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For example, I've had students ask me (in good faith) how it was possible for international medical bodies to report different counts of COVID-19 cases during the early years of the pandemic. And one of the answers is that you need to first define what you mean by a "COVID-19 case." Do you include self-reported incidences? Waste water data? Geo-fenced social media posts about people complaining about their coronavirus symptoms? Federal estimates? Hospital data? How do you compare countries/territories/substate entities with mandatory reporting mechanisms vs countries/territories/substate entities that rely only on voluntary self-reported cases? And what combination of these do you use? How you construct what you mean by "case" is going to impact the outcomes you report. These different counts of COVID-19 cases can all be true simultaneously, not because numbers are made up, but because they all come out of different methodologies that can be equally valid.

And this is true across all science, not just social science. Bill Clinton said it best lol: "it depends on what your definition of the word 'is' is." This feels obvious when you look at scientific research that uses "skull measurements" as their object of analysis - the concept itself is white supremacist, regardless of how "sound" the research is. But even something as apparently self-evident as a COVID-19 case still requires a definition, and how you define your variables is necessarily going to impact how the research goes and what conclusions are drawn.

These definitions are always embedded in political & social assumptions. And again, this does not mean that science is all made up or nonsense or whatever. There is a widespread fetishism of "objective knowledge" that is itself ideological - the idea that knowledge can be divorced from all historical and political contexts, that you can scrub bias from research and simply report the facts. Valuable, well-supported, well-constructed scientific research is always embedded in these contexts. Not just as a result of researcher assumptions, but of the material context it exists in - what research resources are available, how & what research gets funded, the academy's relationship to the state & non-government bodies that both provide data and use that research to inform policy, the historical relationships universities often have with settler-colonialism and imperialism that give them access to "foreign" research subjects, etc etc etc.

My gf's household received an eviction warning for 2,200$ and they need help to cover it! Please give her whatever you can so she doesn't get evicted, it would really mean the world to me. If you can't donate, at least please reblog okay?

Her ko-fi

the coquettish "lady," Pestina:

(May 1961; "Going Abroad? Don't Help Hitchhikers"; pamphlet produced by USDA, printed by US GPO; contributed by National Agricultural Library to biodiversitylibrary. org/ item/178072 #page/4/mode/1up)

the blood-drinker, Ann:

(November 1943; "This is Ann: She's dying to meet you"; pamphlet authored by Munro Leaf, unattributed illustrations by Theodor Seuss Geisel, prepared by Special Service Division, Army Service Force, US Department of War; at David J. Sencer CDC Museum, in Public Domain)

US military keeps putting hot bug-girls in super-racist promotional media.

Getting plugged, drilled, and sucked by a dangerous gal. (August 1943; "This is Ann")

Nighttime pounding and "sissy stuff":

Typical hyper-racism:

Slightly different version--a poster--lamentation for "the poor GI" (1943; "This is Ann ... she drinks blood!"; also illustrated by Geisel; prepared by Special Service Division, Army Service Forces, US War Department; maintained by Smithsonian Libraries and digitized at USDA):

That same year (1943), "Ann the Awful" featured in the thirteen-minute-long animated (well, it's a "filmograph") film "Criminal at Large," produced by the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas, US Public Health Service (unattributed illustrators, but appears Chuck Jones-esque?).

Dialogue from the film:

"JOE: Well, I am looking for a man, but Scoop Magazine hires only the best! He's got to be good enough to get the story I want on a female who has the reputation of being the most dangerous criminal in the world! Her business is robbery and cold-blooded murder. I want a story and exclusive pictures on her hangout and how she operates. [...]

SAM: But who is this dame?

JOE: They call her Anne the Awful. Her gang is worse than the famous Ma Barker Gang. She's a thief and a killer, she stops at nothing. Scoop must expose this vicious criminal! [...]

SAM: Ann the Awful, gosh how can I find her? Well, this is my big chance - I gotta find her! Is she a pistol-packing gun moll, a bubble dancer, or uh, or, or uh a beautiful spy?"

Her girlfriend shows up later.

They tried to make Pestina a symbol of border maintenance. "Keep out pests/invaders!" and "foreigners are seducing you to hitchhike across the border" type of shit.

