans groups have warned, prove puberty blockers help cement a trans identity in these youth. Her data for this is the fact that in two studies, nearly all trans youth prescribed blockers went on to take hormones. Of course, this finding could just as easily suggest that puberty blockers are being prescribed very precisely – a possibility Hilary Cass does not entertain for even a second.

“While roundly ignoring the evidence of experts, the review mysteriously arrives at many of the same conclusions that anti-trans groups did years ago. Cass recommends that young adults aged 17-25 use an intermediary gender service instead of being referred to adult services, for example – a recommendation straight out of the mouth of anti-trans group Our Duty, which has long pushed to ban gender transition for under-25s. The influence of anti-trans groups like Sex Matters, Therapy First and the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, all of whom appear in the citations, can be felt throughout the review.

“More worryingly still, many of Cass’s conclusions are based on evidence that does not corroborate, or in some cases, directly contradicts her findings. For example, her recommendation of an intermediate service is based on the idea that brains don’t reach maturity until 25 – a notion that Dean Burnett, a neuroscientist and the author of The Idiot Brain describes as ‘guff based on hearsay, misunderstanding of neuroscience or wilful ignorance’.”

[fallouttboy]

re: my trans sam supernatural agenda.

sometimes you’re a boy in a girls body and then you go to college and meet a hot bi girl and get top surgery some fucking how (you’re broke and come from an even more broke family) (i like the idea of him getting dean to do it for him someday. and his scars are mad insane and jagged. but dean got him the good gas from a dentists office run by vampires that he raided with john and rubbed numbing cream on his whole torso for safe measure) and then you’re happy but then your hot bi gf goes up in flames like your mom.

and you have the maternal trauma but for a brief 20 years following the death of your gf, you always wonder if the burning of your mother and girlfriend was a higher being shunning you for being queer, lifting your loves to the heavens (ceiling) and burning them alive (hell fire)

and so you sit shotgun with a shotgun next to your traumatized bi brother in the car your homophobic transphobic father had. driving the country. meeting demons who remind you a lot of yourself and angels you begin to hate more than worship. and you wonder again if a higher being is sending you messages.

and then the visions start back up again, the visions you so carefully forgot about, bundled up and shoved deep in the caverns of your mind. visions…prophecy. have you been right this whole time?

surely there is not a god, a god who so loves the world would not run a world like this, right? if jesus loves me this i know, why do his followers want my guts on their dining table and my body crucified upside down?

all while facing the horrors. i am too soft around the edges to pass as male and too sharp around the corners to pass as female. i can alter my body however i please but i will never be man enough for you (dad). i will never be the son you so wanted me to be. i will be the son that i am which is never enough.

and when lucifer takes my vessel it all feels right, like everything is finally in place, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be. the damned brother. of course i would say yes. lucifer is the closest thing i had to a father figure anyways.

[aaronstveit]

read in 2023!

i did a reading thread last year and really enjoyed it so i am doing another one this year!! as always, you can find me on goodreads and my askbox is always open!

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book by J.R.R. Tolkien (★★★★☆)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo* (★★★★★)

Beowulf by Unknown, translated by Seamus Heaney (★★★★☆)

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee (★★★★☆)

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (★★★★★)

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado (★★★★☆)

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (★★★★★)

The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee (★★★★☆)

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (★★★★★)

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson (★★☆☆☆)

Sharks in the Rivers by Ada Limón (★★★☆☆)

Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang (★★★★★)

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (★★★★★)

Paper Girls, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

There Are Trans People Here by H. Melt (★★★★★)

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson (★★★★☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (★★★★☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

The Guest List by Lucy Foley (★★☆☆☆)

Paper Girls, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (★★★☆☆)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (★★★★☆)

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (★★★★★)

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid* (★★★★★)

Goldie Vance, Volume 1 by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White (★★★★☆)

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★★☆)

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★☆☆)

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis (★★★★★)

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (★★★☆☆)

Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (★★☆☆☆)

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (★★★★★)

