ive been reading a book that basically explains how so-called “brain differences” between the genders is the result of gendered socialization and not the cause of it. i honestly expected the book to be very cis-centric but its actually the opposite, the author stresses that testimony from trans ppl is actually indispensable because we’ve, in a sense, “lived both experiences”
more cis feminists should have this mindset
one of the first examples that she uses to introduce her point about how perception by others can shape a person’s performance actually uses a trans woman. it explains that as a certain trans woman became to be seen as a woman more and more frequently, the ppl arond her eventually started viewing her as being ill equipped for tasks that they did not bother her about pre-transition. eventually she even found herself underperforming in these tasks herself.
I knew it was this book before I’d finished reading the first two lines. Honestly this book is indispensible if you want to debunk any gender determinism people claim is science. I can’t recommend it enough.
(Bonus bonus: I am myself a neuroscientist, and the old white men mentioned above – who are not – could not have missed the point harder if they’d actively tried. Which. Maybe?)
let’s start with a few pictures of my body shall we
(please ignore messy room i’m in the process of packing)
okay so that’s the body of someone that eats healthy, literally my fave food is broccoli, and i work out 5 days a week, you’d think i’m at ‘’’healthy weight’’’’ right?????
BITCH NOPE
that bitch telling me to eat 1500 – 1900 calories a day are you fucking joking??? that’s fucking starving myself and i’m not doing that. fuck you.
Bmi was never meant to be used for individuals; it’s only useful for talking in generalised terms about a large population and as a potential guide.
thank you for your input, not many people know that. but still, an official site such as the fucking nhs recommending a full grown woman to eat under 2,000 a day is not okay!!! (Especially considering the fact that it took into account my regular activity)
calories are bullshit too
a calorie is the amount of energy released in laboratory conditions to heat water when it’s burned
so in the lab you have an instrument to burn the food and you measure how much of it it takes to heat water a set amount,
this does not in any way reflect how the body works
your body breaks down foods in different ways, for example monosaturated fats break down very slowly but processed sugars break down very fast
so by that logic something that is almost pure carbohydrate would be much worse than something that is almost pure monosaturated fat
not necessarily
oats, for example, are something like 95% fibre, meaning although they are pure sugar the body decides it’s not worth the bother of breaking them down so you get a small fraction of the sugar in the oat
so just going by carbohydrate [aka sugar] content doesn’t work properly either
a stick of butter has WAY more calories than a boiled potato but the stick of butter breaks down over several hours and keeps you satiated longer than that boiled potato that immediately floods your system with sugar, that triggers the response of too much store that for later, which causes a lack in your body which triggers the i’m hungry response
or the peanuts being high protein high fat are the reason why a snickers fills you up longer than a mars bar even though it might have a higher calorie count – because you’re full longer you eat less calories because you don’t go i’m hungry and eat another mars bar
and that’s all assuming that every body processes food the exact same way
tl:dr the human body is a very complicated machine and using a very simple method of measuring energy intake is complete nonsense
i always knew the BMI was bullshit but having solid proof is reassuring and will def help with my recovery!!!
BMI is bullshit and I’m so mad the medical community is still using it
I’m a varsity athlete (rugby, so let’s keep in mind i throw myself at other human beings who are often bigger than me) and my BMI is always ‘overweight’ except for the brief period last summer in which i was eating about 1300 calories a day to make myself hot (12/10 would not recommend). right now my butt looks great, and I’m probably in the best shape ive ever been in. muscle weighs more than fat. BMI does not factor in body composition, which is a much better indication f health. also beauty standards at totally unattainable so. I’m 5′2″ and weigh more than most 6ft models because of the amount of muscle mass i carry and sure I’m a little squishy round the edges but I’m healthy. so BMI can kiss my ass
i hate when the teacher’s like “write about a bad time in your life” like i ain’t tryna get a social worker up my ass, thanks tho fam
This ain’t no joke I had to write a essay about what your scared of so I did it (I was scared of growing up and where my life was going) it was great got a 100 but then I got sent to councilors office and was sent to therapy cause they thought I was suicidal and on the verge of breaking…Apparently they ment like spiders or some shit…
Also like, not everyone finds that at all useful or cathartic.
“Write about some difficulty you’ve experienced personally.” “Aight fam let me just break down into tears and skip the rest of my classes.”
