LGBTAitP Part 23: Et tu, ~Bianca?

[KenderWizard]

Well, you're Irish. Although I hear you mostly drink tea.

It's so true! Tea is hospitality. But that doesn't mean we don't have time to also drink a lot of alcohol.

That actually sounds quite nice, maybe-No, Kenderveak, don't give in!

*Dramatic internal struggle*

Wait, why am I fighting the side with reason, amazingness and happy funs? I like reasonable amazing fun stuff! :3

Yay!

You should go drinking with Icelanders we do weird logic jumps all the time while drunk.

I've always thought that Irish people have to be able to hold it together when drinking phenomenal amounts of alcohol, or otherwise the country would grind to a halt. But I would love to go drinking with Icelanders!

I'm sorta on the other end; I'm bothered by the "we're just like you" argument, because that shouldn't make any difference. Whether or not I deserve to be treated as a human has nothing to do with the way I dress, act, present myself or anything. Iunno, just the fact that there's sometimes this general drive to present as LGBT+ as just a variant of the whole nuclear family just seems to be kicking quite a few people in the dust. (I trailed of into generalities, this isn't really directed at you.)

I think the main thing is that LGBT+ is so diverse that you can't really pick certain archetypes to represent it; it's much to varied for that. And promoting certain narratives does a lot more harm than it does good. (Something I've seen far to often among trans* people, both externally and internally.)

I agree with this.

To compare to feminism (sorry!): we don't actually want you to accept women are equal because we're "just like men". You should accept women are equal because women are equal! Whether they conform to the often masculine-coded things our culture values (being stoic, working long hours outside the home, boy-colours, being technologically adept) or lean towards the feminine-coded things our culture often doesn't value (showing emotion, doing work as a carer, pink, being skilled at fabric crafts). And while we're at it, how about we start valuing feminine-coded things, and stop gender-coding things that don't actually need to be coded.

I guarantee there is a tourist somewhere who would not only most likely die of privation (doubtless a stone's throw away from someplace with free room and board) but who could also paint the lush jungles of Ireland as a terrifying labyrinth.

I grew up in southern California, so we had coyote-things, snakes, lizards who would try to bite off your fingers but didn't have any real teeth, swarms of ants like mobile rugs... But mostly we had to look out for the giant scorpions. They stopped attacking once we got our population up, but on the occasional caravan trip to fetch more life-sustaining water from one of the few oases, some young'n innevitably got snatched up and stolen away to languish in the caverns and feed the young. Occasionally the scorpions would abscond with a musician, who survived by soothing them and becoming part if their colony. It is said he who hears eerie music in a sandstorm is being called by the scorpions, and if you bring a Sheep's mandible into the dunes you can trade it for treasures untold.

The sheep has a mandibular structure best suited for an arachnid-pleasing flute, you see.

On the topic of Ireland, we don't go in for lush jungles. More like little copses of trees. Small hills, fields, some ... bigger fields. Old fields that aren't farmed anymore. Lone trees. Limestone. I suppose you could go out and deliberately ignore any houses or people and determinedly starve yourself to death, but it'd be really likely, as you wither away under the careless eye of some sheep that a farmer would come up to you and be all "Howreya? All right there? Starving yourself, is it? Sure it's always drama with the tourists. Givus a shout if you want a cup of tea while you're at it, you mad bastard."

I guess if I move to the UK I'll need to bring a few bears with me.

I like you, Nope, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume you're only talking about England, Wales, Scotland or Norn Ireland. Ireland, the Republic of, is not a part of the UK.

It's only a Cell Bio exam on cell membranes, cell signalling, and cytoskeletons. I'll be fine. Definitely good luck to you, though. Nine papers and an exam. Dang.

It's quite a bit! They're all exams, though. Most of the first nine are just essay exams where you have to write two (or three) essays is an hour and a half. You usually get a choice of two out of four, but you don't know the topics that will come up beforehand. The last one is a practical exam where we get actual rocks to look at and a map to write about.

I'm the half of us who admits that we're assimilating you.

Dammit Nope!

[Lix Lorn]

Nuclear family doesn't require a male and female parent.

~ ♅

Honey, that's the point. People are worrying that we're saying 'No nuclear families CAN be gay/queer/whatever!', and not saying 'you know what *%£@ nuclear families, do what you like'. [/incoherentexplanation]

[noparlpf]

It's so true! Tea is hospitality. But that doesn't mean we don't have time to also drink a lot of alcohol.

I like tea. It goes well with puzzles.

I like you, Nope, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume you're only talking about England, Wales, Scotland or Norn Ireland. Ireland, the Republic of, is not a part of the UK.

