Benedict Carey is an American author and writer who played a key role in laundering anti-LGBTQ propaganda into the New York Times. Carey’s uncritical puff pieces about the work of J. Michael Bailey, Richard Green, Robert Spitzer, and Alice Dreger caused years of delays in debunking that work.
In 2022 I began a campaign to extract an apology from the New York Times and get corrections, updates, or retractions on Carey’s pieces. Because Carey claims part of his job is “exposing BSâ and as a professional courtesy, I am giving Carey the first opportunity to revisit these stories. Stay tuned for updates.
Background
Benedict James “Ben” Carey was born March 3, 1960 in San Francisco and grew up mostly in Evanston, Illinois. Carey earned a bachelor’s degree in math from the University of Colorado in 1983. Carey then earned a master’s degree in journalism at Northwestern University in 1985. Carey wrote for trade magazine American Shipper before becoming a staff writer for consumer health and medical magazine Hippocrates (published 1987â2001, renamed Health).
Starting in 1997, Carey began freelancing. In 1998 Carey married writer and publishing executive Victoria Margaret von Biel (born March 2, 1960), who also earned a master’s degree in journalism at Northwestern. Their two children were born soon after. Carey covered health and wellness for the Los Angeles Times from 2000 to 2004. In 2004 Carey moved to the New York Times with returning science journalist Richard “Rick” Flaste. Carey covered science there until 2021.
The Times was notorious for diligently reporting unethical and irresponsible research about sex and gender minorities, almost all of which emanated from the Archives of Sexual Behavior. Their coverage of Robert Spitzer’s poorly supported claims that gay people can change their sexualities was particularly egregious.
Carey and colleague Nicholas Wade were also heavily involved in using the Times science section to promote questionable science that supported their hereditarian viewpoints about scientific controversies, like race and intelligence or sexuality. Carey is a strong believer in disease models of human traits and behaviors, especially mental illness.
2005 anti-bisexual piece
Carey’s piece “Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited” presented J. Michael Bailey’s claims that “true bisexuality” does not exist in males. GLAAD and FAIR condemned the piece. In 2011, a different Times reporter followed up with Bailey’s new claim of suddenly discovering male bisexuality after getting payments from the American Institute of Bisexuality.
2007 anti-transgender piece
Carey delivered a major media coup to Kenneth Zucker and allies who support conversion therapy on gender diverse youth. Carey was given an advance copy of Alice Dreger’s cover-up of J. Michael Bailey’s Danny Ryan “trans cure” fabrication. Carey reported that Dreger’s research into Bailey “concluded that he is essentially blameless.” Carey uncritically repeated Dreger’s strawman claims that trans people believe they are “victims of a biological mistake â in essence, women trapped in menâs bodies.” Carey also glossed over Bailey’s sexual misconduct reported by the woman known as âJuanitaâ in the book: “she stood by the accusation but did not want to talk about it.”
The site also included a link to the Web page of another critic of Dr. Baileyâs book, Andrea James, a Los Angeles-based transgender advocate and consultant. Ms. James downloaded images from Dr. Baileyâs Web site of his children, taken when they were in middle and elementary school, and posted them on her own site, with sexually explicit captions that she provided. (Dr. Bailey is a divorced father of two.) Ms. James said in an e-mail message that Dr. Baileyâs work exploited vulnerable people, especially children, and that her response echoed his disrespect.
Carey did not note that I was quoting and paraphrasing Bailey’s book, and that I had apologized in 2003 (Bailey’s son, who was an adult in 2003, did not accept the apology and Bailey’s daughter did not respond). Carey reiterated Dreger’s conclusion: “the accusations against the psychologist were essentially groundless.”
I had insisted to Carey’s editors that I be interviewed, so Carey asked me just one question. When my answer was “too long,” Carey said there was only room for 13 words.
Subsequent developments
In addition to a host of other ethics issues, Bailey hosted a live “fucksaw” class demonstration for students that led to Bailey’s signature human sexuality class being permanently canceled by Northwestern. The “fucksaw” incident was not covered by Carey.
Dr. Green, who was also a forceful advocate for gay and transgender rights in a series of landmark discrimination trials,
In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association sided with Dr. Green and other influential figures, including Dr. Judd Marmor and Dr. Robert Spitzer, and decided to drop homosexuality from its diagnostic manual.
In his early work, Dr. Green found that many effeminate boys grow up to be gay. He reviewed that and other research in his 1987 book, âThe âSissy Boy Syndromeâ and the Development of Homosexuality.â
âIf you canât make a male attracted to other males by cutting off his penis, how strong could any psychosocial effect be?â said J. Michael Bailey, an expert on sexual orientation at Northwestern University.
Dr. Bailey believes that the systems for sexual orientation and arousal make men go out and find people to have sex with, whereas women are more focused on accepting or rejecting those who seek sex with them.
But Dr. Bailey believes the effect, if real, would be more clear-cut. âMale homosexuality is evolutionarily maladaptive,â he said, noting that the phrase means only that genes favoring homosexuality cannot be favored by evolution if fewer such genes reach the next generation.
Carey sourcing Bailey on gay parenting
Carey, Benedict (January 29, 2005). Experts Dispute Bush on Gay-Adoption Issue. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/29/politics/experts-dispute-bush-on-gayadoption-issue.html
“You can’t force families to participate, and there aren’t that many of them out there to start with,” said Dr. J. Michael Bailey, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University who has studied gay men raising boys.
“There is also a strong volunteer bias: the families who want to participate might be much more open about sexual orientation” and eager to report positive outcomes, Dr. Bailey said.
Creager, Cindi (July 7, 2005). New York Times Promotes Bisexual Stereotypes in “Straight, Gay or Lying?” GLAAD https://www.glaad.org/action/write_now_detail.php?id=3827 [archive]
Letters: Debating a hypothesis https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9401E1DD163DF93BA1575BC0A9619C8B63.html
G. Eugene Pichler (2016) The Transsexual Delusion: “On August 21, 2007 Benedict Carey of the New York Times published a damning article into the behavior of Conway et al.”
Alice Dreger (2015) Galileo’s Middle Finger: “Finally, Carey’s piece was published in the New York Times, and he amazed me by his ability to sum up the salient points in a couple thousand words. More important, Carey’s report turned around the public story of what had really happened. Mike was elated. Mike’s family was elated. Ray Blanchard was elated. Scientists all over the world were elated.”
