#unprecedented levels of gender

[multifandomhoodies]

jacob pitts farmer tan appreciation post

this guy's outside

(top left color corrected by @beebobeebo!)

[unnonexistence]

costume update: hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah dude hell fuckin yeah

[calamitys-child]

Eugh tomorrow is likely to be the day I get my Stressful Communications seeing as they didn't come on Friday and man I am just too tired for this kind of thing. Please just once in this whole goddamn ordeal can at least one of them be both delivered in a timely fashion and actual good news

[bardnuts]

READ LEECH BY HIRON ENNES

[grandisknight]

zayne: a doctor's companion

summary: A certain healthcare companion finds its way into Linkon City, and a particular doctor is about to discover what it means to say ba-la-la-la-lah.

tags: established relationship, baymax (big hero 6), fluff, canon-complaint, one-shot, medical terms, phone call, gender neutral reader mentioned, mostly zayne's POV, first meetings

word count: 1.8k | (ao3)

notes: inspired by this tweet! also i just love baymax a lot and i think him and zayne would be a cute duo thank you ; including the stanford article i read for the surgery mentioned here! (not necessary for understanding though) (also if i get any med stuff wrong apologies i did my best! i was a girl in stem but not Stem yk)

+ update: the cutest zayne baymax art just dropped everyone say thank you mimi (zaynefied) (i cried)

⊹˚₊‧───────────‧₊˚⊹

Zayne was sure he had slept well the night before. Had his full eight hours, breakfast accomplished and a handful of kisses from his partner before heading out in his pristine, white coat. The drive to work was the same scenery of Linkon City rushing past, soon parked in his designated lot and tracing a familiar path towards Akso Hospital’s entrance.

So, even with such a practiced routine, how did he end up here? 

“I will scan you now. Please remain in place, Dr. Zayne.”

Zayne raises a hand in an effort to dissuade his unforeseen guest. “That won't be necessary.” But his rejection, in turn, was rejected itself—his brows narrowed at the losing notion.

“But it is. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion.” The robot calmly states, reflecting a similar monotone diction to the doctor. “I was alerted to the need of medical attention,” he continues, plush footsteps along the hardwood floor squeaking as he approaches the seated doctor. "When you said 'Oof.' So, I am here."

That singular oof traced back to the faint murmur under Zayne's breath just minutes ago when pushing through the growing crowd of peering eyes at Baymax's unprecedented presence. An unusual sight for everyday work life, the mysterious yet kind robot drew in the attention of incoming patients and passersby who happened to catch a glimpse. Zayne’s opportune timing and arrival to work hurriedly whisked away the looming inflatable as crowds huddled in growing excitement, geeking and gossiping alike. Most of his efforts thus far were put into escorting the curiously soft giant through the pristine halls and past the doorway of his office without garnering further unwarranted attention.

And currently, Zayne found himself subjected to a consultation by said robot.

“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” Baymax inquires. A chart of faces ranging in emotion and color flash over his chest in display. At the highest end stood a red expression painted in anguish, and to the lowest was a green facade of serenity.

Quickly, Zayne plainly states his number to mirror his current state. “Zero.”

Baymax stares him down with the abyss of his rather blank eyes wordlessly after receiving the response. In mere seconds, a pixelated, monotone hum with a hint of warmth made its way to Zayne’s ears. “Scan complete. You have sustained no recent injuries. However, your cortisol and neurotransmitter levels indicate that you are experiencing stress.”

No, really? Zayne’s brows and posture straightened then, removing his glasses and setting them aside. He echoes the conclusion, pushing down the unspoken remark with a bite of his tongue. “Stress? Is that so?”

Baymax nods, holding up a singular finger as he continues to reveal his findings. “This can be attributed to, for example, overconsumption of sugary foods or work overload. Have you had any of these two things recently?”

Zayne’s lips purse in thought, remembering the new maple syrup you had doused his pancakes in over an hour ago. ‘I picked this up during an overseas mission and thought you might like it,’ you explained to him, drawing an intricately sticky pattern of hearts atop his breakfast. It was still just syrup—not so much a difference in flavor to a regular one you could find at the nearby supermarket—but he was grateful for the gift nonetheless as he indulged in the sweet treat with you.

“Sugar, yes. Nothing wrong with it when done in moderation.”

Sure, he had a sweet tooth. But had been doing well to maintain a healthy intake of sugary pieces, lest he wanted another round of your ‘scoldings’ and an appointment to the neighboring orthodontist again.

With a slight sigh, he clasps his hands together over the expanse of his desk and continues. As for workload? He was almost always caught up in it, whether it were hands-on procedures or consultations. Today was no exception to the rule.

“And I do have work, if that’s what you’re referring to.”

“I see. May I make a suggestion?” Baymax asks.

Zayne gives him a curt signal of acknowledgement. “You may.”

“I can assist you with said workload. I am equipped with several modules and sensors that will be of use.”

Zayne contemplates for a moment, curious to the veracity of such a claim. Well, when one forms a hypothesis, the best way to test out the theory was through a designed experiment; and he was ready to do just that. “Alright. Give me just a moment.”

With a couple of speedy taps, Zayne pulls up a recent patient file and gestures for Baymax to approach. As the airy robot bounces into place beside him, Zayne points towards a diagram, a series of numbers and waves indicating observational data. “Here. Based on what you see, can you tell me what surgery this patient underwent?”

Baymax follows the trail of red lines, analyzing quickly in succession. “Their ECG fluctuations are affected by the noraderaline administrations over time. This line,” Baymax points to a blue parallel. “Indicates the oxygen levels throughout the surgery duration.” Calmly, he turns to blink at Zayne. “Diagnosis? The patient underwent a coronary artery bypass grafting procedure.”

Zayne nodded. Each detail was right on par, much to his surprise. “I’m impressed. Your creator must have put a lot of great effort into you.”