Oh bugger. I forgot, I'm sorry. OTL
Does "British Isles" work? Or "Ireland/the UK"?

It's quite a bit! They're all exams, though. Most of the first nine are just essay exams where you have to write two (or three) essays in an hour and a half. You usually get a choice of two out of four, but you don't know the topics that will come up beforehand. The last one is a practical exam where we get actual rocks to look at and a map to write about.

Whoa. I suppose that's better (in my opinion) than nine papers, because they tend to be less strict about proper essay formatting on exam essay questions. And what do you do with these rocks and map?

Dammit Nope!

:b


Now I don't want to get too political here, but I got an email regarding the Defense of Marriage Act from one of those sites that does petitions to the US government. Anyway, what I wanted to share was its options for gender and sexual orientation:

Gender:
-Man
-Woman
-Woman/Transgender MtF
-Man/Transgender FtM
-Genderqueer
-Prefer not to say

Sexual Orientation:
-Lesbian
-Gay
-Bisexual
-Straight/Heterosexual
-Queer
-Other
-Prefer not to say

I'd say that's not too bad. I'm just mildly put out that I'm still being lumped into an "other".

[Asta Kask]

Because there were people here who wanted a transplanted uterus (hello Lix ):

So I was contacted by a young trans woman who believed I knew something about the uterus transplantation project. She had contacted prof. Brännström and he was too busy for a long conversation but said that it was a clinical possibility to do a uterus transplant to a trans woman (if the proper donors could be found, etc.) She'd have to rely on donated oocytes, however. But he also said that it was an advantage to have semen stored since we may one day be able to turn sperm cells into oocytes. Personally I wouldn't hold my breath on that last part, but he knows more about the field than I do.

[pffh]

I
Now I don't want to get too political here, but I got an email regarding the Defense of Marriage Act from one of those sites that does petitions to the US government. Anyway, what I wanted to share was its options for gender and sexual orientation:


I'd say that's not too bad. I'm just mildly put out that I'm still being lumped into an "other".

Right erm what's the difference between queer and gay? Also aren't lesbians gay?

[noparlpf]

Right erm what's the difference between queer and gay? Also aren't lesbians gay?

Queer means any non-heterosexual orientation, I believe. And yeah, that's a good question; it could just say "Homosexual" instead of having two options for homosexuality, based on personal gender.

[Lix Lorn]

@Asta: Good to know.

[KenderWizard]

Oh bugger. I forgot, I'm sorry. OTL
Does "British Isles" work? Or "Ireland/the UK"?

Yeah, either of those works! I don't really like the way these two big islands plus all the little ones are called the "British Isles", because, y'know, not Britain over here! But it is their geographical name so I suppose I can't blame you for it! I usually use, and I think most Irish people use, "Ireland and the UK". (I imagine British people would be more inclined to go for "the UK and Ireland" )

Whoa. I suppose that's better (in my opinion) than nine papers, because they tend to be less strict about proper essay formatting on exam essay questions. And what do you do with these rocks and map?

Okay, there's 32 mineral specimens, 15 rock specimens, and a made-up map with locations marked. The locations are pretending to be where the 15 rock specimens came from (the map is imaginary, but geologically possible).

In the first part, you name and give the mineral formula for each of the 32 minerals. For example, you pick up a mineral, it's hexagonal, transparent and can't be scraped by a blade - it's quartz! Write down "quartz, SiO2". Next one is purpleish red, also very hard, maybe cubic-ish: garnet, (Fe,Mg)3Al2Si3O12. Gold-coloured imperfect rhombic dodecahedron? Pyrite, FeS. Brownish flakes? Biotite, K(Mg,Fe)3AlSi3O10(OH)2. Basically, we have to know like 50 to 100 chemical formulae plus be able to recognise the mineral.

Then in the second part, you look at the 15 rocks and describe them. "This is a banded mid-to-coarse grained rock, dominantly pink in colour. Grains appear to be mainly quartz, with some feldspars. Pink is likely due to the presence of iron. Small grains of pyrite are visible in bands. This is a banded arkose sandstone." And you look at the map and describe a likely geological history. "The basaltic lava flows are overlying the sandstones, but both are offset by the fault. The sandstones were deposited first, then the lava was the result of volcanic activity. Later, the succession was faulted."

Describing this is making me nervous.

Now I don't want to get too political here, but I got an email regarding the Defense of Marriage Act from one of those sites that does petitions to the US government. Anyway, what I wanted to share was its options for gender and sexual orientation:


I'd say that's not too bad. I'm just mildly put out that I'm still being lumped into an "other".

