“We treat all developers the same.”

I'm fine with that not being true, and there are good reasons for it not being true, but I wish Apple would stop saying it.

Falls into the Google-not-being-evil category.

I'm posting this here because I don't have the character limit needed to post it on my main account, so bear with me.

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Something I just thought of.

For a number of years, I received treatment for low testosterone. When I was born, I had a hernia surgery that damaged my right testicle and stunted its growth. When I was twelve, they removed it because they worried that it showed signs of becoming potentially cancerous. It wasn’t a big deal. I got a prosthetic and now I have one flesh testicle and one robot testicle. I’m a cyborg.

Flash forward to my mid-thirties when I asked my doctor if my noticeably soft and high voice could be due to a lack of testosterone from my single testicle. He said it wasn’t likely but possible and ran some blood tests and discovered that my testosterone was almost totally bottomed out, possibly due to my testicular situation, and also from my obesity. So they started me on testosterone treatments. First, it was androgen gel that I rubbed on my chest and was warned to keep far from my wife, who would be affected detrimentally if she touched it. That I wasn’t comfortable with for long, so we switched to testosterone injections. I did that for years, and it made a difference. I felt my energy change, my mental health improved and, oddly, I felt more “masculine” whatever that means in my life. I’ve never been particularly masculine in the traditional sense, despite my size and general appearance.

What I’m getting at, is that low testosterone was affecting my mental health, and taking supplemental testosterone improved that mental health, as well as my self-image because I felt more confident in my gender. I felt more masculine, which was great because I’m a man.

No one ever once questioned my use of T for my mental health and self-image. It was just never a thing. The doctor figured out that this would help me, so they gave it to me because that’s a doctor’s job. To treat the health of their patients. I’m a cis man so I pretty much get what I want without much fuss. That’s a privilege I have and other people don’t. Because society is fucked in the head.

So my question is why the hell is it anyone’s business? If someone started questioning my use of Testosterone to treat my mental and physical health, I’d tell them to fuck off and mind their own business. It’s got nothing to do with anyone beyond my family and my doctor. Again, that's my privilege.

It boggles my mind that people receiving gender-affirming care are being denied that treatment because of how they identify. Hormonal treatment to help with mental and physical health, just like me. Treatment that helps align my body with my idea of what my body should feel and perform like. And most importantly, it’s NO ONE’S FUCKING BUSINESS. It’s absurd and offensive that trans people can’t follow their doctor’s recommendation and treat their health/identity concerns without being scrutinized, bullied, and even denied that care. Children who desperately need this care are being denied it and it’s leading to their death in many cases.

The way we treat trans people is horrifying. It’s truly offensive. Things need to change and quickly. We’re losing babies because we’re allowing politicians and zealots and bullies to dictate the health decisions of children instead of doctors. That’s one of the most demented things I’ve seen happen in our culture in my lifetime. These are people trying to live their lives and treat their health in the best way they know how. More importantly, in the best way their DOCTORS know how. It’s no one’s fucking business.

Tangentially, I could make a very similar post about abortion.

I have an idea! Let's not get involved in other people's medical decisions! Can we do that please?

Twitter is falling apart. Reddit is falling apart. Facebook fell apart ages ago. Meta is a trashfire. Instagram is baloney. Google can't even search for anything you want anymore.

You know what website still miraculously works?

Wikipedia.

You should donate to keep it that way.

My biggest problem with #capitalism is that it forces everyone to make earning money their primary objective.

Not to provide valuable services for society.
Not to make sure that people don't suffer.
Not to preserve our environment.

All these things are just optional side effects to the main objective of making money, and will be easily discarded if doing the opposite turns out to be more lucrative.

Seriously, dead seriously, if you want to make your life better, care about others.

Learn about people, listen to people, hear their successes, hear their failures, hear their tragedies - and through it all care about them.

And then turn your caring into actions, even small ones.

#care #respect #kindness