jt, there are a bunch and they are right here on Substack. BARpod & Singal-minded, Lisa Selin Davis' Broadview, it is Wesley Yang's current and very deep obsession on Year Zero, Colin Wright of course, Andrew Sullivan has weighed in at least a couple times, Abigail Shrier's The Truth Fairy, and Graham Linehan's infamous The Glinner Updat…
jt, there are a bunch and they are right here on Substack. BARpod & Singal-minded, Lisa Selin Davis' Broadview, it is Wesley Yang's current and very deep obsession on Year Zero, Colin Wright of course, Andrew Sullivan has weighed in at least a couple times, Abigail Shrier's The Truth Fairy, and Graham Linehan's infamous The Glinner Update. This is the topic du jour and there are a ton of folks weighing in on it from all sides. So much so that the topic might have even reached a tipping point. Everyone I listed above is more or less coming from a perspective that is critical of current trans ideology (to varying degrees of intensity). It's on Medium where we get the rah-rah/must automatically support zombie-crowd. Quite the opposite here on Substack.
There are a number of trans writers who are also critical of trans ideology. I'd recommend TaraElla Project for a very balanced perspective. She is perhaps the only trans writer I'm familiar with who is openly critical of trans ideologues (as well as other woke models like postmodernism & CRT) while still remaining a progressive liberal. A highly intellectual writer (and quite dry). Another trans progressive, Contra Points, has also had her moments of being critical (mainly towards non-binaries and cancel culture though), but she's a YouTube personality. Of course there is also YouTuber Blaire White, who is very enjoyable, but she's full-on red pill/alt-right, so of course she's against modern trans ideology, despite being trans herself.
Personally, I would love it if Steve could tackle other topics, just as I'm very appreciative when BARpod & Singal-minded do the same. His style is straightforward, personable, and resonant, he does the research, and he is a very clear thinker. It would be interesting to see his thoughts on topics other than gender & race & cancel culture. (Not saying I don't appreciate his writings on those topics! His writing on those topics is why I'm here in the first place.)
If you read the history of "trans" affirmation you will see that studies are limited to teens who have been formally diagnosed as dysphoric. The rate of regret for those who undergo hormones and surgery is very low.
What has changed with the advent of the "cisnormativity" screamers is the removal of the dysphoria requirement; they call this "medicalizing" a condition which they insist as regarding as a choice that should be unconditionally respected.
This does harm.
One of the ugliest claims of the far right has been that being gay is a choice, by their definition an immoral one, and that any gay person can as easily choose to be straight.
With "trans" the activists take the opposite tact; that "trans" can be chosen, and that's OK.
Except that ... to accept this requires turning an indifferent eye to elective mutilation of people who will outgrow their "trans" beliefs in a few years, albeit missing pieces they were born with.
There is a condition called Body Identity Integrity Disorder in which people convince themselves that one or more of their limbs are cumbersome and unwieldy and seek to have healthy arms or legs amputated. People have even lain a leg across a railroad track (they bled to death in seconds). Some of them manage to find surgeons who will take their money and amputate (sound familiar?). In fact the two disorders are both called dysphorias and are regarded as related.
I don't see a lot of BIID activists screaming about the tyranny of fourlimbnormativity. But the "trans" shit is not far from that.
A quarter century ago there were three hospitals in the entire USA that would perform gender reassignment surgery and qualification was extremely strict: two years living as the other gender, exhaustive psychiatric screening. The great majority was rejected.
Now there are over sixty "gender clinics" and qualification is all but wide open. "I think I might be trans." Get on the table, count down from ten. Activists have manipulated every initially sober medical debate with screams of bigotry (always expressed in some idiotic words that didn't exist a few months ago) and demands that pharmaceutical and surgical intervention begin at ever younger ages.
Steve has written enough about the activists and it is amazing he hasn't gotten that email from Roger (he/him); I got it for saying that a transwoman is biologically male, which is about as controversial as saying the earth orbits the sun. Most of the articles written by "trans" are roiling with rage, these are clearly unbalanced people and by any metric, the gerat majority of those claiming "trans" are solely in it for attention.
I'm familiar with all but the TaraElla Project. I'll read her directly. But here's the thing: The folks You mentioned are doing good work but, on balance, they're a drop in the ocean.
I didn't mean to "say" that Steve should *only* write on trans issues. Just that it's important that he adds a drop in the ocean of insanity.
One thing has give me genuine hope recently: the hyper-woke NYT has now run at least 2-3 articles in the past few months that are clearly questioning some of that ocean of insanity that is concerning to many of us here. I do think the tide is turning and the fringe perspectives are increasingly being seen as exactly that, fringe. Right now the shift appears focused on questioning the medicalization of minors (thank God, that is the place where I'd start too), but I can see it going in other directions eventually, like sports.
