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liberal zionists while the rest of the world is viewing images of mass graves and miles of completely destroyed infrastructure in one of the world's most densely populated areas

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2005

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Franz Marc

Playing Dogs

1912

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2007-2008

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Emi Koyama's "The Transfeminist Manifesto,"

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she was such a queen for this

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In what way are phrenological principles still foundational to research psychology & neurology, and science in general? Asking out of ignorance and wanting to know more.

so, phrenology throughout the 19th century was a broad program of research principles, self-help advice, and social-hygienic prognostication. we tend to think of it now as being reducible to a craniometric chart and a crank trying to divine personality traits from a person's skull shape—this did happen, but phrenology encompassed much more than that. it was a driving force in the increasing acceptance of ideas like brain localisation (that the brain did not act as one, but had distinct parts that could behave differently and independently to one another), the related position that human psychology and personalities could be classified / taxonomised / measured (like, 'attention' as being a faculty distinct from 'judgment' or 'reason' or so forth), and the belief that organic derangements of the brain accounted for a person's individual social / economic / intellectual success, as well as social phenomena like crime, delinquency, or addiction.

by about the 1890s, the word "phrenology" had become more or less dismissed in mainstream french and british scientific circles, and it was portrayed as a pseudoscientific perversion of respectable craniometry / anthropometry. this happened for many reasons, including that british and french medicine were professionalising over the course of the 19th century and that phrenological practitioners were often unlicensed and operating more in a marginal self-help space (akin to many of today's astrologers) than in institutionally sanctioned scientific circles. additionally, after world war ii, phrenology's association with eugenics made it even more unpalatable; it was now seen to be politically dangerous even to those who had previously endorsed eugenics. the same happened to many other theories and disciplines of social-hygienic or degeneration-theory ideas.

however, the rejection of phrenology that began in the late 19th century and intensified in the late 20th has been largely superficial, and 'modern' science has never really grappled with the phrenological roots of so much neuro-deterministic and anthropomentric thinking, from psychiatry to a great deal of moralistic public health to the incredibly deeply entrenched, yet blatantly prejudicial in every way, idea that a person's appearance is indicative of their character or morality. fundamentally phrenology was a major driver in the acceptance (in many different fields) of scientific 'naturalism', a general rejection of prior christian teleological thinking and search for universally deterministic scientific laws instead. rendering mental action into the category of 'natural thing governed by natural laws' was foundational, for example, to darwin's conception of evolution and his effort to distinguish his own theory from the teleological evolutionary theory of robert chambers.

none of this is to say that scientific naturalism ought to be inherently rejected, or replaced with christian metaphysics; however, failing to grapple with the fuller legacy of phrenology, and eugenics more generally, because we don't want to upset what philosophical boundaries we think we've erected between religion and 'modern' science allows such eugenic thinking to retain its centrality in current scientific practice.

it is also always worth emphasising that phrenology, like a lot of scientific theories of self-improvement, has frequently been employed as a vehicle of liberal ideology, particularly in britain. although phrenological practitioners have at various times tried to ally themselves with a superficially radical sort of 'common man's' rejection of the élite scientific institutions, phrenology has at the same time followed a general trajectory whereby it emphasises more and more an idea of personal responsibility for one's own neuro-biological traits and associated character flaws. this is often seen as more palatable than outright hereditarian thinking because, rather than tacitly endorsing the expurgation of the biologically 'unfit', the liberal phrenologist affirms that people simply need to overcome, tame, or temper their own neurobiological defects in order to live productive, socially desirable lives. cf. 'negative' versus 'positive' eugenics.

if you're interested in this i would recommend roger cooter's 'the cultural meaning of popular science: phrenology and the organisation of consent in 19th-century britain' (1984) and philip rehbock's 'the philosophical naturalists: themes in early 19th-century british biology' (1983). cooter was an avowed marxist and his account of phrenology, science, and their relationships to industrial capitalism—while not flawless—is markedly different from any other prior literature on the topic. rehbock's book is less politically daring and less focussed on phrenology specifically, but clarifies some aspects of scientific naturalism and what is meant by distinguishing a 'modern' scientific episteme from earlier practices and principles.

