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2 yr. ago

  • Gay, lesbian, etc. are sexualities, which has nothing specifically to do with gender per se. Gender is a performance we do based upon what our culture expects of us based on specific labels and (often physical) traits. Think "goth girl" or "punk" or something. When given a label like that, you probably thought of a specific set of physical traits and behaviors, including fashion, hairstyle, and makeup. That's gender in a nutshell. Sexuality is more "if not attractive, then why x shaped?"

    It gets complicated because people really like to put things into an either/or box when life is so much more than a or b. Originally, sexualities were defined as two states: heterosexual and homosexual. Hetero, meaning other, means an attraction to the other sex (generally thought of as the opposite sex/gender due to a lack of information on intersex folk and the aforementioned two boxes appeal in the human psyche). And the opposite would be homosexual - an attraction to people of the same sex. But this is an elementary level of understanding, like when we teach kids about the 3 states of matter and leave out things like plasma.

    Because people have preferences and all straight men aren't attracted to 100% of women, and then there's lesbians and gay men and bisexuals and then there's how gender presentation plays into our attraction like with butch vs femme lesbians or how men and women both can appreciate a girl who could bench press them. And then some people are into femboys and women only while some are into men that belong in the Scottish Highlands wearing kilts and claymores and women who own fainting couches and ball gowns and wouldn't even glance at anything outside of those 2 groups, and then some people are only attracted to specific body parts (dick or pussy) but are less strict on who those parts are attached to, and then there's the people who don't care about anything beyond personality, and then...the list goes on and on.

    And then it gets even more complicated when you start talking about romantic attraction, because that's entirely its own spectrum as well. People can be romantically attracted to the same or different genders compared to sexual attraction. Some people are sexually attracted to multiple genders but could only see themselves dating one specific gender, some people experience no romantic attraction at all or no sexual attraction, or even both together. The human brain is a massive mess and there's simply no way to easily quantify the human experience - if we even can at all. I saw a post recently that went something like "the brain is 3lbs of mostly fat puppeting a meat suit by using less electricity than a light bulb, and if it can hallucinate algebra into existence then I'm fully willing to believe that it's also capable of identifying its own gender" and I think that sums it up pretty nicely.

  • This could be an introvert thing. Introvert vs extrovert isn't about being shy or anything like the stereotype. The best way that I've heard to describe it is that an extrovert refills their emotional batteries through social activities, big groups, etc. while an introvert has their emotional batteries drained doing that and needs time alone to let themself recharge.

    You can have a socially anxious extrovert who lives for hanging out in a big group of friends even if they don't talk much or anything, and an outgoing introvert who just needs to come home at the end of the day and sit on the floor with their back against a wall for awhile before they have the energy to do anything else.

  • I literally had this happen with my desktop last night, and it's entirely down to Windows actively choosing to go into sleep mode or not. No activity on the computer, click on sleep, the monitors go off and I started to walk away except I noticed that my keyboard and mouse were still on (the first things to turn off when Windows goes to sleep for me) and the fans were still running. Wiggled the mouse and it had only turned the monitors off. I tried it 2 or 3 more times and Windows kept doing the same thing - putting the monitors to sleep and nothing else. I eventually just straight up shut it down with the power button.

  • I always love the duality of comments on this topic. America's military is a Schrodinger's Military at this point, both terrifying and completely non-existent basically depending on what time of day the conversation happens at.

    Canadians can't help because the military is so powerful (completely obvious and understandable) but also, like somebody up above said, "Americans are feckless sheep" for not shooting up the White House yet.

    Everybody's a hero until it's their life on the line.

  • They mistook your comment as disagreeing with their take on how there are real victims of Grok's porn and CSAM and saying that they themselves were supporting CSAM, rather than saying that you agree and were saying Sweeney is supporting CSAM.

  • You know those signs at roller coasters that say "you must be this tall to ride"? The US is that, except the sign says "you must be this rich to play".

  • Unfortunately for the US, the rich have spent the decades since the Civil Rights Movement convincing the general populace that their rights were won by holding a snarky sign on a street corner and not by burning down entire city districts after the murder of MLK by the government (which his family proved in court, by the way. Unfortunately, no criminal court would hear the case so it was only in a civil court, but the judge was convinced well enough to find the government guilty).

    Years of protesting and nothing solid was accomplished. Within a week of billions of dollars in damage to property and big business, the Civil Rights laws were drafted, voted on, and signed into law.

  • It's the same as the "basic biology" argument. Twisting something to the point it breaks in order to justify their hate. The Bible has gay people in it.

    In the Bible, one of the people that Jesus heals is the slave of a Roman soldier. In the original Latin text, the word they use is for a kind of male slave kept as a consort/sex slave. King David, one of God's chosen, is a bisexual man who had multiple wives and a male "friend" who "loved him in a way that no woman ever could."

