Alyssa Reads Critical Studies of the Sexed Brain

This is another one I read for neuroethics. I was considering using this article for my presentation on a neuroethics related topics, but that didn't happen because someone else split off my too-large group and it wasn't too big anymore. We actually wound up talking about a medication used to treat addiction ... that can itself be addictive. Fun times. So, here's some of my thoughts from reading Critical studies of the sexed brain. 

Kraus, C. (2012). Critical studies ofthe sexed brain: A critique of what and for whom?. Neuroethics,5(3), pp. 247-259.doi:10.1007/s12152-011-9107-7

“They suggest that we work and talk across disciplines as if neuroscientists were from Mars and social scientists were from Venus, assigning the latter to the traditional feminine role of assuaging conflict” (247). sigh I am not surprised that some scientists think of social sciences that way.

Brain plasticity+ identity formation in intersex people, brains vs. genitals. That's going to be interesting. By which I mean, I have concerns. I have friends who are intersex. I know people who do intersex activism. And I know intersex people who concluded that intersex and/or nonbinary is their gender identity rather than picking one of the two binary genders. Hope the author isn't assuming a gender identity must be one of man/woman. Heck, mine isn't that and as far as I know, I'm not intersex.

Oi at calling autism a disease. It is a neurodevelopmental disability [or a neurotype, that's a good word and also let's remember what I'm saying when I say disability - the social model of disability is a thing.] Also I know the author found neurodiversity stuff because the article comes up when I search the journal for neurodiversity, what the heck? I don't expect to hear it called a neurotype in anything done by neurotypical(-passing) academics but really? Disease?

Ok, gender in the brain as a result of plasticity, that's going to be interesting – “reflect gendered behavior as learned and incorporated in a social context” is a thing, but please, please don't let this turn into “male socialization” for trans women or “female socialization” for trans men, or either of the above for nonbinary folks. The socialization of “consistently mistaken for X while actually Y” is not the same as the socialization of “X.” Ok, individual differences are a thing. That's good. “Plasticity arguments are extremely interesting as they wage war against both biological and social determinism, reductionism, essentialism, and other -isms.” Phew that's not the socialization argument I was worried about, I don't think.

Does she mean “cishet” by “normal people”? (Cishet=cisgender, heterosexual.) I appreciate the quotation marks around “normal people” but there probably is another word for what she means and using it would be nice.

Now we have one of my rage buttons. All caps time!

OH MY GOD STOP CALLING NEURODIVERSITY AN ASPERGERS THING. THE ANI PEOPLE WERE CLASSIC EVEN IF THEY TALK NOW, AND ALSO DIAGNOSED BEFORE ASPERGERS WAS IN THE DSM. MEL BAGGS IS NONSPEAKING. AMY SEQUENZIA IS NONSPEAKING. I'M CLASSIC EVEN THOUGH I USUALLY TALK. STOP. STOP. SERIOUSLY THE ROOTS ARE OLD ENOUGH THAT ASPERGERS WASN'T A DIAGNOSIS YET WHEN A LOT OF OUR FOLKS WERE DIAGNOSED, WHICH MEANS THEY WEREN'T DIAGNOSED ASPERGERS. THEY ARE NOT ASPERGERS, WHICH IS ALSO NOT A DIAGNOSIS ANYMORE. (maybe was when written?)

Intersex activist history! I knew about unwanted surgery, gender role training, and folks wanting their own intersex bodies back. I also know someone who was put on unwanted hormones. What are the results of Diamond getting so lauded while speaking in terms of brain sex, though? It's still the language coming from the people who try to enforce the man/woman dichotomy. What are the results of using the "sexed brain" discourse while not necessarily fitting in the binary? 

1 Walker, N. (September 27, 2014). Neurodiversity: Some basic terms and definitions. Neurocosmopolitanism: Nick Walker's notes on neurodiversity, autism, and cognitive liberty. [blog post] Retrieved from http://neurocosmopolitanism.com/neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/ is a good explanation of the neurodiversity related vocabulary I tend to use when thinking about neuro stuff.

"Locker room talk", "vulgarity", and sexual assault.

Heads up that I'll be talking about sexual assault. Most of the thoughts I'm expressing are things I've heard elsewhere, but not necessarily combined in the way I'm doing and I unfortunately don't remember my sources. Also note that my position on the Trumpster fire, though not stated on this blog before now as far as I know, has been "As a queer disabled Jew descended from Holocaust survivors, I am concerned by these patterns" for some time. Also part of my position is: "Knocking down one figurehead of these patterns doesn't undo them, but letting one such figurehead become the most visible figure of a country makes the patterns get much worse, very quickly."


I've seen quite a few articles floating around that talk about the Trumpster fire's latest comments as "vulgar," rather than as "bragging about sexual assault." Let's start off with thing the first: he's bragging about sexual assault. I've also heard about it getting defended as locker room talk, and typical of men. (Also something men will sometimes try to include queer women in, because apparently the fact that someone likes women means that they would go in for their objectification and the glorification of their assault?)

And I am, in fact, well aware that not all men would commit any sort of sexual assault. (I'm also aware that quite a few will admit to having done so as long as you only describe the act and don't call it what it is.) Want to know who doesn't realize that? The men who assault think that all men actually do so, and just avoid getting caught/in trouble for it. So when someone tells me that these sorts of statements are normal locker room talk, I have to come to one of two conclusions:

1. They're one of the ones who would (or has) assaulted.
2. They can't tell the difference between speaking about consensual acts in a vulgar way and speaking about assault in a vulgar way.
1. Or they don't care about that difference? That's not better though.

Similarly, when someone tells me that all men are like this in private, that all men will "take advantage" if they get you alone, or anything similar ... if it's not about the vulgarity, option 2 (or 2.1) isn't really there. I have to conclude that they have, or would, assault. They're telling me something about themselves -- if you claim every member of a group does X, and you're a member of that group, you claim to do X. That logic doesn't depend on what X is.

And if someone tells me this is normal, that all men speak like this in private, they don't get to turn around and claim that not all men are like this should I take precautions. They also get to cope if I take those precautions specifically about and around them -- see the logic in the last paragraph.

