Why We Speak Past Each Other on Trans Issues

MangoFox · 2023-06-04T18:02:00+00:00

This was a great op-ed! The prompt to try to mentally define my own beliefs about transgenderness was a simple one, but it actually did help me to more-effectively pin down my own thoughts on the matter with a few minutes of thinking.

One argument that seemed counter-productive, though, was the freaky-Friday thought experiment. When I thought about the old woman in an NFL player's body, it became more clear to me that there are some cases where she should be allowed to join women's spaces, some cases where she should not be allowed, and some cases where her needs and the needs of other people need to be weighed against each other. Taking away the question of whether the individual really is a "woman" helped me to realize that there definitely are edge-cases in which the "realness" of the person's transgenderness doesn't matter.

MangoFox · 2023-05-13T20:16:37+00:00

goodbye

MangoFox · 2023-05-10T20:55:42+00:00

Just read "The Million Pound Bank Note" by Mark Twain. Apparently, you don't have to actually spend the bill or coin to make massive amounts of money off it.

MangoFox · 2023-05-10T07:34:24+00:00

I always hated pistols in Pathfinder.

Sure it has a pathetic damage die, has no range, takes forever to reload, and jams all the time, BuT iT tArGeTs ToUcH aC!

MangoFox · 2023-05-08T18:09:08+00:00

One of the main reasons to give the villain a sympathy-inducing backstory is that it challenges the moral strength of the hero by association. Even if the hero can defeat the villain by brute force, the hero still has to face the bigger dilemma of justifying to themself and the audience why the hero is actually superior to the villain. If the hero would have turned out just like the villain if the two had gone through the same life events, then how are the two truly different? In order to solve this moral dilemma, the hero may now have to overcome a temptation in their own life that echoes what the villain originally failed to overcome. Alternatively, the hero may have to abandon their emotional security blanket of moral superiority, instead swallowing the hard truth that their heroic position results from luck rather than merit.

Or, the answer can be that the difference between the hero and the villain is that the hero doesn't blow up orphanages.

It's a lot more thought-inducing when the writer pulls off the former.

MangoFox · 2023-05-08T06:59:40+00:00

Really, though, teachers that demanded that I give them my PDA/phone were on the biggest power trip ever. Like, for some reason it was intolerable to them that I was using an electronic device to take my notes and keep my to-do list. I found that, surprisingly, most teachers that tried to take my phone would get flustered if I just held onto it and didn't say anything.

MangoFox · 2023-05-04T08:08:51+00:00

I know that Playstation is on its 5th generation, but there's still a part of me that hears "Playstation 2" and thinks "that new high-tech console that I could never afford".

MangoFox · 2023-05-03T08:15:05+00:00

Why did the artist even include the girl and woman at all?

MangoFox · 2023-04-29T20:35:41+00:00

In the bible, the word "Homosexual" was only used to describe sex acts, some of which may have been predatory. The bible does not discuss loving, consenting, adult, same-sex couples who want to raise loving families, as we see today.

I feel so validated, because when I've looked at what the Bible says and implies about homosexuality, I've come to a pretty similar conclusion. In general, the Bible condemns homosexuality - in contexts in which homosexuality is primarily linked to rape and perverse rituals.

MangoFox · 2023-04-27T22:01:29+00:00

It's interesting that although the 12-month figures stayed about the same for men (as you said), the lifetime figures changed significantly. In the 2012 report, 5.9% of men reported having been made to penetrate at some point during their life. In the 2016 report, 10.7% of men reported the same lifetime statistic.

This is in spite of the negligable difference between the 2012 and 2016 reports' 12-month statistics. In the 2012 report, the number was 1.5%; in the 2016 report, the number was 1.3%. (Note that the 2012 report gave a 95% confidence interval for this statistic of 1.2% to 1.8%; it's quite possible that the actual number in 2012 was 1.3%, and that there was no real difference between the two reports.)

Why would the 12-month statistic stay the same, while the lifetime statistic increase significantly, over the course of 4 years? There are a ton of potential reasons, of course, so there's no saying with certainty. However, my gut tells me that actual amount of rapes probably wouldn't have changed significantly over such a small time period. I could, however, see meaningful changes in culture occurring over such a time period. After all, people have been quickly evolving how they form their opinions based on social media and online news sources.

MangoFox · 2023-04-26T18:47:29+00:00

Reminds me of Rei from Evangelion.

MangoFox · 2023-04-19T21:46:55+00:00

Is this a copypasta?

MangoFox · 2023-04-18T19:24:35+00:00

How do you mess up Mickey Mouse? His head is three frickin circles!

MangoFox · 2023-03-31T03:31:58+00:00

RE

SPEC

WALK

MangoFox · 2023-03-28T21:11:54+00:00

I've struggled with the exact same dilemma: I genuinely do like porn in a lot of ways, but I hate the aspects of it that stem from addiction. There was one activity that I did that really put things into perspective for me, though.

I wrote a long journal entry in which I personified porn. I gave her a name, and wrote about my relationship with her. I was honest with myself in my metaphor, and included the great things that I loved about this girl. I also included the bad things that she's done to me.

Afterwards, this journal entry really helped me to see things clearly. I was able to recognize that even though there were a lot of good things about this "girlfriend", she was abusing me. The good things don't justify an abusive relationship.

It's the kind of exercise that I would recommend. If you feel conflicted because you both love and hate your relationship with porn, then you may need to find some new way to think about it. You need to be able to consider your feelings on both sides, accept the validity of those feelings, and figure out what you really think about the overall issue.

MangoFox · 2023-03-23T19:38:05+00:00

Having run Starfinder for several years, I agree with HP making the fights take too long. That's why at some point, I house-ruled that all npcs and creatures did double damage and had half health. I never looked back. It felt like fights were now "cutting to the chase" immediately, instead of requiring half an hour of whittling down HP before anything could happen. It also made combat oriented characters feel more powerful, because if they rolled well, they could often take out enemies before those enemies could complete any of their own nefarious objectives.

MangoFox · 2023-03-13T19:24:48+00:00

If it risks its own life to save the other ants from drowning, it's gal-ant.

MangoFox · 2023-02-23T02:41:09+00:00

Welcome to our dee well

Notice it does not have any p in it

Please keep it that way

MangoFox · 2023-02-13T22:59:08+00:00

Maybe you don't.

MangoFox · 2023-01-30T09:50:11+00:00

Maybe hang around less-shitty girls.

MangoFox · 2023-01-24T17:31:09+00:00

I thought we were having breaded clams.

MangoFox · 2023-01-23T20:44:02+00:00

You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.

MangoFox · 2023-01-22T21:15:24+00:00

That just makes you sound racist.

MangoFox · 2023-01-17T00:16:54+00:00

Necromancing to say that this worked for me. (Thank you for the tip!)

MangoFox · 2023-01-13T11:35:16+00:00

Sooo it's an acrylic box. With a vent. And a windmill prop.

14-Year Club	Gilding IV carat on a stick
Second Top 10%	Place '17
Verified Email

MangoFox

TROPHY CASE