Going Dark by Melissa de la Cruz (★★★☆☆)

Working 9 to 5: A Women's Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie by Ellen Cassedy (★★★★☆)

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley (★★★★☆)

Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, and Berenice Nelle (★★★★☆)

Heavy Vinyl, Volume 1: Riot on the Radio by Nina Vakueva and Carly Usdin (★★★★☆)

Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado (★★★☆☆)

Heavy Vinyl, Volume 2: Y2K-O! by Nina Vakueva and Carly Usdin (★★★★☆)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (★★★★☆)

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★★)

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (★★★★★)

The Backstagers, Vol 1: Rebels Without Applause by James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh, and Walter Baiamonte (★★★☆☆)

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (★★★★☆)

The Backstagers, Vol 2: The Show Must Go On by James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh, and Walter Baiamonte (★★★☆☆)

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (★★★★☆)

Happy Place by Emily Henry (★★★★★)

After Dark with Roxie Clark by Brooke Lauren Davis (★★★☆☆)

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (★★★☆☆)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (★★★★☆)

A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy (★★★★☆)

Built From the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’s Black Wall Street by Victor Luckerson (★★★★★)

Cheer Up!: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier, Oscar O. Jupiter, and Val Wise (★★★★★)

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages by assorted authors, edited by Saundra Mitchell (★★★★☆)

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher** (★★★★☆)

St. Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo** (★★★★★)

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan** (★★☆☆☆)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (★★★★★)

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould** (★★★★☆)

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass** (★★★★★)

Princess Princess Ever After by Kay O’Neill (★★★☆☆)

Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis** (★★★☆☆)

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron (★★★☆☆)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (★★★★☆)

Devotions by Mary Oliver (★★★★★)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan* (★★★★☆)

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan* (★★★★☆)

The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan* (★★★★★)

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz** (★★★★☆)

The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (★★★★★)

All That’s Left to Say by Emery Lord (★★★★★)

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (★★★☆☆)

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Joseph Andrew White (★★★★★)

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

M Is for Monster by Talia Dutton (★★★★☆)

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (★★★★★)

Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories by assorted authors, edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz (★★★★☆)

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall (★★★★☆)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (★★★★★)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (★★★★☆)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The October Country by Ray Bradbury (★★★★☆)

Hamlet by William Shakespeare (★★★★☆)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (★★★★☆)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

The Appeal by Janice Hallett (★★★★☆)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (★★★★☆)

The Carrying: Poems by Ada Limón (★★★★★)

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi (★★★★★)

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (★★★★★)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins* (★★★★★)

Know My Name by Chanel Miller (★★★★★)

Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd (★★★★★)

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler (★★★★☆)

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith* (★★★★★)

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (★★★★★)

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi (★★★★★)

The Witch Hunt by Sasha Peyton Smith (★★★★☆)

That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally** (★★★★☆)

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (★★★★☆)

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson (★★★★☆)

Pageboy by Elliot Page (★★★★★)

All This and Snoopy, Too by Charles M. Schultz (★★★★☆)

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan (★★★★☆)

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter (★★★★☆)

The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill** (★★☆☆☆)

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente (★★★★☆)

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei (★★★★☆)

Spell on Wheels Vol. 1 by Kate Leth, Megan Levens, and Marissa Louise (★★★★☆)

Spell on Wheels Vol. 2: Just to Get to You by Kate Leth, Megan Levens, and Marissa Louise (★★★★☆)

Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis (★★★★☆)

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (★★★★☆)

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett (★★★★☆)

So Far So Good: Final Poems: 2014 - 2018 by Ursula K. Le Guin (★★★★☆)

Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict (★☆☆☆☆)

Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (★★★★☆)

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (★★★★★)

The Twelve Days of Murder by Andreina Cordani (★★★★☆)

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson (★★★★☆)

The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

The Twenty-Ninth Year by Hala Alyan (★★★☆☆)

Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger (★★★☆☆)

Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia (★★★★☆)

