Books on Books on Limited Free Time

Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach brought forward a litany of anti-trans witnesses familiar from litigation defending these bans. Among them was James Cantor, a Toronto psychologist who has built a career testifying for states defending care bans despite no clinical experience treating transgender minors—and who was once quietly dropped from a Florida Board of Medicine hearing after it emerged he had served on the advisory council of the Prostasia Foundation, a group that has worked to destigmatize pedophilia. Folsom wrote that Cantor "has not conducted any original scientific research on the efficacy or safety of gender dysphoria treatments," and noted he is not licensed to treat anyone under 16 and has never diagnosed a minor with gender dysphoria. [...] "The Court gives Dr. Cantor's testimony little weight," Folsom concluded. The judge turned next to Farr Curlin, a Duke University doctor and theologian who was an author of the Trump administration's HHS report on pediatric gender dysphoria ... By his own admission, Folsom noted, Curlin's views are "radically counter to current medical orthodoxy." The judge found his opinions "appear motivated by his personal views as opposed to a methodology applicable in the field of medical ethics," and gave his testimony "little-to-no weight." ...

And then there was Jamie Reed, the self-styled "whistleblower" who built a national profile on lurid, largely unsubstantiated accusations against a St. Louis gender clinic and who has gone on Fox News to describe being transgender as a delusion. Reed also did not testify and could not be cross-examined. Folsom gave her affidavit "little weight,” and had scathing remarks towards her lack of expertise: “The Court gives thus Jamie Reed’s affidavit little weight, given that she is not a medical provider or mental-health professional. In addition, her affidavit primarily addresses her experiences with a clinic operating outside of Kansas—thus, it does not rebut or refute the credible, uncontroverted testimony about clinical practice within the state of Kansas,” read the order.

This decision is 117 pages long, and if you want to actually feel good about something a judge has had to say recently about trans rights, this is legitimately a good read. (I understand that some people do not read legal decisions for fun. You should still try reading this one. It's really good.)

Cool, so you want natural fiber costumes with no/nuanced corset slander, people wearing colors, historical hairstyles, people wearing hats or headcoverings and long sleeves outside during the day, no potatoes or pumpkins in pre-columbian Europe, actors with textured skin and wrinkles, minimal makeup, consulting HEMA groups and weapons scholars for all the weapons and fight scenes, a good soundtrack that includes traditional instruments?

The curb-cut effect makes streets better and more accessible for everyone, but this is still the result of combating a specific type of ableism in city planning.

This is easily understood by many, that even though a social force may affect many people broadly, it does have a specific target.

So why does this become so difficult to understand when we're talking about transmisogyny?

Transmisogyny can be weaponized against anyone, but as a social force it specifically targets transfeminine people, and thus non-transfems can leverage their position to mitigate the effects of transmisogyny, or indeed, exempt themselves from it.

This is why we have the terms TMA and TME, so that we're able to discuss this phenomenon.

If there's one salient criticism against this terminology, it's that the specific words used can trip up people unfamiliar with the terms; "affected" is pretty broad, and "exempt" is rather particular. This can be remedied by simply providing the definitions for the terms, however.

Guy tied up in chair: uh…theres just one guy over there.

Mafia boss: Yeah. That’s Lil’ Tony. He’s got one of dem conditions where he’s got multiple mooks n’ his head. But when Big Tony fronts you’re gonna be in big trouble.

Last week I was at a meetup where I was the only transfem. I checked the groupchat when I arrived and there was a message from the organiser: "We have a newcomer called X, can you look out for him if you get there first?" I located X, introduced myself, sent a message to the chat say, "I have located X," and continued to talk to him until the organiser arrived. When the organiser arrived, she was not happy with me. It turned out my phone had autocorrected, "I have located X," to, "I had located X," which the organiser interpreted as me passive aggressively telling her that I had already done the thing she was asking about. Her conclusion: I was unreasonable and aggressive in responding to her reasonable request. My explaining what had happened didn't convince her otherwise.

