Petition: Upholding Plural Rights And Plural Voices
Petition: Upholding Plural Rights and Plural Voices
The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) recently had a panel conference on “DID and social media,” featuring harmful and offensive content denouncing self-diagnosis and spreading the narrative that most systems online are faking it for the attention. In this conference, they showed footage of several Systems, without their consent, in order to publicly shame them and use them as examples of the “Imitative DID” that they claimed was rampant online. As a non-disordered System, we stand with those with DID and against those who would spread harmful claims that a majority of Plurals are lying about their Plurality for online clout.
This petition was created by The Plural Association, an organization created by and for Plurals, including those with professionally diagnosed DID.
If you wish to donate, donate to The Plural Association. DO NOT DONATE TO CHANGE.ORG! THEY DO NOT PUT YOUR MONEY TOWARDS THE PETITION YOU SIGNED!!!
More Posts from Spectruminterests and Others
@lizardonatoadstool thanks for reblogging! This is a digital piece we did based on a stock photo, and we're super proud of it!
Tumblr people, can I ask something weird? Can I ask you to vote in a popular tournament poll…. Not on this hellsite? 🥺👉👈
My school’s mascot is Oakie the Acorn, and they’re probably the Tumblr-est mascot you could think of.
I mean, they’re an acorn for goodness’ sake, they’re officially non-binary, and they’re all about sustainability. The school they represent is also very tumblr- SUNY ESF is a school dedicated to saving the Earth, and its student culture makes it a place where the genders are queer and the neuros are divergent :) People just stop to stare at a weird mushroom or interesting insect all the time here, and if someone spots them, instead of ridicule, you’ll probably have two people staring.
In conclusion, vote for Oakie!
WIBTA for running away with my soulless, potentially dangerous future self? [OCs]
[OOC: tw for fictional medical procedures without consent, fictional self-harm, implied mental health issues, implied ableism, child endangerment/potential child harm, souls being treated in a way that might be taken as religiously insensitive]
I (14F in human years) have been living with my older brother (equivalent of 25M) as a guardian, because we got interdimensionally lost together several years ago and have been trying to make lives for ourselves in the human world. It hasn’t been easy, but recently my successful future self (equivalent of 40sF) showed up and offered to help us out! She’s a scientific genius and is kinda stuck here in the past because her work on time travel didn’t go the way she hoped (maybe with her help I could do even better someday!)
But she also acts really creepy and weird, and I found out that it’s because she removed her own soul somehow? Apparently the procedure was one of her discoveries, and in her time it became some sort of therapy for emotional issues because it basically gets rid of all your emotions. She almost tried to do the same to me after I freaked out about it, but luckily I managed to convince her otherwise, and I’m pretty sure she’s started listening to me now and taking getting stuck in the past as a chance to make sure I don’t end up making the same mistakes she did. But my brother doesn’t trust her one bit and refuses to let me contact her anymore. I feel like I’m the only one she’s willing to listen to because she thinks a lot of herself (I mean, from how she tells it she made major breakthroughs in several scientific fields) and I’m basically the same person as far as she sees it. It feels like I’m the only one who can make sure she doesn’t do something that changes the world for the worse like she did in her timeline. So I’m thinking of working with her, but after the incident where she was going to take my soul, my brother thinks it’d be way too dangerous for me to contact her again because she might try to take my soul again or trick me into helping her with something bad. However, I think she’d listen to me like she did before, and I could learn so much from her, keep her from causing problems, and maybe change the world for the better with her help on technical stuff and knowing what not to do!
Would I (current me, I know future me is kind of an asshole but I don’t really blame her for it) be the asshole if I disobeyed my brother and ran away after my mad scientist future self?
The fact that Mark Cuban can do this is just further proof of how much capatalism is f*cking people over.
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban launched an online pharmacy Thursday that offers more than 100 generic drugs at an affordable price with a goal of being “radically transparent” in its price negotiations with drug companies.
For example, the leukemia drug imatinib is priced at $47 a month on MCCPDC compared to the $9,657 retail price.
The online pharmacy’s prices for generics factor in a 15% margin on top of actual manufacturer prices and a $3 pharmacist fee, the statement said.
[Image Description from alt text:
The heading reads, in block letters in all caps, “BIG DICK ENERGY.” Underneath the caption is an image of a rock covered in barnacles. In small font at the bottom there is text giving credit to the original photographer, reading “Photo by May Gauthier on Unsplash.”]
