u/greatpartyisntit

I'm 14 dpo (they/them). Before I had surgery, I thought my post-op reaction would be one of two things:

1. Big euphoria, overwhelmingly happy emotions, crying etc. or
2. Feeling confronted by a big change to my body, potentially feeling depressed

I'd heard about both these reactions from people on this sub and was prepared to potentially feel let down, knowing that'd improve over time.

But instead, my brain did a Secret Third Thing: I looked down at my chest on my first night in hospital and just felt "yep, that's what that's meant to look like". It was as if I processed it immediately - kind of funny, tbh. No regret or uncertainty, but also no overwhelmingly positive feelings either. More than anything else, I felt extremely at ease and it was as though I never had breasts.

Each time I look at my chest I feel more euphoric and like myself. :) Overall a very good experience, but my initial reaction (pleasantly) surprised me a lot.

Anyone relate? Did you feel differently to how you thought you would?

My spouse recently slipped while shaving and injured themselves pretty badly in an intimate area. It was too late in the evening to visit a public urgent care clinic, so we visited the closest available private one.

On arriving, the clinic was empty save for the receptionist, who told us that there were only two male staff members working (a nurse and a doctor) and both "wouldn't be comfortable" seeing my partner because it would involve female anatomy. She apologised but said she knew we'd understand (???) and we were turned away.

We ended up having to drive 40 mins to the next-closest clinic for treatment. It was a pretty bizarre interaction and I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else.

Because we never actually saw the staff the receptionist was referring to, I'm unsure if this would warrant a complaint to AHPRA. i.e., for all we knew, the receptionist hadn't spoken to the nurse/doctor at all - we couldn't tell.

Is this worth reporting, and if so, to whom?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks all.

Hey all! I have top surgery in a week and think it’d be fun to make a plaster cast of my boobs for comparison once they’re gone. Has anyone done this? How did you go about it?

I figure a simple plaster strip kit would work (the kind you get from a craft store) if I put Vaseline on my chest first. That said, I’ve also read plaster can irritate or burn your skin… although that seems to only happen if you’re using a big blob of it by itself, not small amounts in strips?

Appreciate any advice from crafty people!

I adore the Dune series, but I realise Herbert's attitudes toward queerness is contentious - particularly homosexuality given his relationship with his son, Bruce.

I don't think there's much merit in speculating further on Herbert's personal views, but I do think it's interesting to discuss how these issues are spoken about in-universe and change over time.

I'm particularly curious to hear how other queer readers have interpreted these mentions in the novels.

(I haven't included Heretics or Chapterhouse here as to me, they focus on subversive sexuality within heterosexual relationships. That's worthy of a whole other post itself.)

Homosexuality

The first mention of homosexuality is in the context of the Baron, a pedophile who sexually abuses younger boys (likely including his own nephew) and has his eye on Paul. The Baron uses sexual violence exclusively to exercise his own power and, accordingly, in the first three novels same-sex activity is only mentioned in the context of rape. The character has been analysed extensively, so I don't think there's much to be gained by dwelling on him here.

To me, things become more interesting in God Emperor of Dune when Duncan and Moneo clash twice on homosexuality. Moneo explains to Duncan that Leto II chose an all-female army because male soldiers risk turning inwards on the society they've sworn to protect. In Moneo and Leto's view, this can be triggered by the potential for male soldiers to regress into immature behaviors (such as same-sex activity) and cause those "deflected energies" to manifest as aggression or sexual violence.

>Moneo spoke in a soothing tone, but his words shook Idaho. “I will tell you this only once. Homosexuals have been among the best warriors in our history, the berserkers of last resort. They were among our best priests and priestesses. Celibacy was no accident in religions. It is also no accident that adolescents make the best soldiers.”

>“That’s perversion!"

>“Quite right. Military commanders have known about the perverted displacement of sex into pain for thousands upon thousands of centuries.”

I'd initially interpreted "deflected energies" as rage or trauma from living in a homophobic society, but I'm no longer sure if that's the case. An almost identical exchange in Herbert's earlier novel The Dosadi Experiment (1977) sheds some further light on this:

>"When Humans for any reason go terminal where survival of their species is concerned, it's relatively easy to push them the short step further into wanting to die. [...] With rare exceptions, primitive Humans of the tribal eras reserved their homosexuals as the ultimate shock troops of desperation. They were the troops of last resort, sent into battle as berserkers who expected, who wanted, to die."

>"What does your ConSentiency do about this susceptibility?"

>"We take sophisticated care to guide all natural sexual variants into constructive, survival activities. We protect them from the kinds of pressures which might tip them over into behavior destructive of the species."

