Mostly Void.

Lost the ask, got a lot of asks in my inbox today so it got buried but my last post reminded me of it. Someone asked me if penile atrophy caused by t-blockers/estrogen can be treated the same way vaginal atrophy can.

It can! here’s a substack article written by a transfem for transfems about it:

must we reiterate feminism 101 to every loser dude who apparently can't read but isn't letting that stop him from treating you like chatgpt

Everybody's too delicate about men Being nice to them has gotten us nowhere. Shut up. & everybody starts going "ohhh I don't knowww maybe he's sad... maybe he's a victim" Ok? Who isn't. The thing is that you don't have to get away with acting like that. Maybe if men experienced a Consequence once they'd have a thought about their actions, too

You tell a man to think about how his actions affect other people & a million fuckheads crawl out of the woodwork to say Hey woah woah woah woah. What if he's sad? & they don't even know the guy everybody just defends men doing whatever they want forever by default

It doesn't even have to be a specific individual man you can just talk about a harmful behavior that men do & they'll make up a guy who has to call you ugly to keep his job or something

Something i don't know how ppl still dont understad is how OBVIOUS it is that no Mark is gonna outtake the other, no love (neither for Gemma nor Helly) is gonna outgrow the other. And it's not only a matter of if that is possible (it is, its a tv show) it's a matter of narrative and thematic ideas.

The writers have briliantly gave Mark and Gemma a 5-year marriage and Mark s and Helly a half life relationship (because even if they are very young they have known each other for a huge portion of their concious life). This balances the stakes and validation for each Mark, and makes their battle so interesting, because they are literally equally deserving. And since they are equally deserving, having one of them "win" would be contradicting that claim. It doesn't matter if you as an individual have a preference, as liking one of the Marks more (hell, i myself like one of them more, that's human) but ethics dont work like that, ego death doesn't work like that either and obviously the show is trying to say that. This opens two crucial themes to discuss:

First things first, this impossible-winner situation is the fucking dramatic drive of the show. I wouldnt phrase it as Helly and Gemma because they're characters in their own right, but Mark's relationship with Helly and Gemma is there to represent a battle of the ego and conflicted desire. I really think the show chose to make this a romantic conflict because, yeah who doesn't love romance, but most importantly because we are so monogamous as a society that it was the clearest way to show how these two Marks are different people. We can't fathom the idea that you can love more than one person romantically at the same time (it doesn't matter if it's true, it's the predominant thought of our society). And i think they use this aknoledgement of how society works and they were so right to do so because look what everyone is talking about. That's why im so really shocked that some people are trying to bend the laws and philosophy of this show to theorize which Mark will win or which love will he choose at the end. Neither will, and both will. And simply because narratively, thematically, thats the only coherent choice. One of the Marks "winning" or Mark choosing completely either Helly or Gemma, would destroy the very points this show is trying to make. The love for Helly needs to be a rightful pushing force just as equal as the love for Gemma, just as Mark S needs to keep existing as a foil to Mark Scout. The show is trying to say that (to put this coloquially) doesn't matter how shitty or brief or undeserving your life is to a system or to others you are deserving of human rights, freedom and autonomy.

Which gets me to the second point: This goes both ways. Because even if Mark Scout belittles Mark S's experience, lumon did the same to him when they kidnapped Gemma and lured him into severance. They are both being used. After all, i very much think this is a postmodern show dealing with the residue of modern capitalism. This is a show about the problematic and complex relationship between revolution vs establishment. A modern show made in the past century would have framed this as a straight up victim vs victimizer problem but this is different. Capitalism creates this micro-power relationships. Corporations expoit the white collar worker and the white collar worker exploits the cleaning lady. And even if they are both clogs in a machine, the white collar worker and the cleaning lady may have different ideas on how a revolution should play out, or even if a revolution should occur in the first place. And sometimes revolutionaries can have disregard of the lower classes in the name of grater good. With all the shipping stuff (that i also fully enjoy) we forget that THIS is also the conflic that's taking place between Mark Scout and Mark S. Even if they clearly arent aware of all this shit at the moment.

Even so, they, again, are equally deserving of happiness and compensation. And to put Mark Scout in the position of opressor and opressed at the same time is amazing. They both need to win. But how can they both win? Will they both win? And how would a win-win situation look like? This is why i think severance really is something else. I'm at the edge of my seat because i don't have a fucking clue how they will resolve this. But i trust this show to be better than simply make him choose one of his loves or make one Mark overrule the other. They won't do that, mark (jk) my words. Both Marks need to truly work as one, to understad the other's struggle and see it as equally valid and well, negotiate. Just as the white collar worker will have to negotiate with the cleaning lady if they truly want to make an impact should a revolution actually happen. Both Marks need to understad they are not the real enemy and even more, that the real enemy is the cause of this friction in the first place, a friction that only diverges them from the real goal. Helly's and Gemma's love is only the cathalyst to put in motion this conflict. A GREAT choice because just as the Marks, they too will have ideas of their own on how to navigate this situation, yes, but they will also have a say in the innies vs outies vs lumon conflict and well i think these four are gonna surprise us.

one thing that gets very easy to spot with "gender neutral language" is (especially as a trans woman) you only get gender neutral language thrown your way.

everyone else is guys and girls, when you're around it's "folk" or something dumb like "campers". they're not changing how they speak to be gender neutral, they're only doing that when you're around. because you're not allowed to be in a group as "girls". you're "everyone"

I think you want to do what's right. Both of you.

