xkcd

by **Brace** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:07 pm UTC

If you can read and make sense of authors like Sartre, Husserl, Nietzsche, Baudrillard, Derrida and etc, then you might consider reading Judith Butler, specifically Gender Trouble. Otherwise I second the Whipping Girl recommendation.

by **Aaeriele** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 12:35 am UTC

Monika wrote:How do you feel?

Tends to vary a lot between fairly good, slightly uncomfortable, drowsy, or exhausted.

by **PM 2Ring** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:52 am UTC

Aaeriele wrote:Tends to vary a lot between fairly good, slightly uncomfortable, drowsy, or exhausted.

I guess that's tolerable, considering that you've just been through major surgery.

I've made you a little virtual present to commemorate this special moment in your life. I hope you like it.

(Rendered using POV-Ray, and post processed using GIMP).

* hugs *

by **Aaeriele** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:32 am UTC

Haha, thanks! ^_^ (Though I'm more of a lip gloss than lipstick gal, myself.

)

by **PM 2Ring** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:16 am UTC

Aaeriele wrote:Haha, thanks! ^_^ (Though I'm more of a lip gloss than lipstick gal, myself. )

I've tried lip gloss a few times, but I still prefer lipstick; I guess I'm a bit old-fashioned when it comes to feminine things.

FWIW, I'm currently wearing Maybelline mascara & nail polish.

I created that lipstick model a few years ago. I originally intended to make a whole set of cosmetics, but I never got around to it... I think it would be a bit difficult to accurately model that lip gloss tube in POV-Ray, and engraving a name onto a plastic lip gloss tube wouldn't have the same effect.

by **Glmclain** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 12:27 pm UTC

Aaeriele wrote:Haha, thanks! ^_^ (Though I'm more of a lip gloss than lipstick gal, myself. )

I was so disappointed when you didn't link to this.

by **Sarr** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:07 am UTC

Went to the LGBT club on campus' first meeting today. We did an interesting icebreaker (go around, tell your name, year, labels, pronouns, and if your orgasm were a food, what would it be), and then talked about the club. It really made me realize how much differently I treat the two queer aspects of my life - pansexuality and transgenderism. The first I had no trouble announcing in front of a room of people, but I could only bring myself to say that I had no idea which pronouns I prefer. Have to work on that. Other than that, it looks quite awesome, and I should actually be able to go to meetings this year, which makes me happy.

by **FreyasSpirit** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:50 am UTC

Without saying too much... another person on my team just went full time today as a girl ^_^

by **Aaeriele** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:06 pm UTC

FreyasSpirit wrote:Without saying too much... another person on my team just went full time today as a girl ^_^

Hurray!

by **AnnaArmour** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:54 pm UTC

Sarr wrote:Went to the LGBT club on campus' first meeting today. We did an interesting icebreaker (go around, tell your name, year, labels, pronouns, and if your orgasm were a food, what would it be), and then talked about the club. It really made me realize how much differently I treat the two queer aspects of my life - pansexuality and transgenderism. The first I had no trouble announcing in front of a room of people, but I could only bring myself to say that I had no idea which pronouns I prefer. Have to work on that. Other than that, it looks quite awesome, and I should actually be able to go to meetings this year, which makes me happy.

Sounds awesome

I just moved to Kansas City, and there's this LGBTQ youth group called Passages. It seems like a good way to make some friends, but I'm having trouble working up the courage to go.

by **Sarr** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 4:39 pm UTC

AnnaArmour wrote:Sounds awesome I just moved to Kansas City, and there's this LGBTQ youth group called Passages. It seems like a good way to make some friends, but I'm having trouble working up the courage to go.

It wasn't easy. I was nervous and freaking out, and when they announced the icebreaker (specifically the pronouns part) I was like "ohgod I should leave", but it was pretty rewarding to stick through it. It's one place where people are seriously not going to judge you - people there have the same issues, the same apprehension, the same everything that you do. I hope you work up the courage soon.

by **Monika** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:39 pm UTC

I am curious which foods people used.

by **meridian** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:46 pm UTC

Me too!

by **Bassoon** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 6:03 pm UTC

Yay, more people with the same lack of courage to go to a pride meeting!