The idea that being gay, transgender, or Queer in any way is “unnatural” is such a crappy excuse for bigotry. As OP said, modern medicine is “unnatural.” Taking care of the sick and injured is “unnatural,” in that in a “natural,” “survival of the fittest” situation, these people would be left to die. Having permanent homes is different from the “natural” human state. Ear piercings are highly unnatural and purely cosmetic, yet in western society they are accepted without anyone batting an eye. I could go on, but the point is that unnatural doesn’t mean bad. And by the way: homosexual behavior *is* natural- it is found in many, many animals besides humans. So is being intersex, and, though I haven’t researched this, I would think that animals that behave in a way typical of the opposite sex are probably common or at least out there. In conclusion, fuck anti-queer bigotry and all the crappy excuses people use to justify it.
i mean. medical technology is all about stopping "natural" things from happening to our bodies. from external diseases to internal parts of our bodies not working the way we need them to (our brains, our organs, our immune systems), medicine is all about interfering with things that have naturally gone wrong in our bodies--and that for the first time in history, we might have a way to fix. and that's not even getting into cosmetic stuff--the billion dollar industries to remove acne and body hair for instance. natural things that happen to our bodies, that we have decided are unpleasant and that we have the right to change. and that's fine, because these are our bodies, and we have a right to change them, natural or not.
so stop pretending that depriving trans kids of puberty blockers and other medical care is okay, because growing irreversible secondary sex characteristics that they do not want is "natural"
A cute guy likes me on a dating app. After chatting with them for weeks, we decide to go on a date. They are very flirtatious and forward over the app, but not when we meet in person. He admits he thought I was transmasc like him, we laugh about it because his mistake is funny and means I'm not passing but in a silly backwards way. I think his sudden awkwardness in person may be nervousness and flirt with him in ways less forward and aggressive than he'd been flirting with me earlier, and they become cold and distant for the rest of the date. By the time I get home they've blocked me on the app we met on. This case of being mistaken as a transmasc on a dating app will happen 3 more times, and in 2/3 times it results in a similar sudden lack of interest where once they were coming on to me. None of these people will be cis.
I am in a self defense class for queer people, learning hand to hand combat as a community. I have been here months. I notice I'm the only transfem in the classes but there are other trans people there so I don't think much of it. Today I have some stubble as I did not have time to shave before the early morning class. When discussing unrealistic action movie and anime fight scenes I describe on of my favorites, quoting the lines as I pantomime the goofy moves. They smile and laugh along until the word bitch leaves my lips in one quote, then the bisexual woman who only ever they/thems me glares at me like I've committed a grevious crime, and the rest of the class looks at me like a freak in awkward silence for a moment before moving on. I learn bitch is not a word a clocky bitch can "reclaim". I am quiet in classes now, and when I go I focus primarily on the training, when I see other trans women try it out they often give me a sad look and do not return for a second class. I get a sinking feeling that if I ever use this training to save my life one day I'd be branded a violent man instead of a strong woman.
I am texting with a good friend of years who was one of the people who helped me realize I was trans like them and even the one who helped pick out my name loves talking about our shared interests and sharing their favorite smut with me. We bond over favorite stories, artists, characters, and kinks as well as our trans experience. Yet they constantly tell me they could never date someone who's AMAB because of the trauma of being "female socialized" and their genital preferences for vulvas. Every compliment they have ever given me on my appearance or outfit is followed up by "but in a non-sexual way, I could never date you". Today I finally have the courage tell them they don't need to say that every time. They ignore this response. We keep talking for awhile, but they start taking months to respond to my messages and respond with a short sentence at most. They no longer share details about their life and shut me out when I ask or share details about mine, even the most mundane and chaste details. I stop talking to them. A birthday gift I bought them months before this falling out happened looms at me in my closet. I cannot use it as it doesn't fit me but can't bring myself to throw it away, just in case we reconcile one day. I feel pathetic for craving friendship with someone who sees me as "abuser-bodied", that so much of my early stages would've been impossible without their help. I feel a little more lost without them.
I am at a queer/trans/enby kink dance party with some friends. I am scantily clad and wearing a skirt and high heeled boots. I do not pass well so this space is one of the few places I feel safe and free dressing like this. It is packed with queer and trans people just like me engaged in delightful debauchery and wearing very little. The music hurts my ears but I'm happy to be here, I feel overstimulated but alive and authentic. I am approached by a beautiful stranger from across the dance floor, she is graceful and stylish, like some modern Galadriel clad in leather, white lace, and industrial piercings with impeccable voice training. She compliments my outfit, I compliment hers. She tells me I need to shave my armpits if I want to look like a real woman. My two friends stand up for me and yell at her. They assure me she was just being an asshole, that women were supposed to be hairy, but I can't help but notice how both of them have hairy armpits and yet the "advice" targeted me. The wide range of bodies that people here tonight find desirable on cis women don't seem to apply to the women like me. I am the only one of us that doesn't go home with a hookup at the end of the night. I realize now she likely spoke from experience. I am still hurt by her words, but realizing the kinds of experiences she must have had herself to feel her words were kind advice hurts far worse.
