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Helen Pluckrose is a British writer and anti-transgender activist. Pluckrose was editor of anti-trans group blog Areo magazine from 2018 to 2021.

Pluckrose is critical of postmodernism and cultural constructivism. While claiming to take a centrist position that is generally trans-supportive, Pluckrose has espoused many anti-transgender views.

Background

Pluckrose was born in August 1974. Pluckrose earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of East London and a master’s degree from Queen Mary University of London.

Pluckrose was a social care worker from age 17 to 34.

In 2017 Pluckrose, Peter Boghossian, and James A. Lindsay carried out the “grievance studies” affair, where they submitted 20 hoax papers to academic journals in hopes of getting them published. One recommended that people challenge their transphobia by inserting sex toys into their anuses.

Pluckrose was editor of anti-trans group blog Areo magazine from 2018 to 2021, founding Areo Magazine Ltd in 2019. Pluckrose and Lindsay published the book Cynical Theories in 2020. Pluckrose founded Counterweight Support Limited in 2021.

Pluckrose and spouse David have one child.

Anti-transgender activism

Pluckrose asserts that “extreme trans activists” want to compel people to accept the following:

  • people must believe that trans people “straightforwardly are the gender they experience themselves to be”
  • people must use language that reflects a trans person’s gender
  • people must be trans-inclusive when choosing sexual partners

Pluckrose’s most significant anti-trans position is that “transitioning children is difficult to justify ethically.”

Pluckrose’s reasoning is a form of cisgender supremacy that prioritizes the well-being of cisgender children over the well-being of transgender children. According to Pluckrose, giving parental consent to medical transition for a trans youth “cannot justify permanently damaging the bodies” of young people who might not benefit in the long term from medical transition. In Pluckrose’s argument this “collateral damage” is worse than collateral damage to trans young people denied medical transition.

Pluckrose’s position is predicated on the potent “regret” narrative and its medicalized manifestations: “desistance” in minors and “detransition” in adults. Regret narratives are vastly overrepresented in mainstream media because it taps into parental anxiety and justifies suspicion about all trans people. Those who believe being trans is a medical problem like “social contagion” often believe there is a cure. Those who believe being trans is an ideology or cult often cling to the powerful fantasy of trans apostasy.

Ideologues who wish to involve themselves in the bodily autonomy of others often amplify regret narratives. For instance, though abortion regret is rare, abortion opponents amplify regret narratives to make abortion less accessible for those who might benefit, including minors.

During Pluckrose’s tenure at Areo, there were several articles critical of trans people (written by people like anti-trans activist Louise Perry), and no articles written by trans people.

In a 2020 Quillette interview, Pluckrose complained about trans activism:

People are being no-platformed, fired, and cancelled for disagreeing with these ideas. Here in the UK, the police have investigated somebody posting a limerick on Twitter that did not adhere to trans activism’s concept of gender identity and a journalist publishing an interview with a historian who said slavery was not genocide. Gender critical feminists are routinely threatened and intimidated for making arguments that self-ID is a threat to women’s sex-based rights. 

References

Pluckrose, Helen (September 27, 2017). An Argument for a Liberal and Rational Approach to Transgender Rights and Inclusion. Areo https://areomagazine.com/2017/09/27/an-argument-for-a-liberal-and-rational-approach-to-transgender-rights-and-inclusion/

Hill, Jason D. (December 16, 2020). On Activist Scholarship: An Interview with Helen Pluckrose. Quillette https://quillette.com/2020/12/16/on-activist-scholarship-an-interview-with-helen-pluckrose/

Perry, Louise (July 8, 2019). Minds Without Bodies: Transgenderism and the Authentic Self. Areo https://areomagazine.com/2019/08/07/minds-without-bodies-transgenderism-and-the-authentic-self/

Smith M (pseudonym) (2018). Going in Through the Back Door: Challenging Straight Male Homohysteria and Transphobia through Receptive Penetrative Sex Toy Use. Sexuality & Culture. 22 (4): 1542. 10.1007/s12119-018-9536-0

Resources

X/Twitter (x.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Caroline Farrow is a British writer and anti-transgender extremist.

Background

Farrow attended Brentwood School, Essex and New Hall School in Chelmsford, Essex.

Farrow worked as an accountant before working as an airline flight crew member. In 2010 Farrow began a pro-Catholic blog. Farrow has served as campaign director for the far-right lobby group CitizenGo.

Farrow is married to a priest named Robin and has five children. They live in Ash, Surrey.

Anti-transgender activism

Farrow posted on anti-trans site Kiwi Farms as Caroline Farrow, without a pseudonym, which was very unusual. After Farrow made a number of transphobic comments during a debate with Susie Green on Good Morning Britain, an investigation was opened. Farrow complained about being investigated on a 2019 Quillette podcast hosted by Toby Young.