    Being gay or bi was so normal back then that they never bothered to spell it out, not thinking that centuries later some heretics would twist their words to spread their hate.

  • Unions are the peaceful alternative for negotiations that workers and their bosses agreed upon instead of dragging them out of the factory into the street and beating them to death.

    More people need to remember this history.

    Even MLK credited the success of his work during the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Panthers being willing to do what he could not, and the Million Man March on Washington - seen today as an example of successful peaceful protest - was a threat to every white American in a seat of power. If he could mobilize a million people to shut down the capital of the federal government peacefully, imagine what else they could do.

  • I completely agree and experienced it myself (missing what you don't have). I just meant in the terms of a bunch of replies that I've gotten in here to the tune of "I'm a cis guy who was circumcised at birth and it doesn't bother me at all."

    There's the possibility of something akin to how some trans people experience permanent low-grade dysphoria and it affects their frame of reference. Basically, if we were to map the feelings of dysphoria out on a scale from 0 to 10, the average person would be at a 0 under normal circumstances, but some people are born at a 2 or a 3. So to them, a 5 would be the average person's 3, and experiencing a 0 would be like getting glasses for the first time and realizing that trees have individual leaves and this is how everybody else sees the world. If you can only reach a 6 on a scale of how enjoyable an experience is while the average person can hit a 10, how would you have the frame of reference to know that you are or aren't missing something when you've never felt a 7 or above? So these people saying that they weren't negatively affected could just be mistaking a 6 for a 10 and there's no way for us or them to know for certain.

  • I'm trans and I brought it up for a couple of reasons: first, Weevil brought up gender affirming surgeries in regards to trans people as part of some slippery slope argument. Secondly, trans medical issues tie very well into my exceptions that I mentioned in the second part of my comment - medical necessity and consent.

    You may not have any issues with being circumcised, but there are plenty of men out there who do. To the point that there's a "foreskin restoration" process that involves using clamps and rubber bands to yank on the skin of your penis until it stretches into some resemblance of a foreskin. It doesn't reverse any of the consequences of circumcision, but some men at least feel less dysphoric after doing it. I myself thought that my dysphoria was related to being circumcised before I learned words like "transgender" and "gender dysphoria." Still not a fan of what was done to me, though. Enough to weigh in on conversations around the subject in the way that I have.

    Generally, I think it's a situation of "people don't miss what they never knew they had." There's plenty of data from men who were circumcised later in life reporting a loss of sensitivity and difficulty with sexual pleasure and satisfaction post procedure compared to before. And this is why I compare it to being forced through an unwanted puberty. Permanent physical changes that you do not consent to. A baby cannot consent to having their genitals permanently altered. And a trans kid unable to access puberty blockers is as capable of preventing an unwanted puberty as a baby is capable of fighting a doctor/Rabbi/priest/etc.

    Now for the exceptions: consent I've kinda already talked about, but if you understand the consequences and want to do it, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to anymore than somebody who wants to get a Prince Albert or a Jacob's Ladder. And the big one, medical necessity. There are a number of reasons that it would be medically necessary, and they're all valid regardless of the age at which they appear. Phimosis is a real thing that can hit at pretty much any age up to post puberty. I once worked with a poor kid who had to get it done for that reason at the age of 18. Although, based on a comment I saw elsewhere in this thread about the number of babies who die from UTIs related to circumcision, there may be some room to talk about what strictly is and isn't "medically necessary."

    Basically, if your doctor says that you need to for health reasons or it's your own informed choice, go right ahead. But if you're forcing it on a baby due to peer pressure from the dead or because of some sense of "my dad hit me and I turned out fine," then that isn't right and should not be considered kosher.

  • Everybody thinks "it could never happen here" right up until it does. We said the same exact thing learning about Nazi Germany in school. Keep an eye out, because I'd say Canada is probably about 10 years behind the US.

    Your conservative party has been eyeballing the Republicans as role models for decades, and you had plenty of Trump supporters marching not too long ago. I've been watching the Canadian war on science since the conservative administration from 20-25 years ago shut down a decade-long study on the effects of UBI halfway through and sealed the documents because they didn't like the results that showed that there were noticeable drops in employment in only two groups - pregnant women and students - and that other effects included improved grade scores and graduation rates, increased college enrollment, and a general improvement in the local economy.

  • They'd probably respond similarly to telling somebody who was circumcised without consent and doesn't like it that it's just a harmless cosmetic surgery. Or telling a trans person forced to experience the wrong puberty that it isn't a big deal/we can't allow trans kids to go on puberty blockers because they might regret it (despite the fact that all the effects of puberty blockers are reversed by...stopping taking them).

