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 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.

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No, You Can’t Substitute Therapy for Hormones

I try to keep an eye on the world of transphobia, and, as an autistic person, I was particularly drawn to a Daily Wire (a right wing, transphobic website with dubious connections to truth created by Ben Shapiro) article on how autistic adolescents were helped with psychotherapy and no medical intervention, based on a recent study. Even writing this sentence, an astute reader will notice problems. But, I went beyond that and actually read the study.

Needless to say, I’ll be talking about transphobia and ableism. This is your content warning, if you’re not in a place where you want to deal with this stuff. You honestly don’t need to — there are enough of us who do, and your health is important.

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“Facts” Without Knowledge: How Many Trans Women Have HIV?

If you are active in trans advocacy, you’ve seen various estimates for HIV in trans women: 42% (CDC)! 14% (Also CDC)! 24–28% (Baral, et. al.)!

I suspect none of these are right, and I think all over-estimate HIV prevalence among trans women. I recognize that’s a minority position — advocacy groups who depend on public health funding like to tout high numbers, as do HIV outreach organizations trying to convince trans women of the risk they may have of contracting HIV, much like the oft-cited, but wrong, 35-year-old estimate for the average life expectancy of Black trans women).

Certainly, Black trans women are at too-high of risk for violence (anyone who attends a US-based Transgender Day of Remembrance event will be struck by the number of Black trans people who are murdered each year — far outnumbering the white faces), and it’s a real problem. But we can make this point without incorrect statistics that also serve to discourage Black trans women from transitioning and living as who they are.

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What Does Transgender Research Really Say?

The UK news organization, Daily Mail, reported that seeing trans people on TV caused young people to seek out medical transition.

Except, no, the actual research didn’t.

First, let me link to what I’m talking about:

Science reporting is notoriously awful (ironically the linked paper also mentions the Daily Mail’s bad reporting of another science issue, the false link between the MMR and autism that destroyed public confidence in vaccines). There isn’t a simple reason for this, but it is worth looking at.

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