This Doonesbury abortion cartoon was originally written by Gary Trudeau in 2012, in response to a Texas law requiring women to have an ultrasound before an abortion. It was banned from many major newspapers, and they ran syndicated cartoons in its place.

Now seems like an appropriate time to bring these cartoons back, with the passing of Texas’ new law requiring the burial or cremation of miscarried or aborted fetal remains. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if Trudeau decides to write the sequel.

'Transfem DIY HRT' and 'Transmasc DIY HRT' are a pair of zines aimed at teaching transgender people how to safely self-administer DIY Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).

Both zines are 100% free to download here from Little Mouse (who also made the zine). Print, share and distribute to those who need it!

Specifically regarding the bloodwork, you do NOT want to test your T levels right before your next injection, you want to take it approximately halfway between your injections. Trough levels (T levels immediately before your next injection, when your T is at the lowest point) are useless. It doesn't tell you what your T levels actually are, and does not provide a frame of reference for adjusting dosage if you need to. Taking your blood levels approximately halfway between dosages allows you to see what your T levels actually look like for the majority of the time, before it starts to work out of your system.

I think the confusion is caused because the zine is based on weekly T dosage, but T is generally taken every 2 weeks* and you should take your blood levels one week after your shot if you're on a 2 week schedule.

*every 2 weeks is standard for a couple of reasons:

1) injections suck and doing it every week sucks.

2) T in the US until recently could not be handed over by a pharmacy and therefore injections could not be done at home and instead had to be done at at doctor's office. The 2-week schedule allowed for less doctors visits and less expense.

3) perisex cis men also have a hormone cycle (albeit one not as visible as those of perisex cis women) and having your T high and T low be about 2 weeks apart is thought to mimic that natural cycle. This may or may not actually be true, but it was part of the prescribing basis for a long time.

4) because the half-life of cyprionate is 8 days, HALF OF IT is still in your system after 8 days. Taking a second dose at that point messes with the dosages and results in you stacking your dose on top of half of your previous dose, resulting in you taking 150% of the amount you're trying to take.

My latest books cartoon for The Guardian's books pages.

"Miss" means an unmarried woman. "Mrs." means a married woman. (both of these have origins in the word "mistress" as in "mistress of the house".)

I've had people (usually children) ask me at work if I'm a missus or a miss. I have replied that I am a miz, full stop. And when they pressed for which one I was REALLY, I have replied, "Why? Are you going to treat me differently depending on whether there's a ring somewhere?"

That's what Ms. is for. That is its linguistic function. It says, "This is an adult woman," and nothing else. Nothing else is necessary, and in my case, nothing else is desired.

I also use miz for other women unless and until they express a preference for something else because I don't magically know everyone else's marital status when I meet them. That's a courtesy—I'm declining to assume marital status and allowing them to decide whether they wish to declare it.

your body does pretty much all it's physical rest and repair processes ('stage 4') in the first 4 hours of sleep, so if you've slept for four hours, congratulations the essentials of your physical health are taken care of

the part of the sleep cycle that takes care of your brain and mental health (REM) happens later in the night, hence why waking up too early makes you brain foggy, and why it's so helpful to train yourself to wake up about the same time every morning

we are evolved to wake up several times in the night; we don't usually remember it, but worry and fixation can make us more likely to remember these

sleep under the influence of alcohol is chemically altered and not effective no matter if it helps you sleep - it's fine to have a drunken night of course but don't use alcohol as a sleep aid to 'knock yourself out', being drunk unconscious is not sleep

the best thing you can do for your sleep is follow a routine; go to bed and wake up at the same time most days, and have a 'wind down' routine, preferably including writing down whatever's on your mind to clear it before sleep

for long-term sleep improvement, it's better to wake up at your planned time regardless of sleep quality than to get a full nights' sleep

missing a night of sleep is NOT the disaster certain scaremonger-y sleep 'experts' will tell you - 'slept debt' does NOT exist and you will recover from a missed night of sleep within a few days of normal sleep

meditation is the best alternative to sleep if you're either unable to sleep or feeling the urge to nap (napping is bad for sleep!) - guided ones can help you not to fall asleep, but literally just lying there with your eyes closed and thinking about something neutral is good

acceptance is the best way to alleviate insomnia; do something else, use meditation to supplement that rest, and accept that you aren't sleeping (often, ironically, this will cause you to fall asleep)

"It doesn't have to be like this. We could have it so much better"