clara "parasocialist" sparks

i unironically do want “transgender for everybody”

name changes that don’t mess up your credit. hormones and abortion pills over the counter. standards of “looking professional“ that aren’t patriarchal and white-supremacist. hell yeah

you don’t need to *use* transgender but you should be allowed to *have* it

Dec 18 at 3:14amWeb
Show threadclara "parasocialist" sparksDec 18
anyway RIP my mentions
Show threadGadfly (-booq-)Dec 18
@mxsparks I'm just saying there is zero reason in terms of utility or in terms of coherent definitions why puberty in all respects cannot be universally interpreted in whatever form it appears as a particular subtype of transing your gender.
Show threadGadfly (-booq-)Dec 18
@mxsparks (Well okay possibly there might be some arguable reasons or maybe not, I'm just putting on overconfidence because it makes this more fun to say.)
Show threadGadfly (-booq-)Dec 18
@mxsparks In conclusion I think teenagers should just be choosing new names as they settling into puberty, for whatever reason and based on whatever internal or external feelings.
Show threadEndlessMasonDec 18
@mxsparks
Big 90s point and click vibes here
Show threadVDec 18
@mxsparks Until relatively recently in (most of) the US (and UK), you *could* just change your name; common law regarding name changes was largely just that as long as you're not doing it for fraudulent/illegal purposes, you could just go by a different name, without needing to resort to legal processes, even in legal and professional/business contexts. In most US states this is still part of the legal codes, but is largely dead now b/c of name registries, social security, etc.since the 1930s.
Show threadVDec 18

@mxsparks (1930's in the US, I think the UK started with centralized name registries earlier.)

So, that was never even a transgender thing to start with, that names are so difficult to change now is the oddity - it was just a basic right for most of the time the US has even been something resembling a country.

Show threadRowan in Winter 🏳️‍⚧️👩Dec 18
@miss_rodent @mxsparks In Massachusetts, that common law still rules. You can legally change your name just by using the new one. Unfortunately, if you want to get any paperwork or government databases changed, you are going to need paperwork showing the change.
The last time I changed my name in government databases was when I got married in 1990 and changed my last name. What a circus that was! I am not looking forward to this next time, but at least my name is getting simpler. I still haven’t decided what I am doing about a middle name if anything. I’ve been thinking of asking my mom if I can borrow hers!
Show threadVDec 18
@Rowan @mxsparks It was still part of the law of all but 4 states, last I looked into it. But as things like mandatory ID laws, centralized name registries, etc. became (and become) more commonplace, it has significantly weakened that right.
I only use my legal name when required to, and even then reluctantly, but have not jumped through the hoops to change it legally. In part because I do not have *a* name I use, but, several that I juggle at any given time.
Show threadRowan in Winter 🏳️‍⚧️👩Dec 18
@miss_rodent @mxsparks I have been juggling several names for most of life. I am finally settling down into one name and one identity.
Show threadVDec 18
@Rowan I've juggled multiple names since I was a teenager at least, some have been more durable than others, I don't really see a particular reason to stop doing so, in my case, my identity and sense-of-self are not very tightly bound to any singular one of them.
Show threadDamon L. WakesDec 18
@mxsparks This sounds quite a lot like the curb cut effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_cut_effect
Curb cut effect - Wikipedia

Show threadJennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊Dec 18

@DamonWakes @mxsparks

Came here to say, systems that help a small selection of folks by design also tend to help others in a myriad of unexpected ways.

Unfortunately, the powers that be are currently intent on stopping such positive changes just to show off how exclusive they are. (Font changes, for fuck's sake.) I hope the lot of them trip on an uncut curb.

Show threadepiloniousDec 18

@theogrin @DamonWakes @mxsparks I feel like said powers are publically showing they will never, ever be happy. Merely too exhausted to whine/scream/tantrum about grievances they made-up like some Dostoyevskian villain.

The thing we are waiting on is for all forms of media to decide that handing whiny adult children the bullhorn isn't at-all entertaining and is getting them cancelled in the purest form of that word (as in people going 'I don't wanna see/hear this' and no longer paying them)

Show threadOzzelot Dec 18
@mxsparks
re professionalism: i have a disdain for the very concept
Show threadAndrocatDec 18

@mxsparks

For the first one, it helps to realize that the "credit score" is a completely artificial thing that is not allowed in most places.

It's a way for banks to socialize their risks.

Most places do allow registering if a given person has failed debts, but that whole arcane algebra of debt juggling evaluations that the US allows is ludicrous.

Show threadKevin Karhan Dec 25

@androcat @mxsparks
IMHO credit scoring only exists to #discriminate against low-income #wageworkers and favour #jobless #billionaires without actual income and no real collateral.

Show threadAndrocat6d ago

@kkarhan

Absolutely. It's not bad enough that the rich have stolen their wealth through wage theft, they also have to be forced to take pointless loans in order to be able to take useful loans.

It's slavery with extra steps. "Work, you lazy plebs!"

@mxsparks

Show threadsortius Dec 18

@mxsparks I don't count myself as trans or enby, but I know my life is somewhat non-binary, even as a male, and we all need to keep that in mind.

The binary is a cage that keeps us from being who we are

Show threadEstarriol, Terrorist DragonDec 18

@mxsparks

I want everybody to have access to all the healthcare they need, with no gatekeeping, but sensible guidelines.

Show threadbovazDec 18
@mxsparks this should be such a no-brainer... More rights for everyone.
Show threadOffbeatmammalDec 18
@mxsparks some years ago I argued to drop gender as a required field (and title) on a system we were deploying. This was probably the smallest change that year, but required c-suite to sign off on it as no-one wanted to approve it (and I kept pushing). Afaik they are still optional and I know while I was still on the project we never found a reason to change it back. We also deployed aliases on email addresses to support name changes (got that approved because people get married and change)
Show threadQueen CalyoDec 18

@mxsparks YES!! 👏 YES!! 👏 YES!! 👏 YES!! 👏

In addition to that cosmetic surgery should be something that people can also just get and have it be financially covered.

If it can be justified for trans people for gender affirming reasons, it can be justified for cis people as well for gender affirming reasons.

Show threadKevin Karhan 6d ago

@dragonarchitect @mxsparks also most plastic surgery and gender affirming care is done for cisbinary folks.

It's also a matter of human rights and freedom.

If someone wants to have three D-cup tits and two cocks that should be only their decision and choice.

If we truly believe in "merit" then we'd judge people by their words and actions, not their conformity to archaic bs.

Show threadLudwig VielfrassDec 18
@mxsparks most gender-affirming care is for cis people. I wished more people know that.
Show thread$ Enya21🔥ΘΔ | the toolfoxDec 18
@mxsparks do name changes mess up your credit? i haven't started looking into legal name change yet
Show thread2somethingDec 18
@kix3n @mxsparks When I switched cell phone carriers they told me I failed my credit check, and quickly determined it was because my name was changed a year earlier. After calling someone higher up the ladder in the cell phone provider's hierarchy they waved my credit check (i.e. the cell phone carrier let me start a plan with them despite my credit check failure: I couldn't actually fix my credit rating.)
Show threadEmily Vale, GendermancerDec 18
@2something @kix3n @mxsparks women used to get slightly lower car insurance rates in the US until very recently. I changed my gender just in time to get the new, higher rate that women get. Yay!
Show threadwaldiDec 19
@2something @kix3n @mxsparks What I don't understand: does this link also break if people change their name in marriage?
Show threadDarwin WoodkaDec 18

@mxsparks

Good points! I've recently stopped bothering to live up to others expectations of how I should look, it's very freeing

Show threadpatterDec 18
@mxsparks We've got more precise national identity records than "what sequence of sounds should summon you" I already know there's people out there with my full name, so sure - have people call you what you choose
Show threadEva MikkonenDec 18
@mxsparks In 2025 this shit should be just profile settings change
Show threadKevin Karhan 6d ago

@evamik @mxsparks +9001%

As easy as changingnpassword or shipping address.

  • At most with a confirmation eMail!
Show threadHappy New Yuri-ear! 🎊Dec 18
@mxsparks Everybody can have a little transgender, as a treat.  
Show threadBen EvansDec 19

@mxsparks Minor point of order - credit scores aren't actually necessary. There are quite a few modern democratic market economy states that just don't have them, e.g. Spain.

Can't mess up your credit score if it doesn't exist!

Show threadPixdigitDec 19

@mxsparks good ol "Accessibility does not only benefit the disabled"

(And in case someone misunderstands: no I'm not saying trans people are disabled, I'm saying care for trans people is good for cis people as well)

Show threadmassageurDec 20
@mxsparks the world would be so much better if we weren't policed into a gender straitjacket.