Front : Arlo

gnc isn’t a gender

GNC ISNT A GENDER

Gender non-conforming is not a gender.

GNC IS NOT A GENDER

GNC is not a gender.

hey, did you know gnc isn’t a fucking gender?

clearly you didn’t because this entire damn site seems to think it is.

gnc is not trans.

No dysphoria? Damn, you’re cis.

DO NOT GO ON HRT IF YOU DON'T ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND IT.

Some important things to know:

1. The changes on HRT come at a slightly different pace for everyone depending on how your body metabolises it. Your dose may be higher or lower than what you think is considered "typical" but that's just because the amount is based on what your body needs to be in a healthy range. Don't dose higher or lower than what your doctor tells you to, and please try to be patient with your body's changes.

2. Some changes on HRT are permanent, some are not. Do your research on this and think through whether you'd actually be comfortable with the permanent changes. Think long term.

3. "Microdosing" is an absolute load of bullshit. If the dose is so so low, you won't experience any changes (maybe in mood and acne). If the dose is high enough for changes to happen, it'll be all the same changes as if you were on a higher dose, they'll just happen at a slower rate. "Microdosing" will NOT make you appear androgynous, and it will NOT allow you to pick and choose which changes you get. Having your hormones be at odd levels long term is also not great for your health in general, so just don't.

4. Yo-yoing on and off hormones is also bad for your body. There's a good reason why we have to go to endos to get our levels checked regularly to keep them steady in the average range.

5. Don't lie about your medical history. I don't even understand why people ever do that...like the only person losing in that scenario is the one lying. Honesty is always the best policy when dealing with doctors.

6. Don't skip out on regular checkups. Again, keeping your hormones in the average range is important to avoid health issues. You may feel fine, but being safe never hurts anyway!

7. Don't brush off health risks as if you think you're immune to them. If you're going on testosterone, your chance for heart and liver disease will increase. If you're going on estrogen with testosterone blockers your chance of developing osteoporosis as you get older will increase. Take care of your body's needs with these sorts of things in mind.

Hi!

This is another (genuinely quick) PSA to address confusion that we’ve seen in the community and to expand on a topic that we frequently get asks about.

This post is meant to help clarify what being diagnosed with a dissociative disorder entails: where the line is drawn between normal, abnormal, and pathological experiences. What’s important to understand is that experiences can fall under several categories: normal experiences; abnormal but not dissociative; dissociative but still normal; potentially dissociative depending on context; and clearly both dissociative and pathological. It’s also important to understand that people with clinical dissociative disorders are likely to have experiences from all of these categories at some point or another; having issues with dissociation does not mean that all of your issues are dissociative or that all of your dissociation is an issue! 

Normal non-dissociative experiences

Humans are diverse beings with a wide range of potential experiences. Only a minority of these experiences have anything to do with dissociation. All or most people will experience these at some point in their lives. Examples include:

Normal, everyday forgetfulness: not remembering where you put your keys, sometimes forgetting what other people tell you, getting distracted and losing your train of thought

Difficulty remembering what happened while you were half asleep or drunk

Not remembering early childhood; having no memory of being a toddler or infant and very few memories of being in early primary school

Occasionally not remembering something that friends or family tell you happened

Sometimes being surprised when you’re reminded or shown evidence of something that you said, wrote, or did, especially if the event in question happened a little while ago or when you had a lot else on your mind; not remembering all of the details or specifics until you’re reminded

Sometimes acting impulsively and then having trouble understanding why you acted that way

Acting different in different contexts: being more professional at work and more relaxed with friends

Roleplaying; feeling connected to your characters; having a sense for how your characters would react under different circumstances

Talking to yourself; internal self chatter; imagining conversations with other people

Abnormal but not dissociative experiences

Some experiences may look dissociative but aren’t. The underlying cause of an experience can determine if it’s dissociative or not. Individuals with dissociative disorders may experience these due to comorbid conditions. Examples include:

Anxiety, depression, or other intense distress

Constant forgetfulness and distractibility due to ADHD

Rapid and intense mood changes due to a bipolar disorder

Hearing voices because of auditory hallucinations

Feeling like your body is being controlled by an external force, such as the government through radio waves

Acting out of character and later being being unable to remember or explain your actions because of alcohol or another substance

Losing the memory of something traumatic because of an associated head injury and subsequent neurological dysfunction; not remembering something traumatic because it occurred while you were blackout drunk or drugged

Organic (neurological) seizures

Normal dissociative experiences

Despite this being a blog to talk about abnormal and pathological dissociative experiences, some dissociative experiences are normal and even healthy! Many people will experience these periodically or while stressed. These include:

