I fear there is a critical mass of people who, because of their personal circumstances, can never retreat from gender ideology. Think of all the parents who gleefully participated in the mutilation of their children. Imagine being a parent who willingly took part in having your daughter’s breasts cut off. If that were you, could you ever look into her bearded face and admit you fell for the lies of an insane cult?
I do feel that the average leftist is starting to have a little more nuance on the subject. But feminist in France (my country) are still mostly keeping up with the delusion and the people who are full into the belief of gender identity are not turning back. I worry about radicalization, especially of those who already beleive there is a trans genocide.
Definately, and I have sympathy for some of them. Many have been pushed into it, by society and their kids. I do feel that people are becoming a bit more aware that something is going on, I feel a little bolder in speaking out (I need to protect my relationship with my child). There is change in the air circulation in some parts.
I welcome this question, which is very much on my mind in anticipation of the forthcoming Genspect conference in Lisbon (that I will be attending).
I find the “turning the tide“ metaphor to be unfortunate. I feel the same way about a metaphor that was once more common -- the pendulum will swing back. Both metaphors imply that a correction to an unwelcome social trend is more or less to be expected, as if it followed the laws of physics. But it is not automatic; it depends on the concerted efforts of a wide range of actors at various levels of society, pushing against another set of actors, in this case a large and committed cadre of TRAs.
Success is by no means guaranteed. Some societies descend into a pathological and even totalitarian madness, with no correction forthcoming.
I find a similar kind of (lazy) optimism in the oft expressed view, “In ten (or twenty) years, we we will look back and ask, "What were we thinking?" In fact, while some social manias fade in importance, there is not necessarily a reckoning, with "lessons learned." Recovered memory syndrome is one example. Although it has faded in importance, it is not well remembered, and it even survives to a lesser extent. The same is true for Multiple Identity Disorder, which has been rebranded as Dissociated Identity Disorder, which, as noted in the WPATH files, survives among gender medicine practitioners, who have devised methods for obtained "informed consent" from each of a patient´s several alters, not all of whom are the same gender.
A more apt metaphor would be to ask if we are gaining traction. In Great Britain (Terf Island), gender critical activists have been gaining traction for some time, and can even point to forward progress, with the release of the Cass Report, as well as a significant shift in public opinion on the matter of self ID.
In the US, it would be fair to say that we are gaining traction in some arenas, but not in others. States legislatures in red states have passed legislation banning gender medicine for minors, but in blue states, gender medicine is proceeding apace. On the national level, whistleblowers have come forward but have received little attention from the mainstream media. There has been a shift in coverage in the NY Times, including (limited) coverage of the Cass Report, which is a clear sign of traction. But signs of traction in other media is spotty at best.
As far as men violating women´s spaces, there has been coverage, in particular, surrounding Lia Thomas, for example. But this attention has not deterred the Biden Administration from implementing harmful changes to Title IX. So, gaining traction? Yes. Overall, forward movement? Not yet.
It should also be noted how deeply entrenched gender ideology has been entrenched in the educational system, from primary school to higher education. Even with the increased public awareness we are now seeing -- a sign of traction -- it will not be easily displaced.
Let me be clear, I think we should be encouraged by the signs of progress in the last few years. But, at the same time, I think we should be clear headed about just exactly what we are up against. We are gaining traction, but even still, powerful forces are pushing back.
Some of our heroes -- Jesse Singal, Ben Ryan, Colin Wright among them -- have been frustrated of late by the TRAs of the world in their unhinged response to Cass. It goes along the line of
Cass: We rate studies using an accepted scale and those judged to be low quality are not accepted for this review.
"TRA: Cass ignored studies that show positive results for trans health care.
Cass: Yeah, they were low quality studies. We told you our methodology and why they were low quality.
TRA: yeah....but you ignored the studies that shower positing results for trans health care...
Cass: Read the paper. We explain it all there
TRA: But you ignored studies....