“He did. He was wonderful.” Baymax gives a thumbs up in return. “Am I to take it that I have passed your test?”

So he knew, even without having to say anything. “You have,” Zayne confirms with a small smile.

“Here.” Baymax raises his fingers and curls them into a fist, waiting for Zayne to meet him halfway. Slowly, Zayne does just that, meeting the soft plush before it was pulled away and sealed with a robotic tune.

“Ba-la-la-la-lah.”

“Bah… What now?”

“We have completed our first task together. This warrants a celebratory fist bump.” Baymax returns his enclosed fist towards the confused doctor once more. “You must also say it while our fists connect.”

Not finding it in himself to disagree, Zayne repeats the actions from before and adds on with an unsure, “Ba-la-lah.” Slightly strange, though it held a tinge of endearment that reminded him of a certain someone; he suddenly didn’t mind it as much then, shaking his head to himself.

It satisfied Baymax all the same, hand wiggling away before a sound disrupts the next file to be displayed. Zayne’s phone rings then, a custom set of notes indicating there was only one special caller. Your name flashed on his screen, buzzing in patience as his gaze flicked between that and Baymax.

“Do you mind if I take this?”

Baymax blinks. “I do not mind.”

“Thank you.”

With a swipe, Zayne presses his phone to the cup of his ear, voice softening to answer your call. “Good morning. Are you heading out now?”

“Morning! How did you know?” 

Zayne could make out the rustling of keys with the pattern of your footsteps, a light yet amused scoff from him trickling into the receiver. Even if it weren’t for the traces of noise, you usually left around this time and always texted him a new emoji without missing a day. So, of course he knew. You followed up almost immediately with another answer to support your stance. 

“New mission just came in, and it happens to be near Akso. Guess we’ll be seeing each other again pretty soon.”

“Oh?” His brow quirks at the idea. “What requires you to be in the area, exactly?” Zayne’s hazel hues instinctively settle on the black pools of Baymax’s blink, already knowing the answer that you proceeded to relay.

“There was a… Wanderer sighted?” Even over the phone, your voice relayed doubt amidst a warm crackling sound. “Well it’s not exactly one…allegedly. But rather something big, round and white? Tara said it looked like a walking marshmallow,” you chuckled. Well, it’s not like you were wrong, Zayne confirms with another glance.

“Either way, it’s caused an uproar and the Association is sending me to check it out. I’m assuming you already know what it is?”

“I do.” Baymax tilts his head, pointing a finger to himself in quiet curiosity. Zayne raises his own to his mouth, indicating for a secret to be kept as he muses into the call. “And no, not a Wanderer. Stop by my office when you get here and you’ll see.”

“I’ll be there in 15 if traffic is kind to me,” you chirped in reply. He could make out the humming of your motorcycle come to life, indicating the start of your journey. “See you then! Love you.”

“Alright. Love you too. Be safe.”

As the call came to an end, Zayne shifted his gaze to the even shiftier companion before him. Though Baymax couldn’t necessarily smile, the doctor could feel it radiating off of its plush form as he lifted a familiar finger.

“Your pulse and heart rate have quickened greatly. The rate went from 87 beats per minute to 102 in about ten seconds.” Baymax pauses, and a screen with infographics begins to luminate across his chest once more. “Symptoms may include, but are not limited to, your pituitary glands—“

“I’m aware of how hearts work.” Zayne gestures around to their environment, the glimmer of his name tag reflecting the morning sun filtering through the tall windows. “And… everything else.”

He was a cardiac surgeon, first and foremost. His efforts and contributions have earned him plenty of accolades in the field, a testament to his brilliance and especially at a younger age in comparison to his medical peers. But second to none was he also your partner—naturally, his heart would’ve soared regardless. He was aware of the source to his increased palpitations.

“You are also smiling,” Baymax comments. “Does this person make you happy?”

Zayne freezes then, unbeknownst of how the edges of his lips were curled into a gentle grin. His mouth almost straightens, fingertips brushing over them in thought. He lets out a resounding hum in confirmation, looking away bashfully for a brief moment. “Very much so.”

“That is good. Having someone who makes you ‘happy’ will improve your quality of life.” As if sending him his seal of approval, Baymax gives an affirmative fist of encouragement. No sooner did a wrapped lollipop appear between said fist, and he held it towards Zayne in offering. “Here, have a lollipop.”

“Thank you.” Zayne takes the candy in acceptance, wrapper crinkling in removal before a taste of winterberry spreads across his tongue. “Shall we go through another file until a certain someone comes barging in?”

He could already imagine how your grand entrance would play out, and this time, knowingly smiles to himself at the thought.

With an enthusiastic nod, Baymax takes a nearby chair and places it beside Zayne’s own. Deflating slightly to fit the mold, he puffs up once more in preparation.

“I am ready. Let’s work together, Dr. Zayne.”

[handweavers]

"‘Trans man’ remains the preferred identity for Malaysian individuals who were Assigned female at birth but live their adult lives as men. The jettison-ing of pondan, pak nyah, wanita keras, tomboy and pengkid in favour of ‘trans man’ likely serves as a ratification of personal-communal empowerment and a repudiation of derision. It is even more likely that ‘trans man’ reflects a deep-seated desire to imitate and participate in ‘collective identifcation’, notably that which is cultivated in North American (and European) contexts, ‘in order to demand rights, equal citizenship, and welfare’ among other goals in Malaysia. This is hardly surprising. Technological advances facilitate unprecedented accessibility to copious resources on transgender issues and imagine a global transgender community in borderless solidarity. Travis S. K. Kong points out however, that ‘globalization is an uneven process that reproduces spatially uneven development, and the flow of capital, commodities, people, images, and ideas is never equal among locations’.