John Casey (2007) letter to NYT editors: “Benedict Carey casts this story as a matter of politically correct thugs trying to undermine Dr. J. Michael Bailey’s legitimate scientific research. But even Dr. Bailey’s defenders admit the research in question turned out to rest on shoddy anecdotal evidence. In light of that fact, the story can’t possibly concern ”the corrosive effects of political correctness on academic freedom,” as someone quoted in the article claims. The question was whether his book had any legitimate scientific basis. And it didn’t. But perhaps that doesn’t make for a very interesting story.”
Willow Arune is a Canadian former lawyer and transgender troll. Arune was the most notorious USENET troll of all time on transgender newsgroups.
Background
Willow Cheryle Arune was born December 20, 1946. Arune practiced law before becoming a nudist who lives on disability. Arune claims to be an âescaped person under Thai law.â [1]
“Autogynephilia” activism
Arune is also a frequent defender of Ray Blanchard, formerly of Canadaâs infamous Clarke Institute (now CAMH), and Arune is a prominent supporter of a disease model of gender variance called âautogynephilia,â made up by Blanchard in 1989. [2] Blanchard defines this sex-fueled mental illness as âa manâs paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman.â [3] Blanchard claims this disease explains gender variant behavior among ânonhomosexuals.â Many believe it is a spurious diagnosis akin to ânymphomaniaâ and other discredited illnesses made up to pathologize socially unacceptable behavior.
Blanchard and his proteges J. Michael Bailey and Anne Lawrence frequently suggest that a âhandfulâ or âsubgroupâ of trans people have concerns about describing this behavior as a psychosexual pathology. This is a blatant distortion. In reality, the opposite is true. Most gender-variant people, their service providers, and experts on gender variance have expressed concern about this diagnosis. The tiny but vocal minority who base their identities on this diagnosis are a small group, typically older divorced people who canât or wonât adapt to culturally proscribed appearance and behavior based on gender roles. Most also identify through metaphors of disease and impairment, which is why this concept appeals to them.
Beyond Arune and about ten people on an âautogynephiliaâ support group Arune started in 2003 (and inadvertently destroyed in 2005 due to Aruneâs incompetence), there is little community support for this diagnosis. Arune was one of the three people responsible for about two-thirds of all the content on the group. In fact, about one in three posts on that forum were Aruneâs, mostly unoriginal cut-and-paste jobs from other publications and newsgroups and attacks on people Arune didnât like.
Arune is well-known both on and off the internet as a prodigious kook. Arune has probably been kicked off more email lists and out of more moderated transgender groups than any other person in North America. Arune enjoys trolling and baiting people online âto get a quotable quote,â [4] which then gets used as evidence that Arune is being attacked.
Shortly after publication of J. Michael Baileyâs defamatory book The Man Who Would Be Queen in 2003, Arune began a quest to replace Anne Lawrence as the poster child for âautogynephilia.â Both seek validation from clinical diagnoses, because neither get much approval beyond âapprovalâ letters they sought and received from therapists to qualify for vaginoplasty. Like Anne Lawrence, Arune has an interest in nudism, and both appear to have other erotic interests considered unusual or socially unacceptable in many places. Given Aruneâs more florid behavior, it is more likely that the people promulgating this diagnosis will choose Arune over Lawrence as exemplifying this spurious disease. Lawrenceâs only saving grace for retaining the crown may be a combination of florid behavior and academic credentials.
Of special interest to Arune are matters in Thailand, where Arune claims to have spent time in jail on a forgery charge. My guess is that there is more to be learned about Aruneâs alleged illegal misadventures in Thailand, which also includes an alleged sexual assault. Arune told a reporter in 1999 that after returning from being jailed in Thailand, âhis therapist suggested becoming a woman.â [5] Following this suggestion, Arune was able to manipulate the Canadian health system to indulge an erotic interest in vaginoplasty. Arune is apparently drawing Canadian welfare, while being able-bodied enough to spend 12 to 16 hours a day devouring and regurgitating anything related to transgender issues. Arune seems to have a compulsion toward hoarding, especially with online materials, books about transgender topics, and animals. This hoarding impulse seems connected to the amount of energy Arune spends on this topic, and Aruneâs identification with a disease that characterizes Aruneâs behavior as a sexual compulsion.
Arune attacks critics
As the controversy around Bailey’s book unfolded in 2003, Arune and I had agreed to carry on private correspondence after the Bailey book came out. Arune stopped honoring this agreement once Arune got a âquotable quoteâ from me. I asked Arune to confirm or deny allegations that Arune is a registered sex offender. Arune immediately published this far and wide as evidence of something or another, prompting me to ignore this type of trolling from that point on. As expected, Aruneâs trolling continued to escalate the insults in hopes of regaining the attention Iâd been giving Arune, including comparing me to Osama bin Laden [6] as well as all sorts of other inflammatory personal attacks.
Arune has tried to get a number of other prominent transwomen to pay attention to various rants, goading Professor Dierdre McCloskey and other critics of Baileyâs book with childish taunts and mockery.
Arune also appears to have a vendetta against Professor Lynn Conway for presenting a wide array of Transsexual Womenâs Successes from around the world. In November 2002, about four months before Baileyâs book came out, Arune sent the following complaint to Professor Conway, stating that post-transition success is ânot typicalâ and that most people who contact Arune âare not great scholarsâ who lack the intellect to have realistic expectations:
While I appreciate your website and believe that it is good to have success stories available for these people, I truly believe a big warning should be attached. Such would state that the TS women shown are *not typical* and any financial success after transition is rare.
Not only from my own personal experience, but also on the few statistical reports available, TS women suffer from great prejudice in the workplace. This is acknowledged in every book on transsexuality. Generally, I advise those that seek me out that they should be prepared to loose everything â their families and friends, their job and career, their assets and more. Only if their need is great enough to risk all of that should they go forward. I also advise them that the chances of âpassingâ totally are minimal as is the case in the majority of transsexual women that I know. So after I dampen their enthusiasm and get them thinking, they head off and find your site. âWillow, you are all wrong!!!,â they say. âWe can pass and still be successful. We saw Lynnâs page on the Webâ.
Please, amend your site so that potential TS patients are not lured into transition by unrealistic dreams. Many of these people are not great scholars; they need a caution in big, bold letters. [7]
In what appears to be a case of narcissistic projection, Aruneâs âpersonal experienceâ with failure post-transition becomes the standard trajectory, when in fact by any objective standard, Arune is near the lower bound of what anyone might realistically expect after transition.
Since Professor Conway disregarded Aruneâs suggestion in 2002, Arune has resorted to a series of lies and misrepresentations, including claims that Professor Conway had allegedly suggested that a woman who started transition over a certain age was an aging crossdresser. Professor Conway has stated many times that this is a bogus accusation on Aruneâs part.
