There's now an Intersex Wiki! 🎉

So I got tired of the Sisyphean task of trying to make existing wikis like Wikipedia more informative about intersex. I also was feeling that there isn't really one central place for intersex content to get archived, especially if Tumblr goes down. It felt like it was time that we the intersex community had our own wiki.

And, it's live! You can find it at intersex.wiki!

It's still very young and under development, but we just passed the 100 article mark 🥳 and I thought I'd share! Here's our glossary page as a starting point:

It would be really lovely to get some more regular contributors to the wiki! If you have anything you'd like documented about your intersex variation, knowledge about intersex history, local intersex organizations, or intersex representation, it'd be appreciated! 💜

I've been mostly focusing on growing the number of articles, and which means that the main article on Intersex could really use some expansion and refinement. 💜

Proofreading is also appreciated. 💜

Please note that:

If you have any questions let me know! 💜

Doesn't let me access it with a vpn on. Is there some way for it to be acessable anyways?

Do you mean you can't see the website at all? Or that you're blocked from editing? Miraheze is hosting the wiki and their info on IP blocks is here. Let me know if their advice helps, sorry for the inconvenience. 💜

This is how any corporation functions. First, increasing profits is done by attracting more customers. Then, once they have all the customers they're going to get, increasing profits is done by increasing prices or cutting costs.

may we live to see the day where the first photo results of your intersex variation aren't graphic photos of igm

In setting up Intersex Wiki one of the decisions I have been feeling really good about is the policy/practice that the first photos in any article on an intersex variation need to be photos of clothed individuals with their faces visible. Ideally smiling for the camera.

I'm so tired of articles on intersex variations where the visuals are graphic images of genitals & obviously uncomfortable (semi-)naked people with their faces cropped or blurred out.

It has really been a breath of fresh air to instead have humanizing photos of actual (often famous) intersex individuals as the illustrations for intersex variations, e.g.:

It's not always possible to find humanizing photos since some intersex variations are very rare, but I personally think it's been worth the effort to try and hunt down these kinds of photos! 💜

Reminder that the only reason "hermaphrodite" is even used in biology is because some zoologists a couple hundred years ago were were too lazy to come up with a new term to talk about how snails reproduce, and instead opted to compare them to intersex people. (Which were, at the time, ONLY called hermaphrodites. The word intersex didn't exist yet.)

Hermaphrodite has referred to intersex people since before we knew what a gamete was.

It wouldn't fucking kill you to use cosexed/cosexual, dichogamous, monoecious, gonosimulite, or whatever else to talk about animal species that have dual reproductive function. You don't need to contribute to a slur for us staying normalized.

The use of the h-word to describe cosexual organisms wasn't (just) a laziness thing. The practice started during the era of scientific racism and must be understood in this context.

European colonists began describing black African genitals with the h-word from the 1600s onwards, describing black men as inherently having monorchidism, and black women as having elongated labia ("Hottentot apron") & clitoromegaly. These supposed genital differences were described as a sign of the "Hottentots' animal origin" (Swarr, 2023).

It was only after the h-word developed this connotation that biologists began using the term to describe cosexual organisms. Because colonists had first used the h-word to make the connection between black intersex traits and nonhuman animals.

(Old timey biologists btw already had plenty of other words in their arsenal for cosexual organisms, like androgyne and bisexual. Bisexual still gets used in botany.)

As eugenics and scientific racism developed, there became more motivation to find ~*~data~*~ to fit the idea that black people were more likely to be intersex (so as to prove the idea they were "less evolved").

But since no data actually supported this hypothesis, in the 19th century biologists just.... redefined the h-word to try and make it work. 🙃

"True" h-words were redefined as cosexual & dichogamous organisms plus humans with ovotestes. At the time, ovotestes in humans could only be determined by autopsy. This was extremely convenient for eugenicists, as it turned the diagnosis of living humans into a question of ~vibes~.

So the scientific racists could then go around calling any black intersex person a "true" h-word based on vibes, and any white intersex person was a "pseudo"-h-word also based on vibes. In order to "prove" that black people are "less evolved". 🙃

The idea that black people are more likely to be intersex has been repeatedly debunked, but really hasn't gone away: it's still cited in the present day as justification for the race-selective sex testing of athletes.

For more detail on this I highly recommend the book Envisioning African Intersex by Swarr, which is open access and can be read for free here.

really not sure when it happened or why but personally I'm pissed that the queer community at large seems to have given up ground on the "people with penises/vulvas/testes/ovaries" language to sex & gender essentialists in exchange for the much less precise, much more demeaning "AGAB" language.

is it because you're scared of the word vulva? of acknowledging out loud that some people have penises? of recognising that many many people, including but certainly not limited to trans people, have mixed sex characteristics that cannot be accurately summarised by "afab/amab" as shorthand for "female/male"?

"in [GENITAL RELATED] situation AFABs will need to do X and AMABs will need to do Y" there are "afabs" with penises and "amabs" with vulvas. Saying this shit makes you look so unserious & honestly transphobic (given the ongoing erasure of post-op trans people within broader community). Intersex people and GRS have both existed for long enough (fucking forever and, decades, respectively) that we should well past making this basic fucking mistake.

quit referring to people by a vague & often violent event that happened at their birth as though it defines ANYTHING about how they & their body currently operate, and start using precise language so you at least look like you know what you're fucking talking about.

please do not forget intersex people with neurological variations in your activism (people with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, Kallman syndrome, pituitary/hypothalamic dysfunction, etc.). you can be "intersex in the brain". the brain controls very important hormone pathways. gender dysphoria and/or "brain sex" does not make someone intersex, but their brain can.

Harvesting carrots.

jesus christ they’re all going to carrot heaven

just showed this video to my cousin who is a feudal serf and he threw his cap on the ground like yosemite sam

people have got to get normaler about systems

[Shitposting as public pedagogy]

Woods (2023)

Folks, backup your Tumblrs, for real this time

To be clear, I don't have any news about any impending doom. But I've heard a bit more about what's going on with staff after the layoff of last week, and there are even less people than I thought still working here.

I don't think even the current staff know what's going to happen, but honestly, I don't see how the high ups could even pretend to intend to keep this place open while virtually unstaffed.

And of course, if the most despicable thing happens, you can find me at @javi@goblin.band from any fediverse platform 🤷

for reference, OP is a former employee of Tumblr who tries to keep up to date with tumblr’s inner workings. please back your blogs up.

In your blog settings you have the ability to initiate a blog export, and this will generate a backup for your blog.

Fair warning though, if you've been on the platform for a long time this archive is likely to be quite hefty in file size. This blog I have had for 5 years with 22k posts, and the export from tumblr came to be 48GB. My previous blog I made in 2011 and has 95k posts, so needless to say I did not use tumblr's built in export to back that one up.

If you want more control over exactly what you back up from your blog, I recommend that you use tumblr-utils instead. It allows you to backup specific tags, post types, and to ignore posts that you did not create (reblogs where you've added a comment count as a post you created, to be clear).

To use it:

now in the window that opens it should show the current path, and you can type pip install tumblr-backup, and then when it is installed type tumblr-backup --set-api-key [your oauth consumer key], and then finally tumblr-backup [your options] [your blog name], like so:

Backing up just my original posts from this blog with this command came to 632MB rather than 48GB, and also gave me the option to save my posts in JSON format which will be useful for converting my posts to a new format for self hosting.

On that note I'm currently looking into figuring out a simple (and ideally free) way of self hosting a static site blog that utilises activitypub, and also converting my old posts to re-host on said blog.

This post series by maho.dev on implementing activitypub with any static site is my primary source of guidance atm if you also want to try figure that out yourself, as well as having an explanation for why you'd even want to do this if you don't already know

but if tumblr goes down before I get things sorted and write up a post about it then i'll be reporting back on it via my bsky, mastodon, and toyhouse accounts

if you dont have an account on any of these I'll also be sharing an update via my personal site's RSS feed, link of which includes an explanation of what RSS is and some feed readers you can use, I highly recommend checking it out as getting a feed reader is going to be the best way you can stay connected with people if they scatter across the internet!

tldr: download tumblr-utils to backup your blog more efficiently, introduce yourself to RSS and get a feed reader to stay connected with people, consider saving mine so you can find out how to self host your blog later if tumblr goes down

For anybody on Linux setting up a cron job to do regular backups with tumblr-backup: I found I couldn't invoke tumblr-backup directly. What worked for me was to directly call it from .local.

Note: I am a Fedora user, your distro may have the binary in another folder. To find where yours is, use the command:

(The command gives me ~/.local/bin/tumblr-backup )

And so I added a bunch of lines to my crontab that look like:

Modify as desired for the tumblrs you want to back up! 💜

Writing sword fights -- a few technical tips from your local fencer

 Now a disclaimer: I’ve only been fencing for a few months, and am by no means an expert. However, there are a few things you learn in your first fencing lessons that easily translate to writing sword fights.

