Let’s pair it with proper sex ed. Destigmatise sex work, break the taboos, but also teach people what is and isn’t okay or healthy, how arousal works for different sexes and why their dick isn’t God’s gift to womankind.

I did a sting writing tests for a team that previously had none. Fun times, the things that were uncovered that day…

How solid is the unit test coverage? What about regression tests? If you get new bugs creeping in all the time, your bug-catchers aren’t doing their job

I believe “cleft” is the past participle of “cleave”

When half my concentration in a given conversation goes to behaving “properly” (trying not to fidget, maintaining a hopefully appropriate amount of relaxed eye contact without staring, appearing attentive but relaxed), half goes to figuring out whether, how, when and what to contribute and I also have to listen and process the words because I occasionally struggle with understanding spoken language… yeah, sure, I may seem normal, but something somewhere is gonna drop off the radar.

Whether I say something appropriate or hit the right timing to chime in without either interrupting or being too late becomes (even more of) a gamble, which stresses me out and causes anxiety, further taking away focus and composure. Alternatively, I become quiet and feel more like an observer on the sidelines than a part of the conversation, isolated by my own struggles. Or I blunder and say something wrong and retreat to that isolation in shame. Or I don’t really hear what you’re saying, lose track of the conversation, am caught off-guard by the odd question cast my way, or simply retreat from trying to contribute because I don’t even know what we’re talking about, back into the same isolation.

I’m a chatty person. But I’m scared to chat with most people. Doing so leaves me either mentally or emotionally drained and upset. I hide away, retreat to the internet where I can better regulate my participation, make excuses not to attend company events, let social contacts slip away because maintaining them is too much stress, struggle to make doctor’s appointments or call for a med refill…

If you think I seem normal - thanks for the compliment, I worked really hard on that facade. I’m glad it’s working.

But inside, I die a little each time.

That’s grotesque and you have my condolences

That’s an awful idea and you are an awful person for suggesting it.

…and I am an awful person for considering the idea

It’s like talking about powers and saying “The square of 4 is 16” and they’ll bleat “Actually, a square is a shape” and you’re trying to find a way to tell them that their contribution is absolutely worthless and irrelevant to the topic.

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

In this case, the law being freedom of speech, the protection being to say what they want and the binding being to prohibit others from curtailing that. Naturally, the push for inclusive language is part of a movement to curtail that freedom and needs to be reversed and pushed back against.

Well, you have no choice but to acknowledge it. I’m perfectly capable of pretending it doesn’t exist because it doesn’t negatively affect me.

(That’s sarcasm, if it wasn’t clear. I hate that there are people genuinely living by that maxim.)