CALL FOR ART BY TRANS+, NON-BINARY, & GENDERQUEER CHRISTIANS

​Are you a trans+ Christian with artwork (of ANY medium!) expressing your journeys in gender and faith? Would you like the opportunity to share your voice and experience with other trans+ Christians who may be struggling at the intersections of their gender and faith identities, especially amidst current transphobic Christian rhetoric? Look no further! Submissions due Friday 8/18 at 12:00 noon EST.

More information below the cutoff and on the project site! :) Please don't hesitate to reach me at soupdempsey25@gmail.com with any further questions!

A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)

Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!

This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.

This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!

The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!

A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.

Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height will make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)

(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)

When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane, then the good leg, and THEN the leg that needs help.

Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.

In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.

Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!

(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)

The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!

Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.

The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!

This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!

However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.

Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)

Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.

Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)

(my canes, for reference)

If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!

When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!

For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.

When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)

When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)

That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!

Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!

“But I didn’t consent to see kink” yes you did by coming to pride,

a place you know and have repeatedly said you know kink is at, a place built by kinky people, the mother of pride Brenda Howard was a queer kinky polyamorous sex positive anti war bisexual Jew and to try and remove its history or sanitise it is is spitting on her grave, you are consenting by choosing to go there

I agree this, but think this ignores the queer youth who would probably like to be involved in events like this, or show their parents that being queer is widely accepted

i used to be in that same boat but honestly i feel like people severely underestimate how few shits kids give about stuff like this. most of them will either be like “huh that’s weird why is that guy wearing a dog mask— WOAH LOOK BALLOONS” or if they actually ask you can just be like “sometimes people like to wear fun costumes” and just leave it at that. most adults who think “oh no! kids are being exposed to sexual stuff!” are coming at it from the perspective of an adult who already knows that these things are associated with kink and sexuality. kids for the most part have no clue, so if you just give them a filler answer like “they just like the way it looks” or “they’re wearing a fun costume” they’ll just accept it and move on. cause honestly kids see more nudity and sexuality in commercials and movies than they do at pride. it’s just that at pride it’s stuff that’s specific to queer sexuality.

Okay, but what if my bi sis wanted to take our Good Christian Parents to a pride parade? My mother couldn’t handle a maid dress and male-titties edit I was doing of the subway CEO (“I prefer modesty” so the nips had to go) so I doubt she could handle any kink.

Yeah, yeah, pride, self-expression, own your sexuality and kink shouldn’t be demonized, I get that, but you want to encourage minors (could be a 17-year-old) or teens of whatever to come, you’ll have to make some sacrifices. Cause I know children don’t care. But teenagers would if they’re trying to bring their parents.

Maybe we could have like “Pride After Dark” that’s like not the parade, but something that showcases the more adult side of queerness. There are many non-adult things about being gay/queer and maybe we can highlight those for certain events over others.

"but you want to encourage minors (could be a 17-year-old) or teens of whatever to come" yeah no buddy, we ain't doing that, actually. You just made that up.

They're allowed to come, of course - if they stay respectful, same as everyone else.

Like yeah, it sucks for them if this means they can't come bc they feel like they can't bring their parents, but that teen's parents don't have more right to be there than kinksters do. Your mom does not have more right to be there than kinksters do. Simple as that. Sucks for your sis, but she'll just have to leave your parents at home if she wants to go.

I love that this argument also completely ignores the MANY pride events specifically geared towards younger people that don't involve kink. Your local high school's GSA party will not have kink. Your local teen and young adult meet-ups will not be hosted by a domme in full gear. You can always organize YOUR OWN events that don't allow kink. You have literally every right to pick and choose what events you do and do not show up at.

For the love of fuck, stop putting it on other people to cater to your specific tastes, and go out there and do your own dance! If the current party is run by people you don't like, stop trying to go to it and just throw your own!

Also if your parents aren't supportive of you, that's a problem they need to work out.

It isn't our job to "teach" your Good Christian Parents to stop being homophobic. It's your parents' job to do their duty and love their children unconditionally.

"but what if it's not palatable enough to a Good Christian Mum that a child can bring her along" do these people know what Pride is and why it exists. Do they think they're going to the town-sponsored christmas pageant. What.

Disagree on the kids don't know thing. Past a certain age/point in life they do know, but again, for the most part, either don't care or see it as a positive. Yes, teenagers can have kinks too, and it's not inappropriate to show them that they are not disgusting or evil for that.

I *was* at one point a queer kid that went to pride. The few times I saw a pup mask or harness I felt this bubbly queer joy. I thought "I am not alone," I thought, "these people are so brave and cool," I thought, "wow we're all so diverse here and it's so beautiful I see people of every gender ethnicity sexuality age in every type of clothing with every queer symbol ever this is cool as FUCK."

Queer kids deserve to know and be proud of queer history, too. Those too young to know or understand will simply understand a "that's what they like to wear :)" and those old enough to know or understand will probably appreciate it or at worst not care at all.

Queer history is rich and beautiful, kink and queerness ARE linked, and I think we should celebrate that forever and not worry so much about what puritans think. They don't have to come. This isn't about them.

i want to say that we often ignore a big part of pride and also why the first one was a riot: PRIDE EXISTS TO CELEBRATE QUEER SEXUAL EXPRESSION AND SEXUAL ATTRACTION. yes that is an ADULT theme. it was CRIMINALIZED, hence the protesting/rioting. and before anyone bitches about adult asexuals, let me remind you that asexuals have been at pride since the beginning and never had a problem with it until now, which is just new bullshit thinly veiled homophobia at expressing discomfort at queer sexual expression. and sex-repulsion has nothing to do with queerness or sexuality or being asexual so don’t even fucking try to bring that up. that’s a personal problem and/or preference, not an asexual community one. stop using asexuals as an excuse, and/or using your identity to be homophobic.

click for quality + do not remove caption (color alts on instagram) (my shop)