1.07: Defiant Jazz

[ID: 8 gifs of a Severance scene between Reghabi and outie Mark at Ganz College. The camera switches between their faces, zooming into Reghabi's as she walks closer to Mark throughout the scene. She is serious. Mark is defensive. Their conversation goes

Reghabi: You’ve been severed for two years, right? So your innie is still just a baby. Mark: My innie lives his own life and, as a result, I get to live mine. Reghabi: But he only exists because of you. And for all intents and purposes, he is you. Do you really think he’s different down there? Combs his hair differently, laughs at different jokes? Maybe he loves it, you’re right. But maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he dreams every day about clawing his way to the surface. But you wouldn’t know. You’ll never know. You brought him into this world without his permission, based on your own desire for emotional convenience. Mark: I’m not a bad person.

/end ID]

whenever people say shit like “i couldn’t be polyamorous, i’m so jealous and possessive. if my partner even LOOKS at another girl/guy i’m gonna kick them out of a window” i’m like well you should probably be working on that. like even if you don’t end up doing polyamory it’s probably good to not be like that

men lose their masculinity (the social reward for correctly performed manhood) through advocating for, sympathizing with, or doing labor that is allocated to women.

(and I'm not talking about some innate, spiritual, or psychological masculinity. I mean social masculinity--being regarded by higher ranking men as masculine.)

you genuinely do lose your current standing if you meaningfully and consistently object to the economic, legal, and interpersonal status of women, especially in ways that implicate men around you.

many men believe that if they are willing to do this, occasionally, then they are owed a recuperation of their masculinity through some other means.

if they are sacrificing masculinity through advocating for women politically, then they expect to bolster their masculinity through receiving expressions of gratitude and adoration by women ("feminist men are so hot" "consent is sexy" "pro-choice men get laid more" etc.) or they expect to bolster their masculinity through emasculating other men by asserting the standards of masculinity they adhere to are the "real" masculinity ("real men support women" "sexists are immature boys, I'm a man" "I'm secure in my masculinity and they're insecure" etc.)

to dismantle patriarchy, you need to be able to advocate for women even when it means losing gendered status. other men mostly will not respect you, and many misogynist women will not respect you either. it might not get you laid or praised or validated. in fact, it will probably subject you to increased scrutiny and criticism (because feminized subjects are always subject to such, and if you lose social masculinity, you too will experience this to some degree).

will you still advocate for women even if there is no social benefit and only social cost? do you have principles, or do you just want the fantasy of being a benevolent ruler?

Controversial opinion: Trans women are not "male women".

Hope this helps!

Turbo-nuclear take: "Trans woman" is not a different gender from "cis woman".

Take at which we can achieve nuclear fusion: "woman of color" is also not a different gender from "cis woman".

If women of color are so "masculinized", if we are so Indelibly Associated with Maleness, then why are we hypersexualized and treated as disposable sex objects by a white-hegemonic patriarchal culture? Does our fetishization as "highly submissive" register as particularly male to you? Does the proliferation of beauty industry trends fixated on commodifying our features and making them surgically available to white women seem like we are being distanced from womanhood?

If "trans women face so much pressure to change their bodies", why do clinics stonewall and refuse to prescribe us the treatment we desperately need, and why do doctors UNDER-PRESCRIBE HRT to us, or refuse to cover top surgery for trans women?

Think, Tumblr, think!

I will state, plainly, that this site is so transmisogynistic, even its acceptance of transfemininity is transmisogynistic.

Tumblr hates women. Hates women and womanhood. It views being a woman as boring, un-hip, conformist, regressive, and 'patriarchal' or 'male gaze'.

Every time I see a post that is transfem-positive, it is almost always couched in casting trans women as Male Women, as avatars of gender-ambiguity, as a "masculine womanhood".

Best of both worlds, eh?

You are The Misogyny Site, and even your supposed 'acceptance' of us is poisoned swill.

And you will never unpack or do anything about the rampant transmisogyny on this site for as long as you are dominated by a culture that insists on womanhood as something to abhor and distance yourself from at all costs.

mother night, kurt vonnegut

[ID: An excerpt of writing by Kurt Vonnegut. It reads, "This is the only story of mine whose moral I know. I don't think it's a marvelous moral; I simply happen to know what it is: (underlining) We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. (underlining ends)" End ID.]

biased journalism is the only type of journalism that exists and I hope for your sanity you can accept that

no such thing as neutrality in the scientific process either

Thank you for all your votes. I have harvested your data to join in with the trends. —Mod Nic

before you make that post about "the crisis facing men and boys" or "preventing redpill radicalization" stop and check in:

is your proposed solution

if so:

your "solution" to behavioral patterns emerging within patriarchy is more patriarchy.

instead:

try to imagine literally anything else.

"It's mere routine for imperial powers to strike terrorists oceans away" could it be not though? I think it would be nice if they would not bomb people.

"but the Houthis are bad"

And there's people still defending this. Por favor no sean tan pelotudos.

I mean the best thing that leak did is to prove that US airstrikes are not about protecting the country or fighting terrorism but for posturing the US as a strong country (all the comments about dick measuring with the Europeans)

You would think people picked up in that hypocresy but they didn't and that's because in a sense they still think that bombing people is acceptable.

“Men go down the alt right pipeline because women/feminists are too mean to them”

have you seen the way alt right men talk to each other? They are so fucking mean to each other. If someone being mean is what’s causing people to shift away from an ideology then more men should be shifting towards being a feminist. Maybe men are going down the alt right pipeline because they hate women. Crazy idea I know.

“Men hold systematic power over women and we live in a misogynistic society” - extremely mean comments by feminists that cause men to go down the alt right pipeline

“Beta males should all be killed and women should be property” - nice and welcoming comments by alt right men

talking about the hating everyone ideology: “yeah, they’re just so much more accepting!”

Alright our social media platform is dying a slow and painful death I know how to save it everyone. Don't implement a competent moderation policy, don't address the erratic and bizarre behavior of your upper management, don't make a video player that works. All you have to do is make the website look like ass.