#harmreduction

See tagged statuses in the local BookWyrm community

for everyone's sake, when it comes to protests / demos / actions, please:

• wear a mask

• cover your face and any identifying marks (hair color, tattoos, piercings, body mods, logos)

• avoid arrest by any means necessary (so long as it doesn't jeopardize the safety of others)

• don't discuss or post about your involvement with any related organizing or association with any organizations

• scrub faces from imagery (stills, footage)

• refuse to boost posts that include sensitive information about anyone involved (names, neighborhood, address, place of work), including visible identifying marks in imagery (faces, tattoos)

Friend asked me on how to help her trans kid. I couldn't find a good guide for this, especially with states like Iowa stripping us of our rights.

I want to be clear that this should not be done without the child's input. Always, always trust the kid to understand and always give them the chance to participate. There are ways to adjust the language for the age of the child, and children often have creative ideas when given the chance to participate. The goal here is to give the child the tools to help them thrive, okay? Thanks for understanding.

So without further ado, here's steps on how to help trans kids navigate all of this.

1. Identify safe groups where the child can be themself. Remember, the child likely will have ideas on who to ask. So be sure to ask the child who they trust for this …

seeing a lot of posts saying…

'get your IUD now'
'stock up on Plan B'
'here's where to find mifepristone'

but nowhere have i seen posts saying…

'seriously consider getting a vasectomy [so you can potentially avert the risk to someone's life or livelihood]'

as someone that's had one, there's usually a 3 month waiting period so you have time to think it over. when you go in for the procedure, it takes about an hour—half of it filling paperwork out, changing into a gown, and waiting for the surgeon. recovery took me about a day to feel 70% normal, then roughly a week to get back to 100%. there are typically no obvious signs there's been an incision since the way the procedure is done is so minimally invasive and there's zero impact to sexual or urinary function.

at this point, taking it upon yourself to get a vasectomy …

I recently went on a terrible vacation with someone I considered a friend, but had to leave early for my mental health. (I had driven too long, my hip hurt, vacation was too long, I didn't have any close-quarters conflict resolution skills left. We were headed for conflict and I felt unable to handle it at all constructively. Bailing seemed safest.)

Now he's gotten me kicked from my all- online support group, and it's left a huge hole in my day-to-day and strategies. There's two days until the US election, and I'm worried.

Does anyone know of a similar online safe space? Anglophone, trans-only or queer men only, supportive and inclusive, not afraid to discuss deep and intense emotions? Thank you.

💊 did you know that most prescription medications don't actually "expire"?

recent research proved that if you store them properly, they lose almost no potency even *decades* later

👉 tip: fill prescriptions even if you don't take that med anymore and stockpile them for emergencies because odds are good that someone you know uses that medication and won't be able to access it in an emergency

you might even save a life