A different occasion last week: in a local trans groupchat, a trans man sent a link to a drag event happening in our town. A few people said they were already going, some said they might go. Then a trans woman replied saying, "Thanks, but I don't really like drag." Her tone was immediately called into question. Her words were assumed to communicate: "I think you are a terrible person if you like drag," even though she never said that. Several non-transfems who had never even heard that drag might not be universally-beloved by everyone were upset to discover that fact. A trans woman simply saying she didn't like this thing became A Big Deal.

Meanwhile, at a different event again, a trans man told a group that he was straight and attracted to women, but he wouldn't feel comfortable bringing home an "AMAB woman" (yes he actually said that). It was quickly brushed over, and after he had left even trans women tried to defend him by saying "he probably didnt realise people would be offended" etc etc. In contrast to the examples above, he is not even aware that anyone was upset by what he said, never mind worrying about what consequences he might face.

LIKE OK IVE SEEN HIM GENUINELY HAPPY BEFOFD BUT HE WAS BY NO MEANS HAPPY OR SATISFIED WITH HIS LIFE OR THE WAY HE WAS LIVING AND A GOOD PORTION OF THE TIME HE WAS ON SCREEN IT WAS OF HIM STRESSING OUT. NOW LOOK AT HIM. HES HAPPY AND HES OLD AND HES RETIRED AND HE HAS SMILE LINES. HE HAS SMILE LINES!!!!!!

and. AND HE SURVIVED. AGAINST ALL ODDS. AGAINST A DEVASTATING INJURY AGAINST A LITERAL PROPHECY STATING HE WOULD DIE AGAINST THE TYPICAL ‘MENTOR DIES’ TROPE AGAINST SO SO SO SO MANY FIGHTS AGAINST EVERY SINGLE THING HE SURVIVED. AND HE CHOSE TO DO THAT AND HE DID IT HES HAPPY HE CHOSE TO LIVE AND HE GETS TO BE HAPPY NOW.

I could genuinely talk for AGES about how important it is that he didn’t die. It’s such a massive thing about his character that he diverts the audience’s and other people’s expectations of him and what’s going to happen to him. From the very beginning where we first meet him and we learn he’s an emaciated depressed skeletal figure when we were introduced to him at the strongest hero to ever live who’s always smiling no matter what. When we learn he started quirkless and every single other thing that NO ONE would expect about All Might the former #1 pro hero!!!

Then there’s every single time something happens that gives us red flags saying ‘oh. He’s definitely going to die soon.’ (His injury, Nighteye’s prophecy, he even hints to it himself at some point in an episode where he says that he isn’t going to be here long enough to see Midoriya become a hero!!! AND THERES SO MUCH MORE.) only for it to be proven to us that the FUTURE THAT NIGHTEYE SEES CAAAN BE CHANGED! Only for him to turn around and PROMISE Deku that he was going to live.

soo much of his character is about subverting expectations and no one does it quite like he does. I could go on and on about this there’s so much more it’s so important to me. No matter how many horrible things happen to you no matter how you look no matter how inevitable it seems that this terrible thing is going to happen it doesn’t matter because even if everyone expects you to be this amazing person who can do anything you don’t have to be able to do everything!!! And that doesn’t make you useless!!! It makes you human!!

no matter how inevitable it seems for this terrible thing to happen you’re the one who can take it into your own hands and change it because it’s your life!!! And that is what Toshinori’s character is about! Everyone is human in their own right everyone has the ability to do anything even if you, yourself, expect to end up miserable and sad or even dead, you might surprise yourself because there is always ALWAYS a future where you can be happy, where you take the ending expected and crush it in your hands to create your own ending. A better ending for yourself. No matter what happens to you no matter your disabilities happiness is within reach for everyone, even if it takes eight years to get there.

And he does literally crush the ending card in his hands.

does any of this make sense of is it all the inane ramblings of a madman. I’m genuinely insane over Toshinori I think.

Executive dysfunction comes from a lack of available dopamine. Common advice is wrong. You need to provide your own dopamine before you can start. Otherwise you're trying to run your car on empty.

"But what if I still don't do it" well you already weren't getting it done anyway. Now you have a little treat. Try again later.

