EEDA Newsletter Vol 5, Res 19: Mental Health Crisis Resources & Beyond the Gender Binary
This is a public issue of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice. Feel free to share it!
Hi friends! In case you missed it, Buttondown did a profile on me and Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice! It’s been a while in the making and I’m so happy with how it turned out.
I have been devouring books (more than usual) lately and reading is sparking extra joy right now. As usual with the resource issues, I put all my current and recent reads at the bottom with affiliate links. My multiple California library cards are doing a lot of heavy-lifting in the audiobook department. Maybe next year I will keep a spreadsheet of what books I read from the library and what their retail cost is. I’m curious about how much I am saving. You know, in all my spare time. Sigh. Just making up homework for myself like the nerd that I am.
This week's EEDA Pod episode is titled, “Why and How To Ask For What You Want” and we chat about some of the reasons it can be so hard to ask for what we want. We talk about the importance of asking for what you want and even offer some ideas on how to get better at asking for what you want.
You can find our show, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts.
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It’s resource week so let’s get to it!
Resource 1: Mental Health Crisis Resources and Crisis services: warm-lines that do not use police intervention via Inclusive Therapists
If you’re new here, hi! Cops escalate violence, they do not stop it. If there is a person having a mental health crisis, a lot of people’s first instinct is to call the cops. That’s typically not the best/safest idea. "Police are not equipped to offer mental health support and may even pose danger to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, Mentally Ill, Neurodivergent, and Disabled People." Inclusive Therapists has a great resource page on what to do and who to call instead of calling the cops if someone is having a mental health crisis. If you’re on Instagram and want to share a graphic, you can find one here.
Resource 2: Book Rec: Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon
This book is a deconstruction, demystification, and reimagining of how we think about gender in the west. I am deeply impressed with the amount of substance and depth the author is able to reach in such a short book while also remaining accessible to the folks for whom thinking about gender beyond the binary, or even at all, is brand new.
Alok Vaid-Menon is gender non-conforming and transfeminine and writes from a place of both knowledge and love. They make it clear that gender non-conforming people are not the issue and that the real issue, which is indeed political, is the criteria used to define and evaluate gender. Throughout the book, they weave in anecdotes of their own experiences of gender and moving through the world as a gender non-conforming person with larger discussions of society, power, and discrimination.
The rules of gender and the gender binary are arbitrary and do not serve us as whole people. The author talks about how these rules are meant to control and how gender conformity is rewarded while gender creativity is punished. They dare to proclaim time and time again that just because things are the way they are that doesn’t mean that is the way they should be.
Alok posits that the variety of arguments against gender non-conforming people can be grouped into four categories: dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope. They wade through each category, easily unraveling the usually bad-faith arguments that people make against treating gender non-conforming people as people. These arguments range from “Singular they pronouns are not grammatically correct” to “this is just a new fad” to “gender is cultural but sex is biological” and more.
As I mentioned, this book is quite short but it contains multitudes. The world would be a better place if everyone took some time to think deeply and critically about their own gender, whether a person is trans, cis, or nonbinary.
Recent & Current Reads
Inclusion of a book in this section is not necessarily a recommendation and these books won’t necessarily be added to my Bookshop. Links are affiliate links.
Recently Read:
Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Lovers by Rebekah Faubion (out 9/24)
The Dabbler's Guide to Witchcraft: Seeking an Intentional Magical Path by Fire Lyte
A Quick & Easy Guide to Coming Out by Kristin Russo and Ravi Teixeira (out 9/24)
Live Nourished: Make Peace with Food, Banish Body Shame, and Reclaim Joy by Shana Minei Spence
Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life by Megan Hellerer (out 9/24)
Currently Reading:
Want: Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous edited by Gillian Anderson
Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements edited by Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams (Yes, I am still working on this. I got through one particular story and it thoroughly creeped me out so I’ve set it aside)
That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
You can find our podcast, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts.