terfs keep mentioning the % of autistics who are trans/nb and that we’re ‘brainwashed’

and because i’m an asshole, i decided to look into why so many autistic folks are trans/nb. it’s not an inaccurate statement, at least the first half, but terfs lie through their teeth so i decided to get to the scientific root of it.

the answer blew my fucking mind.

the study on gender and autism i found said two very specific things about autistic people: we are more mentally resistant to things like social conditioning and binarism. we like our secret third things, y'know.

an excerpt:

“The finding that non-binary identities are most elevated seems to support hypotheses focussed on autistic resistance to social conditioning, which are consistent with existing evidence of the same effect with respect to self-description of sexual orientation. Perhaps elevated rates of trans identity in autism might result from a rejection of the binary cisgenderist norm, which combined with a below-typical concern for social norms could promote the disclosure of the identity.”

94% of autistics surveyed for that paper identified themselves as non-binary.

other studies have found autistic people have higher levels of critical thinking, and require more evidence to maintain or convert to a belief system (hence why many of us eventually fall away from religion) than allistic people.

which means, at least from my perspective, that:

a) the ‘brainwashing’ terfs are accusing the trans community of inflicting on autistic folks would likely not even work if they tried.

b) the current binary definition of gender flies directly against embedded autistic modes of thinking to begin with.

you cannot brainwash someone into thinking something they already believe.

This essentially suggests that autistic people are likely to be NB because we are in fact resistant to the relevant brainwashing.

[copied from a reply by @maxens]

i enjoy comparing the different ways that birds of prey attack. you've got eagles doing the classic lord of the skies, king of the air, death from above pose

and then you've got peregrine falcons who are just like "fuck it. tactical missile strike."

and then of course there are ospreys who do a biiiiiiiig stretch (lethal intent)

This map is the most up to date version as of 3-4-2023 and takes into account all recent movement on anti-trans legislation

Yeah, I am going to signal boost this rq

i think one of my fave shark facts is this thing that some species of sharks do where they sorta peek their heads out of the water to see whats above the surface…..its called spyhopping and great white sharks do it all the time

This gave me so much serotonin for some reason.

They look like they forgot they can breathe underwater and think they’re drowning

#dont they reckon they learned this from whales?#bc whales have been doing this for as long as weve been observing them but sharks have only started doing it in the last decade or so#OH HEY THAT REMINDS ME#ON THE TOPIC OF SHARKS LEARNING THINGS FROM OTHER SPECIES#theres a pod of orcas that have recently started hunting sharks off the coast of south africa#started with one orca with a collapsed dorsal who reportedly HATES sharks and was the only orca on record to hunt them routinely#WELL#he taught his buddies and now theres a whole pod that hunt them#and the sharks (who arent used to being predated by anything) USED THE SAME EVASION TECHNIQUES THAT THEIR OWN PREY USE WITH THEM#so seals and turtles and etc will try to evade a GWS by swimming in a tight circle and keeping the shark in their line of sight#the GW has a larger turning circle than the prey so if the turtle/seal/whatever is able to got into the right position then they can evade#the shark. well the orcas started hunting the sharks and the sharks TRIED EMPLOYING THE SAME TACTIC THAT THEIR PREY USES#this is huge in terms of lateral learning bc its not as though the sharks have an instinctive orca evasion technique bc if they did it#would be something different. given that sharks are solitary hunters but orcas are pack hunters and the smaller turning circle method#will only work with a solitary hunter and definitely HAS NOT worked when applied to pack hunters. BUT THIS MEANS!! that the sharks are#intelligent enough to recall the behaviour of their own prey’s successful evasion techniques AND TO THEN MIMIC IT THEMSELVES.#incredible!!!!!!! but yeah as stated it very much only works against solitary animals so the sharks that employed it did not get away and#the orcas have killed a handful of GWs and literally all the other sharks have fled the area entirely - like - there’s not a single#one to be found and the ones with tracking devices show them getting the fuck out of dodge and of course this is having a big negative#impact on the local economy which runs largely on shark tourism. but yeah like the facinating thing here is that an adult orca has taught#fellow adult orcas how to hunt sharks AND the sharks have tried to employ evasion techniques that they have known to work in the past#its two instances of lateral learning and ONE OF THEM IS CROSS SPECIES LATERAL LEARNING#its amazing!??!? (via @bundibird)

ok you can not just leave all of this in the tags this is fascinating

can’t leave these out either #hold the fuck up what#this reminds me of how octopuses are said to be engaging in submarine warfare like..#there’s some geopolitical shit going on in the water and we don’t even know !!!#the anti-sharks orca party has successfully made their area unsafe for sharks for the first time in known sharkstory !#crazy shit !!#aquatic life

every time I get to skip a queue because I'm disabled, I think back to my one guardian using that as one example of how actually it's marginalised people who are privileged. ma'am, it's because I can't stand up for that long. and it's trans privilege that I once got given vip passes, as the only working gender neutral toilet was in the vip area of the club. ma'am, it's so that I didn't get beaten up. ma'am, it's not a privilege for somebody to do something nice for you that is aiming to circumvent a danger you're subjected to. I can't skip a queue now without thinking "I wonder how many people are bitter that I can do this because they're standing in the cold for an hour", and then I think that the solution to these situations should never be to harm me, it would be to improve the venue's entrance (more metal detectors, etc) and waiting area (cover, places to sit, etc) so that the waiting experience doesn't suck enough to make anybody feel bitter upon seeing someone skip it for the sake of their health. and I don't even ask to skip btw, it's just protocol in a lot of places, and they let those with you skip it too so that you're not separated.

when brain think: "it's not fair that I get help and they don't"

remember: "it's not fair that I get help" is cringe, and "it's not fair that they don't" is based. it's not wrong to have your needs met.

would u guys be mad if i started calling mint “fruit”

NOSSOSOSODID OOOOOO MINT IS A LEAFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

my favorite little fruit <3

ITS AN HERB IT HAS LEAVES AND AND YOU PUT IT ON RAVIOLI!???

