"Nearly every social event I have attended with [communists] has inevitably had some conversation about linux, furry culture, obscure leftist history, tabletop games, or other equally nerdy subjects"
Join our public Matrix server! https://matrix.to/#/#traacha:transfem.dev
As a reminder, please do not discuss current struggle sessions in the mega. We want this to be a little oasis for all of us and the best way to do that is not to feed into existing conflict on the site.
Also, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well.
Here is a screenshot of where to find the spoiler button.
bit idea: t4t straight couple where the boyfriend is complaining that his GF keeps leaving the toilet seat up
Been watching apothecary diaries and this is so my jam, Mao Mao is such a mood
she's so 
Upsides of wearing a dress: looking and feeling cute
Downside: I now want to get ripped so I can have giant arms
CW mild NSFW. This is wild. So Facetune has an AI for roasting your outfits. There appears to be some guardrails around nudity but not for...
... softcore Bdsm photos. So it's generating responses to some pics I submitted like
"this look says 'kidnapped tourist' chic meets ultimate basement lounging disaster, the gag is the only accessory, and it's a choice"
Obviously AI bad. But it can be funny when these cracks gets exploited.
who needs AI to roast my outfits when i can do it just fine on my own by looking in the mirror?
another
Who knew duct tape and desperation could be a fashion statement? This looks more cry for help than haute couture.
Okay that was a banger too.
Once nice thing about RedNote is I have a place to post self pics that have an effectively 0% chance of being seen by my (anti-China) family.
CW: Transphobia, identification documents, health insurance, forced outing
More fuckery with my passport application. After sending it in for a correction after they failed to put the correct gender marker on it, they now sent me a letter (which took a week to arrive) that I need to send in my birth certificate. As far as I can tell from the state department website, there is no requirement to send in proof of citizenship with a DS-5504, so I am annoyed and nervous. I am including another letter with the relevant web pages about the data correction and gender marker change policies, but I am beginning to despair. I am now worried that the policy could change before the processing of the passport is complete.
Health insurance at work is also starting to be a nightmare. The HR system allows you not to disclose gender/sex, but that's fake because you have to pick a binary sex for the health insurance. The HR representative also used transphobic language in the email letting me know about this, so that's pretty bad as well. I put it down as female, and then updated my gender identity info as well to make it clear. Not adding pronouns yet since that pops up without digging into the profile, so at least I can avoid that involuntary outing, but it really sucks overall.
I am now worried that the insurance company is going to ask for proof of sex at some point, and until I get my passport I don't have any IDs that have the correct gender marker (updating state ID is out of the question).
dysphoria
"self care" actually sucks ass and I remember why I neglect myself. Holy shit I never want to shave again. Fucking awful. Now that my clothes are back on I think I'm stabilizing but I went from "okay" to very much not okay.
Didn't even get half done
god I have to force myself to do that again don't I. And soon all that work will be gone.spoiler
For all the talking up self care gets, a lot of it isn't strictly fun or easy. I can understand you're feeling overwhelmed.
Years ago, when my dad and I were still talking to each other before I came out to any family, he was going to barber school. I'd grow out what I had and go to the school for him to shave me, as a dutiful "son" and someone who felt obligated and wanted private time with me and my dad. I did have to stop eventually, it was really bad for my mental health and dysphoria to keep growing my facial hair. Even as a teen, ages before I cracked my egg, I couldn't do no shave November and would always crack in the first week - I would not have been able to tell you why because part of the charm was our goofy ugly teen quasi staches. On this side of egg crack, it's very obvious why lol
A lot of self care stuff like exercising or eating healthy can feel quite onerous. It's not all having warm baths with candles or self-compassion and being gentle with oneself (although those are still important). It's good that you did what you could about shaving, that's a very good sign and it's good progress. Maybe you can figure out a different system that works, get laser, Nair (hair removal cream, you can get gentle stuff for face so not use the harsh leg stuff or pube stuff on your face), even waxing. Even if you end up needing to shave to help your dysphoria, it will likely feel better than the alternative of not shaving despite the awful middle stage. Also, struggles with facial hair does unite a lot of women - cis or trans - you are not alone. Number one users of laser hair removal for facial hair is cis women.
I can't log into my teams account and the only error message I'm getting is "something went wrong"
I feel so cool for having broken the chains of enforced traditional gender and choosing my own now. It makes me way cooler than most other people and my community is the greatest. Can’t imagine living life without the freedom of choosing one’s own gender and some understanding of what gender means to oneself. Must be pretty boring!
Feelin' tired and sad today
Keep thinking about a stranger I ran into yesterday and wish I had been more outgoing and friendly, they seemed cool but I was stressed out and probably seemed bitchy and not very approachable
I feel like such a fuckin' goober a lot of the time in public but worry that I come across as intimidating or something
Microplastics fuck with your hormones so I think it's fair to say everyone on Earth is on HRT