An asterisk (*) indicates a reread. A double asterisk (**) indicates an ARC.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Joseph Figliolia

Published: Jan 11, 2024

When I learned of the controversy over Lisa Littman’s seminal paper from 2018, which introduced the concept of rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), I did not understand the nature of the backlash. Littman’s paper appeared in a respected journal, Plos One, and had passed through the peer-review process. Shortly after its publication, however, the dean of public health at Brown University, where Littman, a physician, worked, published a letter noting that the Brown community was concerned that “conclusions of the study could be used to discredit the efforts to support transgender youth and invalidate perspectives of members of the transgender community.”

The letter also claimed that Littman’s research design and methods were problematic, despite her paper’s surviving an unusual post-publication assessment by senior journal editors, academic editors, a stats reviewer, and an expert reviewer. Littman claims that, after the post-publication review, her methods and findings were left virtually intact in a republished version of the paper. Most of the changes involved highlighting how her data were collected from parent reports and the limitations of those reports.

But the dean’s letter and the backlash to Littman’s paper suggest that critics’ real concern was Littman’s tentative conclusion suggesting the emergence of a novel developmental pathway to gender dysphoria. In her study, Littman hypothesized that a new form of gender dysphoria, and trans-identification, was presenting among peer groups of adolescent girls typically immersed in online trans subcultures and who often had preexisting mental-health and developmental issues. Strikingly, most of these girls had no childhood history of gender dysphoria, or even gender nonconformity, and their newly announced identities seemed unexpected and caught their parents by surprise. 

Littman speculated that gender dysphoria was becoming a catch-all interpretive framework for a range of phenomena, from normal pubertal angst to specific mental-health issues. She also speculated that, among youth with existing mental-health issues or unprocessed sexual trauma, a trans identity could serve as a maladaptive coping mechanism to avoid dealing with intense negative emotions. This notion was tentatively supported by her finding that 61.4 percent of parents surveyed reported that their trans-identifying children were easily “overwhelmed by strong emotions and go to great lengths to avoid experiencing them.”

Critics realized that Littman’s hypothesis directly challenged the tenets of gender-identity theory, which hold that people have a felt sense of gender that is both innate and immutable. That theory has become a central justification for hormonal and surgical body modification. Critics alleged that Littman’s method of surveying parents was unreliable, but Littman showed that her method was consistent with other papers that support “gender affirmation” and are widely accepted by the pro-affirming side.

Fast forward six years, and Littman’s academic critics seem more committed to their intellectual and ideological priors than pursuing truth. Their main argument against ROGD is that what appears to parents as the sudden onset of transgender identity is really a late disclosure of an identity that has existed since childhood, even if the adolescent hasn’t felt comfortable revealing it to family and friends.

In a recent letter to the editor published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the Manhattan Institute’s Leor Sapir, along with Lisa Littman and Michael Biggs, take on the latest iteration of this argument in a paper by researcher-activist Jack Turban and his colleagues. The paper, “Age of Realization and Disclosure of Gender Identity Among Transgender Adults,” purports to show evidence of the early-realization/late-disclosure explanation for the rise in ROGD. Sapir et al.’s letter not only indicts Turban et al.’s subpar research but also, by extension, the current state of academic publishing on matters pertaining to identity (exemplified by the “ethics guidance” released by the journal Nature Human Behaviour).

Turban et al.’s argument is based on responses from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, the largest of its kind to date, with a total of 27,715 respondents. USTS-15 asked adult participants to recall—and as critics have pointed out, recall itself is notoriously unreliable—at what age they “first felt their gender was different from their assigned birth sex” and at what age they “start to think they were trans (even if they did not know the word for it).” Turban and his coauthors took the answer to the first question rather than the second as the moment respondents first “realized they were transgender” and assessed the median time between realization and the disclosure of the identity to others. They divided participants into a “early realization” group (age ten or younger) and a “late realization” group (11 or older). Because a key premise of ROGD is that a trans identity develops rapidly within the context of adolescence, if the Turban study could show that a trans identity developed in childhood but was only disclosed later, it would undermine the ROGD hypothesis.