The Malaysian trans man thus experiences unequal and unstable access to the bounty of globalisation due to local limitations in education, economic means, social and cultural capital, class, ethnicity, religious affliation, educational levels, infrastructure and health services. He continues to be experience ‘disjunctive modernities’ which exhibit ‘irreducible plurality and local specifcity’, thus dispelling the myth of trans(national) homogeneity in transgender identity. The trans men I interviewed interpret their life stories through the rubric of local contexts that dispel any suspicion of a mere mimicry of western-styled transgender identities. Malaysian re/mouldings of ‘trans man’ speak to ‘experiences of multiplicity in gender identifcation … embedded within specifc social, cultural, and interpersonal contexts [that] create altogether new, emergent forms of experience and identity'."

— J. N. Goh, Becoming a Malaysian Trans Man

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Christina Buttons

Published: Apr 4, 2024

[ Figure 2: Representative images of Hematoxylin and Eosin-stained sections of testicular tissue biopsied from the testis from GD patients (A) with and (B) without PB exposure. ]

In a groundbreaking study from the Mayo Clinic, a globally recognized leader in medical research and patient care, researchers examined the effects of puberty blockers on testicular development in gender dysphoric male children. Their investigation revealed evidence of mild to severe atrophy in the sex glands of these children, leading the authors to express doubt in the claims of “reversibility” often made about puberty blockers.

The authors assert, “We provide unprecedented histological evidence revealing detrimental pediatric testicular sex gland responses to [puberty blockers].”

This preprint study, not yet peer-reviewed, presents evidence that puberty blockers induce significant cellular changes, impacting testicular development and sperm production in ways that are not fully reversible, with potentially permanent effects on testicular function and fertility. It challenges the longstanding view of puberty blockers as a reversible "pause button" on puberty.

As noted by the researchers of this study, no long-term studies exist for the use of puberty blockers in the context of stopping puberty for gender dysphoric children, and many potential health consequences remain unknown. In particular, the long-term impact on reproductive health is uncertain, making this study critical for filling this knowledge gap.

To address these unknowns, the Mayo Clinic has established the largest collection of testicular samples for patients aged 0-17 years, including those with gender dysphoria who have and have not yet received puberty blocker treatment, creating a database of over 130,000 individual cells for analysis.

Using a novel approach, the research team meticulously analyzed testicular tissue samples from youths undergoing puberty blocker treatment, with those not on puberty blocker treatment serving as controls. This comparison provides important insights into the potential cellular and molecular changes induced by these drugs.

Key Findings

The study utilized the Mayo Clinic's Pediatric Testicular Biobank for Fertility Preservation, which has been recruiting patients primarily from pediatric urology departments since 2015. Researchers analyzed testicular specimens from 87 young individuals (ages 0-17) undergoing fertility preservation surgery for various health reasons. Among these, 16 were gender dysphoric boys between the ages of 10 and 16, all of whom began identifying as transgender girls between the ages of 2 and 15. At the time of surgery, 9 patients (56%) were already on puberty blockers, with exposure ranging from 3 to 52 months. The authors noted that 100% of the 16 children would eventually go on to take them, highlighting “the widespread nature of PB intervention in this demographic.”

Among nine patients treated with puberty blockers, two exhibited unusual features in their testicles upon physical examination. One patient had abnormalities in both testicles, including incomplete development of the tunica albuginea, which is a protective covering around the testicles. The other patient had a right testicle that was difficult to detect.

In one part of the tissue-level analysis, over 400 testicular biopsy samples were analyzed and stained to examine the differences between those treated with puberty blockers and those who were not. Comparisons showed that testicular development in those treated with puberty blockers was abnormal compared to non-treated individuals. There was variability in how individuals responded to puberty blockers, leading to different outcomes in testicular development, including the degeneration of testicular tissues.

The study authors presented a case of a 12-year-old patient who underwent treatment with puberty blockers for 14 months. In this individual, 59% of the sex glands showed complete atrophy, along with the presence of microlithiasis—a condition where small clusters of calcium form in the testicles. This insight suggests that puberty blockers could lead to lasting structural changes. Additionally, research has shown a link between testicular microlithiasis and testicular cancer.

[ D) Representative images of normal (top) and fully atrophied sex gland (bottom). ]

This study also utilized single-cell analysis to investigate the effects of puberty blockers and aging on testicular cell composition. It took a very detailed look at individual cells from the testicles of a 14-year-old who had been on puberty blockers for over 4 years. The study analyzed a total of 130,100 cells, including 11,199 cells from the juvenile puberty blocker-treated patient.

The study observed that over 90% of the cells responsible for sperm production in this patient were stunted at an early developmental stage, unable to progress further. Additionally, it found "pathologically" higher and lower levels of two types of support cells (Sertoli cells) necessary for healthy sperm development. These findings suggest that puberty blockers can disrupt the normal maturation process of cells critical for sperm production.

In another part of the analysis, the authors found distinct cell-specific changes, including altered expression patterns of puberty-associated genes in endothelial cells, due to puberty blocker treatment. The authors believe that these drugs might induce juvenile testicular atrophy in part by disrupting the normal function of testicular endothelial cells.

Another aspect of the study focused on examining the effects of puberty blockers on the genetic activity of early-stage sperm cells, revealing significant changes that could potentially influence their development and fertility. By analyzing the activity of specific genes within these cells, the researchers found that puberty blockers may have caused alterations in gene expression, affecting processes crucial for the normal growth and function of these cells. This analysis suggests that the use of puberty blockers in gender dysphoric youth could have lasting implications for their reproductive health, particularly by impacting the ability of these early-stage sperm cells to mature properly.

Study Impact

Puberty blockers are increasingly used as a treatment for gender dysphoric youth to halt the development of secondary sex characteristics, such as breast development and widening of hips in females, or the growth of facial hair and deepening of the voice in males. Thousands of children in the United States are placed on this medical pathway as part of the gender-affirming model of care, under the presumption that these drugs are safe and fully reversible.

However, many aspects of the long-term consequences of puberty blockers, which have been administered to children off-label in an experimental manner, remain unknown. This study contributes valuable insights into the potential irreversible harm these treatments can cause to bodily and reproductive functions. 

Arguably, the most critical finding is the evidence of mild to severe sex gland atrophy in children treated with puberty blockers. This atrophy signifies potential damage or impairment to the structures essential for sperm production, raising serious concerns about the long-term fertility impacts of these drugs for these individuals. 

Given the Mayo Clinic's esteemed reputation in the medical and research communities, should the study pass peer review without any issues, its findings will carry significant weight.

Broader Implications

Puberty blockers belong to a group of synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues. These drugs act on the pituitary gland to hinder the release of chemical signals that typically trigger the production of estrogen and testosterone. Historically GnRH analogues were used to treat conditions such as prostate cancer, fibroids, and endometriosis and, in some cases, as a measure to chemically castrate sex offenders.

In children, puberty blockers prevent the natural changes of puberty driven by sex hormones and have been used to treat central precocious puberty, a condition where a child begins to sexually mature much earlier than usual. In gender dysphoria, puberty blockers are administered experimentally, lacking long-term testing.

Notably, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved puberty blockers and sex hormones for use in pediatric gender care. No clinical trials have substantiated the safety of these drugs for such non-approved applications and manufacturers of puberty blockers have repeatedly declined to conduct safety trials for their use on this cohort.

While puberty-blocking drugs are often promoted as “safe,” "reversible" and a "pause button" on puberty, these characterizations seem to stem from their approved use for treating central precocious puberty in younger children, not their burgeoning off-label use for managing gender dysphoria in adolescents. 

Past studies have indicated possible negative effects on bone density and brain health. There is also a concern that these drugs might solidify gender dysphoria in adolescents, potentially leading them down a lifelong road of biomedical interventions. Following reports in 2016 of suicidal ideation in children administered puberty blockers, the FDA instructed drug manufacturers to include a warning about potential psychiatric issues on the drugs' labels.

Puberty blockers are increasingly administered to adolescents at Tanner Stage 2, the first signs of puberty. Research shows administering puberty blockers at this stage, followed by cross-sex hormones, may result in infertility, sterility, and sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, they inhibit the development of mature male genitalia, making it difficult to create a pseudovagina in the event of a later vaginoplasty due to a lack of sufficient tissue.

The National Health Service England recently announced it would no longer prescribe puberty blockers to youth outside of research settings and closed down its only national clinical service for pediatric gender medicine, following a review that deemed the service "not safe.”

Several European countries, including Sweden, Finland, the UK, Denmark, and Norway��have updated their guidelines for youth transition to align with systematic evidence reviews, the gold standard in evidence-based medicine. These reviews concluded that the risks associated with youth transition outweigh any purported benefits. Consequently, these countries have implemented restrictions on medical interventions, prioritizing psychotherapy as a first-line response for minors experiencing gender-related distress.

==

They're sterilizing boys and giving them cancer. When "god" does it, we call him evil. When humans do it, we call it "gender affirming care."

[magz]

Every few years, there's an uptick in U.S. social media posts and sentiments that these are unprecedented times and the solution is to leave the U.S. for other countries if you're disabled / LGBT / nonwhite etc.

But even we know that there are a lot of the people in those groups that can't leave or there's a significant amount of dangerous barriers to do so. Or if they do leave, it's from being deported.

So that can't be the main solution for everyone.

In action it would leave the more vulnerable people of one's group behind and have them "figure it out".

Its a major blindspot to pretend everyone has the ability and privilege to leave when they want, so everyone leaving seen as the main practical solution - sometimes drowning out alternatives.

Like refugees, non-citizens, disabled people that get rejected from immigration processes for their disabilities, the homeless that don't have their IDs and documents bc they got destroyed, those that can't afford to and fundraisers aren't working or don't have a way to receive the money, some of the children, and many more.

But it's odd to not acknowledge how, say, a los of U.S. citizens immigrating or backpacking have the privilege of their U.S. passport and citizenship - even if they later renounce it due to guilt (which wouldn't really do much to benefit those negatively affected by U.S. imperialism and xenophobia and colonialism, except frame self-punishment as solution)

If it reaches a certain level of untactfulness when leaving, it is still gentrification to displace the vulnerable populations in another country that are also poor or disabled or LGBT.

Even if those immigrating from the U.S. are also disabled or LGBT they can be complicit in violence and gentrification, especially when not familiar with or not caring of the politics + histories of oppressions of where they are immigrating to.

That doesn't mean that residents of the U.S. should "stay to atone for x y z", that is not what am saying. That isn't useful and is reactionary. Am personally do not get anything from others' guilt and self-flagellation.

But when leaving - there has to be acknowledgements of who is being left out and the dangers of not supporting change in own country, and what that leaves.

There are always issues in not acknowledging the implications of u.s. imperial core, the settler colonialism, the mindset it propagates, and how deep complicitness goes since it isn't surface level nor does it inherently stop by just leaving.

The not learning about other countries if able to especially when moving there, and not caring about others beside your own marginalized groups of u.s. - will be downfall.

It is necessary to be tactful and curious, whatever decide to do.

And if even your own people are crying because of issues with their IDs and documents or not being able to get gender markers done on time, freaking out because if they must leave they have to leave ASAP...

Even increasing suicidality...

that is a sign that something is wrong with how the situation and message is being handled, causing panic even in them.

[it-happened-one-fic]

Hours in the Moonlight: Somnolent Gloaming - 17. Those Hereafter

Summary: Your evaluation of the Diasomnia clan was complete, and while the response to your report did bring about new questions, you knew one thing for certain. You would always be welcome at this strange, dark clan of vampires you now called friends.

Series Type: Gender-neutral reader/ Vampire AU/ series/ romantic/ angst/ angst with comfort/ fluff/ sfw/ platonic interactions too!

