Counting Nothings

Experiences of discrimination, exclusion and financial precarity are not isolated phenomena but interconnected, reinforcing one another across different areas of life. Workplace hostility, limited openness, barriers in education and exposure to housing insecurity all contribute to cumulative disadvantage, particularly for those who also belong to other marginalised groups.

A key insight emerging from the data is that avoiding openness about one's LGBTIQ identity is not a protective strategy, but rather an indicator of unsafe or exclusionary environments. Individuals who conceal their identity are not less exposed to harm; on the contrary, they often face higher risks of negative experiences, including discrimination and social isolation. This highlights how stigma operates structurally, shaping behaviour while simultaneously reproducing vulnerability. Environments perceived as hostile (whether schools or workplaces) drive concealment, which in turn is associated with poorer socio-economic and well-being outcomes.

When it comes to employment status, gay men (59%) were the most likely to be in full-time paid work, and trans men the least likely (30%). Trans, non-binary and intersex respondents face a number of structural barriers, such as hiring discrimination, workplace stigma, and interruptions in their career paths (e.g. due to transition-related processes, or healthcare). Cis men are also less exposed to gender-based discrimination. All EU countries consider sexual orientation as protected grounds in employment, but only 15 include gender identity, and only nine include sex characteristics

Love, grief, and magic in the mundane

Just wanted to bring to your attention that the term whump was actually coined by the Stargate fandom specifically to describe making this guy suffer. He is the original Mr. Whump (no that's not his actual name). That's how torturable this guy is.

Everyone say mean things about him.

Here is a non exhaustive list of what he goes through in canon btw:

His parents get crushed to death right in front of him when he is a kid

He is forced to relive the memory of his parents death countless times

He dies and gets resurrected

His wife gets possessed

He fails to save her and she dies in his arms

He dies and gets resurrected again

He gets infected by a virus that makes him act crazy and gets put in an insane asylum

He dies and gets resurrected again

His ex gets possessed

He is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation

He dies and ascends to a higher plane, then gets kicked out of the higher plane and his memory is wiped

He gets kidnapped by a princess

He gets kidnapped by a fish alien

He gets kidnapped and tortured by some terrorists

He gets kidnapped and tortured by another alien

He is driven to insanity by an alien device

He dies and gets resurrected again

unauthorized fucking thing!!!!!!

(warning: loud chirping throughout)

Breaking the chains of new forms of slavery 173. This distorted view of the human person is reflected today in various forms of servitude directly linked to the digital economy. Nothing in the world of AI is immaterial or magical. Every seemingly immediate and flawless response is the result of a long chain of mediation, involving vast networks of natural resources, energy infrastructure and, above all, people. A significant part of the digital economy’s functioning relies on the silent work of millions of people engaged in essential yet largely unseen activities, such as data labeling, model training and content moderation, often involving disturbing material. In many cases, these workers are young people, predominantly women, working under demanding conditions for minimal wages. Added to this invisible labor is the even harsher work of extracting the resources required for the production of the devices and microprocessors on which AI depends. In some regions of the world, children and adolescents work in dangerous conditions, crushing the materials from which rare earth elements are extracted. The bodies of these people are scarred, injured and worn down so that computational flow may continue uninterruptedly. Furthermore, criminal networks use online platforms, messaging systems, anonymous payment methods and profiling techniques in order to recruit, control and transport victims of trafficking — very often minors — reducing men and women to “data” to be tracked and “packages” to be moved around within the same digital circuits that support much of the global economy. This reality deeply challenges the moral conscience of our time. It is not enough to invoke efficiency, nor to celebrate the benefits of innovation, if they are built on a chain of exploitation that remains deliberately hidden. If technology promises emancipation, yet produces new forms of global subordination, it stands in contradiction to the fundamental principle of human dignity.

   I know everybody’s experiences are different, but as a farmer, getting undressed is like:

Why are there beans in my pocket?

Oh THAT’S where my wire cutters are

AUGH! TICK!

But where did I put the packet of beans, I need to put these extra beans away

yuk, mud; EW that’s not mud!

How did I cut myself? WHEN did I cut myself?

[bends over to pull socks off, gets stuck and can’t straighten up]

OW

Smelling slightly like horse is ok. Slightly like goat is - not ok.

SUDDENLY NOTICE I’M ITCHYYYYYYY

piece of unidentifiable plastic trash I pulled out of the pasture

straw

blob of wool

grass seed heads

piece of sun-decayed tarp I pulled out of the pasture

pliers

straw

one glove