Hereâs an example where Arune claims Professor Conway transitioned at the same age as Arune:
They had maybe 50 years of being males and being forceful and aggressive and shouting to get what they want as men. Theyâre only a few years, relatively, into their lives as women when they have these strong feelings that Bailey is wrong, but they donât yet know how to control feelings the way a woman would, so they go about arguing against him in a very male way. I know thatâs the worst insult I can aim at a fellow tranny, but look, these people like McCloskey and Conway are used to being powerful in their respective occupations, and they demand to be listened to. [8]
This is typical of Aruneâs tactics. Lynn Conway began transition in her 20âs and finished by age 30, after which she started over in her field in steath, because of the staggering prejudice at the time. Professor Conway had been summarily fired by IBM when she transitioned in 1968, despite being one of their most promising researchers. Luckily, she was able to successfully move on into her new life after that, and then make many of the advances in computing for which she is now famous.
Getting back to the quotation, it was of course Arune who had maybe 50 years of being male before âhis therapist suggested becoming a woman.â Much of the rest of the quotation also sounds like projection on Aruneâs part: only a few years into transition, arguing in a âvery male wayâ (whatever that means), demanding to be listened toâŠ
In May 2003, Arune teamed up with Lisanne Anderson, aka Lori Anjou, to create their online âautogynephiliaâ support group. See those pages for more on the similarities in behavior and outlook between these two. Arune and this group were both kicked off Yahoo for violations of Terms of Service in 2005, allowing Arune to retain the crown of biggest transgender netkook, and adding another group to the long list of groups and services which had to remove Arune for trolling and baiting.
In December 2004, Arune teamed up with yet another unstable kook named Kimberly Williams, a deeply troubled person who became obsessed with the idea that I was âpagejackingâ Williamsâ website, despite my attempts by phone and email to explain that Williams was very confused. Arune and Williams began working together, spreading lies that I had filed for bankruptcy and had fabricated my academic degrees. Williams may actually be even more incompetent and obnoxious than Arune, which is no small feat. Williams has referred to me with Nazi epithets and claims I am using several aliases. Williams also brags in a self-published autobiography about terrorizing an immobilized hospital patient, snatching the patientâs wig off and swirling it in the toilet before putting it back on the patientâs head. Williams then brags about moving the call button just out of reach, leaving the patient helpless. [9] Arune and Williams are certainly cut from the same cloth, so it was no surprise when they began working together to attack me, nor is it a surprise that Arune continues to cite Williams as a reliable source of corroborating information. This incompetent and libellous collaboration led to the demise of Aruneâs support group on Yahoo in 2005.
In March 2005, Aruneâs continued escalation of personal attacks on me led to yet another incompetent decision. Arune set up a Yahoo group devoted to insulting, harassing and cyberstalking me, so Yahoo removed both this new group and Aruneâs older group for violations of their Terms of Service. Though Arune was obviously the only person to blame for this incident, Arune was unable to see that this was yet another instance where Aruneâs incompetence led to a bad decision, just like the fateful trip to Thailand that landed Arune in jail and subsequently triggered Aruneâs belief that Arune is a transsexual. I had not had much interaction with people at this level of incompetence previously, and it is remarkable how many of them I have come into contact with as a result of their support of Bailey and his book. In many ways, itâs probably good that they donât understand how they appear to others. Arune has vowed to bring this âsupportâ site back on another service, but for now, itâs just more evidence of Aruneâs incompetence.
As with most of these fringe element kooks and trolls, Aruneâs personal attacks are better left ignored. Some of these kooks will escalate things to cyberstalking and violence when provoked. The Registrarâs Office at my alma mater had to update their cyberstalking policy because of Aruneâs activities [10]. I recommend only countering the misinformation Arune and friends spread. They crave attention, even if itâs negative attention, from those who are ârespected authorities,â as a way to compensate for their own incompetence. Ignore them, and they will find some other compulsion to indulge in time.
Identifying with metaphors of disease and impairment
As I discuss on my page about disease models of gender identity, some gender-diverse people agree with âexpertsâ who consider them diseased and sexually disordered.
As an aside, itâs interesting to note that the clinical literature is is full of references about people like Arune, who normally defers to clinicians as experts. People like Arune have been described by so-called experts as âtransvestitic applicants for sex reassignmentâ [11] who are âagingâ [12] and âdistressed,â [13] suffering from âpseudotranssexualism,â [14] a ânon-transsexualâ variant of âgender identity disorderâ (GIDAANT), [15] and âiatrogenic artifact.â[16]
Arune is especially fond of claiming that we are mentally ill, asserting that without a mental illness diagnosis, there is no way to get trans health services through government health programs. Unfortunately for Arune, this is simply untrue in many countries. Had Arune read the GIRES materials available on this site since Baileyâs book came out, Arune would know that the UK goverment among others do not consider this a mental illness and continue to fund trans health services. Arune defends the alleged âexpertsâ at one regressive Canadian clinic, while the rest of the community looks to the current consensus of 24 world-renowned experts who are signatories to the document on causes of transsexualism, the final draft of which was provided to this site via lead investigator Milton Diamond. [17]
Arune dismisses the 2002 UK policy that allows funding of trans health services without the stigma of mental illness, because it badly undermines Aruneâs identity as a mentally ill man. Arune claims the UK policy âmerely serves a political role and distorts any scientific judgement in favour of appeasement.â [18] Because Aruneâs incompetence clouds rational judgment, Arune can only view this policy as a problem, rather than a major step forward brought about by progressive transactivists.
As seen with the âforced feminizationâ script played out by Arune with Aruneâs own therapist, the deference to an expert for validation is an important part of Aruneâs identity. âLetâs face it, honey⊠Weâre the patients in this exercise. Weâre not the experts.â [19]
Arune needs an âexpertâ diagnosis to maintain a legitimate identity as a type of diseased man. Some of us feel that we are in a better position to define and describe ourselves, and we feel that Aruneâs bizarre outlook and self-identity is different than a transsexual identity. People like Arune will go down in history as similar to the gays and lesbians who consider themselves diseased, or other oppressed groups who buy into the idea they are biologically inferior. Those folks defer to experts, tooâ many of the same âexpertsâ Arune defends.
In a newspaper interview, Ray Blanchard called Arune a âman without a penis.â [20] If Arune wants to defend someone who says that about all of us, I personally canât fight for Aruneâs rights.
Resources
Transgender Tapestry ()
Elizabeth (2004). On the Science of Bonerism and the Identity Politics of “Single Heterosexual Men,” originally published in Transgender Tapestry #107, Fall/Winter 2004, pp. 45-51 {archive]
1. Kruger J, Dunning D (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing oneâs own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. December 1999 Vol. 77, No. 6, 1121-1134 http://www.phule.net/mirrors/unskilled-and-unaware.html
5. Plant D (1999). Willow sculpts a life. Kelowna Daily Courier January 27, 1999. For more on Aruneâs incarceration in Thailand, see: http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/bailey-willow-arune.html
This is a subpage for the main article on Willow Arune. Please start at the main article for an overview.
