(all authors listed in alphabetical order by last name)
Shira Glassman //@shiraglassman
RoAnna Silver //@thesylverlining
A version with the covers!
I'm humbled and honored to have my work linked in this post.
…if anyone needs proof that fandom wank is stupid and doesn’t mean shit, they can just look at my fandom career.
Me then: But I LIKE Decepticons as gleefully villainous on purpose!
Them then: You must be evil. Villains must be woobie to be likable.
Me now: …honestly I don’t think all Phyrexians should be unsympathetic. They were pretty much all forced into being evil. That’s sad, and I think canon should say so more often.
Them now: Ugh, these people who want villains to be soft! They’re ruining everything!
…Like what you like. People who bother to loudly dislike whatever that happens to be are more in need of a good hobby than you will ever be.
Hi Mark. I’m wondering if WOTC has heard some of the criticisms of the Phyrexia arc from trans and disabled fans. I honestly don’t know how prevalent the critique is but I’m surprised there hasn’t been at least a comment from WOTC staff about it. I have always loved how open WOTC seems to be to discussions of representation so I was very surprised when I felt two minority communities I am a part of never even got a “we weren’t thinking about it” or “we were aware but made these creative choices anyway.” Things as small as Kaya’s natural hairstyle rightly get while articles, but this gets nothing, and I’m wondering if you can tell us why.
Ableism is often treated as the odd one out of the oppressions, as an afterthought. Did that happen here, or is there a rationale I missed? As someone with a surgically modified body of my own I was looking forward to my Xantcha to see myself in.
I haven't heard the criticisms. Can you spell them out for me, as I do very much want to hear them?
!’atan Mark. OP here.
Here’s a (very long) thread a lot of us participated in (in which I am considerably snippier than I am here because all I’d seen was some comments from freelancers about how wanting a few more sympathetic Phyrexians is silly, and I worried they might be speaking for Creative):
For me personally, I absolutely thought the planeswalker guide from Scars block was hinting that now that Phyrexia had become five color, it was beginning to lose some of its Borglike qualities. I was probably imagining too much in my head but I definitely thought that when next we returned we’d see a lot of internal turmoil between more traditionalist factions scared of freedom and curious newfangled ones beginning to embrace the idea (though maybe not fully understanding it quite yet).
For me and for friends of mine in the fandom, the halo subplot with Urabrask reinforced this idea. We made Rage Against The Other Machines memes with him as a rebel leader and speculated on how it would play out. We theorized about uneasy alliances with the Mirrans he’d left alone before, willing to trust him a little because he’d left them alone.
We embraced the idea of ourselves as members of the Phyrexian rebellion, identifying with Phyrexia because we were trans or disabled and had or wanted surgically altered bodies, in a political climate where it’s become a hot button issue whether surgical modifications are “mutilation” and certain political factions make a lot of the idea that trans youth are being pressured into surgeries or HRT when we should keep our “natural” bodies.
I mentioned this is personal to me because I had major surgery as a teen for a disabling condition I was born with. People gawk at my scars. I’ve been called a cyborg before by people who absolutely didn’t mean it as a compliment. So I’ve always loved Phyrexia, ever since Magic helped me survive all those surgeries.
When I thought that Urabrask would be a hero (I expected him to heroically sacrifice himself to off Norn and begin an era of a more free Phyrexia), I was excited. I too have an altered body. I too am a freak to some. I too will never have my original body back, which is a tragedy to some people but a Thursday for me.
Not only was the rebellion Mirran only on cards, but it was put down offscreen.
I wasn’t crushed, I’m old, but I was disappointed.
THEN compleation was curable.
THAT one got me. I am this. This is my body. The last time I talked to an orthopedist, “yeah that metal is just you now.”
I eagerly watched to see how favorite characters like Jace and Vraska and Nissa would get used to being compleat. How they’d get on with their lives after defeating Norn. If their identity struggles and self image would look anything like mine. They were like me now!
…and then they weren’t.
I need to get back to work but I want to thank you very much for responding. I feared no one at WOTC cared, or had seen us and were angry.
I am so glad that’s not the case.
We were sadly never given the Phyrexian for thank, so uh…
!Xe Mark [I-thank-you].
That’s… not what I’m saying?
I’m ssying that Magic Story heavily implied that there is a particular way of modifying the body that is so vile and disgusting that it makes any right thinking person immediately revolted. That the way the people in favor of those particular modifications trick and coerce innocent people into pursuing them is by claiming, falsely, that these modifications are an improvement. If the individual ever wakes up to the deception it’s too late. The modifications are rarely reversible (and likely require powerful magics and quite possibly someone’s death to restore someone.)
Here’s what I hear from transphobic pundits and legislators, aimed at trans masculine people like me, especially if we want or even say we might eventually like top surgery (a double mastectomy):
There is a particular way of modifying the female body that is so vile and disgusting that it makes any right thinking person immediately revolted. The primary reason anyone seeks these modifications is because they are in “the transcult,” which exists solely to convince innocent young people to mutilate their bodies. They do this by claiming, falsely, that the modifications are an improvement that will better their lives. If the individual ever wakes up to the deception, it’s too late. The modifications are not reversible.
So WOTC (probably accidentally) sounds uncomfortably like JK Rowling. All right.
So what would I like them to do?
It’s fundamentally unrealistic to ask them to retcon Phyrexia. They came up with the idea (well, the borg expy, Phyrexia is not wholly original, though additions like the mnemonic oil are very creative and cool) in the 90s, when trans men were not really openly around socially.
