myragewillendworlds

[myragewillendworlds]

Watching blogs tag positive posts about intersex and/or transsexual people under #queer related tags just blows my fucking mind. It's like tagging posts about gay rights under #faggots or something.

[myragewillendworlds]

nos punt nl/artikel/2514129-bond-na-vertrek-dartsters-om-trans-teamgenoot-iedereen-moet-zich-welkom-voelen soms wil ik mensen nog wel het voordeel van de twijfel geven als ze klagen dat er een trans vrouw in een damesteam meespeelt, dat ze oprecht alleen bezwaar zouden hebben op mogelijk oneerlijk voordeel (en zelfs dat is 'uh', maarja), maar als ze zelf beginnen te zeuren over DARTEN dan weet je dat het gwn pure transfobie is...

Yeahh, ik las het op NU.nl. Compleet gestoord. Toen transgender vrouwen van het vrouwenschaken werden verwijderd ging dat al nergens meer over, maar fucking darten? Wat kan iemand in godsnaam voor biologisch voordeel in darten hebben? Het is al amper een sport.

Ik had de foto van haar nog niet gezien. Dat is haar nota bene? Geen haat natuurlijk richting de wat 'mannelijker' ogende vrouwen, maar dit is nota bene zo'n doodnormaal uitziende vrouw?

"Ben geen transfoob" zegt dat kankerwijf ook, nadat ze haar als "biologische man" omschrijft. Niks meer dan hatelijke discriminatie. Timing is natuurlijk helemaal niet zo raar; openlijke transfobie wordt steeds gewoner, mede dankzij een zekere schrijfster.

Dit is ook precies waarom ik "transgenders" als volledige omschrijving niet accepteer. Laat ze maar gewoon "transgender vrouwen" zeggen en als ze dat niet kunnen, anders gewoon hun fucking bek houden.

#ask #transphobia #dutch

[myragewillendworlds]

Did you know that after they switched to blind auditions, major symphony orchestras hired women between 30% to 55% more? Before bringing in “blind auditions” with a screen to conceal the the candidate, women in the top 5 major orchestras made up less than 5% of the musicians performing.

#sexism

[myragewillendworlds]

You Have until June To Dump Chrome

Google has announced that starting in June 2024, ad blockers such as uBlock Origin will be disabled in Chrome 127 and later with the rollout of Manifest V3 (#Mv3).

Firefox is RIGHT there

#internet

[myragewillendworlds]

it's kind of crazy climate change has occurred at such a remarkable pace that I and everyone else around my age can remember a completely different climate in our childhoods. I truly watched winter gradually disappear in my life.

#environmentalism

[myragewillendworlds]

The amount of outdated misinformation and negativity spread about phalloplasty surgery by young folks who've never even spoken to a surgeon is fucking tragic.

[myragewillendworlds]

Study identifies distinct brain organization patterns in women and men

A new study by Stanford Medicine investigators unveils a new artificial intelligence model that was more than 90% successful at determining whether scans of brain activity came from a woman or a man.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, help resolve a long-term controversy about whether reliable sex differences exist in the human brain and suggest that understanding these differences may be critical to addressing neuropsychiatric conditions that affect women and men differently.

“A key motivation for this study is that sex plays a crucial role in human brain development, in aging, and in the manifestation of psychiatric and neurological disorders,” said Vinod Menon, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory. “Identifying consistent and replicable sex differences in the healthy adult brain is a critical step toward a deeper understanding of sex-specific vulnerabilities in psychiatric and neurological disorders.”

Menon is the study’s senior author. The lead authors are senior research scientist Srikanth Ryali, PhD, and academic staff researcher Yuan Zhang, PhD.

“Hotspots” that most helped the model distinguish male brains from female ones include the default mode network, a brain system that helps us process self-referential information, and the striatum and limbic network, which are involved in learning and how we respond to rewards.

The investigators noted that this work does notweigh in on whether sex-related differences arise early in life or may be driven by hormonal differences or the different societal circumstances that men and women may be more likely to encounter.

