Just A Ranger’s Apprentice Fan

I am a person who gets called tme because I "am afab". I was assigned nothing at birth, then at a few months old, my mother tricked the government into giving me a female birth certificate without the IGM (intersex genital mutilation) the hospital was trying to force her into. Later on, as a very tiny toddler, doctors thought my body was too masculine for a little girl, and so I was put through CIMI (coercive intersex medical intervention) to "fix" it. I will not go into detail about that, because it was, by literal legal definition, rape, and I am still working through that trauma. Because of my genital situation, I was harassed and assaulted for using girls bathrooms in elementary and middle school, they saw me naked (because they crawled under the stall to check), they were targeting my body with their transmisogyny (because they felt that my parts made me not a real girl). I had my shoulder dislocated by a group of older boys once because "fags don't belong in the girls locker room". I don't present fem anymore, haven't used the women's bathroom in years, but over a decade of violence every time I tried to assert my identity as a girl, because my body was "not a girl's body" isn't exemption, even if it's not my current active lived experience.

A friend, not someone any of you would know, but who consented to me sharing her story, also gets called tme, as well as being told she doesn't count as transfem. When she was born, the doctor wrote female on her birth certificate, and told her parents she would "need" one kind of IGM to make her body more "female" looking. A couple weeks later, just days before the surgery was scheduled, a new doctor said "First guy is a quack, baby is obviously male, let's do the male surgery!" and then friend was reassigned male. Growing up she insists she is a girl, then gets abused for it, parents and doctors say she must be a boy. Then puberty happens, and it is very clearly mostly estrogen based. Parents and doctors put her on testosterone, she fights and cries, begs not to. Old doctor retires, new doctor says friend's puberty is sign that the wrong surgery was done (this is first she learns of the surgery) takes her off testosterone, switches to estrogen, friend is reassigned back to female, but new doctor is not nice, berates friend for looking too "manly" after two years of unwanted testosterone, pushes her to get painful and also unwanted hair removal, tells her she is not trans, but just wrongly assigned as a baby. She starts highschool presenting and living fulltime as a girl, parents still call her a boy, she's discouraged from joining trans spaces on all sides, and then has really bad mental health and remembers very little until college when she met other trans and intersex people for the first time. No part of her story could be read as not transmisogyny, but because she spent a couple weeks of her life with it seeming like she was going to be raised as a girl, people say her experiences don't really count.

(Pt: V-Coding & prison rape: An essay on why prisoner rights are a transfeminist issue! /end Pt)

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People behave as if trans, gender diverse, and intersex (TGDI) rights are divorced from concepts like prisoner rights. This is not at all the case, as intersectionality enforces that ALL TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION interconnect!

V-coding & prison rape is just one of many ways that prisoner rights are a transfeminist issue (and I do intend to explore other types of prisoner issues in future essays!!)

V-coding (or "vulnerable" coding) is when prison guards decide to place TGDI people whom they deem "feminine" (regardless of how they actually identify) in prison cells with violent inmates.

This is done in order to act as sexual servants and keep the violence rate down (by having them be where all the violence is directed at.) It is a form of sex trafficking.

V-coding primarily targets trans women & transfeminine people, but other non-binary and intersex people are also v-coded if they are deemed "feminine enough" (regardless of how they actually identify.)

Additionally, trans men who are placed into prisons that align with their gender identity are also subjected to v-coding. (Though it is important to mention, that even trans men placed in women's prisons aren't safe - they are often assaulted by binary pericis men working as correctional officers. This isn't v-coding, but it's sexual violence nonetheless.)

How the trans person is allowed to present themself widely depends on the preferences of their prisonmate.

If the prisonmate would prefer them to be masculine, they are masculinized (meaning peritrans women, some perisex enben, & some intersex people are feminized/[de]transitioned against their will.)

If the prisonmate would prefer them to be feminine, they are feminized (meaning peritrans men, some perisex enben, & some intersex people are masculinized/[de]transitioned against their will.)

Alongside v-coding, correctional officers will often sexually assault TGDI prisoners.

If one of these TGDI people fight back against the officers or inmates abusing them, they will be wrongfully charged with assault, which will be used to increase their sentence &/or eliminate the chance of parole. They are often also punished by having their basic needs - such as toiletries and medication - withheld.

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Onto the studies/statistics!

Starting with "The centrality of relationships in context: a comparison of factors that predict the sexual and non-sexual victimization of transgender women in prisons for men." (link)

Quote 1!