So I’d like one or both of:
A Phyrexian character who pushes back on the idea that their modified body is irreparably corrupted. Maybe they break free of the mind control but decide they like their mods. Maybe they believe (as many of us thought Urabrask did but only some canonical sources claim this) that compleation should be voluntary and all beings should have a choice. Maybe they see themself as a victim and are like “dude, so Phyrexia changed me against my will and now you’re saying I’m gross, not the surgeons who did this? How would you talk to a survivor of Mengele? Wooooow.”
And/or
A statement from WOTC saying that while the story was already locked in, they see the unfortunate implications and missed them at the time. That the way the good guys pity Phyrexians and are disgusted by their bodies only coincidentally parallels terf rhetoric about gender affirming care as “mutilation of healthy bodies,” but they recognize it comes off badly given the political climate in the us and most especially the UK when it was released.
I don’t think either of those is a big ask. WOTC invents minor characters because people say they want them all the time. Sometimes they become major ones, even!
@markrosewater tagging you just in case.
It's honestly frustrating to watch people misunderstand you. It's like...
"Hey, these orcs seem awfully like racist stereotypes"
"lolol if orcs make you think of black people you must be a racist"
Yep. That’s exactly what they’re doing.
It’s especially bad because I’m going “hey, I was ALSO medically violated in a way that changed my body. Can I have a side character (other than Ixhel who had no role in the main story) who is like me and sympathetic?”
And people are responding to that with “you know forced surgical modification is bad, right?”
Yes. Yes, I know that.
Quick question: Can you read?
Bolas. The guy you want is named Nicol Bolas. (Yawgmoth too, but he’s dead.)
Though if you’re looking for completely evil villains, MTG really doesn’t have many besides Bolas or Yawgmoth. The whole “different color alignments want different things but are all understandable” thing lends Magic lore to having antagonists but not villains.
Even when it does have villains, they tend to be somewhat sympathetic. Think Nahiri. I’m pretty sure the intent is for you to look at her and go “holy crsp stop doing that. I mean I totally get why you’re doing it but uh. No.”
Which is part of why I think some (not all! I never said all!) Phyrexians should be antivillains or antiheroes. Phyrexia perverts but doesn’t destroy color alignment. To me, that leaves room for a small number of Phyrexians who after a lot of thought or character building plot revert to regular old red guys or blue guys or whatever.
Even above and beyond that, individual Phyrexians are usually people who were changed forcibly. That’s a victim, not a moustache twirler.
SOME Phyrexians should therefore, in my opinion, be less Evil Incarnate and more sympathetic and tragic.
Listen. New or questioning trans girl. People will say that wearing a skirt and panties giving you a boner is proof that what you're doing is unnatural. This is untrue. You are experiencing the sense of liking how you look: something most cis people have. You have begun to enjoy your body, something that has been absent for years. Your first kiss ever also will feel/felt that much more powerful. It's a little lame but just enjoy it for now.
Very true. It's uncomfortable because it's new, not because it's wrong.
Random sexual arousal is also… a thing? That happens? To people?
If it weren’t potentially visible, as it can be in this case, no one would know or care.
People are just being weird gross and nosy when they see boner + skirt.
This should not be your problem. Making it your problem is mean and dumb.
I continue to be baffled by the people who think this war is somehow going to end with things going back to the way they were.
I am not an expert on foreign policy and am open to being proven wrong by someone who is, but I’m pretty sure what’s gonna end up happening is the rest of the world just going “there are two states” over and over until Israel goes “fucking hell… okay, okay.”
There also like… a lot of rhetoric about what’s wrong with weight loss surgery and… yes, to me it seems way too likely to go wrong. I can’t imagine I’d ever recommend it.
But a friend I was close with at the time chose to have it, and I’m very uncomfortable comparing what those posts say about people who choose it vs my experience of someone who did and who never expressed regret to me. (We haven’t been in touch recently so it’s possible things might’ve changed, but when I saw her she seemed happy with her modified body.)
She made her decision after she was hospitalized after a car accident. Her injuries were not lasting thankfully but I cannot imagine that much bruising felt good at all. She said that it had made her think very hard about what she wanted her old age to look like, and that she emphatically did not want to use a wheelchair.
Now. I’ve used a manual chair. I really liked it! It’s a great effort for me to go fast with my legs, but with my arms I felt like Lightning McQueen. While I don’t currently want to use a device I don’t think it’s a bad thing or a loss.
For my friend though it meant accepting a major loss of mobility, and she didn’t want to do that. So she chose to modify her body to see if she could keep her mobility.
Last I saw her, post-op, she’d succeeded in doing so and was happy.
So yeah, I don’t know. I’m very alarmed about the many ways that mod can go terribly wrong or even just… not take if you can’t make profound changes to your habits. It worries me.
But when I try to reframe my friend’s story in my head the way online posts tell me I should, it feels so paternalistic I need a shower to wash off slime. I just can’t square it with how highly I actually value bodily autonomy and how deeply convinced I am that exercising bodily autonomy looks completely different for different people.
Why do we see depitions of magical/occult things with tits and cock way more than no tits and cunt?
The Phallus is magically important, especially in the context of post-medieval magical symbology regarding hermaphrodism. The phallus is that which drives creation, while the womb is that which creates. The union created by the action of penetration is important.
Magically speaking, if you want a Sacred Hermaphrodite with no tits and a pussy, they gotta be strapped up. They don't necessarily have to be topping. They just gotta have a Ritual Strap. Lots of opportunity for symbolism there tbh.
Their magic wand, as it were.
Hey what do you think the tarot suit of wands represents?
So my dash is doing a thing talking about how there are all kinds of studies showing weight loss is unsuccessful but not actually linking them
Is there actually something more recent than that one study from the 1950s saying 90some% of diets fail? I’ve gone looking for something more recent in the past and not found it.
Also iirc that 1950s study really didn’t define a diet clearly and carefully, though I’m not looking at the criticisms of it this second.