Uncovering brain differences

The extent to which a person’s sex affects how their brain is organized and operates has long been a point of dispute among scientists. While we know the sex chromosomes we are born with help determine the cocktail of hormones our brains are exposed to — particularly during early development, puberty and aging — researchers have long struggled to connect sex to concrete differences in the human brain. Brain structures tend to look much the same in men and women, and previous research examining how brain regions work together has also largely failed to turn up consistent brain indicators of sex.

In their current study, Menon and his team took advantage of recent advances in artificial intelligence, as well as access to multiple large datasets, to pursue a more powerful analysis than has previously been employed. First, they created a deep neural network model, which learns to classify brain imaging data: As the researchers showed brain scans to the model and told it that it was looking at a male or female brain, the model started to “notice” what subtle patterns could help it tell the difference.

This model demonstrated superior performance compared with those in previous studies, in part because it used a deep neural network that analyzes dynamic MRI scans. This approach captures the intricate interplay among different brain regions. When the researchers tested the model on around 1,500 brain scans, it could almost always tell if the scan came from a woman or a man.

The model’s success suggests that detectable sex differences do exist in the brain but just haven’t been picked up reliably before. The fact that it worked so well in different datasets, including brain scans from multiple sites in the U.S. and Europe, make the findings especially convincing as it controls for many confounds that can plague studies of this kind.

“This is a very strong piece of evidence that sex is a robust determinant of human brain organization,” Menon said.

Making predictions

Until recently, a model like the one Menon’s team employed would help researchers sort brains into different groups but wouldn’t provide information about how the sorting happened. Today, however, researchers have access to a tool called “explainable AI,” which can sift through vast amounts of data to explain how a model’s decisions are made.

Using explainable AI, Menon and his team identified the brain networks that were most important to the model’s judgment of whether a brain scan came from a man or a woman. They found the model was most often looking to the default mode network, striatum, and the limbic network to make the call.

The team then wondered if they could create another model that could predict how well participants would do on certain cognitive tasks based on functional brain features that differ between women and men. They developed sex-specific models of cognitive abilities: One model effectively predicted cognitive performance in men but not women, and another in women but not men. The findings indicate that functional brain characteristics varying between sexes have significant behavioral implications.

“These models worked really well because we successfully separated brain patterns between sexes,” Menon said. “That tells me that overlooking sex differences in brain organization could lead us to miss key factors underlying neuropsychiatric disorders.”

While the team applied their deep neural network model to questions about sex differences, Menon says the model can be applied to answer questions regarding how just about any aspect of brain connectivity might relate to any kind of cognitive ability or behavior. He and his team plan to make their model publicly available for any researcher to use.

“Our AI models have very broad applicability,” Menon said. “A researcher could use our models to look for brain differences linked to learning impairments or social functioning differences, for instance — aspects we are keen to understand better to aid individuals in adapting to and surmounting these challenges.”

#science #brain sex #brain gender #biology

[myragewillendworlds]

We've got something special for this year's Eurovision entry.

#eurovision #the netherlands

[myragewillendworlds]

World's largest brain study of child trauma uncovers rewiring

The study – led by the Department of Psychology’s Dr Megan Klabunde – uncovered a disruption in neural networks involved in self-focus and problem-solving.

This means under-18s who experienced abuse will likely struggle with emotions, empathy and understanding their bodies.

Difficulties in school caused by memory, hard mental tasks and decision making may also emerge.

Dr Klabunde’s cutting-edge research used AI to re-examine hundreds of brain scans and identify patterns.

It is hoped the research will help hone new treatments for children who have endured mistreatment.

This could mean therapists focus on techniques that rewire these centres and rebuild their sense of self.

Trauma triggers

Dr Klabunde said: “Currently, science-based treatments for childhood trauma primarily focus on addressing the fearful thoughts and avoidance of trauma triggers.

“This is a very important part of trauma treatment. However, our study has revealed that we are only treating one part of the problem.

“Even when a child who has experienced trauma is not thinking about their traumatic experiences, their brains are struggling to process their sensations within their bodies.

“This influences how one thinks and feels about one’s ‘internal world’ and this also influences one’s ability to empathise and form relationships.”

Dr Klabunde reviewed 14 studies involving more than 580 children for the research published in Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.

Large scale brain systems

The paper re-examined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans.

This procedure highlights blood flow in different centres, showing neurological activity.

