If you are interested in doing work (a few hours a week, ideally) to organize against the legislative efforts against trans people in the United States right now, when would you be able/willing to attend a zoom meeting on the topic?
I’ve been given an opportunity to formalize work like this, but will need help from those willing!
This whole drama about Matt Damon is overlooking a fact that many seem to not realize — usage of the word “faggot” by cishet people, as an insult, is still rampant. By making it an issue of Matt Damon as an individual, we ignore the systemic and cultural roots of this issue.
Yes, it’s still used and directed at visibly queer people as a slur. It’s also used as a casual insult in many online communities. It’s very plain by the shock so many people have at the Matt Damon news that the conversation has been dominated by affluent queer people + cishets.
Homophobia isn’t over because marriage was legalized (for some people). Homophobia isn’t over because affluent gay people can shout “yaaaas” at Pride without fear. Queerphobia isn’t over just because the most affluent among us have escaped being regularly called slurs.
Listen. Every effort to further politicize trans identity succeeds in pushing TERF rhetoric. This is because the goal of TERFism is to make trans lives, trans bodies, and trans autonomy an issue that other people feel they have the authority to decide on. They’re dehumanizing us.
Trans people are not public property. We deserve autonomy, privacy and respect. That’s what we’re fighting for.
What are you fighting for? Because the as trans people are politicized, your “neutrality” is being heard as support for TERFism.
It’s too late for neutrality. You either fight with us, or you are willing to watch us die.
It's a question I hear often, rife with misunderstandings, and one that matters to a huge number of people every day. So let's talk about it.
Why can’t we cure cancer? 🧵
In short, because it’s not a single disease. Cancer describes a mechanism of disease, not a specific disease. This would be like asking “why can’t we cure viral infections?”
So a better question is “why are cancers so hard to cure?”
That answer has a lot to do with the way cancers work, and what makes them cancers. A cancer is categorized by cell growth that’s unregulated. This means that a tumor will appear, and create a blockade to normal bodily functions in tour body.
I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of alarms about invasive species, maybe even about specific invasive species in your area. But I bet no one has taken the time to explain what it means for a species to be “invasive”. 🧵
To understand what makes a species "invasive", we must first understand the opposite. This is usually described as what makes a species "native", but as this term is co-opted from indigenous people, I will use the term "endemic" for this thread.
What makes a species "endemic" is that this species has existed in a specific area for a long period of time. How long? Well, that depends.