#tw ableist term

[aspd-culture]

would it be strange if i reclaimed psychopath if i was armchair diagnosed as a kid? + i do have aspd traits but not particularly in a situation where i can get a psych eval

Being armchair diagnosed, especially as a child, is not enough to know if you have ASPD. We’re perfectly cool with self-diagnosis here, but it needs to be well researched. One thing you’ll find in the process of that research is why that “as a child” is a problem. ASPD cannot be diagnosed as a child for a reason: because under the age of 18 the traits are not able to be differentiated between normal stressed teenage behavior and in children younger than that, there is a high potential they will not go on to develop ASPD despite having traits of it.

There is quite a high threshold of things that need to go awry in neurological development for someone to end up with a trauma based personality disorder. ASPD in particular comes with a strong potential to avoid the traits becoming the PD if a child or honestly even a teenager is introduced to the support system they need and given reason to trust it.

And even as an adult, you can have some traits without having the disorder. I would definitely do some research, starting with but not exclusively reading the current DSM (DSM V-TR) entry on ASPD, and not just what’s posted in my bio, that’s the criteria but none of the important surrounding information in the ASPD section. That’ll go over a lot of info, and from there you wanna go through both scholarly stuff (articles & research papers - many of which will be stigmatized but it’s important to read because somewhere in there they hide some good info), and anecdotal stuff like this blog but not just this blog. Take in as much information as you can, learn about what it is and what it isn’t, and especially learn about the things that are similar to ASPD but are not ASPD. There are other disorders that look similar, but have key differences.

I suggest all this because unlike some disorders that are either easy to self diagnose (panic disorder - the main thing you need to know is if you have panic attacks, and if you have panic attacks about the fear of having a panic attack) or at least much more straightforward than self diagnosing a personality disorder. PDs are in fact some of the most complicated disorders to categorize and diagnose - even professionally - because when something is affecting every facet of someone’s personality, it’s not going to be easy to figure out what’s a symptom vs what’s situational. They usually require a long rapport with the diagnosing professional because they have to be persistent and consistent across time and situations. That means that it’s not something you can look into quickly and decide, you’ll need to keep watching for the symptoms once you know them and see if you are responding that way across the board or if something is triggering that response in only certain situations.

I can’t stop you from using that term, but I can say that being armchair diagnosed as a child is not a good way to figure out if you have something as complicated as a personality disorder. Honestly, a big reason that I say to people that they need to look at other anecdotal sources from other places too is because someone I’m very close with who has known me for over 10 years at this point and lives with me has BPD and thought I did too, like was 100% certain. In fact they directly thought I had the hyper-empathy of BPD - and so did my ex who knew me for much less time but also has BPD. Even having the disorder yourself and knowing someone for a long time doesn’t mean you can accurately armchair diagnose them. Like I said, these are complicated to diagnose.

For reference, it took me at least a year of fairly constant research (bc I have mental health as a special interest, I was researching something about ASPD or its differential diagnoses for at least a couple hours per week at that time), probably longer, to feel secure self diagnosing with ASPD. While it doesn’t need to necessarily take that long, it does take some effort to understand a disorder like this.

Plain text below the cut:

Being armchair diagnosed, especially as a child, is not enough to know if you have ASPD. We’re perfectly cool with self-diagnosis here, but it needs to be well researched. One thing you’ll find in the process of that research is why that “as a child” is a problem. ASPD cannot be diagnosed as a child for a reason: because under the age of 18 the traits are not able to be differentiated between normal stressed teenage behavior and in children younger than that, there is a high potential they will not go on to develop ASPD despite having traits of it.

There is quite a high threshold of things that need to go awry in neurological development for someone to end up with a trauma based personality disorder. ASPD in particular comes with a strong potential to avoid the traits becoming the PD if a child or honestly even a teenager is introduced to the support system they need and given reason to trust it.

And even as an adult, you can have some traits without having the disorder. I would definitely do some research, starting with but not exclusively reading the current DSM (DSM V-TR) entry on ASPD, and not just what’s posted in my bio, that’s the criteria but none of the important surrounding information in the ASPD section. That’ll go over a lot of info, and from there you wanna go through both scholarly stuff (articles & research papers - many of which will be stigmatized but it’s important to read because somewhere in there they hide some good info), and anecdotal stuff like this blog but not just this blog. Take in as much information as you can, learn about what it is and what it isn’t, and especially learn about the things that are similar to ASPD but are not ASPD. There are other disorders that look similar, but have key differences.