âIt is easy to be a bully on Usenet â all it takes is a computer, a modem, and an ugly being. Suddenly you are a hero in your own mind.â
â Willow Arune
Willow Arune is a notorious eccentric who posts primarily on USENET, because Arune has been kicked off almost every moderated online forum due to trolling and baiting. Checking the statistics for the USENET group alt.support.srs will show Arune (as pangarune@shaw.ca) among the top ten posters in any given month. Many of the posts will be cut and paste jobs from other publications (usually marked FYI), but the rest will be flames and trolls aimed at Aruneâs perceived enemies.
Despite claims to the contrary, Arune sends a steady stream of emails to me, including four on 2 June 2005 alone. Arune mentions me at least once a week on alt.support.srs and is clearly obsessed with me. In early 2005, Arune started a Yahoo group called âSurvivors Support Groupâ about me (AJSSG):http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AJSSG
This was a members-only clearinghouse of personal information about me, created by several people harassing and cyberstalking me. This incompetent decision by Arune led Yahoo to terminate all of Aruneâs accounts, which subsequently led to the demise of another âsupportâ group Arune used to publish various rants. Now that Arune is limited primarily to USENET, the attacks there have escalated, to the point that Arune is responsible for much of the content on that nearly defunct forum, long ago abandoned by most to the kooks.
Below are some selected emails to me during the time Arune was âleaving me alone.â Since no one is going to be interested in slogging through all these rants, I have put a short summary in front of each one.
Hereâs one where someone quotes this site and is equated with a murderer.
From: Willow Arune <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2005 17:40:41 -0800 To: Andrea <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: Fw: Bailey resigns!
There you go â one of your most avid readersâŠ
Like the minister who preaches hatred of gays, and then says âI did nothingâ when two of his congregation go out and murder one. You bred Jenny and others like herâŠ
Such a sweetieâŠ
W.
Hereâs an excerpt from one citing Aruneâs collaborator Kimberly Williams.
From: Willow Arune <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 17:26:21 -0800 To: autogynephiliasupport@yahoogroups.com, Muliebrety@yahoogroups.com Cc: Andrea <andrea@tsroadmap.com>, cburns@plain-sense.co.uk, Kimberly Williams <bsoelectrolysis@cox.net> Subject: Fw: False Statements
A new site contains a bit more concerning Ms. James. One wonders how she supports all those web pages? Go here:
http://www.bostonelectrolysis.com/index.php
(The University of Chicago has confirmed that it has never awarded a degree of Masters in English to Andrea James, by the way). After she accused Mike Bailey of living too close to Boystown in Chicago, guess where she lived and partied??? You got it â next to Boystown. Proof is found on her former web pages, easily available:
Bankruptcy court records might show how AJ âpaidâ for her Full Facial Surgery. Not included in her helpful hints. If indeed her family is rich, they most certainly did not assist in that aspect of her life. A soon to be breaking story, in the mode of James/ConwayâŠ
Loathing is a mild word. James has attacked others in the same fashion. Unhappily, as with her vaulted âMasters in Englishâ few think to challenge her assertions.
Willow
Aruneâs incompetence has led Arune to believe I do not have a Masterâs Degree in English from University of Chicago, which can be easily confirmed by following the instructions at the Registrarâs Office. Arune emailed two department secretaries who do not keep official records, and in Aruneâs incompetent mind, that constitutes proof.
From: Willow Arune <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:37:21 -0800 To: Andrea <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: Web Changes
Ah yes, Andrea,
The modifications to your web site have been brought to my attention.
Strange. The University of Chicago has no record of you, at least for a Masters in English. Not the English Department, nor Graduate Studies, and not the Registrar. At this point, as the saying goes, the onus moves to you. Would you care to provide particulars?? I can, of course, easily provide copies of e-mails from the University.
As to Kimberly Williams, I fear you have hurt a great many over the years with your standard tactics of ducking behind the web site. Kimberly is definitely not alone. Even I was astounded at the number of those who do not like you at all. Your recent effort to demean the Transkids was a farce. Placing Christine Burns in the position of having to issue an apology and retraction on the eve of her award from the Queen was a callous thing to do.
The bankruptcy? An innovative way to pay for FFS, I agree. One more step and that public record shall be available, and I fear some might wish to publish it on a web site given what you have done to them. Not me, mind.
This is rather silly. As is normal with things of this nature, no doubt certain matters will surface when you least wish them to do so. While I cannot claim the number of investigators you seem to have, there are not that many US states and areas north of Chicago where mobile homes, especially converted buses, are not that common. It is not the numbers that are important, but more the placement â one clerk in a government office is better than fifty amateurs lurking in bushes.
TTFN,
Willow
From: Willow Arune <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 18:42:01 -0800 To: Andrea <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: Tsk, TskâŠ
Gee, Andrea â you do write the strangest things on your web pageâŠ
If there were an award for inaccurate reporting, I am sure you would make the finals.
As to the University of Chicago, the *fact* remains that I have three posts from them, each of which officially denies that you ever obtained a Masters in English. As you asked me on Dec. 24, 2003, will you affirm or deny that you have the degree you have claimed? This is much easier than similar question post to me. I do so hope you, as a good alumni, donated funds to Chicago. I would love to think that some of the monies they are paying me came from you. Stay tuned â oh, so sorry. You are not on the new list are you? So sad.
In the meantime, please remember that Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville were followed by Gettysburg. One small victory, even two, do not a war win.
You see, honey, the world has passed you by â perhaps me too for that matter. Save for the Internet, and even major portions of that, nobody cares. Sycophants you may have, but step outside that circle and nobody knows or cares about transexuality or autogynephilia. Many, probably most, have not even hear of you, me or the term itself. The great last campaign for civil rights you claimed to represent is a group of huddled silly types gathered around a dwindling fire in the cold. You had your fifteen minutes; that time has passed.
Have a great day and if you have some time, read either of Colette Chilandâs books. Not all of the world is as caught up âprofessional transsexualityâ as you are. Some sanity remains.
Until we meet again, I shall take great delight in imagining all the truly stealth types wearing your tee-shirts and using your mugs at work. And some thought wearing a TS Menace Tee was bad!!!
Hugs, Willow
This one is my favorite. Arune writes to tell me Arune is not thinking about me.
From: Willow Arune <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 20:01:00 -0700 To: Lisanne <lisanne001@verizon.net> Cc: Andrea <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: It isâŠ
âŠniceâŠ
I realized today that I have not thought or spoken or written the name Andrea James for days, weeks evenâŠ
Who says you have to die before you go to heaven???
Hugs, Willow
This one is to remind me of my irrelevance, and to let me know Arune has decided âenough is enoughâ and will no longer be involved in any of this.
From: Willow Arune <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 19:08:22 -0700 To: Andrea James <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: Fw: I Want What I Want
Time to crow, honey. You pages on me are totally irrelevant, part of history.
The new freedom is wonderful. Keep on with the professional transsexual route â it suits you. Others have better things to do.
Willow
ââ Original Message ââ From: Willow Arune <mailto:pangarune@shaw.ca> To: Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2005 7:05 PM Subject: Re: I Want What I Want
It got so bad that one night, I looked and the collection and said enough is enough. I kept the Brown and a few early ones, but most are now at the University if Chicago and I am happily doing more renovations to my home.
I have retreated. No TS meetings, no TS internet, no TS counselling. Being up north in Canada, there is not any interaction save former clients and now a few of us are friends. No more reviews of books and such either. Simply, the bad of dealing with other TS was too great. Too many are, at best, dysfunctional and delusional. A few are downright dangerous and others are simply evil â Andrea James I put in that category.
Fine. Others can follow like little sheep, telling themselves that myths are true. One cannot create a fiction, unsupported by anything really and demand all others in society follow it. Perhaps the best view is that of Dr. Colette Chiland, and two of her books have been translated and are available in the US.
Coddled. Those private types who âhelpâ are â I am convinced â in it for the money. That includes surgeons. The university approach demanded by Stoller was indeed the best â now we have paid types advising those who want to get what they want. Bah!
Anyway, good luck with all. Best advise â avoid other tS like the plagueâŠ
Hugs, Willow
Of course, Arune was back to âleaving me aloneâ five days later.
From: Willow Arune <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 08:14:07 -0700 To: Andrea James <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: Ah Yes, Your Site
A friend brought the recent changes to your web pages to my attention.
Silly and stupid, as always. I seem to be your boogieman, hiding in hallways ands under beds to do battle. In fact, as you well know, I have withdrawn from the lists (used in an historic context) and no longer care â with one exception.
As you well know, your site is both insulting and libellous. At this point, there is no reason to proceed with legal action as that would result in costs but no recovery â you have no assets to speak of as we all know. Thus, I continue to request that you delete the libel immediately and reserve the right to proceed with legal action if and when I elect so to do.
Of course, each time you add to the defamation, you extend the time for filing, which suits me just fine.
Your pawn almost lost her job and certainly has been effectively muzzled but that was no doubt your plan when you egged her on. As to Christine Burns, you lies got her in trouble at the worst possible moment yet you continue with those lies as well, I note. You hurt the Transkids merely to hurt â the mark of a psychopath. And you did that from cover, the mark of a coward.
You truly are the ugliest being I have met in this lifetime. A soul so retched that you simply love to add lies after lie even after the supposed foe is no longer on the field.
No doubt this response pleases you, in your own sick way. From my viewpoint, I have moved on. You remain as you were â a professional, but flawed, transsexual.
Willow Arune
Hugs, Willow
I got half a dozen emails from Arune in a 24-hour period in early June 2005. These two give the flavor.
From: Pangarune Corner <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 18:23:39 -0700 To: andrea@tsroadmap.com Subject: Fw: An Observation about Will Orobko
You should be soooooo happy. Why, having a surrogate like Diane is only bettered by having both Diane and Jenny Usher.
You must be so proud. Quoted so often by your peers â and they are indeed *your* peers. Every time one of your idiots quotes your lies it reflects on your personality.
Willow.
From: Pangarune Corner <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 20:20:32 -0700 To: andrea@tsroadmap.com Subject: Fw: alt.support.will.orobko
You see, your followers are so loyalâŠ
I really think you should contact Diane and give her a medal â she is using your material just as you wanted it to be doneâŠ
W.
Hereâs a long one about Aruneâs most recent paramour. Not sure why I got this one.
From: Willow Arune <pangarune@shaw.ca> Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 19:42:06 -0700 To: Andrea James <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: Re: Will Orobko is a very fat man
Sonia, cur was married in Singapore, separated, came to Canada and served as a registered nurse for many years. She was disabled due to back problems. During that time, she raise four daughters, without any financial assistance from hubby, of whom three are now registered nurses, two with advanced degrees, and one computer whiz who after university has gained a top job with a stock brokerage firm. For her work during the initial AIDS crisis, she is regarded as almost a saint by the Vancouver Gay community; She was with over 50 of those who died, who otherwise would have died alone. In one one case, the fellow was denied medicine due to our former premier. Sonia married him solely to get him medical coverage. He was one of those that died.
You are not fit to even grovel at her feet. As expected, you place total emphasis on appearance, and none on soul and spirit. That is why you are such a callow thing â and thing is one good word to describe you. As with your mentor, Andrea, you attack not the ideas, but the person of those who do not share your opinions. As Andrea attacked Baileyâs children, you attack Sonia. Thankfully, I did not expect you had reached as low as you could.
Heaven knows there are enough types here to follow your way. No matter. Your mentor, dear Andrea, is a self-confessed AG, and in her own words even worse. I can think of no two people who deserve each other as much as you and she. In fact, I shall copy her with this post to show how well you imitate her style. As with her, you are not doubt an AG too â not that such is a problem, mind.
Disgust is a mild word to describe you. Attacking one who is so good that she would even take you in off the streets on a cold night. As has already been pointed out, you have laid claim to all sorts of deeds of derring- do, money beyond wealth, and more. In fact, you are but a trembling leaf â a thing. Not male or female, a THING. Henderson and the lower ranks of the Air Force deserve you.
W.
This flurry came about after I demanded a retraction from a student newspaper after Arune once again claimed I have filed bankruptcy.
From: Willow Arune <arune1529@shaw.ca> Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:47:58 -0700 To: Andrea James <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: NW
Would you like an Address for Service??? As I assume you would be suing in Canada, please note I shall require Security for Costs.
Would you like the quotes for the definition of âprofessional transsexualâ??
Perhaps Deirdre McCloskey can join you? I am sure her family members would be still willing to testify.
Willow Arune
From: Willow Arune <arune1529@shaw.ca> Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 10:11:10 -0700 To: Andrea James <andrea@tsroadmap.com> Subject: Fun and Games
You seem to have far too much time on your hands these days. Not enough to do as a big âHollywood Producerâ?