That's not bad at all. An "asexual" option would have been nice, since it's not that rare, but it's a good try!

Because there were people here who wanted a transplanted uterus (hello Lix ):

So I was contacted by a young trans woman who believed I knew something about the uterus transplantation project. She had contacted prof. Brännström and he was too busy for a long conversation but said that it was a clinical possibility to do a uterus transplant to a trans woman (if the proper donors could be found, etc.) She'd have to rely on donated oocytes, however. But he also said that it was an advantage to have semen stored since we may one day be able to turn sperm cells into oocytes. Personally I wouldn't hold my breath on that last part, but he knows more about the field than I do.

That sounds very interesting and promising!

Right erm what's the difference between queer and gay? Also aren't lesbians gay?

Queer is definitely a more general term. Some people identify as queer rather than as specifically "gay" or "bi" or whatever. And I agree that "homosexual" would have made more sense than putting in the gendered options. I think some people (some places?) use "gay" to only mean man-on-man-love, so maybe that's why they put in lesbian as well.

[noparlpf]

Yeah, either of those works! I don't really like the way these two big islands plus all the little ones are called the "British Isles", because, y'know, not Britain over here! But it is their geographical name so I suppose I can't blame you for it! I usually use, and I think most Irish people use, "Ireland and the UK". (I imagine British people would be more inclined to go for "the UK and Ireland" )

I will be sure to remember to explicitly include Ireland as a separate and far superior entity in the future.

Okay, there's 32 mineral specimens, 15 rock specimens, and a made-up map with locations marked. The locations are pretending to be where the 15 rock specimens came from (the map is imaginary, but geologically possible).

In the first part, you name and give the mineral formula for each of the 32 minerals. For example, you pick up a mineral, it's hexagonal, transparent and can't be scraped by a blade - it's quartz! Write down "quartz, SiO2". Next one is purpleish red, also very hard, maybe cubic-ish: garnet, (Fe,Mg)3Al2Si3O12. Gold-coloured imperfect rhombic dodecahedron? Pyrite, FeS. Brownish flakes? Biotite, K(Mg,Fe)3AlSi3O10(OH)2. Basically, we have to know like 50 to 100 chemical formulae plus be able to recognise the mineral.

Then in the second part, you look at the 15 rocks and describe them. "This is a banded mid-to-coarse grained rock, dominantly pink in colour. Grains appear to be mainly quartz, with some feldspars. Pink is likely due to the presence of iron. Small grains of pyrite are visible in bands. This is a banded arkose sandstone." And you look at the map and describe a likely geological history. "The basaltic lava flows are overlying the sandstones, but both are offset by the fault. The sandstones were deposited first, then the lava was the result of volcanic activity. Later, the succession was faulted."

Describing this is making me nervous.

Whoa. That sounds like a lot, but it also sounds fun. I'm sure you'll do fine!

That's not bad at all. An "asexual" option would have been nice, since it's not that rare, but it's a good try!

That sounds very interesting and promising!

Queer is definitely a more general term. Some people identify as queer rather than as specifically "gay" or "bi" or whatever. And I agree that "homosexual" would have made more sense than putting in the gendered options. I think some people (some places?) use "gay" to only mean man-on-man-love, so maybe that's why they put in lesbian as well.

I know that around here if I say "gay" to refer to a woman I'll get an odd look but they'll usually let it pass.

[Arachu]

This is unrelated, but I have a quick story- I've started training my voice to be able to be less baritone and more feminine. Normally, I do this while I'm in the car driving to and from work, since it's about forty minutes each way. Today, my father was home when I got back, and as I got out of the car, he asked me how my day went. I forgot to switch voices when I told him it was fine. Thankfully, I thought quickly, and just cleared my throat and acted like my voice had just cracked.

*Hugs* That was quick thinking~

It seems the 12 armed hug shuts down all parts of the brain except the parts relating to hugs...rendering the huggee in a coma like hug state.

Who wants one next :D

I do. >.< *crosses her arms all tantrum-y*

It's so true! Tea is hospitality. But that doesn't mean we don't have time to also drink a lot of alcohol.

You should combine tea and alcohol, it'll save you time.

I agree with this.

To compare to feminism (sorry!): we don't actually want you to accept women are equal because we're "just like men". You should accept women are equal because women are equal! Whether they conform to the often masculine-coded things our culture values (being stoic, working long hours outside the home, boy-colours, being technologically adept) or lean towards the feminine-coded things our culture often doesn't value (showing emotion, doing work as a carer, pink, being skilled at fabric crafts). And while we're at it, how about we start valuing feminine-coded things, and stop gender-coding things that don't actually need to be coded.

