iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

...i assure you i am extremely, painfully, frustratingly aware of how often "should a 12yo trans girl be allowed to play volleyball with her friends" turns into "how does sexual development work", but it is ultimately poor understandings of the latter that lead to bad answers to the former

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

im not debating. i am informing you how a specific aspect of human biology works, because you have been making arguments based on an incorrect understanding of it. i understand this may seem far afield, but arguments about trans rights almost always hinge on understandings of sex

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

so how exactly do chromosomes determine sex when they dont even determine a single visible sexual characteristic?

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

every single other sex characteristic—including genitalia—is determined by hormones. for example, if you have an SRY gene that does its job correctly and you develop testes, you will still end up developing a vulva and vagina if your body is insensitive to testosterone

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

chromosomes dont actually matter for sex differentiation. only a gene usually—but not always—found on the Y chromosome called the SRY gene matters, and even then only at one point: it tells a fetus to develop its gonads into testes instead of ovaries, after which it does nothing ever again

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

uh yeah and guess what? trans people change sex! we suppress our endogenous hormone production and supply exogenous hormones of our desired sex, thereby causing our bodies—which are biological—to develop the secondary sex characteristics of our desired sex. this is elementary human biology

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

and like i agree its very important to beat the republicans. one of the many reasons i and many other trans people are pointing out the folly of turning a blind-eye to anti-trans animus amongst democratic politicians is that embracing anti-trans politics will harm, not help, democrats chances

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

having a bad stance on the question of whether the government should *mandate discrimination against trans women and girls* in sports isnt really about sports. its about normalizing support for state-mandated discrimination against trans people within the democratic party

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

there really isnt tho. the right has been very explicit that they are using sports as a wedge issue to normalize transphobia. the entire purpose is that caving on trans girls in sports requires conceding that trans girls are not actually girls, which opens the floodgates for anti-trans politics

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

theyve been using this same playbook in both the US and the UK—which is unsurprising bc its largely the exact same people and organizations pushing this stuff. theyve only got one move, really, which is stoking an elite panic about how the existence of trans people threatens the fabric of society

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

the danger anti-trans activists pose isnt that theyll persuade the public to demand state oppression of trans people—tbh i doubt that will ever be popular—its that theyll infiltrate elite circles trans people are effectively iced out of and convince policy makers to embrace anti-trans positions

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

anti-trans activists arent popular. their views arent popular. they are, however, very well connected and, despite being unpopular amongst the general populace, transphobia is very popular amongst the political, financial, and especially media elite

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

worth noting that the anti-trans animus in the UK is not in any way driven by the public. transphobia is overwhelmingly an elite obsession. labours anti-trans turn is a betrayal of what they campaigned on, and so anti-trans politics are actually subverting democracy and the public will

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

so. uh. hate to be the one to break it to you but both abortion rights and the voting rights act are dead and democrats didnt legalize gay marriage, the supreme court did so it would appear equivocation is a complete and total failure as a political strategy

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

that just isnt true. it was a fringe rightwing position until a certain british billionaire, along with US christian orgs, began funneling cash to anti-trans groups. then it became the mainstream conservative position, then the mainstream press position, and finally the mainstream liberal position

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

sometimes when a politician wants a more powerful position they will do this thing called “cynically abandoning their principles and constituents for political gain”. you can tell theyre doing this bc theyll go on television and cynically abandon their principles and constituents for political gain

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

you mean medical care for everyone in the state *except trans kids*, since talarico now openly supports nationwide state-mandated healthcare discrimination against trans kids 😊

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

when you treat once-unacceptable views as acceptable, more people will accept them! this isnt complicated

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

how many times do we need to explain the overton window? dems have gone from loudly pro-trans 6yrs ago to staying silent as dem candidates call young trans girls “biological males” whose inclusion endangers cis girls and call for nationwide state-mandated healthcare discrimination against trans kids

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

“republicans will never overturn roe v wade bc they love railing against it”-ass logic

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

the UK is providing a tangible lesson in how quickly those “thousands of miles” can be closed. eight years ago the *tories* had support for trans rights in their platform, and now *labour* is enacting more extreme anti-trans policies than the tories were advancing a mere two years ago

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

thats honestly fine! the stakes are incredibly high and theres no objectively correct way to weigh the all the risks. whats shitty is when people yell at and insult trans people for pointing out this shit is dangerous and creates a situation where not voting might be the best available option for us

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

srsly! he changed his position. the fact that hes now saying he only said shit about god being non-binary to provoke controversy suggests he was never all that sincere in the first place. he supported trans rights when it benefited his career. now he thinks it doesnt so hes throwing us under the bus

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

and ofc the extremely undemocratic nature of the senate and electoral college just exacerbates the gap btwn how politically progressive (and aggressive) blue state democratic parties can be compared to the national party

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

its extra confusing bc until like 1965 the two parties were basically ideologically incoherent. theres been a gradual realignment into democrats being liberal and republicans being conservative (tho republicans moved much faster thanks to conservatives being the most propagandizable people on earth)

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

yeah state parties and national parties can be very different, both in terms of how progressive their politics are and in terms of how effectively they use power to advance their preferred policies

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

yeah growing up most of the lying was republicans denying they were racists and misogynists. now most of the lying is republicans making shit up to justify the open racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, etc theyre running on

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

i mean informed consent and healthcare coverage requirements arent exactly common worldwide. it can vary a lot depending on the exact rubric you use, but i think one can make a solid argument that the democratic party is up there

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

if you elect a democrat who supports anti-trans policies youre going to get a democrat who will vote with republicans when they try to advance those policies. whats worse is youll get a democrat who is liable to co-sponsor anti-trans bills and will try to persuade other democrats to join him!

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

it drives me insane having explain to people that politicians actually do try to pass the things they run on. they often fail, bc it is incredibly difficult to pass any new legislation, but what they rarely do is completely reverse course once they win election

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

we go hard at democrats who think they can win by drinking from the well of transphobia bc yes, democrats have passed good legislation in states they control and largely held the line against anti-trans attacks elsewhere—and we want them to keep doing that. we *need* them to keep doing that

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

the overwhelming majority of democratic politicians in both state and national politics have held the line on defending trans rights bc queer people turned support for LGBT rights into a litmus test for democratic candidates and have continued to gesture emphatically at the ‘T’ in that acronym!

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

its so baffling when liberals lecture trans people who criticize transphobic democrats about how “democrats are the most pro-trans major political party in the world” like yeah they probably are, and do you know why that is? its bc we *do not elect democrats who run anti-trans election campaigns*

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

okay but would you be doing all that if he said the federal government should ban federal dollars from funding healthcare for jewish people? if he said jewish kids shouldnt be allowed to play sports bc its unsafe and unfair for kids who arent jewish to be forced to compete against kids who are?

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

will american democracy be in greater peril under a republican majority senate than a democratic one? yes, of course—but thatll be an academic point for trans people if transphobia becomes acceptable politics in the democratic party and we are oh-so-democratically stripped of basic rights

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

yep. the threat of tureks and talaricos isnt just that theyll vote for anti-trans bills, its that theyll provide safety-in-numbers cover to moderate dems who want to throw trans people under the bus but dont want to be the first defector, and may even persuade previously supportive dems to join them

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

personally when evaluating someones credibility i find it very helpful to know whether they believe the computer could come alive at any moment and kill everyone by inventing and spreading a supervirus

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

this is, ofc, exactly why trans women and girls deserve a place in womens and girls sports. we are subjected to all the same sexual harassment and abuse cis women and girls are—oftentimes *before* we ever come out—and deserve to play sports with our peers in an environment safe from it

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

and while yes, i do mean they will rig competitions to favor men and cite vague bullshit reasons to give men opportunities over objectively better women, the overwhelming reason women and girls will be forced out of athletics will be the tacitly approved rampant sexual harassment and assault

