Beep Boop

anyway i wanted a memento of my first pride, you know, and this one vendor was selling keyrings, and i liked it, so i bought one. do you remember those italian charm bracelets that were all the rage like 10-15 years ago? it was a keychain like that, and it had a rainbow rooster, a rainbow cat, and then just a rainbow, and so I bought it.

i run into my mom a couple of vendors over and she goes oh you bought something? what’d you get? so i showed her, and i was like, “I’m not sure why it’s a rooster and a cat. Seems kind of random. But I liked the rainbows.”

and my mom, who was some form of minister’s wife for most of my childhood and teenagerhood, stares at me like she thinks i’m joking.

“What?” i say.

TOMORROW IS HALLOWEEN!!!

TOMORROW IS HALLOWEEN!!!

TOMORROW IS HALLOWEEN!!!

TOMORROW IS HALLOWEEN!!!

TOMORROW IS HALLOWEEN

[ Link to survey ]

The 12th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 30th August 2025.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

Thank you so much!

I'm so tired of articles on intersex variations where the visuals are graphic images of genitals & obviously uncomfortable (semi-)naked people with their faces cropped or blurred out.

It has really been a breath of fresh air to instead have humanizing photos of actual (often famous) intersex individuals as the illustrations for intersex variations, e.g.:

1. Feverishly calculating the body mass of your dragon species, spent 5 hours last night researching the origins of steel, losing sleep over horseshoes, 20 tabs open, should a cockatrice be warm-blooded?, will die if they don’t immediately figure out when honeybees were first domesticated

2.

THIS IS NOT REAL. If you get this comment, they’re just trying to get you to delete your fic.

1) I would have gotten some kind of email from Ao3 if this was true

2) this comment is formatted to be perfect to tack onto any fic they choose

3) ALSO why on earth would Ao3 get rid of entire fandoms off the site? Even if they WERE inactive? Who knows if others will be ‘late’ to the fandom and want some fic to read. Who knows if someone wants to come back to their 6 year old account only to find most of their fics deleted.

I’m lucky to be a reasonable adult who has seen tricks like these who also had a very kind person comment their own doubts.

anyway type 2 diabetics i'm sorry about the world. everyone* be kind to type 2s or else

No one gets to come into your space and invalidate your experiences.

This means transmascs get to be the authority on their own issues, nonbinary people get to be the authority on their own issues, etc., for all trans identities. Everyone’s voice holds equal weight and deserves equal representation.

Transfems don’t get to be the authoritative voice on transfeminism either.

Transmasc, nonbinary, and other trans voices are IMPORTANT in the transfeminism discussion. Our voices have equal weight when it comes to transfeminism. We all deserve to be heard.

Greta Thunberg and her activist flotilla friends have accused Israel of piracy and kidnapping for intercepting their boats en route to Gaza. The language is bold, dramatic, and made for TikTok.

But is any of it true?

Let's check the law, check what happened, and see if the law has been breached.

What's the Gaza Freedom Flotilla again...?

A coalition of pro-Palestinian activists launched the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a series of small boats sailing toward Gaza saying it was in protest of Israel's naval blockade. Their stated goal is to deliver humanitarian aid - but their real goal seems to have been to provoke confrontation and draw headlines.

Is the blockade even legal?

Yes. That’s not just Israel saying so—it’s the United Nations.

The 2011 Palmer Report, commissioned by the UN, concluded that:

Israel's naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure... and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law.

To be legal, a blockade must:

Be part of an armed conflict (check),

Be declared and enforced properly (check),

Serve a military/security objective, not a civilian one (check, again).

Is What Israel did in Intercepting their ships piracy?

Not even close.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, Article 101), piracy requires:

A private act,

Committed on the high seas,

For private ends (think ransom, robbery, pillaging),

By one private ship against another.

Israel is a sovereign state, acting under a declared naval blockade, during an ongoing armed conflict. It's not pirating granola bars. It's enforcing maritime security under international law.

Even the serious and informed critics of Israel admit this isn't piracy.

Is It Kidnapping?

Also no. Unless we've decided airport security is "hostage-taking."

Here’s how it actually goes:

Israel intercepts the ships,

Redirects them to port (usually Ashdod),

Detains passengers briefly (often because they refuse to cooperate),

Then deports them.

This isn't vanishing dissidents. It's blockade enforcement under the laws of armed conflict. If you’re challenging a legal blockade, you don't get frequent-sailor miles.

So Why are Greta and Friends Using Words like Piracy and Kidnapping?

Because in activist media, legal nuance is a liability. It doesn't fit on a protest sign.

Calling Israel's enforcement actions "piracy" or "kidnapping" is designed to evoke visceral, emotional responses- but it’s legally empty. It's branding, not an argument.

It cheapens the terms for situations where actual piracy and kidnapping do occur.

All's Well, Then!

Nooooooooo. Is the blockade ideal? No. Is Gaza suffering? Absolutely. Should humanitarian conditions improve? Yes - urgently. But that doesn't mean words like piracy and kidnapping suddenly apply just because someone with a lot of Instagram followers says so. Words mean things. Specific things.

If we want to hold Israel accountable in meaningful ways, we need to deal in facts - not hashtags.

TLDR:

Israel's blockade? Legal.

Stopping ships? Legal.

Detaining activists? Legal.

Piracy and kidnapping? Not even close.