Author: Joelle Maslak

Fix Your ADHD with a Good Diet!

While I’ll normally talk about gender here, sometimes I’m going to slip in some neurodiversity things. After all, there is a significant overlap between trans and non-binary people and neurodivergent people.

And today that gave me that opportunity.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pexels-photo-699953.jpeg
Photo by JANG u2018S ud83cudf42 on Pexels.com

For many disabled people & persons with chronic illnesses, suggestions that a condition would improve if “only you ate better” come frequently and from all directions. So seeing an article about how to eat for ADHD didn’t particularly surprise me. Besides, it lets us blame people with ADHD for their own difficulties in life–they are eating junk, so of course their brains aren’t typical.

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A Bathroom Chart for Life Under the GOP

Are you confused about what bathroom you should use? Sure, you might have never really given this much thought–you’ve just picked the one that is appropriate for you, but apparently most Republican voters care about this issue. A lot. And it’s vexing enough that they create laws that are dozens of pages long to help us know which bathroom we should use.

After all, the GOP is here to help!

Sure you might think, “I’m not one of those tr***s, so this doesn’t apply to me!” But does it really? Are you disabled? Do you sometimes need to clean a bathroom at work? Do you have short hair as a woman? All of this might make it more difficult for you to pick the bathroom the GOP thinks you should use.

Thus, I’ve decided to help the GOP out. They are welcome to, with attribution, use this chart in their own laws so that we can codify their desired outcomes. With this chart, which could be posted outside of each bathroom, everyone will know where they belong–and don’t–without having to rely on understanding their own gender.

So, without further ado, the chart! (Link to full size image)

Record Scratches and Dog Whistles

Me: “We need to leave. Now.”
Him: “Huh?”
Me: “Just…let’s go. Really.”
Him: “What?”
Me: <exasperated whisper> “Don’t you see the way I’m being looked at? We need to leave.”
Him: “Nobody is looking at you!”
Me: <annoyed whisper> “Yes they are, and I’m going to leave without you if you don’t come with me.”

I’m a trans woman. He’s a cis man. But I bet many of my readers have been on one side of this conversation–and likely both sides–at some point in their lives, regardless of their gender history. Maybe it wasn’t about gender, but about skin color, the language being spoken, religious dress, disability, class, or else entirely. One person knows something is wrong, the other can’t see it.

It’s related to a film trope–there’s a bar, there’s some music playing, but when the protagonist walks in, the needle scratches and the record stops. You know something bad is about to happen. It is usually a lot more obvious that someone is out of place. It is them versus the bar.

Here’s one of my favorites:

Let’s think about this scene a bit though, at least the opening, as it doesn’t end like it might in real life.

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Ban This Age-Inappropriate Book

South Carolina has implemented a book ban on books not “age or developmentally appropriate” that is intended to target books that challenge right-wing extremist thought. I.E. books about race, gender, sexuality, reproductive health, abuse, rape, and similar themes.

Photo by u0412u0438u043au0442u043eu0440u0438u044f u0411u0438u043bu0430u043d on Pexels.com
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Rapid Contagion

Once someone expresses a difference in public, others might realize that they, too, could express that difference, and that doing so might even improve their life, even though they’ll now be seen as different. For observers, this comes out of nowhere: suddenly this person has differences they didn’t have yesterday. What is up with that? Is it just people trying to be special and trendy?

Did you think I’m talking about gender? I’m not.

A photo of a human ear with a hole for an earring.

Photo by Allan Hermann licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
The photographer has no association with this blog.

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A Trans Travel Guide

In April, as USA’s GOP states began passing anti-trans laws, particularly bathroom bans and laws that could jeopardize parental custody, it became obvious that travel wasn’t going to be safe from state persecution for trans people, even within the United States. Thus, the Trans Travel Guide was born. We needed to know if it was safe to visit a place, with enough information to make informed judgments based on our personal situations and risk tolerance.

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Women’s Bill of Transphobia

Today, Nebraska’s governor signed a “Women’s Bill of Rights” executive order, making it the second state to do so (Oklahoma beat them to it). What do you think belongs in a Women’s Bill of Rights? If you guessed transphobia, and nothing else, you would get along with the governor. Let’s look at this order and imagine what an real Women’s Bill of Rights might look like.

A photo of Jim Pillen from the shoulders up, an angry white man. He appears to be in his 50s or 60s, has gray hair. He is holding a microphone.
Jim Pillen, the transphobe in chief for Nebraska (Governor)
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic, created by Right Cheer
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A Major Victory for Women!

So, I saw a headline that begins “major victory for women!”

Well, I’m a feminist women’s studies student (and also trans, but that just means I’ve had to think about gender a lot more than most people), so I think, “Oh, wow! A major victory! Have we stopped domestic violence? Is universal childcare available? Have we lowered the maternal death rate? Do we have a woman President? Are people taking wages for housework seriously? Did women win the right to bodily autonomy? Are we taking women’s health seriously? Is it now a requirement to design things like cars and tools for all humans, not just the default cis-man?”

Nope. None of these.

It’s about sports.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash
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Dear Florida Legislature…

You did what your majority party is known for: you took a complicated problem and simplified it to fit your ideology. As a post-op trans woman, I don’t usually question my gender, and it hasn’t come up in my home state or any of my travels when I’ve used the bathroom — I have long used the appropriate bathroom. But now, thanks to Florida’s hard work, Florida has determined I should pee and shower — vulva, breasts, and all —as a man.

Here’s the letter I’d send you.

Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash
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