On another note, I've heard the idea that groping is "less serious," "not really assault," or "not a big deal." I can't speak personally to less vs. more serious, because groping is the only kind of assault I've experienced, and only once. ("Lucky" me. And the fact that this really is lucky is seriously messed up.) From a more general perspective, though, I'm fairly sure it's a bad idea to compare which kinds of assault are more or less traumatizing. It definitely is really assault. Our judicial system is similarly terrible about caring, and similarly tends to blame the victim if a report even happens, and it's really assault. It's a person touching or grabbing you in a sexual way, without consent. (I never reported mine. The study abroad program I was on at the time had been attempting to have me sent home related to my disability, and I sure as heck wasn't about to give them a safety issue as ammunition.) 

And then there's "not a big deal." It is, or it should be, but sometimes it doesn't get to be. People who've been through a lot of trauma sometimes ... adjust ... their ideas of what counts, or of how bad the things they've been through really are. It's not usually conscious, or intentional, but it's a thing that happens. I think it's part of our tendency to "norm" on our own experiences. (Another example of this sort of norming would be my reaction to being unable to speak. I pretty much don't care, it's just another day ending in -y. This is apparently unusual.) Growing accustomed to something in this way doesn't make it OK, if it's something that wasn't OK before. But it definitely means that things which are, in fact, a big deal don't always get to register as such. 

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Nonfiction writing quality by gender? Yeah, no.

This is an answer I made on Quora. The question was incredibly sexist in my opinion, but someone other than the asker requested I answer and it caught my interest for rebutting. 

The question was:

Do you agree that nonfiction written by women is typically less interesting than nonfiction written by men?

The reasons given were that women tended to write with more attention to emotion and character, while men tended to write with more attention to taut arguments and scientific methods, which led to women's writing being superficial while men's writing was idea-rich. I am not sure if I can find a portion of the reasoning which actually holds up under examination. Anyways, next paragraph begins what I said.

The prioritization of quantitative stuff that's easy to measure over qualitative stuff where emotions make sense as richer is part of the problem here: each focus has its use, and devaluing the one that's associated with femininity is part of sexism, especially since women are taught that they need to be in touch with  emotions and then punished for being so.

Additionally, many serious nonfiction topics involve human factors. When human actions are involved, analysis of thought processes is necessary to properly address the topic. Despite the extent to which many of us wish to believe otherwise, humans are generally driven more by emotion and instinct than by rationality: we are rationalizers, not rational creatures. With this knowledge in mind, the idea that bringing emotional factors into the analysis makes it less idea-rich is shown patently false for many topics.

Next, there is an implicit assumption that these areas of focus are contradictory. Taut argumentation can still be used when discussing emotional responses, and scientific methods can be applied whenever causes and effects are observable. This is true even if the effects are qualitative rather than quantitative. 

Finally, confirmation bias is a known factor: once such an opinion is formed, a reader is more likely to notice examples that confirm this opinion and categorize exceptions as "the exception that proves the rule" or something similar.

"how can an autistic guy prevent rape"

Welcome to another post in "someone found my blog by searching this, so I'm going to respond." Warning for discussion of rape, assault, and sexual abuse.

This is actually a really good question to ask. Reasons:

1. Overall, men do most of the raping. It's about 90% done by men. That means men are in a really good position to stop it by calling out their fellow men.
2. Autistic people are way more likely than people in the general population to be sexually abused or assaulted at some point. It's not only autistic women being attacked, not by a long shot, but still a majority.
3. Autistic people tend to spend a lot of time in the company of other autistic people, sometimes by choice and sometimes by segregation done by others. This means putting autistic men and autistic women and autistic nonbinary folks all in one place.

Now. I know that an autistic man isn't going to be able to do much to protect a fellow resident in an institution if the harasser/attacker/abuser is staff. I wish he could! But it probably won't actually stop the problem. Checking in with the fellow resident, letting them know that what's happening is wrong, offering to report it if there is anyone to report it to, those kinds of things have the potential to be helpful (and aren't limited by gender or neurotype!) Saying something in the moment might buy a delay, but that's a maybe, and it comes with a risk of being the next target. The power differential in an institution is a big problem, and it's not OK, but I'm not really comfortable telling residents to risk their own safety to correct injustices there. (I also won't argue if someone decides to.)

If it's between residents, however, there's probably less of a power differential going on, which means saying something in the moment or not leaving the attacker alone with their intended victim is more doable and more likely to be effective. The stuff for when it was a staff member victimizing a resident is still good to do. The thing to worry about here is more general rape culture stuff: most places don't like to admit that sexual assault happens on their watch, or if it does, to pretend it's the victims fault. This makes reporting against the will of the victim a really bad idea, because they're sadly probably right about the consequences that would come to them for being victimized.

And of course, if you're an autistic guy living or working in an institution, don't rape people there. This is a substatement of don't rape. This actually applies outside of institutions, too. Which I'm going on to, next.

Outside an institution, in mixed neurotype places, you're on the same kind of "how to prevent rape" as most guys. If someone you're flirting with tells you they aren't interested, listen. (Admitting that you have trouble with subtle and that you need more direct is potentially a thing because autism, but people being afraid to do the blunt thing because of a very reasonable fear of violence from men in general means you might not get the bluntness needed. Actual problem, leaving people well enough alone as soon as there is a signal of "no" that you understand is really all I've got here.) If you can see that someone isn't interested and the other guy isn't backing off, intervene. Tell him what you see, tell him to back off, tell him not to push another drink on the person! It's scary, yes, but think how much scarier it is to be the person who needs this guy to back off and can't get him to!

All this stuff I'm saying you should tell other guys not to do apply to you too: if the person you were hoping to date or to have sex with says no, or maybe, or not now, or anything of that sort, stop. Don't keep asking. Don't give them more wine. Definitely don't tell autistic people you could theoretically reproduce with that they need to have sex with you for the survival of the neurotype. That is extremely not OK. 

And another reminder: If you see someone else doing those things, tell them to stop! Yes, it's scary. Being the person this stuff is being said to is scarier. And, you know, you're the one who asked how to prevent rape. This is an answer: stop the lead ins, stop the "little" ways that boundaries are violated which lead to the big ones.