In 2022 Farrow was arrested at home after many years of harassing, doxxing, and misgendering Stephanie Hayden. Surrey Police said:

“On Monday, 3 October, officers attended an address in the Guildford area as part of an investigation into allegations of malicious communications (sending of indecent, grossly offensive messages, threats, or information) and harassment. A 48-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of both offences. A number of electronic devices were seized as potential evidence from this address under section 19 of PACE. Where an offence is alleged to have been committed on an electronic device, for example, it may hold a key piece of evidence and may routinely be seized during an investigation. The woman was taken to Guildford police station where she was interviewed. She has now been released under investigation and inquiries remain ongoing.”

In October 2023, Farrow announced that CPS were not proceeding with prosecution because “the evidential test has not been met.”

References

Wakefield, Lily (October 13, 2022). Anti-trans activist Caroline Farrow sues trans woman she’s accused of doxxing. PinkNews https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/10/13/stephanie-hayden-caroline-farrow-arrest-kiwi-farms/

Gilbert, David (October 6, 2022). J.K. Rowling Ally Arrested for Allegedly Doxing a Trans Activist. Vice News https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k87vq/caroline-farrow-arrested-kiwi-farms

Young, Toby (March 26, 2019). Quillette Podcast 23 – Catholic journalist Caroline Farrow talks about being investigated by the British police for misgendering a transwoman. Quillette https://quillette.com/2019/03/26/quillette-podcast-23-catholic-journalist-caroline-farrow-talks-about-being-investigated-by-the-british-police-for-misgendering-a-transwoman/

Staff report (March 20, 2019). Surrey Police investigation over ‘misgendering’ tweets. BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-47638527

Hill, Amelia (March 20, 2019). Mother drops action against woman who said she ‘mutilated’ trans daughter. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/20/catholic-journalist-investigated-by-police-after-misgendering-trans-woman

Resources

Caroline Farrow (carolinefarrow.net)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Premier Christianity (premierchristianity.com)

CitizenGO (citizengo.org)

Crisis Magazine (crisismagazine.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Dennis Prager is a conservative writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Dennis Mark Prager was born on August 2, 1948 in Brooklyn to Max and Hilda (Friedfeld) Prager. Prager has a sibling Kenneth.

Prager attended Yeshiva of Flatbush and earned a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College in 1970. Prager then took graduate courses but did not complete further degrees.

Prager was recruited by a British Jewish group to interview Jewish people in the Soviet Union, then toured speaking about the findings. From 1976 to 1983 Prager ran the Brandeis-Bardin Institute.

In 1982 Prager began a religious talk show and began writing more about antisemitism. Prager became known for criticism of narcissism and secularism. Prager has been married three times.

In the 1990s Prager began working to forge alliances between conservative Jews and Conservative Christians. Since 1999 Prager has hosted the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Dennis Prager Show. 

Anti-transgender activism

In 2009, Prager and producer Allen Estrin started PragerU, which creates five-minute videos promoting conservative views.

References

Vaush (March 1, 2023). Debunking DERANGED Anti-Trans Prager U Propaganda. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MggPrrXnAPw

Jessie Gender (December 3, 2021). How PragerU Creates Transphobia (in Trans-Affirming Folks). YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-vIGz2SuO0

January, Brianna (November 23, 2020). YouTube removed anti-trans PragerU videos for violating hate speech policies. Media Matters for America

Staff report (Jun 30, 2022). Daily Wire Tightens Alliances With ‘The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast’ And Dennis Prager. Inside Radio https://www.insideradio.com/free/daily-wire-tightens-alliances-with-the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast-and-dennis-prager/article_4da336f0-f8ba-11ec-ab59-137e6e6efdb2.html

Ben Shapiro is a conservative American writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Benjamin Aaron “Ben” Shapiro was born January 15, 1984 in Los Angeles, California. Shapiro’s parent Cynthia Block Shapiro (born 1956) has worked as an executive coach, and parent David Jay Shapiro (born 1956) has been a writer and musician. David Shapiro has also written under the pseudonym “William Bigelow” and possibly “Hank Berrien,” often puff pieces praising child Ben.

Ben Shapiro studied classical violin as a child. Shapiro has a sibling named Leah and another sibling Abigail, a singer known as Classically Abby.

Shapiro used the online handle frumfiddle in college at UCLA, while earning a bachelor’s degree awarded in 2004. Shapiro was hired by Creators Syndicate at 17 to become America’s youngest nationally syndicated columnist, publishing the first of many subsequent books that year.

Shapiro earned a law degree from Harvard in 2007. Shapiro worked at Goodwin Procter LLP before setting up Benjamin Shapiro Legal Consulting in Los Angeles.

Ben Shapiro married Israeli physician Mor Toledano Shapiro (born 1988) in 2008. They have four children.

In 2012, Shapiro became editor of Breitbart News, resigning in 2016. In 2012, Shapiro also began work as a radio host.