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as we see skyrocketing amounts of legislation targeting trans youth in particular I’m begging people to stop parroting “your brain matures at 25”. this article by the director of harvard’s neuroscience lab is a good read. like I’m no neuroscientist myself but Brain Complicated. at best “your brain matures at 25” is an incomplete and inadequate summary of a single idea in a relatively new field wherein broad generalizations are almost impossible. *some* aspects of brain development *tend* to *plateau* *somewhere* in your 20s, *we think*; but “brain maturity” is poorly defined, and the data is still highly incomplete. plenty of aspects of the brain demonstrably continue developing well past 30, or for your entire life; on the other hand, plenty of studies have simply failed to include participants over 30, or 25, or even younger. attempting to define maturity, let alone make RULES about it, based on particular neuroscientific metrics, is extremely dicey

and this popsci notion is now actively being used to justify taking away people’s rights so pls stop perpetuating it for the sake of your age gap ship wars or whatever

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"the prefrontal cortex doesn't fully form until yr 25!!" y do u wish to take more agency away from teens and young adults. y do u refer to phrenology to inform yr worldview. I'm about to undevelop yr prefrontal cortex with a baseball bat if u don't shut the fuck up

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not nearly enough people are fuming about the cass review. do you understand the eventual implications? trans people in the uk will be considered children up until the age of 25, and denied HRT/surgery/even basic measures like legal name change and social transition. all owing to a biased and largely unscientific study. you know what “treatment” for gender dysphoria is recommended by the review instead? conversion therapy.

this will kill people and they know it, because they prefer us dead and out of sight. the government, the NHS and even the opposition have made this clear again and again. a twenty-five year old can have sex, get married have children, join the military, earn a living, be halfway up the corporate ladder or highly successful in their chosen career field by that age, but they can’t transition under NHS rules. this is a death sentence for trans teenagers and they are going ahead with it. it’s trans genocide, same as across the pond.

i’m so afraid for my trans siblings and our futures. i’m so scared for myself. what are we to do if not even the party that is supposed to be on the “left” gives a shit about our safety and mental health as long as they get voted in? labour have become tories with a red coat of paint. it all feels hopeless

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New post, old one lost traction.

I'm a trans woman in rural oregon, and my partner and I just recently (april 4) had a baby in a way that was stressful, expensive, and a bit earlier than we were expecting due to a sudden health crisis. I have recently started a new job but it is unfortunately paid monthly and I won't get my first check until May 5. My partner had to begin leave early and although Oregon does have paid leave through the state the system to actually get that process going is extremely dysfunctional and we arent expecting to be paid through that system until sometime after their leave is already over.

We're mostly doing ok and yall have helped us so much, but we did burn a few hundred dollars in gas going to 3 different hospitals in under a week, not to mention incidental expenses we dont usually accrue like takeout food and whatnot while they were hospitalized.

We're extremely grateful for everyone who has helped us thus far and please, if you've already helped us out dont feel obligated to do so again, but we are stretched fairly thin for April due to these circumstances, so any financial assistance possible would be incredible.

Thanks so much everyone, love y'all.

paypal.me/daveigh

Venmo: @ v0id-queen (with a zero)

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kate doyle

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honestly kind of maddening that the jokes about shitty nurses still rely on invoking the ontologically evil mean girl who is just attracted to nursing for reasons of intrinsic personal badness, when what's actually happening is that pretty much any situation in which one person is in a position of structural power over another, and assumed to be more credible or reliable by dint of professional or social capital, is conducive to creating and enabling patterns of abuse

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Garo (ガロ) / Seirindō (青林堂) / Feb 2002 issue

#nekojiru

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In the Shadow of the Cat by Wendy England (1980).

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