A general piece of advice if you want to write technically sound, believable sword fights: if it looks like it belongs in a Pirates of the Carribean movie…it’s not technically sound. 

One: Your fighters shouldn’t be too close. 

In fencing, there’s something called lunging distance. This means that you should be far enough away that even with your foil (sword) extended, you can only hit your opponent if you lunge. There may be times that warrant getting closer than this, but only by a step or two. If your fighters are close enough to touch each other with their hands, they’re too close. 

Why? 

Because if you get that close, A) it’s harder for you to hit your opponent, and B) you’re making it easier for them to hit you.

See this? Every time they attack, they lunge to close the distance rather than rushing in. This gif is a good example of lunging distance.

Two: Movements should be small!!!!

This is a big one. Parrying (knocking your opponent’s blade off course with your own) should use just enough power to alter the course of the blade. If your charecters are slapping each other’s blades halfway across the room, they’re doing it wrong. You can’t parry someone else’s blade without moving your own. The more you move their’s, the longer it will take you to get back in position to strike. WASTED TIME IS BAD AND IF IT’S A REAL FIGHT IT COULD BE FATAL.

Three: En Garde exists for a reason.

En Garde is the director’s call for fencers to get into position. Your non-gloved (AKA the hand NOT holding the weapon) goes behind you to act as a counterweight. As for your gloved (weapon) hand, the elbow should be bent enough that the tip of the foil angles at your opponent’s face. 

This is not the attack position, but it’s just as important. 

With your foil in En Garde, it’s easiest to parry, as well as make more offensive measures like taking the blade. Unless your character is attacking (in which case their arm should be fully extended) they should not move far from the En Garde blade positioning. If they drop the weapon towards their feet, raise it to the sky, or T-pose with it (which I have seen), they’re opening themselves up for a clean attack. They’ll be defenseless, and won’t be in a position to parry in time. 

 Four: Fencing really is a physical chess match

Your charecters should be thinking a few steps ahead. It’s not just waiting for the perfect moment to strike – it’s creating that moment. If one character attacks, the other should parry, and follow through with an attack of their own. Charecters may try to trick each other with moves like the disengage (acting like you’re going to hit them on the left side, then going under their parry to hit the right and vice versa). The fighters should be playing off of each other’s moves! Unlike most sports, fencing itsn’t solely a game of out-powering your opponent. The key really is to outsmart them.

Hopefully, this helped with some of the more technical aspects of fencing and sword fights!! If you have questions, I’m more than happy to try and answer them to the best of my ability!

@smallpoppet​ (I was originally going to just post this in the comments, and it got a tad too long. I realize that you may have not meant for this to start up a discussion, but there are just a couple of things that I feel I need to address)

Also, for anyone reading this and doesn’t know the context: smallpoppet, in the comments, wrote “All sword fighting is not fencing tho. If your characters are fighting with other sorts of swords… a lot of this advice goes out the window” and I felt the urge to respond.

I’m no fencer myself, nor a swordfighter, and I don’t claim to know a lot about the history of either of these things, but imo, a lot of this advice will actually come into play regardless of whether it’s fencing or another kind of swordfighting. It makes sense that your fighters shouldn’t be too close (it’s too much of a risk for getting hit and if you have things closer to you, it can be harder to coordinate). It makes sense that you want to use as little energy as possible, and not expend it in superfluous actions. The En Garde position is logical. You want a counterweight to help with balance, and as explained, “with your foil in En Garde, it’s easiest to parry, as well as make more offensive measures like taking the blade”. And lastly, it makes sense to think a few steps ahead and if you can outsmart your opponent, well, brute strength won’t matter as much at that point.

Perhaps it really is just me, but all these points make sense, and I hope that you can understand how this can be applied outside of fencing. 

^^^^

I’ll take some time to elaborate on the previous points in hopes that I can clarify whatever misconceptions they had! While the type of sword can alter certain things, like the way the blade is held and if it’s better to slash or stab, the rules I presented above will be minimally impacted by this. “Fencing” as a sport actually consists of three different events; Sabre, Epee, and Foil, all of which use a different blade, but all of which follow the rules above. 

To clarify, the reason I listed these four tips is because they are nearly universally true, regardless of blade type, fencer height, etc, etc. 

