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Weekly News Replacement Therapy [[link removed]]













News Replacement Therapy - 29 Oct 2025 [[link removed]]









The Needle's weekly roundup of coverage. Open this newsletter for a summary of and links to the last week's news covered by The Needle.









By The Needle • 29 Oct 2025


View in browser [[link removed]]




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Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya [[link removed]] / Unsplash [[link removed]]











 











 















Hey John,

Thanks for being a subscriber of The Needle. Here is your Weekly NRT!

To start, here's our top 5 viewed articles this week.

#1 [[link removed]] - An op-ed about portrayals of trans women as inherently masculine, and how this harms the perceptions of them, even if the images are meant to advocate for them. This article is a form of media critique. It's not calling the real people the depictions may reflect hateful. It is an analysis of the context in which the depictions are made, and how there's little daylight between "allies" trying to make uplifting art and transphobic caricatures.






The trans woman as grotesque in transgender art
Validity is a plague, visibility is a threat, and “woke” caricatures won’t lead to liberation. If you want to fight for…


The Needle - News
•Artemis T. Douglas




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#2 [[link removed]] - An op-ed discussing the term "transsexual", and how modern reclamation of the term has nothing to do with the loaded, harmful past, wherein doctors controlled access to the means of transition. That was the age of transmedicalism (the ideology of gatekeeping care based on a doctor determining if you'd be "fuckable" on HRT, which was a catastrophe). The op-ed discusses how some of us have different needs, and that there should be language to talk about this.






Why some trans people are reclaiming the term ‘transsexual’, and why I am one of them
For decades, the term transgender’ has served as a label to unify a number of peoples whose gender identity was differe…


The Needle - News
•Jane Migliara Brigham




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#3 [[link removed]] - An op-ed discussing how fleeing a repressive regime, such as the US or UK, is isn't a betrayal of community, but rather a victory. Every trans person who becomes safe is a victory for us all. It further talks about how being able to migrate and survive is so uncontroversial in terms of moral philosophy that it's been codified in international law as a human right for nearly a century.






It’s possible to leave the US if you want to
Every trans woman who gets out of the US or UK is a victory, not a betrayal. Here are a few ways the author knows of to…


The Needle - News
•Artemis T. Douglas




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#4 [[link removed]] - A discussion of a recent study showing that as little as 6 months on feminizing HRT aligns the health profiles and protein expressions of a transsexual woman with those of a cis woman. The Needle covered this study before Erin in the Morning or Pink News! This was part of our ongoing "Academia Slaying" column.






Academia Slaying: Your honor, trans women are biologically women.
The study, published earlier this week, shows a significant number of protein-based sex changes within the body on HRT.…


The Needle - News
•Artemis T. Douglas




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#5 [[link removed]] - A discussion of a recent study that joyfully discusses puppygirls and what they can teach us. To our knowledge, none of the other trans news sites have covered this study. Also part of the "Academia Slaying" column.






Academia Slaying: What we can learn from the puppygirl
The tools of academia can be used for joyful things- rather than just for reinforcing or changing the system. They can …


The Needle - News
•Artemis T. Douglas




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Up next is every article we published since the last NRT went out.

First up, we have the next 3 entries in Jane's interview series with Louise Weard, the creator of the Castration Movie series. Here is Part 4 [[link removed]] and Part 5 [[link removed]].






14 Weird Questions With Louise Weard, Part 3 of 7
The filmmaker speaks to The Needle about trans culture and trans cinema in a long-form interview. This is The Needle’s …


The Needle - News
•Jane Migliara Brigham




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Second, Jane syndicated her argument for armed community self defense as an opinion piece from Assigned Media [[link removed]] over here to The Needle.






Armed Minorities are Harder to Oppress: The Case for Trans Community Defense
The solution is simple: Arm the dolls. Those at the greatest risk of abuse have the greatest need to defend themselves …


The Needle - News
•Jane Migliara Brigham




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Feeling down about the state of trans rights in America? For our Good News! vertical, Artemis has your back- with an article discussing multiple (six) laws passed by Colorado's legislature in the most recent session, all of which improve trans and queer lives.






Colorado- State legislature enhances queer safety and trans protections
Colorado may be angling to provide gender affirming care without depending on federal money and passed 6 bills in favor…


The Needle - News
•Artemis T. Douglas




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In political news, Jane interviewed a transsexual woman running for state legislature in Indiana. The candidate, Lilliana Young, offered a vision of solidarity and progress.






Indiana- Interview: Lilliana talks running for office in deep-red Indiana
We talk about trans solidarity in hard times. This is The Needle’s latest culture and politics coverage.…


The Needle - News
•Jane Migliara Brigham




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In another entry for our "Academia Slaying" vertical, Artemis covered a study that is an interesting case. On the one hand, it provides strong data debunking gender conservative claims about "youth desistance", and on the other- the way the study brief was written reinforces gatekeeping, cissexist ideas of what transsexual medicine should be.






Academia Slaying: Trans youth given HRT will almost always stay on HRT
The study brief, published Oct. 7, has powerful data but unfortunately the way it is written aligns with gender conserv…


The Needle - News
•Artemis T. Douglas




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Artemis also covered a frustrating development in the UK's war on women and what is constructed as acceptable womanhood.






UK government further erases women in its new menopause overhaul
Even when the UK government is dealing with (cis) women’s health, it can’t seem to help itself from erasing entire swat…


The Needle - News
•Artemis T. Douglas




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Finally, we published an article addressing misinformation about asylum-seeking.






Fact Check: Did the Netherlands remove its safe country of origin list? What does that mean?
Asylum seeking is set up to function as the most invasive and dehumanizing type of immigration - If you have a US passp…


The Needle - News
•Artemis T. Douglas




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If you're already a paid subscriber, we thank you again for your generous support and solidarity.

💡Disclaimer: This newsletter is named "News Replacement Therapy" as a cheeky reference to HRT, and is not meant to be an actual, literal medicine or therapy. We aren't trained in that, but to be fair, neither is your doctor.





















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