I compare it to endgame in a chess match. The ideologues know that checkmate is inevitable. They are just flailing about with wild moves to stave off the inevitable. They have to fight extra hard as this is their whole identity.
Absolutely, everytime I speak of the Cass review, the answer is : "transphobes are behind it" and "they selected bad studies that were anti-trans and ignored the studies saying that transition of minors is good practice". One of the activists I was talking to had the gall to pretend that it was debunked. To prove it, he send me four slides of an instagram post basically saying : some advisers are transphobic, therefore, it's worthless. It's impossible to have an actual debate with people like that.
I think there's something SO fundamental about how humans 'imbue' others with 'identity' that without doing LOTS of thinking about it, I think the problem is this: Once the idea is embraced that someone can be 'trans' (in the same way that someone can be 'gay,' 'Jewish,' or 'black,') coming to see 'trans' as anything other than an innate, immutable essence is close to impossible. Since this perspective creates such a gigantic conceptual blind spot, conversation about the subject will have to be had without them. I actually suspect these holdouts will become increasingly self-isolating and irrelevant.
Yes ! I'm so tired of hearing people talk of "trans kids" as if some people are just "born this way".
I was talking online with another woman who, like me, had struggled quite deeply with becoming a woman during her teenage years. We were discussing how it tooks us years to accept ourselves as women. If the propaganda was a thing then, maybe we could have be swept up by this ideology and never come to terms with it. And here comes a "trans ally" who tells us : "it's not the same, you're not trans, you can't compare".
Ugh, the Title IX “identity” thing. As the mother of a female student who was harmed by a male student and filed a formal complaint, I couldn’t know whether the school was purposely slow-walking it to keep a credibly accused violent offender on campus, or simply inundated with complaints that had less to do with offenses that resulted in actual impediments to accessing education and more to do with grievances around pronouns or insisting on male access to women’s-only housing, hygiene, and sports. The lawyer we hired to support my daughter’s complaint was waiting expectantly for the revisions of Title IX. My daughter’s attacker was expelled, on appeal, on March 8, International Women’s Day, but it took the better part of a year to get that harmful male student off campus, and my daughter missed an entire academic year. Title IX was a mess, and is now arguably a worse fucking mess. Women are being harmed by men on college campuses in numbers we have never known… a lot of it is the fact that these male genZ students were marinated in violent online porn for a decade. If there were ever a time to acknowledge that WOMEN need advocacy, it is now. Instead we get Kool-aid cocktails served up by the rainbow activists.
It is remarkable how many girls in my daughter’s high school class are choosing to defer college. I can’t say all of their reasons, but the new title 1X rules could be one.
Unfortunately it’s about politics in the United States not medical science. I suspect that it will go away once we get a new president and some successful lawsuits. In the meantime however…
I feel like we are at a critical moment for stopping this in Latin America, which could have spillover effects in the US (instead of what usually occurs where US health care guidelines are adopted in Latin America). I would love to partner with Genspect on this. I can translate!
Frustrating beyond belief. Common sense hasn't moved the US, now science hasn't moved them - and they claim to be all about the science. I fear that when this does all topple down in the US, no one will be held accountable. I'm disquested by my own country and desperate to leave.
I believe it will go very slowly and then very very quickly.
I think back to the UK in the early noughties when there was a sudden sea change in attitudes to child abuse. That was after years of incidents where children were taken away from abusive parents which were widely rejected because people couldn’t accept it was happening. The social workers were monstered by the press.
Another parallel is the Magdalene homes in Ireland.
In Australia a few Liberal politicians have taken up the issue and the WA Liberals have promised to ban puberty blockers for gender dysphoria. Cass didn’t get much attention on the ABC or other left leaning media outlets unfortunately. Labor claimed it was irrelevant to Australia. I don’t know whether the issue is being widely discussed among the general public because I’m hesitant to discuss it with friends and acquaintances for all the usual reasons.