A lot of people use “diet” in different ways. Some people mean “any intended change in habits, such as smaller portions of desserts,” and some people mean “things called ‘diets,’ which prescribe specific patterns of eating, usually involving limiting, excising, or focusing on particular foods.”
Those seem different to me, though I’m open to examining something post 1960 that gives evidence they should be considered statistically identical and would gladly eat crow if it was unambiguous that these are the same.
Cannot fit all your replies in one screenie and tired so not gonna try but yes, I think what happened with me is that for me the advice was entirely correct. This is why I am now leery of people blanket stating the advice is contradictory to science. Est when the science they say is correct is from 1950some and and requests for recent stuff gets “you’re in bad faith”
Nah. I was told to lose weight for health reasons but bought into a political community that told me not just not to try it but that trying it would betray people who I’m supposed to “be an ally to,” which led me to not try it. When if I had tried it, I would have felt better sooner. And my general views that fat people should be treated better in society did not change. At all.
I have no issue with people who try to lose weight and find it does not work for them. My issue is with “new science says it won’t work for you, whoever you are,” when it seems much more likely it works fairly well for people who are thinking of losing 15lb or so but badly for people who are trying to lose 150.
My issue is that calling me an outlier is gaslighting, when you could avoid gaslighting anyone at all just by saying “losing 10% of one’s body weight can be beneficial. Trying to change one’s body shape fundamentally is a much more involved project, and if someone recommends it to you, you should think very hard about whether you value their advice.”
It’s not hard.
But yet people claiming I don’t understand science are so common I can’t fucking block them all.
That annoys me.
So my dash is doing a thing talking about how there are all kinds of studies showing weight loss is unsuccessful but not actually linking them
Is there actually something more recent than that one study from the 1950s saying 90some% of diets fail? I’ve gone looking for something more recent in the past and not found it.
Also iirc that 1950s study really didn’t define a diet clearly and carefully, though I’m not looking at the criticisms of it this second.
A lot of people use “diet” in different ways. Some people mean “any intended change in habits, such as smaller portions of desserts,” and some people mean “things called ‘diets,’ which prescribe specific patterns of eating, usually involving limiting, excising, or focusing on particular foods.”
Those seem different to me, though I’m open to examining something post 1960 that gives evidence they should be considered statistically identical and would gladly eat crow if it was unambiguous that these are the same.
“Requires considerable effort” and “doesn’t work” have very different truth values to me. I suspect that’s why my response to fat lib is frequently bafflement.
If they phrased it as “are you ready to put in considerable and consistent effort? It’s totally okay not to be ready to do that! In many instances it’s health promoting actually,” I’d have much less of a problem with it.
Instead though they phrase it as “do not attempt difficult things, as they are difficult,” which I personally have found to be consistently shitty advice.
“Here is what you need to be aware of should you choose to attempt this difficult thing. You have and always will have bodily autonomy and can do whatever you choose to do, and here’s some info” works much better for my brain.
Yeah this talking point has bothered me a lot.
Like it would be fair to say that lifestyle changes necessary for dramatic body changes are not sustainable for many people. But it doesn't mean the body will always return to the same state so these changes are entirely pointless.
I've seen my body go through dramatic shifts in weight and I know what the major differences have been for me.
Going from living in a car dependent area to living in a walkable city dropped 30lbs from me in 2 1/2 months. no changes in my diet, and actually I think I was eating more chocolate then because German hazelnut chocolate was like 1 euro for a big bar and I loved that shit 😭.
When I was younger, I would spend the summer on swim team doing hour long morning and afternoon practices. by the end of the season, I had similar results.
The problem is that adult life, especially in car dependent places, makes no time for regular exercise. Time for exercise is always some kind of sacrifice.
You can do something low intensity that takes up most of your afternoon after work or you can do intense bursts that are easy to burn out on or become very boring. And all of these things have a layer of artificiality to them that makes them hard to commit to.
when I was walking everywhere, i didn't have to hassle myself to commit to the routine. it was just how I got about the city. sometimes I had to go up stairs, sometimes I had to run to catch a tram. but it was never "okay now I need to Make myself job for 5 minutes. then walk 5. jog 5" etc.
When I swam, I did it because it was FUN and it was one of the only outdoor activities I could do in the south without feeling like I'm dying. I had an outside structure to keep me accountable too and friends I would only see there as another kind of motivation.
Now, back in a car dependent place, it doesn't help me to think every change I make is pointless. it helps me to recognize what my barriers are so I can meet the changes that I want for myself.
If strict exercise routines are boring, then I need something silly and fun. play tag with your friends again or just kick a ball around.
if there's only a few places I can really walk, I try to get invested in them (I learn more about the plants on the nature paths I take).
anything that can keep me engaged with exercise because it is worth it and it is necessary. we need physical enrichment.
This is my experience too. I walk about a mile and a half to and from work now and I can tell.
What I think the issue is (when I think people are engaging in good faith which I honestly believe some people are not, especially some people making money as an “Intuitive eating” coach) is that “pro weight loss” people are saying “it’s good to develop better habits, and this fairly often results in small amounts of weight loss, which can often be beneficial” whereas the “weight loss is a lie” people are talking about going from 400 to 225, and saying most people don’t manage it.
It’s two different conversations being packaged as if they’re the same one.
If it helps my experiences were:
Doctor: Your blood pressure is concerning for someone in their 30s. Consider losing weight.
Me: My online friends tell me doctors say that too much. No.
Doctor: I’m still getting these weird bp readings.
Me: Fatphobia.
Doctor: I’d like to start you on meds like your dad’s. These readings are consistent.
Me: Fuck you.
Doctor: So you’re prediabetic now.
Me: Can I see that paper?
Doc: Sure.
Me: …fuck.
