gender to me is like a car i dont really want one and society would be much better if it was not structured around it. but i got one because it helps me get around and sometimes its fun to make it go fast

and people tell you to move to one of a handful of cities if you want to avoid having one, but when you get there the majority of people have one anyway and jobs expect you to as well

Car dependence has ruined the physical and social infrastructure of this country. If we want any revolution we need Walkable safe human scaled cities

amtrak I love you and you're so right but this post is about gender so

gender has ruined the physical and social infrastructure of this country. if we want any revolution we need gender-optional safe queer friendly cities

What's a gender?

a train ride was a great way to experience Unreal Unearth. i’m on the fourth listen now

true, i was on the above-ground train in the bronx when I'd seen it had dropped

this just in: eating like shit for no reason is bad for you

this just in: diet specifically made for children with untreatable epilepsy is really only good for children with untreatable epilepsy

this just in: eating a diet that DOUBLES daily fat consumption while cutting out carbs (which have necessary fibers that promote heart health) is bad for you

Just looked up what time I was born and I'm so relieved that I can finally clear some things up! For those who have been asking, I'm an INTJ sun and an ENFP moon.

While I profoundly dislike astrology I can recognize that the vast majority of people who are into astrology are probably just having fun.

MBPI is a different story. If you're someone who is really into your Meyers Briggs type and are, like, assigning celebrities Meyers Briggs types you are exhibiting Behaviors (tm) that tell me you are at all times five seconds away from recommending that I watch a video on body language analysis.

Being really into MBPI types is like saying you think astrology is bullshit so you rely on scrying to get a feel for new people.

"I'm an INTJ so I'm suuuuuper unbiased and rational."

I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.

and

EDIT:

sure why not:

tags via @littleredplanetnumberfour

terfs keep mentioning the % of autistics who are trans/nb and that we're 'brainwashed'

and because i'm an asshole, i decided to look into why so many autistic folks are trans/nb. it's not an inaccurate statement, at least the first half, but terfs lie through their teeth so i decided to get to the scientific root of it.

the answer blew my fucking mind.

the study on gender and autism i found said two very specific things about autistic people: we are more mentally resistant to things like social conditioning and binarism. we like our secret third things, y'know.

an excerpt:

“The finding that non-binary identities are most elevated seems to support hypotheses focussed on autistic resistance to social conditioning, which are consistent with existing evidence of the same effect with respect to self-description of sexual orientation. Perhaps elevated rates of trans identity in autism might result from a rejection of the binary cisgenderist norm, which combined with a below-typical concern for social norms could promote the disclosure of the identity.”

94% of autistics surveyed for that paper identified themselves as non-binary.

other studies have found autistic people have higher levels of critical thinking, and require more evidence to maintain or convert to a belief system (hence why many of us eventually fall away from religion) than allistic people.

which means, at least from my perspective, that:

a) the 'brainwashing' terfs are accusing the trans community of inflicting on autistic folks would likely not even work if they tried.

b) the current binary definition of gender flies directly against embedded autistic modes of thinking to begin with.

you cannot brainwash someone into thinking something they already believe.

This essentially suggests that autistic people are likely to be NB because we are in fact resistant to the relevant brainwashing.

[copied from a reply by @maxens]

(due to old age)

The history of Solarpunk

Okay, I guess this has to be said, because the people will always claim the same wrong thing: No, Solarpunk did not "start out as an aesthetic". Jesus, where the hell does this claim even come from? Like, honestly, I am asking.

Solarpunk started out as a genre, that yes, did also include design elements, but also literary elements. A vaguely defined literary genre, but a genre never the less.

And I am not even talking about those early books that we today also claim under the Solarpunk umbrella. So, no, I am not talking about Ursula K. LeGuin, even though she definitely was a big influence on the genre.

The actual history of Solarpunk goes something like that: In the late 1990s and early 2000s the term "Ecopunk" was coined, which was used to refer to books that kinda fit into the Cyberpunk genre umbrella, but were more focused on ecological themes. This was less focused on the "high tech, high life" mantra that Solarpunk ended up with, but it was SciFi stories, that were focused on people interacting with the environment. Often set to a backdrop of environmental apocalypse. Now, other than Solarpunk just a bit later, this genre never got that well defined (especially with Solarpunk kinda taking over the role). As such there is only a handful of things that ever officially called themselves Ecopunk.

