u/coveredinspiders666

I was a journalist on the trans beat for a decade. I had a front row seat for the UK's anti trans moral panic that has cost the trans community our healthcare, our ability to piss safely outside our homes and so much more. I say this to show that I am very experienced in what is happening now.

This documentary is the starter pistol of the next moral panic. The UK operates on these. The press makes the presence of a minority a problem, public opinion turns, and policy makers profit in some way from "solving" the problem.

Gay moral panic = section 28

Trans moral panic = EHRC guidance banning trans people from toilets

Disability moral panic = work capability assessments

This is how the UK works and ADHD is the next one. It's the gift that keeps on giving, looks at the escalating number of media questioning whether ADHD is legitimate. They are starting to present the problem that ADHD people shouldn't get real support.

And when a majority of the public in national polls start to agree with them and according to a yougov poll ten years ago (the only polling I could find on this) 40% of the country already believe ADHD is bollocks...policy makers will act.

Facts, science, none of that will stop it. Truth doesn't matter. Moral panics are about profit, financial, political or otherwise. That's why this prick made a TV show instead of doing research. Facts do not matter, if there is something for those in power to benefit from, they will benefit from it at our cost.

The mistake that people who are the subject of a moral panic make is to go after those leading the charge against them. Look at trans people who tried to argue jk Rowling is a fascist to people who saw a nice writer.

Here is how we beat this before it starts

1. Acknowledge that this is a PR fight, not an academic debate. It doesn't matter how right you are, it doesn't matter how much fantasy they will spin, the winner is the one with the better polling in their favour. That's it. this is about telling a more convincing story. that's all it is.
2. Do not waste time making complaints about the documentary or trying to argue that this prick who made that documentary is the devil. That makes this about them, it makes it about them being silenced. It makes this about the "ADHD lobby" silencing truth tellers.
3. Develop relationships with journalists. Find journalists at every outlet, researchers on every stupid morning show who have ADHD. Befriend then and feed them INTERESTING stories. This is going to come down to who tells the better stories. The "big pharma is giving meth to our kids to make money over a fake disease" story is as compelling as it is total bullshit. Start feeding better stories about the truth of ADHD. Do this now.
4. Go see your MP. Don't write, don't call, show up. Go to surgery's if they are listed on their website. Only Call them to demand a meeting. Don't waste time emailing, it will take weeks and get responded to by a 22 year old in their office. Meet them and tell them what ADHD has done to you. Go there with facts and data to back this but first thing, go there and meet them and be real. Tell them a better story.
5. Get your voice out there any way you can. People think so called legacy media is dead but the truth is they still set the agenda. The newspapers give the morning shows what they will discuss that day, the first thing why producer will do is check the papers for stuff for their studio sofa idiots to talk about. This documentary came from the prick who fronted it writing about ADHD not being real in the right wing press. Get your stories out there.

Keep hammering the public.

I already lost one of these.

I'm not going to lose another one.

I know this may get flagged but I don't think it should because this is beyond politics at this point.

Garcia is a man who said that he is pro-kkk. There is no sign he has changed who and what he is, a man who supports genocidal racists most famous for hanging and burning black people because they are black.

I cannot think of views more awful then this. I literally can't. And WWE having this man on their show has made WWE content utterly impossible for me to watch now. I'm not some pro- AEW weirdo. I literally paid around 400 quid recently to watch raw and smackdown in my city (check my history, I posted about it).

This is not virtue signalling, as if there is any real virtue for being against the KKK... This is rage and disgust. I don't want to not watch anymore, I can't. It's all tainted now.

I put up with them doing business with a country who literally cut the heads off gay people for being gay. I put up with all the awful things WWE and TKO have done and gave them money but after this I physically can't do it anymore.

Every level of this boggles my mind. Garcia punches people for a living and they had this man in the same building as black people. They do not care about the welfare of their employees at the very least, and the KKK are not a deal-breaker for TKO. That is absolutely crazy.

My question here is simple and genuine. I have to know how people can continue to consume WWE after this. I cannot think of a more morally repugnant thing the WWE could have done...I am not trying to shame anyone here but I have to know how you can continue with this company after this because I cannot understand it. I physically cannot click on WWE stuff anymore. I couldn't even finish the show.

edit - fuck this place, based on the responses here half of WWE fans are the pits and I'm done with this

https://preview.redd.it/419u5kadz19h1.jpg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0c3680423e0708fbd00d6094502556041fbaee4b

You seemed to enjoy me doing this yesterday. So here's a NO SPOILERS list of observations from this evening's smackdown taping in London. I promise, this is a different picture than last night's. Guess they are doing main event stuff again.