I suggest all this because unlike some disorders that are either easy to self diagnose (panic disorder - the main thing you need to know is if you have panic attacks, and if you have panic attacks about the fear of having a panic attack) or at least much more straightforward than self diagnosing a personality disorder. PDs are in fact some of the most complicated disorders to categorize and diagnose - even professionally - because when something is affecting every facet of someone’s personality, it’s not going to be easy to figure out what’s a symptom vs what’s situational. They usually require a long rapport with the diagnosing professional because they have to be persistent and consistent across time and situations. That means that it’s not something you can look into quickly and decide, you’ll need to keep watching for the symptoms once you know them and see if you are responding that way across the board or if something is triggering that response in only certain situations.

I can’t stop you from using that term, but I can say that being armchair diagnosed as a child is not a good way to figure out if you have something as complicated as a personality disorder. Honestly, a big reason that I say to people that they need to look at other anecdotal sources from other places too is because someone I’m very close with who has known me for over 10 years at this point and lives with me has BPD and thought I did too, like was 100% certain. In fact they directly thought I had the hyper-empathy of BPD - and so did my ex who knew me for much less time but also has BPD. Even having the disorder yourself and knowing someone for a long time doesn’t mean you can accurately armchair diagnose them. Like I said, these are complicated to diagnose.

For reference, it took me at least a year of fairly constant research (bc I have mental health as a special interest, I was researching something about ASPD or its differential diagnoses for at least a couple hours per week at that time), probably longer, to feel secure self diagnosing with ASPD. While it doesn’t need to necessarily take that long, it does take some effort to understand a disorder like this.

[thatonegaybrit]

" haha that .. lowkey sounds like you're delusiona- "

; YOU HAVE JUST REVEALED TO ME YOU ARE !!! NOT NORMAL ABOUT !!!! PEOPLE WITH DELUSIONS 1!!! GET OUT OF HERE WITH THAT ABLEISM !!!!!

[steamedbuncollective]

// disordered eating TW

Can you coin a term/role for an alter who's job is to make sure the system eats/eats and it stays down? Specifically in a system with an ED? Either by doing the eating themselves, or staying in front to act as a stabilizer/encouragement? —🕰🖼 anon (claim? maybe? also no pressure to make this!)

ED SUPPRESSOR FLAG

An ED suppressor is an alter who makes sure the system is eating healthily, either by physically eating themselves or encouraging the other alters to do so.

The red, orange and yellow are all there as they stimulate the brains appetite. The lilac has a double meaning, both symbolizing ED awareness and it is placed at the bottom to show that the alter is suppressing the eating disorder.

The lilac ribbon is used as lilac ribbons are used for eating disorder awareness day.

(also, we have no issues with anons claiming sign offs! we hope you enjoy this anon.)

no credit needed to use this flag/term!

endos do not interact. make ur own flag/term.

[anti-ao3]

i know fanfiction doesn't need to be completely accurate, but i think that if you decide to write about, say, a marginalized disorder like schizophrenia, and not bother to do any research about it (nor hear from actual schizophrenic ppl) is pretty shitty.

[alarrytale]

I get using ableist language when calling out other groups of fans of HL because they are nothing more than gaslighted and unable to understand that their idols are lying to them on purpose to keep their images and narratives. But honestly I can´t help myself when it comes to H´s fakegirlfriends.

Because what are the exceptions for someone who is using someone´s closet to gain her own popularity, to get headlines in tabloids and pretend she´s living that wet dream fantasy of those who believe H is straight/bi and H is semi-god of s*x? Yes, some women related to H were better than others and watching H doing a pap walk/ wannabe organic spotting was annoying but could be much worse if they´d on purpose try for pda with H. But how would you excuse women like TS or OW who hurt not only H but Louis as well with their behaviour? If we believe H is closeted against his will, that if it was up to him, he´d much rather just stay single and "unlucky with love" than to awkwardly pretend he´s into women because big bosses at S*ny aren´t able to understand H´s much more interesting as he is rather than who he publicaly dates and even doing the TS´s method of relating his songs to the past woman-of-the-year (K*nd*ll, TS, C*m*lle, OW). What I kind of hate is that while during the 1D days he put much bigger afford against how sexualized he was and this whole womanizerTM nonsense but now he´s just playing along this game because it gives him at least some freedom to show who he really is.

