| Main account | https://old.mermaid.town/@futzle |
| Blog | https://icemoonprison.com/ |
Pinned toot:
This is a backup account; I will only post from here if my main account at old.mermaid.town is down.
Follow requests are turned on so that you don't automatically follow me here and think that you are seeing my latest posts. Find my current home at @futzle.
We on Mastodon have a metaphor for this, which we borrow from the concept of the Wheel of Fortune (Tarot, not the game show). A sea-change [not a typo] delivered by the fates, changing one's direction in life. It could strike any of us, on the turn of a card. we call it the Wheel of Gender.
We embrace the Wheel of Gender. It can bring an epiphany when our lives don't seem to make sense.
Of course, like anything in culture, the Wheel of Gender gets reinvented and folded in on itself. There's a wonderful bot, @genderoftheday, which randomly generates a gender once per day, sometimes uplifting, sometimes mundane, sometimes incomprehensible. Just like us. And because there are more than two (or three) genders, the allusion to the game show with its segmented wheel is a natural leap to make.
The Wheel of Gender is the Fediverse's gift to us, and it is our gift to the Fediverse. If you are trans, or if you are a cis ally, or if you're just not sure any more, you're all welcome to use this wholesome metaphor. Give the Wheel of Gender a spin!
Today in Fediculture History, I want to talk about the WHEEL OF GENDER. 🧵
There's a joke that goes around the Fediverse that Mastodon turns trans about 10% of the people who use it. Of course, that's nonsense; it's more like 20%.
Ok, that's nonsense too, but what Mastodon _does_ do is it provides a space where openly trans people are able to flourish and be noticed.
That leads to the situation that users who arrive here, who have never questioned their gender before, get to examine what gender means to them personally for the first time. And, surprise!, some of them turn out to be trans.
Even those of us who arrive here previously transed, like me, have a chance to revisit the concept of gender and develop a more profound understanding of it.
Ever heard of Echo, the lyrebird who accurately mimicked fire evacuation calls in #Sydney?
Superb #lyrebirds are arguably the bird world’s greatest mimics. Males will sing elaborate #songs and perfectly imitate sounds made by other #birds to impress prospective mates.
🐦 However, captive birds like Echo only learn from what they're exposed to – but how?
Read all about it (and listen to some astonishing lyrebird mimics!) here: https://theconversation.com/that-siren-imitating-lyrebird-at-taronga-zoo-he-lost-his-song-culture-and-absorbed-some-of-ours-192929
<steps up to the microphone> Um, hi, um. So
In the three weeks (three! I checked a calendar) during which aus.social grew by some large factor, I reckon 20, I've spent much too much time here, not just moderating, but trying to foster a much bigger, much more diverse, community. I like to think we've succeeded. But
This city just feels too big now, and I'm neglecting my other hobbies, so I'm moving to the country, onto my own little instance by the sea.
Not that I'm deserting you! I'll keep this account open so I can check out the local timeline here. But you should consider @futzle to be my main account from now on.
With that in mind, it's right that I step down from my moderation role at aus.social. This server needs and deserves moderators who are present more than I will be. Harry, Josh and Kat are staying on, and I'll hang around long enough to be a mentor to any new mods that Shlee should appoint. I love and respect you all, teammates.
This won't all happen right away, but quite soon. I'm itching to get back into my music, my quilting and my other pastimes. Meanwhile, please come over and say hi to me at Old Mermaid Town. I'll make cookies.
Hi everyone, this account has been created to allow the aus.social mods to make announcements and receive feedback about aus.social moderation, (de)federation, etc. without cluttering mods' personal accounts. Follow this account or come and visit if you want updates.
(This post by @futzle)
"But I'm a leftist like you, why should I CW my politics?"
Sit down, child. What's your preferred party? Has it got a terf problem? Of course it does, every party has a terf problem. Every party has had to form an uneasy (or easy) alliance with its terfs.
I found a space which doesn't have a terf problem. You're soaking in it. And by bandying about party-political stuff you're reminding me of the dirty reality of the people who would contemplate trading my existence for a hospital in their electorate.
So yeah, I do expect you to CW your party-political posts.
s/politics/journalism/g and s/trans/disabled/g, and other substitutions which I am not qualified to speak for but others here are.
The Conversation AU + NZ
Aus Social Mods