At the same time, though, the same sort of thought was picked up in the Brazilian science fiction scene, where the idea was further developed. Both artistically, where it got a lot of influence from the Amazofuturism movement, but also as an ideology. In this there were the ideas from Ecopunk as the "scifi in the ecological collaps" in there, but also the idea of "scifi with technology that allows us to live within the changing world/allows us to live more in harmony with nature".

Now, we do not really know who came up with the idea of naming this "Solarpunk". From all I can find the earliest mention of the term "Solarpunk" that is still online today is in this article from the Blog Republic of Bees. But given the way the blogger talks about it, it is clear there was some vague definition of the genre before it.

These days it is kinda argued about whether that title originally arose in Brazil or in the Anglosphere. But it seems very likely that the term was coined between 2006 and 2008, coming either out of the Brazilian movement around Ecopunk or out of the English Steampunk movement (specifically the literary branch of the Steampunk genre).

In the following years it was thrown around for a bit (there is an archived Wired article from 2009, that mentions the term once, as well as one other article), but for the moment there was not a lot happening in this regard.

Until 2012, when the Brazilian Solarpunk movement really started to bloom and at the same time in Italy Commando Jugendstil made their appearance. In 2012 in Brazil the anthology "Solarpunk: Histórias ecológicas e fantásticas em um mundo sustentável" was released (that did get an English translation not too long ago) establishing some groundwork for the genre. And Commando Jugendstil, who describe themselves as both a "Communication Project" and an "Art Movement", started to work on Solarpunk in Italy. Now, Commando Jugendstil is a bit more complicated than just one or the other. As they very much were a big influence on some of the aesthetic concepts, but also were releasing short stories and did some actual punky political action within Italy.

And all of that was happening in 2012, where the term really started to take off.

And only after this, in 2014, Solarpunk became this aesthetic we know today, when a (now defuct) tumblr blog started posting photos, artworks and other aesthetical things under the caption of Solarpunk. Especially as it was the first time the term was widely used within the Anglosphere.

Undoubtedly: This was probably how most people first learned of Solarpunk... But it was not how Solarpunk started. So, please stop spreading that myth.

The reason this bothers me so much is, that it so widely ignores how this movement definitely has its roots within Latin America and specifically Brazil. Instead this myth basically tries to claim Solarpunk as a thing that fully and completely originated within the anglosphere. Which is just is not.

And yes, there was artistic aspects to that early Solarpunk movement, too. But also a literary and political aspectt. That is not something that was put onto a term that was originally an aesthetic - but rather it was something that was there from the very beginning.

Again: There has been an artistic and aesthetic aspect in Solarpunk from the very beginning, yes. But there has been a literary and political aspect in it the entire time, too. And trying to divorce Solarpunk from those things is just wrong and also... kinda misses the point.

So, please. Just stop claiming that entire "it has been an aesthetic first" thing. Solarpunk is a genre of fiction, it is a political movement, just as much as it is an artistic movement. Always has been. And there has always been punk in it. So, please, stop acting as if Solarpunk is just "pretty artistic vibes". It is not.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, I guess.

Hi! Admin Jay here! Great overview thanks @alpaca-clouds! Commando Jugendstil are good friends of ours, we love them a lot, solidarity!

For now tho, for those interested, you can find a (more or less complete) history of Solarpunk media online from 2008-18 at the reference guide we put together.

The first Solarpunk post on Tumblr ever was our 'The initial equation' posted by Admin Adam Flynn, June 2012.

Concurring with Alpaca, Solarpunk has always been about more than pretty aesthetics: Check out Adam's July 2012 essay 'On the Need for New Futures' republished here with a forward which was written after the IRL/Online Solarpunk meet-up at WeirdShitCon Portland 2012. Post which, many of the other early admins on this blog got added and involved.