In 2013, Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing co-founded conservative media watchdog TruthRevolt, which continued until 2018. In 2015, they founded Daily Wire and the podcast The Ben Shapiro Show. In 2020, Shapiro became editor emeritus of Daily Wire.

Shapiro frequently appears in the media and on campuses, usually making provocative statements in hopes of getting a response.

Anti-LGBTQ activism

Shapiro considers sex and gender minorities mentally ill and sinful. Shapiro does not think they should be able to marry or adopt.

Shapiro has said trans people should not be allowed to own guns, and Shapiro believes transgender youth are caused by “social contagion” or “crap parenting.”

References

Harris, Dan (September 2017). Outspoken conservative Ben Shapiro says political correctness breeds insanity. Nightline https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/outspoken-conservative-ben-shapiro-political-correctness-breeds-insanity-50603406 [archive]

Harris, Dan; Torres, Ignacio; Effron, Lauren (October 21, 2017). Conservative commentator on future of free speech on campus. ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/US/outspoken-conservative-ben-shapiro-free-speech-place-college/story?id=50610394 [archive]

Goldstein, Sasha (July 15, 2015). Ben Shapiro files complaint against transgender reporter Tur. New York Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ben-shapiro-files-complaint-transgender-reporter-tur-article-1.2298804 [archive]

Walker, Lauren (July 21, 2015). Editor Ben Shapiro Files Police Report Against Transgender Reporter After Heated TV Exchange. Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/conservative-editor-files-police-report-against-transgender-reporter-after-355851 [archive]

Tobin, Andrew (July 21, 2015). Jewish pundit, trans journalist in on-air spat. The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-pundit-trans-journalist-in-on-air-spat/ [archive]

Walker, Lauren (July 21, 2015). Editor Ben Shapiro Files Police Report Against Transgender Reporter After Heated TV Exchange. Newsweek. https://web.archive.org/web/20170318225103/http://www.newsweek.com/conservative-editor-files-police-report-against-transgender-reporter-after-355851 [archive]

Tavernise, Sabrina (November 23, 2017). Ben Shapiro, A Provocative ‘Gladiator,’ Battles to Win Young Conservatives. The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/ben-shapiro-conservative.html [archive]

Wilburn, Caroline (November 1, 2022). Ben Shapiro visits A&M, criticizes transgender community. The Battery https://www.thebatt.com/news/ben-shapiro-visits-a-m-criticizes-transgender-community/article_9340e138-5a5f-11ed-bd70-4b233c964e13.html

Henry, Vesper (March 22, 2023). Facts trump Ben Shapiro’s feelings on social contagion theory of trans identity. Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/facts-trump-ben-shapiros-feelings-social-contagion-theory-trans-identity

Staff report (March 7, 2023). Ben Shapiro accuses parents of trans children of “crap parenting.” Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-accuses-parents-trans-children-crap-parenting

Prieb, Natalie (April 13, 2022). Ben Shapiro gets into scrap with student at ‘Men Cannot Be Women’ event. The Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/3266482-ben-shapiro-gets-into-scrap-with-student-at-men-cannot-be-women-event/

Staff report (March 31, 2023). Ben Shapiro says trans people should be banned from owning firearms. Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-says-trans-people-should-be-banned-owning-firearms

Resources

Media Matters for America (mediamatters.org)

GLAAD Accountability Project (glaad.org/gap)

Daily Wire (dailywire.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

PragerU is a conservative American nonprofit advocacy group that frequently posts anti-transgender media.

Background

PragerU was founded by Dennis Prager and Allen Estrin in 2009. They create short-form animated content that explains a conservative view on a subject.

Key people include:

In 2020, YouTube took down two anti-trans videos featuring Candace Owens for violating their policy on hate speech, wherein being transgender was likened to schizophrenia and disease.

Anti-trans content

DETRANS: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care (October 25, 2023)

Abigail Shrier

  • Why Girls Become Boys (March 29, 2021)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7bMJd_QAXs
  • critical of trans and gender diverse youth
  • Preferred Pronouns or Prison (April 15, 2019)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn5opUFNs-I
  • critical of gender recognition bills

Ashley McGuire

  • Gender Identity: Why All the Confusion? Oct 3, 2017
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAAlFya89aw
  • critical of Fallon Fox and trans athletes

Amala Ekpunobi

  • A (Biological) Woman’s Take on Trending TRANS TikToker Dylan Mulvaney- Unapologetic LIVE (Apr 18, 2022)
  • critical of Dylan Mulvaney
  • A Conservative, Transgender, & Transexual Walk Into A Studio… (Dec 2, 2022)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpRJ6YZErdA
  • Guests Blossom Brown and Buck Angel
  • Children Should Not Choose Their Gender: An Unapologetic Special (May 8, 2022)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUZ_o5kX6u0

Aldo Buttazzoni

  • If You Can Choose Your Gender Can You Choose Your Race? Apr 26, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJQOSV3lJNw
  • Should San Francisco Guarantee Income for Trans People? Dec 7, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=827PcqodBc8

Marissa Streit

  • Child Regrets Transitioning Soon after Mastectomy & Hormones (Dec 22, 2022)
  • Guest Chloe Cole

Selina Soule

  • The End of Women’s Sports (November 16, 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BuV-s1SYLk
  • critical of trans athletes Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller

Christina Hoff Sommers

  • War on Boys (May 19, 2014)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFpYj0E-yb4

References

Anderson, Drew (2019-08-06). “BACKGROUNDER: PragerU’s Ties to White Supremacy, Horrific Anti-LGBTQ Record”. GLAAD. Archive

Ingram, Mathew. Congress and the platforms: The circus is back in town. Columbia Journalism Review. 