    Source: am trans, was forced through the wrong puberty, and was circumcised without consent as a baby and hate it. Did you know that there are people out there so traumatized by being circumcised as a baby that they willingly use clamps and rubber bands to slowly stretch out the skin on their dick until it looks like a foreskin again? The info on how to do it is easily accessible online and the tools are easily purchased. I know this because I discovered it and considered it not long before I discovered words like "transgender" and "gender dysphoria" and found out that there were words for feelings that I did not have the language to understand before.

    I used those specific body parts as examples for a few reasons. Namely, they're all designed to protect mucus membranes and keep them moist, like the foreskin. Removing them would also be permanent and result in negative effects - like how circumcision causes nerve damage and desensitization. There really isn't a great comparison, and those who had it done as a kid don't know what they're missing. We do have plenty of reports from people who had it done later in life, though, and there's plenty of data on the loss of sensitivity and struggle with sexual pleasure and satisfaction post-circumcision.

    I guess the closest thing would be if people were ritualistically shooting lasers into their babies' eyes to damage the lenses so that they needed glasses or something. Some people just like the way that glasses look. I knew a guy who didn't need glasses and wore a pair without any lenses in them just because he liked the way that they looked. But given the choice between glasses and 20/20 vision, I'd personally take the 20/20 vision, thanks.

  • So why haven't you marched down here yourself and taken up the good fight? Or are you just an armchair general making excuses for not protecting freedom and democracy in the world because you're too chickenshit to actually put your money where your mouth is?

    Guess what, everybody's a hero until it's their life on the line, and then the truth comes out: the average person is too scared to give up their homes, their food, and their lives. A cornered animal will bite, but if you leave it even one avenue of escape 9 out of 10 times it will bolt.

  • It is not a "harmless cosmetic procedure." It's more akin to ritual scarification or removing something like a lip, eyelid, or nose. It destroys nerve endings, causing a permanent loss of sensitivity, and the head of the penis is a mucus membrane that the foreskin is meant to keep moist and protect from damage. Most people had it done before they were old enough to be aware of the difference, but those who had it done later in life often report things like a reduction in the ability to feel sexual pleasure.

    Medically necessary circumcision or somebody choosing to have it done is one thing, forcing an amputation onto a baby is entirely different. It's like forcing a trans person to go through the wrong puberty: unwanted and permanent physical changes that can take years of therapy and medical procedures to heal from.

  • If you want to go the teeth route, removing the molars or canines is a better comparison. There are medical reasons why this might be necessary, but to rip out a baby's teeth that have yet to grow in with a pair of pliers for ritualistic reasons is not the same thing at all.

    Circumcision destroys nerve endings and can cause permanent scarring, potentially dramatically reducing the ability to feel sensations. The head of the penis is also a mucus membrane and the foreskin is meant to both keep it moist and protect it from damage. Have you ever had dry eyes or the inside of your nose dry out? Imagine cutting off the outside of your nostrils or part of your eyelids so that it was like that all the time.

    If somebody wants to have it done, that's fine. That's their choice to make, just like getting a tattoo or piercings is. But forcing it on somebody without it being strictly necessary for medical reasons is cruel. It can be very traumatic. If it wasn't, "foreskin restoration" - the act of using clamps, pulleys, and rubber bands to stretch the skin of the penis out into a fake foreskin - wouldn't be a thing.

  • "So much for the tolerant left" they cry, after punching leftists in the face for 30+ years.

    All that's left is the consequences of their own actions, anybody who would've been willing to help them gave up long ago.

  • I was literally just about to post this:

    Multiple forms of life evolve to fill an extent niche.

  • Not quite the same, but The Matrix and so-called "red-pilled" Republicans make me laugh every time for this reason. The Wachowski sisters have flat out and openly said that The Matrix is a transgender story about the prison of toxic masculinity and escaping it by transitioning. The red pill is Premarin, an estrogen pill from the 90s, and the blue pill is a testosterone steroid (I forget which one), both of which were produced in those exact colors. So every time a conservative talks about being "red-pilled," they're actually talking about taking estrogen.

  • More and more I'm finding that there's a fair bit of overlap between the two.

  • politics @lemmy.world

    Elon Musk’s Cronies Locking Federal Workers Out of Computer Systems

    www.yahoo.com /news/elon-musk-cronies-locking-federal-215905907.html
  • News @lemmy.world

    Elon Musk’s Friends Have Infiltrated Another Government Agency

    www.wired.com /story/elon-musk-lackeys-general-services-administration/
  • News @lemmy.world

    Elon Musk’s Cronies Locking Federal Workers Out of Computer Systems

    www.yahoo.com /news/elon-musk-cronies-locking-federal-215905907.html