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It literally could be a lifesaver some day. One time I watched a security camera video of a dad playing in a pool with his kids and his toddler, who had been sitting on the slide, fell in and the dad didn’t notice for at least 30 seconds… But this little toddler automatically knew what to do and started floating on his back. When the dad noticed, he immediately grabbed him, but the reason this toddler didn’t sink or drown was because of the infant swim lessons his parents had presumably put him in.

if you want a good RECENT (as of the end of February 2022) overview of what is going on behind the scenes at tumblr, it is basically what i’ve been saying for years: the core staff is tiny, constantly not being listened to when they advocate for us, the community, and working there is a nightmare:

All the right wing arguments about how lifesaving transition is “mutilation” and “sterilizing kids?” In the United States, the people that are actually getting targeted with genital mutilation and nonconsensual hormones are intersex kids, not trans kids. And right wing governments promote and encourage this when it comes to intersex kids. 

As someone who has actually, legitmately dealt with being forced onto HRT (I’m a trans intersex guy who was forced onto estrogen,) it makes me fucking sick to see conservatives using my actual trauma, my pain, to deny trans youth the lifesaving healthcare that they need. They have no right to talk about genital mutilation and nonconsensual HRT while they’re pushing policies that work to eradicate both trans and intersex youth. 

And on a smaller scale, I have to admit it does pain me a bit when I see my trans siblings arguing against these bills by saying stuff like “No one has ever gotten forced onto HRT” or “no one is performing surgery on kids.” It’s true that this is not what’s happening for trans kids, considering how hard it is for trans youth to access any care, but I promise you that this is routinely happening to intersex kids. And it is vital that more people are aware about it because the text of these bills affect us both–both trans and intersex youth are under attack and have been for a long fucking time. Erasing the trauma that intersex youth are going through does not help either of us win liberation. 

FAKE TRANS DOCUMENTARY/ORGANIZATION: Here’s the ridiculous story about how extreme the far-right is willing to go to dehumanize trans people. I was nearly tricked into doing an elaborate anti-trans documentary by Matt Walsh’s film crew this month. It started with an email from the “Gender Unity Project” a couple weeks ago. They claimed they were doing a film on the trans community and gave me names of well-known trans individuals and surgeons they had interviewed. It all seemed normal at first. I even talked to the producer (Makenna Lynn Waters) on the phone beforehand. She sounded like a well-meaning cis film graduate who was just curious about the trans community.

When we chatted, she claimed the documentary was self-funded. I was suspicious because she had finished college recently, but figured she was just rich (who has that kind of money?). Later, she told me the individual they were interviewing in Chicago had suddenly canceled (this happens, but is still sus). Then she offered to fly me to Nashville: where Matt Walsh lives. They finally sent me a release form this morning, which strangely didn’t have the name of the company on it. So, I looked up the Gender Unity Project. It used a registered agent to shield the company owners. It’s dubious but sometimes registered agents simply make it easier to incorporate. Then I looked Makenna Lynn up. Her name didn’t show up anywhere.

After some heavy Google searching, I realized she used her middle name as her last in our emails. I found the IMDB page of her real name (Makenna Waters). It turns out she’s a producer for the Matt Walsh show! That’s not a red flag: that’s a gun to your face. If you’re not familiar, Matt Walsh is a white supremacist who makes a living denying the basic humanity of trans people. She wasn’t just a producer for his show: she worked on over 200 episodes of it! I finally found her Twitter, which features videos of Walsh berating protesters and Ben Shapiro doing his usual BS.

I decided to look closer into the “Gender Unity Project.” After searching its state registration number, I learned it was registered to Justin Folk, a white supremacist documentarian who works for Matt Walsh and Prager U. His initials (jrkfolk) were also listed in the release I thankfully refused to sign. So, if you’re contacted by these slimy assholes, don’t respond. The last thing we need right now is another “gotcha” anti-trans documentary! Stay alert and take any media personalities with a grain of salt.

“I’m a little OCD” vs “I’m a bit of a perfectionist” obsessive compulsive disorder doesn’t mean “need to keep things organized” it’s a complex disorder that needs more recognition and respect. Saying things like “everyone is a little OCD” when you mean “everyone likes to keep things organized” is hurtful.

“He’s such a narcissist” vs “He’s so self centered” narcissistic personality disorder is a VERY REAL disorder that people DO have. Watering it down as “bad person disorder” is ableist and harmful and you need to stop.

“She’s such a psycho” vs “She’s so cruel and violent” I shouldn’t have to explain why this is ableist, but I’m going to anyway. Psychosis is another disorder that’s very real and effects more people than you think. Main symptoms of psychosis are delusions and/or hallucinations, and people with psychosis are more likely to be on the RECEIVING end of violence than to be violent themselves.

“He’s acting schizophrenic” vs “He’s acting erratically” once again this shouldn’t need an explanation, but it gets one anyway. Schizophrenia does NOT mean “crazy”. It’s a disorder that results most frequently in audio/visual hallucinations and delusions. Stop equating an already stigmatized disorder to “crazy person disease”.

“I get so bipolar sometimes” vs “I get so moody sometimes” bipolar disorder does NOT mean “mood swings”. While symptoms of bipolar disorder include manic/depressive episodes, it’s much more than “I felt hyper but now I’m sad”. Watering down the definition like this does nothing but prevent people with bipolar disorders from getting help.

“It’s like he’s got a split personality” vs “He’s acting completely different” not only is this using an outdated and ableist term (“split personality”) it’s incorrect. DID, OSDD, and DDNOS are typically much more subtle than media portrays it, and it’s not a “personality change”.

I hear so often people being reminded of the time they ate something gross, or the time their friend did something really embarrasing, or the time they had a bad haircut or something. PTSD /CPTSD and flashbacks are so much more then just remembering an event. Using it in such kinda diminishes the experiences of people who actually suffer from it. Feels like if we spoke up and told you about it it wouldn’t be taken as seriously and then people get so suprised when they see what its really like, we get called dramatic and overreacting because people are kinda real desensitised thanks to this idea of flashbacks/PTSD being another word for negative ‘remembering’ in every day vocabulary. It also kinda romantasises this idea of it being unable to stop thinking about something, when theirs so much more to it. It’s just, very invalidating.

“Sorry im so adhd sometimes.” Vs “I’m feeling very restless/fidgety/energetic.”

It’s okay to fall apart even after you thought you had it under control.