WELL THIS IS THE LAST STRAW I WAS HAPPY UNTIL SOME COUNTRY I CANT POINT TO ON A MAP WONT BE GETTING ANY MORE FARRARIS FOR THEIR POLITICIANS

Let's say this is possible, in a hypothetical and Reddit could police anonymous-esque accounts out of existence. Would people stop using Reddit? And maybe they had that feature the gram used to have so you can see that your friends post elsewhere. Would it be more civil? Less weirdos??

I think maybe you'd be less inclined to read some opinion of a fat. But at the same time, I've seen white girls using the n word under reels and notgaf.

The plane that crashed in Toronto was a Delta flight operated by Endeavor Air, a small airline obsessed with all-female "unmanned" flights pic.twitter.com/pYMS3kdpQy

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 19, 2025

"In you I see the manifestation of bodhisattva," Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay tells PM Modi at Delhi address https://t.co/ZJatRLoMCB

— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) February 21, 2025

Priest King transcends religious boundaries, he's the reborn Priest King of Harappa and the Bodhisattva who was promised

A Portland Antifa member sprayed "NAZI" on a Tesla. The car is owned by Timothy H. Tees, a wealthy Portland liberal who hates President Trump and @elonmusk. He says he would go protest with the Antifa militant who vandalized his car and says the money he spent cleaning the spray… pic.twitter.com/3l2asTyiwG

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2025

!chuds !nooticers

Feeling a little melancholic today, I yearn to return to pappa Loomis, might start the "Bridgeman marathon" this weekend.

Drew these yesterday

When Lorraine Kelly shared her experience of menopause on her daytime TV show in 2017, she was her own last resort. Initially, she set out to interview a famous woman about her story, but everyone she approached refused.

"I thought, nobody else will talk about it so I'll do it. It was a breakthrough moment," said Kelly.

Seven years later, it often feels as though we have reached peak menopause. Michelle Obama, Salma Hayek and Gwyneth Paltrow have all been open about their experiences, encouraging women not to feel ashamed about a biological process an estimated 13 million people in the UK are now going through. And yet there's still one part of it that is barely spoken about.

Vaginal dryness.

As with so much in this realm, it took a celebrity – Davina McCall in this case – to shine a light on it. For those of us who'd assumed this symptom was a minor inconvenience, which only affected s*x and was easily remedied with the kinds of lubrication readily available from high street chemists, it was a brutal wake-up call.

"I had severe dryness, so severe that when I tried to wipe myself after going to the loo, it was so sore I was having to kind of dab," McCall said in her 2021 documentary, S*x, Myths and the Menopause. "I didn't know what it was, I had no idea that it was part of being perimenopausal."

Previously known as vulvovaginal atrophy, now rebranded as genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), vaginal dryness will probably affect between 60% and 80% of women, according to various studies. It is caused by the drop in oestrogen levels, which happens as women go through menopause, causing vaginal tissue to become thinner and less elastic. Despite it being so common, one study has found that a third of female sufferers did not report it to their doctor.

This is partly because of embarrassment, says Haitham Hamoda, consultant gynaecologist and clinical lead of the menopause service at King's College Hospital. "Most GPs are well informed and offer a great service, but of course, there are variations of what you can access. Part of it is going to be what is available to you, what is offered to you, and what you feel comfortable talking about."

He continues: "You'd be surprised how many people would come and see you because they're talking about flushes and sweats and brain fog. And when you say, 'Do you have vaginal dryness?' they will say, 'Oh, yes, it's really uncomfortable'. But they never really think about bringing it up, unless you specifically ask."

Hamoda has seen women who are too sore to wear underwear. "You do find people who say clothes are uncomfortable because it's touching against the area … In extreme cases they find it uncomfortable sitting or walking."

GP and menopause expert Dr Renée Hoenderkamp has had cases like this too. "I've seen women who can't go about their daily life because of vaginal dryness. It's absolutely debilitating. They can't go to the gym any more, can't wear jeans, can't go for a bike ride, can't run up the stairs at the station. It's all just too painful."

Clare, 55, says GSM "consumed my whole life". "I used to sit in a shallow, cold bath, sobbing. It was agony, the burning never let up for one second of the day or night. Even walking was painful." It began when she was 47, but she never considered her symptoms could have anything to do with being perimenopausal because her periods were regular, and she was not having hot flushes.

But, as Hoenderkamp points out, every menopause is different: "For some women, vaginal dryness will be their first symptom, very early, even before their periods have changed. Other women won't get it until they've gone through it all. It's really individual."

She also believes that seeing dryness as just a symptom of menopause can be misleading. "Women who breastfeed for more than six months will suppress their oestrogen to a level where they may get vaginal dryness. The pill can cause it. Antidepressants. It's not just restricted to menopausal women."

The implications of vaginal dryness can go far beyond pain, says Hoenderkamp. "Once past menopause, when all of the tissue in and around the vagina and urethra dries and atrophies, women become much more susceptible to urine infections because bacteria are able to attach to the tissue."

Hamoda has also seen women avoiding or missing cervical screening due to GSM. "Sometimes you can't open the speculum because they're so dry and uncomfortable, even though, of course, you're using plenty of lubrication." In some cases, he has told patients to "take vaginal oestrogen for the next two months, then come back and we'll attempt this smear again. Sadly, this is not an uncommon scenario."

Not every doctor is aware of how to help women with GSM. Emily, 44, sought medical advice as soon as her vaginal dryness began four years ago. "It felt like there was a red hot poker inside of me," she says. She also suffered from urinary tract infections. Her GP found it so hard to reach a diagnosis that at one point he told her – on the phone – that she might simply have to prepare herself for a life of chronic pain.

