#It shows that people are both a little educated on a conservative pseudoscience claim

[bonefall]

Question: what’s your source on the phytoestrogens? Bc the only times I’ve ever heard that claim, they all source back to this one study on sheep in like the 40s, which… well it’s not very well supported

(Although maybe you don’t care about that, which would be fair. These are fictional cats after all not clinical studies)

You're probably coming from Hbomberguy when he was specifically addressing lunkhead chuds, who pass around the claim that phytoestrogens lower human fertility and sex drive. The "soyboy" claim.

Human studies on the effects of phytoestrogens are pretty lacking overall, but what does exist doesn't back up that claim-- because humans don't graze on red clover in west australia like a sheep. What that means is that it doesn't impact human fertility the way a terrified conservative brain stem thinks it does.

(ESPECIALLY not in a plate of soybeans, which has significantly lower levels of phytoestrogen than red clover.)

But what it DOES do is bind to the estrogen receptors in your body (and acts as a really good antioxidant but that's neither here nor there) which can mean it can act AS estrogen... or as an antagonist.

If you want to know more (especially if you have a background in chemistry, this source talks a lot about the structural similarities between estrogen and phytoestrogen and the mechanism of action) then go dive into PHYTOESTROGENS IN FUNCTIONAL FOOD by Fatih Yildiz, which collects together many of the studies that we do have on the matter and omits controversial ones.

(Plus it's an easy read for such a science-heavy publication imo)

Though I have to stress that my HRT guide is, y'know, fake cats! Nothing in nature replaces modern medicine***, but I wanted to make a good resource for WC fans with trans cats who wanted a little bit of scientific accuracy, wanted to cut herbs that cast Liver Failure 1000 on felines, and could reasonably be found in a temperate environment

***= Except medicinal maggots. Medicinal maggots are literally magical. Nothing debrides necrotic tissue like green bottlefly larvae and as far as I'm concerned they're the closest thing to divinity we have on this earth. And medicinal leeches I love you leeches im so sorry that anyone has ever called you a pest you're cherubic angels and she doesnt deserve this </3

#Herb guide #Bone babble #Phytoestrogens #Btw I have wanted to remake that guide for a while since it actually predates most of my other work #That was like... the first research project I did for this blog #And in the next draft I'm cutting comfrey root entirely because I got more comfortable with speaking over the erins #The fact I get questioned on the phytoestrogen thing is a good sign for the site culture btw because #It shows that people are both a little educated on a conservative pseudoscience claim #And that they're questioning the information even in a for-fun cat project. After all I like. DO also care about scientific literacy #But it is funny to me that no one questions the comfrey LMAO #For context it's kind of like standing next to a nuclear reactor and then the audience points at a heavy object blocking a window and says- #''Hey isn't this a fire hazard?'' #Like. Good that you're familiar with fire code! There is something even worse in the room with us <3

[atheistforhumanity]

Bigotry Being Sold to Black Communities

Recently I was discussing bigotry in the black community with a friend, who is a gay black man. He told me about a very popular character named Dr. Umar Johnson and how many people in the community are getting anti-LGBTQ propaganda from him. My interest was peaked, so I did a little research.

Who is Dr. Umar Johnson and What Does He Believe?

Umar Johnson is a popular speaker and figure in the black community best known for speaking out against the racist and unfair treatment that black children receive in our public schools. Specifically, this includes giving black kids more punishments, harsher punishments, over medicating black children, putting them in special education classes for behavior issues. This is a very real cause that deserves a lot of attention. However, Dr. Johnson is also extremely against homosexuality and interracial dating/marriage. As you might be able to guess, his reasonings are less than credible.

The "dr." in Johnson's name comes from his doctorate in psychology. That sounds very impressive, but there a couple things you should keep in mind if you listen to him. The first is that his degree was received from an osteopathic school of medicine. While these schools now require the same standards as an M.D., the concept of osteopathic medicine is born from 100% quack pseudoscience. Most medical universities do not offer this type of medical degree. Personally, this makes me highly skeptical of the quality of his education. Furthermore, in 2018 around the height of his popularity, the state caught him working as a school psychologist without having the state licenses to practice counseling or psychology.

Additionally, his fundraising efforts have been highly scrutinized for lacking transparency and in a case in 2014, lacking 501(c)(3) status to be a real non-profit.

