mwfrancis.bsky.social
Social worker. Educator. Activist. Researcher on substance use recovery. Views are my own. They/them ♿ 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
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So, make a plan before you protest, and then stick to your limits. Bring what you need to stay safe. Have a exit plans and emergency plans. Be safe everyone!
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There is no shame in sticking to your limits and bailing if you need to. In fact, everyone is safer when we do this! You don't want to be the person having a preventable mental or physical breakdown in the middle of a situation, nor do you want to get arrested if you are the sole earner or carer.
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Most importantly: Know your personal limits. This includes:
- What actions you are willing / unwilling to participate in
- Your physical limits (can you walk that far, etc.)
- Your mental / emotional limits (can you handle scary situations)
- What you're willing / able to risk (arrest, injury, etc.)
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Other protest safety tips:
- Let someone know where you will be and when to expect you back
- Bring a buddy
- Wear clothes you can move in with no identifiable logos
- Cover your tatoos, fun hair color, etc.
- Memorize an emergency phone #
- Lock your phone with a passcode NOT biometrics
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There's a place for feel-good events (including protests) that bring people to the cause. But there's ALSO a place for protests that disrupt and shut stuff down, AND a place for protests that are destructive or frightening. All are valid. All are useful. Even if they make you feel uncomfortable.
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No, you dont understand. If we can just convince tens of thousands of spontaneous protestors to have 100% perfect message disciplines, the Republicans will have no choice but to admit that the protests are good.
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Blue-Light Special Hell's Kitten 😂
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Like, maybe they're good? Probably dry as hell, though?
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Strength to your arms, and remember to care for yourself, too!
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This is not to say that therapists should not work with trans folks in spaces where transition is not possible! Instead, we need to be very clear about the purpose of the therapy--survival--and make safety plans accordingly. Therapists also have a duty to advocate for change at all levels.
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Conversion therapy asks: "Accept that who you are is wrong, and change to fit society."
Therapy without transition asks: "Accept that society thinks who you are is wrong, and figure out how to fit into that society anyway."
Either way, the onus of change is on the trans person, not society.
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While gender-affirming therapy is obviously better than conversion therapy, it is a form of harm without gender-affirming medical care and societal acceptance. In essence, it asks the trans person to accept the bad situation and just deal with it. This is dehumanizing.
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The diagnosis of gender dysphoria is similar to now-rejected historical pathologizations of gay (homosexuality, DSM-II) or enslaved (drapetomania, S. A. Cartwright) people, where distress at and pushing back against societal conditions was labeled as disorder.
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This is a problem from a technical diagnostic standpoint, because the focus of treatment then shifts from treating the individual to treating society, and this is well beyond the scope of practice. At most, a practitioner can provide access to appropriate care as an indirect treatment for dysphoria.
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This is one of the main problems I have with "Gender Dysphoria" as a diagnosis. There are some folks who are truly distressed with their gender identity and could use help with that, but the vast majority are distressed because SOCIETY doesn't accept or support their identity.
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If you didn't know that most emergency plans include having mobility-impaired people wait in an "area of rescue/refuge" for EMS folks to come and rescue them, well, now you do. And you probably now know more than the management and EMS teams for your area