Thread by @pixelkitties

What follows is a long thread about an unusual subject. The concept of gender and an infamous case of a dreadful nuclear accident in Japan from the late 90s.

I apologize for the long form discussion. I'll return to my regularly scheduled nonsense and ineptitude shortly.

While traveling this weekend I read a fascinating and deeply unsettling book called A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness. The nonfiction text recounts the Tokaimura Criticality Accident which exposed three men to unimaginable levels of gamma and neutron radiation.

Of the three victims, a technician named Hisachi Ouchi fared the worst. He was holding a funnel while triuranium solution was poured- by hand- into the precipitation tank at a processing facility near Tokyo.

The process of enriching the Triuranium began at 10am on September 30 1999. At 1035am it all went horribly wrong. The nuclear material had collected in dangerously high concentration along the interior walls of the precipitation tank.

There was a blue flash as the solution reached criticality. A neutron burst sent gamma rays through Ouchi's entire body. 8 Sv units of radiation exposure has a 100 percent mortality rate.

Ouchi was exposed to 20 Sv; 20,000x the max exposure for a human over an entire year.

Hisashi Ouchi didn't die immediately. Far worse, his DNA was utterly destroyed. His chromosomes shattered like glass, breaking into disparate pieces that couldn't be understood or identified.

Our chromosomes hold the very blueprint of our bodies and functionality. In order to give the young man any chance at survival, he needed a massive influx of healthy chromosomes to tell his broken body how to repair itself. Only one doner in the world was compatible- his sister

The process is known as a Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant and would allow Ouchi's body to again produce lymphocytes and white blood cells and maybe begin to fight off infection and repair the massive radiation damage.

At noon the next day the stem cells from Ouchi's sister had taken root in her brother's body and began to function. Analysis showed the Ouchi, an XY chromosome cisgendered adult male, were XX chromosomes- female.

Unfortunately, this radical process, nor any that followed, were not enough to save Ouchi. 83 days after exposure he passed away, his body ravaged by radiation.

But reading this passage reminded me of the anti-trans arguments I wade through every day on twitter, Youtube, etc

The fallback position of the Intellectual Dark Web and TERFs is that no matter what a person changes about their body, their hormones, their life or their very existence, you can't change your DNA.

You are locked into your chromosomes. Full stop.

These chromosomes, they argue, are the ONLY thing that determines who and what you are. Chromosomes are the only goalpost that matters when it comes to determining gender.

The heartbreaking efforts to save Mr. Ouchi show two things- First, every detail about our form and function is, at its base, malleable. But second, and far more importantly, it is who we are that ultimately determines Who We Are.

The very transformation of the Ouchi's chromosomes didn't change who he was to himself or those who loved him. He remained the mind and soul that had always lived within that body. He was never any more or less then man he knew himself to be.

Likewise, trans men and women are simply the people they KNOW themselves to be. They will pursue efforts to bring their body and life in line with their identity, not their bone structure, not their chromosomes, none of it is the final word on who or what they know to be true.

Would the Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings youtube intellectuals tell Mr. Ouchi that, through his doctor's desperate attempt at saving his life, he was now a woman and there's nothing he can do about it? It's absurd.

Is a woman who has gone through menopause no longer a woman? Is a soldier who suffers a horrific injury to his sexual organs no longer a man? Should a little girl born with supernumerary ribs be told she's clearly a boy and has to accept it?

The truth is, none of these "facts" care about the feelings of bigots. Our matter is malleable and prone to diversity and displasia. The fact is that there is no normal, no standard or no perfection or ideal in the wild west that is our bodies.

We are all pilots of these bodies. Nobody can know our mind or our souls other than us. And the truth is that even in the face of changing a person's very DNA, you can't change that. You can't change that unexplainable core that is our identity and personality.

Be good to the trans people in your life. None of these goalposts that continually move to condemn them matter at all. They're excuses for hate.

There is only a person who through a lifetime of reflection knows precisely who they are far better than most.

The End. Thanks for reading. 💜