Yes! I had a psych professor ask us to discuss outloud the hardest thing that ever happened to us literally two days ago and I said “you realize the position you’re putting us in? I feel obligated to lie to not only save my peers the awkwardness but also because I will find no relief in answering honestly but rather anxiety. The hardest thing in my life is having people repeatedly tell me I should find some sort of catharsis in reliving my trauma so someone else can feel pity for me!”
The whole class backed me up because they didn’t want to either! Those kind of exercises are only helpful for people who don’t have any real past/current issues– which is no one btw.
On par with this are those fucking self-assessments where they want to to be optimistic and positive about the future. You’re sitting there drowning in college stress and anxiety so bad you can’t look another human in the eye, fighting depression so that you can eventually achieve a piece of paper that might get you a better job if the economy doesn’t tank itself (guess what, it did), and the most optimistic thing you can think of is that the class ends in 20 minutes.
There’s a WIRED article that explains the history behind this practice.
Basically, this guy named Jeffrey Mitchell had a traumatic experience, then after months of PTSD, he told a confidant about the event that traumatized him. Retelling the event to a confidant was so cathartic for Mitchell that his PTSD went away after. He did a bunch of research to see if his personal experience of catharsis and relief could be replicated in other people suffering from PTSD. Years later he published a paper proposing a formalized psychiatric treatment revolving around this idea that expressing a traumatic experience helps relieve it. The paper was so influential that the whole psychiatric community adopted “critical incident stress debriefing” (CISD) as a standard treatment for PTSD.
Unfortunately … it’s bullshit.
Not only does the CISD treatment program Mitchell came up with not help the majority of patients who try it, but it actually makes PTSD worse in the majority of patients who try it.
The WIRED article explains why:
CISD misapprehends how memory works…. Once a memory is formed, we assume that it will stay the same. This, in fact, is why we trust our recollections. They feel like indelible portraits of the past.
None of this is true. In the past decade, scientists have come to realize that our memories are not inert packets of data and they don’t remain constant.
…the very act of remembering changes the memory itself. New research is showing that every time we recall an event, the structure of that memory in the brain is altered in light of the present moment, warped by our current feelings and knowledge.
Basically, Mitchell waited until he had some emotional distance before trying to recall the memory, and he had full control of the situation. It was fully his decision. Nobody was pressuring him to talk about it. So he felt safe. Thinking about the memory from a place of safety allowed his brain to re-contextualize the memory as harmless.
Conversely, pressuring a patient to recall a traumatic memory, particularly when it’s still fresh in their minds, makes the patient feel very unsafe. Recalling a bad memory in this unsafe context only serves to re-traumatize the patient.
Today my professor told me every cell in our entire body is destroyed and replaced every seven years. How comforting it is to know that one day I will have a body that you will have never touched.
This just made me feel so warm.
thank you.
Important especially for victims of abuse, remember your body is yours and it heals in more ways than you realize.
Okay, so I just want to say that this isn’t necessarily true. Most of your cells have died and regrown several times in seven years, but some haven’t, and some have died and won’t return. The seven year cell renewal is a myth perpetuated by popsci in magazines everywhere.
That being said, anywhere they may have touched you, your skin, your hair, your nails and so on, was changing the moment they departed your life, even before that. Your skin became skin they’ve never touched within 27 days. Your hair grows (on average) six inches per year, so depending on how long yours is, you were rid of their touch there within a few years tops. Your nails will completely regrow within six months tops. You were a body they never touched within three or four years. You will be a body they never touched within three or four years.
You have been rewriting your body, you are your own, you are constantly changing, and you are the only one who owns your body 100% of the time.
I’m here for correcting science myths in supportive ways.
I teach my 7th graders about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide.
I bring in a graduated cylinder of it and we talk about how it’s used in nuclear power plants and gmo crops. How inhaling even the small amount I’m holding can lead to suffocation or even death. It’s found in vaccines and cancer cells, but also in infant formula and pet food. It is a huge component of acid rain, can cause severe burns, and has been found in places that were thought to be the most pristine and unpolluted locations on earth.
We talk about how there are little to no regulations on this chemical. No bans, no warning labels, and most manufacturers don’t even have to disclose their use of it in their products.
My students are outraged. We talk about what we can do. Create posters and flyers to spread awareness. Contact our senators with petitions to ban DHMO. Spread this information all over social media.
Then I explain that the real problem with dihydrogen monoxide is that….when I am thirsty…there is just nothing else as refreshing, and then I watch their looks of absolute shock and horror as I drink the entire vial down.
knitting in the dark 