Soup/Raine/Chaotic - They/them/ask

I see people talking about men vs. women, ‘when men/women do [x]’, ‘men don’t understand [x]’, it’s just a whole bunch of sweeping generalizations and binary crap and i’m just like an outsider looking in. I don’t feel included in any of these discussions at all. And also it obviously doesn’t account for trans and gender diverse people and their interactions with the patriarchy and all that

Like, for example, when people say something like if men had some trait that women often experience then they’d get all the accomodation they need (e.g., ‘if men had periods, period products would be cheaper and more normalised’, that’s obviously ignoring the fact that there are indeed men who can have periods or get pregnant and they’re struggling with the same lack of accomodation a woman would have, which is probably compounded more by their not being a woman becuase of transphobic and intersexist discrimination because supposedly only women would need those things. On the other hand there are women who can’t experience certain ‘female’ biological things so if you keep using those things as part of the inherent definition of woman then that’s leaving quite a few women out. You see how it falls apart when you start thinking about trans and intersex people? Imagine how gender-diverse people must feel about it all. There are people who aren’t male or female, there are people who are both, there are people who are men sometimes and women every other time, etcetera. So as you can see, it’s all just flimsy, outdated ways of talking about things and it’s about time for a new framework

Over 90% of parents of visibly intersex children opt for cosmetic surgery on their infants.

The ones that don't experience medical violence then, likely experience it as a teenager.

I didn't.

I am very rare in that I did not experience medical violence.

Why? Because I learned what intersexuality was as a young age, and I actively fought against what doctors wanted to do to me. All the way down to legal research on what medical care minors can be forced into. I remember walking into that doctor's appointment with the state law written down that proved that if I did not consent they could not do surgery.

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

sorry for the radio silence! ive been hard at work on an eddsworld animation! if u would like to follow the process and get early access to wips and progress shots consider becoming a member of my kofi!

i made this instagram post !!! there isn't as big of a community of AAC users on instagram so I thought I would share this on my instagram (@cytochromesea).

EDIT: i got an ask that states that not everyone knows what AAC is which is an oversight on my part, it stands for alternative and augmentative communication!

Image ID:

A light blue background with a rainbow and a cloud and some stars. There is a blue border collie with wings holding an aac tablet that says I love you! Text reads: AAC etiquette. Do’s, Don’ts, and other stuff. By cytochrome sea.

The same background appears in every following slide. Text reads:

AAC is my voice! It is not a toy or accessory

Don’t touch my AAC without my permission

Don’t take my AAC away from me, for any reason (joke, punishment, etc)

Don’t press buttons randomly or flip through my communication cards without permission

How would you like it if I randomly poked you on the mouth and throat (or on your hands if you sign)? It would be unpleasant, so don’t do that to me

Some AAC users can speak sometimes. It is not your business why someone can or cannot talk

Don’t ask questions about why an AAC user cannot speak. 

Do let us communicate however is best for us in that moment

Don’t ask us if or when we will be able to speak verbally. It’s not your business 

Do not value verbal speech more highly than AAC. Any communication is good communication

Some of us never talk, either, and that’s ok! Those of us who can talk sometimes are not better than those of us who can’t. None of us owe you an explanation for our use of AAC.

Don’t look at my screen until I show you. It feels really invasive!

It feels like when someone is looking at your phone screen over your shoulder, so please don’t do this

This applies to low tech AAC as well, don’t look at someone’s cards or letter board until they show you

You have the dignity of forming your thoughts in your head before you say them, whereas my thoughts are all on display. Please afford me the same dignity that you get automatically.

Don’t shame someone for not being able to speak verbally. It makes us feel horrible

We are real people with thoughts and feelings. Please treat us with kindness. 

We are trying our best

Don’t shame someone if their device mispronounces a word. It’s quite literally out of our control.

Other Don’ts. Don’t

Don't Treat an AAC user as childish or stupid for not being able to speak. Our ability to speak does not define our worth

Don't Show frustration at the way someone communicates

Don't Make comments about how fast or slow we communicate

Also don’t…

don't Act surprised when we swear or talk about adult topics like sex, drugs, or violence. We are not pure uwu precious smol beans, we are normal fucking people

don't Assume what is “wrong” with us. There are about a hundred reasons for someone to use AAC and you probably aren’t the expert in any of them.

“OK, so what CAN i do?” im glad you asked! When interacting with an AAC user, DO…

Ask us how we prefer to communicate and support us as you are able

Assume that we are competent

Talk to us with the same respect, tone and vocabulary that you would for any one else

Give us money (this one is a joke)

Understand that AAC grammar isn’t perfect and we are doing our best

Is it rude if…

I can’t understand your device? Not rude! Misunderstandings happen all the time in any conversation, just be patient as you would normally. 

I want to complement your AAC? Not rude!

I ask to see your AAC and understand how it works? This isn’t rude if you are already talking about AAC, but don’t ask random strangers this. They don’t owe you an AAC tour. 

this map is a piece of propaganda from 1921. honestly what shocked me about it was how little of Australia is marked out as “uninhabited”. I have seen maps shared around on this website that basically mark out the entirety of non-coastal Australia as “empty”. fucking colonialists from 1921 were more generous than some of you

the history of colonial Australia is a history of “taming the untameable land”. this has been reinforced through narratives that this country is:

inherently dangerous

uninhabitable

empty

Stop making posts about Men, about Women, and then Theys. We deserve to be called what our gender is, even if some do go by they/them.

❌ "narcissism only refers to NPD, so any use of 'narcissistic' outside of a clinical context is wrong!"

symbolism: - crown to represent desire for superiority and praise - mask to represent false ego and, well, masking - mask is cracked to represent the false ego breaking, aka crashing, also represents that masking is very tiring - primarily green color palette to represent envy - large heart on the center to represent large ego and big emotions - gem motif to represent brilliance, uniqueness, and beauty - frills to spice things up, appear fancier, and make it more unique - green arrows pointing up towards the face to represent drawing attention to self

i wanted to represent npd in a more beautiful and less stigmatizing way. i hope you like it!