So maybe I am a terrible person but I just can´t help myself with ableist language with it come to this group of people profiting of someone who´s closeted against his will no matter how mutual their stunt deal was and H agreed to everything for an exchange to do something gay.

Hi, anon!

The thing is, when you're using ableist language to hurt a celebrity, the person you're really hurting is a person with disabilities. Because you're using their disability in a derogatory manner. It's incredibly hurtful for them. It's way less hurtful for the able celebrity who you're trying to hurt, than the person with the disability you're using.

Also, not using other people's disabilities as a derogatory term to hurt able persons, doesn’t mean you can’t call them derogatory names at all. There are many unflattering comparisons and unflattering personality traits that can be used to describe someone, that are not only more accurate, but also doesn’t hurt people with disablilites.

For example you can call someone a vulture, a snake, a low-life, manipulative, inconsiderate, greedy or fake, which are all derogatory terms, but are not ableist terms.

Using derogatory terms to describe someone will of course contribute to heightened conflict level and will piss off the people who you're calling names, but at least you aren’t hurting an innoncent third party in the process and make them feel even more inferior due to their disability.

So derogatory language? Fair game. Ableist language? Nope.

[angelfacemjj]

“Be delusional” Girlies, we can do better than that, seriously........

[likeburningcoal]

I work with older people who constantly make jokes about “being too ADD to have any distractions while working” and “oh I looked at my phone while working, I’m so ADD”. You know the kind.

Meanwhile, I, who am actively looking into diagnosis for ADHD because I’m 99% sure I have it, am listening to and singing along to FOB at 1.5x speed while writing paperwork because that is sometimes the only way to stimulate my brain enough to get it to focus on said paperwork.

[t4tdanvis]

The term delulu makes me want to bite people. I know the term delusional isn’t exclusive to just people having actual delusions with the way it’s used in (for a lack of a better word) everyday talk but like still don’t make a silly/cutesy term for it. Even when it’s not someone having actual delusions, you shouldn’t think it’s funny when like,, your friend’s boyfriend treats her like shit and is very obviously cheating and she just doesn’t want to believe that he is.

Might not be the best example but I’ve seen that specific scenario SO many times w the people using delulu.

Plus you shouldn't be mislabeling regular experiences as "delusions" because delusions are a specific thing that really harms the person experiencing them. Like that person said, "you are not "delusional" you are just in love". Watering down the word portrays delusions as some cutesy fun thing when it's 100% not. Sure, some delusions can be mostly harmless, but by definition they negatively impact the person's life. They shouldn't be treated like some silly quirky thing, and definitely shouldn't have a cutesy nickname like "delulu".

[rotshop]

can someone tell me why the new cool word to say is skitzo. can someone tell me why non schizophrenics suddenly love saying they're schizoposting. can someone tell me why there arent more bmws crashing into homes and exploding.

[aspd-culture]

ASPD culture is not realizing you're antisocial for yeeeeears because you were completely isolated for all your preteen years, and even now, the only people you really interact with for more than a couple minutes (without getting annoyed with) are the characters in your head (whose lives literally revolve around you). Honestly, should have realized way sooner.

aspd-culture-is

No shame tbh this disorder is not talked about enough for you to have known without actively seeking it out. I found out about it when I read the word soci*path and wanted to know what it meant, found the popular definition weird (at the time it was “someone who does not feel any positive emotions but fakes them to seem normal”) but a little too real and looked into it further before presumably since I entirely forgot about it, my system cut off that line of thinking.

That was ~11-12 years ago now, and when I came back to the concept later (around 2020) it was based off my realization that empathy was a real thing so I found ASPD more easily than through the stigmatized term. It’s a process trying to find anything out about this damn disorder (though easier now than when I was in high school).

Plain text (including uncensored ableist term) below the cut:

No shame tbh this disorder is not talked about enough for you to have known without actively seeking it out. I found out about it when I read the word sociopath and wanted to know what it meant, found the popular definition weird (at the time it was “someone who does not feel any positive emotions but fakes them to seem normal”) but a little too real and looked into it further before presumably since I entirely forgot about it, my system cut off that line of thinking.

That was about 11 to 12 years ago now, and when I came back to the concept later (around 2020) it was based off my realization that empathy was a real thing so I found ASPD more easily than through the stigmatized term. It’s a process trying to find anything out about this damn disorder (though easier now than when I was in high school).