The study discovered a marked difference in traumatised children’s default mode (DMN) and central executive networks (CEN) – two large scale brain systems.

The DMN and the posterior insula are involved in how people sense their body, the sense of self and their internal reflections.

New studies are finding the DMN plays an important role in most mental health problems - and may be influenced by experiencing childhood trauma.

The CEN is also more active than in healthy children, which means that children with trauma histories tend to ruminate and relive terrible experiences when triggered.

Study springboard

Dr Klabunde hopes this study will be a springboard to find out more about how trauma affects developing minds.

She said: “Our brain findings indicate that childhood trauma treatments appear to be missing an important piece of the puzzle.

“In addition to preventing avoidance of scary situations and addressing one’s thoughts, trauma therapies in children should also address how trauma’s impacts on one’s body, sense of self, emotional/empathetic processing, and relationships.

“This is important to do so since untreated symptoms will likely contribute to other health and mental health problems throughout the lifespan.”

Dr Klabunde worked with Dr Anna Hughes, also from the Department of Psychology, and Masters student Rebecca Ireton on the study.

#science #trauma #ptsd #cptsd

[myragewillendworlds]

Actually, that Tumblr post is exactly what bothers me about Mr. Beast's videos. People defend it by saying "It's charity!" and "He's helping people!" and I'm not denying that, but what bothers me is how self-serving it is. It's to make entertainment for other people. A real-life Squid Games of sorts. That's what bothered me about that video about returning eyesight to previously blind people, the way it has to be turned into shock doc style content with that smug cuck face of his on the thumbnail. Poor people are content for him to make money off of. Charity to him is just a profitable business.

The MrBeast Burger is a similar concept, in that he pretends it's about donating to those in need, when really it's just another business meant to make him money. If he really cared about feeding the poor, he would've gone with just about any other food than a fucking fatty hamburger and fries.

I just can't imagine a guy like that doing volunteer work off camera. Where it's not glamorous, not profitable, not admired by millions of people – just Betty the other volunteer who says "Good job, thanks!" and only the feeling of having done good to sustain him. I think he needs the camera.

#youtube

[myragewillendworlds]

Mr. Beast pisses me off. This is so fucking depressing. I’ve never watched his content because it seems like just the most twisted pseudo-feel-good stuff you could make, and this is the same. I understand that charity is still charity no matter its framing or motivation, and this will be wonderful for the people who do win $25,000. But I still think I’m not unreasonable for feeling pissed off that one man can post nonchalantly about giving away such an enormous amount of money, “for fun!” and have thousands of financially desperate people falling over themselves to follow and retweet, instead of their doing something else, like going to his house and tying his limbs to four horses and making those four horses gallop away in different directions. Or something.

#youtube

[myragewillendworlds]

The thing I keep coming back to, with all the *gestures expansively* is that real life doesn't have peaceful epilogues.

Every single win has to be defended. Forever. I'm sorry. It sucks. The Nazis lost until they stopped losing. The US had abortion rights, and then 50 years later it didn't. Empires fall, and then they invade other countries again. Oppressive regimes are overthrown and replaced with other oppressive regimes. You will never finish the work etc etc etc. Which is why it's so fucking important to be able to acknowledge and celebrate progress, when it happens. The people who came before you didn't put in all that work for nothing, and you aren't, either. You can't save it all for the Ultimate Victory because there is never going to be an Ultimate Victory. There's no such thing as a time when everything is good, and ours shall not be the commune of Heaven.

[myragewillendworlds]

A dinosaur obsessed 12 year old studied fossils and found a 69 million year old hadrosaur skeleton embedded in rock while hiking. A fisherman in Australia noticed tiny shrimp in his net that looked slightly different from the others and he sent a few specimens to biologists for testing. Turned out to be a never before described species, going unnoticed in a popular lake. I posted a pic ~here on tumblr~ of a weird parasite on a dead fish and a parasitologist found it and asked to report it as the species has never been seen in my area before.

There is so, so much out there we literally don’t even know. And the best way to find that stuff out is to be intensely curious about everything you see. You might not discover a new species but you absolutely will gain a deeper appreciation for the world around you.

#science

[myragewillendworlds]

Yeah, like how Jamala's win with 1944 was an obviously political song, and multiple countries have sung about Europe's terrorist attacks. I don't think you can fully separate art/music from politics.

But if Russia isn't allowed to compete (and I'm quite fine with that), the same should go for Israel (I'd be quite fine with that too). The double standard is telling.

Israel has threatened to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest if organisers try to censor its 2024 song entry. Eden Golan, who was announced as the country’s representative earlier this month, was due to sing “October Rain” at the contest in Malmo, Sweden, in May. However, a row has now erupted after leaked lyrics showed that the song appears to reference the 7 October attack by Hamas, according to the Israel Hayom newspaper. The Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the annual competition, describes the song contest as a non-political event, and maintains its right to disqualify contestants who break this rule. Israel says it will not compete in the competition this year if its lyrics are not approved. The song is currently being reviewed by the EBU.

the audacity of israeli institutions. to not even try to put a lid on current events, but to insist that israel is the victim in this conflict. throwing a fit about how you're not allowed to do that when there's already objections to your presence in the competition.

#Eurovision

[myragewillendworlds]

Israel has threatened to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest if organisers try to censor its 2024 song entry. Eden Golan, who was announced as the country’s representative earlier this month, was due to sing “October Rain” at the contest in Malmo, Sweden, in May. However, a row has now erupted after leaked lyrics showed that the song appears to reference the 7 October attack by Hamas, according to the Israel Hayom newspaper. The Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the annual competition, describes the song contest as a non-political event, and maintains its right to disqualify contestants who break this rule. Israel says it will not compete in the competition this year if its lyrics are not approved. The song is currently being reviewed by the EBU.

the audacity of israeli institutions. to not even try to put a lid on current events, but to insist that israel is the victim in this conflict. throwing a fit about how you're not allowed to do that when there's already objections to your presence in the competition.

#eurovision #israel #fucking shameless

[myragewillendworlds]

there's a popular post going around rn, you might have seen it. it shows exactly what you've been complaining about and I feel frustrated as well. our biggest mistake was distancing ourselves from the 'trapped body' narrative. https://www.tumblr.com/murderonthedullexpress/739818333022683136

It's posted by a "He/They" under non-binary tags. My expectations were immediately set. Yeah, this is pretty much the "non-binary" narrative: that their discomfort is about social expectations, not about physical sex dysphoria. They should never have been allowed to align themselves with transgender terminology.

I think a lot, if not most, actually transsexual people still identify with the "trapped in the wrong body/sex" language. The same people that are moving back to using "transsexual" again, basically. There's nothing really wrong with it. It explains it in simple terms and puts the focus on the actual problem: the physical sex. Not personal identity, not society.

I wish transsexualism could be completely distanced from all the identity language, the rainbow communities, the focus on society. It's its own thing and should be acknowledged as such: a medical condition with a neurological basis. All these associations with non-binary labels, the gay community, the drag community, sexuality, pride and identity, and so on and so forth, have done nothing but damage that understanding.

#ask #transgender #transsexual

[myragewillendworlds]

@bi-kisses Can't really respond properly in comments, so:

You kinda left out the important bit when you quoted her. That part she actually says "You're right" to.

“But wait!” you say, as I mention consent, “Men don’t care about consent! Men watch violent porn and reenact it on women! Men prey on women who are seeking BDSM relationships in order to abuse them!” Well. Yeah. You’re right. This is not because of some innate evil in BDSM. This is because our patriarchal culture is built on male entitlement.

You think her agreeing that "men don't care about consent" and "men prey on women in order to abuse them" is, what, fine? She literally agrees to this. Her logic is basically that abuse doesn't occur within BDSM because BDSM is evil, but because men are evil. In the post I responded to my on blog, she claims that "it’s almost entirely men" that take advantage of "easy targets" in the BDSM community. It's just your typical sexist feminist rhetoric, ignoring everything that'd prove them wrong.

I wasn't digging through her blog for reasons, I was interested in seeing more after that post and then immediately stumbled upon this nonsense. I called her a "hateful radfem" for that reason, that's it. I'm not sure why that invoked the need for this discussion.

For that matter, I don't think it's particularly normal to dislike men or "pretend men don't exist" just because you're a lesbian either, really. I never see gay men dislike women so casually, and I can't imagine that would be defended.