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Anonymous asked:
eyy! im ace and trans too! i dunno if this is still too uncomfortable a question- and if so feel free to ignore -but ive read a bit that t can mess with your sex drive or whatever. ive gotten pretty comfy (for lack of a better word) with being ace and am sorta anxious over whether or not starting t will... change that? i guess? i dunno, i just feel like adding sex back into the equation would be so complicated. can starting t affect sexuality like that? or in any way?
macgyvermedical answered:
In my experience, being on T effected my sex drive, but not my sexuality.
Prior to T, I was both as far along the ace spectrum as you could be without being repulsed by sex and had absolutely zero libido. I never thought about sex, was never sexually attracted to anyone, I didn’t even know what to do with my sex parts because I’d never considered using them for anything except menstruating. Heck, I was so oblivious I didn’t realize other people thought about sex at all beyond, like, something you had to do if you wanted a kid, until I was in college!
And honestly I was very happy with that. I’d identified as asexual since I was 14 and learned the word, and it was really comforting to know I wasn’t the only one, and it wasn’t just the product of being raised female.
And when I started T I was concerned, like you are now, that all this momentum that I’d built up around my ace identity would be for nothing once I had some other hormones in me. If it turned out that my hormones were just screwy, what basis would I have for being asexual? Was asexuality even real? Would I lose that identity?
What I found was that while T gave me a small amount of sex drive, I was still not attracted to anyone. I was still very much asexual as an orientation, just with an ability to explore a part of myself I hadn’t before.
Discussion of masturbation/experience of sex drive below the cut-
if i see one more post accusing neil gaiman of queerbaiting good omens fans even though
- he’s said that he wants LGBTQIA+ fans to feel valid in interpreting aziraphale and crowley however they want to for the past three decades
- neil has repeatedly and publicly said that he supports interpretations of A&C being in love, queer, trans, nb, or a-spec its just that labeling their love is difficult because they’re divine beings not contained by human ideals of romance and gender
- that tweet going around of neil saying that fans were “reading too much into” A&C’s relationship was only a partial screencap of a longer tweet in which neil was supporting queer interpretations of his characters but no one on this site has reading comprehension or the ability to use google so everyone saw the incomplete text of the tweet and assumed neil was being homophobic when in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth
- the book good omens was published in the year 1990 when it was much more risky to display openly queer characters in media than it is now
- the show good omens was made as a memorial to co-author terry pratchett who died in 2015, so obviously, making significant changes to the plot gaiman and pratchett wrote together would be full of emotional hardship and grief for neil gaiman who is no doubt extremely upset that he is making this adaptation without terry alongside him. of course he isn’t going to deviate from the book since terry can’t approve the changes.
- there are a million ways to show love between two characters that don’t involve kissing or sex and good omens used every single one of them between aziraphale and crowley
- good omens already has many radical messages outside of A&C’s relationship (it’s literally a book philosophizing on the dangers of war and protracted conflict and questioning our understanding of christian theology. it also includes issues of feminism, anti-capitalism, climate change and pollution, and nuclear disarmament.) which cannot be ignored especially in todays political climate and to pretend that this show is as problematic as others i could mention just because neil won’t call two genderless creatures gay is reductive and frankly insulting
im calling the fucking cops
-signed a queer non-binary person who has been a fan of this book for over 5 years and won’t put up with any more fake woke tumblr bullshit from people who cant be bothered to do their research
you might think Michael has no sympathy but that’s not true she’s just running low on supplies because gabriel falls into her lap and sobs there over every perceived workplace rejection he’s ever experienced like, once a week
I look forward to the day when A/C fervor calms down just enough to allow more fanfic about the other characters because this is the kind of galaxy-braining shit I need.
every time i just i die
michael sitting down, doing some normal paperwork, and gabriel LURCHING in, hands over his eyes, for the third time this month, going, “MICHAEL–” and she’s like “oh fuck’s sake not again”
and gabriel like FALLING to his knees, burying his face in her lap, and saying, “mmmf”
and she’s like “what”
and he’s like “mmmf” but louder
and she’s like “you’re literally a messenger of our mother would you just–”
and gabriel raises his head and is like “gadreel says jogging is stupid” and michael is like… ri– right… ok… well, he has a point, no?
and gabriel just sobs even louder
and once he’s cried it out he’s fine, he’s running around, big smile, big grin, big dumb angel, but first, he’s going to overreact in the most ridiculous manner imaginable
This is good and true and I love your mind.
me tryna find out if this fool died
“The blue-ringed octopus, despite its small size, carries enough venom to kill twenty-six adult humans within minutes. Their bites are tiny and often painless, with many victims not realizing they have been envenomated until respiratory depression and paralysis start to set in.[8] No blue-ringed octopus antivenom is available yet, making it one of the deadliest reef inhabitants in the ocean.”
Holy shit
And this is why I don’t go in the ocean anymore
Also the blue rings literally only show up when it is distressed so this person has angered it!!! You are in danger friend!!!