[delphientropy]

friendly reminder that narcissistic abuse isnt real, no matter what you think it means

abuse isnt categorized by mental illness or personality traits, its categorized by what type of damage it does (physical, emotional, sexual, etc.)

the term narcissistic abuse was coined by a misogynistic, ableist rape apologist who believed that all people with NPD were monsters and were inherently abusive.

stop. using. the term.

and good lord to that one system whos trying to justify it by saying that its their trauma and "part of being a system." its not called narcissistic abuse. please fucking listen to the people with the disorder.

edit: sam vaknin is the person who coined the term narcissistic abuse and apparently he created it to blame his abusive tendencies on his narcissism (which im honestly not sure he even has). below is a post that details more into who he is and all of the disgusting shit hes done and claimed, do please read into it

[anti-ao3]

i just wanted to know the definition of dog whistling and...

[ID: google search result that answers the question "What does it mean when a narcissist says dog whistling?". The following text says, "Have you heard of "dog whistling?". It's when a toxic partner sets you up in public to make you look hysterical by triggering you with a word or an issue that you both know is related to you. It seemingly is innocent and unrelated to anything, but you know that it's really actually a dig to you". It's dated from September 30th , 2022, and it's actually a TikTok. /End ID]

stuff like this makes me want to abolish tiktok /half serious

[pluraldeepdive]

Let's Fact Check: Was MPD renamed to DID for Harmful Reasons?

(Disclaimer: This post contains descriptions of ableism and disbelief in plurality. I do not condone any hatred towards any person mentioned on this post. If you see anyone attacking them, please report them for harassment! This post was made to spread awareness, not negativity.)

In this post, we will be investigating the claim that multiple personality disorder (MPD) was renamed to dissociative identity disorder (DID) for harmful reasons.

Origins of the claim

This claim most likely originated from a (now privatized) wordpress blog post made in 2019.

Click here for an archive of the blog post.

In this post, the author is discussing a blog post they found that's written by Allen J. Frances, the chairman of an outdated edition of the DSM. After reading his blog post, they came to the conclusion that Frances renamed MPD to DID out of malicious intent towards people with MPD because his blog post states that he does not believe in MPD.

This wordpress post was later linked on Twitter, where many users began repeating the claim. As it spread across Twitter and other social media platforms, the claim has adopted several variations. Some people claim that Frances attempted to get rid of MPD entirely, some claim that he renamed it as a scheme to erase all plurality, and some claim that “DID” is an ableist or offensive diagnosis because of all of this. It seems like most of the people spreading these claims do not have DID themselves, however.

Click here for a link to an imgur folder showing examples of this claim in online plural spaces.

The post by Frances

Now, let's look at the blog post that was cited as proof that MPD was renamed to DID for harmful reasons.

Click here to read his post (TW for fakeclaiming and ableism).

This post was written in 2014. In it, Frances is expressing how he doesn’t believe in what he calls MPD. He personally adheres to the debunked skeptical models which suggest DID is created through therapeutic suggestion or is a “fad”. He talks about how he wished he could remove MPD from the DSM-IV, but couldn’t do so. The next best thing, to him, was to allow controversial statements to be injected into the manual. These statements were removed in the current edition of the DSM.

Frances does not mention anything about the diagnosis's name change.

Addressing bias & concerning behavior

First of all, it’s important to look into the author of the wordpress blog to understand how reliable their word is. The author is a median system who I found out, from the blog, is @/multi_sapphire on Twitter. She also runs the blog @/acting-nt on Tumblr, which is a fact known by many in the online community.

At the time of making her blog post, she did not identify as having DID. She is openly anti-psychiatry, as well. While I don't want to make this a big focus, this system also has a history in the plural community of being very hateful towards the DID label. I have had to make a PSA about them before for posting hatred in the DID tags (source). They are the coiner of the term "traumascum" among other things (source). Many, many PSAs have been made about her by other systems about various concerning behavior (source).

Frances’ post can be easily triggering to anyone with DID, OSDD, or plurality. It’s understandable how a system, who was already unfavorable towards psychiatry, came to think that all of the changes made to DID in the DSM-IV were done out of malicious intent. Let's investigate that next.

Addressing how the DSM is made & who coins names

For anyone who doesn't know, "DSM" stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is a handbook used by clinicians to diagnose mental disorders.

The DSM-IV is an outdated edition that is no longer in use. It was published in 1994 and was replaced by the DSM-5 in 2013. While Frances was the chairman of the DSM-IV, he was kicked off the taskforce and has nothing to do with the current DSM. Most of the changes he made were completely reversed in the current manual.

