120. Our Boobies, Our Selves: Amy Sousa on Breast Cancer, Mastectomies, & Sex Trait Modification

[@aliali-tx1je]

Wishing Amy the very best outcome.

[@Didleeios88]

1:17:00 finally someone calling out the neurodivergent vs normie conversation.

[@HellCatt0770]

Amy I’m so sorry to hear your news. I have to say you look particularly beautiful and initially I thought it was a stunning style choice. My thoughts and love are with you. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and insights, your voice is so welcome and important ❤

[@west4Bmovement]

Heartbroken for Amy. Huge fan of her work. Rooting for her and wishing her big health.

[@HebaruSan]

"'gender affirming care' aka 'sex denying harm'" Nice mic drop moment!

[@jackosmum]

Sending Amy much strength and love. I had to have a hysterectomy at 42 and the grief I went through in losing such a huge part of myself was incredible. I thought I prepared myself mentally but my body put me through a cycle of grief I wouldn't have imagined possible. It was terrible. It was before all this gender affirming care came into vogue. How anyone could so flippantly surgically remove anything without a medical reason just astounds me. It makes me sick to my stomach.

[@Cladina_Green]

Such a beautiful and profound yet intimate talk within encircling friendship. Important messages I wish the world could hear.

[@illjusthavecoffee]

I adore Amy, such a beautiful and amazing woman.

[@megankwisdom]

You know 😜

[@HerWanderlust]

Loved this conversation so much 💜💜 So many great thoughts to expound upon, and it’s clear you two could talk forever and keep uncovering thoughtful truths. Neuro diverse has become just another trend-yes, there are some extreme cases…yet most of those who are claiming to be ND use it as an excuse not to learn and grow. I’ve had “ND” people tell me “well you have it easy because _____” without knowing what it took for me to say, get out of bed, ten years ago. Learning to work with your own moods, mind, body, and needs is a part of maturing. When you can just lean on your diagnosis as the reason why you can’t do xyz it blocks you from finding a way to fit within the world that actually helps you live a happy healthy life. I think that those who have actually been through narcissistic abuse are more qualified to diagnose someone as narcissistic than an unrelated therapist. Once you have seen it, and lived it, you can feel what’s meant by “they can’t take criticism”. Someone who is defending themselves from unfair accusations actually has a case, while a narcissist will turn immediately to gaslighting and trying to turn it back on you- People with NPD, psychopathy, sociopathy (is it called apd now?) are truly neurodivergent in that their minds work in a completely different manner than most people’s

[@troll_kin9456]

I'd be interested to hear what you think about Abigail Shrier's recent criticisms of the therapy profession. Her idea that society has encouraged people to become far too obsessed with their identity, feelings, and internal states seems to condemn almost the entire cognitive therapeutic enterprise, but it appeals to my biases and rings true to me. I will occasionally stop to take stock of my internal state to make sure my goals are aligned with my values, but only very briefly and rarely. And if you ask me who I am, the question almost doesn't make sense to me. I am the locus of my thoughts and senses and the thing in the mirror. Everything else seems like mental gymnastics to me and I frankly can't understand "self-exploration" or "expression" or obsessing over one's "identity." It just seems like something you do when there's not enough wild tigers around.

[@illjusthavecoffee]

This is a great comment, I am also really interested in knowing what a mental health professional think about this idea, specifically one like Stephanie who isn't part of the gender cult. I absolutely agree that the current culture of obsessing over one's identity is deeply unhealthy, especially for young people. It's essentially encouraging narcissism.

[@Cladina_Green]

As a person who doesn't suffer from anxiety or perseverate, I feel this entire conversation only applies to my anxious friends and relatives. People like me, who don't feel the urge to overthink and over share remain invisible. For every person who's dumping on a relative, there's a relative silently absorbing the abuse. For every hypochondriac there are well-meaning friends taking on extra work and responsibilities to help their fellow human. Meanwhile those of us who are wired differently still have terrible problems, like getting wrapped up with the abusive anxious ones and having our life force drained out of us. I've gotten the same advice all my life and now I'm old enough to see that it's a pile of horse sh*t. I wish someone actually HAD taught me about emotions and looking inward. My parents were neglectful and I missed out in important ways, but people like me are invisible amongst the chattering anxious ones.

[@jaythomas5045]

Is the assumption that trans identified females who say they’re happy and fulfilled by these interventions are just lying? Or that they just think it’s making them happy?