Trigger Warning: Vampire

Word Count: 1351

Hours in the Moonlight Master-List

I’d barely made it through the doors of the Diasomnia headquarters before Sebek was shouting, “HUMAN! ONE OF CROWLEY’S MEN AWAITS YOU!”

I blinked slightly, somehow not stumbling away from the loud young man before nodding, a half-amused smile crawling its way onto my face as my gaze found his, “Thank you, Sebek, and hello to you as well.”

He blinked, a tiny, ‘Ah,’ slipping from his lips as his eyes widened at my teasing before he recovered and somehow managed to straighten even further, “INDEED. GREETINGS, HUMAN!”

�� I almost sighed, smiling openly at the young man before gesturing for him to lead the way. I’d been right to hurry over here after leaving the Pomefiore clan headquarters. Crowley had indeed sent one of his men. It was just a matter of who.

I was brought into the library, a familiar place now, though the sight of the man garbed in his fluffy coat was new amongst the aged books.

I felt myself straighten even as Sebek left the room, unsure if I was pleased or distressed that it was him rather than Trein or Vargas, “Crewel!”

The man glanced over at me, his gaze perfectly unimpressed as his stare met my gaze, “About time you got here, pup. What have you found?”

I rounded the chair, sitting down across from him and lacing my hands together as I slipped into a more businesslike position, “According to the records here at the Diasomnia clan, we are dealing with an unprecedented level of insane vampires. Furthermore, I do not believe this clan to be related to this issue. They have shown themselves to be very much against attacking humans, and, as such, the propagation of insane vampires would serve them in no way and instead go against their other actions.”

Crewel simply nodded at my words, looking utterly unsurprised as he spoke, “I suspected as much.” 

I almost faltered at his blunt words but remained silent. It wasn’t entirely surprising that Crowley and his men already had strong suspicions and views about who they thought were or weren’t at fault.

Crewel tilted his head to the side, looking at me pointedly before he continued, “And? What of your relationship with this clan?”

I shifted in my seat, not wholly surprised by his words but feeling oddly wary nonetheless. He was the one who’d first recommended that I gain the trust of all of the clans, but I actually hadn’t expected him to outright ask about that.

Similarly, I wasn’t really prepared to answer that question. But then I remembered what Lilia had told me… That he was indebted to me, that Malleus had become fond of me, and that I would be welcome at Diasomnia for years to come. 

And even beyond that, there was Sebek and Silver, whom I’d grown to be fond of over my time here. In fact, if I were to be wholly honest, I felt a sort of kinship towards Silver just because of the similarities between our positions.

“I trust them, Sir. I have come to view several of the members of this clan as allies, including their clan leader.”

I watched in silence, carefully controlling my reactions even as a smile curved across the man’s face and he nodded, “Good.”

I almost frowned at his response, immediately confused as to why it would be good that I had befriended this clan.

But then, why did he want to know about my relationship with the Diasomnia clan anyway? None of the other reports had anything to do with that….

Unless it had something to do with his past advice for me to befriend the clans?

Crewel stood, looking down at me in a way that almost spoke of subdued pride and further confused me even as he spoke, “Your work is done here, Hunter. You can await your next orders.”

I nodded, rising to follow him out the door and stopping next to Sebek to watch in silence as he continued on his way. Vampires parting around him with widened eyes as their quiet whispers filled the air. And I had no doubt that the rumor mill was already starting to spin away in their midst.

I glanced over at Sebek, who also watched Crewel stroll away from us, curiosity filling me until I finally cracked and asked the question that had been steadily forming in my mind as I’d been evaluating each of the clans so far, “Sebek… how strong are the vampires that work for Crowley?”

Sebek’s voice was, surprisingly, a normal volume as he spoke, his eyes staying locked onto the man who slowly faded from view as he continued on his way, “It’s said that each of them is strong enough to lead their own clan. Though none of them could ever surpass my liege.”

He frowned, though, glancing my way with a perfectly confused expression, “Why do you ask, human?”

I shook my head, trailing off slightly even as I answered him, “No reason….”

Sebek’s eyebrows lifted at my words before he straightened, “Come. My liege wished to hear of your report on our clan.”

I nodded, feeling myself smile slightly as I followed him. Back once more to the room where I'd first met him and Malleus. 

The same room where Malleus had offered me immortality should I wish for it.

And as we walked, I realized that it was just like it had been with all the other clans. It felt like I’d been with the Diasomnia clan for far longer than I actually had been.

But as I entered the room and felt the three men’s gazes shift to me, Malleus and Lilia with a smile and Silver with a nod of his head as Sebek shifted to stand on the other side of Malleus, I knew that Lilia was right and that I would be welcome here even beyond this day.

“Well, little hunter? What have you come to think of our clan?” Malleus’s smile was as it always seemed to be. Tinted with amusement as he gazed at me, fondness filling his unnatural but now familiar green eyes.

And I found myself smiling in return, “I cannot deny that it is an odd place, but it is also a place I feel comfortable at. Diasomnia is a clan that, in my eyes, is innocent in regards to the current situation.”

He nodded, Lilia chuckling slightly at my words as Sebek preened and a faint smile flickered across Silver’s face.

Malleus continued though, his gaze continuing to rest on me, “And do you think you will return to visit us?”

The atmosphere seemed to shift with his words, and their expressions became more somber as they all looked at me. Waiting. Some of the gazes hopeful while others were more controlled.

But then, they were quite possibly concerned that I wouldn’t even want to come back here. 

Which, even if they didn’t know it, was honestly laughable. Odd, they might be, but they had also been kind to me in their own strange ways. And I was getting pretty used to odd anyway.

 I found myself briefly meeting each of the men’s gazes and smiling slightly before I met Malleus’s stare once more and answered without even a sliver of hesitation, “Without a doubt, I can see myself returning here. Though I must confess it won’t be tomorrow night, since I have plans.”

A smile reappeared on Malleus’s face at my words, and my own smile only spread further across my face. 