The Little Things

Sometimes, activism means talking to the people and groups that have power now. Sometimes. Not always.

Sometimes, the day-to-day can make a huge difference. Maybe not in terms of systems, but in terms of something important clicking for one person. That's how change starts.

I want to talk about some of those things that happened.

My tutor and I were talking about computers. That's because the unit we're working on in Chinese is one about international business (whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.) He asked a bunch of good questions, getting me to think about stuff and answer in Chinese. That included things like what you would do for a computer getting used where it's really cold (the case should probably not be metal,) where it's hot (you need a better cooling fan,) and things like that. Then he asked a question that confused me. I remember hearing how when someone tells a sexist joke, one of the things you can do is to feign confusion and try to get them to eventually come out and say that it's funny because girls are *insert insult here.* Yeah, no. I was actually confused. He asked what changes might be needed to market a computer to girls. So I was confused. I said I didn't know what gender had to do with it, because I don't. He asked me what I use my computer for. I use it to do homework, surf the web, write stuff, and play games. I also use it to store documents. He said, "Oh," because that's pretty much the same stuff he does with his computer. 

And rather than get annoyed at me for thinking that trying to market a computer to a gender wasn't the best idea and it'd be smarter to market it based on what people are going to do with it, he agreed that marketing based on use was smarter. Then he asked a different question. He asked what a person using their computer for art would want (my guess is a touch screen and high resolution.) He asked what someone using their computer for games would want (I don't need to guess- a good graphics/video card and a lot of memory!)

Little things: my tutor may well have one stereotype less. [He also now knows that the same computer can get used by the same person for both art and gaming.]

My roommate studies English. It's not her major (teaching Chinese as a second language is her major,) but it's a class she takes. She'd been looking for a book that's in English and uses fairly simple language. I handed her my contributor copy of Loud Hands: Autistic People Speaking. I told her I had a piece in it. 

She's reading it. And the first person she associates with "autism"? An adult. Specifically, me. I'm no more representative of the entire population of autistic people than any one person ever is, but she's actually going to know, first-hand, that autistic adults exist. 

Little things: my roommate is reading Loud Hands to practice her English.

Sir Alanna and Lady Knight Keladry

 Time to talk about a thing Tamora Pierce said!

“Sir and Lady Knight are titles granted to individuals by the crown and aren’t passed on. Alanna prefers “Sir” because she was making a point. Kel prefers “Lady Knight” because she’s making a different point. Jon just throws up his hands and tells the Master of Ceremonies to ask the ladies for their preference.”

Can I talk about how much I love this? 

Can I talk about a parallel I think it has with the Autistic community and how we seem to have handled language and a lot of other things?

Alanna makes a point with being "Sir Alanna." I think her point is "I can be just like you." And she can. She is King's Champion. She's also probably 5'2", maybe 5'3". There's no way that she's the 5'4" a lot of the fandom seems to think she is, because it was a while after Daine found Alanna at least 2 inches shorter than her that Daine was even described as 5'5". So I'm not entirely sure how she had people convinced she was a boy up through when she was 18, but that was a thing that happened. She's not trans, by the way. She just knew that they wouldn't let a girl do what she wanted to do, so she spent 8 years pretending to be a boy.

Kel (full name Keladry) makes a different point with being "Lady Knight Keladry." I think she says "I don't have to be just like you," as part of it, at least. The other part is "I'm going to choose not to even try to be just like you, and I'm going to remind you of it all the time." She was the first girl to get to train for knighthood openly in at least a hundred years, and she spends a good bit of her time reminding everyone she's a girl. She's not required to change for dinner any more than the boys are, so she could stay in her page's uniform, but she's also not required to be in uniform for dinner. So she wears a dress to dinner. Every night. Just to remind them that yes, you have a girl among you deal with it.
She uses a distaff border on her shield. Alanna doesn't.

Alanna had to hide, and she wants to make the point that she can be just like the men, do everything they can, now that she's unhidden. Keladry never hid, and she wants to make the point that she doesn't need to be the same.

Now look at autism.
"Person with autism." I am a person, just like you. I just... also have autism. I am a knight, just like you. I just... happen to be a girl. Sir Alanna.
Autistic person. I am Autistic. This is important, and it is part of me not an appendage, and I am not hiding it and you do not get to ignore it not even in what you call me. I am a woman, and this is important, and it is part of me not an appendage, and I am not hiding it, and you do not get to ignore it not even in what you call me. Lady Knight Keladry.
I'm Autistic and applying for a job. Sir Alanna discloses after, if ever. Lady Knight Keladry? She probably shows up at the interview with a stim toy and doesn't look at the interviewer. She'll remind you exactly how she's different.
Sir Alanna was normalized, or at least people tried. Sir Alanna probably thinks that was the thing to do, because I can be just like you. Sir Alanna might (or might not) advocate the same for the next generation- she might rejoice in how the younger generation doesn't necessarily need to do it the way she did, as the actual Sir Alanna does in the books. Lady Knight Keladry was not normalized. She learned functional skills, like how to be a knight or how to cook or read or write, but she was still openly a woman. The court manners she learned were those of a lady, approximately. She'd have learned how to match up Autistic and neurotypical social stuff as a meet people where they are, not as a pretend to be neurotypical. (Not as a pretend to be a man- Alanna learned men's court manners.)
Interestingly enough, Sir Alanna didn't have to hide her autistic traits the same way she had to hide her gender. She didn't believe her friends when they said they liked her because she was different, but she also didn't hide those traits the same way she hid her gender. She was practically famous for hating social events, and everyone knew she didn't talk much. (Unless she was angry. Anger seemed to involve either losing all words or using all the words to explain exactly why everything is horrible.)
There are times and places for both Sir Alanna and Lady Knight Keladry, of course. The first person in the door anywhere probably has to be a Sir Alanna, just for practicality's sake. Those who follow have the option of being a Lady Knight Keladry.

Sources. So Many Sources

I finished writing my paper: "The Erasure of Queer Autistic People."
These are a list of all the sources I either cited in the final paper or made notecards for while doing research. [Some things I did both, and some things I only did one or the other. Yes, I cited a couple things I didn't make notecards for.]
Have fun. [No, the swears are not censored in the actual blog titles. Or in the actual paper!]
The source list should be fine, but assume trigger warning for any sources you track down.

Ali. "Addendum to Latest SBC Rant." Web log post. The Polite Yeti. 2 May 2011. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

Ali. "So Glad You're Writing These." Web log comment. B*tch Media. 6 Jan. 2012. Web. 20 Aug. 2013. 

Ali/Eliot. "The Very next Day Was My Birthday." Web log post. The Alternate Lexicon. 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.

Amialone. Web log post. This Is Not a F*cking Thinspo Site. July 2013. Web. 24 Aug. 2013. <http://amialone.tumblr.com/post/56116672621/throwing-in-one-or-two-female-pronouns-when>.

"Any Other AS Transwomen Scared That You’ll Be Socially Forever Male?" Web log post. Queering Autism. Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.

Anzaldúa, Gloria. "La Prieta." This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. By Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa. New York: Kitchen Table, Women of Color, 1983. Print.

"Autism and Transsexualism." Transsexual Roadmap. 6 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Aug. 2013.

Autism Survival Manual - Autism and Sexuality. By Craig (weaveintothewin2). The Autism Survival Manual. Youtube, 12 Aug. 2010. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

Baggs, Amanda. "Please Violate Only One Stereotype at a Time." Web log post. Ballastexistenz. 16 Dec. 2007. Web. 24 Aug. 2013.

Baggs, Amanda. "This Is Not the Post I Started out Writing." Web log post. Ballastexistenz. 19 Nov. 2009. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.

Bascom, Julia. "Whose Stories Get Told: Regarding Feeling Unsafe In The Glee Fandom." Web log post. Just Stimming. 14 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Aug. 2013.

Becker, Corina. "The Beginnings of Autistic Speaking Day." 2011. Loud Hands: Autistic People Speaking. Ed. Julia Bascom. 1st Ed. Washington, DC: The Autistic Press, 2012. 70-74. Print.

Bedard, Cheryl, Hui Lan Zhang, and Kenneth J. Zucker. "Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in People with Developmental Disabilities." Sexuality and Disability 28.3 (2010): 165-75. Springer Link. Springer, 20 Mar. 2010. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

Bev. "The Ever-expanding List of Neurotypical Privilege." Weblog post. Square 8. 29 July 2009. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.

Brown, Lydia M. "How They Hate Us." Web log post. Autistic Hoya. 19 Aug. 2013. Web. 21 Aug. 2013.

Bryce, Landon. "John Elder Robison on Autism and Sexual Orientation." Web log post. ThAutcast. 20 May 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

"Call for Submissions: TFW Forum on Disabilities, Ableism, and Disability Studies." The Feminist Wire. 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

Cat. "Meet Your Moderator: Cat." Web log post. Nonbinary Autistics. 10 Jan. 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.

"Database of Sexuality and Disability Resources." Ed. Grace Kelly, Lorraine Hone, Zoe Hughes, and Adrianne Pullen. Connect People Network, 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

Ditz, Liz. "Vigil for George Hodgins and Other Disabled People Murdered by Their Families." Web log post. I Speak of Dreams. TypePad, 16 Mar. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

Doetsch-Kidder, Sharon. Social Change and Intersectional Activism: The Spirit of Social Movement. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.

DYMPHNA. "A Perspective on Queerness, Transgenderness, and Ableism from a Queer, Nonbinary Autistic with Severe Clinical Depression [1]." Web log post. NeuroQueer. 24 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

E. "Dear Younger Self." Loud Hands: Autistic People Speaking. Ed. Julia Bascom. 1st Ed. Washington, DC: The Autistic Press, 2012. 87-90. Print.

E (The Third Glance). "On (A)sexuality." Web log post. The Third Glance. 3 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Aug. 2013.

Edelson, Meredyth G. "Sexual Abuse of Children with Autism: Factors That Increase Risk and Interfere with Recognition of Abuse." Disability Studies Quarterly 30.1 (2010). 2010. Web. 21 Aug. 2013.

Elmindreda. "The Difference Slot." リザード. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.

Erwin, Marja. "So I’ve Been Wondering…." Web log post. Ananiujiþa. 26 June 2013. Web. 30 Aug. 2013. <http://ananiujitha.tumblr.com/post/53960445503/yesthattoo-ananiujitha-so-ive-been>.

Fine, Cordelia. Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference. New York: W. W. Norton, 2010. Print.

Gabriels, Robin L., and Dina E. Hill. Growing up with Autism: Working with School-age Children and Adolescents. New York: Guilford, 2007. Print.

"Gender and Sexuality." AWN Radio. BlogTalkRadio. 6 Dec. 2010. Autism Women's Network. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

Girljanitor. "A Conversation the Autistic Community Needs to Have, Desperately." Web log post. Patient Presents as Academic and Upset. 25 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

Grace, Elizabeth J. "Autistic Community and Culture: Silent Hands No More." Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking. Ed. Julia Bascom. Washington, DC: Autistic, 2012. 95-99. Print.

Guin, Kristin. "My Perspective: Autism, Sexual Orientation (or Gender Identity) and the Intersection of the Two." Web log post. Queerability. Tumblr, 3 Apr. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

Halberstam, Judith. In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York: New York UP, 2005. Print.

Henny. "Asexual on the Spectrum." Web log post. Procrastination Embodied. 22 Jan. 2011. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.
Hillary, Alyssa. "Queer Autistic Voice." Web log post. Yes, That Too. 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

Ingudomnukul, E., S. Baroncohen, S. Wheelwright, and R. Knickmeyer. "Elevated Rates of Testosterone-related Disorders in Women with Autism Spectrum Conditions." Hormones and Behavior 51.5 (2007): 597-604. Print.

Jack, Jordynn. "Gender Copia: Feminist Rhetorical Perspectives on an Autistic Concept of Sex/Gender." Women's Studies in Communication 35.1 (2012): 1-37. Taylor & Francis Online. Taylor & Francis Group, 16 May 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

Java Junkie. "Re: Double Rainbow: Parent Guides, Part 1." Web log comment. B*tch Media. 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

JJ. "Re: "On Ableism within Queer Spaces, Or, Queering the "Normal"" PrettyQueer." Web Log Comment. PrettyQueer. 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 21 Aug. 2013.