As she was 40 when her symptoms began, her doctor didn't consider perimenopause. She was passed between different NHS services, given courses of antibiotics, a cystoscopy, referrals to urology, gynaecology and physiotherapy. She also paid to see a private vulval pain specialist. As all this was going on, no painkillers could make any difference, and she remained in agony.

"It's been catastrophic," she says. "The pain makes it very difficult to concentrate. I've had to give up four jobs in the space of four years. I've had to sell my house and move away from my friends because I need to have more savings in case I can't carry on working. It's had a massive effect on my mental health."

Out of desperation, Emily began to research her symptoms herself. She found out that one in 20 women go through perimenopause before they're 45, and, presuming this was what was happening to her, Emily wrote a detailed letter to her GP, asking for vaginal oestrogen. He agreed to put her on a low dose. "And within two days the burning stopped."

She is still, however, struggling with her UTI symptoms – which include needing to pee around four times an hour. While it's impossible to know what has caused this, she believes that because her infection was not treated for so long it has got worse. She is now being treated separately for her persistent UTI.

Misdiagnosis is a common thread through this condition. Dr Paula Briggs, a consultant in sexual and reproductive health at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust, reports, "It depends who the patient presents to, how likely they are to get the right diagnosis. Loads of women will be told they've got thrush."

It's a perfect storm – women reluctant to seek medical help in the first place, then a delay in being diagnosed.

"Whereas other menopausal symptoms resolve – generally they get less severe, then they stop – GSM becomes progressively worse over time and is very difficult to reverse," says Briggs. She now thinks all women should be given vaginal oestrogen at around the age of 45 as a default.

However, as oestrogen pessaries fall under the HRT umbrella, some women remain nervous due to the small increased risk of breast cancer linked to progestogen-containing forms of HRT. Hoenderkamp says that vaginal oestrogen does not carry the same risk. "It is just about as safe as houses, and very easy. I often have women who say I can't have vaginal oestrogen because I've had breast cancer. Well, you can."

Hamoda is more cautious: "Generally speaking, with breast cancer patients you would try other non-hormonal options first. But on an individual basis."

However, it is not a problem that will disappear overnight. "In terms of the oestrogen, women are not going to do it for a year and then it will all be OK. It's probably a lifelong commitment to their vagina," says Hoenderkamp.

Vaginal oestrogen is available from chemists – although it's cheaper on prescription from your GP – and there are also moisturisers and lubricants women can buy over the counter as a possible first port of call.

The message overall is clear, though. If you are uncomfortably dry, you should never suffer in silence – it's not just a part of ageing that happens to everyone, which you have to grin and bear – it's something that can be treated and, in most cases, eased.

"Awareness is key," says Hamoda. So, while there has never been so much talk about menopause as there is now, there's still a lot that needs to be said.

Some names have been changed

https://old.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/1itweig/report_muslim_community_leaders_blocking_women_in/

The seal, believed to be about five or six weeks old, was found in the middle of Chapel Street near East Street. Police blocked off the area to keep it safe until the DEEP and Mystic Aquarium arrived.

"It definitely was concerning for us when we say he was amidst all that hustle and bustle of the city," said animal rescue technician Francesca Battaglia.

Battaglia said this wasn't the first time the aquarium's animal rescue team had seen the seal. He was in Branford last week, and on Saturday, he was spotted – maybe more fitting – next to Shell & Bones Oyster Bar and Grill on South Water Street in New Haven.

"We're like, he's still bright and alert and looking good," she said. "Maybe we can just relocate him to a safe beach, and so our team did do that. But then, unfortunately, the next day, he showed back up in the middle of the city there."

FREE HIM

All the sass!

Also, please upmarsey or donate to help fight the good fight c:

!animalposters !cats

Trench crusade is doomed

I'm a petty beefy guy. Have been for most of my adult life. I'm changing my eating and hitting the gym again to get healthy, but I don't think I'll ever be super thin again.

There seem to be a decent amount of men who find plus size women sexy, which I think is fantastic. But as a man, I can't say that my experience has been proportional or at all similar. Outside of fetish communities, I've not encountered a woman who was sincerely attracted to someone with my body type, and thats... hard.

I don't want to be a fetish. I don't want to be in a feeder-type relationship. I want to be healthy, but I also accept that healthiness for me might still be a hefty body type. The BHM communities I've found on reddit are very sexually oriented. I'm not here to kink shame anyone, but that's just not me.

I'm a man with a deep capacity for love and connection. I'm very connected to my feelings and really would like to find a meaningful relationship based on mutual interest, attraction, and compatible personalities.

I just don't know where to find women who would be interested in dating a guy like me. The apps are out. So are the popular dating sites. I just feel like modern dating isn't made for the plus sized man.

Does anyone have some good advice for me? I'm a 46 year old man, who at this point, is kind of at a loss.

!foidmoment !moidmoment

!poll_voters !male feminists

Giga - 16 votes

- 24 votes

- 12 votes

The younger brother told investigators that he would see the teacher and his brother "exiting the 1st-floor bathroom together, both wearing towels and wet."

The sister told detectives that the children would sleep in a shared room on the second floor but frequently noticed her brother would not be in his bed the next morning and would instead be sleeping in Caron's bed with her – the victims' younger brother, who was eight years old when he started living with the teacher, also said the same in a statement to law enforcement two days later.

One night while the younger brother was supposed to be sleeping, he told police he witnessed Caron, then 26, molest his brother, 11, while they were on a reclining chair watching a movie with a blanket over them.

In 2019, following the birth of the child, the victim began permanently sleeping in Caron's room and started to keep clothes in her dresser, according to the younger brother to police.

According to the criminal complaint, the crimes were first raised to police following a darning Facebook post by the victims' father who called out the uncanny resemblance of Caron's son to his son on December 12, 2024.