Actually this guy keeps them as pets they’re on his instagram (william_exotique) and he frequently holds then and I just? Don’t know why? And also every picture or video he posts of them shows the blue rings so they’re always in distress I just do not understand why he’s doing this
#AMY EXPLAIN HOW DUMB THIS GUY IS
I mean OP pretty much covered it. A blue ringed octopus is almost on the level of CONE SNAIL on the list of things you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT PICK UP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
But ask and you shall receive, On this episode of “Fun Facts With Cuckoo,” DEAD. YOU’RE DEAD. EVERYTHING IS DEAD AND YOU SHOULD NEVER TOUCH ANYTHING IN THE OCEAN EVER AGAIN.
There are many things that will kill you. [citation needed]
There are fewer, but still many things that will kill you FAST.
There are yet fewer things that kill you fast and by such an overwhelming margin of overkill that nervous laughter is our only solace in the dark of this terrible, surprisingly Lovecraftian world of unearthly horrors that we live in.
Of the things that I know about which will kill you fast via just plain insultingly potent venom, which is a not insignificant number of things because I know a not insignificant number of things, there are about 3 things in the ocean – IN THE WHOLE OCEAN – which are so insanely, mind-bogglingly deadly that there is pretty much no possible hope for survival (I mean you CAN, but god help you if you’re ever in that situation, because god’s just about damn near the only thing that CAN help you). THE. WHOLE. OCEAN.
Those three things are the Irukandji (a tiny (1cm) species of box jellyfish, which has stingers not only on its tentacles but on its BELL, for reasons no one has definitively figured out, and is so toxic despite its size its sting can cause a severe brain hemorrhage), the cone snail (a group of carnivorous sea snails that is accepted to be the most venomous animals on earth, with a STUPIDLY fast acting and extremely powerful neurotoxin that has in at least one case killed a human ALMOST INSTANTANEOUSLY, because the swimmer who found two beautiful shells (unfortunately cone snails tend to have very pretty shells which makes people want to pick them up) was holding them up for a picture and ended up being stabbed in the neck by not one but TWO cone snails at the same time, and it is believed that she was literally dead before she hit the ground, I mean LITERALLY in a 100% non-fictional and non-exaggerated way, in between the time the two cone snails stabbed her and the time her limp body hit the sand, she was not alive anymore), and the blue ringed octopus.
It is POSSIBLE to survive any of these. But not without immediate medical attention. Of these three, the Irukandji is by far the most treatable, because Australia and other coastal regions (including Florida and other parts of the US) are kind of experienced in dealing with box jellyfish.
The blue ringed octopus will fucking kill you. There’s no antidote for their venom, ONE COMPONENT OF WHICH (tetrodotoxin) is 1200 times deadlier than cyanide. It’s a powerful neurotoxin (most of the worst venoms are because the species that produce them need to kill or at least paralyze their prey quickly, like jellyfish whose fragile tentacles could be damaged if their food doesn’t stop struggling) that attacks the sodium channels and causes muscle paralysis. It doesn’t necessarily kill you quickly. It PARALYZES you quickly, so that you can’t really call for help or describe the problem, and you will probably end up slowly suffocating from a paralyzed diaphragm. Tetrodotoxin can be metabolized by the body in a matter of hours, but it can also kill you in a matter of minutes if you get a lethal dose (which isn’t much, the LD50 or median lethal dose, the dose at which you have a 50% chance of survival, is only 8 MICROGRAMS per kilogram of body weight (as tested in mice)). This is, by venom standards, not a large amount, which means the animal that is capable of putting this venom inside your body is very very good at killing the absolute shit out of you.
DON’T TOUCH THE BLUE RINGED OCTOPUS.
Now, because overkill is my motto, let me briefly explain why Conus geographus is the undisputed champion of YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE, AND FURTHERMORE FUCK YOU FOR THINKING OTHERWISE.
A cone snail walks into a bar. You’d expect the bartender to ask, “what’s your poison,” but they were paralyzed before they could ask and OH LOOK they’re already FUCKING DEAD ON THE GROUND.
Conus geographus is about 4-6 inches long and nature’s equivalent of Avada Kedavra. Cone snails literally have their own KIND of toxins named after them: conotoxin. Not only is there no antidote, but their venom AGGRESSIVELY RESISTS our ability to find a cure, because we barely understand how it works AND conotoxins are so internally varied, even within a single species, that any one antidote isn’t going to help because they’re constantly mutating and evolving their venom to prevent their prey from evolving a resistance to it. Plus their venom is like, a bunch of different venoms all at once JUST IN CASE any one of them wasn’t good enough.
I want you to read these two sentences from the wiki page on conotoxin:
- “Conotoxins have a variety of mechanisms of actions, most of which have not been determined.”
-
“The LD50 of conotoxin is 50 ng/kg.”