Kaz. "Disability and Asexuality." Web log post. Http://disabledfeminists.com/. FWD/Forward, 6 Nov. 2009. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.

Knoepfler, Peter T. "Sexuality and Psychiatric Disability." Sexuality and Disability 5.1 (1982): 14-27. Springer Link. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

Koller, Rebecca. "Sexuality and Adolescents with Autism." Sexuality and Disability 18.2 (200): 125-35. Springer Link. Springer. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

Kris. "Re: "On Ableism within Queer Spaces, Or, Queering the "Normal"" PrettyQueer." Web Log Comment. PrettyQueer. 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 21 Aug. 2013.

Lawson, Wendy. Sex, Sexuality and the Autism Spectrum. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2005. Print.

Löfgren-Mårtenson, Lotta. "The Invisibility of Young Homosexual Women and Men with Intellectual Disabilities." Sexuality and Disability 27.1 (2009): 21-26. Springer Link. Springer, 9 Oct. 2008. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

Lindsay. "Doubly Deviant: On Being Queer and Autistic." Web log post. Autist's Corner. 10 Nov. 2010. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.

McRuer, Robert. Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability. New York: New York UP, 2006. Print.

Mingus, Mia. "Moving Toward the Ugly: A Politic Beyond Desirability." Speech. Femmes Of Color Symposium. Oakland, CA. 21 Aug. 2011. Leaving Evidence. 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 7 May 2013.

"Monochrome Logic, Greyscale Sexuality, and Finding My Identity." Web log post. The Shiny Lair of Quirks the Magpie. 30 Jan. 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.

Montgomery, Cal. "Critic of the Dawn." 2001. Loud Hands: Autistic People Speaking. Ed. Julia Bascom. 1st Ed. Washington, DC: The Autistic Press, 2012. 49-59. Print.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: A Peek at Autism Speaks." B*tch Media. 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 25 Aug. 2013.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: Asperger's and Girls." B*tch Media. 7 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 Aug. 2013.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: Autism and Masculinity." B*tch Media. 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 Aug. 2013.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: Erasure and Asexuality." B*tch Media. 6 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Aug. 2013.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: Navigating Autism, Gender, and Sexuality." B*tch Media. 3 Jan. 2012. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: On Lisbeth Salander." B*tch Media. 5 Jan. 2012. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: Parent Guides, Part 1." B*tch Media. 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 Aug. 2013.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: Parent Guides, Part 2." B*tch Media. 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

Narby, Caroline. "Double Rainbow: Tony Attwood Tells Us to "make Lemonade."" B*tch Media. 3 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 Aug. 2013.

Natalie. Web log post. F*ck Yeah, GSM Autistics! 2012. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.

Ndopu, Edward, and Darnell L. Moore. "On Ableism within Queer Spaces, Or, Queering the "Normal"" PrettyQueer. 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 21 Aug. 2013.

Nebeker, Lindsey. "9 Things You Must Include in Sexuality Education for Individuals with ASD." Naked Brain Ink. 24 Apr. 2013. Web. 07 May 2013.

Omagdi. "Being A Transman With Autism." Experience Project. 19 Feb. 2011. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.

Orwell, George. 1984: A Novel. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1977. Print.

Queering Autism. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

Richter, Zach. "Campbell and the Markedness of Autism: Interrogating the Reproduction of the Neurotypical Subject." Proc. of INSPIRe Virtual Symposium. 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

Richter, Zachary. "Intersectionality and Cynicism: Why We Will Never Arrive "home" and Why It Is Important to Have This Realization." Web log post. That Autistic That Newtown Forgot. 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 24 Aug. 2013.

Richter, Zachary. "On the Erasure of Queer Autistics: What It Feels like to Be Erased and Haunted." Web log post. That Autistic That Newtown Forgot. 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Aug. 2013.

Sinclair, Jim. "Don't Mourn For Us." 1993. Loud Hands: Autistic People Speaking. Ed. Julia Bascom. 1st Ed. Washington, DC: The Autistic Press, 2012. 13-16. Print.

Sinclair, Jim. "Personal Definitions of Sexuality." Jim Sinclair's Web Site. Syracuse. Web. 1 Sept. 2013.

Soraya, Lynne. "Dating and Romantic Relationships." Living Independently on the Autism Spectrum. Avon, MA, USA: Adams Media, 2013. 245-60. Print.

Soraya, Lynne. Living Independently on the Autism Spectrum. Avon, MA, USA: Adams Media, 2013. Print.

Stevenson, Michael R., and Jeanine C. Cogan. Everyday Activism: A Handbook for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People and Their Allies. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.

Tager-Flusberg, Helen, and Simon Baron-Cohen. "The Extreme-male-brain Theory of Autism." Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999. Print.

Tal9000. "Any Other AS Transwomen Scared That You’ll Be Socially Forever Male?" Web log post. TAL9000. 4 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.

Thompson, S. Anthony, Mary Bryson, and Suzanne De Castell. "Prospects for Identity Formation for Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual Persons with Developmental Disabilities." International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 48.1 (2001): 53-65. Ilga-europe.org. Web. 30 Mar. 2013.

"Twenty Hallmarks of Fake Trans Personae." Transsexual Roadmap. 6 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Aug. 2013.

University of Cambridge. Office of Communications. Female-to-male Transsexual People Have More Autistic Traits. EurekAlert! AAAS, 5 Mar. 2011. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.

Vivian, Amanda F. Web log post. I'M SOMEWHERE ELSE. 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 29 Aug. 2013. <http://adeepercountry.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-was-thinking-about-identifying-as-gay.html>.

Vivian, Amanda Forest. "The Ultimate (ridiculous) Showdown." Weblog post. I'M SOMEWHERE ELSE. 23 Mar. 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.

Vries, Annelou L. C., Ilse L. J. Noens, Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis, Ina A. Berckelaer-Onnes, and Theo A. Doreleijers. "Autism Spectrum Disorders in Gender Dysphoric Children and Adolescents." Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 40.8 (2010): 930-36. Springer Link. Springer, 22 Jan. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.

"Welcome!" Autism Women's Network. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.