The first three tips (distance, small movements, and En Garde) are so important because if you don’t do these things, your opponent will take advantage and stab you, and you will die. 

Regardless of the type of blade, if you get in too close, you won’t be able to use it, and your opponent will take advantage, and stab you, and you will die. Keep enough distance between your charecters that they can actually stab (or dodge) each other

2) If you’re swinging your sword around like a glow stick at a rave, your opponent will take advantage and stab you, and you will die. 

Take a look at the above gif. See how far out their lightsabers swing from their bodies? If either of them were smart sword fighters, rather than swinging wildly like that, they’d go straight, hit the other in the ribs, impale the heart, and wham bam thank you ma’am, the fight would be over.

Compare the Star Wars gif to this one. Inigo’s movements are still pretty big, but you can see the difference! The movements are tighter, faster, with better reaction time, and there’s no point where you’re left screaming “You should’ve just stabbed him.” While I’d recommend even smaller motions, Inigo and the Count’s movements are far more realistic. Aim to be more on the Princess bride side of the spectrum, rather than the Star Wars end.

Similarly, if you move too far from En Garde, say, to T-pose with your sword, your opponent will stab you, and you will die. Staying in En Garde ensures you’re in the best position to react, or act first!

But this reply did bring up a good point that I’d like to further address! When is it a good idea to diverge from these rules? 

My answer? 

If your fighter is new, learning, or bad at sword fights, then, by all means, break these rules. I still have difficulty keeping lunging distance and I’ve been fencing for months! My friend who’s been fencing for nine years, however, doesn’t have an issue with these things and can stab circles around me when we bout. You can tell the skill difference between us because of his attention to the basics (as well as his more advanced techniques, but I digress) 

TL:DR 

This was my advice on the basic technique of fencing and sword fighting. Fencing, as a sport, existed as a way to practice sword fights non-lethally, as well as dual people. It is based on sword fighting. Techniques used in the sport absolutely carry over into the ‘real deal’. Unless you’re fighting with, say, a pocket knife, these rules are what keep your charecters alive!

TL:DR Modern sport fencing isn’t a good source for writing swordfights; it’s moved too far away from dangerous reality.

                                                         ————

Sport fencing has restricted target areas, right of way (the fencer who first starts a correct offensive move has priority in scoring) and with electric blades, a winning touch prevents the scoring equipment from registering a second one no matter how much more effective it would have been had the swords been sharp.

Épée is more realistic, since it doesn’t have right of way and does allow double-touching, but the second touch must register almost simultaneously and (my real problem about any sport fencing as a basis for writing) there’s still no way to score its result if in reality it would have won the fight.

Compare this to a real swordfight. If the “winning touch” made first is through the shoulder but the “losing touch” made second is through the throat or body, who really won…?

                                                          ———–

Sport fencing is even less help when writing a rapier fight. Rapiers are weapons which when cup-hilted look like an oversized épée, but they’re not used like one. In addition, cup-hilts are associated with the Spanish style of rapier play, whose stance and movements are very different to Italian swept-hilt style, which is also different to sport fencing. (Also, compared to fencing equipment, rapiers are heavy. Not excessively so - 2.5lb / 1kg or thereabouts - but not feather-light either.)

                                                          ———-

Sport fencing is no use whatsoever when writing about combat with medieval swords. Kenjutsu is a better example, but even then it’s not the same as medieval hand-and-a-half longsword and is completely unrelated to one-handed arming sword.

                                                         ———–

Watch out for over-use of terminology when writing swordfights - or anything technical, come to that. There’s getting it right, impressing a few and boring the rest, or getting it wrong, outraging a few and still boring the rest. You’re far more likely to hear/see criticism for getting it wrong than compliments for getting it right. People are like that.

Many fencing / period fighting terms are distinctly French, German or Italian - Spanish rapier terminology seldom gets used in fiction, I don’t know why - and haven’t become accepted as common use (“riposte” and “lunge” have, “flèche”, “seconde” “Ochs”, “Pflug”, “Porta di Donna” etc. haven’t). IMO they don’t fit in a fantasy world without these countries.

Use Youtube as a source; there are lots of sport-fencing bouts and movie fights, and lots of HEMA matches and demonstrations with which to compare them. After that, describe the fight in your own words, keep those words short, punchy and jargon-free, keep the sentences short as well, and give more value to characters than swordplay, because at least one of those characters is probably going to continue in the story after the swordplay’s over.

Unless you’re writing something like “Hamlet”… :->

(More - much more, with pictures and video - here)