If somebody tells you how they self-identify, it’s not your place to tell them they’re wrong.
A few weeks ago, I saw somebody respond to a personal comic about being bisexual and nonbinary with “but aren’t they actually pan?” And a few days ago, I saw an almost identical comment on a list of celebrities who have come out as bi. These seemed to be well-meaning people who were genuinely concerned about misidentification and erasure (one of them actually saying that it was pan erasure for a NB person to call themselves bisexual). But they were saying this in reference to real people’s own self-identification, not in reference to other people mislabeling them.
A person’s reasons for identifying as bi or pan are extremely personal and nuanced. To an outside observer, bi and pan folks may appear indistinguishable, but that does not mean the distinction is not meaningful or valid to us who are bi or pan, and that we do not have the right to choose for ourselves which fits us best.
And if you think that the way somebody identifies doesn’t fit the definition that you read on a post somewhere? Those definitions are over-simplified for your sake. They’re so that you have some better understanding of what bisexuality and pansexuality mean. And those definitions are constantly shifting and being revised and rewritten, because how we understand and define ourselves is an ongoing conversation. They’re not meant to box us into one label or another based on some vague wording. They are descriptive, not prescriptive.
People are not fictional characters whose sexualities we can speculate on based on what we can observe. If somebody says what they are, you don’t squabble with them. And if your understanding of the difference between bi and pan boils down to “bi means two, so only pansexuals are attracted to NB people,” then you are wrong, and the definition you’re working from is harmful to everyone involved.
Thaaaaaaaaank you. For fuck’s sake.
I’ve had people literally tell me that a) my self-identification is wrong because I’m NB and bi, and b) that my spouse’s self-identification as bi ‘should have changed’ when I came out as NB.
We’ve all heard of “Adopt a Tiger” or “Adopt
a Panda” campaigns. Whilst these are worthy causes, why not share some
love for some less appreciated animals?
Look at these adorable lobsters. You can name a lobster for
only £3.00GBP, which gets you a certificate and you can find out when your lobster
has been released into the wild off the coast of Cornwall, UK. There’s plenty
of other options too, which come with stuffed plush lobsters, chocolate
lobsters, anything lobster-related you could want!
Money goes towards the National Lobster Hatchery, which
raises lobsters and releases them into the wild as part of a sustainable scheme
which works alongside local fishermen to increase wild lobster populations.
This scheme has been so successful it’s being introduced to other parts of the
UK, too!
Lobsters not for you? How about naming a roach, for only
$15USD. Plus there’s a bunch of really cute cockroach-related goodies up for
grabs, too. Money raised goes towards
the Wildlife Conservation Society!
Okay, so maybe you don’t like invertebrates. That’s okay,
there’s plenty of lesser known vertebrates looking for help, too.
You can adopt a kākāpō and help protect the remaining 151 in
the wild. 151, that’s crazy! That’s only 1 generation of pokémon’s worth of kākāpō
left in the wild.
This adoption scheme is a little more pricy, with $100 NZD
for the lowest tier, but it gets you an adoption certificate, a plush kakapo
and some other goodies! Who wouldn’t want to adopt a kākāpō named “Bluster
Murphy”?
Not strictly an adoption scheme, 20% of the sale price ($49
USD) of each of these adorable Plush American Oystercatchers goes to real
Oystercatchers through a donation to the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New
Jersey. I just couldn’t resist adding this.
Thank you for reading! If anyone has any more unusual animal adoption suggestions, feel free to add onto this post!
my roommate and i are temporarily taking care of a Very Small Tiny Kitten that her aunt found in a boarded up shed and shes GONE and its just me in the house with the kitten and its Too Small i cant handle this
Hoedvands Aegs were the forerunner of smelling salts or perfume bottles. The object had a main chamber which held a sponge into which the Hovedvand (head water) was placed. It consisted of the distillates of plants such as lavender, carnation, cinnamon, cardamom, musk and ambergris. Via Goldstein Design Museum
We can never find any scissors in our house, and yet the last time we moved it turned out we literally owned 13 pairs of scissors. How did that happen? Where do they go?
I firmly believe scissors are one of those things that have only the most tenuous connection with this dimension.
Around here, we can usually find scissors, but it’s never the same pair. At the very least, the color of the grip changes; at worst, the species of scissors changes. You want kitchen shears? Too bad, they’re hair shears now. You want to cut wrapping paper? All you can find is cuticle trimmers. Where you put your crafting scissors there’s now a pair of wire cutters. You want to cut hair so you look for the hair shears in the kitchen, but tada! you got kindergarten safety scissors.
I circumvent this by keeping one pair in my room, and I tell it that I remember it’s supposed to be a blue-handled pair of general purpose scissors, so it knows it can’t pull shit on me.
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