I know I go on fuck terf rampages every couple of months, but it’s really alarming how many people in the ex cath and Christian tags have “terfs dni” in their bio and yet interact with and reblog posts from terfs!!

it can be hard to spot dogwhistles, but if you consider yourself an ally to trans women you have to make the effort. here are my tips for spotting terfs:

(disclaimer: i am a white, transmisogyny exempt trans lesbian, from a very white part of the united states. i was raised catholic, clearly am not anymore.)

• If on desktop, download shinigami eyes. This is a browser extension that shows transphobic people in red, and trans allies in green.
• Block the tags “radical feminism”, “gender critical”, and “terf safe”. when these posts pop up on your feed, you can usually find a whole chain of terfs to block.
• red flags in bios: excessive use of the word female; the word goddess; most mentions of vagina, vulva, or womb; the phrase “gender critical”; mentions of pagan goddesses (more on this below)
• i have less than 100 followers on this blog, so i understand that this is not viable for people with larger followings, but if you take 30 seconds to search the word “trans” on a new follower’s blog, you see either positive or negative posts about trans people.
• another common red flag i see a lot is defensiveness over whiteness. i saw a post recently in the ex christian tag that said “well i am white and live in a predominantly white area but i am still oppressed by the patriarchy!!” and when i went to her blog she ticked off every point on this list.

i specifically mentioned pagan deities earlier. i know that a lot of people, once they have left christianity, jump into pagan religions and they find a lot of solace in them. most of these people are fine. but there is so much rampant transmisogyny, misognoir, and antisemitism in the pagan and witchcraft community, that anyone who advertises this on their blog instantly becomes a red flag to me (and I’m usually right).

I really implore everyone in the ex christian and ex catholic community here on tumblr to start taking action, and start blocking terfs. don’t engage, don’t argue with them, DO NOT GIVE THEM A PLATFORM, just block them, tell your friends to block them, and move on.

A quick message for all my ex-cult peeps and PIMOs :

This is not the end of the world, I know the media is acting like it and I know how whatever cult / religion you’ve come from or are currently in will be influencing this shocking event for their own gain, but its not the end.

This is not some precursor to a deity committing mass genocide, this is not a divine judgement, this is not a sign from above telling you to come back to the cult.

These are the actions of a mortal human, this is an attack by someone of our own species, this is not the first time it has happened and I doubt it will be the last.

So take 5 minutes to breathe and calm yourself, if you need to, stay off social media or avoid posts concerning the Ukraine + russian conflict, put yourself first and look after your mental health.

If you are in Ukraine, I know words are meaningless especially online but I hope you see this from a safe place, I hope you have enough to get by and I hope you aren’t in any physical pain. If you’re grieving or are scared out of your mind, I’m sorry for your loss and for what you’re going through, I wish I could hug you and support you as much as possible in person.

So save face and get fucked

I hate my work, but I’m in control

I’m fearless now, but it cost my soul

Save yourselves, the moon is full

Under its power, gravitational pull

Blood red lips, they shake like leaves

You’re flesh and blood, but what’s underneath?

It’s alright to scream

I’m screaming too,

Why’d you think I do these things I do?

For shadows haunted me like ghosts,

So I became what I feared the most

I conduct fear like electricity

A man made monstrosity

I, I can remember

Standing, by the wall

And the guns, shot above our heads

And we kissed, as though nothing could fall

And the shame, was on the other side

Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever

Then we could be Heroes, just for one day

Hey hey got my yearly friendly memorial time check in email! Hardest one to respond to yet

How are things with me? Easy to answer.

What’s making me happy? Well nothing you want to hear about and I’m certainly not incriminating myself.

There’s not much else there to respond to so idk what you want me to say?? I’m good, thanks but no thanks, I guess?

I’m really feeling a lack of effort here lol

JW cult trauma is a weird thing because reactions go one of two ways in my experience:

1. It doesn’t sound that bad. I’ve had way worse happen to me. You went to church every week and read the bible. I’ve had x,y and z. That’s real trauma

Or

2. Says some offhand and now they’re really concerned about my well being

Neither are great but in very different ways. Because 1. I’m trying to explain that it was a CULT not just a church. It was my entire life not just an hour on Sunday and 2. I’m trying to explain that I’m good with this particular thing. That’s why I’m joking about it

Either way it’s awkward and it’s impossible to judge which way someone will go

Random thought but there’s something so freeing about your whole belief system being torn down. Like I believed all these things for my whole life and now I’m not sure or just don’t believe them. And a lot of them I never replaced. Which was scary at first.

And the impact? Nothing. My personal beliefs haven’t altered reality. God didn’t pop out of existence because I stopped believing in him and human history didn’t rewrite itself because I don’t believe in creation. Nothing changed.

And then I realised I can believe in whatever I want as long as it’s not hurting anyone. Loch Ness Monster? Real. Aliens? Definitely. Bigfoot? 100% babey! God is a giant spaghetti monster? Why not, that’s fun.

I guess what I’m saying is, it’s a big thing to think that nothing you thought was real is real. But it doesn’t have to be. It can be fun. You can believe whatever you want. Make the universe as cool as you like. Believe in things for the fun of it

So this Christmas, my boss invited me to do Christmas with them if I had no other plans (I work with him, his wife and her BIL) but they had a trip in the next few days so they were really apologetic that it wasn’t a full proper Christmas, it would only be some drinks, snacks and a film with their family.

And omg it was the best Christmas! I know I have very limited experience but it was so nice! They made fresh bread and chai and an apple pie and we just hung out and chatted. It was super chill and so fun.

They’re genuinely the nicest family and I’m so touched they thought to invite me. I think I’ve been adopted but no complaints here lol

wisteria-grows-here:

Super pissed that being raised a Jehovah’s Witness not only robbed me of my childhood but also any financial security I could’ve used for a proper college education

When I left at 21, I had nothing. A high school education and very little money. I could earn enough to live but little else. I was very lucky that my job provided full training so I could move on to a better a job. But for years, I worked 2 jobs just so I could save a bit here and there. I wasn’t even sure why I was paying rent for a while coz I was never at home. Because I had no qualifications, no training prior, nothing. I just had to hope I could earn enough to eat for the month

I’m not a big school person generally, I probably wouldn’t have gone to university regardless, but I might have had the option. I might have decided to be trained to do something and saved up enough money for when I became independent. Instead of thinking it didn’t matter. I might have got a job that actually paid a livable wage

tower-fall:

The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life (1968-1981)

The book “The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life” has two editions. The first edition is from 1968.

On page 9 of the book, we see the following sentence:

“Also, as reported back in 1960… in fifteen years from today, this world is going to be too dangerous to live in”

Once again the year 1975 is appointed.

But in the another version (1981) the words had to change.

“Based on that he knew was then going on in the world, it was his conclusion that soon "this world is going to be too dangerous to live in”

When you see what the Watchtower does to make people afraid and trapped, it’s just disgusting.

You can find this books in this website

Library - JW-Wayback.org

I have said it before and I’ll say it again: there can be no such thing as ‘new light’. Either you were wrong or God’s a pos who’s lying to you

If you were wrong, clearly God’s not in your ear telling you stuff.

If God’s lying to us, why are we still listening?

Either way, kinda sucks for JWs