So much of this sounds eerily familiar to me, and I imagine to most autistic people. At least back then we had subcultures and aesthetics that were reversible - you can always change your hair, clothes and makeup and do different hobbies and listen to different music. And although there were absolutely social contagions of mental illness, often very dangerous ones like eating disorders and self-injury, the big difference was that CAMHS and the schools would not affirm them, and would see them as something that needed treatment and support to stop.
Or with regard to lifelong conditions like autism, the focus was on learning to manage them and improve your functioning and wellbeing as best you could. It's shameful that so many groups responsible for children's mental health and welfare have abdicated their responsibilities and are making it worse. The National Autistic Society is still on board with gender woo, even though they have been told the damage it's doing to autistic kids.
Gender Critical Autistics on Facebook (always be plugging 😉) is a place to discuss and organise on these issues. Most autism groups and boards are captured, even formerly useful ones like Wrong Planet. Autists and people with interests in autism and gender woo welcome!
Those self-harm cutting scars ... ☹️ are in some parts of the world (namely, mine) even "celebrated" by the mainstream as a legitimate "pride" thing. Absolutely horrible.
Fasinating insight into this underworld. It sounds like a Lord of the Flies-type universe where the bullies gained control. Social media both a blessing and a menace.
Also - seems like the trans phenomena is a big melting-pot, of which this is one group - troubled youth, mainly girls and gay boys. The other groups including AGP males, an army of handmaidens, woke-bros and academics keen to show how inclusive they are, and the "gender-affirming" medics who can make a career out of it. All of them having a belief in the fundamentally innate quality of "transness", where it's unthinkable to question someone's self-id.
Against these powerful forces are us "terfs", who outside our gender-critical echo-chamber are probably still seen as latter-day Mary Whitehouses - closed-minded busy-bodies who are too uncool to be invited to speak on TV. And in the US, I expect there is the spectre of the conservative right-wing.
Into this mix add destransitioners, with stories of what it was like to be on the inside of the subculture and the harms it leads to. It's eye-opening - thank you for sharing.
The memes and photos are very powerful for adults who have no exposure to this world to understand what this issue is really about. Katherine Dee and Elizabeth Mondegreen also shine a light on the actual sociogenic nature of trans in the media (as in substrate) of the internet.
I would have been one of those girls. But instead it was the 1970s and I listened to the Phil Eastern Express on Radio City and read Sounds alongside Jackie.
I guess most of us post-punk and Gen X terfs are here through a horrible sense of identification.
There's an excellent lecture from the LGB Alliance Conference called 'Social Media: how did we get here?' that deals with many of the same issues and looks at the influence of Tumblr specifically upon teenage girls.
So much of this sounds eerily familiar to me, and I imagine to most autistic people. At least back then we had subcultures and aesthetics that were reversible - you can always change your hair, clothes and makeup and do different hobbies and listen to different music. And although there were absolutely social contagions of mental illness, often very dangerous ones like eating disorders and self-injury, the big difference was that CAMHS and the schools would not affirm them, and would see them as something that needed treatment and support to stop.
Or with regard to lifelong conditions like autism, the focus was on learning to manage them and improve your functioning and wellbeing as best you could. It's shameful that so many groups responsible for children's mental health and welfare have abdicated their responsibilities and are making it worse. The National Autistic Society is still on board with gender woo, even though they have been told the damage it's doing to autistic kids.
Gender Critical Autistics on Facebook (always be plugging 😉) is a place to discuss and organise on these issues. Most autism groups and boards are captured, even formerly useful ones like Wrong Planet. Autists and people with interests in autism and gender woo welcome!
I am so grateful to find out there is such a group. I've applied to join
Those self-harm cutting scars ... ☹️ are in some parts of the world (namely, mine) even "celebrated" by the mainstream as a legitimate "pride" thing. Absolutely horrible.
(I am referring to this poster: https://twitter.com/Aja02537920/status/1552554421229330432)
Thank you for this informative piece Laura Funk.
That is horrific and nothing to be celebrated
Anyone who thinks this ok is no human being
How can Tumblr, a self-described "Hellscape," be (affectionate) too?
And to think all this psychic damage was self-chosen & self-inflicted.
Young people voluntarily signed onto and into the madness.
Yes, yes, there's social pressure, but deep down we all have choice in our decisions.
So we now have psychosis playing out on a massive scale -- it's truly scary.
Fasinating insight into this underworld. It sounds like a Lord of the Flies-type universe where the bullies gained control. Social media both a blessing and a menace.
Also - seems like the trans phenomena is a big melting-pot, of which this is one group - troubled youth, mainly girls and gay boys. The other groups including AGP males, an army of handmaidens, woke-bros and academics keen to show how inclusive they are, and the "gender-affirming" medics who can make a career out of it. All of them having a belief in the fundamentally innate quality of "transness", where it's unthinkable to question someone's self-id.
Against these powerful forces are us "terfs", who outside our gender-critical echo-chamber are probably still seen as latter-day Mary Whitehouses - closed-minded busy-bodies who are too uncool to be invited to speak on TV. And in the US, I expect there is the spectre of the conservative right-wing.
Into this mix add destransitioners, with stories of what it was like to be on the inside of the subculture and the harms it leads to. It's eye-opening - thank you for sharing.
The memes and photos are very powerful for adults who have no exposure to this world to understand what this issue is really about. Katherine Dee and Elizabeth Mondegreen also shine a light on the actual sociogenic nature of trans in the media (as in substrate) of the internet.
I would have been one of those girls. But instead it was the 1970s and I listened to the Phil Eastern Express on Radio City and read Sounds alongside Jackie.
I guess most of us post-punk and Gen X terfs are here through a horrible sense of identification.
There's an excellent lecture from the LGB Alliance Conference called 'Social Media: how did we get here?' that deals with many of the same issues and looks at the influence of Tumblr specifically upon teenage girls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpqn-GJRduQ
I’ve honestly never got any social media , I’ve thought it was toxic from the start and can honestly say I’ve enjoyed a few internet free days
Says she immediately replying on tinternet 🙄
I do subscribe but I am not allowed past the paywall...Is this a separate subscription?
Denise 🙂
I don’t think so but someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon 😀
I'd love to share this with my girlfriend but sadly she wouldn't read it if she knew it came from a "terf"