Yet, Turban and his colleagues seem uninterested in rigorously testing the ROGD hypothesis. Well-known for his mischaracterization of existing research, Turban made interpretive choices that strongly suggest he and his coauthors were avoiding any USTS-15 data that might undermine their broadside against ROGD.

Sapir et al.’s response is worth reading in full, but some examples of their findings should suffice here. First, to be eligible to participate in USTS-15, respondents had to identify currently as transgender. By definition, this means that anyone who identified as trans as adolescents but no longer did so as adults was excluded. Since this excluded group may include individuals whose dysphoria presentations match the ROGD phenomena, the USTS-15 sample is highly biased against ROGD hypothesis testing. Amazingly, Turban and another coauthor pointed out this limitation of the sample in a previous paper they published. Here, however, they simply ignore it.

Second, the ROGD phenomenon is hypothesized as an emergent phenomenon among a cohort of trans-identifying youth who came of age in the late 2000s or later—intersecting with widespread changes in social media, phone use, and the rise of the transgender social movement—which means that the phenomena would apply only to the 18–24 age group of the USTS-15. Despite this, Turban & colleagues analyzed the time period from realization to disclosure for the entire adult sample, and then only for those who said that they had early realization (age 10 or younger)—meaning not the cohort that would be relevant to ROGD.

Third, Turban and his coauthors chose as their proxy for age of realization a question put to participants about their age when they “felt that their gender was different than their birth sex”—instead of another question that asked them “at what age they first thought they were trans.” Asking people about their gender is more nebulous and less precise than asking them when they first thought they were trans. Not least, the problem of recall bias means that adult respondents—who, in this case, were recruited through transgender advocacy networks—could retroactively interpret reasons for “feeling different” through a gendered lens. In short, “feeling different” is a less reliable proxy for “realization” than an explicit question about the adoption of a transgender identity.

Turban et al. don’t explain this interpretive choice, but one suspects the reason: it produces a longer time from realization to disclosure. Because they take respondents’ answers about when they first “felt different” (which they code as “realized they are transgender”) at face value, they are left defending the absurd proposition that hundreds of USTS-15 respondents realized that they were transgender before their second birthday.

As Sapir’s letter notes, had the researchers analyzed data for the precise measure, they would have found that nearly 75 percent of the total sample reported late realization of a trans identity, compared with 40.8 percent originally reported. Moreover, data analyzed for the precise measure in the ROGD 18–24-year-old cohort reveals participants reported 83 percent late realization and only 17 percent early realization.

Of central importance, Turban and his coauthors claim to find that the median time from realization to disclosure was 11 years and the mode was 13 years. Had they analyzed the correct group (“late realization”), they would have found that both males and females had a mode of one year and a median of three years. In a follow-up reply to critics, Sapir and Littman point out that 2,127 respondents to the USTS-15 said that they went from “first feeling different” to disclosing a transgender identity to others in one year or less. The number of respondents who went from “first feeling they are transgender” to disclosing that identity to others within the same timeframe was 3,685. The denominator here (all 18–24-year-old respondents) was 5,880, which means that the data source Turban et al. themselves chose as reliable for testing ROGD shows that between one-third (if we’re being generous to Turban) and two-thirds (if we’re taking respondents’ report of “realizing they are transgender” at face value) meet the criteria for “rapid” development of transgender identity.

Additional features obscured in the Turban analysis also support the ROGD hypothesis. For example, ROGD is hypothesized to affect women more than men due to greater susceptibility to peer influence and because of the documented mental-health crisis among girls. While the Turban paper reports that 63.2 percent of the late-realization group was female, that percentage increases to 75.2 percent if only the relevant 18-24-year-old cohort is analyzed. Relatedly, data from the 18-24-year-old cohort also reveals that the younger cohort reported more psychological distress than older cohorts—lending more support to the ROGD hypothesis that trans-identification is a coping mechanism for preexisting psychological distress. This is consistent with research suggesting that comorbidities predate trans identification in this cohort.