Absorption: getting so mentally and emotionally invested in a good piece of media that you disconnect from everything around you

Over-identifying with a fictional character and using them as a comfort object

Mild feelings of depersonalization or derealization (that you or the world aren’t real) when you’re very stressed, tired, or anxious

Feeling like your memory for a very stressful experience or time is cloudy, abnormally sharp, or otherwise altered

Being able to react calmly to a stressor in the moment and only feel frightened or upset once you have the space to

Putting stressors at home out of mind while you’re at school or work

“Faking it until you make it”: acting like a more confident version of yourself until you feel confident or at least calmer

Potentially pathological dissociative experiences

Most things in life are not cut and dry, and dissociative experiences are not an exception. There are many experiences that are not inherently dissociative but can indicate the presence of dissociation. Other dissociative experiences can be normal or pathological depending on their frequency and severity. Examples include:

Constantly checking calendars

Some people are just disorganized and need the reminders

Some people feel compelled to check everything repeatedly to make sure that they’re not going to lose track of a commitment

Some people with dissociation-related memory issues need to keep checking to see if a part has written down commitments that they won’t otherwise remember

Self confusion

It’s normal to not know exactly who you are or who you want to be (especially as a teenager); it’s normal to have trouble deciding between careers; it’s normal to want to experiment with looks and change your appearance frequently 

It’s not so normal to be extremely confused about who you are to the point where this distresses you; to feel like completely different people in different contexts; to experience internal backlash and conflict every time that you consider cutting your hair short

When coming to terms with being LGBT, it’s normal to be unsure what your gender or sexuality is and to consider using different labels; it’s normal for someone who’s bisexual to experience fluctuating levels of attraction to different genders over time; it’s less normal to experience periods of being attracted only to the opposite sex when you’re normally gay and repulsed by the opposite sex or to feel like a man but be confused and upset when you sometimes find yourself identifying and presenting as a woman; it’s not normal to begin taking steps to medically transition to male only to suddenly be extremely distressed by the idea of being perceived as anything other than female and to have no understanding of why you were trying to transition

Fluctuations in your memory, skills, preferences, and views

It’s normal to occasionally forget a well-rehearsed fact, but it’s not normal to have no idea where you live or even what state you live in or to not recognize your spouse even when they try to remind you who they are

It’s normal to have trouble with something that you can usually do well because you’re tired or burnt out, but it’s not normal to never know if you’ll suddenly have trouble with basic math or reading clocks; it’s normal to occasionally get lucky and do well at a task you usually struggle with, but it’s not normal to occasionally find yourself excelling at something that you normally can’t do and don’t remember learning to do

It’s normal to get tired of something you used to like or to want to change things up a bit, but it’s less normal to have drastic alterations in your likes and dislikes that are unpredictable and confuse you

Changing your mind when presented with new evidence or over time is normal; repeatedly going back and forth on an issue when trying to figure it out can be normal indecisiveness; alternating between periods of extreme views over the course of days, weeks, or months can be dissociative

It’s not normal to find yourself doing something that you would normally never do and know that you’ll be angry at yourself later but be unable to stop

Occasionally feeling younger or childish is normal; sometimes enjoying watching old cartoons is normal; enjoying playing children’s games with younger relatives is normal; feeling like you’ve regressed back to a child is abnormal; finding yourself thinking or acting like a child and being unable to stop (or even recognize what happened until after the fact) can indicate a dissociated child part 

Some people have trouble remembering what they said or did while upset, but this can be abnormal if it happens frequently or if the actions in question are very out of character or extreme; it can be abnormal to be genuinely shocked to realize how you acted or to be confused or disoriented when faced with the consequences of your actions until you’re reminded of the actions

Pathological dissociative experiences

Some experiences, no matter how rare or no matter the context, are inherently dissociative and often indicate a clinical dissociative disorder or related condition (such as posttraumatic stress disorder, a conversion disorder, or borderline personality disorder). Examples include:

Flashbacks in which you relive a traumatic memory; becoming disoriented and thinking that you’re still being hurt; becoming overwhelmed by the emotions, thoughts, or urges that you had at the time of the trauma

Experiencing seizures, muscle weakness, transient blindness, or other seemingly neurological or medical symptoms due to stress in the absence of a neurological or medical cause

Chronic episodes of depersonalization or derealization that frighten you, make it difficult for you to maintain relationships, or make it difficult for you to care for yourself and keep yourself safe

Whenever you get too upset, becoming so disconnected that you have an out of body experience and watch yourself acting from a third person perspective

Having no memory for an adult trauma that you for all intents and purposes should remember (ie, that occurred while you were awake, did not involve psychoactive substances, and did not involve a head injury or other potential cause of organic memory loss)