At my campus, they had a student groups fair, and I was busy with classes through most of it. But I found the time to go over to the LGBTQ group table and at least take a pen and say a few words to the person at the table. Granted, none of them were anything about the group, but I still feel like I accomplished something...right?

by **Sarr** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 6:07 pm UTC

There were a lot of different things. Peaches and cream, chocolate-covered strawberries, a nice juicy hot dog. Sadly, I can't remember some of the best ones (often because they were contextual to the person), but a couple of my favorites were "semen", and "a big Stromboli with lots of meat in it. Because I'm all about the meat." I personally went with hot chocolate with a shot of amaretto.

by **Jessica** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:14 pm UTC

Feminist Blog Outs Trans Women, Posts Pictures
I saw the toxic WBW radical feminist bullshit entry that QT talks about last night. She posted pictures, full names of trans women supposedly who had been to MWMF. Since womyn-born=womyn policy is no longer the official line of the festival, there were trans women who did attend. This is the first time I've seen someone essentially create a hit list of trans women, publicly shaming them, calling them men, accusing them of infiltrating the festival and outright lying.

It's fucking disgusting.

I hope that at least wordpress does something, if not, maybe a legal campaign can be taken against the blogger in question. Probably not.

Fucking disgusting.

by **Monika** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:32 pm UTC

This is horrible

by **doogly** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:50 pm UTC

Ugh. Didn't these people get the memo that they were supposed to just be straw, and not actually exist? That is awful.

by **TaintedDeity** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 3:53 pm UTC

I... fucking hell. I mean, even if you were of the opinion that those women aren't women because they weren't born like it or whatever, surely there's a point where you stop and think "You know, that's be a MASSIVE fucking douche move; I don't think I'll name them publicly like some kind of hitlist."

by **Monika** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:12 pm UTC

Unrelated:

Culture Drives Gender Gap in Spatial Abilities, Study Finds
I knew that girls/women score as high as boys/men in math tests when it is made sure not to inform them that this is a test that compares female to male math abilities and that the gender is not requested on the test form until after the test is taken ... except for spatial reasoning. 3D movements were still done better by the boys/men. So it seemed like lower average car parking skills were genetic.
But this study establishes a firm cultural link between patriarchy and lower female spatial reasoning skills.
- Two tribes, close to each other, one patrilineal and one matrilineal.
- 1,279 participants ... that should be a sufficiently large sample size.
- Task: complete a four-piece puzzle of a horse while being timed. Who was faster than 30 seconds got money.
- "In the patrilineal Karbi tribe, men completed the puzzle 36 percent faster than women. But in the matrilineal Khasi tribe, women and men were equally good at their task."
- "education ... play[s] a role. In the patrilineal tribe, men receive about 3.5 years more education than women, while men and women in the matrilineal tribes are equally educated. Controlling for education shrank the gender gap by a third"
- "family structure ... play[s] a role. [...] Despite the patriarchal structure of the Karbi tribe, some women are in charge of land and money when there aren't any sons in the family. So Hoffman compared households where women had ownership with ones that men owned outright. Again, he found that when women's financial power at home goes up, the gender gap shrinks by a third. It's possible that women who are better at spatial reasoning get put in charge more often, Hoffman said, but it might also be that living in a less unequal household boosts spatial reasoning skills."

I find this quite fascinating. I can see how the spatial reasoning difference could be caused culturally in our "Western" cultures: too much playing with dolls, too little playing with wooden and plastic bricks. But the study indicates that this is not the reason at all, or at least not all or most of the reason. How can being the household owner/leader / financially responsible person lead to increased spatial reasoning? Maybe the functionality for decision making and the functionality for moving objects in 3D are linked in the brain? So that people who need to make decisions often become better in 3D movements?

by **sophyturtle** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:22 pm UTC

wow so gross.

by **Shivahn** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:24 pm UTC

TaintedDeity wrote:I... fucking hell. I mean, even if you were of the opinion that those women aren't women because they weren't born like it or whatever, surely there's a point where you stop and think "You know, that's be a MASSIVE fucking douche move; I don't think I'll name them publicly like some kind of hitlist."

A lot of people put idealism above... well, humans.

Which is not-coincidentally about when I stop considering them good people.

That's pretty cool about the spatial ability testing, Monika. I think you might be looking at it wrong though - what if it's not about the abilities at all, but with the confidence the people in charge of things have? That melds parsimonious...ly... with the fact that female people perform better on math tests when not asked about gender.

by **Monika** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:45 pm UTC

Shivahn wrote:I think you might be looking at it wrong though - what if it's not about the abilities at all, but with the confidence the people in charge of things have?

Good point. But then, why does general confidence influence spatial reasoning so much more than any other category?

by **Shivahn** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:03 pm UTC

I don't know - more research needs to be done. But the whole idea that unrelated things can affect test taking is fascinating.

by **podbaydoor** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 6:43 pm UTC

Could it have something to do with the toys and games that are given/taught to children? Boys are encouraged to play with blocks and races and building things, girls are encouraged to make tableaus with pre-manufactured items (dolls, etc.)?

by **Vaniver** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 6:44 pm UTC

Monika wrote:Culture Drives Gender Gap in Spatial Abilities, Study Finds
...
But the study indicates that this is not the reason at all, or at least not all or most of the reason.