Vaush (March 1, 2023). Debunking DERANGED Anti-Trans Prager U Propaganda. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MggPrrXnAPw

Jessie Gender (December 3, 2021). How PragerU Creates Transphobia (in Trans-Affirming Folks). YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-vIGz2SuO0

January, Brianna (November 23, 2020). YouTube removed anti-trans PragerU videos for violating hate speech policies. Media Matters for America

Resources

PragerU (prageru.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Nina Power is a British philosopher and anti-transgender activist from the movement’s gender critical faction. Power is a sex segregationist who promotes the unfounded conspiracy theory that transgender people are “erasing” lesbians and tomboys.

Background

Power was born around 1980 and attended University of Warwick, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Power then earned a doctorate from Middlesex University.

Power’s book The One-Dimensional Woman (2009) examines pornography, consumer capitalism, and the ideology of “women’s work.” In the 2021 book What Do Men Want?: Masculinity and Its Discontents, Powers proposes the term hetero­sociality “to appeal for a new appreciation of sexual difference based not on conflict, antip­athy and commodification, but on friendship, trust and mutual respect between the sexes.”

Power hosts the podcast The Lack with political theorist Benjamin Studebaker and filmmaker Helen Rollins.

Anti-transgender activism

Power platforms and logrolls for a number of other anti-trans activists, including Benjamin Boyce, Andrew Doyle, Matt Walsh, Scott Newgent, Keira Bell, Maya Forstater, Allison Bailey, Kathleen Stock, Victoria Smith, Bev Jackson, J.K. Rowling, Julie Bindel, Helen Joyce, Suzanne Moore, and anti-trans groups like Woman’s Place UK, Mumsnet, Sex Matters, and LGB Alliance.

Praising Walsh’s What Is a Woman?, Power writes:

Walsh goes further than his dumb-beardy act, pinning various medical and psychological practitioners on why they think it’s a good idea to give children an osteoporosis-causing drug also used in chemical castration. Their answers are terrifying: Children will know when they’re ready; children know best; the drugs are reversible (they are not). Nobody, in fact, knows the long-term effect of giving young people (or adults) cross-sex hormones. What we do know isn’t good; they don’t reduce negative thoughts in the gender-dysphoric children who take them, for example.

On the erasure of “tomboys,” Power says:

Today, the boyish girl is in danger of being told she was “born in the wrong body,” and whisked off to a gender clinic to begin the journey from puberty blockers to breast removal to reproductive surgery and, ultimately, infertility. Setting children on this path—one that many regret—is an obvious, grotesque harm.

Power has been critical of Nicola Sturgeon, Dylan Mulvaney, and that shining example of the failures of federally centralized “gender clinics,” the Tavistock.

References

Power, Nina (June 14, 2022). Trans Barbarism. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/trans-barbarism

Power, Nina (January 24, 2023). The Trans War on Tomboys. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/the-trans-war-on-tomboys [references photo from ~1991n when she was 10 or 11]

Power, Nina (February 16, 2023). Nicola Sturgeon’s Trans Folly. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/nicola-sturgeon-s-trans-folly

Power, Nina (March, 2023). Welcome to TERF Island. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/welcome-to-terf-island

Media

Benjamin Boyce (Mar 10, 2021). What Men & Women Want | with Nina Power. -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uex1YPdw1h4

Benjamin Boyce (Jan 7, 2023). Considering Systems of Power | with Nina Power! -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0-mSdpyHas

Chris Williamson (Jan 31, 2022). The Crisis Of Modern Masculinity – Nina Power. | Modern Wisdom Podcast 429 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGO_XWSO7CQ

Triggernometry (Feb 13, 2022). “Demonising Men Will Make Things Worse” – Nina Power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5whVOaxuS0

Louise Perry (Feb 12, 2023). Masculinity and Its Discontents – Nina Power. | Maiden Mother Matriarch 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXD1DgXezU

Gus Carter (Mar 17, 2023). Why are all our young men being demonised? | SpectatorTV The Spectator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEiUwQafyDk

Andrew Doyle (Jul 10, 2021). GBNews Nina Power: In a ‘thriving healthy culture, everything has to be potentially mockable.’ -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uImdUzulhg

Resources

Nina Power (ninapower.net)

Compact Magazine (compactmag.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Patreon (patreon.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Harper’s Magazine is an American publication founded in 1850. In the 21st century, amid the disruption of journalism and media, the magazine has had a revolving door of editors, leading to a number of questionable decisions that have affected the publication’s reputation.