A majority also reported experiencing sexual victimization, with 58.5% reporting having to do sexual things against their will while incarcerated and 23.8% reporting the same while living in their current housing unit.

Quote 2!

They are also a diverse population in California prisons insofar as the majority are women of color, primarily Black (35%) and Hispanic (28%). Important for our analysis here, 88% of transgender women report having been in a marriage-like relationship with another prisoner during their incarceration history, 61.5% report being in a marriage-like relationship in their current housing unit, and 51.3% report engaging in a sexual relationship with another prisoner in their current housing unit.

Quote 3!

Three questions generated data on three different types of victimization that constitute our dependent variables. First, interviewers asked: ‘Have you ever had to do sexual things against your will with another inmate while living in here?’ This is our most direct and explicit measure of sexual assault. Second, transgender women in this study were asked: ‘Have you ever had to do sexual things with other inmates that were perhaps not against your will, but that you would have rather not done?’ This question directs their attention to any kind of sexual victimization, regardless of whether they saw it as against their will and regardless of whether it qualifies as ‘sexual assault’ in their view. This measure recognizes a range of types of unwanted sexual activity in prison and acknowledges that consent in prison is a problematic concept. The third question, which we ask after telling the interviewee we are now focused on non-sexual incidents, is: ‘Have you ever been hit, kicked, punched, or otherwise assaulted by other inmates?’ This captures their experience(s) of non-sexual physical assault.

Quote 4!

This includes, for example, protective pairing – an institutionally derived coercive practice that involves ‘willingly’ engaging in sexual exchanges with another prisoner in an effort to avoid being harmed by other prisoners.

Up next, "Experiences of transgender prisoners and their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding sexual behaviors and HIV/STIs: A systematic review." (link)

Notes about this study!! It misuses the term "Caucasian" to mean white, so keep that in mind!! It also self-admits to not having enough trans men in the sample size, likely due to trans men not being properly categorized while incarcerated (ie; being misgendered and categorized as women.)

Quote 1!

In a 2007 study, Jenness and colleagues reported that “sexual assault is 13 times more prevalent among transgender inmates, with 59% reporting being sexually assaulted while in a Californian prison.”

Quote 2!

Other prisoners contribute to a large proportion of the violence, abuse, harassment and assault that transgender prisoners experience while in prison. However, a 2011 study of 6,454 transgender and gender non-conforming people in the USA found that among the 749 transgender women whom had been incarcerated, 38% reported they had been harassed, 9% physically assaulted, and 7% sexually assaulted by prison officers or staff. Similarly, transgender inmates from minority ethnic backgrounds experienced heightened prison officer harassment and physical or sexual assault compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Further, prison officers and health staff members often lack transgender-specific health knowledge, and regularly deny them general health care.

Quote 3!

Participants in many studies reported on complex sexual relationships whereby coercive and transactional sex were engaged in an attempt to facilitate survival, as adaptive to and to cope with vulnerabilities. Others note that sex seemed consensual at the time, and later realized they were attempting to keep themselves safer. Further related themes included: forced sex due to sexual identity, being “sold for sex” and “exchange sex” (higher among transgender women.) Overt attempts were made to avoid sexual assault (e.g., remaining in videoed surveillance areas monitored by custodial staff), and perceptions of reduced likelihood of sexual assault when housed in a segregated unit for at risk populations, namely men who have sex with men and transgender women inmates.

Quote from Wikipedia (link) about "Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex," (because unfortunately I cannot access it myself without payment.)

According to the account of Kim Love found in Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, "if you look like a female, they'll put you in a cell." Love was placed into a "shock holding cell", i.e. a high security cell; with an inmate they were told would be their "husband". This process was said to be essentially "pimping", as the prison staff would do nothing if the "wife" inmate resisted being V-coded. In addition, the prison staff would sometimes coerce the V-coded "wife" into furthering their sexual role with their "husband" by offering toiletries or medical favors—e.g. giving a "wife" gloves to be used as a condom.  According to the health care worker and artist Blake Nemec, "if they defend themselves against rape or other violence that occurs with their 'husband' or cellmate, it is common for them to be charged with assault then placed in the 'hole'. The assault charge then shreds the previous parole possibility or release date."

Special mention that I don't have any quotes for, but feel captures this issue in a simple, concise manner! The article: How V-Coding Endangers Transgender People in U.S. Prisons (link)

Moving onto "It's Still War In Here" (link). This focuses on the way that correctional officers use sexual violence against trans women.

Quote 1!