The DSM taskforce is run by many people. Diagnoses are divided across different work groups who receive input and data from researchers that specifically research and work with people with those disorders. Suggestions are proposed from the researchers to the work groups, who then analyze this, conduct field trials, and propose changes that should be made to the DSM (source).

While Frances oversaw the taskforce, he is not listed as a member of any work group or researcher in the DSM-IV. This means he did not come up with any of the proposed changes to the DSM-IV.

Why MPD was renamed to DID

All of the dissociative disorders were renamed at the same time! All of them, except for DPDR, were changed to have the word “dissociation” in them. Researchers explain that they proposed this change in order to make the dissociative nature of these disorders more understandable.

Psychogenic amnesia was renamed to dissociative amnesia.

Psychogenic fugue was renamed to dissociative fugue.

Multiple personality disorder was renamed to dissociative identity disorder.

Atypical dissociative disorder was renamed to dissociative disorder not otherwise specified.

When it comes to DID in particular, there are two main reasons for the shift from multiple personalities to dissociative identities. Hersen et al. states the one of these reasons is that the term 'personality' defines "the characteristic pattern of thoughts, feelings, moods, and behaviors" of the whole brain (source). This is what makes alters identities rather than personalities. According to this definition of personality, having multiple personalities would mean having multiple brains! The second reason is that the older term emphasized the alters over the dissociation (same source).

In my opinion, refocusing on the dissociation rather than the alters allows people with DID to have the full spectrum of their symptoms recognized, and helps distance plurality from disorders. Many plural systems don't view their systems as the problem. Many systems don't have DID, either. The shift in this diagnostic language has made it much easier for that distinction to be made! It's very unfortunate that false claims have been made about this, casting more stigma onto both DID and non-DID systems.

Summary

To summarize everything:

The claim that MPD was renamed to DID for harmful reasons most likely originated from a 2019 blog post.

The author of the blog post was reasonably concerned about a figure of authority being ableist. However, their own biases against the DID label likely influenced their claim that the DID label was created by said figure of authority.

In actuality, that guy did not come up with the name "DID." Researchers are the ones who did.

MPD was renamed to DID in order to make it more understandable and put an emphasis on dissociation.

All dissociative disorders were renamed along with DID to include the word "dissociation" in them.

[pleasantspark]

Why People Don't Care About ACTUAL racism and or ableism.

TW: Hard Truths, if you can't handle the perspective of actual people who suffer then go down to your nearest store and buy a bag of chill pills. Please read through as people seem to go straight to my inbox, this is coming from a disabled, trans poc. Someone who needs to actually be listened to.

I do not have faith in Season Two of Hazbin. The main reasoning is because there's going to be more discourse in the critical community and a losing battle over if something is ableist or racist or not.

Here's the deal, slurs aren't signs someone's a bigot at all, people say slurs all the damn time, and the reason why people don't find mocking disabled people (not slur usage) or insulting them by leaving them out or downright saying filthy things to my people is this:

Casually saying slurs.

People have for YEARS believed that someone saying slurs casually is true ableism and racism. Tumblr is guilty of this. I have seen a fair share of disgusting takes from this community that erases actual experiences from my people and my families history for years.

Only for someone to kirk out when I call a situation retarded. If it's morally correct or okay isn't the point, you essentially made a big deal out of a term used for centuries to cause an issue in the already fragile community to start drama in, this takes away from actual victims of ableism.

The fact I, a disabled person has to tell you to stop claiming ableism and racism is ridiculous, I tried to tell you guys that this isn't going to work, but half of the people jumping on me doesn't care that I am more than likely the person who should be offended because I FALL UNDER THE CATEGORIES listed.

But no, you all have to be victims somehow. I'm telling you this, if you use us as a shield to accuse some random person of being a bigot when they are not. You're scum. You're a bunch of terrible people who only use us as a signal to virtue signal about someone saying words not directed at anyone.

The more you call someone a bigot for no good reason, the more actual racism is not recognizable. There's been many cases of actual ableism and racism being committed but okay, we're worried about random people using slurs not directed at people to consider it ever a thing.

In fact, many black people including myself doesn't give a fuck if someone not our color says it, we've been saying this for ages, and we've been spoken over by actual white people who claim they care for us and want to be allies to us. We can't even speak ON BEHALF of shit we claim isn't racism, but we either get silenced or even flat out gaslit into believing we're these hormonal rage inducing stereotypes that get really mad about anyone saying the n word or about to say it.