No transgender journalist has ever appeared on their masthead since its founding in 1850.

“A Letter on Justice and Open Debate”

In 2020, Thomas Chatterton Williams led the effort to draft a letter decrying “illiberalism” with help from Robert Worth, George Packer, David Greenberg, and Mark Lilla. They then sought signatories without divulging who had signed. Because it “was passed among circles of activists and writers,” it is an excellent example of what The Transphobia Project hopes to reveal.

It’s one of the best recent examples of what Julia Serano calls “the Dregerian narrative” in which some elitists claim they are being persecuted or silenced by the minorities they exploit. The list featured an unusually large proportion of “gender critical” mainstays.

Signatories

Elliot Ackerman, Saladin Ambar, Martin Amis, Anne Applebaum, Marie Arana, Margaret Atwood, John Banville, Mia Bay, Louis Begley, Roger Berkowitz, Paul Berman, Sheri Berman, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Neil Blair, David W. Blight, Jennifer Finney Boylan, David Bromwich, David Brooks, Ian Buruma, Lea Carpenter, Noam Chomsky, Nicholas Christakis, Roger Cohen, Frances D. Cook, Drucilla Cornell, Kamel Daoud, Meghan Daum, Gerald Early, Jeffrey Eugenides, Dexter Filkins, Federico Finchelstein, Caitlin Flanagan, Richard T. Ford, Kmele Foster, David Frum, Francis Fukuyama, Atul Gawande, Todd Gitlin, Kim Ghattas, Malcolm Gladwell, Michelle Goldberg, Rebecca Goldstein, Anthony Grafton, David Greenberg, Linda Greenhouse, Kerri Greenidge, Rinne B. Groff, Sarah Haider, Jonathan Haidt, Roya Hakakian, Shadi Hamid, Jeet Heer, Katie Herzog, Susannah Heschel, Adam Hochschild, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Eva Hoffman, Coleman Hughes, Hussein Ibish, Michael Ignatieff, Zaid Jilani, Bill T. Jones, Wendy Kaminer, Matthew Karp, Garry Kasparov, Daniel Kehlmann, Randall Kennedy, Khaled Khalifa, Parag Khanna, Laura Kipnis, Frances Kissling, Enrique Krauze, Anthony Kronman, Joy Ladin, Nicholas Lemann, Mark Lilla, Susie Linfield, Damon Linker, Dahlia Lithwick, Steven Lukes, John R. MacArthur, Susan Madrak, Phoebe Maltz Bovy, Greil Marcus, Wynton Marsalis, Kati Marton, Debra Mashek, Deirdre McCloskey, John McWhorter, Uday Mehta, Andrew Moravcsik, Yascha Mounk, Samuel Moyn, Meera Nanda, Cary Nelson, Olivia Nuzzi, Mark Oppenheimer, Dael Orlandersmith, George Packer, Nell Irvin Painter, Greg Pardlo, Orlando Patterson, Steven Pinker, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Katha Pollitt, Claire Bond Potter, Taufiq Rahim, Zia Haider Rahman, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, Jonathan Rauch, Neil Roberts, Melvin Rogers, Kat Rosenfield, Loretta J. Ross, J. K. Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Karim Sadjadpour, Daryl Michael Scott, Diana Senechal, Jennifer Senior, Judith Shulevitz, Jesse Singal, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Andrew Solomon, Deborah Solomon, Allison Stanger, Paul Starr, Wendell Steavenson, Gloria Steinem, Nadine Strossen, Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., Kian Tajbakhsh, Zephyr Teachout, Cynthia Tucker, Adaner Usmani, Chloé Valdary, Lucía Martínez Valdivia, Helen Vendler, Judy B. Walzer, Michael Walzer, Eric K. Washington, Caroline Weber, Randi Weingarten, Bari Weiss, Sean Wilentz, Garry Wills, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Robert F. Worth, Molly Worthen, Matthew Yglesias, Emily Yoffe, Cathy Young, Fareed Zakaria

A More Specific Letter on Justice and Open Debate

A letter countering it appeared shortly after that discussed the original’s “gender critical” aims:

The letter reads as a caustic reaction to a diversifying industry — one that’s starting to challenge institutional norms that have protected bigotry. The writers of the letter use seductive but nebulous concepts and coded language to obscure the actual meaning behind their words, in what seems like an attempt to control and derail the ongoing debate about who gets to have a platform. 