Or maybe I'm just a glass-half-full kinda guy LOL.
jt, there are a bunch and they are right here on Substack. BARpod & Singal-minded, Lisa Selin Davis' Broadview, it is Wesley Yang's current and very deep obsession on Year Zero, Colin Wright of course, Andrew Sullivan has weighed in at least a couple times, Abigail Shrier's The Truth Fairy, and Graham Linehan's infamous The Glinner Update. This is the topic du jour and there are a ton of folks weighing in on it from all sides. So much so that the topic might have even reached a tipping point. Everyone I listed above is more or less coming from a perspective that is critical of current trans ideology (to varying degrees of intensity). It's on Medium where we get the rah-rah/must automatically support zombie-crowd. Quite the opposite here on Substack.
There are a number of trans writers who are also critical of trans ideology. I'd recommend TaraElla Project for a very balanced perspective. She is perhaps the only trans writer I'm familiar with who is openly critical of trans ideologues (as well as other woke models like postmodernism & CRT) while still remaining a progressive liberal. A highly intellectual writer (and quite dry). Another trans progressive, Contra Points, has also had her moments of being critical (mainly towards non-binaries and cancel culture though), but she's a YouTube personality. Of course there is also YouTuber Blaire White, who is very enjoyable, but she's full-on red pill/alt-right, so of course she's against modern trans ideology, despite being trans herself.
Personally, I would love it if Steve could tackle other topics, just as I'm very appreciative when BARpod & Singal-minded do the same. His style is straightforward, personable, and resonant, he does the research, and he is a very clear thinker. It would be interesting to see his thoughts on topics other than gender & race & cancel culture. (Not saying I don't appreciate his writings on those topics! His writing on those topics is why I'm here in the first place.)
If you read the history of "trans" affirmation you will see that studies are limited to teens who have been formally diagnosed as dysphoric. The rate of regret for those who undergo hormones and surgery is very low.
What has changed with the advent of the "cisnormativity" screamers is the removal of the dysphoria requirement; they call this "medicalizing" a condition which they insist as regarding as a choice that should be unconditionally respected.
This does harm.
One of the ugliest claims of the far right has been that being gay is a choice, by their definition an immoral one, and that any gay person can as easily choose to be straight.
With "trans" the activists take the opposite tact; that "trans" can be chosen, and that's OK.
Except that ... to accept this requires turning an indifferent eye to elective mutilation of people who will outgrow their "trans" beliefs in a few years, albeit missing pieces they were born with.
There is a condition called Body Identity Integrity Disorder in which people convince themselves that one or more of their limbs are cumbersome and unwieldy and seek to have healthy arms or legs amputated. People have even lain a leg across a railroad track (they bled to death in seconds). Some of them manage to find surgeons who will take their money and amputate (sound familiar?). In fact the two disorders are both called dysphorias and are regarded as related.
I don't see a lot of BIID activists screaming about the tyranny of fourlimbnormativity. But the "trans" shit is not far from that.
A quarter century ago there were three hospitals in the entire USA that would perform gender reassignment surgery and qualification was extremely strict: two years living as the other gender, exhaustive psychiatric screening. The great majority was rejected.
Now there are over sixty "gender clinics" and qualification is all but wide open. "I think I might be trans." Get on the table, count down from ten. Activists have manipulated every initially sober medical debate with screams of bigotry (always expressed in some idiotic words that didn't exist a few months ago) and demands that pharmaceutical and surgical intervention begin at ever younger ages.
Steve has written enough about the activists and it is amazing he hasn't gotten that email from Roger (he/him); I got it for saying that a transwoman is biologically male, which is about as controversial as saying the earth orbits the sun. Most of the articles written by "trans" are roiling with rage, these are clearly unbalanced people and by any metric, the gerat majority of those claiming "trans" are solely in it for attention.
TY for Your reply, M Monday.
I'm familiar with all but the TaraElla Project. I'll read her directly. But here's the thing: The folks You mentioned are doing good work but, on balance, they're a drop in the ocean.
I didn't mean to "say" that Steve should *only* write on trans issues. Just that it's important that he adds a drop in the ocean of insanity.
One thing has give me genuine hope recently: the hyper-woke NYT has now run at least 2-3 articles in the past few months that are clearly questioning some of that ocean of insanity that is concerning to many of us here. I do think the tide is turning and the fringe perspectives are increasingly being seen as exactly that, fringe. Right now the shift appears focused on questioning the medicalization of minors (thank God, that is the place where I'd start too), but I can see it going in other directions eventually, like sports.
Or maybe I'm just a glass-half-full kinda guy LOL.
Yeah, glass half-full. :-)
And, yeah, saw a couple of those articles in NYT. Light at end of trans tunnel?