Having a significant gap, such as years or decades, in your memory of your teen or adult life; not remembering many important life milestones such as graduating from college, the birth of your child, or the death of a close family member

Becoming upset and suddenly “coming to” somewhere else

Finding evidence that you very recently wrote a paper, cut the lawn, had a long text conversation with a friend, changed your appearance, or hurt yourself and having no memory at all for this (without this being associated with substance use, sleep walking, or organic memory loss)

Loved ones telling you that something upset you and caused you to act in a very different way, to go by a different name, or to not recognize them, and you don’t remember this

Hearing the voices of dissociated parts; hearing distinct people holding conversations internally; hearing internal crying 

Money Spell: Mix basil and baking soda together. Use it as a carpet sprinkle before vacuuming to increase the flow of money to your home.

Protection Spell: Bury quartz crystals pointing outwards at the four corners of your property line to keep evil away from your home.

Good Dream Spell: Eat a pinch of thyme before bed or place a sprig of it under your pillow, and you will have sweet dreams.

Money Spell: Roll paper or plastic money towards you around a cinnamon stick to bring in more money.

Healing Spell: Carry juniper berries with you to ward against illness.

Protection Spell: Hang a bit of dried ginger in the kitchen to ward evil spirits.

Money Spell: Simmer cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice in water on the stove to ensure prosperity of your home.

Good Luck Spell: Burn allspice as an incense to draw money or luck to you, as well as speed healing.

Love Spell: Cut an apple in half, and give one half to your love to ensure a prosperous and loving relationship.

Beauty Spell: Carry cloves with you to let your inner beauty shine outward.

Love Spell: Watermelon is an aphrodisiac, especially for men.

Love Spell: Eat fresh figs as an aphrodisiac.

Good Luck Spell: Place a piece of cotton in your sugar bowl to draw good luck to your house.

Love Spell: Celery is a great male aphrodisiac.

Lost Item Charm: Carry a sprig of rosemary in your pocket when you need to find something.

Protection Spell: Scatter dried chili peppers or cayenne pepper around your house to keep harm away.

Pregnancy Spell: Carrying a twig of raspberry leaves will help ease the pains of pregnancy.

Purification Spell: Add a little salt to your carpet sprinkle or floor wash to purify a room.

Rain Spell: Sprinkle water into the air using the bristles of a broom to make it rain.

Healing Charm: Carry ginger root in your pocket or purse all winter to ward against colds.

Wellness Spell: Drink amethyst-infused water during the day, before drinking, to lighten the effects of intoxication.

Healing Charm: Place a garlic braid in your home to help keep illness away.

Concentration Spell: Chew fennel seeds to help you concentrate.

Good Luck Spell: Carry a piece of dried pineapple in a green bag to draw luck to you.

Divination Charm: Ask an orange a yes or no question before you eat it, then count the seeds. If there are an even number of seeds, the answer is no. If there are an odd number of seeds, the answer is yes.

Fertility Spell: Eat avocados to ensure fertility.

Garden Spell: Sprinkle oats in your garden to ensure that your garden will be plentiful.

Love Spell: Eat mangos to increase libido.

Protection Spell: Plant thyme around your house to act as natural wards.

Relaxation Charm: Drink lavender, chamomile, and passion fruit tea to decrease anxiety.

Psychic Ability Charm: Sleep with mugwort under your pillow to bring psychic dreams.

Purification Spell: Add apple cider vinegar, baking soda, and epsom salt to your bathwater for purification.

Psychic Ability Spell: Eat raw chocolate to increase your psychic powers.

Psychic Ability Spell: Carry a herkimer diamond to increase your psychic powers.

Healing Spell: Cure hiccups by breathing in peppermint essential oil.

Protection Spell: Sprinkle cayenne pepper dust under your doormat to keep unwanted people from entering your home.

Happiness Spell: Evoke a feeling of optimism by breathing in peppermint essential oil..

Aromatherapy Charms: Add pink himalayan sea salt and a few drops of your favorite essential oil to a glass vial to make an instant aromatherapy oil inhaler.

Love Spell: Place pepper inside a piece of cotton and set it shut to make a charm to bring back a lost love.

Money Charm: Draw an infinity symbol on a square piece of paper, fold it towards you, and put it into your wallet to increase your wealth.

Purification Spell: Cut an onion in half and hide both halves inside your home to remove harmful vibes.

Healing Spell: Place a sliced onion under the bed of an ill person to help draw out the illness.

Pentacle Charm: Cut an apple in half for an instant altar pentacle.

Prosperity Spell: Add dried basil to your carpet sprinkle to increase prosperity.