You deserve kindness and care even when you aren't being productive.

Simple question, right?

Except… he suddenly got defensive. His tone changed. I could feel tension building, and I had no idea why. So I took a breath and asked, “Wait, what did you hear me say?”

He paused, thought about it, and said, “I thought you meant ‘Why aren’t you doing anything?’ Like you were mad I was being lazy.”

But that wasn’t what I meant at all. I’d genuinely just been curious.

And that moment reminded me how easily things can go sideways when we assume intent. Our brains, especially when we’ve had messy pasts, trauma, or relationship anxiety, tend to fill in the blanks with the worst possible meaning.

But that one question, “What did you hear me say?”, turned what could’ve been an argument into understanding.

It gave both of us a chance to clarify before our brains made up a story that wasn’t true. I was able to explain, and he was able to listen. Understanding what I meant changed his tension entirely.

Sometimes the fight isn’t about what was said. It’s about what was heard.

They were free.

They were fucking free.

They were maybe ¢60 of acrylic yarn each at the most, and the whole ziploc bag of them took 2 hours max.

Three people gave me sad eyes until I took their money.

Someone who was clearly the mom friend of their group made me take a $5 and gave a 10 minute pep talk.

At least four more people insisted on getting change to pay for the, once again, free bracelets.

In spite of all these shenanigans, the absolute best was this one person who I can only describe as, “queer surfer dude who looks like a boyfriend who looks like a girlfriend.” I can remember nothing of the outfit, only the impeccable vibes. I did the same thing I did with everyone else, explaining the bracelets were free, and they nodded along as they took the last 6 strand rainbow bracelet. As soon as they had it on their wrist, they pointed at something over my shoulder and, like a fool, I looked.

Next thing I know, they’re running off cackling, yelling, “YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME!” and I’m holding a fucking $20. I had to stop at least two people from chasing them, cause they thought the person stole something, and then they tried to give me money cause they thought it was funny seeing me flail over people being Too Nice.

First: THIS RECALL IS NOT STATE SPECIFIC. IT IS NATIONWIDE.

here are the specific products and dates:

FDA page on this:

push in your chairs when you get up from tables.

when people don't push in their chairs, people with bulky aids like wheelchairs and rollators can't get through. also a lot of people who use canes have wider gaits than able bodied people, and having a chair in the middle of their walking path is a real obstruction. while some of us are able to push chairs out of our way, a lot of us are not, and wind up boxed in/out because somebody didn't push in their chair.

This past month, Parks & Rec has been doing a lot of work on the field adjacent to my school. They have trucks with flatbeds, mowing/tree-cutting/postholing machinery, etc. And when they arrived, I (campus monitor) was told I would need to herd the kids away from the trucks/machinery and basically prevent them from creating a dangerous situation.

So when recess came around and the kids stampeded out the door I held them up and I said (being funny but at the same time serious, you know how it is, kids listen better if you're funny)

"Okay, I know that you're all smart AND mature, right? And talented and good looking? Definitely the smartest and most talented class in this school? (I say this to every class, they're all 'my favorites'.) And because you're SO intelligent and mature, I don't need to actually TELL you that these guys have vehicles and machinery that you need to stay clear of, right? Because I know you figured that out already, and I also know that YOU know how sad I would be if any of you were run over, or squashed, or had a pole fall on you. I would be SO SAD, like, I would probably have to lie down on the floor and cry. So you're not going to make me cry, right? I can trust you to stay away from the trucks and machines no matter where they are on the field? Because you're wonderful and amazing? My favorites? My inspiration?"

And they're laughing at me of course, because I'm being so dramatic. Some of them are "Yes, and-"ing my dramatics and inventing more involved mourning processes I should undertake if any of them get run over. Some of them are yelling at me that they are NOT mature yet and they are VERY STUPID and I should know this.

It's been three weeks. We had one conversation about it. None of them have gone anywhere near the trucks. This is actually in excess of the typical elementary-schooler's working memory and I'm very proud of them. I haven't had to blow the whistle at ONE person for getting too close even when the trucks were literally 40 feet from the actual playground.