1. The venue is noticeably less packed. Speaking to a few venue staff, several reasons have been given

- this was scheduled at the last minute

- smackdown always sells less than raw

- England are playing in the world cup tonight

I am in almost the same seat I had for raw last night. I would be shocked if I don't get moved to somewhere cameras are pointing. Those weird tribal wrestling fans who hate WWE will get fed tonight with pictures of massive spots of empty seats.

2. Oba is a hit. There are almost as many oba chants as Flair whoos. This probably isn't news to you but I'm kind of surprised at how fast people have taken to Oba even though he is such a magnetic performer and speaker.

3. The merch shop was empty. Nobody is buying the stupid 600 quid belts. This makes me happy.

4. Chatting to a guy on the bar he said that last night Rey Mysterio came out and was genuinely very nice. People who are probably millionaires and are nice to those who work minimum wage jobs are rare. Rey sounds like a gem.

5. I love Cody Rhodes and I'm sorry for anyone in section 107 for when I inevitably freak the fuck out.

Edit/update 1

6. Show has begun. A third of the arenas seats are blacked out. That has made no difference when it comes to the crowd, I don't know if this will translate on Netflix but these people are loud as fuck

7. Do not sleep on Fraisers match. I won't say who it is. But it's a 5 star match.

8. LA knight did it again. In person that guy does things to me. Straight ladies and Gay guys

..la knight casts a goddam spell and it's genuinely distracting.

edit/update 2

9. one thing I will spoil is the ad for having your name on the Matt. It's so stupid and crass and anyone who pays for that is an egotistical weirdo.

10. There is a Danhausen match. I will not say anymore on this except, that guy can really really sell. And I think I realised why he works so well. He is not a comedy gimmick wrestler. He is a comedian who wrestles. I have a feeling all the incoming Danhausen copycats that will happen will miss this fact.

11. There are alot more kids, at least in my section. Seeing them react to everything is adorable. Yeah, I'm a softy. I don't care. This is one thing WWE has that AEW (which I love) doesn't have. Watching them on TV when Cody Rhodes signs the stuff it's so great, if that happens tonight I may actually cry.

12. The anti Tottenham crap from raw returns and straight up ruins the end of a good match. Fuck you for that arsenal/Chelsea fans. (Chelsea are a football team in London.... That is not a reference to Chelsea green). I get that Tottenham are the Logan Paul of English football but can you keep that away from wrestling thanks?

13.Cody Rhodes is wanted in my section badly. This place is going to explode when he gets here.

edit/update 3

14. Sexist idiot yelled for a match to end between two women who quickly shut him up and that was awesome.

15. The official taping ended with a go home segment that it cannot be a spoiler to reveal was all about Cody, Sammi and Gunther. I won't say any more about what happened but this place went crazy for Cody, and someone requested this....his arse looks really really great in a suit. I don't care if you meant that a some dig at me liking him, he looked FINE.

16. Just for us in London we you a tag team match after smackdown officially ended...Bron breaker and Austin theory vs....seth rollins and oba Femi. Does that make sense? No, but it's fucking awesome.

edit/update 4

17. I didn't mention the London only main event before because I couldn't be sure that it wouldn't be a spoiler but now Michael cole and Corey graves has left I know this is just for us. the crowd singing "theory is a wanker" is beautiful. this match is clearly nom canon and Rollins is playing to the crowd more than usual. they look like they are having a lot of fun.

18. Nobody is making big moves, probably so nothing gets in the way of the night out champions matches everyone has coming up

But I like this more fun laid back Bron Breaker a lot. It's so cool seeing these guys have a blast.

final update

Great show. worth every penny, both the official and dark main event segments were great, I don't get why people think smackdown is the lesser show. I think both raw and smackdown in London were equally as good but I don't think it's going to translate on Netflix this Friday because the main problem I think WWE has is formulaic live editing and camera placement that telegraphs swerves. that's the biggest thing I've learned at finally watching WWE live: the predictedability is all but wiped out in a live setting because you don't have an obvious edit beat screaming "here comes a betrayal!".

best match tonight...the one Fraser from Fraxiom is in. I will not say more than that because you need to see it with no idea what it's coming.

now they are about to show the England match... but I'm no football fan (wrestling has better writing) so I'm off home.

thanks for reading. I've had a few very rough years as a trans woman in the UK. this was my reward for surviving. thanks for coming along with me on this. x

I love the shapes and vibes of medieval style dresses. I always have. But I don't know how to incorporate them into my every day clothes without it looking like I'm in fancy dress....