Our research shows that sexual violence perpetrated by corrections officials is extremely pervasive. Three- quarters of respondents reported at least one experience of sexual violence by a corrections official while in a New York State Prison, including more than two-thirds who were touched in an inappropriately sexual way, and more than a quarter who were forced by a CO to perform oral sex.  Survivors pursued recourse through self-advocacy: 81% reported the sexual violence they experienced. While many of those who reported sexual violence received an investigative visit, few reported positive outcomes, and two-thirds experienced retaliation for reporting sexual violence. Retaliation included physical violence, property destruction, being written up on false charges, and being denied meals or other critical services. There are many ways in which an incarcerated person is forced to give up control of their body. From mandatory head shaves and prohibition of any individual expression, to strip searches following visits, bodily autonomy is wholly denied. Even if an individual manages to avoid the most violent of actions there are still daily degradations such as pat-downs. A pat-down search is one of the most common searches. Cisgender women and transgender people of any gender identity are to have a pat-down search of their breasts or chests with palms facing outward. Transgender women routinely report that officers grab their breasts and other body parts during unnecessary pat downs. While this is unlawful, it is incredibly hard to prove as pat downs are rarely caught on film, and it becomes a matter of a COs word against the word of an incarcerated person – a battle that incarcerated people rarely win.  Some of the types of sexual violence which respondents reported are technically allowed under the law, even as the law obscures its self-perpetuating avenues for abuse. According to Directive 4910, incarcerated TGNC people, “may request that a Correction Officer of the inmate’s preferred gender conduct the pat frisk.” However, the directive also stipulates that these requests are to be honored only “whenever possible,” which provides wiggle room for DOCCS to sideline the demands of incarcerated people. Furthermore, the directive also empowers CO’s to conduct the pat-frisk, no matter their gender, given the existence of “exigent circumstances.” Given the lack of clarity in the directive’s language, this means that every transgender woman who responded to our survey is, under current law, allowed to be searched by male COs. Many transgender women responded to the survey stating that searches—whether clothed or naked—by male COs were acts of sexual violence. This is a lawful act of sexual violence in New York State. This, in part, is why SRLP takes every opportunity to say that the way to end rape culture in prisons is to dismantle prisons.  75% of respondents reported at least one instance of sexual violence by Corrections Officers (COs). This includes:  -48% of respondents who reported violence from a single male CO.  -32% of respondents who reported sexual violence from multiple male COs.  Respondents reported numerous types of sexual assaults by COs:  -68% were touched in a way that felt inappropriately sexual while they were clothed, including 57% who had their chest/breasts touched, 43% who had their genitals grabbed, and 55% who had their bottom grabbed.  -36% were asked to strip search in front of other incarcerated people.  -36% were asked to remove their bra in front of male COs during a strip search.  -27% were forced by a CO to perform oral sex.  -18% had their naked genitalia touched by a CO.  -16% were forced to perform anal sex by a CO.  -20% were forced to perform another sexual act by a CO.

Quote 2!

Under Directive 4040, any communication to a person holding a position within DOCCS, including subcontractors such as mental health specialists, counts as reporting an instance of sexual violence. This means that survivors can forego the formal grievance process. Survivors also have a longer period to report sexual violence than any other concern. Other concerns— from the denial of an extra blanket in the winter, to a DOCCS employee physically assaulting someone—must be reported within 45 days of the incident. For instances of sexual violence this is extended to “any time.” However reports, must be “timely” for proper investigation and services Of those who indicated they experienced at least one form of sexual violence by a CO, 81% said they had reported sexual violence to a DOCCS employee, OMH employee, or volunteer.  When asked what happened after they reported an assault, a number of respondents reported inaction or being told there was insufficient evidence. Several respondents said the dismissal of their complaints hinged on the lack of DNA evidence. This is notable issue as not all sexual violence results in DNA evidence, not to mention with the enormous difficulty of getting DNA evidence from a prison setting to an investigating agency.

Quote 3!

Of those who said they had reported sexual violence, 73% received an investigative visit. Though a few respondents described positive or partially positive outcomes of an investigation, many respondents who wrote about what happened after an investigative visit reported negative outcomes or impacts like retaliation, being accused of lying, being put in isolated confinement, or lack of follow up.

Quote 4!

Of those who said they had reported sexual violence, 67% said they had experienced retaliation for reporting sexual violence. Respondents described the retaliation they faced for reporting: “Ultimately, the administration or prison officials informed facility staff, CO’s which in turn make a hostile environment for me!” –Respondent HE  “Constant cell search, pat frisk and verbal harassment in front of inmates.” –Respondent K “I’ve lost a lot of property, [and been] discriminated against when good positions came available in the mess hall.” –Respondent OC  “I reported a friend that was getting raped and was told if I did it again I would have a problem.” –Respondent SN “Sent to the box, had mail thrown away, had personal property destroyed, received multiple retaliation misbehavior reports.” –Respondent TDC “Lock me up, sent to the box, giving all my property away, not letting me shower [or] playing with my food.” –Respondent PD  “I’ve been threatened, assaulted, denied meals/Rec/toilet paper and supplies/shower/razor, targeted for unnecessary and destructive cell searches, personal property taken/broken, packages/mail lost or destroyed, denied commissary, commissary taken, set up for false disciplinary tickets/ keep lock.” –Respondent THL 

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These studies may only have been done in the USA, but that doesn't mean the issue exists only there.

TGDI (trans, gender diverse, intersex) people get victimized in prisons worldwide; it is simply a neglected issue.

(PT: These studies may only have been done in the USA, but that doesn't mean the issue exists only there.

TGDI (trans, gender diverse, intersex) people get victimized in prisons worldwide; it is simply a neglected issue. /end PT)

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Donations:

(PT: Donations: /end PT)

Here are some places to donate if you are willing/capable!!!

Transgender Law Center [link]. It focuses on helping trans & gender diverse people in USA prisons. SLRP's Prisoner Justice Project (link.) It focuses on helping trans, gender diverse, and intersex people held in New York prisons. Even if your money doesn't go to that specific branch, it will be used to help low income TGDI people! SLRP is the program that wrote the "It's Still War In Here" article!

These aren't necessarily trans-centric, but they exist to advocate for prisoners!

Penal Reform International (link.) It is a global program meant to deconstruct the harmful ways that prisons are run, and promote justice and rights for all prisoners! It speaks out against the horrific way LGBTQIA+ people are treated! Just Detention (link.) It focused on ending prison rape, primarily focused in the USA and South Africa, and has also spoken out against the disgusting ways that LGBTQIA+ prisoners are treated! Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide (link.) It helps prisoners globally to not be executed, and calls out the way that LGBTQIA+ people and women are executed for standing up for their rights!!

Special shoutout: The Inmate Advocacy Program (link) provides trans care packages and gender affirming undergarments to trans prisoners, and also has a pen pal project! You can sign up to be a pen pal for a trans prisoner, if you'd like!! Which I think is so sweet!!

Hi, hi! So this is a very broad question that I can't easily answer because transfeminity and transwomanhood is a vast amount of experiences! However, I will do my best!!

(One note, for all those unaware - the term "transwomen" and "ciswomen" with no space in-between is a TERF dogwhistle, so it should avoid being used. I'm not saying that you are a TERF if you've done it before, but just warning you all for future reference! It would be like saying disabledwomen and abledwomen as a single word, or fatwomen and skinnywomen as a single word.)

To start with the question "what are common things transfems and trans women face?", let's breakdown a variety of factors!!

NOTE!! These experiences are non-exclusive, and may overlap. For example, things that I put in one segment may also be experienced by folks in a different segment. "Common experience" =/= exclusive experience!

Also, everything listed drastically increases in likeliness for trans women of color & transfems of color, disabled trans women & disabled transfems, and similar such intersectionalities!

For trans women socially imposed as male &/or trans women with traits deemed "masculine", common experiences are:

-Exemplified toxic masculinity from authority &/or peers, in an attempt to snuff out femininity. -Accusations of being a sexual predator/"forcing their fetish" onto other people whenever they present femininely (example: wearing a dress and being accused of exhibitionism for it.) -Having their testosterone levels questioned as evidence of being "unsafe." (Testosterone levels do not make you unsafe, thats a load of bullshit, you can see a thorough breakdown here (link)!!) -Being pressured to present hyperfemininely, and ostracized if they fail to do so. People may also hold their right to be correctly gendered over their head based on this (ie; not being allowed into a women's bathroom unless they are wearing makeup.)

For trans women socially imposed as female &/or trans women with traits deemed "feminine", common experiences are:

-Being accused of "appropriating" transfemininity, or just being a "cis woman pretending to be trans." -Being told their transition is "easier" than trans women socially imposed as male, regardless of their lived reality. -If they are socially imposed as female and intersex, there is a whole load of issues with intertransmisogyny that comes from that, which is honestly so varying depending on the intersex traits they have, so I can't possibly list it all. I will give 3 main points, though: 1- Their natal (or surgically/hormonally forced/coerced from CIMI) sex traits being held above their head as evidence of "not being transfem." 2- Being told they were "lucky" for CIMI (usually in regards to being given a non-consensual vulvoplasty/vaginoplasty &/or estrogenizing HRT.) 3- Being told intersex people cannot be trans women or transfem, and that they must be strictly genderless or androgyne. -If they are socially imposed as female and a transfem or trans woman due to being culturally gendered, there is inherent racism and culturalism that occurs, in which the complexity of their transfemininity gets shaved down through a eurocentric lens, or their cultural gender (and thus, culture as a whole) is deemed "not trans enough." -If they are socially imposed as female and a transfem or trans woman due to being plural, there is inherent pluralphobia that occurs, in which they are correctly gendered but only due to being treated as a singlet (ie; "I guess you're a woman, since you're in a woman's body..." being said by someone who would otherwise misgender a trans woman socially imposed as male; maliciously erasing a person's plurality in order to "respect" their gender), and innerworld experiences are treated as completely fake, meaningless, and irrelevant to the discussion.

For trans women with penises or prominent phalluses, common experiences are:

-Having the natural responses of their genitals demonized (ie; being called a sexual predator for experiencing a spontaneous erection.) This is extra common in skirts, dresses, bathing suits, and tight clothing. -Being kicked or hit in the genitals as a form of violence, or receiving threats of such. -Being stereotyped as dominate, tops, or aggressive in bed.

For trans women without uteruses &/or incapable of menstruation, common experiences are:

-Being told they aren't "real women", because women have to menstruate. -Having menstrual cycles held above their heads. -Being told that periods they have from estrogenizing HRT (or from being intersex with hyperestrogenism) are "not real" or "less difficult" because they aren't menstruating (shedding blood.)

For non-binary transfems and transfem men, common experiences are:

-Being pressured to transition into a binary trans woman, or being misgendered as a binary trans woman. -Multigender trans women & multigender transfems having their womanhood or femininity denied due to being multigender (especially if one of their genders is masculine.) -Having their transition goals taken less seriously than binary trans women (ie; a transfem man having HRT denied to them from doctors, unless they pretend to be a binary trans woman.)

For trans women & transfems of any kind, common experiences are:

-Having their bodies and presentations policed and being accused of not being "feminine enough." -Being misgendered or misreferred to (incorrect name, incorrect pronouns, incorrect titles, etc.) -Being malgendered (gendered correctly as an insult - for example, "you're so hysterical, you really are a woman.") -Being degendered (having aspects of one's gender neglected or erased - for example, telling a trans woman socially imposed as female that they're "a woman, but not trans.") -Being accused of being inherently bigoted or being a sockpuppet online. -Being banned or silenced in online spaces. -Having their sexual lives &/or paraphilias weaponized against them (example: a trans woman into sadism being told they are "unsafe to be around/no better than a predatory man" on basis of their kink.) -Experiences with sexual violence (specifically enacted as a punishment for being trans.) This could be sexual assault or sexual harassment. Oftentimes this is "justified" through means of "checking their gender" (ie; a teacher forcing a trans girl to show their genitals to be allowed in the girl's restroom.) -Being subjected to physical violence and verbal harassment/threats. -A higher risk of abuse from caregivers and authority. -A higher risk of medical neglect/abuse. -A higher risk of being kicked out of their home/wrongful evictions. -A higher rate of homelessness and a significant wage gap (being paid less) compared to binary pericis women.

Transmisogyny impacts cis women in a variety of ways, depending on many factors.

Is this cis woman intersex?

(Note: Intersex describes someone who was born with or developed in puberty sex traits that fall outside the perisex "standard."

For example, sex chromosomes other than XX or XY, the "opposite" sex chromosomes than expected, SRY-negative XY chromosomes, SRY-positive XX chromosomes, high or low sex hormones, high or low sensitivity to sex hormones, ambiguous genitals or reproductive organs, small/absent/blocked/partial genitals or reproductive organs, duplicated/split genitals or reproductive organs, a penis or vulva with different urethral placement, &/or a penis or vulva shaped in an atypical way!)

Is this cis woman gender non-conforming (ie; a tomboy, a butch, androgynous presenting, etc?)

Is this cis woman defeminized for their race? (ie; how Black and Brown women are often perceived as masculine, regardless of how they identify?)