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

ending sex segregation in sports is a terrible idea bc men will simply abuse their power and the cultural misperception that all men and boys are inherently physically and mentally superior to all women and girls to create gender inequality that makes corporate boardrooms look downright progressive

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

most sports are actually segregated by sex for the same reason chess is: the men who run the leagues, the athletic departments, and make up the playerbase are so virulently misogynist that there is no way for women to fairly compete. the whole thing is simply rigged in favor of men

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

well ofc trans women have an unfair advantage in beauty pageants! theyre gender surgeried to perfection *clenches jaw* voice trained to siren-like allure *grinds teeth* they project unshakable confidence *blood gushes from nose* their height and long legs make their profile irresis—*passes out*

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Reposted by Nicole DeWitt

🎃 Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 12/09/2026

The international chess Federation banned trans women from playing women's chess. CHESS. It's not about fairness. The fairness argument is intended to radicalize people into more violent forms of transphobia.

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Reposted by Nicole DeWitt

Lupita Nihongo @otsumamiboy.blacksky.app · 12/09/2026

At the same time as there is a national debate on whether it’s fair for trans people to play sports we have utterly lost the argument as to whether a Black person with a front facing job is qualified & I can’t believe liberals who entertained both debates don’t see the common denominator here.

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

yep, thats why they always frame this as “protecting women and girls.” they arent malicious or prejudiced, heavens no! theyre just protecting the sex-based purity of the fatherland from the pernicious international cabal trying to poison the xx-xy blood of the nation!

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Reposted by Nicole DeWitt

Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

it would shock the average person how many anti-trans activists had a partner or child who came out as trans and, rather than being supportive, they obsessively worked to "purge" transness from their lives (as well as society)...

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

…so basically as a 16yo white girl i studied in china for a year, learned a whole lot about how to think, study, and learn, and when i returned with my wealth of foreign knowledge all of it was falsely attributed to western education and the protestant work ethic 😑

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

my parents would say this to me, somehow completely missing that my academics improved a lot my junior year bc my chinese teachers taught me actual study techniques—no one had before bc i was “smart” (had undiagnosed adhd)—and my host brother studied all the time which encouraged me to do the same

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Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

yeah i started hearing this one a lot after i decided to study abroad in beijing in high school in the late aughts. it got even worse when i returned. it was weird bc people would tell me this, but what they obviously wanted was for me to confirm they shouldnt fear china and were right to dismiss it

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Reposted by Nicole DeWitt

👁️🍄🪸 @bloomfilters.plus · 11/09/2026

bloomfilters.neocities.org/journal/boys... relatedly is the thing

Q. You want to raise every boy as a girl?

Yes.
Q. Why?

A boy will learn to hate girls as long as he is raised in such a way where he is treated as better, and superior to, his girl peers, whenever he is cruel to girls. So, instead, we raise boys as girls.
Q. What if they say they are not a girl, and want to be acknowledged as a boy?

Then you know they are a boy, so you must make sure to understand them as a boy, and not a girl.
Q. What does it mean to be "raised as a girl"?

That's up for you to decide. The only difference is that you should not raise boys any differently than you raise girls, since you raise every boy as a girl.

Q. Girls and boys are raised in specific ways for specific purposes, so it does not make sense to raise boys as girls.

If you raise every boy as a girl, then there is no being which is not raised as a girl, so anyone raised as a girl necessarily must learn to do anything and everything to grow up, without restrictions on tasks, labours, or interests.
Q. But boys and girls are different.

All two girls are different, and raising girls in one specific way destroys this individuality in favour of moulding girls to serve the same master. Still, the girls resist to live life on their own terms. If girls can be raised such that they know they can do anything they want, including not being girls, so too will boys raised as girls.
Q. Why not raise every girl as a boy?

Because if a girl does not exist among boys, then the girl is made.
Q. Why not raise girls and boys as themselves?

The self must be made in a world where girls and boys can first and foremost be themselves. One step towards this goal is to raise every boy as a girl.
Q. The way people raise girls is cruel, so why would you raise boys with that cruelty?

If you raise girls with cruelty, then you should stop being cruel to girls.

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