كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ الْمَوْت

| Dawn | he/it | Demispec Biro | Ambiamorous Enby | | White | Athiest | Artist | Activist | Arabic Student | | free palestine | optimistic revolutionary | ACAB |

Remember the world is better with you in it

You see, you can't be "tolerant" of the human rights of marginalized people. Their rights don't harm or bother you. You can be tolerant of things that genuinely bother you. But disabled, POC(people of color), LGBTQIA+ people and other marginalized groups can't bother you simply by existing. They're not your enemies. They're fucking suffering from discrimination, and their suffering, that caused by other people, or their fight for equal rights and to be treated like actual human beings—or even just their existence—should not bother you.

A moment of silence for the trans men who, due to their assigned gender at birth and religious backgrounds, have been taught that they are forbidden from being anything but broodmares to a man they may or may not consent to marriage or sex with.

A moment of silence for the trans men who died in childbirth from a pregnancy they may or may not have consented to.

A moment of silence for the trans men who dropped out of high school after getting pregnant.

A moment of silence for the trans men who only knew their desire for masculinity, but were beaten to death for it and told they were going to hell.

A moment of silence for the trans men who had their clitorises mutilated by female genital mutilation.

A moment of silence for the trans men who died without ever once getting to wear pants or cut their hair the way they wanted.

A moment of silence for the trans men who committed suicide rather than be seen as a woman anymore.

A moment of silence for the trans men who never were allowed to learn how to read.

A moment of silence for the trans men with perfectly treatable conditions who were allowed to die to avoid violating "modesty" rules.

A moment of silence for the trans men subjected to honor killings.

A moment of silence for the trans men who were murdered by abusive partners.

A moment of silence for the trans men who were subject to "hymen checks."

I am all for holding men accountable. I do think we should call out petty, controlling, abusive behavior, and I do think men should face consequences for these behaviors.

Because it is important that these men face consequences, it is important to teach people — men who have gotten away without so much as a slap on the wrist, women who enable these behaviors, girls who are told that it is okay to be treated this way, impressionable boys developing their sense of morals — that it is not okay to behave this way.

But the second we start insinuating that these traits are inherently masculine, innate male behaviors, we throw that progress away.

It's true that these behaviors are more common in men, but not for biological reasons. It's because these behaviors have been labeled as acceptable, these behaviors have been encouraged. Which is why it is crucial to say "no, this is not okay, this is unacceptable, and there are consequences to doing this."

When you reduce it biological explanations, you give these behaviors a pass. You're saying, whether you mean to or not, that men are behaving as men do, because they're men, and this is how they operate. Which means that these behaviors are acceptable by virtue of being uncontrollable. That's just how men are. They can't help themselves. It's up to everyone around them to protect themselves, because men are just giving in to their nature.

[PT: Sometimes amputation is the solution. /End PT.]

Sometimes amputation is the only course of action that can help a person with body integrity dysphoria (BID)/body integrity identity disorder (BIID.)

This doesn't mean amputation should be the go-to practice. Other practices (therapy, medication, arm/leg braces, etc) should be attempted first - oftentimes, other practices improve the situation already, and so amputation is not necessary.

However, if other treatment plans are not improving an individual's life, amputation should be put on the table as an option.

And I am not speaking out of my ass here. This is medically proven to be the case. See my sources:

Successful treatment of body integrity dysphoria with amputation: A case report [link]

Quote 1: "In select cases of body integrity identity disorder or body integrity dysphoria where noninvasive treatments prove ineffective and the patient's distress is substantial, elective amputation may serve as a viable and highly satisfying intervention, aligning the individual's physical self with their perceived identity." Quote 2: "This case is the first described about digits amputation and serves as a straightforward illustration of a clinical BID presentation that engaged in noninvasive treatments without success, [PT: Noninvasive treatments without success] then clearly benefited from elective surgery. He is now living a life free from distressing preoccupations about his fingers, with all his symptoms related to BID resolved." Quote 3: "At one‐year follow‐up, his dysphoria was still in remission. He exhibited full adaptation in his social and occupational life, demonstrating increased ease in hand use compared to pre‐amputation. He reported sleeping well, happiness, good health and continued acceptance by friends and family. This one‐year post‐surgery follow‐up, at 22 years old, underscores the efficacy of amputation as a curative treatment, high patient satisfaction, and the quality of life gained through the procedure." [PT: This one‐year post‐surgery follow‐up, at 22 years old, underscores the efficacy of amputation as a curative treatment, high patient satisfaction, and the quality of life gained through the procedure.]

Amputation: does it treat body integrity dysphoria? [link]

Quote 1: "After receiving cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy with Fluoxetine (up to 80 mg) and Aripiprazole (15 mg daily), which he tolerated well despite mild sedation over seven months, the patient's distress heightened during therapy sessions that included exposure, mirror exercises, and desensitization." [PT: the patient's distress heightened during therapy sessions that included exposure, mirror exercises, and desensitization.] Quote 2: "After unsuccessful attempts with noninvasive treatments, the patient clearly experienced significant benefits from elective surgery. Now, he no longer experiences distressing preoccupation regarding his fingers, as all symptoms associated with BID have been resolved. The amputation enabled him to integrate his life with his perceived identity, deepening his recognition of the magnitude of his suffering and enabling effective communication with his medical team."

In cases like these, leaving the patient unamputated often leads them to have constant obsessions over their appearance, persistent nightmares, self-harm/dangerous attempts to self-amputate, and unhealthy practices to avoid looking at their amputated limb (example: in the second case linked, the man would walk with his toes curled, as to avoid looking at them, and it led to difficulty in walking, pain, irritability, and anger.)

If you truly, genuinely believe that - when all other treatment plans fail - a patient should continue their life in severe distress, all for the sake of having a "normal" amount of limbs, then I'd question your views on amputees in general. Typical number of limbs =/= better livelihood.

Would you rather have a person who is amputated and happy, or unamputated and miserable with no other treatment options being effective?

I told her that she could still play with it! That some people were born without an arm or that they might get hurt and lose an arm, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t still play or have fun. I explained that some people might get a prosthetic or just have a stub. And she asked what a prosthetic was. I showed her a picture and she was like, “oh! A robot arm!”

When my husband came home, she thrust the toy at him and told him, “Minnie needs a robot arm.”

He was very confused, but he prints and paints miniatures from various table top games. My daughter refers to them as “daddy’s statues.” She knew he could help Minnie. So he dutifully printed her out a robot arm from a warhammer 40k model on our 3d printer, and then they painted it pink and purple together.

All of this to say, look at Minnie Mouse and her new prosthetic!!

[Image description: three photos of the abovementioned Minnie Mouse figurine. One hand is the classic giant gloved  Minnie Mouse hand: the other is a robot arm, palm upraised toward the viewer, clumsily painted the same bubblegum pink as the rest of the figurine. /end ID]

Image ID courtesy of @wanderingthunderstorm