Beauty Spell: Crawl backwards three times underneath a blackberry or mulberry tree branch to help remove acne.

Beauty Spell: Make a face mask out of ground dried oatmeal, powdered milk, warm honey, and water to soften the skin and clear the complexion.

Purification Charm: Carry a piece of black tourmaline to help purify and remove harmful energies in the space around you.

Purification Charm: Keep your pink himalayan salt lamp on for as long as possible to get the best benefit from the lamp.

Protection Charm: Carry a peach pit to ward off harmful energies.

Protection Charm: Carry a walnut to strengthen your brain.

Blessed Be,

Child abuse only exists if you always get badly insulted, yelled at, or physically abused by adults [e.g. beaten, scarred, slurred]

If your parents generally don’t pay attention to you, it just means they’re busy or have more important things to do

Saying a child does something for attention, as if they don’t deserve attention, is fine and justifies you ignoring them

Self harming is always about asking for attention

Asking for attention in general is wrong

No matter how much they hurt you, you’re still supposed to respect a family member [e.g. “But they are still your parents.“]

Negligence isn’t abuse

Your partner can’t do things against your will [e.g. ”He can’t sexually assault you, he’s your boyfriend!“]

An abusive relationship is always obvious and involves beating

Staying in an abusive relationship makes it your own fault

PTSD is something only soldiers coming back from war can have

Friends can’t bully you

Bullying is part of life and trying to stop it is pointless

An eating disorder always means you eat too little/are underweight

ADHD is a “boy thing”

If a boy is mean to you it’s because they like you

Girls are overdramatic/boys don’t have feelings

A harsh upbringing gives you “thick skin”

Hurting your children “in moderation” can be correct disciplining

Therapy is only for mental cases

Having multiple personalities is overt, obvious, and dramatic

Having a bad memory means you lack intelligence

If you can’t remember something traumatic then it “couldn’t have been that bad“

Being “mature for your age“ is a good thing

DID/OSDD develops as a reaction to trauma and develops before the age of 6 to 9.

This does NOT mean you have to be aware of your alters at that age. This does NOT mean that you cannot develop new alters after that age. This does NOT mean between the age of 6-9. This does NOT mean *all* alters form in childhood.

It just means that the first “split” in the personality happens then, because after those ages the brain is developed and can no longer learn the mechanism of dissociating to the degree of creating alters. Dissociating to the degree of creating alters is a last resort for the developing brain when confronted with repetitive trauma. Once your brain can ‘split’ like that, you can develop additional alters for the rest of your life when faced with more trauma, or stress, or another reason for another alter to develop. 

It is absolutely normal to only realize you have alters (way) later in life. Personally I was around 24 when it first became a thing - but it’s perfectly normal to only start learning about it way, way later in life. DID/OSDD can often go undetected for a very long time and/or get diagnosed as other mental illnesses (e.g. schizophrenia, psychosis, PTSD, personality disorders). 

I’m writing this because I’ve seen quite some misconceptions floating around on tumblr, like people being worried that they can’t have DID/OSDD “because I’m already 15 and I just learned about my alters”, or people thinking that it has to develop between the ages of 6-9. Please educate each other! There is enough stigma and misconceptions out there already. If you have any questions, feel free to message me (although I’m not a professional!).

hi guys i have a tattoo tips page here if you need it, i realized you can’t get to it from the app so here’s whats on it:

So when my friends and I were first doing these we looked all over on how to do them right and such but there wasn’t a lot about it so here’s some tips we’ve learned so far.

I used to use Higgins ink and now I use Intenze true black tattoo ink. It comes out a lot darker and is probably safer.

If the tattoo is just an outline and is bigger than an inch use a thicker needle than if it were something small. this will darken and thicken the outline

ALWAYS USE A STERILE NEEDLE… We originally used needles from a hospital but then bought tattoo needles on Amazon. The tattoo needles were so much better to work with. They come in all different sizes and some have multiples together that make it so much easier to do straight lines.

Draw the tattoo image in a thin colored sharpie.

Draw the image on the skin as the skin is laying normal but when poking over it, stretch the skin tight giving you space for more pokes so that when you let go and it goes back to normal the tattoo with be darker.

Before doing anything clean the skin with rubbing alcohol.

Shave the area the tattoo is going before giving the tattoo.

Wrap the needle in string until the point is very small, like an 8th of an inch small.

I use water to wipe the excess ink away but  that can whip the sharpie image away too so be careful.

Pain level: Hurts like a bitch but once you’re done it doesn’t hurt. it’s just a little sore since the skin will be raised.

Keep your tattoo moisturized like with Vaseline or not scented lotion