West, Sara. Web log post. French Assassins! Sarasempaii.tumblr.com, 7 May 2013. Web. 10 May 2013.

YAI Network. Relationships and Sexuality Policy. YAI/NIPD Resource Center, Dec. 2004. PDF.

Yergeau, Melanie. Facebook Message. 26 Mar. 2013.

Violence Along Marginalization

Trigger Warning: Violence along privilege axis is THE MAIN DISCUSSION. Gender is the big one, disability also given specific mentions. Ableism.

This was finished about 10 minutes before deadline, and I was tired. Otherwise, the fact that neurodivergent folk are actually way more likely to be the victims would have gone in with citation, plus the "overall less likely to be the perpetrators" on what I think is the same citation. I'd have tossed in some examples of the dehumanization pattern in the last paragraph too. 

There are many factors promoting or excusing gendered violence, just as there are for violenced based on any marginalized identity. The same institutions which privilege one group allow them to get away with violence against the other groups, though the exact ways in which they do so may vary. As Kimmel mentions, it is those with “high-status” who typically get away with things, particularly gang-rape. In his article, discussing high school, it is the best of the athletes, who will never tell on a fellow bro. “Boys will be boys” is insulting to men, but it is used as an excuse (Kimmel,) and the threats going to the victims, not the perpetrators, only makes it harder to report these sorts of crimes and bring them to justice. Ableism helps hide many rapists with a popular theory that rapists are insane (Griffin) rather than seeking power over their victims. The theory also increases fear of those who truly do have mental differences, typically facing contradictory stereotypes of asexuality and of uncontrolled heterosexuality (Thompson et al.) The idea of domestic abuse being a “family matter” also protects many aggressors who engage in gendered violence, as judges and police have historically been unwilling to interfere (Lee and Shaw 505.) In this case, it is the idea of the family, particularly the family ruled by the man who can do as he wishes with the women and children, protecting abusers.

In order to prevent gendered violence, I think power dynamics need to change, and people need to recognize which power dynamics allow which acts of violence to happen. It is not the existence of gendered violence that is different between the USA and countries where we read about acid throwing or dowry violence, but the specific ways that gendered violence occurs (Lee and Shaw 507.) Right now, those who commit gendered violence (violence based on any privilege dynamic, really,) do so knowing that they are unlikely to face punishment. Kimmel argues that what needs to happen in the Stuebenville case is for those who committed acts deserving sanctions actually get those sanctions. I argue that this needs to happen consistently. When a boy pulls a girl's hair in kindergarten, he needs to hear that it's not OK. She shouldn't hear how this means he likes her.

I do not think it is as simple as “a society that allows violence towards women by objectifying them can more simply be violent towards other individuals.” I think that “all the oppressions reinforce each other” is closer to the real story, with many forms of oppression coming from one root source (Lorde 70) and oppression of other marginalized groups not actually helping anyone marginalized. It's all one pattern: make a group Other, then not-quite-human (monstrous, unfeeling, or just plain a passive object will all work here,) and finally OK to be violent towards because of whichever statement of not-quite-human was used.

Griffin, Susan. "Rape: The All-American Crime." 499-507.
Kimmel, Michael. "The 18,437 Perpetrators of Steubenville." Ms Magazine Blog. Http://msmagazine.com, 24 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 July 2013.
Lorde, Audre. "There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression." 2009. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions:
Classic and Contemporary Readings. By Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee. 5th ed. Boston:
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2011. 70. Print.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. "Resisting Violence Against Women" Women's Voices, Feminist
Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher
Education, 2011. 503-524. Print.Thompson, S. Anthony, Mary Bryson, and Suzanne De Castell. "Prospects for Identity Formation for Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual Persons with Developmental Disabilities." International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 48.1 (2001): 53-65. Ilga-europe.org. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. [This is really a case of “here is a thing I know happens, and here's the first citation for it I can find.” I found the paper when doing research for my presentation on the erasure of Queer Autistic people at Debilitating Queerness, one of few that even touches on my main points from that.]

 

There are many factors promoting or excusing gendered violence, just as there are for violenced based on any marginalized identity. The same institutions which privilege one group allow them to get away with violence against the other groups, though the exact ways in which they do so may vary. As Kimmel mentions, it is those with “high-status” who typically get away with things, particularly gang-rape. In his article, discussing high school, it is the best of the athletes, who will never tell on a fellow bro. “Boys will be boys” is insulting to men, but it is used as an excuse (Kimmel,) and the threats going to the victims, not the perpetrators, only makes it harder to report these sorts of crimes and bring them to justice. Ableism helps hide many rapists with a popular theory that rapists are insane (Griffin) rather than seeking power over their victims. The theory also increases fear of those who truly do have mental differences, typically facing contradictory stereotypes of asexuality and of uncontrolled heterosexuality (Thompson et al.) The idea of domestic abuse being a “family matter” also protects many aggressors who engage in gendered violence, as judges and police have historically been unwilling to interfere (Lee and Shaw 505.) In this case, it is the idea of the family, particularly the family ruled by the man who can do as he wishes with the women and children, protecting abusers.

In order to prevent gendered violence, I think power dynamics need to change, and people need to recognize which power dynamics allow which acts of violence to happen. It is not the existence of gendered violence that is different between the USA and countries where we read about acid throwing or dowry violence, but the specific ways that gendered violence occurs (Lee and Shaw 507.) Right now, those who commit gendered violence (violence based on any privilege dynamic, really,) do so knowing that they are unlikely to face punishment. Kimmel argues that what needs to happen in the Stuebenville case is for those who committed acts deserving sanctions actually get those sanctions. I argue that this needs to happen consistently. When a boy pulls a girl's hair in kindergarten, he needs to hear that it's not OK. She shouldn't hear how this means he likes her.

I do not think it is as simple as “a society that allows violence towards women by objectifying them can more simply be violent towards other individuals.” I think that “all the oppressions reinforce each other” is closer to the real story, with many forms of oppression coming from one root source (Lorde 70) and oppression of other marginalized groups not actually helping anyone marginalized. It's all one pattern: make a group Other, then not-quite-human (monstrous, unfeeling, or just plain a passive object will all work here,) and finally OK to be violent towards because of whichever statement of not-quite-human was used.

