Is it too much to hope that one positive outcome in the coming months and years

Excellent posts Lamahaha and definitelygc.
I agree with every word

I also hope we can change the "trans women are the most oppressed group in society" bollocks. As PP said, this crisis is showing us all who the really vulnerable people are in society. Those who are poor / old and alone / living with abusive partners / with serious health conditions / disabled. It's also showing us who is willing to get off their arses and help those people and who is going to whine about Glasto being cancelled on Twitter.

That sums up my thoughts exactly, Lamahaha.

In any case, as I understand it, CV19 is more lethal for men than it is for women. It recognises only biology, not feelings.

Right now, the world has bigger things on its plate than managing the hurt feelings of The Few.

I think this is the dawning of the Age of Getting Real. In all the ways.

Most definitely. I notice that the silence is deafening about Drag Queen Story Time at present.

Men might find it difficult to find women willing to engage in one night stands, and might be less keen themselves.

Brothels: closed. Exchange of bodily fluids with random strangers feels a bit eeewwwgh these days.

People are taking a step back from extravagant, flamboyant narcissists. The safe and steady is seeing a comeback. A bit of WW2 spirit seems to be in the air, even though panic over bog rolls doesn't seem to be quite the same thing.

We're starting to see everyday heroism in health care workers, carers, bog standard grocery store workers and delivery people. THAT is brave and stunning, and I think the general public knows it now. We admire them more than some special non-binary person with a very important identity he wants us to validate.

We're getting real, at last.

We are far more moved by Italians in lockdown singing Nessun Dorma from their appartment windows than a sob story about a man who can't get a boob job.

People are reaching out to older neighbours and trying to be helpful; that's what Be Kind tends to mean these days.

All in my observation, of course.

Covid 19 might be the best thing that ever happened to put a nail in the coffin of the TRA agenda. The beginning of the end to that spook, hopefully.

My niece is taking testosterone.

A question that struck me with some force and to which I simply don't know the answer: do the drugs you have to take for the rest of your life after you transition have any effect on the immune system? It seems to me hideously unfair on the poor brainwashed children if they do.

This article addresses testosterone in relation to the immune system. It only talks about it in relation to men, but I can’t see why it would be different in women and girls:

“ Specifically, testosterone appears to weaken the immune response in men, according to a 2014 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).”

“Researchers found that high testosterone levels in men caused a lower immune response to vaccination against influenza, making them more vulnerable to the illness. Men and women with low testosterone both had a more active immune response to vaccination than men with high levels of testosterone.”

www.everydayhealth.com/news/why-men-get-sick-more-than-women/

I have a horrible feeling this aspect of transing children and adolescent girls is not discussed in depth with transitioning girls or their parents.

The whining has already started on that. I saw a whole collection of tweets this week about HOW UNFAIR life is now, because stretched medical resources will mean no cosmetic boob jobs

The only response to that is... tough titty, innit.

I think this is the dawning of the Age of Getting Real. In all the ways.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

I've no idea! I wouldn't have thought so.

However, trans women are at increased risk of pulmonary embolism/DVT, related to H"R"T - didn't a certain columnist claim he uses three times the dose of actual women. So if they are sweating out an illness, lying in bed, becoming dehydrated that will substantially increase the risk.

A question that struck me with some force and to which I simply don't know the answer: do the drugs you have to take for the rest of your life after you transition have any effect on the immune system? It seems to me hideously unfair on the poor brainwashed children if they do. Nobody is saying, obviously.

I've seen it already on FB. Outraged transpeople threatening violence if they don't get their planned boob jobs etc.

They're going to have deal with their personal issues like everyone else is, with hundreds of thousands of people facing a lonely three months without much of any social contact at all. There are more pressing issues to be solved. No one individual's needs can be prioritised, even among the actual
high risk groups.

And your heart breaks for those who really need the nhs and it can’t necessarily be there for them now... I have a friend who’s young adult son has such severe abdominal issues that he’s in and out of hospital on a weekly basis and often needs icu/treatment for sepsis... usually in an A&E corridor with staff doing their best because there’s already no beds... this has gone on for nearly 2 years and every time it could kill him, they are waiting on specialist surgery in the summer but will need an icu bed afterwards... does this count as non-essential?

If he caught covid he’d have no resources to fight it... they’re exhausted and terrified and trapped between a rock and a hard place.

How self obsessed to moan about delays to surgery when your body is essentially healthy and you don’t need to be in hospital at all.

FFS. Narcs gonna narc.

I've seen it already on FB. Outraged transpeople threatening violence if they don't get their planned boob jobs etc.

Well the NHS is cancelling a lot of surgery to free up staff and beds. I wonder how long it will be before the usual suspects start claiming this is literal violence?

Not only are hundreds and thousands of people (globally) going to die from this but the world is going to sharply enter a deep, long depression.

One outcome I could never have predicted is the US seriously discussing a Citizens Wage.

After WW2, and up to the end of the 70’s, the west developed the closest thing to a capitalist welfare state we have had.
Politicians, even the rightwing ones, could see what was needed to get business booming again, and the world more generally getting onto an even keel after the destruction of the war.

Ideally big business and all governments would now come to a similar insight, but I am not holding my breath.

They have been worshipping neoliberalism as a religion since Reagan and Thatcher started it in 1979-80.

But the businesses going under as a consequence of Corona, will not get back up and running, if millions of people are to impoverished to buy anything even after the Covid risk is over.

Women told NOT to have IVF amid the coronavirus outbreak
mol.im/a/8122915

Sorry for anyone suffering infertility but on the plus side this'll put an end to surrogacy hopes for a few for the time being.

The whining has already started on that. I saw a whole collection of tweets this week about HOW UNFAIR life is now, because stretched medical resources will mean no cosmetic boob jobs or genital surgery on tap. The exaggeration and drama about it was very real.

I can believe it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51933410

All non-urgent operations to be postponed.

BoreofWhabylon we can only hope that this is the case. And hopefully the cesspit that is Twitter will implode optimistic

I also think that the "me me me's are about to have a rude awakening when they get told is not all about them anymore.

My niece was due to have 'top surgery' in May. I haven't asked her if it's still going ahead.

I hope that we'll move to a more truthful society. All the witterings about 'misgendering' and 'microaggressions' will be seen as the absolute nonsense it is.

I'd like to see the end of luxury beliefs.
quillette.com/2019/11/16/thorstein-veblens-theory-of-the-leisure-class-a-status-update/

I love the Screwtape Letters!
It is one of my favourite books. Perfect passage you quoted as well. I agree with it completely

One outcome I could never have predicted is the US seriously discussing a Citizens Wage. If they have any sense, they'll extend to free to access, not for profit healthcare.

Well, that's the paradox of the human animal, tbh. We can be either petty, despicable selfish creatures, consumed with nothing but our own desires, or we can be magnificent community minded creatures, understanding the value of cooperation and self sacrifice.

The fact that these two possibilities are ever present is why I am never sure if I love or loathe us as a species. But I choose a middle path of believing the best of us and being generally optimistic, while being realistic about our propensity for self absorbed bullshit and self sabotage.

The BBC has obviously decided to put the adults at work with the reporting of the CV-19 updates, thankfully.

HMG is simultaneously adulting and Wokeing

Website text: "those who are pregnant"
Image: "Pregnant women" (scroll down)

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults