It’s from a podcast “Gender: A Wider Lens” (a TERF podcast, of the “trying to be subtle and avoid looking TERFy but still being really really TERFy” variety – I have a bit more on that specifically at the end but for now that’s just a tone permeating the whole thing), episode 17: Autism and Gender Dysphoria.
So you can guess the sort of things it says (well, lightly hints at) about trans people, but CHECK OUT WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT AUTISM.
The hosts are a psychotherapist – who her perspective on autism is an interesting casual-largely-uninterested-spent-a-weekend-and-found-some-Neurodiversity-content position, she recs Neurotribes at one point – and an “adolescent therapist … exclusively dedicated to gender-questioning teens and families impacted by gender dysphoria” (I said I wasn’t going to talk about their opinions on trans stuff, but there sure are Some Things she’s carefully avoiding saying there) – who got her start as an ABA technician.
The episode is WILD, because they clearly are trying to agree on everything – which results in, like, a rather large amount of the podcast being the ex-ABA defending ABA to her cohost (insert all the default (functioning levels, autism isn’t this perfect harmless thing, precious specially children, etc.) bad arguments), and her cohost… just not buying it and trying to move past.
But most incredibly, actual claims made during this podcast:
the ex-ABA therapist describes forcing kids not to play with their toys, and then continues on to talk about how her ABA wasn’t like the stuff that’s criticized, in fact she is against “ABA… based on a neurotypical behavior”
autistic people are trans because the naive autistic literal mindset makes them take imagined bullies saying “you’re boyish” to heart
gender dysphoria is actually just stress from masking
JUST ASKING QUESTIONS “was The Entire Gender Movement™ created by autistic people??”
Lot of gender labels and boxes… autistic people like labels and boxes… Makes You Think!
they freaking reinvent REFRIGERATOR PARENTING THEORY with “The rise in autism diagnoses (which they acknowledge is already explained by wider awareness!) is caused by tech usage! Texting makes autism!” Like DIRECT QUOTE “Autistic traits can emanate from overuse of tech.”
That was the one who read Neurotribes. And she said it so CONFIDENTLY. I don’t even know HOW.
and then proceed to a few minutes later to bring up sensory issues! It’s not like they don’t know!
Accusations of transphobia are because trans is a special interest that they’re trying to bring up
the fact that queer theory sees everything as related to gender is in contrast to (direct quote) “a more neurotypical approach to life [that] would think there’s no one aspect of us that shows the complexity of the human condition”
(This one especially – like, I honestly cannot figure out a way to parse this that isn’t “autism (bad and wrong) causes transness, if they were neurotypical they would understand correctly how to be cis”. This was again the one who’d read autistic activists and could recognize the issues with ABA when mentioned. WUT.)
Bottom dysphoria in males comes from autism causing compulsive masturbation, enough to harm the genitals, which (along with autism black-and-white thinking) causes transness
“Autistic meltdown” is a degrading term, they’re “really big emotions” (this was the ex-ABA)
I’m just gonna directly transcribe this bit – “when families are already embroiled in the [their child said they were trans] issue, and then they go ‘oh, we need to literally get you tested for every thing, every single thing that could be wrong’, it really feels to the teen as though 'you’re just trying to find any excuse to tell me I’m not really trans’”. … like, uh, yeah your hypothetical teen there is pretty perceptive.
On just the trans stuff, they also have the typical Very Interesting Choices about around which topics they choose to think about AFAB people, and around which topics they choose to think about AMAB people, as well how much focus goes on detransitioners. Which is always interesting if you’re a connoisseur of that.
The other WELL THEN thing – connecting to the “trying to be subtle and avoid looking TERFy but still being really really TERFy” – the podcast is sponsored by the American organization RIME (Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics), which is smokescreening the “medical responsibility!” bad faith and apparently actively pumping money into it. Both podcast hosts are ALSO founding board members of both the “Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine” and the “International Association of Therapists for Desisters and Detransitioners”, because apparently the “but medical responsibilty!” astro-TERF field is the same 3 people in 7 different trenchcoats doing accents.
(They’re not on the board for RIME – RIME’s board is a Concerned Parent, a Jungian, and a lawyer.)
Can we as a fandom take the time to appreciate this woman?
This is MANEERAT SRINAKARIN, a cinematographer. She takes care of every camera angle, lighting decision, and color palette that we as a fandom collectively drool over. She also worked on Project S: SPIKE and fucking I Told Sunset About You! She may not appear on the screen, but she’s what really makes this show perfect.
PROJECT S: SPIKE (2017)dir. Seua Pichaya
I TOLD SUNSET ABOUT YOU (2020)dir. Boss Naruebet
KINNPORSCHE: THE SERIES (2022) dir. Pond Krisda, Khom Kongkiat, Pepsi Banchorn
Welcome to Night Vale constantly amazes me with how unique it is, especially when it comes to religion. It manages to take real religious ideas and weave something entirely new and different from the thing that originally inspired them. The Smiling God,the beagle puppy, and the angels are inspired by Abrahamic religions, but while it’s clear that Huntokar and the other gods are definitely at least inspired by real deities, the creators of Night Vale have managed to create their own unique pantheon.
Several episodes ago, we learned that the god Huntokar, who has been mentioned in passing throughout the show, is the god of Night Vale and has been protecting the people of Night Vale since the very beginning. However, we came to discover that her protection also nearly doomed Night Vale by causing the multiple versions of the town in different universes to collapse in on themselves. In this episode, Huntokar mentions that she is one of four old gods that include the Glow Cloud (ALL HAIL), the Woman from Italy, and the Distant Prince.
Writers tend to take two different routes when it comes to adding deities to their stories. They either use gods of real religions, or they invent their own. Creating your own deities has the major advantage that you aren’t taking the risk of portraying another religion’s deities in a potentially harmful way. However, we cannot escape the fact that we are affected by what we know about religions and their deities and inevitably the audience may realize that these “fake gods” are inspired by real ones. It’s fine to be inspired by real deities, but it’s important to still develop them in such a way as to make them their own unique god, otherwise the portrayal could still end up seeming problematic. And that is exactly what the creators of Welcome to Night Vale were able to do. Their deities are clearly inspired by different real gods, but are written in such a way that they become their own unique god and are not simply a copy of another deity.
Spoilers for Welcome to Night Vale for up to Episode 113.