*cuts back on sweets, eats smaller portions*
Doc: 130/90.
Me: You were right.
Doc two months later: 120/80.
Thank you!
I find it super frustrating to be told my body defies science, when I literally did what someone with more medical knowledge recommended I try and it worked exactly as predicted.
I mean it’s kind of fun to suppose that I’m some bizarre outlier, but enough people leave hard and fat activism circles and describe the same thing that I’m inclined to suspect there’s some information control and isolating going on in those circles.
So my dash is doing a thing talking about how there are all kinds of studies showing weight loss is unsuccessful but not actually linking them
Is there actually something more recent than that one study from the 1950s saying 90some% of diets fail? I’ve gone looking for something more recent in the past and not found it.
Also iirc that 1950s study really didn’t define a diet clearly and carefully, though I’m not looking at the criticisms of it this second.
A lot of people use “diet” in different ways. Some people mean “any intended change in habits, such as smaller portions of desserts,” and some people mean “things called ‘diets,’ which prescribe specific patterns of eating, usually involving limiting, excising, or focusing on particular foods.”
Those seem different to me, though I’m open to examining something post 1960 that gives evidence they should be considered statistically identical and would gladly eat crow if it was unambiguous that these are the same.
“Requires considerable effort” and “doesn’t work” have very different truth values to me. I suspect that’s why my response to fat lib is frequently bafflement.
If they phrased it as “are you ready to put in considerable and consistent effort? It’s totally okay not to be ready to do that! In many instances it’s health promoting actually,” I’d have much less of a problem with it.
Instead though they phrase it as “do not attempt difficult things, as they are difficult,” which I personally have found to be consistently shitty advice.
“Here is what you need to be aware of should you choose to attempt this difficult thing. You have and always will have bodily autonomy and can do whatever you choose to do, and here’s some info” works much better for my brain.
Yeah this talking point has bothered me a lot.
Like it would be fair to say that lifestyle changes necessary for dramatic body changes are not sustainable for many people. But it doesn't mean the body will always return to the same state so these changes are entirely pointless.
I've seen my body go through dramatic shifts in weight and I know what the major differences have been for me.
Going from living in a car dependent area to living in a walkable city dropped 30lbs from me in 2 1/2 months. no changes in my diet, and actually I think I was eating more chocolate then because German hazelnut chocolate was like 1 euro for a big bar and I loved that shit 😭.
When I was younger, I would spend the summer on swim team doing hour long morning and afternoon practices. by the end of the season, I had similar results.
The problem is that adult life, especially in car dependent places, makes no time for regular exercise. Time for exercise is always some kind of sacrifice.
You can do something low intensity that takes up most of your afternoon after work or you can do intense bursts that are easy to burn out on or become very boring. And all of these things have a layer of artificiality to them that makes them hard to commit to.
when I was walking everywhere, i didn't have to hassle myself to commit to the routine. it was just how I got about the city. sometimes I had to go up stairs, sometimes I had to run to catch a tram. but it was never "okay now I need to Make myself job for 5 minutes. then walk 5. jog 5" etc.
When I swam, I did it because it was FUN and it was one of the only outdoor activities I could do in the south without feeling like I'm dying. I had an outside structure to keep me accountable too and friends I would only see there as another kind of motivation.
Now, back in a car dependent place, it doesn't help me to think every change I make is pointless. it helps me to recognize what my barriers are so I can meet the changes that I want for myself.
If strict exercise routines are boring, then I need something silly and fun. play tag with your friends again or just kick a ball around.
if there's only a few places I can really walk, I try to get invested in them (I learn more about the plants on the nature paths I take).
anything that can keep me engaged with exercise because it is worth it and it is necessary. we need physical enrichment.
This is my experience too. I walk about a mile and a half to and from work now and I can tell.
What I think the issue is (when I think people are engaging in good faith which I honestly believe some people are not, especially some people making money as an “Intuitive eating” coach) is that “pro weight loss” people are saying “it’s good to develop better habits, and this fairly often results in small amounts of weight loss, which can often be beneficial” whereas the “weight loss is a lie” people are talking about going from 400 to 225, and saying most people don’t manage it.
It’s two different conversations being packaged as if they’re the same one.
If it helps my experiences were:
Doctor: Your blood pressure is concerning for someone in their 30s. Consider losing weight.
Me: My online friends tell me doctors say that too much. No.
Doctor: I’m still getting these weird bp readings.
Me: Fatphobia.
Doctor: I’d like to start you on meds like your dad’s. These readings are consistent.
Me: Fuck you.
Doctor: So you’re prediabetic now.
Me: Can I see that paper?
Doc: Sure.
Me: …fuck.
*cuts back on sweets, eats smaller portions*
Doc: 130/90.
Me: You were right.
Doc two months later: 120/80.
this site has one setting
I’m laughing, but there’s a super useful corollary, which my husband calls “the Red Balloon.” He was a defense lawyer and had a fair number of drug addicts come through, and there is a thing where if you’re like, on your first offense, they’ll do a thing where you can go to treatment and if you complete it they’ll take the conviction off your record. And he would tell his clients, “Look, everyone’s going to tell you not to do drugs. They’re going to say it over and over again. And it’s like, if people tell you not to think of a white elephant, you’re going to think of a white elephant. But the trick to not thinking about a white elephant is to think of a red balloon. So you need to find your red balloon. For some people it’s yoga. For others it’s woodworking. For some people it’s scrapbooking or gardening or any of a long list of things to do. They focus on that, it’s a lot easier to succeed in ignoring the white elephant.” So yeah, “watch yourself” is one thing… but the better idea is to watch something else. (Even if it’s fanfic about werewolves fucking.)
It’s a form of productive dissociation, and is super, super helpful. It’s easy for me to get bogged down in how much pain I’m in… but some of the most painful periods of my life have also been the most productive, writing-wise, because writing is one of my red balloons.
There is a phrase I use A LOT in my parenting and my son gets very sick of it, but it’s true:
The thing you practise is the thing you get good at.
You may not intentionally be practicing “being grumpy” but if you don’t put effort into practicing “not being grumpy” then I’m afraid that’s what you’re doing. It’s hard! It’s really hard! Sometimes, for some things, it’s pretty much impossible and that sucks!
But being carefully aware that you are going to get good at the things you do most of is a good way to be more careful of what those things are. If that makes sense.
You gotta appreciate sometimes how tumblr works in such a way that everyone who wants to reblog this interesting or useful psychological advice is also forced to reblog the thing about werewolf fucking
I mean, we have a reputation to keep terrible here.
Man. Ms. Daniels’ testimony is depressing.
I don’t know what I was expecting but I honestly was kinda hoping that it was just a transaction for both of them and therefore not disappointing for her.
Im sad to see he’s STILL a sleazy jerk even when dealing with people who he’s got some reason to think might be willing to do an open legit deal.
Making a new post to say a more controversial thing;
I do feel a little uneasy when people discourage others from asking or thinking about their relationship with food.
I think this because I do think habitual dessert eating, soda drinking, and “junk food” eating are, for some people, coping devices. And I think that for some of the some (a subset of a subset!) the coping device can be maladaptive. It is for me. I rapidly begin to eat more and more sweets in an attempt to feel soothed, usually don’t feel much better, and ultimately feel stupid that I tried something I know doesn’t work well for me yet again. If I gain weight I feel even worse, “I knew that was dumb and now people can probably VISIBLY SEE that I did it, when it wasn’t even useful/positive result inducing enough for me not to care.”
I do think in my case it helps to seek different coping strategies, and save feel good food times for, like, let’s all go out for a holiday feast, which is much more likely to actually give me the good mood I’m seeking (because taste is only one element of a whole experience that adds up to comfort and I’m not relying on the cookie to save me from being triggered or the like.)
I feel this is likely also true for some others. I’ve watched some videos with very fat people in them, and seen them say things like “food’s my lover, it’s so good and it never leaves.”
Which, you know. Kink tomato! But the more you eat to feel orgasmic the more likely you are to overdo it eventually, whereas if an actual lover is stroking your clit you don’t have to consider stopping at any point short of feeling like doing something else instead.
So I’m leery of framing eating as like any other pleasure, when pleasures very commonly vary in how many times you can indulge at a go and whether this will have any consequences you might not like.
If you ARE choosing a pleasure you can overindulge in, are you doing it because you want to, or are you doing it because you fear another pleasure is inaccessible to you? (Food is in the fridge. Willing clitoris touchers can take a bit more seeking out.) If so, you may be treating yourself poorly in general.
Which may be more easily tackled than eating less.
So my dash is doing a thing talking about how there are all kinds of studies showing weight loss is unsuccessful but not actually linking them
Is there actually something more recent than that one study from the 1950s saying 90some% of diets fail? I’ve gone looking for something more recent in the past and not found it.
Also iirc that 1950s study really didn’t define a diet clearly and carefully, though I’m not looking at the criticisms of it this second.
A lot of people use “diet” in different ways. Some people mean “any intended change in habits, such as smaller portions of desserts,” and some people mean “things called ‘diets,’ which prescribe specific patterns of eating, usually involving limiting, excising, or focusing on particular foods.”
Those seem different to me, though I’m open to examining something post 1960 that gives evidence they should be considered statistically identical and would gladly eat crow if it was unambiguous that these are the same.
“Requires considerable effort” and “doesn’t work” have very different truth values to me. I suspect that’s why my response to fat lib is frequently bafflement.
If they phrased it as “are you ready to put in considerable and consistent effort? It’s totally okay not to be ready to do that! In many instances it’s health promoting actually,” I’d have much less of a problem with it.
Instead though they phrase it as “do not attempt difficult things, as they are difficult,” which I personally have found to be consistently shitty advice.
“Here is what you need to be aware of should you choose to attempt this difficult thing. You have and always will have bodily autonomy and can do whatever you choose to do, and here’s some info” works much better for my brain.
Yeah this talking point has bothered me a lot.
Like it would be fair to say that lifestyle changes necessary for dramatic body changes are not sustainable for many people. But it doesn't mean the body will always return to the same state so these changes are entirely pointless.
I've seen my body go through dramatic shifts in weight and I know what the major differences have been for me.
Going from living in a car dependent area to living in a walkable city dropped 30lbs from me in 2 1/2 months. no changes in my diet, and actually I think I was eating more chocolate then because German hazelnut chocolate was like 1 euro for a big bar and I loved that shit 😭.
When I was younger, I would spend the summer on swim team doing hour long morning and afternoon practices. by the end of the season, I had similar results.
The problem is that adult life, especially in car dependent places, makes no time for regular exercise. Time for exercise is always some kind of sacrifice.
You can do something low intensity that takes up most of your afternoon after work or you can do intense bursts that are easy to burn out on or become very boring. And all of these things have a layer of artificiality to them that makes them hard to commit to.
when I was walking everywhere, i didn't have to hassle myself to commit to the routine. it was just how I got about the city. sometimes I had to go up stairs, sometimes I had to run to catch a tram. but it was never "okay now I need to Make myself job for 5 minutes. then walk 5. jog 5" etc.
When I swam, I did it because it was FUN and it was one of the only outdoor activities I could do in the south without feeling like I'm dying. I had an outside structure to keep me accountable too and friends I would only see there as another kind of motivation.
Now, back in a car dependent place, it doesn't help me to think every change I make is pointless. it helps me to recognize what my barriers are so I can meet the changes that I want for myself.