The young man stood, crossing the space so that he was standing right in front of me, “Then I will await your coming the somnolent gloaming after the next and even those hereafter.”

I nodded, hardly knowing what else to do in response to such words. Characteristically grandiose for Malleus, but still distinctly daunting in a way that perfectly matched the horned vampire.

But at the very least, it seemed that I’d added yet another clan to the list of allies and friends whom I could trust no matter what awaited me in the future.

If you would like to read more:

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Next: Hours in the Moonlight: Solitary Eventide

[contemplatingoutlander]

America has legislated itself into competing red, blue versions of education

This is an excellent article in The Washington Post about how our school systems have begun to reflect the political divisions in our nation, with many red states legally banning discussions on racism, sexism, and gender issues, and many blue states legally requiring those kinds of discussions. This is a gift🎁link, so anyone can read the entire article, even if the don't subscribe to the Post. Below are some excerpts:

Three-fourths of the nation’s school-aged students are now educated under state-level measures that either require more teaching on issues like race, racism, history, sex and gender, or which sharply limit or fully forbid such lessons, according to a sweeping Post review of thousands of state laws, gubernatorial directives and state school board policies. The restrictive laws alone affect almost half of all Americans aged 5 to 19. [...] The divide is sharply partisan. The vast majority of restrictive laws and policies, close to 9o percent, were enacted in states that voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, The Post found. Meanwhile, almost 80 percent of expansive laws and policies were enacted in states that voted for Joe Biden in 2020.

The explosion of laws regulating school curriculums is unprecedented in U.S. history for its volume and scope, said Jonathan Zimmerman, a University of Pennsylvania professor who studies education history and policy...states have never before stepped in so aggressively to set rules for local schools. [...] [A] nationally representative study from the Rand Corp. released this year found that 65 percent of K-12 teachers report they are limiting instruction on “political and social issues.” “What the laws show is that we have extremely significant differences over how we imagine America,” Zimmerman said. [...] In practice, these divisions mean that what a child learns about, say, the role slavery played in the nation’s founding — or the possibility of a person identifying as nonbinary — may come to depend on whether they live in a red or blue state. [...] Almost 40 percent of these laws work by granting parents greater control of the curriculum — stipulating that they must be able to review, object to or remove lesson material, as well as opt out of instruction. [...] Another almost 40 percent of the laws forbid schools from teaching a long list of often-vague concepts related to race, sex or gender.

[...] At the college level, among the measures passed in recent years is a 2021 Oklahoma law that prohibits institutions of higher education from holding “mandatory gender or sexual diversity training or counseling,” as well as any “orientation or requirement that presents any form of race or sex stereotyping.” By contrast, a 2023 California measure says state community college faculty must employ “teaching, learning and professional practices” that reflect “anti-racist principles.”

Some experts predicted the politically divergent instruction will lead to a more divided society. “When children are being taught very different stories of what America is, that will lead to adults who have a harder time talking to each other,” said Rachel Rosenberg, a Hartwick College assistant professor of education.

[comicaurora]

Happy Glorious 25th of May. Thank you for getting me into the discworld books (at least in an indirect way). They have quickly become one of my favorite series of books, even if I've only read a handful of them. As for a question, what have been your biggest takeaways or lessons from the discworld books? Whether it be how you write, how you engage with stories, or even how you look at the world.

we got another one lads

It's a little hard to boil it down! The books cover so much ground, and I read them at such a formative age it's hard to tease out how much of me is made from them.

On the most basic level, I love how angry those books are. Every POV protagonist is seething at unfairness and injustice and this is never framed as a bad thing - just something that needs to be controlled, directed, weaponized.

I like that everything is a joke, but in-universe everybody is absolutely sincere. The characters are charicatures and punchlines because of their sincerely-held beliefs and ideals. Captain Carrot is shiny and literal-minded and perfection personified and it's funny because he really is that good. Nanny Ogg is an outrageously horny and boisterous old woman and it's funny because she's having such a good time with it, especially when contrasted with her stern and serious foil Granny Weatherwax, and it's funny because the two of them know each other incredibly well and deal with each other's eccentricities with the practice of decades. The dwarves are funny because they're goofy little guys with big beards that think about nothing but gold and new songs to sing about gold, and as the books go on, the complexities of a culture that looks like that punchline become the deepest and most fascinating element of the worldbuilding in the entire Disc. The world is mounted on the back of four elephants and we made a book called the Fifth Elephant, how wacky, hey let's casually integrate the worldbuilding consequences of massive deposits of perfectly-crisped organic matter caused by the collision of a planet-sized elephant with a planet-sized planet. The discworld tells a joke and then commits to the consequences with its entire ass, and I love that.

A lot of the characters are in some way one-of-a-kind and unprecedented, or at least appear to be on the surface because nobody like them has even been publicly known, and the stories frequently explore how these unique people navigate their existence without a roadmap and trailblaze the way for the people just like them to someday follow. People who break rules by existing and make the world question what purpose those rules serve if they aren't actually unyielding principles of reality. The dwarf gender cultural revolution, the female wizard, the golem given a voice, the entire existence of Susan Sto Helit. It produces a world that feels like it's absolutely full of protagonists, like every story is one-of-a-kind and every individual person matters and has the right to choose the way they want to live, no matter what anyone else thinks. can't believe some terfs really think these books are for them as if they aren't precision-built to tell them to go fuck themselves

The cast full of protagonists makes the crossover events a delight. All these characters existing in the same universe means they can just run into each other sometimes, and they're all such absolute weirdos that their interactions never fail to be absolutely incredible. The world feels very thoroughly lived-in, to the point where the stories sometimes almost feel like they're telling themselves.

they're just really fuckin good ok

[shortnailsforfuntimes]

i don’t usually post politics, but i have a few things i want t make very, very clear.

i live in a place that has always been incredibly homophobic. grew up with the f-slur being tossed around as a casual insult. my struggle with sexuality and gender and whatnot was a very internalized and scary time for me. This is not a good way to live. You’re not happy, you don’t feel safe, you don’t even really feel like you.