Now, I did offer you an Address for Service. Certainly if you wished to start a legal action, I am delighted to respond. I think your site has enough nasty material on myself and others (the Transkids, Lisanne Anderson and more) to present some interesting law. But then, suing you does not do much good, does it? Not unless you have full access to Lynnâs Star Wars contract funds.
When will you wake up to realize that you are fighting a war in which no one has any interest? The new crop of transsexuals could care less about any theory or concept and most do not recognizes the names of Blanchard, James, Conway or any of the other participants â and could care less.
You are certainly amusing in a childish sort of way; you are certainly a nuisance in far too many ways. Try a job that better occupies your time and energy â that would be my suggestion. Being a professional transsexual is not that rewarding â soliciting donations and selling mousepads and such.
TTFN, Willow Arune
Hugs, Willow
Willow Arune: words and actions
Former Northwestern University psychology department chair J. Michael Bailey is like the Jerry Springer of academia, and many of his supporters share Baileyâs eccentricities and âcredibility issues.â Since Baileyâs book was deemed ânot scienceâ by the director of the prestigious Kinsey Institute, [1] the issues of author motivation and credibility are obviously important.
The story below is based on first-hand accounts by Bailey supporter Willow Arune, known as Will O [2] at the time of the incident described below. Given the claims of incarceration and criminal charges, statements by this person should be verified independently, even those repeated by journalists, before being considered factual.
According to self-reports [3], on 25 February 1995, Canadian citizen and self-confessed eccentric Will O traveled to Thailand on a visa to broker a $1 million loan through Citibank for a private hospital. [4] Will O has a long history of making incompetent life choices, and this was apparently no exception. Will O claims to have been arrested with two Americans during the meeting and subsequently incarcerated on charges of forging a bank certificate worth $50 million. [5] Will O was allegedly held for 92 days before getting out on bail. [6] Will O claims that after being released, Thai authorities withheld Will Oâs passport and did not return it for over a year. [7] During that time, Will O variously claims âI could not workâ [8] or âI worked in a law officeâ in Thailand. [9]
Will O claims to have been âtrappedâ in Thailand through 1995 and 1996 with little assistance from the embassy, until Reform Party leader Preston Manning and Alberta M.P. Bob Mills personally took up the case by traveling there. [10] Will O claims to have been formally deported in late 1996, noting âI am now an escaped person under Thai lawâ [11] and âa fugitive from Thailand.â [12]
According to Will O, the case number is Black 2870/2538 (Southern Bangkok Criminal Court) [13], and it involved a five year trial, with two appeals of four years each. [14]
Will O claims to have endured six weeks of sexual abuse and rape at the hands of guards. [15] Upon returning to Canada in November 1996, Will O sought counseling, and âhis therapist suggested becoming a woman.â [16] According to Will O:
âSubsequent therapy helped with the Post Traumatic Stress problems, but out popped transsexuality. In retrospect, this was a blessing â a special talent given to a few to understand and BE both genders. My former âpersonalityâ was in essence destroyed, and Willow emerged.â [17]
âIt totally destroyed my sense of being⊠I didnât know who I was when I got out.â [18]
If the concept of a female personality emerging from a destroyed maleâs sense of being sounds familiar, itâs probably because you have seen the ending of the Hitchcock film Psycho. [19]
Now, if you ask me, if a nudist club [20] former officer [21] gets arrested in the sex tour capital of the world [22] and is then sexually abused while in prison, one begins to wonder if the forgery charge is the entire story, or the story at all. Further, if that same person is deported back to Canada, goes on permanent disability welfare for post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the incarceration [23], and then has a therapist suggest becoming a woman on the government dime, one has to marvel at how generously the Canadian welfare system has benefited this fugitive from Thailand. Perhaps Bailey can write a sequel starring Arune called The Man Who Would Be Welfare Queen.
As far as the claim that âout popped transsexuality,â people like Arune have been described in the medical literature as âtransvestic applicants for sex reassignmentâ [24] who are âagingâ [25] and âdistressed,â [26] suffering from âpseudotranssexualism,â [27] a ânon-transsexualâ variant of âgender identity disorderâ (GIDAANT), [28] and âiatrogenic artifact.â [29] Therapist Mildred Brown has suggested several non-transsexual motivations that can apply, including:
Victims of sexual assault or abuse, who therefore want to distance themselves as much as possible from the bodies in which they were victimized. If one result of the sexual abuse is that they cannot function sexually as the sex in which they were born, they hope that becoming the other sex will put all the trauma behind them.
Persons who dislike the behavior they have fallen into in their original sex âe.g. rape, child-molestation, exhibitionism, and other anti-social or criminal behavior. They want to get rid of the parts of their bodies âusually penisesâthat have led them astray.
Individuals with psychiatric disorders, who have delusions that they are the other sex. [30]
Maybe these twelve people who rally around Bailey are (to use his phrase) âfundamentally differentâ [31] from transsexual women because they are not transsexual women. Maybe they are âeccentricsâ who defensively claim to be âreal transsexualsâ but are in fact, to put it bluntly, kooks. Since Bailey would rather engage in science by press conference [32], and he wonât engage those who have written extensive scientific criticisms of his model [33], terminology [34], methodology [35], and book [36], maybe Baileyâs work is not science. After all, thatâs what was asserted at the International Academy of Sex Research right before he stepped down from his position with that group. Maybe Bailey is just someone who is into exploiting kooks, gullible students, and sex workers for professional gain and personal pleasure.References
4. Gradon J. Free at last. Calgary Herald. 24 November 1996.
Note: When I contacted the author in 2004, Mr. Gradon noted, âOrobko always was and still is apparently a different breed of cat, of that we are and always were certain.â
Opening lines: âMeeting Willow Arune for the first time can be a little unsettling. After all, you donât have to look hard to realize thereâs a man inside the make-up, dress and heels.â
19. Stefano J. Psycho. Screenplay for 1960 film by Alfred Hitchcock:
DR. RICHMOND: You see, when the mind houses two personalities, thereâs always a conflict, a battle. In Normanâs case, the battle is overâand the dominant personality has won.
âMany years ago, in 1971, I joined your club and after that served as Secretary for one year⊠When I was secretary, I was rather inconvenently male. I now take pride in being female not just in mind, but body as well. It should be fun!â
22. US Department of Justice. Sex Tourism. Retrieved 14 October 2005. http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/sextour.html
Prisha Mosley is an American ex-transgender activist. Mosley gets money and attention by making it more difficult for others to get trans healthcare.
Background
Abigail Mosley was born February 14, 1998. Mosley’s parents are Christine Ann Bourgeois-Mosley (born 1968) and Mark Stephen Mosley (born 1962).