I fear there is a critical mass of people who, because of their personal circumstances, can never retreat from gender ideology. Think of all the parents who gleefully participated in the mutilation of their children. Imagine being a parent who willingly took part in having your daughter’s breasts cut off. If that were you, could you ever look into her bearded face and admit you fell for the lies of an insane cult?
I do feel that the average leftist is starting to have a little more nuance on the subject. But feminist in France (my country) are still mostly keeping up with the delusion and the people who are full into the belief of gender identity are not turning back. I worry about radicalization, especially of those who already beleive there is a trans genocide.
Definately, and I have sympathy for some of them. Many have been pushed into it, by society and their kids. I do feel that people are becoming a bit more aware that something is going on, I feel a little bolder in speaking out (I need to protect my relationship with my child). There is change in the air circulation in some parts.
I welcome this question, which is very much on my mind in anticipation of the forthcoming Genspect conference in Lisbon (that I will be attending).
I find the “turning the tide“ metaphor to be unfortunate. I feel the same way about a metaphor that was once more common -- the pendulum will swing back. Both metaphors imply that a correction to an unwelcome social trend is more or less to be expected, as if it followed the laws of physics. But it is not automatic; it depends on the concerted efforts of a wide range of actors at various levels of society, pushing against another set of actors, in this case a large and committed cadre of TRAs.
Success is by no means guaranteed. Some societies descend into a pathological and even totalitarian madness, with no correction forthcoming.
I find a similar kind of (lazy) optimism in the oft expressed view, “In ten (or twenty) years, we we will look back and ask, "What were we thinking?" In fact, while some social manias fade in importance, there is not necessarily a reckoning, with "lessons learned." Recovered memory syndrome is one example. Although it has faded in importance, it is not well remembered, and it even survives to a lesser extent. The same is true for Multiple Identity Disorder, which has been rebranded as Dissociated Identity Disorder, which, as noted in the WPATH files, survives among gender medicine practitioners, who have devised methods for obtained "informed consent" from each of a patient´s several alters, not all of whom are the same gender.
A more apt metaphor would be to ask if we are gaining traction. In Great Britain (Terf Island), gender critical activists have been gaining traction for some time, and can even point to forward progress, with the release of the Cass Report, as well as a significant shift in public opinion on the matter of self ID.
In the US, it would be fair to say that we are gaining traction in some arenas, but not in others. States legislatures in red states have passed legislation banning gender medicine for minors, but in blue states, gender medicine is proceeding apace. On the national level, whistleblowers have come forward but have received little attention from the mainstream media. There has been a shift in coverage in the NY Times, including (limited) coverage of the Cass Report, which is a clear sign of traction. But signs of traction in other media is spotty at best.
As far as men violating women´s spaces, there has been coverage, in particular, surrounding Lia Thomas, for example. But this attention has not deterred the Biden Administration from implementing harmful changes to Title IX. So, gaining traction? Yes. Overall, forward movement? Not yet.
It should also be noted how deeply entrenched gender ideology has been entrenched in the educational system, from primary school to higher education. Even with the increased public awareness we are now seeing -- a sign of traction -- it will not be easily displaced.
Let me be clear, I think we should be encouraged by the signs of progress in the last few years. But, at the same time, I think we should be clear headed about just exactly what we are up against. We are gaining traction, but even still, powerful forces are pushing back.
It´s a long haul.
Some of our heroes -- Jesse Singal, Ben Ryan, Colin Wright among them -- have been frustrated of late by the TRAs of the world in their unhinged response to Cass. It goes along the line of
Cass: We rate studies using an accepted scale and those judged to be low quality are not accepted for this review.
"TRA: Cass ignored studies that show positive results for trans health care.
Cass: Yeah, they were low quality studies. We told you our methodology and why they were low quality.
TRA: yeah....but you ignored the studies that shower positing results for trans health care...
Cass: Read the paper. We explain it all there
TRA: But you ignored studies....