Seeing queer people exist and be happy and successful let me have a radical change in the way I accept myself. Watching gay marriage be legalized, and lgbt people exist in media brought me a sense of security and maybe not everything is going to go to shit. I need to know that this can stay. We can’t lose everything we’ve gained over the years.

This term is going to be so much worse than Trump‘s first. He’s got the supreme court in his pocket as well as enough of the House and Senate. There’s no checks and balances; its an oligarchy run by billionaires.

There are somethings that I feel like we all know are going to happen because of this but the key issue, for me at least, is that there’s no consequences for Trump or any of his friend’s actions. We are a country that is blossoming into a dictatorship. There’s parallels to Nazi Germany without even counting the salute at the inauguration.

Maybe vocalized activism isn’t something you feel safe doing: I certainly don’t think I can irl. But what you can do, and everyone should, is stay educated. The first step in creating a fascist regime is de-intellectualization. They’re going to try and tell you what you see isn’t real. Fact check everything. There is going to be unprecedented levels of double speak. Calling a Nazi salute elon’s version of ‘my heart goes out to you’ is complete and utter bullshit. Even if you can find the capacity to believe him, remember that if any other person ‘accidentally’ did this, they would be cancelled, expected to apologize. We cannot, under any circumstances, accept this behavior. It is only going to get worse.

Maybe start taking measures to protect yourself. Your digital footprint. If you don’t feel safe putting your opinions online, or continuing to access certain medias, maybe invest in a vpn (i personally did and that brought me an immense amount of relief). if you have dual citizenship, make sure your passports are up to date. Make sure you have some money in a bank in that country. Contact relatives who live abroad, and let them know that if things start to go south, you need to get out and you’d like to go to someone you know.

Most importantly, don’t let it get to you. Don’t let trump win in your mind. Stay strong don’t let them break you down.

Be safe & positive in these dark times.

[mariacallous]

This bruising presidential election is finally over, and it has taken a toll on our country and all of us in it. In particular, our youth have witnessed growing polarization and political vitriol, and they were already in a bad way, facing unprecedented levels of mental health problems. Schools have a major role to play in supporting them as we move forward. One way they can do this, and contribute to strengthening our democracy, is to engage students in civic reasoning and discourse at school.

The National Academy of Education defines civic reasoning and discourse as the rigorous examination of evidence and multiple perspectives around meaningful personal and societal issues to seek consensus or compromise on the issues through discussion and debate. These are essential capacities youth must develop to sustain a functioning and equitable democratic society, and so should be among the central aims of education—now more than ever. Additionally, new research shows that, because it is at once cognitively difficult and deeply emotionally powerful, engaging in civic reasoning supports healthy brain development in adolescents, which in turn predicts life satisfaction and achievement in young adulthood.

But what does civic reasoning and discourse look like in classrooms? One example is when a group of eighth graders in New York City and another in rural Virginia come together through writing letters and virtual meet-ups. As they learn about each other’s daily lives, they begin to see how “blue” and “red” communities in this country are similar and how they are different. By the end of the unit, they have read common texts and critically explored their perspectives on a topic that is important to them, such as gun rights.

Another example is when high school math students in Los Angeles apply statistical methods to a social issue they’ve identified, such as income and wealth distribution. They analyze trends over time and look at variables such as geographic location and workers’ rights laws in different states, as well as people’s education levels, gender, race and ethnicity. They present and debate what they find, which leads to deeper discussions about the values and intentions behind policies.

Aside from the academic and social skills students are building through this work, why are these classroom experiences so formative and essential for students? Civic reasoning develops youths’ abilities to think about the broader and longer-term implications of situations and issues. Such reasoning helps students think about multiple perspectives on issues and to wrestle with the complexity of real-world situations. And it does so in a way that feels deeply personally meaningful to youth. Civic reasoning, in other words, relies on what we are calling “transcendent” thinking—thinking that moves students to transcend current circumstances and specifics to search for deeper understanding, personal relevance, and possible solutions.

At the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE) we are showing that transcendent thinking also shapes brain development in beneficial ways. In a five-year study published in Scientific Reports, we interviewed 65 diverse high school students about their reactions to true stories of teens’ compelling situations around the world. We also scanned the students’ brains that day, and again two years later, and followed the students into young adulthood. The more the students reflected on the bigger civic issues at stake–that is, the more they demonstrated transcendent thinking and reported being strongly emotionally engaged–the more the students had grown their brains when they returned for the second scan. In turn, those students who grew their brains more, from the first to the second neuroimaging scan, showed stronger identity development in their late teen years, measured as the degree to which a teen reported that they think about who they are and what they stand for, and about the kind of adult they would like to become. As young adults, they reported better life satisfaction, relationships, and achievement. Importantly, the results of our study were not related to IQ, socio-economic status, gender, or ethnic background.

This brain growth likely happens because, as teens reflect on civic issues, they coordinate brain systems involved in focused attention and planning, memory, emotion, and reflection—the same brain networks involved in creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, learning, self-awareness, self-control, and ethical judgment. Notably, the patterns of brain growth identified seem to be the opposite of patterns associated in recent clinical research with adolescents’ development of mood disorders, depression, and anxiety. This may also be why the students’ transcendent thinking in our study helped to protect their brains against the negative impacts of witnessing neighborhood violence and crime. Ultimately, transcendent thinking for the teen brain may be like physical exercise for the body: The more they do it, the more they strengthen their social and cognitive skills, which also produces a myriad of collateral benefits.

With such clear benefits to our teens and to our civic landscape, we owe it to ourselves, to our youth, and to our country, to build more opportunities for civic reasoning and discourse into America’s schools. You may be thinking that our culture wars have already overtaken school board meetings and that “the other side” would never go for this. But everyone wants their voice to be heard, and their identities and experiences to be understood and valued. Our youth desperately want this too, and schools can help them share, empathize, and learn across their differences while critically examining issues that matter to them and to our collective future. Even if we can’t imagine ourselves having these conversations right now as adults, this is our time to step back from the brink–to let our youth think transcendently and take on the conversations that will secure the future of our democracy.