It's worth mentioning that 'Need for New Futures' ends with a bunch of open political and social questions asking what Solarpunk could become? (as it wasn't anything at all at the time) the last two being:

Solarpunk as it's known today originates in Brazil!

When 'Need for New Futures' went online 'Histórias ecológicas' was yet to be published, but novelist JesseaPerry was aware of it, and said the word 'Solarpunk' to Adam - and the rest is history.

Subsequently, Solarpunk had parallel development in the Anglosphere and in Brazil with NO contact between the two scenes until after the publication of the Kickstarted translation of Histórias ecológicas in English by Sarena Ulibarri at Worldweavers in 2017. We (folks behind this blog) have had our lives enriched immensely by contact and dialogue with Solarpunks in Brazil since this happened! The Solarpunk movement at large is in great debt to Sarena!

The first self described Solarpunk story in English was “Sunshine State” written by Adam Flynn and Andrew Dana Hudson - also the winner of 2016's Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction short story competition.

Sunvault and Wings of Renewal, Biketopia etc all came out in subsequent years.

For some early Solarpunk thinking which clearly demonstrate that its about more than just aesthetics: check out Adam's massively viral Solarpunk: Notes toward a Manifesto from 2014 and Andrew's 2015 essay 'On the Politics of Solarpunk' - also the reference guide.

Many of the early Solarpunk voices were interviewed by VICE a few years ago and we explicitly say Solarpunk is about the end of capitalism lol.

As for me (@thejaymo) you can read my pretty viral 2019 essay: SOLARPUNK – Life in the Future, and this more recent one Solarpunk: A Container for More Fertile Futures which is about what Solarpunk means to me.

Being involved in Solarpunk and its community of - kind, motivated people, who are concerned with the struggles en route to a better world, the solutions to live comfortably without fossil fuels, how to equitably manage scarcity and share abundance, to be kinder to each other and to the planet we share - for the last decade, has been one of the biggest and most meaningful experiences of my life.

Thank you Solarpunks 🙏.

I'll close with our groupblogs tagline since the beginning:

Solarpunk: At once a vision of the future, a thoughtful provocation, and an achievable lifestyle. In progress...

Who’s with us?

Probably my favorite thing I’ve ever made by UnbotheredCreatrix

the funniest thing to me rn is seeing transphobic women going into bathrooms in transphobic states and then being shocked that trans men are in there and actually (gasp) look like men?!?! (shocking i know /s)

like you guys forced people to go to the bathrooms of their “biological sex” but now when they do it’s disconcerting that men look like men. (yes even if that man has a vagina.)

Transphobes are shocked to realize trans men aren’t all “uwu soft boiz” and HRT does what it’s supposed to. It’s so mind boggling to them that trans people don’t look like their bigoted characatures.

Anyways here are some men that will be forced to use the women’s restroom in states like florida, texas, kansas, etc.

Not shocked at all. It’s because transphobes don’t want trans people to “use the right bathroom” they want trans people to die, disappear, and stop being part of society at all.

It was never about the bathrooms, it’s just one step closer to keeping trans people out of public and out of society

I fucking hate languages.

The Greeks had this word, right, we have no idea where it came from, it just kinda popped up out of nowhere, and it could mean either apples, cheeks, or boobs. Problem is it looked and sounded *exactly* like another, unrelated word which could mean sheep, goat, or any animal in general really, which must have got confusing if you were a farmer talking about your livestock, but anyway…

Then the Romans, having stolen practically everything else from the Greeks, thought they’d nick this word too, because Latin isn’t confusing enough without throwing in a bunch of loan words. And they adopted it to mean a pumpkin.

Then the English came along and were all like “when in Rome”, and stole it, where it became our word ‘melon’. Which has now come back to mean boobs.

How do you like them apples.

I fucking love languages.