Later, Duncan is disgusted to find two Fish Speakers kissing, which Moneo admonishes him for and reassures Duncan that this is similarly childish behaviour the women will grow out of. We could interpret Nayla's very butch, almost sexless appearance when she's first introduced vs. her later reaction to Duncan climbing the wall (let's not get into that...) as a further illustration of "growing out of" lesbian-coded behaviour.

Finally, the Dune Encyclopedia (1984) technically isn't canon but was written with Herbert's blessing. To me, it revisits God Emperor's discussion of homosexuality in a much more respectful way - its phrasing is essentially neutral. The Encyclopedia mentions several unusual Duncan Idaho gholas: a woman, a misogynist, a Face Dancer, and one who was gay. This was the only ghola to whom lesbianism in the Fish Speakers wasn't "repugnant":

>Despite his short tenure, this homosexual Duncan enabled Leto II to recognise the wisdom of sexual relations among his Fish Speakers. Duncan-12212 was slain by a Museum Fremen Naib during an attempted seduction.

Gender non-conformity

Herbert is more forgiving when it comes to descriptions of gender non-conformity. I feel the recurring theme of the blending of the masculine and feminine was linked to his admiration of mommy doms strong women rather than in a queer context. Even so, it's an interesting contrast given the previous passages mentioned, and I think we can interpret these descriptions as subversive for their time regardless.

Biological essentialism is a strong theme in Dune, which establishes all people contain an "ancient force" that takes (in men) or gives (in women). However, the kwisatz haderach is, by definition, a blending of those forces: when Jessica asks Paul which he contains, he describes himself as "at the fulcrum" and that he "cannot give without taking" and vice versa. There's clearly a nod to yin and yang in Chinese philosophy here. In modern terms, Paul's experience could be interpreted as a non-binary one, particularly when we consider that he was "meant" be be born a girl and marry Feyd-Rautha.

For Paul, Alia, and the twins, crossing of the sex/gender boundary through their ancestral memories is transgressive, but equally dangerous and threatening to the Imperium.

We see this revisited more explicitly in God Emperor. While the novel clearly reinforces the male/female dichotomy for all other characters, Leto II makes continual reference to not only containing, but being, his ancestors:

>I hold the threads!

>All of them are mine. Let me but imagine a topic—say... men who have died by the sword—and I have them in all of their gore, every image intact, every moan, every grimace.

>Joys of motherhood, I think, and the birthing beds are mine. Serial baby smiles and the sweet cooings of new generations. The first walkings of the toddlers and the first victories of youths brought forth for me to share.

Later, when Moneo and Duncan are discussing the Fish Speakers:

>“[Women] have a compelling physical way of moving from adolescence into maturity,” Moneo said. “As Lord Leto says, ‘Carry a baby in you for nine months and that changes you.’”

>Idaho sat back. “What does he know about it?”

>Moneo merely stared at him until Idaho recalled the multitude in Leto—both male and female. The realization plunged over Idaho.

The Dune Encyclopedia describes the God Emperor as "increasingly androgynous" and having a "disappearing male portion [of his psyche]" by the time of the events in the novel.

Hwi Noree could also be interpreted as somewhat androgynous given she's an inverted version of Malky.

Now, I'm not suggesting that these characters were intended by Herbert as queer, nor can we magically map contemporary identities onto them even if we take a "death of the author" approach.

However, I do think there's discussion to be had here about Dune's in-universe sex and gender politics and how they could be interpreted differently by each reader.

So, what do we all think?

Hey all, in around 2015-2020 I'd regularly watch a woman who made reiki and spiritual-themed ASMR. One I remember was a divine feminine themed reiki video involving a goddess statue/figurine. She was Hispanic, I think had Rose or Rosa in her username, and was probably in her 40s to early 50s. I feel like she might've lived in South America. Her videos were low-res and not expensively produced.

I assume like her channel is probably gone now, but I'd love to find her videos again if they're still out there somewhere.

Does this ring a bell for anyone?

I remember using my grandparents' iMac G3 around 2000(?) to play a dungeon crawler where you'd collect keys in a grid-like maze to open doors. It was fantasy themed, had little colour (if any?), very simple graphics (8-bit?), and the protagonist might've been elf-like. I'm pretty sure you or the enemies could cast spells.

I had older cousins, so the game was likely bought for them several years before I played it. I remember the computer also ran a black-and-white version of GunShy and Thinkin' Things Collection 2 and 3 (1994-1995), if that helps with the time period or OS.