We talk a lot about paper mirrors in fiction, but there's also a very specific and reflexive joy that comes with finding them in autistic academia. (I'm working on a thesis section about the impact of the Internet on Autistic organizing and currently citing an article on #ActuallyAutistic Twitter that's just spot fucking on in every way that matters.)

So, the #PLANAct town hall last night was 🔥, but I want to talk about a specific thing I noticed re: who showed up and who *tends* to show up at stuff like this. (thread) (1/) The organization spearheading the PLAN coalition is focused on justice-involved women and gender-expansive folks, who are primarily Black and brown. And Black and brown women turn up; and Black and brown men turn up; and white women turn up. You know who doesn't? White men. (2/)

I want to address one of the most persistent arguments against affirming trans kids' gender: "What if it's just a phase?"

Here is my compelling counterargument: "So what if it is?" Nobody is suggesting medical interventions for young kids. If calling your kid by a different name/pronoun and letting them wear different clothes makes them happy, why the hell not? If it turns out to be transient, you can go back to what you were doing before.

It's been really fascinating seeing whether/how other people gender our baby--we use neutral language to describe them, but a lot of people jump to gendered terms. (that they conclude "boy" and "girl" roughly equally probably means we're doing *something* right?) @teaberryblue I don't think it's deliberate most of the time--I suspect people don't even quite register the language we're using, and just pick up on what they interpret as gender cues from name/clothes/descriptors.

I think a lot of cis people are quick to accept "groomer" myths because they assume their own experience of gender is universal. For *them* to identify as trans would in fact have required abusive levels of social coercion; and they can't fathom that anyone else is different. What's doubly ironic is that the coercion it would take is *exactly the same kind trans kids are subjected to in a cisnormative society.* But instead of recognizing and rejecting that, they double down because the coerced outcome is what comes naturally to them.

Cis people: If you can't see the relationship between exclusionary and exterminatory anti-trans policies, now is a good time to sit down and listen quietly. Pundits have been calling for our nonexistence for years; now they are explicitly saying that there's no place for us in a "sane" world and citing things like the complications of our medical care as we age. (cont'd)

One of the most violent, awful bits of TERF shit that's been going around is the assertion that transwomen shouldn't have access to resources for sexual violence survivors; and as a former crisis center advocate, I think it's important to both challenge and unpack this. (1/) The conversation so far has focused--rightly--on the ways that this impacts transwomen--misgendering, lack of access to vital resources. Transwomen a) are women who belong in women's spaces, and b) experience sexual violence at a higher rate than ciswomen. (2/)

There’s not a ton of nostalgia attached to visiting the house where I grew up, a fact that I credit in large part to the literal demolition of my teenage bedroom a decade and change ago. This is both a metaphor and a literal event. Sometimes life is convenient like that.

HERE IS MY BEST PESACH STORY:
The first year we were in Forest Hills, we ended up semi-spontaneously celebrating with a family I'd made friends with in the matzo aisle at Key Foods. (1/) Two parents and three kids under ten. They were low-key, about the same level of observant as us (not very), and generally delightful. One of the kids was three and went to Jewish preschool, where she'd been learning all about Pesach.

Chag Pesach Sameach! This is the first time in like twenty years that I've actually been home for a seder (or will be; we're doing ours tomorrow night because it works better to coordinate with far-away family). Normally my parents throw enormous open-invite seders for anyone in the NCF community who needs/wants somewhere to go, so it is very weird to be here and preparing for one that's basically just gonna be the three of us.

Stop writing queer love off as platonic friendship and maybe we'll stop rewriting homosocial friendship as queer love. "Nice bromance you got there. Be a shame if something... happened to it."

.@teaberryblue has decided that I need to see FACE/OFF, so we are doing that. this is a very The Punisher opening, what with the carousel and family and all that

HOW NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIP CHARACTERS WOULD PROBABLY VOTE, A LARGELY UNINFORMED THREAD: Mary Worth - Law & Order Democrat but will sometimes cross the aisle for nice ladies or people she knows personally

If you think Mary Worth doesn't have a big ol' Leslie Knope crush on Joe Biden, I don't know what the hell you've been reading. he is 160% her type and you know it

SO: I knit for immediate family members for the holidays. The in-laws are easy; they live in places with winter. My parents live in Florida, so I tend to check in with them about what they could use. (cont'd) My father is a college professor who, this year, is teaching from home over Zoom. In an attempt to liven up a set-width background, he has been arranging my old stuffies behind him. It's inordinately charming, and he has requested additional creatures for this tableau. (cont'd)

In light of the shit that @DrWilliamProct1 has been pulling, I want to talk a bit about how much damage comes from using autism to excuse abusive behavior from white men, especially ones in positions of power. First, to be clear: I am not questioning or challenging whether Dr. Proctor is Autistic. That's not what this is about.

fda.gov/food/cfsan-con… If you're thinking about how this impacts people with LTFA, please also consider the fact that epi-pens are *financially inaccessible* to a whooooole fucking lot of us. I'm "lucky"--with my insurance, they're at least <$200. Also worth noting: epi-pens aren't a fix. They're basically borrowed time to get to an already-taxed-beyond-capacity, high-exposure-risk ER and really fucking hope there's someone who can see you by the time it wears off.

also, what's the asthma/LTFA comorbidity rate, again?

Sometimes people contact me and ask for advice WRT supporting an Autistic loved one, and if I have one piece to give, it's that respect and trust are way, WAY more helpful than empathy. The truth is: not everything about us will make sense to you, and not all of those differences will be easy to bridge. You have to be willing to trust perspectives and experiences you don't relate directly to. Our humanity has to be valid beyond its reflection of yours.

HEY, TWITTER! Let's talk about appropriate ways to talk to artists about their work; and also where to complain productively when you find aspects of that work unacceptable! FIRST: Access does not translate to lack of boundaries. Your favorite comics writer is on Twitter? GREAT! That does not mean that they are your BFF, or make this the appropriate platform to approach them about anything and everything!

There is so much about being a transmasculine person who started transition in mid-adulthood that feels like an inescapable catch-22. Every time I think I've run out of cracks to fall through--well. There are a lot of them. Especially when you spent your pre-transition years working in aggressively sexist industries, where opportunities and promotion rates--both internal and intra-company--for men and women were (and are) very, very different.

TWITTER: Would you like an astonishingly quick, easy, depression-friendly, and delicious recipe for fresh bread? I HAVE YOU COVERED. I started making this bread in college dorm kitchens, 15ish years ago. It is the easiest bread recipe imaginable. No kneading. No rising. FORGIVING ENOUGH MEASURMENTS THAT YOU CAN USE MUGS AND EATING SPOONS IF THEY'RE WHAT YOU HAVE.