timberwraith
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timberwraith.bsky.social
timberwraith
@timberwraith.bsky.social
a tree, a girl, a wraith

the footsteps in the forest behind you are me

when you wander in the woods at dark, the darkness follows

You can normally find me here:
https://mastodon.social/@timberwraith

she/her • transfem • bi
❄️ MN ❄️
It's easy to wear rose tinted glasses when your blood was not used to tint them.
December 24, 2025 at 11:49 PM
OK, that's pretty fucking funny! 😂
December 24, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Oh crap. I'm really sorry to hear that. Good grief.
December 20, 2025 at 7:27 PM
It definitely can be lonely at times.

I'm around. The "line" is free at the moment.
December 13, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Personally, I find that the vantage point with the best view is usually one that is on the outside of the circle. Whatever that circle may be.
December 13, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I think what Gavin Newsom needs right now is a nice relaxing three hour tour...
December 6, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Anyway, that's another thing to keep in mind as you read.

Eh, I'm talking your ear off. So, I'll cut this short.
November 30, 2025 at 11:59 PM
When I transitioned in the 90s, I had to essentially construct my own "Dorley Hall" and I transitioned in community of supportive cis women. That was immensely helpful but with certain limitations given experiential differences and issues the come up between marginalized people and dominant groups.
November 30, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Some of us have this and some of us do not. Dorley Hall is a "what if" scenario that asks what transition might be like under far better conditions than is often the norm. (Ironically, it occurs in a carceral setting but I think that irony is a deliberately pointed one.)
November 30, 2025 at 11:55 PM
(As well as readily available medical assistance, of course.)

This is something that is hard to come by in the real world for us as we transition. We're a tiny populace and it's hard to find others to exist in community with in real time.
November 30, 2025 at 11:53 PM
One caveat that I should toss out regarding "2) Everything Else" is this: the series has a scenario which is, in a sense, an ideal environment for trans women to transition in: a ready-made community of other trans women with "elder"/experienced trans women who have already been through transition.
November 30, 2025 at 11:51 PM
If you were reading a book focusing on cis women's lives and communities, you would have already encountered common narratives/perspectives across literature and other media to draw from.

There's just not much representing trans women and other trans people.
November 30, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Sure. You're very welcome. It's not like our lives are commonly portrayed in literature and other forms of media and what *is* out there is often highly inaccurate and filtered through the negative bias of cis authors/media producers.
November 30, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Aw, I hope the day gets better.
November 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Anyway, that's one set of lenses to view the story through.
November 30, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Looking at it through that lens, Dorley Hall is a morally questionable violent reaction to a morally questionable violent world.

Yeah, it's a mess. But moral objections or not, as the series goes on, it does make clear that it's addressing patriarchy and its violence in this manner.
November 30, 2025 at 7:15 PM
What's the full scope of damage that patriarchy and other hierarchical patterns incur? I think we're living through it in the united states right now. The Trump regime is racist patriarchy running at full speed.

Collectively, this is what these toxic patterns bring.
November 30, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Patriarchy damages people. It leaves people emotionally impaired. It brings a lot of violence into the world.

Not everyone is hit as badly. Some more than others. The men who wind up inducted into Dorley were among the harder hit.
November 30, 2025 at 7:09 PM
The series became much, much more than that of course. It is far, far beyond satire. What it says about the construction of gender/masculinity hits HARD. It's not easy messaging to take in but I think the author is pretty on point.

Patriarchy sucks.
November 30, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Yes, I know that the actual scenario of abduction and forced transition is horrifying for you and others.

Understand that the whole idea for the book series started out as a way to satirize how hard it is for actual trans people to find medical care in the UK.
November 30, 2025 at 7:03 PM
TLDR:On the whole, the basement is about negative aspects of cis masculinity and deconstructing the hows and whys. Beyond the basement setting is an examination of the kinds of things that trans women/transfem folks experience.

If you carry that understanding with you, it might be easier to read...
November 30, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Hi there!

I just lectured the blogger guy, btw. May go over like a lead balloon but we'll see. 🤪
November 30, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Note: By "egg cracking" I meant, as a shorthand, the moment when a trans person fully realizes they are transgender. In case that wasn't clear.
November 30, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Outside of these two parts of the story, there is additional intrigue and drama in the books' events which enrich the story but for the most part, the two parts that I mention form the meat of the story.

I don't know if that will help clear things up for readers of the story. Maybe?
November 30, 2025 at 6:52 PM
And while I know that 99% of Dorley Hall's intakes are cis men, once people leave the Basement, the stories that play out are recognizable as most transfem people's experiences.
November 30, 2025 at 6:50 PM