If strict exercise routines are boring, then I need something silly and fun. play tag with your friends again or just kick a ball around.
if there's only a few places I can really walk, I try to get invested in them (I learn more about the plants on the nature paths I take).
anything that can keep me engaged with exercise because it is worth it and it is necessary. we need physical enrichment.
This is my experience too. I walk about a mile and a half to and from work now and I can tell.
What I think the issue is (when I think people are engaging in good faith which I honestly believe some people are not, especially some people making money as an “Intuitive eating” coach) is that “pro weight loss” people are saying “it’s good to develop better habits, and this fairly often results in small amounts of weight loss, which can often be beneficial” whereas the “weight loss is a lie” people are talking about going from 400 to 225, and saying most people don’t manage it.
It’s two different conversations being packaged as if they’re the same one.
The question shouldn't be "does it take considerable effort," but "is the effort it takes sustainable for the person in the situation."
A person who deeply enjoys doing a sport will be happier to go spend several hours a week doing the sport, and possibly a few more hours a week doing weight or cardiovascular training to improve their performance at it, than someone for whom the physical activity they do is an unwanted grind.
A person who has to walk places because they don't have a car is going to automatically put many more miles in walking than someone who does have a car and would have to take specific hours out of their week to do "recreational" walking, which might work it it actually counts as recreational to them, but might not, because again, time and dedicated effort.
One of the big reasons intermittent fasting has gained such a foothold is that it gives you spaces in which you can eat to fulfillment, and doesn't run on you maintaining the willpower to deprive yourself of desired food or enough food consistently and indefinitely.
And if your hormones (which control things like hunger, satiation, and what gets done with the input calories) are inclined in certain directions, it's all the harder. This is impossible to study ethically, but I wonder if the people who could easily lose weight in vast amounts and keep it off just tend not to get fat in the first place. Certainly not everybody who's thin is maintaining that with a diet and exercise regimen that feels like a terrible exertion and burden to them.
Another aspect I don’t see brought up a lot is how medication can affect weight (gaining and losing). Getting on the right antidepressants can increase energy levels and cause weight loss. They can also increase weight gain in some people. I take adderall now and I’ve been steadily losing weight at a slow rate for a couple weeks now. I lost weight back when I was on T; I gained weight when I stopped taking T, etc.
Yes, absolutely. If a medication is known to cause weight gain but is medically necessary for other reasons, EVERY doctor who sees that patient should look at it as “this person made an informed choice to be fat and alive/happy, not skinny and dead/suicidal. Informed consent is a thing and we’re done here.”
So my dash is doing a thing talking about how there are all kinds of studies showing weight loss is unsuccessful but not actually linking them
Is there actually something more recent than that one study from the 1950s saying 90some% of diets fail? I’ve gone looking for something more recent in the past and not found it.
Also iirc that 1950s study really didn’t define a diet clearly and carefully, though I’m not looking at the criticisms of it this second.
A lot of people use “diet” in different ways. Some people mean “any intended change in habits, such as smaller portions of desserts,” and some people mean “things called ‘diets,’ which prescribe specific patterns of eating, usually involving limiting, excising, or focusing on particular foods.”
Those seem different to me, though I’m open to examining something post 1960 that gives evidence they should be considered statistically identical and would gladly eat crow if it was unambiguous that these are the same.
“Requires considerable effort” and “doesn’t work” have very different truth values to me. I suspect that’s why my response to fat lib is frequently bafflement.
If they phrased it as “are you ready to put in considerable and consistent effort? It’s totally okay not to be ready to do that! In many instances it’s health promoting actually,” I’d have much less of a problem with it.
Instead though they phrase it as “do not attempt difficult things, as they are difficult,” which I personally have found to be consistently shitty advice.
“Here is what you need to be aware of should you choose to attempt this difficult thing. You have and always will have bodily autonomy and can do whatever you choose to do, and here’s some info” works much better for my brain.
Yeah this talking point has bothered me a lot.
Like it would be fair to say that lifestyle changes necessary for dramatic body changes are not sustainable for many people. But it doesn't mean the body will always return to the same state so these changes are entirely pointless.
I've seen my body go through dramatic shifts in weight and I know what the major differences have been for me.
Going from living in a car dependent area to living in a walkable city dropped 30lbs from me in 2 1/2 months. no changes in my diet, and actually I think I was eating more chocolate then because German hazelnut chocolate was like 1 euro for a big bar and I loved that shit 😭.
When I was younger, I would spend the summer on swim team doing hour long morning and afternoon practices. by the end of the season, I had similar results.
The problem is that adult life, especially in car dependent places, makes no time for regular exercise. Time for exercise is always some kind of sacrifice.
You can do something low intensity that takes up most of your afternoon after work or you can do intense bursts that are easy to burn out on or become very boring. And all of these things have a layer of artificiality to them that makes them hard to commit to.
when I was walking everywhere, i didn't have to hassle myself to commit to the routine. it was just how I got about the city. sometimes I had to go up stairs, sometimes I had to run to catch a tram. but it was never "okay now I need to Make myself job for 5 minutes. then walk 5. jog 5" etc.
When I swam, I did it because it was FUN and it was one of the only outdoor activities I could do in the south without feeling like I'm dying. I had an outside structure to keep me accountable too and friends I would only see there as another kind of motivation.
Now, back in a car dependent place, it doesn't help me to think every change I make is pointless. it helps me to recognize what my barriers are so I can meet the changes that I want for myself.
If strict exercise routines are boring, then I need something silly and fun. play tag with your friends again or just kick a ball around.
if there's only a few places I can really walk, I try to get invested in them (I learn more about the plants on the nature paths I take).
anything that can keep me engaged with exercise because it is worth it and it is necessary. we need physical enrichment.
