this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2024
856 points (98.4% liked)

News

23645 readers
4255 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Exclusive: Family calls for inquest, saying Wilkinson visited police ‘almost every day’ before she was murdered by her husband in 2021

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] AnalogyAddict 181 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

When I tried to report my suspicions that my ex was abusing my kids, I was told by DCFS to stop stirring up trouble or I would lose custody.

Years later, my kids are old enough to be listened to, and the DA office still chose not to prosecute because it's he-said-she-said. Both kids have mental health issues stemming from child abuse that I have to deal with on a daily basis, all while trying to juggle my mental health as a previous abuse victim from the same man.

And then they say that victims fail to report. Well, duh. It's often safer not to.

[–] theangryseal 59 points 10 months ago (2 children)

My sister ended up losing custody for the same thing.

I begged her not to do it because I knew exactly how it would go. I said, “Seriously, you’re in a custody dispute. They’re going to treat you like you’re making this up. Wait. Be patient. I know it sucks. It just isn’t the right time for it.”

The kid is very autistic and he sits and yells at himself now, “You’re just bad Adam! You do this on purpose Adam! That’s for girls Adam! You’re not a girl Adam! You’re just a troublemaker Adam!” I wish I could remember what my mom told me he was yelling at himself about the other day, she was in tears.

I don’t know. It’s a sad situation. Her ex definitely has better resources for dealing with him (financially, which is a lot with autism as bad as his) but I can’t imagine him yelling criticisms at himself all the time if my sister didn’t lose him. He was allowed to express himself and dance and play dress up before. He don’t have that any more. Because he likes Disney princesses a lot and she had photographed him playing with dolls and things, they made a big deal about that in this small town.

Sad situation.

[–] AnalogyAddict 23 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I wasn't even in a dispute. I had full custody, and he had minimum visitation, which was still half the kids' free time. And he had been convicted of domestic violence.

That poor, sweet child. We are failing our children in the guise of parent's rights.

[–] theangryseal 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

My sister has been through it, she really has.

The guardian ad litem hates her guts and has practically dragged her through hell.

When Adam was about 3 it really became clear that something was off with him. You couldn’t get his attention unless he wanted you to have it. He’d run in circles for long periods of time. I joined him once and I started running in the other direction and he lost his shit.

He started taking shirts and using them like wigs and singing Disney songs, and it was a huge leap in his development so my sister got him some wigs. It wasn’t just princess wigs, he had a bunch of them. Short hair, long hair, Halloween costumes as Batman, but he really gravitated toward the princess stuff. She didn’t put a limit on him or encourage one thing or the other. The ex said, “you’re gonna make him gay letting him wear that stuff.” My sister’s response was, “He isn’t going to have much of an opportunity for a sexuality, you’re overreacting.” And in truth, I can’t see him ever having a life where he’s going to be dating and things like that. It just isn’t going to happen. He communicates his needs, but he isn’t ever going to be able to be independent.

And even if he could, he makes his own decisions. When it’s time to pick out his clothes, he doesn’t try to wear dresses. It’s just an outlet for him while he plays. He understands that he’s just reenacting what he sees. He likes what he likes.

Well, once the guardian ad litem heard about that, it was 100% what she focused on. She said in court that my sister was encouraging him to be a girl and confusing him. She went in and photographed his costumes, purposely leaving out the cowboy and superhero stuff, the pompadour, the ninja turtles. She photographed the princess stuff and the dolls.

It’s a bummer. I’m not gonna lie, the first time I seen him twirling around singing “Let it Go” in a blonde wig, it made me uneasy. But seeing him smile and laugh when he usually sits expressionless was huge.

It sucks that we put so much into our roles in this world that a happy kid has to question his happiness when so many doors are closed to him already because of his condition. It really does.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

“you’re gonna make him gay letting him wear that stuff."

I can't understand how people can be this ignorant and stupid...

[–] AnalogyAddict 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I always want to ask, "so the only reason you're a straight man is because you played with GI Joe?"

Because that would explain a lot about why you protest so strongly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

This is a great response that I'm gone a steal the next timee someone has an issue with my son carrying around an Elsa doll

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

You may have meant this more of an expression of shock, regardless it is good to think about the question. Hope you don't mind if I run with it for the general discussion.

Babies and children have an innate desire to learn, which can be nourished or beaten down. If it's beaten down long enough, "Ignorant" may become that child's preferred state as they get older, for reasons of domestic safety and social norms.

This lack of respect for knowledge and the accompanying lack of knowledge makes things that are outside someone's worldview threatening. They respond as if it was a threat and the cycle continues.

It is supposed to be the job of schools to rescue children from that cycle, by providing them with a space where they can be curious and not have to worry about a bigoted family member coming down on them. Sometimes they succeed but I think more often they don't, especially in areas where bigotry is rampant and/or where schools are underfunded or beholden to antisocial policies and laws.

I'm on a long bus ride, hence the exposition :)

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You go give that kid a hug on my behalf and tell him he's allowed to like all the Disney princesses he wants right now goddamnit

[–] midori 9 points 10 months ago

And another hug from me too goddammit