Is this cis woman defeminized for being fat or disabled?

The FDA has upgraded an egg recall issued last month to “Class I,” its highest risk level, as it warns the public that consuming the products could cause “serious adverse health consequences or death.”

The recall of 1,589,577 dozen white-shell eggs and brown cage-free shell eggs was initially issued by Midwest Poultry Services in late July, which warned they might be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis.

According to the company, the eggs were produced and distributed from farms in Texas between June 6 and July 3 and have sell-by or best-by dates between July 20 and August 17. The recalled egg cartons have either the code P-1950 or 0840962 and Julian Dates between 157-184.

We had free healthcare including dental, mind you, my parents just couldn't be bothered. When my brother, as a teenager, asked our mother if she could take him to his orthodontist appointments (which he'd already arranged for on his own) she basically told him she didn't feel like it and he had to take the bus.

Did that, plus the free healthcare, translate into them actually parenting and caring for us properly? It did not. They only ever did any of that reluctantly when not doing it would make them look bad, and most of the time they did a shitty job because they could never resist the urge to boost their egos by means of bullying literal children.

We are at a point in humanity where there is no meaningful reason why we shouldn’t be structuring our societies around wellbeing for all instead of wellbeing for the “deserving”.

They can be busy, tired, stressed about finances, ignorant, etc. They can want to do the best for their kid and Fail Anyways.

alt text is an accessibility tool. use it like one.

The doctor scraped out a bit of earwax to have a better look inside.

I was sent a bill for $200 PER EAR for this 5 second procedure which I did not give permission for them to do.

That was key- they did not ASK me if they could do this "procedure". And, as I OWN a medical practice (it's me. The medical practice is me, sitting in my house on video calls) I knew to call them when this bill came in to be like "You did not obtain informed consent for this procedure, and it was not en emergency procedure. You had full ability to gain my consent and didn't. I'm not paying."

And the massive hospital who owned the bill said "yuh-huh you do have to pay."

And I said "I own a practice. I know these laws. I do not owe you money for this."

And they conducted an "internal review" and SURPRISE! Decided I totally owed them money and they had never done anything wrong ever.

And so I called my state's Attorney General office, and explained the situation because, as I mentioned, I know the law. The AG got in touch within a couple days to say they were taking the case and would send the massive hospital conglomerate a knock it off, guys letter.

Lo and Behold, today I have a letter where said hospital graciously has agreed to forfeit the payment.

"How not to get screwed over by companies" should be part of civics class.

Know your rights and know who to call when they're infringed on. This whole process cost me $0 and honestly less effort than I would have expected.

Civics class wouldn't help most people in this case because the AG will not take on all these cases and most people cannot afford an attorney in this instance or more importantly, the hit to their credit.

Were they going to get into a lawsuit over my $400 bill? No obviously not. But they printed up a letter on fancy letterhead to say to stop and it worked. They followed up with me the next day to be sure, and so ask how much money they had saved me.

They use dinky cases like mine to track habitual misbehavior of large scale companies to build cases they could actually go to court over.

And because people are shocked- I never spoke to the AG of my state directly. He operates mainly by overseeing a whole crew of people. And this is what those people do.

This didn’t happen because I’m special because of my tiny therapy practice.

This happened because this is what the AG office is for.

“The problem is systemic” doesn’t mean “and there’s nothing you can do”.

Then you've been trained well by "The System".

Yes, that System you say can't be fought? Where did you get that idea, huh? Who taught you that "small" acts of illegality don't matter? Who made you think that there's no point in fighting back because it will all come to nothing?

Might it be the same entities that benefit if you believe all that?

Gonna pause and let you ponder.

Never. Ever. EVER.

EVER.

Let companies or corporations or hospitals or organizations or any business big or small get away with screwing you over without a fight. Maybe you personally don't win every fight, but you lose 100% of the time you don't try. You'll win more often than you think you will. I know cuz I've done it.

So have others. Attorneys General offices bring lawsuits against businesses all the time. They do so because citizens contacted them to say "someone is doing a crime" and the crime doers did not stop when told and got into way more trouble than if they'd just stopped. FAFO. The Find Out can't happen if you don't even bother to report the Fucking Around.

On that note, as OP said, please know your rights! And, in a situation where you don't but suspect something is hinky, ask! The people of the internet can help! So can librarians! So can many others. Find out what is and is not okay for them to do. If it's not okay, report them! See something, say something.

Don't let the System win by default.

If you believe The System™️ is only for Them™️ and not you, it will only ever be so.