Mosley claims to have had “rapid onset gender dysphoria” at 12. Mosley was sexually assaulted at age 14 or 15 (versions differ).
According to Kelsey Bolar at Epoch Times:
Mosleyâs parents were both against her âtransitioningâ as a minor. But because her mother suffered from alcoholism and her own history of mental illness, Mosley âthrew awayâ much of what her mother said. Her father wasnât sure what to do. Mosley describes him as having a âprove it attitude.â He told Mosley to make her own appointments and see what the professionals recommended.
Mosley then took numerous steps without parental assistance. Mosley socially transitioned in 2013, then over the next two years convinced each parent to consent to medical transition steps. Mosley began hormones at 17, in 2015.
Mosley began using the name Charlie Samael Mosley. As an adult, Mosley chose to get top surgery, in 2016. In 2017, Mosley was allegedly “lured to Florida” by trans peers and got engaged to a trans person, but they later broke up.
Mosley moved to Michigan to attend Ferris State University.
Mosley stopped taking hormones in 2022 and began fundraising for breast reconstruction, but ended up using the money for other things. According to Bolar:
After detransitioning in Florida and leaving an unhealthy relationship she was in with another individual who identified as transgender, Mosley moved to Big Rapids, Michigan, to pursue a job at a local dispensary. It was supposed to be a relaxed environment, but she said she got fired for crying every day. Mosley has since started school but can only take courses online because she doesnât feel comfortable being seen.
Anti-transgender activism
On October 2, 2022, Mosley posted a YouTube video originally titled “I ruined my life.” In it Mosley claims that “some people in the trans community, and the transmedicalists, and the doctors really really target the most vulnerable of us.”
In that vulnerable state Mosley was then targeted and groomed by conservative and fascist activists. They showered Mosley with money and attention. Because regret is so rare, Mosley got flown around the country to testify against healthcare for trans and gender diverse minors in states where Mosley does not live:
Louisiana HB463
Ohio SB68
Texas HB 1686
South Carolina
Texas SB14
Indiana SB480
Florida Board of Medicine
Mosley is heavily invested in metaphors of disease and impairment, identifying as disabled and diseased (mentally ill). This is a kind of attention-seeking behavior.
Mosley’s alleged diseases and health problems include:
anorexia (cured)
transgender (cured)
depression
anxiety
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
borderline personality disorder (BPD)
“psychosis”
“delusions”
“permanent damage to my back and ribs”
“severe vaginal atrophy”
“painful genitals so severe I can no longer use tampons”
“never had a normal period”
“chronic pain”
“I live in a painful body that no longer belongs to me”
muscle and fat redistribution left me with “constant burning pain”
“hurts to hold myself up”
“clumsiness”
“my chest is numb except for the occasional zapping pain”
“joint pain for the rest of my life”
“my back and joints ache constantly”
“lost the ability to sing”
“painful to speak for long periods”
“most likely infertile”
“large painful shoulders”
“I’m no longer able to regulate my own hormones”
“pain tolerance is lower”
“overgrown heart”
“increased risk for heart attack and stroke”
“doctors have abandoned me”
“doctors blackmailed my parents”
“missing pieces of my nipples”
need “at least three more traumatizing surgeries”
“I will never be able to feed my children”
Mosley does not seem to take much personal responsibility for these life choices, especially those made as an adult. Until there is some personal responsibility taken, Mosley is doomed to remain a miserable victim cultist.
Jordan Campbell, Ron Miller, Josh Payne, and Daniel Sepulveda are the founders of Campbell Miller Payne, PLLC (CMP), a firm focused on suing providers of trans health services. They and Envisage Law in Raleigh are representing Mosley in litigation against the people who tried to help Mosley, and CMP also represents ex-trans litigant Soren Aldaco in Texas.
Sarah Ditum is an English “mommy blogger,” opinion columnist, sex segregationist, and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Sarah Ruth Webster Ditum is a freelance writer and production editor based in Bath. Ditum contributes to UnHerd and other anti-trans publications.
As a teen, Ditum learned to identify with metaphors of disease and impairment, pretending to be ill to avoid school. After first year at university, Ditum transferred to be near a romantic partner and almost immediately got pregnant: “Whatever had made its home in my belly had made me a mother, and I would have to catch up with that. Even as the person who made that decision, I find it hard to reconcile the ambition I had at 20 with the will to throw my lot in with maternity.”
Ditum completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees, then dropped out of a doctoral program after getting pregnant again.
Ditum started self-publishing a “mommy blog” called Paperhouse. Early gigs were for Venue magazine, Yarn Forward, and Official PlayStation Magazine.
Ditum married Nathan Mark Ditum (born 1981). Ditum changed surnames because “there was already a Sarah Webster working as a writer.” They have two children, Maddy and Jay. Ditum is involved in the knitting community.
In 2023 Ditum incorporated Burn Book Ltd in the UK.
Anti-transgender activism
Ditum has been criticized for views on transgender issues.
Ritchie Herron is a British ex-transgender activist. Herron gets money and attention by making it more difficult for others to get trans healthcare. Herron uses the handle “TullipR” online and frequently appears in conservative or fascist media.
Background
Richard “Ritchie” Herron was born on May 25, 1987. Herron is a child of divorce who claims to have been bullied at school.
After spending time on UK-based The Angels forum, Herron purchased hormones as an adult from a private pharmacy. At age 25, Herron began transition and began using the name Abby. In 2018, at age 30, Herron got vaginoplasty. Five years later, at age 35, Herron made additional gender changes, largely due to dissatisfaction with vaginoplasty results.
Herron is a Newcastle-based civil servant.
In June 2022 Herron claimed lawyers in Liverpool were preparing a legal case against Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust.
Ex-transgender activism
Similar to the ex-gay activists of the 20th century, people like Herron get money and attention by claiming to be no longer trans.
Herron is heavily invested in metaphors of disease and impairment, identifying as disabled and mentally ill. This is a kind of attention-seeking behavior. Rather than take personal responsibility for life decisions made as a 30-year-old adult, Herron chooses to blame those who tried to help.