A local queer photographer who's work I follow is looking for women & non-binary models for a photoshoot. I have become comfortable with getting photos taken of me for the first time in my life since my egg cracked, and had a few small time modeling gigs under my belt. With something like this I could actually have the beginnings of a portfolio. I reach and am told that they are not looking for trans women models, "only women and AFABs". Getting the same line I get from agencies from an independent queer photographer repackaged in "woke" terminology stings. I see many queer and nonbinary models I looked up to take part in the shoot. I have to wonder if they knew that the photographer's definition of woman didn't include trans women, or if like me in my martial arts class they noticed no transfems were there but didn't think much of it because there were other trans people there.
It is years ago and I am still an egg. I am with my partner of 4 years. I am exhausted after a long day. She asks me for sex in the voice that I know means saying no will hurt her. I learned from her long ago men have high and insatiable sex drives, therefore saying no meant I wanted to have sex, just not with her. So I say yes. The sex is painful and unsatisfying, and I simply do my best to thrust through the discomfort until she cums. I feel numb and hurt. She enjoys herself but seems sad I did not cum. I assure her I love her. When we hold eachother after my obligation has been met and I finally feel comfortable and safe. We begin talking. She talks about the trashy women she saw on the street today, describing their cringe outfits and ugly styles and bad hair. All the styles and clothes and hair I yearn to try myself in my deepest and most repressed desires. I change the subject and ask her about work and family. She asks if I'd still love her if she were a man and I say yes. She says she would still love me if I were a woman. Something in that statement feels like a lie. It is months later when we break up and I move out. Now that I am a woman I look back and know from our years together that if I were a woman then she'd hate the kind of woman I'd become. That if I were a woman she'd still have the same expectations of me as a man, that her refusal of sex equated an impersonal not being in the mood but my refusal of sex equated a cruel refusal of love.
A lesbian group begins organizing a queer woman's strip night event. A safe place for amateur performers to shine and women to perform and enjoy sexuality away from the male gaze. I see no transfems in the promotional material or leadership team, and I've learned not to think nothing of it just because there are other trans people there. I do not go.
I am talking with my therapist. They are trans too and an amazing therapist, often providing insights and advice only someone else with the lived experience of being trans can. I express distress and suicidal ideation at the fact I feel like I need to pass before I can dress the way I want. That until I get expensive hair removal procedures and FFS I can never feel safe and welcome presenting authentically. I lament how these things are expensive and may never be accessible to me. They tell me I need to deal with my "internalized transphobia", as if these feelings aren't a result of constant rejection and othering by external forces even within queer spaces. As if the scrap of womanhood others sometimes acknowledge in me does not rely on their perceptions of me.
There is a publication accepting works from trans people of all stripes to document trans experiences. It gets flamed for not having a single transfem as a contributor. The people behind it apologize profusely, they say didn't notice no transfems had sent work in and would do a sequel publication that was transfem-centric. I wonder if anyone had noticed there were no transfems but didn't think much of it because there were other trans people there. I think about the kinds of spaces I've seen like that, and the implications it has about how they treat transfems, and I am unsurprised no transfems submitted.