Griffin, Susan. "Rape: The All-American Crime." 499-507.
Kimmel, Michael. "The 18,437 Perpetrators of Steubenville." Ms Magazine Blog. Http://msmagazine.com, 24 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 July 2013.
Lorde, Audre. "There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression." 2009. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions:
Classic and Contemporary Readings. By Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee. 5th ed. Boston:
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2011. 70. Print.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. "Resisting Violence Against Women" Women's Voices, Feminist
Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher
Education, 2011. 503-524. Print.Thompson, S. Anthony, Mary Bryson, and Suzanne De Castell. "Prospects for Identity Formation for Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual Persons with Developmental Disabilities." International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 48.1 (2001): 53-65. Ilga-europe.org. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. [This is really a case of “here is a thing I know happens, and here's the first citation for it I can find.” I found the paper when doing research for my presentation on the erasure of Queer Autistic people at Debilitating Queerness, one of few that even touches on my main points from that.]

Basically an ode to Kassiane

Trigger Warning: Sexism, Ableism, Gaslighting (institutional), probably more... 

For Gender and Women's Studies at the end, I had to write a "she-ro" essay (ugh I hate that name it's so corny.) And then I wrote it about Kassiane, aka Neurodivergent K. Who is super-radical. And kind of awesome. And possibly going to be embarrassed because I am gushing, but she said I could put this up so now you all get to see me gush about Kassiane.

Kassiane swears. I don't swear on this blog. (I do on Twitter and Tumblr, but not here.) I censored one letter from swears when I quoted her here, but you can still tell what she said.

Flash back to March 2012. I'm slowly entering online Autistic communities, and George Hodgins has just been murdered. People are calling it mercy and making excuses of his mother having killed him because of problems they didn't even have. I'm angry. I've been taught that anger is bad. It's not something you should broadcast. I don't yet know the extent to which people tame their portrayal of heroes- Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi are still people who were nice because they were nonviolent. Kassiane helped change that. I read her reactions: “My people are being slaughtered. Anger and hate is how people are supposed to respond to that” (You keep killing us, and I am PISSED.) Then I thought back to A Wizard Alone.

“It's not a good thing, not a bad thing, just what's so,” Millman said. “But you might want to think about what result this kind of emotion has produced in the past. Or might produce again in the future.” (Duane.)

I thought back on my own life. When I got angry, I made things happen. It worked. Kassiane's writing got me thinking in ways that led to creating my blog in April 2012- depending on what a person thinks of my activism, she gets a significant portion of either the blame or the credit for my turning activist.

Initially, I “knew” her as a blogger- I read the entirety of Radical Neurodivergence Speaking, and I eventually followed Kassiane on Tumblr. That's how we started talking, initially, and we met in person for a day and a bit in November 2012- our friendship has been almost completely online, via Tumblr, Facebook, Gchat, and reading (sometimes linking back and forth to) each other's Blogspot blogs.

I don't know as much about Kassiane's initial socialization as a small, cute, AFAB person, but I know the intersections she talks (and sometimes blogs) about now: In person, she will often ask: “If I was a foot taller & looked like a dude would this be happening? Ok let's pretend that's the case and move on" (Personal Communication,) though doing so has yet to make a person actually “pretend that's the case and move on.” When she talks, it's always intersectional. She's taken to saying “My activism will be intersectional or it will be bullsh*t.” She also types it. In the emergency room for adrenal failure? Kassiane will still talk about intersectionality- autism on her chart means incompetence gets assumed, and woman means “if I am not actively being mauled by a bear it's not necessarily really a real thing.” (And Then I Land Inthe ER Again...) At Geek Girl Con? Kassiane can tell you what was good: no creeps, so cosplaying is safe. She can point out what was at least better than most: still predominantly white, but there was more racial diversity than most conventions. She can point out the problems: no disabled presenters were mentioned, there were some access issues related to being directionally impaired, some presenters said problematic (sexist or heterosexist) things, and a person who used a wheelchair put strobey things on her wheels (access issue for photosensitive epilepsy.) (Geek Girl Con Reflections: TheGood, the bad, the WTF.) Skeptic communities? “The sexism is awful, and the way you try to blame it on people with my f*cking neurology is not acceptable.” (Skepticism's Ableism Problem.) Kassiane knows intersections because Kassiane lives them: she is Autistic; she is photosensitive epileptic; she has adrenal insufficiency; she is a small AFAB person who gets read as a woman; she is mixed-race. In winter, when I met her, she passed for white: had you put the two of us next to each other and said “One of these women is white and the other is mixed-race,” I think most white people would have pegged me as the mixed-race woman. In summer, she gets dark, and people can tell that she is, in fact, half Asian. That's when the racism comes in. Passing for white for part of the year and being a visible woman of color the other part gives Kassiane a very good perspective on how racism intersects with disability and gender.

I admire Kassiane because she knows how all the systemic patterns affecting her work, and she will call people out on their -isms. I admire Kassiane for the way she thinks: I remember her saying that she carries a wrench because if you pull out a knife someone will get stabbed, but a wrench will confuse people while being effective (I often carry bolt cutters.) I admire Kassiane because she is a walking, talking social media crisis: she chose that term for it because the Autism Speaks person who talked to her when they used her work without permission and got the attribution wrong had “social media crisis” in his title. She now has two shirts she has made to say “Social Media Crisis,” as it is now her title. I admire her because being a social media crisis gets things done. I know it gets things done because I do it too- she says she may need to make me a “Social Media Crisis” shirt, too. My exact method of crisis may not be exactly the same, since I seem to have become the Official Flash Blog Organizer for the Autistic community and she mostly seems to get her posts shared, but the fact remains: I learned a lot of my activism methods from Kassiane.

Works Cited

Duane, Diane. A Wizard Alone. San Diego: Harcourt, 2002. Print.

Sibley, Kassiane. "And Then I Land In the ER Again..." Web log post. Radical Neurodivergence Speaking. 15 Aug. 2011. Web. 26 July 2013.

Sibley, Kassiane. "Geek Girl Con Reflections: The Good, the Bad, theWTF." Web log post. Radical Neurodivergence Speaking. 11 Oct. 2011. Web. 26 July 2013.