Exactly. Highlighting differences is not the way to get people to be more accepting of them.

Because there were people here who wanted a transplanted uterus (hello Lix ):

So I was contacted by a young trans woman who believed I knew something about the uterus transplantation project. She had contacted prof. Brännström and he was too busy for a long conversation but said that it was a clinical possibility to do a uterus transplant to a trans woman (if the proper donors could be found, etc.) She'd have to rely on donated oocytes, however. But he also said that it was an advantage to have semen stored since we may one day be able to turn sperm cells into oocytes. Personally I wouldn't hold my breath on that last part, but he knows more about the field than I do.

~Bianca

[Mina Kobold]

This is your brain.

Gender stereotypes.

Those are great! Especially the brain one, HRS as a super-serum sounds like a fun metaphor.

And this transphobic gem. (TW: Transphobia)

That is sad, although I am glad that awareness is spreading enough for there to be at least one student in there who knew how transphobic it was. ;_;

And what's so great about being human that it deserves special treatment? Isn't being sapient enough?

It is the ninjas, nobody wants to argue superiority with the species that produced ninjas. ._.

This is absolutely fascinating - current theories on the neurological causes of transsexuality. I kinda want to know what my brain looks like now.

Ooh, I must watch that from the beginning of #1! @_@/:ClearlyInsane:

Thanks for linking it, though. Even if it will destroy my free time. ^_^'

Could MRIs see that? I wonder if they could make a way to research brains without needing the patient to be deceased. ^_^

It seems the 12 armed hug shuts down all parts of the brain except the parts relating to hugs...rendering the huggee in a coma like hug state.

Who wants one next :D

Me! Pick me! I want to see the hugvana!

Yeah, either of those works! I don't really like the way these two big islands plus all the little ones are called the "British Isles", because, y'know, not Britain over here! But it is their geographical name so I suppose I can't blame you for it! I usually use, and I think most Irish people use, "Ireland and the UK". (I imagine British people would be more inclined to go for "the UK and Ireland" )

According to what I have read, the Scotland-England-Wales island is Great Britain, so presumably there is either a Tiny Britain or all the Isles form(ed) a collective Britain!

Is Tiny Britain populated by pixies? :3

[pffh]

Is Tiny Britain populated by pixies? :3

It's probably more likely to be pictsies than pixies.

[supernerd]

Hey, so yesterday I had my End of Course Assessment(ECA testing) for indiana's English 10. That day was the writing prompt. It was about laws making voting mandatory, well, whether we should have them. I pretty much went off, and had an extra body paragraph, and these were a good 200-250+ words each on a timed essay with an average of like six and a half characters, so I'm really proud of it. Especially for a timed essay, and it was actually good too! Not my usual fail timed crap.

In it we were told to use persuasive examples from our personal experiences, general observations, and other things. One of my examples was that my friend Bianca likes to make sure she can make educated voting descisions so she can help with issues close to home. Sorry if I was misrepresenting you, Bianca.

[Arachu]

Hey, so yesterday I had my End of Course Assessment(ECA testing) for indiana's English 10. That day was the writing prompt. It was about laws making voting mandatory, well, whether we should have them. I pretty much went off, and had an extra body paragraph, and these were a good 200-250+ words each on a timed essay with an average of like six and a half characters, so I'm really proud of it. Especially for a timed essay, and it was actually good too! Not my usual fail timed crap.

In it we were told to use persuasive examples from our personal experiences, general observations, and other things. One of my examples was that my friend Bianca likes to make sure she can make educated voting descisions so she can help with issues close to home. Sorry if I was misrepresenting you, Bianca.

Nah, that's pretty much how I look at things. n.n

... When I'm not thinking about clothes, or cute boys (and/or girls).


~Bianca

[supernerd]

Nah, that's pretty much how I look at things. n.n

... When I'm not thinking about clothes, or cute boys (and/or girls).


~Bianca

Well you are officially a personal experience of mine, congratulations. And I'm glad I was accurate. I also made the analogy of right to vote to marital rights saying that not every Caucasian man from California or New York will marry an African American man because he has the right to both interracial and same sex marriage. But I did make sure to balance the genders of my pronouns, which I was glad I had done reflexively and didn't need to edit them.

And girl, I think about clothes as much as I need to, ie when shopping or getting dressed, and about cute boys all the time (though I don't get boobs, and the closest thing to thinking about cute girls is ranting at my friends' boobs about how I don't get what makes them attractive, I mean sure large breasts are a symbol of fertility, but...).

[Asta Kask]

That trans woman I told you about. I'm trying to get her to come here so she can meet other LGBTA people in a friendly environment. So if she decides to pop in y'all be nice to her, ok?

[Heliomance]

According to what I have read, the Scotland-England-Wales island is Great Britain, so presumably there is either a Tiny Britain or all the Isles form(ed) a collective Britain!

Is Tiny Britain populated by pixies? :3

England, Scotland and Wales form Great Britain. Add Northern Ireland and you get the United Kingdom. Then add the rest of Ireland and all the little islands and such and you get the British Isles.

[Lea Plath]

That trans woman I told you about. I'm trying to get her to come here so she can meet other LGBTA people in a friendly environment. So if she decides to pop in y'all be nice to her, ok?

Are coma hugs OK? :D

Also, on the whole transplant thing. What about the things needed for the baby, like the placenta and stuff. Do those develop normally?

[Heliomance]

My girlfriend's a Fine Arts student, and we've just come up with an awesome idea. Over summer, she'd like to use me as a model to make a project on gender and gender expression!

Dunno if this is going to happen or not, but it sounds like fun if it does!

[pffh]

About the uterus thingy we aren't that far away from being able to clone organs so I wouldn't be surprised that if shortly after the uterus transplanty and the sperm to eggs thingy are ready to be used we would be able to just make a new uterus.

[Selpharia]

I know i'm late to the party (Noes!), but I finally got around to looking at these

Random linkies:
This is your brain.

Gender stereotypes.

And this transphobic gem. (TW: Transphobia)

1) Awesome. I hope so.

2) This is great and true.

3)

Reads
...
Is stunned by the dumb
...
Reads Again
Why? But- how?
And one more to be sure

"Ladyboy?" What is that? What even is that?

Honestly aside from the blatant ignorance, insensitivity, and crowd-baiting, the worst thing about this is that this is a man who is supposed to, I assume, be teaching a college course on these sorts of issues. Heck, I went to a nominally Catholic college, and I think there were more knowledgeable and understanding people on the subject there than this nincompoop. If that lesson did not feature a final statement explaining exactly how easily the class had been led down this path of willful and callous stupidity, then there are no words for the level of failure occurring here. This would be like an East Asia "expert" stating that Japan and China are "basically the same country." NNNNNGGGHH!

Ok, after a few deep breaths, I'm better.

All of this talk about college and high school/equivalent essays makes me feel really distressingly old. Hope they go well for everyone!

[Heliomance]

"Ladyboy?" What is that? What even is that?

Not actually necessarily a term of abuse. It's a translation of a Thai term, and it's a pretty big subculture over there.

[Arachu]

Are coma hugs OK? :D

Also, on the whole transplant thing. What about the things needed for the baby, like the placenta and stuff. Do those develop normally?

I wanna coma-hug... *pouts*

That trans woman I told you about. I'm trying to get her to come here so she can meet other LGBTA people in a friendly environment. So if she decides to pop in y'all be nice to her, ok?

We'll see what we can do...


~Bianca

[Selpharia]

Not actually necessarily a term of abuse. It's a translation of a Thai term, and it's a pretty big subculture over there.

Oh, well, just let me wash this egg off of my face. Guess I just figured it would be worse from the general tone of the whole thing.

[Triscuitable]

Also, on the whole transplant thing. What about the things needed for the baby, like the placenta and stuff. Do those develop normally?

(Is terrible with human anatomy)

Is that not a part of the uterus? If not, I'd assume it's a part of the transplant itself. The woman the surgery was performed on didn't have a placenta, either.

[Heliomance]

Oh, well, just let me wash this egg off of my face. Guess I just figured it would be worse from the general tone of the whole thing.

Oh, don't get me wrong, it was being used as a term of abuse in that lecture. But yeah, the term isn't inherently perjorative.

[The Succubus]

My girlfriend's a Fine Arts student, and we've just come up with an awesome idea. Over summer, she'd like to use me as a model to make a project on gender and gender expression!

Dunno if this is going to happen or not, but it sounds like fun if it does!

I'd be really interested in seeing what she does with you.

Or possibly a phrase that makes me sound like less of a voyeur. >.>

[Lea Plath]

I wanna coma-hug... *pouts*
~Bianca

BRACE YOURSELF! *Hugs*

[Arachu]

BRACE YOURSELF! *Hugs*

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay~ ^_^


~Bianca

[Asta Kask]

Are coma hugs OK? :D

Also, on the whole transplant thing. What about the things needed for the baby, like the placenta and stuff. Do those develop normally?

The placenta is partly formed from the uterus but most of it comes from the baby. So that wouldn't be a problem. You'd have to have a modified SRS, because you want somewhere for uterine wall to exit when you menstruate. Yes, the joys of PMS would now be available for trans women.