Korpe
@korpe.bsky.social
Reposted by Korpe
This isn't basic biology. It's advanced biology.
April 19, 2025 at 9:24 AM
This isn't basic biology. It's advanced biology.
Reposted by Korpe
There's nothing wrong with people who don't fit into our categories.
We can adjust our classification systems, of course, to add new categories and labels to fit in more people... and guess what, the new categories will *also* have blurry boundaries.
Because that's just how life works.
We can adjust our classification systems, of course, to add new categories and labels to fit in more people... and guess what, the new categories will *also* have blurry boundaries.
Because that's just how life works.
April 19, 2025 at 9:23 AM
There's nothing wrong with people who don't fit into our categories.
We can adjust our classification systems, of course, to add new categories and labels to fit in more people... and guess what, the new categories will *also* have blurry boundaries.
Because that's just how life works.
We can adjust our classification systems, of course, to add new categories and labels to fit in more people... and guess what, the new categories will *also* have blurry boundaries.
Because that's just how life works.
Reposted by Korpe
Same is true for human sex and gender. Sex and gender categories help us understand and describe a fucktonne of genuinely real stuff about the human species. Sex and gender are *real*. But the boundaries between categories are always going to be blurry. Because that's just how life works.
April 19, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Same is true for human sex and gender. Sex and gender categories help us understand and describe a fucktonne of genuinely real stuff about the human species. Sex and gender are *real*. But the boundaries between categories are always going to be blurry. Because that's just how life works.
Reposted by Korpe
Categorizing living beings into species helps us see and study and describe and understand a fucktonne of real patterns and relationships and changes over time in biodiversity and ecology.
So the categories are useful for *describing* reality. But they never *define* it.
So the categories are useful for *describing* reality. But they never *define* it.
April 19, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Categorizing living beings into species helps us see and study and describe and understand a fucktonne of real patterns and relationships and changes over time in biodiversity and ecology.
So the categories are useful for *describing* reality. But they never *define* it.
So the categories are useful for *describing* reality. But they never *define* it.
Reposted by Korpe
... *and* none of them "invalidate" your species classification system. Species are still "real", too, even if there's plants and animals that kinda sit in between wherever you have drawn your category divisions.
April 19, 2025 at 9:06 AM
... *and* none of them "invalidate" your species classification system. Species are still "real", too, even if there's plants and animals that kinda sit in between wherever you have drawn your category divisions.
Reposted by Korpe
There'll always be intermixing and hybrid species (especially among those dang plants) and subspecies and all sorts of stuff that taxonomists will argue the toss about. None of those things are "wrong" or "not real"
April 19, 2025 at 9:04 AM
There'll always be intermixing and hybrid species (especially among those dang plants) and subspecies and all sorts of stuff that taxonomists will argue the toss about. None of those things are "wrong" or "not real"
Reposted by Korpe
Doesn't mean it's bad or wrong to create categories and classification systems - we create them so we can understand and describe bigger picture patterns, and that is really important: You can't assess global species loss if you don't categorize living entities into species.
April 19, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Doesn't mean it's bad or wrong to create categories and classification systems - we create them so we can understand and describe bigger picture patterns, and that is really important: You can't assess global species loss if you don't categorize living entities into species.
Reposted by Korpe
Not because there's anything "wrong" with whatever (or whoever) doesn't fit, but because it's impossible to shove the diversity of life into a series of neatly separated boxes. That's just not how life works.
April 19, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Not because there's anything "wrong" with whatever (or whoever) doesn't fit, but because it's impossible to shove the diversity of life into a series of neatly separated boxes. That's just not how life works.
Reposted by Korpe
There's a fundamental scientific illiteracy here where people keep confusing descriptive categories (created by scientists for all sorts of very good reasons) with deterministic ones. Category divisions are always fuzzy in biology - there's always some living entity that doesn't fit your categories
April 19, 2025 at 8:49 AM
There's a fundamental scientific illiteracy here where people keep confusing descriptive categories (created by scientists for all sorts of very good reasons) with deterministic ones. Category divisions are always fuzzy in biology - there's always some living entity that doesn't fit your categories
Reposted by Korpe
This tracks with my personal experience as one of the oldest zoomers—we’re not a monolith by any means but I was exposed to many of the progressive beliefs and identities I hold today on Tumblr in the early 2010s and Twitter in the late 2010s, both of which have largely evaporated
April 16, 2025 at 2:19 AM
This tracks with my personal experience as one of the oldest zoomers—we’re not a monolith by any means but I was exposed to many of the progressive beliefs and identities I hold today on Tumblr in the early 2010s and Twitter in the late 2010s, both of which have largely evaporated
Reposted by Korpe
Even if we can’t eliminate these deaths—and I hope to Mel Baggs that we can—the way that people respond to the current public health measles clusterfuck still offers us a chance to save lives. 36/36
March 30, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Even if we can’t eliminate these deaths—and I hope to Mel Baggs that we can—the way that people respond to the current public health measles clusterfuck still offers us a chance to save lives. 36/36
Reposted by Korpe
Long before the fear of autism threatened everybody’s lives and well-being via the anti-vaccination movement, it threatened the lives and well-being of autistic people through isolation, improper treatment, and even outright murder. 35/
March 30, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Long before the fear of autism threatened everybody’s lives and well-being via the anti-vaccination movement, it threatened the lives and well-being of autistic people through isolation, improper treatment, and even outright murder. 35/
Reposted by Korpe
I’m a little bit hopeful that renewed interest in anti-vaxxer rhetoric, spurred by the current measles outbreak, will inspire a more thorough discussion about autism. For starters, we could talk about autistic people like we’re better than measles, like we’re human, or like we’re there at all. 34/
March 30, 2025 at 5:31 AM
I’m a little bit hopeful that renewed interest in anti-vaxxer rhetoric, spurred by the current measles outbreak, will inspire a more thorough discussion about autism. For starters, we could talk about autistic people like we’re better than measles, like we’re human, or like we’re there at all. 34/
Reposted by Korpe
I’m not sure what the cure is here. Anti-vaxxers are very dedicated to being wrong. As The New York Times’ Brendan Nyhan discovered, they’re more resistant to irrefutable facts than vaccinated kids are to preventable diseases. 33/
March 30, 2025 at 5:30 AM
I’m not sure what the cure is here. Anti-vaxxers are very dedicated to being wrong. As The New York Times’ Brendan Nyhan discovered, they’re more resistant to irrefutable facts than vaccinated kids are to preventable diseases. 33/
Reposted by Korpe
Autism Speaks now urges parents to vaccinate their children, though it was funding and supporting vaccine-related research up until 2009. But it continues to spout the kind of anti-autism rhetoric that made people who aren’t so great with critical thinking so scared in the first place. 32/
March 30, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Autism Speaks now urges parents to vaccinate their children, though it was funding and supporting vaccine-related research up until 2009. But it continues to spout the kind of anti-autism rhetoric that made people who aren’t so great with critical thinking so scared in the first place. 32/
Reposted by Korpe
Throughout all of it, my loved ones have preferred my autism to my possible illness or death, or the deaths of others. I’d say I was grateful, but really, this should be a given. 31/
March 30, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Throughout all of it, my loved ones have preferred my autism to my possible illness or death, or the deaths of others. I’d say I was grateful, but really, this should be a given. 31/
Reposted by Korpe
I have stimmed to my heart’s content and I have hit myself. Throughout all but the worst of it—depression is a common comorbidity of autism, likely because living in the neurotypical world is often trying—I’ve been pretty sure that I am “living,” and better for it. 30/
March 30, 2025 at 5:28 AM
I have stimmed to my heart’s content and I have hit myself. Throughout all but the worst of it—depression is a common comorbidity of autism, likely because living in the neurotypical world is often trying—I’ve been pretty sure that I am “living,” and better for it. 30/
Reposted by Korpe
I have good days where my intense interests give me a unique perspective in my writing and my focus helps me get it down on paper. I have bad days where I can’t ride public transit without a panic attack & I have to leave the room when my husband chews because I find the sound of it unbearable. 29/
March 30, 2025 at 5:27 AM
I have good days where my intense interests give me a unique perspective in my writing and my focus helps me get it down on paper. I have bad days where I can’t ride public transit without a panic attack & I have to leave the room when my husband chews because I find the sound of it unbearable. 29/
Reposted by Korpe
This is far from true for the countless families who have spoken out against Autism Speaks. It’s certainly not the case for mine. We are all, last I checked, living. We work together to go about our lives. We’re no more or less imperfect or tragic than the avg family. We don’t even have measles. 28/
March 30, 2025 at 5:26 AM
This is far from true for the countless families who have spoken out against Autism Speaks. It’s certainly not the case for mine. We are all, last I checked, living. We work together to go about our lives. We’re no more or less imperfect or tragic than the avg family. We don’t even have measles. 28/
Reposted by Korpe
A$ founder Suzanne Wright—who has an autistic grandson—wrote that our families “are not living. They are existing. Life is lived moment-to-moment. In anticipation of the child’s next move. In despair. In fear of the future.” Honestly, that’s one of the less offensive things she’s said about us. 27/
March 30, 2025 at 5:24 AM
A$ founder Suzanne Wright—who has an autistic grandson—wrote that our families “are not living. They are existing. Life is lived moment-to-moment. In anticipation of the child’s next move. In despair. In fear of the future.” Honestly, that’s one of the less offensive things she’s said about us. 27/
Reposted by Korpe
Autism Speaks official statements consistently refuse to acknowledge any humanity in autistic people, or recognize that their families experience anything other than abject misery. 26/
March 30, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Autism Speaks official statements consistently refuse to acknowledge any humanity in autistic people, or recognize that their families experience anything other than abject misery. 26/
Reposted by Korpe
A$ refuses to listen to any autistic people who disagree with them. It’s supported dangerous & dubious treatments, like electroshock therapy and chelation (a lead poisoning treatment that has many risks and no proven benefit as an ASD cure), all to make autistic people appear more neurotypical. 25/
March 30, 2025 at 5:21 AM
A$ refuses to listen to any autistic people who disagree with them. It’s supported dangerous & dubious treatments, like electroshock therapy and chelation (a lead poisoning treatment that has many risks and no proven benefit as an ASD cure), all to make autistic people appear more neurotypical. 25/
Reposted by Korpe
But Autism Speaks isn’t really a charity for autistic people. It’s a charity for NT people who have been afflicted with the horror of having autistic people in their lives. Since its inception in 2005, Autism Speaks has perpetuated the idea that autistic people are a burden and somehow “lost.” 24/
March 30, 2025 at 5:19 AM
But Autism Speaks isn’t really a charity for autistic people. It’s a charity for NT people who have been afflicted with the horror of having autistic people in their lives. Since its inception in 2005, Autism Speaks has perpetuated the idea that autistic people are a burden and somehow “lost.” 24/
Reposted by Korpe
Take Autism Speaks. The world’s most prominent autism-related charity has a pretty cuddly exterior. Celebrities toss money at it. It claims to help autistic ppl and their families. Why would anyone question its intentions? It would be absolutely absurd to run a charity for people you hate—right? 23/
March 30, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Take Autism Speaks. The world’s most prominent autism-related charity has a pretty cuddly exterior. Celebrities toss money at it. It claims to help autistic ppl and their families. Why would anyone question its intentions? It would be absolutely absurd to run a charity for people you hate—right? 23/