In fact, a number of the signatories have made a point of punishing people who have spoken out against them, including Bari Weiss (who made a name for herself as a Columbia University undergrad by harassing and infringing upon the speech of professors she considered to be anti-Israel, and later attempted to shame multiple media outlets into firing freelance journalist Erin Biba for her tweets), Katha Pollitt (whose transphobic rhetoric has extended to trying to deny trans journalists access to professional networking tools), Emily Yoffe (who has spoken out against sexual-assault survivors expressing their free speech rights), Anne-Marie Slaughter (who terminated her Google-funded organization’s partnership with a Google critic), and Cary Nelson (whose support of free speech, apparently, does not extend to everyone) — just to name a few. What gives them the right to use their platforms to harass others into silence, especially writers with smaller platforms and less institutional support, while preaching that silencing writers is a problem? 

Rowling, one of the signers, has spouted transphobic and transmisogynist rhetoric, mocking the idea that trans men could exist, and likening transition-related medical care such as hormone replacement therapy to conversion therapy. She directly interacts with fans on Twitter, publishes letters littered with transphobic rhetoric, and gets away with platforming violent anti-trans speakers to her 14 million followers.

Jesse Singal, another signer, is a cis man infamous for advancing his career by writing derogatorily about trans issues. In 2018, Singal had a cover story in The Atlantic expressing skepticism about the benefits of gender-affirming care for trans youth. No trans writer has been afforded the same space. Singal often faces and dismisses criticism from trans people, but he has a much larger platform than any trans journalist. In fact, a 2018 Jezebel report found that Singal was part of a closed Google listserv of more than 400 left-leaning media elites who praised his work, with not a single out trans person in the group. He also has an antagonistic history with trans journalists, academics, and other writers, dedicating many Medium posts to attempting to refute or discredit their claims and reputations.

It’s also clear that the organizers of the letter did not communicate clearly and honestly with all the signatories. One invited professor, who did not sign the Harper’s letter, said that he was asked to sign a letter “arguing for bolder, more meaningful efforts at racial and gender inclusion in journalism, academia, and the arts.” The letter in its final form fails to make this argument at all. Another of the signers, author and professor Jennifer Finney Boylan, who is also a trans woman, said on Twitter that she did not know who else had signed it until it was published. Another signatory, Lucia Martinez Valdivia, said in a Medium post: “When I asked to know who the other signatories were, the names I was shown were those of people of color from all over the political spectrum, and not those of people who have taken gender-critical or trans-exclusionary positions.”

Under the guise of free speech and free exchange of ideas, the letter appears to be asking for unrestricted freedom to espouse their points of view free from consequence or criticism.

Other critics

Jeff Yang criticized the letter:

It’s hard not to see the letter as merely an elegantly written affirmation of elitism and privilege.

Each has also, in the face of resultant backlash, dismissed rebuttals and positioned themselves as beleaguered victims of the current culture, turning their support for open debate and free expression into an example of stark hypocrisy or sly gaslighting.

That’s because even if the letter were warranted — even if it weren’t an off-note, Olympian statement that reads as self-interested and elitist at best — it’s sure to be used by serial bad actors on the list as a shield against legitimate criticism.

References

[Signatories] (July 7, 2020). A Letter on Justice and Open Debate. Harper’s Magazine https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

[Signatories] (July 10, 2020), A More Specific Letter on Justice and Open Debate The Objective https://www.objectivejournalism.org/p/a-more-specific-letter-on-justice

Yang, Jeff (July 10, 2020). The problem with ‘the letter.’ CNN https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/opinions/the-letter-harpers-cancel-culture-open-debate-yang/index.html

Ellefson, Lindsey (July 9, 2020). Editor Who Led Harper’s Letter Says The Cancel Culture It Warns of Drove Backlash. The Wrap https://www.thewrap.com/harpers-letter-cancel-culture-backlash-thomas-williams/

McNamara, Mary (July 9, 2020). Column: ‘Cancel culture’ is not the problem. The Harper’s letter is. Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-07-09/cancel-culture-harpers-letter

Giorgis, Hannah (July 13, 2020). A Deeply Provincial View of Free Speech. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/07/harpers-letter-free-speech/614080/

Michael Shermer is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Shermer has devoted considerable space for anti-trans views in the publication Skeptic and on the podcast The Michael Shermer Show.

Background

Michael Brant Shermer was born September 8, 1954 in Los Angeles, California.

Shermer earned a bachelor’s degree form Pepperdine in 1976 and a master’s degree in psychology from California State University, Fullerton in 1978. Shermer got involved in competitive cycling during this time.

Shermer earned a doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in 1991. Shermer helped found the Skeptics Society in 1991. Shermer has taught at Glendale Community College, Occidental College, and Chapman University.

For 18 years Shermer was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. Shermer has been dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct since 2013. Shermer has produced and appeared in a number of television shows about science and pseudoscience.

Anti-transgender activism

Shermer is especially angry about transgender athletes, trans and gender diverse youth, WPATH, and how Scientific American has gone “woke” due to their coverage of trans issues.

Shermer has also promoted and published anti-trans writings of other “gender critical” activists:

References

Shermer, Michael (November 14, 2024). Postmortem 2024. Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/postmortem-2024

Shermer, Michael (March 14, 2024). Death by Theory. Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/death-by-theory

Shermer, Michael (June 11, 2024). What’s It Like to Be Trans? [letter from a conservative transmedicalist] Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/whats-it-like-to-be-trans

Shermer, Michael (July 8, 2022). What is a Woman, Anyway? Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/what-is-a-woman-anyway

Shermer, Michael (March 7, 2024). Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Redux—WPATH Edition. Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/extraordinary-popular-delusions-and

Shermer, Michael (December 9, 2021). Trans Athletes and Conflicting Rights. Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/trans-athletes-and-conflicting-rights

Hall, Harriett (). A transgender controversy. Skeptic Volume 27 Number 1 https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/transgender-controversy/

Tavris, Carol (2022). Behind the Rhetoric: The Untold Story of “Gender-Affirming” Clinics. Skeptic Volume 27 Number 1 https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/behind-rhetoric-untold-story-of-gender-affirming-clinics/

Davis, Lisa Selin (2022). Trans Matters: An Overview of the Debate, Research, and Policies. Skeptic Volume 27 Number 1 https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/trans-matters-overview-debate-research-policies/

Tavris, Carol (). Trans Reality: “I Didn’t Know There Was Another Side.” https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/transgender-reality-i-didnt-know-there-was-another-side/

McCaffree K, Saide A (March 7, 2023). Trans, Identity and Institutional Controversies. Research Report: PADS-002 https://www.skeptic.com/research-center/reports/Research-Report-PADS-002.pdf

Media

(). EPISODE # 160 Abigail Shrier — Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. The Michael Shermer Show https://www.skeptic.com/michael-shermer-show/abigail-shrier-irreversible-damage-transgender-craze-seducing-our-daughters/

(August 27, 2024). Are We Confused About Social Justice? (Helen Pluckrose). The Michael Shermer Show

(May 14). Nellie Bowles — Reporting From the Frontlines of the Culture Wars The Michael Shermer Show

(September 21). Colin Wright – Biology vs. Gender Ideology: The Science Behind the Debate. The Michael Shermer Show

(September 15). Matt Ridley, Steven Pinker, and Michael Shermer Challenge Conventional Narratives. The Michael Shermer Show

(August 17). Bones, Bias, and Backlash: Elizabeth Weiss on the Politicization of Anthropology. The Michael Shermer Show https://www.skeptic.com/michael-shermer-show/elizabeth-weiss-politicization-of-anthropology/

(August 6). Richard Dawkins on Genetic Insights Into the History of Life. The Michael Shermer Show

(). 461: Helen Pluckrose — Principled Strategies for Surviving and Defeating Critical Social Justice. https://www.skeptic.com/michael-shermer-show/helen-pluckrose-principled-strategies-for-surviving-defeating-critical-social-justice/

(). Aella — From a Christian Upbringing to Sex Work

(). Bradley Campbell — How to Think About Social Justice

Katherine Brodsky — How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage

Michael Shellenberger Explains Government Censorship of Social Media

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Converted to Christianity

Yascha Mounk — Identity Politics and its Discontents

Greg Lukianoff & Rikki Schlott — Cancel Culture and What to Do About It

Gad Saad — The Saad Truth About Happiness

Christopher Rufo Decodes Cultural Shifts in America

Umut Özkirimli — How the Left Can Make Its Way Back From Woke

Jean Twenge — Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents, and What They Mean for America’s Future

Bethany Mandel — How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence & Indoctrinating a Generation

Valerie Fridland — Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English

Gerald & Patricia Posner on Evil

Louise Perry — The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century

Meghan Daum — The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars

Marty Klein — Sex Matters

Andrew Doyle — How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World

Sabine Hossenfelder — Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions

Konstantin Kisin — An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West

Helen Joyce — Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality

Frans De Waal on Sex and Gender Across the Primate Spectrum

Douglas Murray on The War on the West: Race, Politics, and Culture

Cathy Young — The Russian Riddle Wrapped in a Ukrainian Mystery Inside an American Enigma

Jesse Singal on Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure Our Social Ills 

Dave Rubin — Left, Right, and Woke, based on his book Don’t Burn This Country: Surviving and Thriving in Our Woke Dystopia

Elizabeth Weiss on Woke Archaeology and Erasing the Past

Batya Ungar-Sargon — Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy

Sally Satel on Addiction, the Opioid Crisis, Deaths of Despair, and How Psychiatry Has Gone Woke

Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein on evolution and the challenges of modern life, based on their new book A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century

Steven Pinker on Rationality: What it is, Why it Seems Scarce, Why it Matters

Richard Dawkins on evangelizing for evolution, science, skepticism, philosophy, reason, and rationality, based on his new book Books Do Furnish a Life: Reading and Writing Science

Carole Hooven on T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us

Bari Weiss & Bion Bartning on Their New Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism

David Buss — When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault

Jordan Peterson & Michael Shermer on Science, Myth, Truth, and the Architecture of Archetypes

Niall Ferguson — Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe

John McWhorter — The Elect: Neoracists Posing as Antiracists and their Threat to a Progressive America

John McWhorter — The Elect: Neoracists Posing as Antiracists and their Threat to a Progressive America

Abigail Shrier — Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters

Greg Lukianoff — How Free is Free Speech?