In case anyone doubts the veracity of this:

[ source ]

Calling boobs ‘melons’ literally transcends culture, time, and language.

official boob post

I am in love with Clara 😭

Transcript:

Clara trusts me enough to show me different parts of her body like her belly. show me her mouth and allow me to touch all of those teeth. —right? can you turn and show them all of your teeth? good job!— So we work really hard on being able to look over their entire bodies, and progress those behaviors to things like voluntary blood draws, ultrasounds, teeth brushing, and radiographing. —right? yeah!— But the biggest thing is we find what they find reenforcing and they show us that. and that includes hugs. —right?— And Clara has shown us that she really seems to enjoy tactile, so I give her this hand signal and she will show me what part of her body she wants rubbed. So, right now she wants a big noogie —right? good.— and sometimes what I will do is I’ll make her head a little pancake. or then I’ll rub her side and then she snuggles right in. —huh? huh! good girl thats very nice, good.— And then like I said, she would climb right on my lap and allow me to continue giving her tactile.

You know how corn was selectively bred out of grasses, and bananas used to have tons of rocky seeds, and avocados used to be like 90% pit, and watermelons once looked

like this?

I think we should breed the pits out of mangoes

Yep. And that kind of watermelon itself is after centuries upon centuries of selective breeding!

The other above-mentioned fruits:

Teosinte, the ancestor of corn

A not-seedless banana

A wild, unaltered avocado

We need to do this with mangoes

Mangoes have pits to keep us humble. Without them we would fall to insatiable bloodlust for more mango.

Maybe I want to be a mangpire

i need friends that want to go to the library with me & want to go to the aquarium with me & want to play board games with me & want to sit in silence with me & want to go grocery shopping with me & want to kiss me & want to live forever with me

my writing fundamentally changed forever ten years ago when i realized you could use sentence structure to control people’s heart rates. is this still forbidden knowledge or does everyone know it now

?????? *raises hand* I’ve been writing for years and don’t know this trick by these words! do tell?

Okay, so a few people have asked for me to cite the dark magics at them, and i’m super happy to share because it’s my favorite thing ever. 

so, let’s see if i can explain this the same way that i learned. read a sentence out loud. you come to a full stop when you hit the period, and you take a normal, breath. but, when you hit a comma, you take a slightly longer pause. and when you hit a dash - you take an even longer pause. 

this is a natural rhythm that we pick up when we’re first taught to read; we do it without even thinking. but when you start to think about it, you realize that it can become a tool.

think of your heartbeat. a period is badump. a comma is badump-dump. and a dash is thump badump. one breath. a longer breath. two breaths.

that means what you read automatically affects the rhythm of your breathing and your heartrate. which means that you can control the amount of physical tension your reader feels… by altering your punction and your sentence structure.

for fast paced scenes, you use short sentences. a lot of hard stops. mostly periods, with just a few comma’s thrown in for the full breath. your reader’s heartrate accelerates. their breathing is slightly and unintentionally, on their end, quicker. you hit the dramatic ending of the scene - and your reader’s body phsyically feels the gasp, the breath of fresh air, of these longer sentences.

now, read that paragraph again ant take note of your natural pauses, and how it subtly affects your breathing. 

the same thing can be said of comma’s and dashes. while they can be used as a breath of fresh air, they can also cause a new line of tension as they lead your reader to hold their breath. during this section, you should use longer sentences; breaking up the harshness of the pauses by using variations of punction. read this paragraph out loud from the start and take note of how long you go between pauses and full breaths. 

and then, comes the biggest trick.

the hard stop.

the paragraph.

because while the periods, commas, and dashes are variations on a short stop, the paragraph is a hard stop. you take a full breath. you pause for a moment, then move to the start of the next paragraph.

which means you can create an entirely new sort of dramatic tension. read the sentences that are in bold. see how you take a naturally longer pause at the end of each paragraph?

see how it makes you feel? 

how it makes you breath different? 

how doing it once, twice, or three times creates a different line of tension? 

this little magic trick can be used to cause a reader’s heartrate to speed up during a fight or chase scene. it can be used to cause their breathing to slow down during moments of dramatic tension, sorrow, or softness. and it can be used to create hard breaks that add a new level of physically felt emphasis to your written work.

i hope these examples make sense! it’s my favorite writing trick!

Whole lotta people look at that post I did on how pushing weight loss doesn't actually solve problems and start naming the problems they think it will solve that I specifically mentioned by name in that exact post.

Losing weight might help your knees, but I see plenty of thin people who still need knee replacements. If you live long enough, you will get arthritis. Osteoarthritis is the degenerative process that is a result of wear and tear on cartilage, a type of tissue that does a fuck-awful job of repairing itself. If you run a lot, you might get more arthritis. If you're fat, you might get more arthritis. But there is no way to prevent it. You just have to keep moving, because activity may not prevent arthritis but it is the most effective tool we have for preventing the associated pain.

Just because something in your body is busted doesn't guarantee it will hurt. If you MRI the backs of "normal" people in our 40s, you'll find that a whole lot of us have blown discs. Doesn't correlate well with symptoms. It's why back surgery has such a shitty rate of improving pain--we don't understand back pain well enough to say "oh, that's definitely that blown disc and nothing else" and then fix it. You can have absolutely godawful arthritis and be in less pain than someone with objectively fewer changes to their joints on X-ray.

Eat plants and stay active, if you want to be healthy, but don't figure being thin will do that for you.

listen. There's a whole mentality shift that needs to happen culture wide here, from the schools to the public infrastructure to pet ownership to the justice system

The proper response to your dog doing a natural behavior you dislike (digging/barking/protecting etc) it to give them an appropriate time and place to engage in that behavior

The proper response to skateboarders damaging infrastructure is to build more and better skate parks, or build skate elements into the public infrastructure on purpose.

The proper response to homeless people sleeping on park benches is to build them houses.

you see how there's like, a commonality at play here?

The proper response to a disruption is to address the root of the disruption directly, not somehow attack the disruption itself -

you don't invent a muffler by swinging a bat at the engine noise, you don't relieve your hunger by punching yourself in the stomach, you don't resolve public unrest by sending armed men to control them and you don't prevent homeless people using bus shelters as a roof by removing the bus shelters.

a whole ass shift in a basic mindset, i'm tellin' you. We need it.

There are LARGE HOTELS sitting mostly empty that could easily be turned into apartments, with community center/cafeteria/restaurant on the ground floor. 

LARGE EMPTY OFFICE BUILDINGS ARE EVERYWHERE!  MAKE APARTMENTS! FFS, people...it’s not difficult!  And find some fucking way to get the LANDLORD USERY TAKEN OUT OF THE PICTURE SO THAT WE CAN ALL AFFORD TO LIVE IN OUR HOMES AND NOT IN FEAR FOR OUR VERY LIVES EVERY THIRTY GODDAMN DAYS!!!

nothing lamer than someone who buys into that eww children bullshit. including gay people

a person online: i hate it when adults act like childish little freaks in public, smh. you’re an adult, you should be able to order your own food without help. get over yourself. also, why are some people, like, waaaaaaay too into the stuff that they like? omg, and the people who CLEARLY can’t even have one (1) normal conversation without acting Weird??? it’s embarrassing, u guys are embarrassing, get help

the same person five seconds later: we gotta remember to love and support the autistic community u guys <3

you know, in hindsight this reminds me of something

when i’m at work, people get mad at me for not hearing them the first few times. like, openly agitated. they’ll assume that i’m stupid, or rude, or careless. sometimes they will indirectly chastise me for ‘not paying attention.’ at which point i say “i’m sorry, i’m hard of hearing. you were on my right side and i’m severely deaf in that ear,” and they go “oh my god i’m so sorry i didn’t know.”

yeah. you didn’t, did you? the only available information you had about me was… that i didn’t hear you say something. the thing you hated enough to comment on was that i couldn’t hear you. you don’t get to backpedal once you find out that i have can’t-hear-well disease. i shouldn’t need to present a diagnosis to expect decency from you

if you attach negative characteristics to “didn’t hear what you said,” that will affect how you treat d/Deaf and hard of hearing people. if you attach negative characteristics like “weird and childish” to utterly harmless and well established autistic traits like “doesn’t make eye contact,” that will affect how you treat autistic people. it’s not rocket science