Taken together, it is hard to see Turban et al.’s paper as anything but a sloppily engineered effort to discredit a hypothesis the authors disagree with for political reasons. That the Journal of Adolescent Health published their paper is yet more evidence of the ideological capture of medical journals. To add insult to injury, Sapir posted a thread on X regarding his letter to the editor and tagged the Journal of Adolescent Health, which promptly blocked him. This is behavior befitting a moody teenager, not the managers of a medical journal’s social media account.

==

Jack Turban is an activist, not a researcher, not a scientist. He just uses the language, but he doesn't even understand what "evidence-based medicine" means.

[eisforeidolon]

I don't want to be like, this whole "repressed Dean" thing comes down to very specific agendas, from very specific niches, but...... the whole repressed Dean thing comes down to very specific agendas, from very specific niches. I certainly am not going to accuse this fandom of being able to intellectually, emotionally understand a story, nor of having great reading comprehension. But even still, a lot of where this idea comes from isn't a complete inability, but rather, a complete unwillingness to see the story properly. And I do believe a LOT of that is from the destiel shippers. Their whole shtick is, if Dean isn't having and sharing the feelings that they want him to, then....... they're just going to pretend he's not sharing any feelings, so they can pretend there's lots of feelings there, beneath the surface, that he has, thereby giving them license to project all their shippy fantasies onto him 🙄

There is also certainly the whole "dean crit" aspect of it. Some cliques like to act as if Dean is the evil, violent monster, very contrary to what we see onscreen, and that Sam is super well adjusted, and only in the hunting life because Dean FORCED him, which is just not true. I think it's pretty clear that no one's forcing Sam to hunt, or do anything, lol

Plus, there's this whole thing where Dean gets treated as a blank state for some reason, and I truly hate that. Some people need to erase all of his canonical features, and project onto him their personal ideas of who he is, so they can relate to him, feel okay about "stanning" a straight, white man (pretending to stan, rather, because at that point, it becomes clear that they don't care about the actual character, they just care about the imaginary character they've made up in their heads, for some unknown reason). I often remember with equal parts revulsion and bafflement a post saying something along the lines of "Dean is gay, trans, autistic, fat and ugly, and if you don't believe this, you're an asshole".

All that to say is, it's certainly baffling that fanon strays so far from canon on this topic, but somehow, the reasons behind it are even more convoluted and stupid 🤦🏻‍♀️

You're right and you should say it. There is an extent to which I do think there is a more general issue with fans in this fandom just taking things the characters say at face value despite what their actions show in contraction. It comes up in meta and discussion of all kinds of other aspects and events, too. Which I do think is just sometimes purely bad interpretation, but a lot of the time it does come down to pre-existing agendas - they don't see beyond the surface assertions because they don't want to look because they already see what they prefer.

There's no question a very big part of this particular discussion comes from factions of fans fixated on what they think Dean is or want Dean to be, rather than what he is shown to be. And yes, as is often the case, hellers are the ones spouting some of the most context-ignorant distorted interpretations with their whole chests as gospel canon truth.

[secondary-objective-active]

I think they're voting Dean because there's this 1 super popular trans artist that draws a SHIT TON of trans Dean

They dont believe in the transfem sam agenda. Im going to rant in the tags about her

[girlasterisk]

dean winchester spoke to me himself and told me to draw this

(based on this post by @goldfinchnatural !!!)

[dean-is-love]

you’re watching transnatural

[polvmetis]

reblogs > likes

who ever knew that we two

could be free as we'd fancy

fancy is free

but are we bound

to each other by love (x)

[toxicevilgayshit]

happy pride month dean is trans

- don't repost, reblogs are encouraged - *ncest shippers (that includes w*nkline) don't fucking interact - click for good quality

@rogue-cas-whore @heller-sam-leahy @casmick-consequences @floral-cas i hope it's alright to tag you all!