U PUT MINT ON YOUR RAVIOLI???????????

THEN EXPLAIN THE GREEN STUFF ON THIS!!!!?

BASIL

STOP SAYING ITS PARSELY I DONT FUCKING PUT PARSELY ON MY RAVIOLIIIIIIIII

WHATS PARSELY

THIS IS PARSLEY

THIS IS BASIL

AND THIS IS MINT

WHICH ONE ARE YOU PUTTING ON YOUR RAVIOLI?!?!?!

ITS ALL LEAF!!!!????

#Tumblr having high-volum arguments in which all parties know jack shit about the topic is PEAK humor for me

ur telling me september ends in a few days hmmm…… …yeah no no i get u but hmmmm.. werent we Like. Talking about how fast august ended a week ago?

I HATE you Reddit this dog is NOT terrifying he is my FRIEND

Reblog if you would CHERISH the muttshroom

fun fact! in latvian this type of mushroom is called suņu sēne which literally translates to dog mushroom

This fun fact has healed every ailment I had, thank you SO much

As of now telegram, Twitter, tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit and soon enough whatsapp are blocked in here; that means no social media whatsoever

The VPNs we use are failing one after the other; And the internet speed is gradually getting less and less and less

Once they cut us off the massacre will begin

Please share

News article from today (Sept 23).

Send this birthday take to a friend

People protect a woman who is burning her scarf

A little context for those who don’t know: recently a woman was arrested by the Iranian morality police (who enforce mandatory headscarves and other theocratic policies) and died in custody. This has sparked massive protests across Iran.

And she wasnt even arrested for not using the hijab but bc she was using it "incorrectly". So she was even following the law and still got killed.

They have also tried to claim that she died from natural causes, even when she was 22. And they realesed a very fake video as evidence of that.

THIS. For the love of every thing that is good, if you considered yourself a feminist or a progressive of any sort, support Iranian women. It’s not complicated what is happening. What’s wrong with you people.

x

joke of a country

Whoever on twitter said that the queen occupies the same position in UK politics as “the troops” do in USA politics was spot on

The Welsh Viking is pretty cool! 

He’s going to run 5 kilometres in his viking armour on May 9th to raise money for Stonewall!

Oh my goodness this is getting a lot of notes! Since I see posts on tumblr about how a lot of people seem to think all historians and archaeologists are crusty old bigots I’d just like to add that this guy is an archaeologist. A very vocally anti-racist archaeologist who goes out of his way to be as inclusive as possible to queer people.

Reblogging to watch later!

Always get your historical facts from anti-racist archeologists.

Wait, how’d the run go!?

Oh gosh I forgot to update on that! It went well, he was sore and tired but no injuries, and he raised over 1700 pounds! 

Not to completely derail this post, but I’d also like to recommend Miniminuteman to anyone interested in history and archeology from a non bigoted source. He’s absolutely fantastic, his tiktok is essentially him just debunking bs conspiracy videos and he recently started making a youtube series called Awful Archaeology and there are only three episodes so far but they own my entire heart, it’s great.

Also Bernadette Banner, who is a edwardian/victorian fashion historian who does everything from reconstruction work, educational videos and debunking historical fashion myths, to more fun stuff like rating historical drama costumes or recreating Wheel of Time outfits.

And these are just the two I’m most familiar with right now, there are SO many great historians and archeologists and anthropologists out there who have a passion for their field and want to share that knowledge while ALSO being great, humble people who stand up against bigotry, racism, and all the historical lies that come with. I’m falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of historical content every week, and I’m loving every minute of it.

This post got me to watch Jimmy’s channel, and I ADORE it AND him, and I’m very thankful. 

I also want to recommend Tasting History with Max Miller, who is a food historian and excellent at pointing out when things in the past were racist or classist. He even had a recent Da Vinci video talking about checking sources and the importance of acknowledging when you get information wrong.

Also the Townsends, are reenactors that talk about food and culture and lifestyle of the 16-1700s of the colonial USA. They make a point of bringing in women and people of color regularly to talk about what those days were like for more than just white guys!

HomeTeam History is a Black American man exploring the history of Africa and the African Diaspora. I don’t know whether he’s an academic, but I do know he’s got LOTS of sources (and lots of primary sources) for every video.

SnappyDragon is a Jewish fashion historian who makes gorgeous clothes and also talks a lot about history, Jewish history, and doesn’t shy away from pointing out racism and antisemitism both in history and in modern uses of history.

Cheyney McKnight of Not Your Momma’s History is a living history educator who talks about the lives of Black people in the United States, both enslaved and free.

Yess I absolutely love all of these

“having sex is not all there is to lgbtq+ people and our identities. we aren’t inherently any more sexual than cishets and asexuals also exist” and “having sex is one of the most demonised parts of our community and it should not be so much of a taboo” are two concepts that can and should co-exist

If youve ever said something nice to me and i never replied I apologize! Unfortunately i am a neurotic prey animal and your message was nice enough to make me scurry under my leaf mold and hold still to camouflage myself until the danger passed

holy shit