That in itself is a racist and a stereotype not whatever the fuck Jenna Marbles say. Now, I won't lie, blackface and saying nigga as a double whammy is RACIST. No doubt, but racism in the sense of saying nigga towards no one or just flat out saying it casually is not.

I am not debating on this site or accepting anything because this shits ridiculous people for ages overlook my actual opinions on it, wanting to debate me for ages but doesn't realize I follow half the labels and is someone who knows most then all.

So why should the Stans care about Racism when their ideas of Racism is literally saying the n word? They are not gonna see Rosie and Alastor as racism because the community thinks slurs is racism. The same goes for Ableism, no one knows what ableism is, because their only exposure to it was a slur and nothing else.

At the end of the day slurs are edgy, being edgy does NOT mean your a fucking bigot. As long as you actually learn to ignore or take into account your limits then we'll be fine. We need to learn to actually cater to our experiences and not be insufferable and take into accounts other experiences, this community has issues in using harmful labels to slander/libel someone without evidence and we need to see people take accountability. I am not accepting any Asks about this, as I want to tell you my side and how this isn't going to change until everyone calms the fuck down and let the people who actually are affected speak.

[melatonin-melanin]

jirai kei as a trend and the inherent ableism and racism present within it

if you've been present in any japanese fashion or vtuber spaces for the past few years, chances are you've most likely heard of jirai kei. it's gotten major media attention in japan, and inevitably its popularity has spread overseas. what is still misinterpreted about it, however, is that jirai kei is a fashion style. jirai kei is a stereotype, as well as a subculture that features fashion elements. as opposed to the fashion aspects, the focus of the subculture is mental illness, and many people use the jirai tags and labels to find those with similar struggles and interests. you can learn more about the recent history of jirai kei as a stereotype here, and the fashions associated with jirai kei here.

jirai kei as a stereotype is bad for a multitude of reasons, but there are many people who seem to think that there's nothing wrong with the trend itself. i've seen many arguments in favor of it, ranging from "if brands are using it, that must mean the term isn't that bad" to "plenty of japanese girls are using it to only refer to the fashion, and they don't actually lash out at others or self-harm." its usage by brands and everyday people are true, and that much cannot be argued. the problem comes from assuming that, because it's something widespread in japan, it can't possibly be as bad as people make it out to be. if this trend were to come from anywhere else, i'm almost certain that people would immediately question the morality of it for several reasons. this is going to be a long post, so i hope you have some time.

TW for mentions of self-harm, alcohol and drug abuse, and child sex trafficking below the cut.

a brief rundown of jirai kei's origins

to start, jirai kei's original coinage before the trend has existed since around the 90s. it was used by misogynistic men to refer to women who they believed exhibited signs of emotional instability. this was applied to completely harmless traits, and the criteria for someone being a landmine has drastically changed over the years. for example, the first common identifier was simply "a girl who looks put together." this sexist usage still extends to present times, but now it's often conflated with the current aestheticized definition of the term.

the source of the current iteration of jirai kei

the modern-day jirai kei stereotype comes almost entirely from a gang known as the toyoko kids, who reside in kabukicho. this gang contains many members ranging from ages 9 to 24 who have run away from their homes and families. they have been known for several activities, but the most publicized ones are cutting themselves in public circles, papa katsu (underage prostitution), heavily drinking, and overdosing on over-the-counter medications. majority of the gang members also wear japanese alternative fashions, with girly kei being the fashion that's most often present in the jirai kei stereotype.

where does the ableism come in?

the rise of the aesthetic trend peaked somewhere in 2020, where a "landmine makeup challenge" gained popularity online and resulted in various people attempting to mock and mimic the stereotype for clout. people would wear girly fashion, act "wild" or "crazy" on camera, and, at worst, pretend to cut their wrists or even use makeup to create fake self-harm scars. i don't believe i need to explain why faking self-harm for views is ableist. however, the ableism is also present in the supposed "lighter" aspects of the trend, particularly its sudden association with girly fashion.