This is my experience too. I walk about a mile and a half to and from work now and I can tell.
What I think the issue is (when I think people are engaging in good faith which I honestly believe some people are not, especially some people making money as an “Intuitive eating” coach) is that “pro weight loss” people are saying “it’s good to develop better habits, and this fairly often results in small amounts of weight loss, which can often be beneficial” whereas the “weight loss is a lie” people are talking about going from 400 to 225, and saying most people don’t manage it.
It’s two different conversations being packaged as if they’re the same one.
Yes, exactly. When I first decided to try losing weight to see if it improved my health (it helped my mobility tremendously and restored my blood pressure to normal range, so I firmly believe it did improve my health and thus that “weight loss doesn’t help with health concerns” is an oversimplification at best and at worst a lie), I calorie counted.
I don’t any more, but I think it was a good idea for me simply to get a sense of what the serving size on a box of whatever really meant. I assumed my serving size was that, when suggested calorie counts were considerably less.
Trying out eating less food, not as a certainty or decision but as a test, helped me to learn I actually wasn’t going to feel like I was starving if I ate less. I now believe that this information is useful to me, not because I can never or should never eat a lot for fun (I still do that!), but because it allowed me to observe for myself it wasn’t necessary, and therefore to put eating that much in the “fun feasting with friends and family!” box and not the “daily necessity” one.
But for many people doing that is not just useless but straight up harmful.
I’d never recommend it to a random person! NEVER.
Hi Mark. I’m wondering if WOTC has heard some of the criticisms of the Phyrexia arc from trans and disabled fans. I honestly don’t know how prevalent the critique is but I’m surprised there hasn’t been at least a comment from WOTC staff about it. I have always loved how open WOTC seems to be to discussions of representation so I was very surprised when I felt two minority communities I am a part of never even got a “we weren’t thinking about it” or “we were aware but made these creative choices anyway.” Things as small as Kaya’s natural hairstyle rightly get while articles, but this gets nothing, and I’m wondering if you can tell us why.
Ableism is often treated as the odd one out of the oppressions, as an afterthought. Did that happen here, or is there a rationale I missed? As someone with a surgically modified body of my own I was looking forward to my Xantcha to see myself in.
I haven't heard the criticisms. Can you spell them out for me, as I do very much want to hear them?
!’atan Mark. OP here.
Here’s a (very long) thread a lot of us participated in (in which I am considerably snippier than I am here because all I’d seen was some comments from freelancers about how wanting a few more sympathetic Phyrexians is silly, and I worried they might be speaking for Creative):
For me personally, I absolutely thought the planeswalker guide from Scars block was hinting that now that Phyrexia had become five color, it was beginning to lose some of its Borglike qualities. I was probably imagining too much in my head but I definitely thought that when next we returned we’d see a lot of internal turmoil between more traditionalist factions scared of freedom and curious newfangled ones beginning to embrace the idea (though maybe not fully understanding it quite yet).
For me and for friends of mine in the fandom, the halo subplot with Urabrask reinforced this idea. We made Rage Against The Other Machines memes with him as a rebel leader and speculated on how it would play out. We theorized about uneasy alliances with the Mirrans he’d left alone before, willing to trust him a little because he’d left them alone.
We embraced the idea of ourselves as members of the Phyrexian rebellion, identifying with Phyrexia because we were trans or disabled and had or wanted surgically altered bodies, in a political climate where it’s become a hot button issue whether surgical modifications are “mutilation” and certain political factions make a lot of the idea that trans youth are being pressured into surgeries or HRT when we should keep our “natural” bodies.
I mentioned this is personal to me because I had major surgery as a teen for a disabling condition I was born with. People gawk at my scars. I’ve been called a cyborg before by people who absolutely didn’t mean it as a compliment. So I’ve always loved Phyrexia, ever since Magic helped me survive all those surgeries.
When I thought that Urabrask would be a hero (I expected him to heroically sacrifice himself to off Norn and begin an era of a more free Phyrexia), I was excited. I too have an altered body. I too am a freak to some. I too will never have my original body back, which is a tragedy to some people but a Thursday for me.
Not only was the rebellion Mirran only on cards, but it was put down offscreen.
I wasn’t crushed, I’m old, but I was disappointed.
THEN compleation was curable.
THAT one got me. I am this. This is my body. The last time I talked to an orthopedist, “yeah that metal is just you now.”
I eagerly watched to see how favorite characters like Jace and Vraska and Nissa would get used to being compleat. How they’d get on with their lives after defeating Norn. If their identity struggles and self image would look anything like mine. They were like me now!
…and then they weren’t.
I need to get back to work but I want to thank you very much for responding. I feared no one at WOTC cared, or had seen us and were angry.
I am so glad that’s not the case.
We were sadly never given the Phyrexian for thank, so uh…
!Xe Mark [I-thank-you].
That’s… not what I’m saying?
I’m ssying that Magic Story heavily implied that there is a particular way of modifying the body that is so vile and disgusting that it makes any right thinking person immediately revolted. That the way the people in favor of those particular modifications trick and coerce innocent people into pursuing them is by claiming, falsely, that these modifications are an improvement. If the individual ever wakes up to the deception it’s too late. The modifications are rarely reversible (and likely require powerful magics and quite possibly someone’s death to restore someone.)
Here’s what I hear from transphobic pundits and legislators, aimed at trans masculine people like me, especially if we want or even say we might eventually like top surgery (a double mastectomy):
There is a particular way of modifying the female body that is so vile and disgusting that it makes any right thinking person immediately revolted. The primary reason anyone seeks these modifications is because they are in “the transcult,” which exists solely to convince innocent young people to mutilate their bodies. They do this by claiming, falsely, that the modifications are an improvement that will better their lives. If the individual ever wakes up to the deception, it’s too late. The modifications are not reversible.
