‘the heart’ from 'the anatomy of the human body’ by govard bidloo + gerard de lairesse, 1685 in the art of medicine: over 2000 years of images and imagination - julie anderson, emm barnes + emma shackleton (2011)
It had been raining like crazy these past few days, and last night I finally found out why! Saw this poor thing skulking around outside, it’s wings were drooped so low they were dragging on the ground :( it must’ve brought all this rain as an omen I guess…
[ID: A list of 11 points titled “Characteristics of Pseudoscience” that are as follows:
Is unfalsifiable (can’t be proven wrong): Makes vague or unobservable claims
Relies heavily on anecdotes, personal experiences and testimonials
Cherry picks confirming evidence while ignoring/minimizing disconfirming evidence
Uses technobabble: Words that sound scientific but don’t make sense
Lacks plausible mechanism: No way to explain it based on existing knowledge
Is unchanging: Doesn’t self-correct or progress
Makes extraordinary/exaggeratedclaims with insufficient evidence
Professes certainty: Talks of “proof” with great confidence
Commits logical fallacies: Arguments contain errors in reasoning
Lacks peer review: Goes directly to the public, avoiding scientific scrutiny
Claims there’s a conspiracy to suppress their ideas
A logo in the corner shows a smiling cartoon brain lifting a weight and says “Thinking Is Power.” /End ID.]
I want to expand a bit on the concept of falsifiability, because from what I’ve seen in lay discussions of science, a lot of people don’t really understand what it means and some people even get indignant or offended at the idea of “trying to prove [science] wrong.”
For a theory to be falsifiable means that, based on the empirical evidence, the theory will either be proven true or proven false. If a theory or hypothesis keeps moving the goalposts and making excuses for why it can’t be proven true, its adherants are making it unfalsifiable. That’s bad.
For an illustrative example let’s look at two theories in the area of local solar astronomy. The first is the discovery of the planet we now call Neptune. The second is the theoretical existence of the planet Nibiru.
The thing about Nibiru was that the theory of its existence was unfalsifiable. People who peddled this theory were always coming up with excuses for why we could not prove or disprove its existence. If there’s another planet in our close solar neighborhood, why have we never seen it? Oh, well, it’s always on the exact opposite side of the Sun, which blocks our view. But we have sent satellites outside the Earth who have a different viewpoint; why can they not see it? Oh, well, it’s completely black and reflects no light. Why can we not detect its gravitational influence? Oh, well, it’s made of super-light matter so it has almost no mass. Proponents of the theory could always come up with a reason why the lack of evidence, or contrary evidence, didn’t disprove their theory.
Thus, the existence of Nibiru was unfalsifiable.
In contrast, let’s look at the discovery of Neptune.
Neptune is not visible to the unaided eye and is the only planet in the Solar System that was not initially observed by direct empirical observation. Rather, unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led Alexis Bouvard to hypothesise that its orbit was subject to gravitational perturbation by an unknown planet. After Bouvard’s death, the position of Neptune was mathematically predicted from his observations, independently, by John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier. Neptune was subsequently directly observed with a telescope on 23 September 1846[2] by Johann Gottfried Galle within a degree of the position predicted by Le Verrier.
A planet in the orbit of what is now known as Neptune was first inferred by observing gravitational anomalies in the region; from that they created a theory that a yet unknown planet was there. From their theory they charted its likely location, and then zeroed in on it visually with telescopes. The planet would either be there, proving the theory true, or it wouldn’t, proving the theory false. There was findable, verifiable evidence which would either prove or disprove its existence.
Thus, the theory of Neptune was falsifiable.
The concept of falsifiability is central to good science. Be skeptical of any theory anyone tries to sell you on that can not, not with any evidence, ever be disproven.
“Masculinity is always rewarded in girls/vagina holders”
I wanna tell you all about my mom. I know this is a sentence used against transmascs, and im a trans man, so I wanna use my voice to tell you about my mom.
My mom is a cis woman, a gender nonconforming woman. (I had to teach her gnc recently actually, because she couldn’t find a term that she felt accurate.)
My mom has always hung out with mostly guys, she can fix cars, we half-joke (because its true) that every time she breaks up with a man they steal her toolbox (they do). We’re going to negate her current relationship because my stepdad is a feminist who adores her, but not all of her exes where like that.
My mom has faced SO MUCH misogyny over her clothing, her makeup, her hobbies. When she was building her tiny model car, her ex would drunkly rant how thats a “boys hobby” and “she shouldn’t be doing that”. Her and my dad used to renovate houses when they were married, Dad would plaster, and mom would plaster alongside him. While also fixing doors and windows, and floors, and ceilings, and painting the damn thing. When she goes to autoparts stores, or car lots, they always talk to her like shes stupid. Recently shes been bringing her husband, so the associate will ramble his ear off, and when theyre finally done, her husband turns to her and goes “babe I don’t know a thing hes talking about, what do you suggest?” because theyre both just so pissed off about it.
Don’t get me wrong, my moms for the girls too! She’ll give her enemy a tampon type of person. But the girls turn their backs on her, quite frequently. Mom used to have a friend, a male friend, who would go to the bar with her. I knew him well. They’re not friends anymore because he used her hobbies and interests to try to sleep with her. He would always try to change her too. Mom likes cooking, so he would try to push her away from things like watching fantasy TV (he thought that was a more ‘male’ genre) or fixing up the house for things like cooking and cleaning.
And so when I came out as trans, it was a really hard time for my mom. She understands now, and shes a HUGE HUGE ally and advocate for me, and I couldn’t fathom having a more supportive mother, but she was really confused. Mom was worried I wanted to transition because the misogyny gnc/masculine women face. I didn’t shave, I liked playing with knives and multitools, when I did makeup it was always more Kiss/Marilyn Manson style, when my sisters did a Marilyn Monroe.
I remember her driving us home from the clothing shop I came out to her in, and the talk we had. She asked me if I was confused, and I said I was sure. She said that I could just be a tomboy, like her. That it didn’t matter what everyone else said about being a masculine woman. Having talked later as adults, she thought I thought the only option for the type of masculinity I have was to be a man. She was so scared for me and my safety because of how punished masculinity is in women.
So now, as I’m 23, and its 2025, Mom is still the gender nonconforming woman she always has been. Mom taught me how to fish, how to use a hatchet, knife safety, and how to cook and sew. I’m a man who picks up heavy things for her now that shes too disabled too, who wears makeup and nail polish with my denim cutoffs and binder, who still has to call my mommy when I can’t get this screw to screw in right mom, I dont know your tips and tricks.
And masculine women can exist alongside trans men. My mom goes to my hormone appointments with me to make sure these doctors are listening to me, she yells at me when I take my shots late, she picks up my hormones if I’m at work. Mom takes me to Pride every year, and god rest the soul of any transphobes that cross my mothers path. My moms for the girls and the gays, the he’s and the they’s, the its and the lesbians and everyone between. Mom will fix you dinner and your car, and we give her gifts on fathers day too because she was Mom and Dad growing up.
So no. Masculinity isn’t always rewarded in female-presenting people or people with vaginas. My very cis mother could tell you that much.
