Doctors, part eleventy

The cinema in Leeds has designated some showings of Mamma Mia! as sing-alongs.

O HALP, I are being dragged there by a mysterious force...

That *nearly* makes up for the delay of the new Harry Potter film (a delay I only just heard about).

Let's watch the trailer, anyway.



Now, I lovelovelove Harry Potter (not the films so much, but they're not that bad). I rather wanted to change my name to Harry rather than Oliver, so that every second was like being inside one of the books. I would make everyone say it like Hermione does.

"Harry!!!"
"Yes?"
"Do the fucking washing up!"

Don't you see how wonderful that could have been?

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Trans FAQ, part eleventy-one:

"Why don't transsexual people trust doctors?"

Transsexual people are often told not to worry their pretty little heads about transition - surely the doctors have got it covered? Or, WHAT, they haven't even SEEN a doctor yet? How do they know they're a real transsexual?

Now, these questioners have obviously never had a serious medical condition - and, wait, are male or childless.

(DISCLAIMER - this post is about MOST doctors. It's not about nurses, who are heroes, paramedics, who are heroes, and the few doctors that are attracted to the profession through altruism, rather than for the massive pay packet.)

Doctors. Are. Crap. Doctors cannot deal with the commonest of issues, and faff about until more serious issues escalate. They can't prescribe the fucking Pill.

One of my own GPs, who has treated me for minor ailments in the past, almost killed Silverback through negligence. That's no exaggeration. Through more inaction, he made certain that my grandad had to have his leg amputated, because it was too late to save it. There are more GPs at that practice - there's the one who doesn't listen to a word you say, the one that doesn't listen to a word you say while STARING at you in a freaky staring manner, and the other... that doesn't listen to a word you say.

Some of them might have known their stuff medically. Who knows? They can't tell you, because they didn't listen to your problem.

"I have to lie down while having blood taken, because it always makes me immediately pass out."
"Now, just sit there - "
"No, I have to lie down, because it makes me pass out."
"Don't be afraid!"
"I'm not afraid at all. It just makes me pass out."
"I'm sure it won't. It'll be very quick."
*ten second pause*
CRASH.

Now, if you had a complex neurological condition (not a "disorder") and you needed medical supplies and procedures to improve it...

And you'd have to face horrendous waiting lists anyway (try two. whole. decades. if you're a particular friend of mine, battered by cutbacks and the postcode lottery)...

And you probably won't be given the supplies and procedures if a) you're gay or bisexual, b) you have children, c) you don't dress correctly, d) you're over about 40...

You'd probably raise money for private surgery without referral, and buy some illegal hormones online.

That's what I'd do.

Why do you think so many pregnant women opt for home births, with as little medical involvement as possible?

Because they don't, actually, *like* being patronised and treated like not-quite-humans.

Toiletgate, part fifty gazillion

I quite fancied going to Pride London this year, and would have done had I not been in Wales with my family.

But, as it turns out, the L! G!! B ...t movement is as farsighted as ever...

And wait just one second - the toilet options, AT PRIDE, which is an LGBT PRIDE EVENT, you know, an EVENT that celebrates LGBT PRIDE, are "men's", "women's" and "disabled"?

Oh, the stupid. The burning, burning stupid.

If I wasn't in a gay relationship, my homophobia would rival that of the Pope or Jeremy Clarkson, thanks to this kind of nonsense.

Oh, and Reason for Trans Separatism no. 1753, of which I have just thought: doesn't Joe Public have the words TRANSSEXUAL, SEX, SEX SEX SEX, SHEMALE, SEX and SEX all mixed up in his head? Just before he makes something sticky?

Therefore, isn't incorporation in a homosexual and bisexual initialism going to muddy the waters a bit more? Encourage people to think about an ev0l autogynephilic rapist straw man, rather than, you know, trans women?

I suppose there's the bigger issue of the perception that L, G, B and Q "lifestyles" are all about sex, that partnership and love don't get a look-in.

And the obvious fact that bigots don't differentiate between, say, a camp gay man, a male genderqueer and a trans woman.

So, we do rather need to be fighting shoulder to shoulder. I just wish that our supposed allies would make that a bit easier.