....I want that low belt, big sleeves, dreamy fantasy look but without it looking like I'm going to a little girls princess party as a hired princess person...

Any advice?

I love Bayley as a performer. She's wonderful.

When her segments started with her questioning herself I was so into it because as a woman who has struggled with mental health I saw so much of my struggles in her.

Those video bits were just perfect. The fracturing of her mind was goofy, it's still wrestling, but there was truth to it. Maybe the WWE didn't even know they had hit that but they did.

I liked the segments with Lyra, they were funny but I was so into seeing where this was going.

And then it just stopped.

I know I'm in the minority here. Seems many online fans hated it but, and I don't mean this as a slight, there is so much negativity I don't know how widespread this was.

But I wish the WWE would stop killing off genuinely interesting plots. I am not tribal at all, I love all wrestling, but AEW and NJPW don't tend to do this unless there is an injury or something.

Why can't WWE commit to stories? I really hope they fix this, this year.

The tag isn't quite right but it's the closest so I hope you don't mind.

I have been misunderstood a lot. And I don't think there is anyone who can understand it. The things I've seen and experienced, to most people it feels like, don't sound so horrible.

But they were. And they are real. Very real. It took me a lot of therapy to realise that anyone who had seen what I've seen would have ended up in a similar way.

My life took some crazy turns. Found myself in places and positions I never thought I would be in. Trust me on this, nobody here has had the same path through life as me. I think people here can relate, see related patterns but broadly... Every time I tell a person, one of the very few who gets it, they always give me this look.

I called a suicide crisis line years ago and the person literally said "Jesus fucking Christ". I'm not trying to win some competition and be like "I'm the most fucked up". The thing is... My path has been very very different. I'm pretty sure there will be people here who are just as damaged by different things.

The people I thought were my people in real life, they turned on me because I said something that was true. They attacked me.

But I was right. I was proven right in time and those same people are acting like they were onto it from the start. It hurts that they decided my intentions were awful when I was trying to warn them.

I get now why they did it, after asking around on here. It was because you believe the truth would break a source of comfort during dark times. But that illusion is being smashed now. What's coming for trans people in the UK is really fucking bad and the denial, as understandable as that is, isn't going to last.

I put rsd because I don't see this as a vent, but also I don't think my deal is entirely explained by RSD. I don't fear rejection from my friends. I had that years ago but I don't know. I know this is PTSD. I know how it happened.

But I wanted to express how alone I've been. I've related strongly with Christian bales character in the big short and Jonah hills character in money ball. They are both characters that saw patterns in data because they looked, and we're ostracised and hated for it.

That's my deal when it comes to trans stuff in the UK. It's getting really really bad. But I saw it coming. I greeted you warn people and I was hated for it. I was so alone in my community seeing their actions but take into account the real problem and then... We lost it all.

I've been so alone for years. I can't do prides, trans people trigger me now when they come out with the same echo chamber stuff that has no basis in the political reality. I'm not blaming them for what's happened...I know who is responsible... But they stick to things that aren't true to feel better. I broke that because I wanted to stop the bad things happening.

I failed. I did everything I could, gave everything I had, and we lost and Ive been so alone...

Maybe this is a vent. I didn't need to vent before but I do now.

Nobody can help me. Except me and maybe more therapy. Because if I tell them what is happening they can't fix it so they try to fix me. Force a change of perspective and see that as the problem.

My perspective and what I know are true. They just are. It feels like gaslighting when they do that.

Sorry for the length. My week has been really weird and I'm not okay.

I'm an autistic woman going to All in at wembley on my own.

Any advice? I'm nervous but also very very excited

Hi, I'm new, I was told that I should check out here and the autistic women board and everyone seems really nice so just wanted to blurb about things people think are strange about me but make me really happy.

1. I love pro wrestling

Women who love this are in the minority. But screw it, wrestling is better written than any other sport!

2. I love maxi skirts

I feel so happy wearing one. I only just realised it's a stimming thing. The feeling keeps me happy. I am almost always the only woman wearing one.

3. I love stories

I love everything from Paul Thomas Anderson movies to the MCU. A great story is a great story. People think this is strange to be into high brow and low brow stuff.

I guess the combination of these things and me being a woman means I am pretty unusual. I've been to wrestling shows and felt very conspicuous. In most rooms I'm the only one like me.

Sometimes I feel the difference... And it bothers me. I know it shouldn't but it does. It's like a choice between feeling joyous but conspicuous or feeling BLAH but blending in.

How do you ladies balance this?