One of my closest friends for years is very supportive of me when I first begin crossdressing and experimenting with they/them pronouns. She gives me suggestions on cute clothes to wear and takes me shopping as well as asks for pictures. We had helped eachother discover we were both queer as young teens, come to terms with it, and navigate it in a hostile environment, so I have complete trust. We are close enough we are frequently asking eachother advice on serious life choices & relationships, sending nudes for critique + tips before sending them to our partners, and sharing our most secret and vulnerable moments. She often asks me for tips on getting her straight boyfriends into pegging and crossdressing that make me slightly uncomfortable but I don't mind, she is a loyal friend I would endure a great many discomforts for. I host a lunch for us one day, and come out to her as a trans woman. I tell her my new name, say I no longer use he/him pronouns, and thank her for her support on my journey thus far. She launches into a monologue about how by changing my name I am throwing away all our memories together and spitting in the face of my family. Taken aback by her sudden heel turn after being so supportive of me being nonbinary and GNC, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom to get a break and give her some time to process. When I am in the bathroom trying not to cry, she is on the phone. I overhear her misgendering me as she is talking about me being bisexual in a frightened voice. She sounds truly afraid that I intend to be sexually violent towards her. When I leave the bathroom and sit back down I pretend not to have heard. She gets off the phone, saying she was just chatting with her boyfriend. We talk a bit longer, she explains how "the surgery" is dangerous and experimental and she hopes I won't get it. I assure her I won't and do my best to change the subject and hope she comes around after some time to process things, hurt and shocked that what I saw as a natural shift in the path I was already on marked me as frightening in her eyes after knowing eachother for over a decade. That a fellow bisexual suddenly saw my bisexuality as dangerous now that I was asserting myself as a trans woman. I say goodbye to her, and she says goodbye to me using my deadname, I do not risk an argument to correct her. It is months after the meeting we have not seen eachother since and she has not responded to any messages I sent. After reflecting on her reaction further I decide that I don't really want to spend time with someone who thinks these things about me for my own safety and mental health, regardless of our history. A friend of 14 years who supported my queerness and transness gone the instant I crossed an intangible woman-shaped line that marked me as a predator and invader in her eyes.
I log online and day after day see trans women getting banned and harassed. Seeing baseless callout posts calling them groomers and abusers getting taken seriously by other queer and trans people. Seeing proof that deep down so many people I consider kindred spirits see me and people like me as worthy of intense scrutiny and policing to keep "the queer community" safe and united. The blocklist grows but everything stays the same. I treasure the people in my life who don't take part in this and would do anything for them, but it seems they get fewer each time.
I'm not making this post to seek sympathy, I am used to this kind of shit and far worse has happened to myself and others. I just make this to illustrate transmisogyny is not some "online-only" issue like people claim. Even if online issues weren't "real" (as healed is fond of saying, "online is real") this has tangible effects in the way trans women are treated offline as well. By communities, friends, partners, colleagues, systems, etc. That's why we talk about it.
So much of the discussions people have paint transmisogyny as some online oppression olympics maliciously trying to divide the community, smear transmascs, and "reinvent bioessentialism". That is not what it is about. Discussions about transmisogyny is about how we are treated for being what we are, and while related to transphobia and misogyny it is seperate because it often represents doors other trans people and women can walk through that transfems cannot. It has affected me in my most intimate moments when I was with other trans and queer people I felt safe around, and taught me that I need to carefully manage my persona and presentation at all times lest my authenticity be branded "male socialization". I am even terrified to express attraction to people who express attraction towards me because I'm so used to being treated like a predator upon reciprocating or being used and abandoned by people I trusted. I am terrified to be too excited about shared interests with friends lest I be too loud or talkative about it and branded with aggressive male socialization. So I make myself quiet and small, and shrink from the community and people I care about, and become more and more isolated.
Anyways, stop platforming anons who spread lies about trans women, stop hopping on TERF harassment campaigns because the trans gal they're smearing "gave you bad vibes", and maybe consider carefully if in your own life where you draw the line for a transfem's behavior is any different from where you'd draw the line for anyone who's not one.
Tumblr people, can I ask something weird? Can I ask you to vote in a popular tournament poll…. Not on this hellsite? 🥺👉👈
My school’s mascot is Oakie the Acorn, and they’re probably the Tumblr-est mascot you could think of.
I mean, they’re an acorn for goodness’ sake, they’re officially non-binary, and they’re all about sustainability. The school they represent is also very tumblr- SUNY ESF is a school dedicated to saving the Earth, and its student culture makes it a place where the genders are queer and the neuros are divergent :) People just stop to stare at a weird mushroom or interesting insect all the time here, and if someone spots them, instead of ridicule, you’ll probably have two people staring.
In conclusion, vote for Oakie!
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spectruminterests reblogged this · 2 years ago
Hi, we're the River System! Katlyn (she/they) and Jacob (he/him). Came for the fandoms, stayed for the off-the-wall and the cringe. 22, autistic (language abled and low support needs), Environmental Biology major. Actual Mad Scientists ;) [We do science and don't do sanity!] Mostly this is Katlyn obsessing over bugs and fandoms (Undertale, Hollow Knight, Little Nightmares, Fire Emblem: Awakening, RWBY, Arcane). Also may include photography, dark aesthetics, and general chaos from Jacob. (Cover photo by Sagar Patil on Unsplash)
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