PSA: the guardian is not working on a hit piece on diy hrt, and claims they are are misinformation

on the 18th, this post appeared on 4chan's /lgbt/ (slurs in thread: link). a screenshot was posted to reddit, then to tumblr. you've probably seen it:

today, the 23rd, another screenshot popped up on various discord servers, then was reposted variously to twitter. it shows a supposed email from guardian journalist and notorious TERF Susanna Rustin, claiming as the original 4chan post does.

it's now been shared around, and it's with good intentions. the message is useful: don't share your personal information or medical data with journalists, especially ones that happen to be TERFs.

but the post does this through misinformation and fearmongering. i'm still waiting on my response by email from Rustin, but she's reiterated twice (once, twice) that she did not write the email and is not working on such a story. on the 19th, i talked to other guardian newsroom journalists, who said they also did not know of a story's existence.

the moral of the story: this is misinformation, and it's dangerous. it spreads a fine message here, but it does it through spreading anxiety and terror.

you can follow along with this post on my parallel thread on twitter. also calling on @wakewithgiggli to delete their original post!

this is a weird one, it seems like someone did a good job of faking credentials somewhere along the line but nobody yet seems to have figured out where that happened. it's an odd rumour to spread, because as the post above notes, the only CTA is very standard intracommunity advice (don't share medical info with journalists, especially not the guardian). Looking at the original discord message, it's possible this was a case of crossed wires (i.e. someone with a connection to the guardian asked someone else what the deal is with DIY, they mentioned this to a trans friend, the friend got nervous and warned their community) - but at some point somebody still knowingly fabricated the details. I wonder what happened here.

can someone please send me that post abt washing your sheets "climb in my brothers"

"rest in power" is for black people who have lost their lives to antiblack violence. we shouldnt have to keep saying this and you all shouldnt keep ignoring us.

it's always "you gnawed off your own leg to escape like an animal caught in a trap" and never "why didn't anyone try to help you out of the trap" or "why weren't you provided with any other resources to escape the trap with except for your own teeth"

Okay I had to wiki this one and I find Daphne’s one fascinating.

Semiotics is the study of signs and their meanings. These signs can be visual, auditory, or the other senses, and even be allegorical or metaphors. They can also be intentional or not!!

She’s literally studying how to examine to world for clues!! Whether the clues are signs of a secret passage as she so often found accidentally, signs that someone has been somewhere they say they haven’t, or signs that some object has been used recently!! She’s studying to be a clue gatherer cause THATS WHAT SHE DOES!!

Love love love this characterization concept!!

Because I circulated a call to action about it here that got some traction: to those of you who contacted Maine legislators when it counted, thank you— it worked. Maine just passed sanctuary-state-level protection for trans rights.

For all the eggs out here that need to hear this, it's not a fetish because you get turned on by being in the opposite sex's clothes. You're allowed to express sexuality, you don't need to repress it. It's normal to fantasize about having things like the opposite sex's genitalia. I struggled a lot thinking I was just a fetishist because thinking about being a girl would get me so horny. Truth is that sometimes it's a lot easier to express yourself when you're comfortable in your own body. When you don't feel bad about it, when you don't feel yucky for what you have. It's also really common to go back and forth, I had my genderfluid phase in which I was so indecisive I'd constantly go back and forth on it. It helps to take it slowly and explore yourself, things like being genderfluid exist for a reason. Not everyone who is genderfluid is trans, but you'd be shocked at how many people (such as myself) identified as trans after finally calming down with switching back and forth. It's a hard prospect, it's scary sometimes. I doubt myself all the time, but I'm genuinely happier when people refer to me with feminine pronouns, when I'm dressed pretty and I feel like a pretty girl. It's okay not to know either, you won't get an answer immediately. There exists a wide spectrum for you to fall under, so never stop exploring yourself.

Something my therapist told me is, "Cis women also feel sexy when trying on dresses in the mirror."

Society penalizes and shames your trans thoughts. Society also penalizes and shames your sexual thoughts. It's natural that the moments where you can express and feel things that are shameful becomes expressions and feelings of both.

cool bell dude. who does it toll for

oh man this is awkward

*youth pastor voice*  karl marx isn’t the only guy who’s big on sharing. there’s someone else who thinks that wealth is immoral, and it’s the big guy himself kids.

how could i possibly fucking choose

what happened to moodboards. you guys used to love moodboards

Dolly Parton has come to do a show in my town. We couldn't afford tickets, so me and my mom sold my stepdad so we could go.

It turned out that we sold him to Dolly Parton, she made him sing with her and then she gave him back.

I threw my short, blonde hair into a messy bun before putting on my cowboy boots. I stared at my big blue orbs in the mirror and sighed. I'm nothing like the other step-dads in town. I'm different. I like to mow the grass.

"Stupid man!" I heard my stepdaughter yell, and I quickly hurried down the stairs to see my wife and stepdaughter standing there, arms crossed.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We need money for concert tickets, so we're selling you." My wife roared.

I felt tears flow down my rosy red cheeks as I held my Horse Monthly magazine to my chest.

"Howdy honey!" Someone's voice drawled from behind me. I turned around

"Dolly Parton!?" I gasped.

no distractions for me please . i need to decipher what trends in online poetry are considered "in" and which are now "gauche and overplayed" on tumblr dot come.

I just saw a gifset that split the word "beautiful" into 3 gifs and I think this one may be the new t hanos

You’re laughing. She has a urinary tract infection and you’re laughing