An "important message" (1970; Program aid no. 946; USDA; now at National Agricultural Library and biodiversitylibrary. org/item/179869 #page/3/mode/1up):

On left: 1966; Program aid no. 729; Agricultural Research Service, USDA; National Agricultural Library and biodiversitylibrary. org/item/178702 #page/3/mode/1up

On right: 1969; Program aid no. 915; Plant Quarantine Division, USDA; National Agricultural Library and biodiversitylibrary. org/item/179727 #page/3/mode/1up

US military was harassing and detaining women in "anti-prostitution" campaigns in occupied tropics during the war. mosquitoes as vectors of malaria equated to women cast as mere vectors of gonorrhea. quarantining women in hospital and managing health of soldiers while policing the border of the US camp in Panama circa 1944 paralleled by quarantining border-crossing travelers and produce at the national border circa 1966. US global military operations in "wartime" paralleled by federal agricultural department "anti-invasive" and "anti-pest" operations in "peacetime." US foreign conquest paralleled by US domestic border/purity/contagion anxieties. appeals made with racialized, sexualized, gendered caricatures.

Get Neel Ahuja, Ann Laura Stoler, and Anne McClintock on the phone.

From circa 1943-1945; Office for Emergency Management, Office of War Information, Domestic Operations Branch; maintained by US National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives Identifier 513498:

Yes, ma'am.

She's unnamed here (1944, US Army/US GPO, National Library of Medicine #191454783) but it's clear who she is:

6 months ago, i was banned from twitch, my only source of income, for, and i quote: "". They did not provide me a reason. The person who reported me has been going around telling trans women to kill themselves and bragging about reporting me. Now that it has been 6 months, however, I can at least request reinstatement- theoretically.

Unfortunately, I can't get into the appeals page or my twitch account at all; I can't even change the phone number used for 2fa because the 2fa service is that shit, and the phone number associated with the account belongs to a friend who is way behind on his bills after a divorce.

we've managed to get most of them paid, but he's still another $150 away from getting his phone reconnected, at which point i will be switching over to my current number so this never happens again. and then i can maybe actually get my twitch account back.

if anyone has anything they can spare to help, it would be immensely appreciated ;_;

You know what IS an important issue? Getting called a fucking birthday boy. They get all hands on deck about it. They will write VERY long posts about how important it is you not use it, and that anyone who does must be punished as severely as possible

There's only one explanation. The lives of trans women are so worthless to them, so fucking disposable, that a trans man getting invalidated is actually more important to them. That's how these people, who demand we view them as family and allies, who think we should be ready to die for them, view us.

Hi, we're three disabled women in a real hard spot. With savings drained and no job prospects to speak of, we're faced with a rapidly approaching eviction day. We need to be able to pay rent by the 21st, otherwise we're all going to end up on the street or worse.

Please donate here if you can. Any amount helps, even if you don't have a lot to spare. if you can't donate, a reblog still goes a long way. Thank you in advance

Please take a moment to read!

Hello, everyone. I’d like to bring you an update on Mona’s (@mohammedshehabtt’s) situation. The circumstances in Palestine is still incredibly dire, and Mona needs your help to keep her family safe and happy. They’ve faced multiple displacements, failed campaigns, and the constant threat of starvation and violence. Mona’s goal right now is to help her children continue their education. Her two daughters, Iman and Toleen, have been unable to go to school since the attacks started. Mona’s found a school that hasn’t been destroyed by Israel’s bombings, and she needs help to pay the enrollment fees. Schooling has been practically nonexistent under Israel’s bombardment, and finding a safe school for Mona’s children to attend is a golden opportunity.

Your donations can help Iman and Toleen get the education they deserve. Any amount contributed, no matter how small, will help Mona’s family stay fed, homed, and educated.

Mona’s campaign is #111 on GazaVetter’s list of verified fundraisers. You can donate here.

the thing happening right now (at the very least in the US and UK) is that trans youth are actively and systemically losing access to healthcare. this has been gradually escalating since the start of the pandemic, and more young people lose healthcare every single year.

when I talk about this I tend to get two responses

"why do trans adults want to expand these experimental treatments to children who can't consent"

"providers offering care to trans adults is a step in the right direction, even if they aren't offering it to trans youth. the perfect is the enemy of the good. we can't fight our allies."

do you see how both the overtly transphobic version and the nominally "pro-trans" version replicate the same misinformation?

this is not a question of "should we expand access to trans youth?" trans youth have had access to medical transition care for a long time. what is happening is the care they already had access to is being made inaccessible and then criminalized systematically.

am I making sense? places refusing to offer care to trans youth are not "a step in the right direction" because that implies that the trend is expanding access that "begins" with trans adults and innately will gradually encompass young people. that is not the case. this is not a hypothetical thing that we can all have different theoretical opinions on. what is happening is the systematic revoking of healthcare.

the further this progresses, the more healthcare is restricted for more demographics. that's how this works. healthcare is being restricted across the board as part of the broader eugenics project. abortion is being restricted. vaccines are becoming more expensive. insurance companies are denying more treatments to disabled people. anti-fatness is surging. ableism is surging. there are active campaigns to get people to mistrust the very idea of healthcare in favor of "wellness" grifts. no one wears N-95 masks. this is the trend. it's been the trend.