Sibley, Kassiane. Personal Communication. 26 July 2013.

Sibley, Kassiane. "Skepticism's Ableism Problem" Web log post. Radical Neurodivergence Speaking. 7 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 July 2013.

Sibley, Kassiane. "You keep killing us, and I am PISSED." Web log post. Radical Neurodivergence Speaking. 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 26 July 2013.

I can wheel myself in the hospital

Trigger Warning: hospitals, injuries (again, no -isms involved in the injuries themselves,) menstruation, misogyny (against teenage girls, specifically)

I'm still doing the hospital stories thing. This one is the broken leg that never made it onto my medical record. And yes, I'm sure I broke it. There's still a dent in my shin. Second one here, about a pig bite, first one here about a thing I can't actually spell. You can thank Corbett for this series, and my knee for an unplanned fourth edition to come. (Please don't actually thank my knee. Corbett is cool, though.)
I was at a swim meet. I was that kid where if someone was feeling sick and didn't want to swim their event, I was willing to do it for them. (They had to get permission from a coach first, which didn't happen much.) So there was this one time that a person was trying to get out of the 200 meter individual medley. Apparently very few people want it. The coach said she didn't have to swim it if she could find someone else to, which is how I wound up in it. I was the slowest, as per usual in all my events, but I finished. I then swam the 50 meter freestyle right after.
It was hot. I was tired. It was past my normal bedtime. I was hungry. I was probably dehydrated. Then I got the hiccups. I passed out, and came to in the pool. I hit my leg on the way down, which is how I focally fractured my shin. Except I didn't know I'd done that yet.
I go to the hospital, of course. I brought my homework to try to do in the waiting room. I made some progress, so it wasn't a complete waste.
First thing is at check-in, they try to give me pain meds. (What is it with these people and painkillers? I get needing to offer it at least once every time because they don't know I hate them yet, but "I don't use painkillers" means exactly that and they should accept it the first time I say it.) I tell them I don't use painkillers. They say it's just Motrin. That's great, I still don't use them. I don't recall specifying that it is only prescription painkillers I don't use (Yes, I know, it's also an anti-inflammatory. When they're trying to give it to me because it reduces pain, it's a painkiller.) But I think this is another case of them not being used to stubborn 16 year olds who will challenge them and don't want to medicate everything.
I also rolled my eyes at them several times over the pregnancy test they wanted. (They asked when my most recent period was first, which I answered with "right now." That does seem to be the answer most of the time I wind up needing an X-ray...) It took them forever to actually do the test, too. Like, we're on the way out and they're surprised we're not going to wait for the results. Not that results take long, but no. Time to go home.
And of course, the wheelchair. The wheelchair and my stubbornness with that is the reason Corbett thought this would be a good thing to write about. While I was waiting for the X-ray and they thought I might have a broken leg (I did, but it was a focal fracture and they wound up missing it because those often don't show up on X-rays and you don't exactly expect a person with a broken shin to refuse pain meds or be able to walk so that was that,) they stuck me in a wheelchair. It made sense to do that, and I wasn't arguing. What I did argue with was letting the hospital people push the wheelchair. I actually grabbed the wheels and held them stationary every time they tried, while telling them that I've got it. They kept trying. My eventual tactic was to start wheeling before they got to me and stay a few steps ahead. They were scared I was going to hit something, but for a high school athlete in a sport that uses the arms fairly heavily? A manual wheelchair really isn't that hard to control. Besides, I don't think that's what they were really scared of. Patients are supposed to be quiet and not have autonomy and do whatever they're told, and here I was moving independently and demanding that I continue to do so.
Patients aren't supposed to challenge doctors. Doctors are supposed to be all-knowing. A patient does not have autonomy or independence. A patient is essentially a passive object. That night, I ignored all those things- I challenged them on the pain meds, I challenged them on the wheelchair, I moved around on my own no matter how many times they tried to push the wheelchair for me. I called them out on the idea that a teenage girl who passes out is probably pregnant and lying about her sexual activity out of fear of her parents (I'm gray-ace, for pete's sake, and I don't have a sex drive. Besides, I had my period that night. Isn't a heavy period also a thing that can cause people to pass out? Yeah, I thought so, and mine are. They have been for as long as I've had one.) And no, I did not take the Motrin.

More Abortion and Sexism

Trigger Warning: Sexism

This was in response to discussion questions asked in my Gender and Women's Studies class about  these two articles:

Tomlinson, Chris. "Texas House Passes Contentious Abortion Bill." USA Today. Gannett, n.d. Web. 11 July 2013.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/10/texas-abortion-bill/2505685/

"Abortion Debate on HB 2 Starts out with a Bang." Houston Chronicle. N.p., 9 July 2013. Web. 11 July 2013.

http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2013/07/abortion-debate-on-hb-2-starts-out-with-a-bang/

This isn't the first time that abortion-related topics have come up in that class.

When there are political decisions involving women's rights, it seems that lately, white cis men make the decisions and the role of most of society is to have fights on the sidelines that lawmakers ignore or that they take pride in, since apparently our anger means they are getting something done. If the governor were a pro-choice woman, I think there would be at least more difficulty making this sort of ruling, as a veto would then a possibility. However, if she were pro-life (I find the name odd, considering that they tend not to support the things needed to actually keep the kid alive after being born, but it's what they call themselves so...) then there really wouldn't be much of a change in how this went. The abortion issue comes up largely as a method of control, I think. Pregnancy does involve health risks, and it does take time to raise kids, and that means someone has to do it. If a person is constantly pregnant (dealing with the changes to their body involved in pregnancy as well) and raising children, it is difficult to do other things like fight for rights or work outside the home. That's part of why birth control and abortion are so important for many (ever notice that the same people who are so against abortion are also often against birth control, when proper access to birth control would reduce the demand for abortions hugely?) and it's why it's a thing people often go after. It's not about raising standards of care, even: it's about control- look at how few centers Texas will have with that passed! That's not enough to serve a state of its size and population, and when a person can't get a safe, legal abortion, there's still about a two thirds chance that they'll go for an illegal one. Raising standards for legal ones to an extent that so many centers are closing really pushes more people into illegal ones with no standards to follow.