during the height of jirai kei's popularity in japan, many brands had begun to sell pink x black girly coordinates, advertising them as jirai kei fashion. it's incredibly important to note that girly as a fashion has existed for several years prior, and that multiple people had already been wearing clothing that's abruptly being labeled jirai. as a result, you have all of these random people minding their business suddenly being labeled as "crazy psycho bitches" because of the clothes that they wear. as if that isn't enough, some brands went as far as to promote the more dangerous aspects of the stereotype as well. with attempts to pander to girls who are deemed "yandere" and "highly explosive," many shops, online influencers, and companies had directly and indirectly capitalized on the suffering of the toyoko kids by encouraging people to cut their wrists, manipulate their partners, binge drink, and lash out at others to engage in the "full landmine experience."

mental illness in japan is almost never taken seriously because it's seen as a personality flaw rather than something that needs treatment. the jirai kei trend only set back any progress made for mental health acknowledgement in society, as people perceived as landmines began to be harassed for wearing girly fashion. more girls were approached by men on the street trying to scout them for prostitution, and people gave away their wardrobe because "others assumed they were troublesome" for wearing it. from another perspective, the anti-recovery nature of the trend has also taken lives. some people who felt that they identified with the term had fully embraced the lifestyle that was commercialized and promoted as something "cute and fun," resulting in more people running away from home to be like the toyoko kids. these people, who have essentially been failed by the system, are simultaneously fetishized and shunned for the fact that they're struggling.

well, what about the racism?

the racism present in the jirai kei trend, from what i've seen, mainly comes from overseas communities. the perception that many people have of jirai kei tends to have its roots in orientalism. if you've ever witnessed how people tend to glorify japan in almost every context, this shouldn't be too surprising. what's concerning, however, is that much of this glorification of jirai still goes unacknowledged by the western j-fashion community.

when jirai kei gained popularity in japan's mainstream, people mistook the name of the stereotype for the name of the fashion. this mindset also translated over to western spaces without a second thought. as a result, when jirai kei as a stereotype was formally introduced to overseas j-fashion communities, some were confused and oddly adamant. it seemed like people thought, "there's no way that japan would endorse something so horrible. there has to be different explanations!" regardless of whether this idea was conscious or subconscious, it had begun what people now call "jirai discourse" in the community. many arguments were made in favor of using jirai kei to refer solely to girly fashion, as opposed to recognizing its origins and continuous usage as a derogatory term. an especially common viewpoint that's perpetuated is that jirai kei has been reclaimed or is in the process of being reclaimed, which is something that has several things wrong with it.

problems with thinking that jirai is "reclaimed, so it's fine to use"

firstly, reclamation is subjective. the assumption that the entirety of a minority group makes the unanimous decision to reclaim a term is frankly just implausible. even more popular words that are thrown around more casually nowadays are still debated in some circles on whether or not they should be used. for a term like jirai kei, something fairly recently coined and undoubtedly controversial in most contexts, the mere idea of reclamation amongst anyone would have to take a much longer time, and that's only if the stereotype starts getting taken seriously.

secondly, the only people who have the right to consider reclamation are the people who are directly affected by the usage of this term, which would be feminine-presenting native japanese people who are mentally ill. people overseas have argued in favor of reclaiming the term despite not being a part of the group that the term is actually used against. this is not something where you can take apart the criteria and suddenly claim that you're also affected by jirai kei's usage. for a comparison that may be easily understood, that's like if a nonblack woman tried to advocate for the reclamation of the "mammy" stereotype, which stereotypes and therefore only affects the perception of black women. just because both groups consist of women, that doesn't mean they have the exact same experience with the stereotype in question, even if they happen to resonate with some aspect of it. unless you've grown up in japan as someone afab and/or feminine-presenting and have struggled with mental health, it's nearly impossible to fully identify with the extent of jirai kei's harm because it's occurred in such a specific set of circumstances to a specific group of people. the only thing that should be done in this case is doing your research on the affected group, which you can do by looking into the history of the toyoko kids and some of the individual stories of the members. that way, you can at least attain a better understanding of their perspectives and connect the effects of jirai kei to their struggles.

lastly, it is not reclaiming to simply use the term for yourself. this tends to be where the idea of jirai kei being reclaimed comes from, because many japanese girls on social media use the term to refer to themselves as well. in these instances, there are typically two separate reasons: one, the person is pretending to be a landmine for clout; or two, they genuinely identify with the derogatory meaning of the term. the latter is often the case, since there's not many other ways for people in japan who are mentally ill to find groups for themselves. when it comes to reclamation, it's important to remember that it's not simply using a word that was used against a group that you're a part of. reclaiming is about actively working to change a term's meaning into a neutral or positive context for the benefit of the group. none of these girls are doing that. there's no big effort in japanese landmine spaces to move the perception of being a landmine away from things like girly kei fashion, idol fan culture, or toxic behaviors, which leads me to the final section of this post.

