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But seen as how you emailed me from a dud email that appears to be bouncing back replies and I really wanted to address something you said to me about violence begetting violence:

My migraine medication, the medication I was given for my debilitating neurological disease that has gotten so bad I spent most of this year actively suicidal, costs $1300 a month.

My insurance covered it. But only because my doctors office went to fucking war for me because I’m a high anaphylaxis risk for the drugs the insurance wanted me to try.

Because that’s the thing.

My doctors knew, based on my documented medical history, I likely wouldn’t be a good fit for the “first line” of preventative migraine drugs, but because of insurance, I had to be given drugs that were contradictory to my other life threatening conditions, because otherwise insurance wouldn’t cover anything else.

I failed them. Spectacularly and with an anaphylactic reaction to one of them. And I was still warned insurance would fight me because I hadn’t tried the remaining drug they wanted me to try.

A drug which I would have to take in an ER waiting room because my mast cell disease is unpredictable but insurance wouldn’t cover in-patient treatment to let me try it safely under medical supervision.

Is that not violence?

Were all the times I was denied coverage for vital and necessary procedures that could have prevented my disabilities from worsening not violence?

Maybe not in the sense you mean. But I assure you it felt very much like violence to me.

Do I condone murder? No, obviously. But I’m also sick and tired of people pretending that what is happening to the American people every day isn’t eugenics through class warfare.

Violence begets violence.

It sure fucking does.

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My head hurts.

Fanfiction cannot “degrade” the original artist’s work. That’s not how fanfic works. That’s not how art works.

Y’know what might degrade an original artist’s work? Literally destroying it. Trying to restore it when you don’t know wtf you’re doing. Occasionally banning it, tho usually that just makes a work more popular.

Y’know what doesn’t degrade an artist’s work? Transformational engagement with it. Art thrives when people engage with it -- even to make fun of it. Even to change it. Then the art becomes part of a whole conversation, and everyone who participates in that conversation gains something from it. As a society, we get this, which is fair use doctrine is part of copyright law. And we usually love transformational art in other parts of our society! Weird Al Yankovic! Literary pastiche! Sampling in hip hop (when properly credited)! The Simpsons! Every other Disney movie! So what makes fanfiction so uniquely damaging, when we already understand that all this other stuff is just another way to show love to the original and/or its audience? What is it about an art form that’s dominated by genders which aren’t cis men; that tends to center marginalized people and non-traditional relationships and plot structures/story beats rarely seen in commercial media; that accords power to the audience, rather than the artist? What is it about this makes people go so uniquely batshit, in response?

What the Final Stage of Reaganism Looks Like

I hate Reagan so much. I wish hell existed, so he could spend eternity there.

When she asked “if we were ok with elementary schools inviting drag queens to teach kids about gender ideology”, it became apparent that her intentions weren’t peaceful, and was kindly shown the door (good thing she didn’t know that I gave talks in 6 different elementary schools since last week). She was kicking and yelling that my work was “brainwashing kids into mutilating their genitalia”. She tried to get back inside, but thankfully, the community managed to keep her out. 

Of course, it’s nothing that I haven’t heard before on the internet. But that these people are now willing to crash my author talks and cause this kind of scuffles is a new low. The participants were shaken. Tears were shed. The owners of the small bookstore where this happened now fear retaliation. It’s a brutal reminder of the current state of trans people’s situation in our society.

I wish to channel the emotions that I’ve been feeling since yesterday as a motivator to keep doing the work that I do. The past few months spent on tour have been exhausting, but so necessary. The violence of the people who want to eradicate us from society cannot be taken lightly. 

I still have a few days left on my Canadian tour - tonight in Ottawa, tomorrow in Halifax, then Fredericton, Edmundston and Montreal - before embarking on my Eastern/Midwest American tour in January. I am looking forward to meet you all and change the world one silly comic at the time. 

Stay awesome,

Sophie

Get this girl a coffee : www.ko-fi.com/sophielabelle