Lastly, Dr. Johnson is connected to the Hotep movement. If you're not familiar with this, it is essentially a conservative black nationalist movement. So that is Dr. Johnson.

The Quackery of His Beliefs

In this video, Dr. Johnson discusses homosexuality in black communities. His primary point against homosexuality is that no past African cultures condoned the practice, therefore Africans should not practice it. He has also described homosexuality as "a cancer" on the black community and a tool to destroy the black race. He also incorrectly claims that before white people to Africa that Africans lived in a virtual paradise like Eden from the Bible. I took ancient African history in college and the continent was no different than any other. Monarchies ruled over subjects, nations warred, slaves were kept, greed ran rampant by those in power. These beliefs are connected to his Hotep political beliefs. In believing that Africa was once a egalitarian paradise that had things right, he reasons that homosexuality must be rejected.

In the video linked above, he claims that he doesn't need to pay attention to any of the many studies done that show homosexuality is a genetic trait, because his own experience tells him that it's not. For anyone who has been to college for virtually anything, one of the first things you should have learned is that our personal experience is to narrow to judge large issues of humanity. White racists make this exact claim all the time when it comes to equality between races. They reject the many studies that prove that people of races, in equal conditions, exhibit equal intelligence. They say their experience tells them different. For someone who holds a doctorate in psychology, this is a shockingly anti-clinical view. Keep in mind, I just wrote an article recently about how the Left wing went crazy in the 60's and 70's believing in magical thinking. The baby boomer hippies were highly influenced by people similar to Dr. Johnson who were in academia, but went directly against the methodology and research of their own fields. He claims that there is a huge debate in psychology around whether sexuality is innate or learned, but that's not true anymore. That debate has been over for a long time. This is the same way that quacks, including Johnson, believe that there is a debate over whether homosexuality is a mental illness. There is no debate, that's been over for a long time.

After watching several videos of Dr. Johnson, I have not heard him actually a give a reason why homosexuality is wrong. He doesn't seem to have anything to say about what harm is causes or why it's bad for black communities, besides his misguided idea that homosexuality will prevent black people from reproducing. However, you can see in this graph...

All groups except Asians have higher birth rates than white people. White racists are simultaneously claiming that POC are breeding like rabbits in a conspiracy to overthrow America and destroy white people. These same bigots have also been claiming that homosexuality is destroying our birthrate, but homosexuality exists in all of humanity and our world wide population keeps DOUBLING. Homosexuality has no negative effect on population and never has.

Dr. Johnson is also against interracial relationships. This again comes from his Hotep black nationalist politics, which mirrors white nationalists beliefs. Both groups believe that to mix genes is to weaken the bloodline (respectively). In this video, he goes off about interracial relationships. His primary concerns seem to be that 1) the African bloodline will be weakened and 2) that mixed babies will have identity issues. His big example of the danger of mixed babies is a pro tennis player who is both Hattian and Japanese, and she's representing Japan instead of Haiti, even though she clearly identifies as a black woman. He apparently thinks that someone could not love and celebrate two cultures in their identity, and seems offended at the idea that any attention would be given a part of someone instead of their blackness. This is an exact mirror of white racists.

Having been in many interracial relationships in my life, I am accustom to this attitude coming all colors of people, not just white. However, I never find it any less offensive and absurd. The belief that we should separate ourselves based on the color of our skin is literally the core idea of the Nazi eugenics programs. More importantly, any separation by skin color is a denial of the absolute FACT that we are all human beings and have no genetic difference deeper than our skin tone, and that difference is remarkably shallow. Any separation based on "race" opens the door to beliefs about superiority and inferiority, as can be seen with his claims that Africa was once a paradise before inferior white barbarians came to destroy them. This dynamic he pushes is literally the same narrative that colonial slavers used just in reverse. Any thinking that denies our common humanity, our shared assets and flaws, is an outrageous belief that is destructive to all of society.

Conclusion

To anyone who follows Dr. Johnson, I invite you to send in questions or arguments of his on these subjects that you would like to hear challenged. I am fully prepared to debunk his thoughts on homosexuality, race-relations, and nationalism in greater detail for any sincere and curious reader.

#dr. umar johnson #homophobia #racism #nationalism #bigotry #black communities #quacks #lgbtq community