it is not anyone's job to push for the "reclamation" of jirai kei.

i put reclamation in quotes because, although some genuinely may not have ill intentions, many people come off as having a "white savior" mindset as opposed to actually wanting to reclaim the term in any sense (which, as mentioned before, is not the right of just anyone), and it's usually for the sake of enjoying girly fashion without feeling bad for incorrectly calling it jirai kei. one of the defenses often used to propose that being seen as a landmine can actually be a good thing is that the people who do self-harm and abuse substances are simply "bad apples" in the landmine community. if they're not treated as the dirty underside, then they're seen as things to be pitied and sympathized with, but with the quick disclaimer of "don't worry though, not all landmines are like this!"

not only is this incredibly ableist, but this assumption being made by mainly white influencers is also rooted in the historical development of racism against asian people, particularly in the united states. if you've heard of the model minority myth, one of the biggest issues with it is that it heavily generalizes asian people as being well-mannered, good-natured, and upstanding citizens. as a result, anyone who seems to fall out of this generalization is deemed an "untrustworthy foreigner" and appears as nonexistent through a romanticized lens. this exact situation can be applied to how people tend to treat the issues surrounding the jirai kei trend. the japanese girls who are faking and/or making fun of mental instability for the sake of online popularity are suddenly being glorified as these ideal representations of jirai kei to be palatable to the western world. meanwhile, the people who are considered by many to be part of the lowest rungs of society and are actually getting this term thrown at them pejoratively are treated as an afterthought and not representative of what people overseas want jirai kei to mean. it's even to the extent where native japanese people using girly kei or being uncomfortable with jirai kei are immediately assumed to be faking their ethnicity or their japanese-speaking skills, something that many foreigners have actually done in an attempt to claim authority over jirai kei's usage. since the reality of the trend is so uncomfortable to many, people think that it's best to simply disregard it or dumb down its impact when that changes nothing. what has avoiding the topic of discrimination and fetishization ever done for anyone?

the last thing i want to point out is that, even if reclamation of the term was in progress, it would not be happening the way that some seem to think it is. if the term was being reclaimed, we would not have people (both overseas and in japan) still acting like the stereotype for tons of likes, namely by taking pictures of themselves in girly kei next to cans of pink monster while sitting on the sidewalk with someone handing them money. that is an actual image i've seen, and if that doesn't tell you that there's a problem, i'm not sure what else will.

[clownrecess]

(Tw for ableism, aspergers, etc.)

I want to talk about aspie supremacists, and accidental aspie supremacy.

First, what does Aspie supremacy mean? It is the belief that autistics with "aspergers" (a bad term for multiple reasons. I've talked about it before.) or those who are considered "high functioning" have a "superior form of autism" and should have more authority or influence within the community. This leads to the marginalization and silencing of high support needs autistics. The concept of "Aspie supremacy" perpetuates an ableist hierarchy that undermines the principles of inclusivity, intersectionality, and solidarity within the disability community.

Aspie supremacists, whether consciously or unconsciously, perpetuate ableism by marginalizing those with high support needs. They speak over us, disregard our experiences, and promote harmful stereotypes that undermine our value and contributions. This behavior is not only hurtful but goes against the core principles of neurodiversity and inclusivity, and I am tired of seeing it so frequently accepted.

Even if it isnt labeled as aspie supremacy, it is still harmful. One of the biggest challenges lies in the unlabelled nature of this supremacy. It often operates covertly, disguised as a preference for certain autistic traits or as a focus on specific experiences within the spectrum. By prioritizing these aspects without acknowledging the diverse range of needs and experiences, we inadvertently silence and exclude people like me.

Unlabeled aspie supremacy is extremely prevalent in both online and in person neurodivergent spaces, usually taking form as a lack of mention, education, and understanding of high support needs autistics. YES, only ever talking about level one autistics and ignoring the struggles and ideas of high support needs autistics IS aspie supremacy, whether purposeful or not. If you are only listening to and reading from low support needs autistics with no attempt to listen to higher support needs autists, you are contributing to the problem.

If this is something you are doing accidentally, I want you to please think about why it is you don't make an attempt to listen higher support needs autistics, and acknowledge your mistake. You should then try to fix this, and begin listening to our experiences, and spreading them through reblogs or similar means.