I compare it to endgame in a chess match. The ideologues know that checkmate is inevitable. They are just flailing about with wild moves to stave off the inevitable. They have to fight extra hard as this is their whole identity.
Absolutely, everytime I speak of the Cass review, the answer is : "transphobes are behind it" and "they selected bad studies that were anti-trans and ignored the studies saying that transition of minors is good practice". One of the activists I was talking to had the gall to pretend that it was debunked. To prove it, he send me four slides of an instagram post basically saying : some advisers are transphobic, therefore, it's worthless. It's impossible to have an actual debate with people like that.
I think there's something SO fundamental about how humans 'imbue' others with 'identity' that without doing LOTS of thinking about it, I think the problem is this: Once the idea is embraced that someone can be 'trans' (in the same way that someone can be 'gay,' 'Jewish,' or 'black,') coming to see 'trans' as anything other than an innate, immutable essence is close to impossible. Since this perspective creates such a gigantic conceptual blind spot, conversation about the subject will have to be had without them. I actually suspect these holdouts will become increasingly self-isolating and irrelevant.
Yes ! I'm so tired of hearing people talk of "trans kids" as if some people are just "born this way".
I was talking online with another woman who, like me, had struggled quite deeply with becoming a woman during her teenage years. We were discussing how it tooks us years to accept ourselves as women. If the propaganda was a thing then, maybe we could have be swept up by this ideology and never come to terms with it. And here comes a "trans ally" who tells us : "it's not the same, you're not trans, you can't compare".
Ugh, the Title IX “identity” thing. As the mother of a female student who was harmed by a male student and filed a formal complaint, I couldn’t know whether the school was purposely slow-walking it to keep a credibly accused violent offender on campus, or simply inundated with complaints that had less to do with offenses that resulted in actual impediments to accessing education and more to do with grievances around pronouns or insisting on male access to women’s-only housing, hygiene, and sports. The lawyer we hired to support my daughter’s complaint was waiting expectantly for the revisions of Title IX. My daughter’s attacker was expelled, on appeal, on March 8, International Women’s Day, but it took the better part of a year to get that harmful male student off campus, and my daughter missed an entire academic year. Title IX was a mess, and is now arguably a worse fucking mess. Women are being harmed by men on college campuses in numbers we have never known… a lot of it is the fact that these male genZ students were marinated in violent online porn for a decade. If there were ever a time to acknowledge that WOMEN need advocacy, it is now. Instead we get Kool-aid cocktails served up by the rainbow activists.
It is remarkable how many girls in my daughter’s high school class are choosing to defer college. I can’t say all of their reasons, but the new title 1X rules could be one.
Unfortunately it’s about politics in the United States not medical science. I suspect that it will go away once we get a new president and some successful lawsuits. In the meantime however…
I feel like we are at a critical moment for stopping this in Latin America, which could have spillover effects in the US (instead of what usually occurs where US health care guidelines are adopted in Latin America). I would love to partner with Genspect on this. I can translate!
Frustrating beyond belief. Common sense hasn't moved the US, now science hasn't moved them - and they claim to be all about the science. I fear that when this does all topple down in the US, no one will be held accountable. I'm disquested by my own country and desperate to leave.
Don’t move to Canada… I’m amazed how grotesquely this issue has transformed the way minors access the medical system without parental consent.
I believe it will go very slowly and then very very quickly.
I think back to the UK in the early noughties when there was a sudden sea change in attitudes to child abuse. That was after years of incidents where children were taken away from abusive parents which were widely rejected because people couldn’t accept it was happening. The social workers were monstered by the press.
Another parallel is the Magdalene homes in Ireland.
In Australia a few Liberal politicians have taken up the issue and the WA Liberals have promised to ban puberty blockers for gender dysphoria. Cass didn’t get much attention on the ABC or other left leaning media outlets unfortunately. Labor claimed it was irrelevant to Australia. I don’t know whether the issue is being widely discussed among the general public because I’m hesitant to discuss it with friends and acquaintances for all the usual reasons.