Remember how the LD50 of tetrodotoxin is 8μg/kg? Conotoxin is 160 times more potent. FIFTY NANOGRAMS PER KILOGRAM HAS A 50% CHANCE OF KILLING YOU. A 220-POUND HUMAN HAS A 50% CHANCE OF SURVIVAL AGAINST JUST 5 MICROGRAMS OF CONOTOXIN.
I DID SOME MATH.
IT WOULD TAKE 7-9 MILLIGRAMS OF CONOTOXIN TO KILL A BLUE WHALE, THE HEAVIEST ANIMAL TO EVER LIVE. (based on weight estimates from 300-400,000 lbs.)
Conus geographus is so fucking deadly that “In two cases of envenomation, only 0.0002-0.0005 mg resulted in severe paralysis.”
THIS THING KILLS STUFF SO HARD THAT BEFORE YOU HEAR THE FIRST “MORTAL KOMBAT” IN THE MORTAL KOMBAT THEME, THERE’S PROBABLY ALREADY BEEN A FATALITY.
And guess what? Cone snails don’t do that NOOB SHIT with the superficial biting or stinging. Your wetsuit or gloves won’t protect you. Because homeboy didn’t bring teeth to evolution’s knife fight. Oh no. It brought a motherfucking radula POISON HARPOON. It’s lightning fast and has way more piercing power than some silly little cnidocytes or salivary bacteria.
Another component of their venom is being researched for its potential as a pain reliever. “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT????” you might reasonably ask. And you would be right to do so, because science has gone too far and has surely sinned against the very image of Mollusca Kedavra. Well, it turns out the answer is “Research shows that certain component proteins of the venom target specific human pain receptors and can be up to 10,000 times more potent than morphine without morphine’s addictive properties and side-effects.” That’s right, the part of their venom that SPECIFICALLY DOESN’T HURT YOU is up to 10,000 times more potent than morphine.
Also, Conus geographus (along with one other cone snail species, C. tulipa) is the only known non-human animal to weaponize insulin. In addition to the normal insulin that the snails produce for their own use, their bodies manufacture an ADDITIONAL insulin molecule that is similar to the kind produced in fish (which they eat) for the sole purpose of stunning their prey through hypoglycemic shock. BECAUSE APPARENTLY THEY DON’T FEEL LIKE THEY’D KILL YOU HARD ENOUGH OTHERWISE.
IF you are going to survive the ALMIGHTY CONE SNAIL, WHO KNOWS NO FEAR, TRIUMPHANT HEDGEMON OF THE MOLECULAR ARMS RACE, TRUE BORN HEIR TO THE SCYTHE OF DEATH ITSELF, FISHSLAYER, GOD AMONG MOLLUSKS, WHOSE WRATH IS MERCIFUL ONLY IN ITS BREVITY, ADMIRABLE IN ITS BEAUTY AND UNSULLIED BY THE UNWORTHY TOUCH OF MORTAL HANDS OR SCALES OR REALLY ANYTHING IN RANGE OF ITS RADULA HARPOON, then literally the only thing that’s going to save you is for you to be kept alive artificially (externalizing your respiratory functions to force your body to continue breathing, basically) until the effects of the venom wear off. And because of how quickly this venom acts, you need to get that medical attention VERY, VERY FAST.
And if you don’t get it, you will still be conscious while the paralysis slowly suffocates you to death.
Don’t touch the pretty shells.
this is a WONDERFUL use of the medium of the tumblr post
YES.
A perfect educational rant.
Minute traces of tetrodotoxin are what makes fugu (pufferfish) sashimi such an exciting entrée. Improperly prepared fugu can be very exciting indeed, to the extent that the over-excited diner loses interest in anything else.
Like, for instance, breathing.
![michaelmoonsbookshop:
“ michaelmoonsbookshop:
“ Details from the covers a publisher’s series binding “The Romance of..”
c1900
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”](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f2613a96f0d010e235a0b9542b667ec7/tumblr_p8tlqfC3m51s538hbo1_1280.jpg)
Details from the covers a publisher’s series binding “The Romance of..”
c1900
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Old-Fashioned Satanists Perfume Oil
$28.00
Most of the members of the convent were old-fashioned Satanists, like their parents and grandparents before them. They’d been brought up to it and weren’t, when you got right down to it, particularly evil. Human beings mostly aren’t. They just get carried away by new ideas, like dressing up in jackboots and shooting people, or dressing up in white sheets and lynching people, or dressing up in tie-dye jeans and playing guitars at people. Offer people a new creed with a costume and their hearts and minds will follow. Anyway, being brought up as a Satanist tended to take the edge off it. It was something you did on Saturday nights. And the rest of the time you simply got on with life as best you could, just like everyone else.
A homey, marginally-diabolical blend of armchair leather, chamomile tea, cashmere, and a tangle of sweet 7-year aged patchouli.
(via Old-Fashioned Satanists Perfume Oil – Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab)
arcticflakes
