https://nitter.net/AnarchoBlahaj/status/1702121398356033900
Throwback to Va*sh orbiter Demon Mama saying that in a post-revolutionary society people needing hormone therapy could simply go to their local backyard chemist and get distilled horse piss as a viable solution.
Endocrinology is a very delicate science and it requires a high level of quality control to ensure that the people getting hormone therapy don't go fucking themselves up and throwing their bodies completely out of whack.
I'm sure that some backyard chemist would be up to the job but... what sort of quality assurance and certifications and standardisations are going to be enforced on a backyard chemist exactly?
This might come off as paternalistic but if someone in your region is the only person producing backyard hormone therapy, or they are the only trustworthy source, then I don't feel comfortable sending potentially very vulnerable young trans people their way where this backyard chemist would be in a position to exploit and extort trans people, especially trans youth.
My serious concern is that it would end up in the same sort of parasitic arrangements that lots of drug dealers currently have with their customers. Gives me the ick thinking that a person like Demon Mama, who is (allegedly) vehemently opposed to authoritarianism, would be so comfortable to hand over so much power to some sketchy dude using his bathtub to manufacture hormones and allowing that person control over others in what is often a matter of life or death.
Also this argument is very crypto-capitalist because the defence of this position essentially amounts to "The free market will sort itself out if we just let it do its thing! (Except no money is involved because I said so.)" You can claim that's an unfair characterisation of the argument but it's arrangements like this that are like little engines replicating pseudo-petit bourgeois social relations within a post-revolutionary society that can threaten to undermine it and can have major consequences for society.
/rant
I figure that this image depicts a castor bean crop and the poster is like "Who needs chemotherapy when you have ricin?"
Lack of regulation aside, HRT from horse piss has fallen out of favor for a reason. Estrogens that aren't bio-identical estradiole are kinda crap, they are hard on the liver, they have a high risk of blood clots, and both gets a lot worse when you take the stuff orally and subject it to first pass metabolism. The main reason (besides rampant transphobia) that many doctors are still so gatekeepy and lowdosy about HRT is that popping premarin pills (the red pill from Matrix) was a ton more risky than using estradiol gels or injections and people indeed routinely got in trouble with that if they aimed for dosages that actually do something.
If you have up-to-date medication, doing DIY HRT is actually very safe, you just need regular bloodwork. It's not particularly hard to dial in dosage and even if you overshoot a bit, it's no big deal with transdermal or IM medication. I feel it's really important to clarify this, as there's a ton of trans people out there who have no choice but go DIY and the subject gets demonized so much by transmeds.
Thanks for the clarification!
If you have up-to-date medication, doing DIY HRT is actually very safe, you just need regular bloodwork. It's not particularly hard to dial in dosage and even if you overshoot a bit, it's no big deal with transdermal or IM medication.
Is that in regards to gray market importing of HRT meds? Or like DIY from scratch?
I wouldn't fault anyone for seeking HRT outside of legal bounds because that's a failing on society's part and not of the individual for doing what they need to. But that's my worst case scenario (which is, unfortunately, a very real scenario that people face today) and I wouldn't uphold this as the ideal arrangement by any means.
Is that in regards to gray market importing of HRT meds? Or like DIY from scratch?
That's referring to gray market imports. I hope it doesn't get to the point where people have to resort to injections made from scratch, that's just asking for trouble. But it may be the kind of trouble some parts of the world are headed towards.
I'm sure that some backyard chemist would be up to the job but... what sort of quality assurance and certifications and standardisations are going to be enforced on a backyard chemist exactly?
This is the line between "Are you an Anarchist who simply thinks hierarchical society isn't worth modernist living?" and "Are you a Libertarian wearing a hat that says 'Anarchist' so your friends don't get nervous when you're around their pre-teen kids?"
I've heard not-unconvincing arguments that modernism (including modern medicine) actually sucks and a lot of what we're doing is just slapping bandaids that our rampant abuse of ecology has created.
But this just sounds like markets-schmarkets nonsense.
That take as you describe it sounds like a right-winger's idea of anarchism. I mean for starters, why would we downgrade to horse piss? We've already got better synthesis methods for better drugs, and at least the anarchists I've heard from already have better ideas for organization than "it'll work itself out."
Demon Mama, from what little I have seen of her, produces the lowest tier streamer content that is completely unprincipled in its socialism so it tracks that she would unwittingly slip into ancap territory.
Yeah this weird DIY “I am making my own Insulin” type of anarchist is very problematic. For stuff like this having a centrally planned and frequently vetted mode of production would be the best solution.
Haven't the Cubans already put in some work on this? Asking ignorantly but in good faith. I wish I knew more about how their health care system is organized.
I have no idea what the details of trans healthcare is like in Cuba beyond knowing that they are very progressive on trans rights.
Va*sh orbiter
distilled horse piss
These people really can't stop thinking about horses huh?
ignoring the context, replying to someone with a diagram of bean related activities goes incredibly hard
YOU CAN'T JUST ABOLISH INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION AND ESTABLISH A SOLARPUNK WORLD
Just go outside and seize the beans of production, obviously, just look at this diagram
Ummmmmm sweaty, hate to break this to you, but it's pretty funny that you resort to literal 4chan infographics posting tactics 🙄🙄🙄
But I digress :smuglord:
This is why proper anarchists are into syndicalism and community planning and so on. Being real comrades, they exist in material reality and anticapitalism.
Proper anarchists make alliances based on tactical unity and medium term goals. I've worked with liberals on union stuff and anti-civ folks on environmental stuff.
True anarchists don't do self defeating tribalism.
True anarchists don't do self defeating tribalism.
I get what you're saying but this is just too good to ignore
wow this is so simple thx
wait what happens if my glasses which i need to see break and the one guy who likes to make them has no time to make them/is not nearby/doesn't like me
Nah, this was one of those seasonal anti-civ/anprim arguments on Twitter where one side genuinely argues against industry. To then overgeneralize and accuse all anarchists of being anti-industry would be ridiculous, but I don't see it happening here.
Yeah I read this as a refusal to engage with someone who thinks anarchy means starting over from scratch with caveman tech
They'd produce the medicine in a factory and distribute it according to need, which would be tracked with a communal system
I recently listened to this podcast episode featuring an anarchist with some interesting ideas on this very topic: https://www.liveliketheworldisdying.com/tag/open-source-medical-chemistry/
Anti civ types have some weird conclusions but when you look at their practice it's all defend weelaunee type stuff. Honestly would rather work with them than most groups.
If it didn't cost a quarter million dollars to become a doctor then it'd be a more reasonable proposition. If disadvantaged people had access to technology, extracurricular involvement, and inspired teachers who could think beyond making ends meet in a fucked up situation then a lot more doctors would come from those places.
If medical supply chains didn't have to compete with MyPillow and big box stores for the manufacturing capacity when supplies get tight, you could probably make sufficient medicine. Distribution has been made more effective than ever with the speed of communication today and multiple redundancies. We have computers and barcodes to track supplies. We manage to get Amazon to work. If you get some roads to turn into trains suddenly you have transportation for critical supplies the likes of which have never been seen before.