Debra Soh — The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society

Gad Saad — The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense

Scott Barry Kaufman — Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization

Dave Rubin — Don’t Burn This Book: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Unreason

Douglas Murray — The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race, and Identity

Geoffrey Miller — Virtue Signaling: Essays on Darwinian Politics and Free Speech

Peter Boghossian — How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide

Ben Shapiro — The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great

Dr. Gad Saad — Doing Gad’s Work

Dr. Jonathan Haidt — The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

Amy Alkon — Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence

Dr. Jonathan Haidt — Coming Apart

Resources

Michael Shermer (michaelshermer.com)

Substack (https://substack.com/)

X/Twitter (x.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Glenn Loury is an American economist and key figure in the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right.

Loury is connected to a number of anti-trans figures.

Podcast

Guests include:

References

Loury, Glenn (April 25, 2023). Does “T” Belong with “LGB”?-https://glennloury.substack.com/p/does-t-belong-with-lgb

Substack is a subscription newsletter publishing platform that is the service of choice for anti-transgender activists and media figures. The New Republic describes its power base as “white male contrarians with a talent for Twitter theatrics.”

Substack allows writers to make a living attacking trans people without the oversight or accountability in place at reputable media outlets. Substack also profits from promotion of other medical misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Background

Substack was founded in 2017 by Chris Best, Jairaj Sethi, and Hamish McKenzie.

The platform’s strategy for growth was based on inviting the most histrionic verified Twitter users to create newsletters.

Substacks with anti-trans content

The authors below have published generally anti-trans content on Substack:

Substacks with pro-trans content

The authors below publish generally pro-trans content on Substack:

Former Substacks

Substack Pro controversy

In March 2021, Substack revealed it paid advances for writers to create publications on its platform via a program called Substack Pro. The lack of transparency about this program and who had been paid led to widespread criticism.

Shortly before Jesse Singal’s 2021 book release, Singal’s Substack newsletter become a cause célèbre among the platform’s favored user base: “those who have already been well-served by existing media power structures.” The secretive Substack Pro program was accused of “perpetuating some of the industry inequities it claims to solve,” favoring these types of writers by luring them to the platform with large monetary advances. Substack had become the service of choice for several other prominent critics of the trans rights movement, “largely white, male contrarians with a talent for Twitter theatrics.”

On March 17, 2021, Adweek’s Mark Stenberg discussed Singal’s role in generating protests about Substack Pro:

Substack has drawn criticism for offering safe harbor to a number of writers, including writers Andrew Sullivan, Jesse Singal and Glenn Greenwald, whose opinions on issues surrounding race, transgender rights and censorship have been condemned by marginalized communities.

Stenberg, 2021

Singal has a long history of “sealioning,” a type of trolling via persistent requests, whenever Singal’s biased views about trans people are reported in the media. Singal will pursue all available avenues to get these reports modified or removed altogether. Following a “stealth edit,” Singal’s name was quietly removed from Adweek’s original text so it read “including some whose politics have been condemned by marginalized communities.” Even that was later removed.

Confirmed Pro deals

  • Matt Yglesias
  • Anne Helen Peterson
  • Casey Newton
  • Scott Alexander
  • Freddie deBoer
  • Nicholas Jackson
  • Ashley Feinberg
  • Grace Lavery
  • Alexis Coe

Unconfirmed/other

References

Lorenz, Taylor (October 28, 2024). How Substack’s follow feature betrays its original mission. User Mag https://www.usermag.co/p/how-substacks-follow-feature-betrays

Chang, Clio (Winter 2020). The Substackerati: Did a newsletter company create a more equitable media system—or replicate the flaws of the old one? https://www.cjr.org/special_report/substackerati.php

McKenzie, Hamish (March 12, 2021). “Why we pay writers”. Substack Blog. https://blog.substack.com/p/why-we-pay-writers

Paulas, Rick (March 14, 2021) Who are the Substack Pros? Investigating Substack https://domstack.substack.com/p/who-are-the-substack-pros

Silverman, Jacob (March 16, 2021). Facebook Has Found a New Way to Ruin Media. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/161736/facebook-found-new-way-ruin-media

Stenberg, Mark (March 17, 2021). Substack Pro Leads to Departures From Platform, Opportunities for Competitors. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/media/having-a-substack-feels-dirty-substack-pro-announcement-leads-to-departures-from-the-platform-opportunities-for-competitors/

Wiener, Anna (28 December 2020). Is Substack the Media Future We Want? The New Yorker. Retrieved 11 February 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/04/is-substack-the-media-future-we-want

Resources

Substack (substack.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)