So WOTC (probably accidentally) sounds uncomfortably like JK Rowling. All right.
So what would I like them to do?
It’s fundamentally unrealistic to ask them to retcon Phyrexia. They came up with the idea (well, the borg expy, Phyrexia is not wholly original, though additions like the mnemonic oil are very creative and cool) in the 90s, when trans men were not really openly around socially.
So I’d like one or both of:
A Phyrexian character who pushes back on the idea that their modified body is irreparably corrupted. Maybe they break free of the mind control but decide they like their mods. Maybe they believe (as many of us thought Urabrask did but only some canonical sources claim this) that compleation should be voluntary and all beings should have a choice. Maybe they see themself as a victim and are like “dude, so Phyrexia changed me against my will and now you’re saying I’m gross, not the surgeons who did this? How would you talk to a survivor of Mengele? Wooooow.”
And/or
A statement from WOTC saying that while the story was already locked in, they see the unfortunate implications and missed them at the time. That the way the good guys pity Phyrexians and are disgusted by their bodies only coincidentally parallels terf rhetoric about gender affirming care as “mutilation of healthy bodies,” but they recognize it comes off badly given the political climate in the us and most especially the UK when it was released.
I don’t think either of those is a big ask. WOTC invents minor characters because people say they want them all the time. Sometimes they become major ones, even!
@markrosewater tagging you just in case.
It's honestly frustrating to watch people misunderstand you. It's like...
"Hey, these orcs seem awfully like racist stereotypes"
"lolol if orcs make you think of black people you must be a racist"
Yep. That’s exactly what they’re doing.
It’s especially bad because I’m going “hey, I was ALSO medically violated in a way that changed my body. Can I have a side character (other than Ixhel who had no role in the main story) who is like me and sympathetic?”
And people are responding to that with “you know forced surgical modification is bad, right?”
Yes. Yes, I know that.
Quick question: Can you read?
So my dash is doing a thing talking about how there are all kinds of studies showing weight loss is unsuccessful but not actually linking them
Is there actually something more recent than that one study from the 1950s saying 90some% of diets fail? I’ve gone looking for something more recent in the past and not found it.
Also iirc that 1950s study really didn’t define a diet clearly and carefully, though I’m not looking at the criticisms of it this second.
A lot of people use “diet” in different ways. Some people mean “any intended change in habits, such as smaller portions of desserts,” and some people mean “things called ‘diets,’ which prescribe specific patterns of eating, usually involving limiting, excising, or focusing on particular foods.”
Those seem different to me, though I’m open to examining something post 1960 that gives evidence they should be considered statistically identical and would gladly eat crow if it was unambiguous that these are the same.
“Requires considerable effort” and “doesn’t work” have very different truth values to me. I suspect that’s why my response to fat lib is frequently bafflement.
If they phrased it as “are you ready to put in considerable and consistent effort? It’s totally okay not to be ready to do that! In many instances it’s health promoting actually,” I’d have much less of a problem with it.
Instead though they phrase it as “do not attempt difficult things, as they are difficult,” which I personally have found to be consistently shitty advice.
“Here is what you need to be aware of should you choose to attempt this difficult thing. You have and always will have bodily autonomy and can do whatever you choose to do, and here’s some info” works much better for my brain.
Yeah this talking point has bothered me a lot.
Like it would be fair to say that lifestyle changes necessary for dramatic body changes are not sustainable for many people. But it doesn't mean the body will always return to the same state so these changes are entirely pointless.
I've seen my body go through dramatic shifts in weight and I know what the major differences have been for me.
Going from living in a car dependent area to living in a walkable city dropped 30lbs from me in 2 1/2 months. no changes in my diet, and actually I think I was eating more chocolate then because German hazelnut chocolate was like 1 euro for a big bar and I loved that shit 😭.
When I was younger, I would spend the summer on swim team doing hour long morning and afternoon practices. by the end of the season, I had similar results.
The problem is that adult life, especially in car dependent places, makes no time for regular exercise. Time for exercise is always some kind of sacrifice.
You can do something low intensity that takes up most of your afternoon after work or you can do intense bursts that are easy to burn out on or become very boring. And all of these things have a layer of artificiality to them that makes them hard to commit to.
when I was walking everywhere, i didn't have to hassle myself to commit to the routine. it was just how I got about the city. sometimes I had to go up stairs, sometimes I had to run to catch a tram. but it was never "okay now I need to Make myself job for 5 minutes. then walk 5. jog 5" etc.
When I swam, I did it because it was FUN and it was one of the only outdoor activities I could do in the south without feeling like I'm dying. I had an outside structure to keep me accountable too and friends I would only see there as another kind of motivation.
Now, back in a car dependent place, it doesn't help me to think every change I make is pointless. it helps me to recognize what my barriers are so I can meet the changes that I want for myself.
If strict exercise routines are boring, then I need something silly and fun. play tag with your friends again or just kick a ball around.
if there's only a few places I can really walk, I try to get invested in them (I learn more about the plants on the nature paths I take).
anything that can keep me engaged with exercise because it is worth it and it is necessary. we need physical enrichment.
This is my experience too. I walk about a mile and a half to and from work now and I can tell.
What I think the issue is (when I think people are engaging in good faith which I honestly believe some people are not, especially some people making money as an “Intuitive eating” coach) is that “pro weight loss” people are saying “it’s good to develop better habits, and this fairly often results in small amounts of weight loss, which can often be beneficial” whereas the “weight loss is a lie” people are talking about going from 400 to 225, and saying most people don’t manage it.
It’s two different conversations being packaged as if they’re the same one.