I saw that study about a week ago and was not impressed. The matrilineal society was significantly better than the patrilineal society at the puzzle, men were better than women in both societies (p=0 in patrilineal, p=0.025 in matrilineal), the medians suggested something was screwy with the matrilineal data, and as mentioned in the study (but not in the article) this is the only comparison found which has been so close after decades of looking. It's almost certain that this is a statistical fluke that is being promoted for political reasons.

by **Whelan** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:24 pm UTC

The UK is about to lift the ban on Gay and Bisexual blood donation. As of November 7^th this year, gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate if they have not had sex with another man in the last 12 months.

by **TaintedDeity** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:57 pm UTC

A friend of mine was complaining that this new rule meant that he could go and give blood because it's been over a year since he had sex with a man, but his current girlfriend still cannot give blood because they've neglected to change the part that says women who've had sex with a man who's had sex with a man can't give blood.
I don't know how true that is.

by **TimelordSimone** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:53 pm UTC

TaintedDeity wrote:A friend of mine was complaining that this new rule meant that he could go and give blood because it's been over a year since he had sex with a man, but his current girlfriend still cannot give blood because they've neglected to change the part that says women who've had sex with a man who's had sex with a man can't give blood.
I don't know how true that is.

I was under the impression that a woman who's had sex with a man who's had sex with a man was banned for 12 months.
Edit to clarify: I thought that was how it already is.

It's exciting! I mean, I still won't be able to give blood, but you know, my bisexual sort of ex will.

by **zombie_monkey** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:15 pm UTC

http://cisnews.tumblr.com/ -- This is a pretty good parody of media coverage of any story that involves a trans person.

by **PictureSarah** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 3:27 pm UTC

After reading Jess's post about the douchetruck who writes GenderTrender, I went and read just the first post of her blog. I was (and am) so horrified at her hateful writing. I started tearing up, and felt vaguely nauseous. Male-bodied or formerly-male-bodied people of the thread, I am so sorry that those sorts of hateful feelings, blogs, and (criminal?) activities are directed toward you. They made me feel hurt as a cis woman, and I can't imagine how much greater that hurt is to you. *hugs*

Honestly, reading her first blog post there, there is SO MUCH wrong with it I can't even begin to talk about it without raging, and I refuse to bring that garbage here.

by **H.E.L.e.N.** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:44 pm UTC

...I looked at the list. An IRL acquaintance of mine who I consider to be Good People is on the list. I can't even.

Earlier this morning I was trying to figure out what some acronymns meant (FAAB for 'female assigned at birth') and ran across a different radical-feminist blog that takes a conspiracy-theory-approach to trans people. There is a lot of this crap around. The problem with conspiracy theorists is that everything you do 'proves them right.'

Better things: I am about 1/3 of the way through Whipping Girl and it does an awesome job of answering some lingering questions I've had (how do you talk about gender-as-a-social-construct in a way that respects trans people?). It's super-accessible writing, also says a lot about fighting misogyny in general, and the author is a trans woman who is also a biologist. I am pretty sure the book has been mentioned here before, but yeah. So recommended.

by **Shivahn** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:52 pm UTC

H.E.L.e.N. wrote:Better things: I am about 1/3 of the way through Whipping Girl and it does an awesome job of answering some lingering questions I've had (how do you talk about gender-as-a-social-construct in a way that respects trans people?). It's super-accessible writing, also says a lot about fighting misogyny in general, and the author is a trans woman who is also a biologist. I am pretty sure the book has been mentioned here before, but yeah. So recommended.

Whipping girl is an excellent book.

by **Hope_** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:35 pm UTC

I must must read that book. I keep seeing it recommended as excellent.

About the blog Jessica posted about: is it legal for the blogger to make a list like that? Surely that's highly personal information.. or something. I don't know it's so awful.

by **Jessica** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 3:36 pm UTC

Not sure if it's illegal. Probably is under libel (or is it slander... I'm pretty sure it's libel).
It's also against the terms of service of the website it's on.

But, since discriminating against trans people is generally ok legally (and morally acceptable to many), there probably won't be anything done about it.

by **SecondTalon** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:06 pm UTC

podbaydoor wrote:Could it have something to do with the toys and games that are given/taught to children? Boys are encouraged to play with blocks and races and building things, girls are encouraged to make tableaus with pre-manufactured items (dolls, etc.)?

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