[self-loving-vampire]

The above list of policies is essentially a list of things that several states in the United States are doing. Tennessee, for instance, is pushing a policy right now that would make gender affirming care child abuse and would target parents for allowing them to get that care. Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas has already begun investigations on the companies that make the drugs used for gender affirming care. Forced outing provisions, sports bans, and the threatening of funds are all being pushed in bills that have been passed or are moving across the country. Although the impact of these bills and laws are high, there are still many states which protect their transgender citizens. You can see my legislative risk assessment map where I detail that landscape. Should Trump become president again and enact these policies, even those people may not be safe. ... Could they ban gender affirming care nationwide for trans youth or even some trans adults? There are many ways that this could be pushed both legislatively and with executive orders. Legislatively, it is possible for congress to pass laws that regulate all aspects of gender affirming care. We have already seen such legislation promoted by Marjorie Taylor Greene, who announced a national bill to criminalize gender affirming care. Hopefully, legislation like that would be filibustered in the Senate, but this relies on the filibuster continuing to be preserved. An anti-trans president might direct the FDA to take unprecedented actions against the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy in trans youth and may go after the companies that make them with regulatory actions. In his speech, Trump also pointed at using the office of Civil Rights to go after “civil rights violations” of allowing transition. We also know that Trump has been more than willing to withhold federal funding. The weaponization of federal agency regulations against transgender people is something that I have personally kept my eye on since Ron DeSantis began using those agency mechanisms in Florida.

Article from last year highlighting some of the paths they could take to attack trans rights on a national level, potentially affecting those in blue states as well. Be prepared, try to stockpile HRT, have DIY resources on hand, and also see about preparing an escape plan.

[shinesurge]

gender: generating unprecedented levels of conflicting advertising data

[coochiequeens]

While the media has been focusing on Palestine for the past month don't let stories about women elsewhere fall through the cracks.

Haitian women and girls bear the brunt of the escalating violence, warns IRC during 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign

MEDIA CONTACTS

Kim Winkler - International Rescue Committee Kim.Winkler@rescue.org

Everardo Esquivel - International Rescue Committee everardo.esquivel@rescue.org

IRC Global Communications +1 646 761 0307 communications@rescue.org

Content warning: Discussion of rampant sexual violence

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, December 4, 2023 —  Gang violence continues to escalate in Haiti, with women and girls especially targeted with extreme acts of gender-based violence (GBV), including collective rape, in order to humiliate, terrorize, and consolidate control over local populations.  The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is calling on the international community for urgent funding needed to increase access to protection services and health care for women and girls, including to ease their recovery through psychosocial support.  

An alarming spike in kidnappings has been reported, with nearly 1,000 cases confirmed so far this year, almost matching the total number documented for the whole of 2022, and close to three times more than the entire previous year. Women continue to be highly exposed to rape and kidnappings while travelling along roads controlled by gangs. 

The IRC collaborates with four Haitian partners, mainly in the West department of Haiti, to provide vital services. One of the partners, women’s organization MARIJÀN, conducted a survey among 299 women and girls in marginalized neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince in May 2023, which showed that 63% of women had been forced to relocate because of the level of violence they experienced in their neighbourhoods, one in five said they had been victims of rape, and 17% had experienced physical violence.

Nathalie Eleonor Vilgrain, General Coordinator for MARIJÀN, IRC partner organization in Port-au-Prince, said:

“Women and girls are faced with an inhuman social reality. In marginalized neighborhoods, they are exposed to physical and psychological violence; beatings, intimidation, gang rape and murder are just some of the methods gangs use to establish their domination, and force women and girls into total submission. 

“The few women who manage to escape from these neighborhoods, and who have taken refuge in camps for displaced persons in the Port-au-Prince area, are not exempt from situations of mistreatment and abuse, physical and verbal aggression, sexual exploitation, forced pregnancy.” 

With support from the IRC, MARIJÀN has assisted over 800 survivors of sexual violence between the months of May and September, providing psychological support for individuals and groups as well as providing other services to prevent and respond to GBV, including running legal workshops. Nearly 100 women have benefited from cash assistance and economic empowerment. 

Nora Love, IRC Emergency Director, said:

“Haiti has seen political instability and unprecedented levels of insecurity for more than a decade. The intensifying brutality that Haitians are facing is extremely worrisome, especially for women and girls whose vulnerability is further exploited by gangs with ever growing influence throughout the country.

“Accessing protection and health has already been difficult due to overwhelmed public systems. Extreme gang violence is endangering our partners’ ability to carry out their work, further exacerbating the vulnerability of our clients.”

Political instability, gang violence, rising food insecurity, disease outbreaks, and climate shocks have led to 5.2 million people being in need of humanitarian aid in Haiti, according to the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan. More than 5,400 victims of gang violence, including almost 3,000 murders and over 1,000 kidnappings, were reported byUNFPA between January and late September 2023. The consequences of the violence that is reaching new departments outside the metropolitan area of the capital Port-au-Prince as organized gangs attempt to extend their areas of influence, are evident in the number of internally displaced people in the West department,surpassing 146,000, of whom more than half are women.

The IRC’s response to the Haiti crisis

The IRC has a history of supporting Haiti throughout the worst impacts of crises since the earthquake that devastated the country in 2010. In December 2022, the IRC launched a response through emergency donations and longer-term support to Haitian partners working in Port-au-Prince, initially focusing on cholera prevention, running mobile health clinics for internally displaced people and support for survivors of gender-based violence. Additionally, the IRC serves Haitians on the move throughout the arc of the crisis in countries where the IRC has a programmatic response, including Mexico.