Herron’s alleged disorders, diseases, “comorbidities,” and maladies include:
“depression, OCD and latent homosexuality”
autism
“hated myself because I am gay”
“an ear infection that led to deafness”
a series of breakdowns
substance misuse issues
“no skill or co-ordination”
Here is how Herron describes the surgical results and complications:
ânearly bled to deathâ
“It literally looked like an animal had got on my crotch and it just went to town on it”
“like my arsecrack has been extended all the way to the front”
“under constant supervision for ongoing complications related to the deeply invasive surgery”
feel mostly nothing in “my flesh cavity” aside from “occasional stabs of pain”
crotch is numb, âshell-shockedâ
scars “still sometimes weep” and “occasionally become inflamed and cause crippling pain”
“my body aches”
“lifelong pain”
Herron claims these long-term problems:
“killed my confidence”
cannot walk long distances
cannot ride a bike
infertile
incontinent
canât use the toilet properly
“takes ten minutes to empty my bladder”
sex drive “is long gone”
“reliant on synthetic hormones”
“lifelong medical patient”
Herron has discussed ex-trans activism in conservative or fascist outlets that include National Review, Rebel News, Daily Mail, Daily Record, Spiked, The Lion, World News Group, The Times, The Critic, The Washington Examiner.The Telegraph, The Christian Institute, Christian Post, and Christian Broadcasting Network.
Herron also frequently appears on channels featuring anti-trans content:
Lierre Keith is an American environmentalist and author. Keith is a founder of environmental organization Deep Green Resistance, a radical feminist group that has been criticized for anti-transgender views.
Background
Keith was born in 1964 and went to high school in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the 1980s Keith was involved in a number of feminist projects, including Vanessa and Iris: A Journal for Young Feminists, the journal Rain and Thunder, the groups Women Against Violence Against Women, Minor Disturbance, Feminists Against Pornography.
Keith’s environmental activism includes the 2009 book The Vegetarian Myth and the 2011 book Deep Green Resistance, co-authored with Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay. McBay left in 2012, citing increasing anti-trans views of the other co-founders.
Anti-trans activism
Keith helped found the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF). WoLF was founded in 2013, incorporated in 2016, and earned non-profit status in 2018. They have held meetings called WoLF Fest since 2016 that largely consist of anti-transgender networking and presentations.
In a sympathetic 2014 piece by Michelle Goldberg titled “What Is a Woman?” Keith explained:
Trans women say that they are women because they feel femaleâthat, as some put it, they have womenâs brains in menâs bodies. Radical feminists reject the notion of a âfemale brain.â They believe that if women think and act differently from men itâs because society forces them to, requiring them to be sexually attractive, nurturing, and deferential. In the words of Lierre Keith, a speaker at Radfems Respond, femininity is âritualized submission.â
[…]
Three years ago, she co-founded the ecofeminist group Deep Green Resistance, which has some two hundred members and links the oppression of women to the pillaging of the planet.D.G.R. is defiantly militant, refusing to condemn the use of violence in the service of goals it considers just. In radical circles, though, what makes the group truly controversial is its stance on gender. As members see it, a person born with male privilege can no more shed it through surgery than a white person can claim an African-American identity simply by darkening his or her skin. Before D.G.R. held its first conference, in 2011, in Wisconsin, the group informed a person in the process of a male-to-female transition that she couldnât stay in the womenâs quarters. âWe said, Thatâs fine if you want to come, but, no, youâre not going to have access to the womenâs sleeping spaces and the womenâs bathrooms,â Keith told me.
References
McBay, Aric (May 14, 2013). DGR and Transphobia. http://www.aricmcbay.org/2013/05/14/dgr-and-transphobia/
Kerschner works for anti-trans hate group Genspect.
Background
Helena Elise Kerschner was born July 24, 1998 in northern Kentucky and grew up in the Cincinnati area. Kerschner’s parent Magdalena E Kerschner (born 1960) is a physician who ran a pain clinic. Kerschner’s parent William P. “Will” Kerschner (born 1959) was an executive at a large consumer goods company. Both are retired.
Kerschner had a childhood of immense privilege and was involved in figure skating and other expensive hobbies like horse riding. As a teen, Kerschner was a compulsive Tumblr user:
[…] By the time I was thirteen, I was isolating myself, self-harming, and had developed an eating disorder. In eighth grade, I lost touch with most of my school friends, and was too self-conscious and preoccupied with my eating disorder to put myself out there again. I started skipping school, spending lunch in the bathroom, and in general just keeping my head down, trying to get through the day unnoticed.
[…] When I was fifteen, I was introduced to gender ideology on Tumblr and began to call myself nonbinary. Over the next few years, I would continue to go deeper and deeper down the trans identity rabbit hole, and by the time I was eighteen, I saw myself as a âtrans manâ, otherwise known as âFtMâ. Shortly after my eighteenth birthday, I made an appointment at a Planned Parenthood to begin a testosterone regimen. At my first appointment, I was prescribed testosterone, and I would remain on this regimen for a year and a half. It had an extremely negative effect on my mental health, and I finally admitted what a disaster it had been when I was 19, sometime around February or March 2018.
[…] Between sharing photos, drawings, and fanfiction, these girls were posting about their lives and going into deep detail about their struggles. Many were social outcasts like me, also struggling with things like self-harm and eating disorders. Finding a community of such like minded people felt amazing, and I quickly began spending nearly every waking moment on Tumblr or messaging some friend I had met on there. If I had any remaining motivation to integrate myself into real life, I lost that here.
Kershner became sexually attracted to and obsessed with boyish pop culture figures like Elvis and Justin Bieber. Kershner eventually wanted to embody them. This erotic interest in masculinization was not well documented prior to LiveJournal, Tumblr, the “shipping” phenomenon, and anime fandoms frequented by fujoshi {“rotten girl”) obsessives.
Kerschner met Hinty via tumblr, and they eventually lived together. Kerschner started hormones as an adult on August 15, 2016. According to an interview with Daily Wire, Kerschner’s new name was Vincent Lucas “Vin” Jaszczak. Jaszczak was a family name.
While most people who make additional changes in gender identity or expression remain supportive of the process, some choose to get money and attention by joining the ex-trans movement. According to friends, Kerschner was drawn into alt-right ideologies via toxic online communities including now-banned subreddits like r/The_Donald and r/GenderCritical.
I finally bit the bullet and looked into radical feminism. This happened because during a suicidal mental break down, I went to the only community online that I had found supported detransitioned people (the trans community often demonizes and erases us), which was r/GenderCritical on Reddit. I was met with an overflow of love and support, and they showed me that radfems are not the monsters the trans tumblr community makes us out to be. Though their politics were extremely shocking to me, someone who spent the last 5 years intensely believing in genderist ideology, after a while things started making sense and I realized just how horrible trans ideology is, and how it nearly destroyed my life.
With the help of radical feminism, which has taught me an immense level of self respect, I am slowly crawling out of rock bottom.
Kerschner soon became fixated on alt-right figures like Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson in ways that mirror previous fascinations with Elvis and Justin Bieber.
Kerschner testified in support of Ohio legislation HB 454, the “Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE)” Act. Kerschner also works extensively behind the scenes with Denise Caignon, owner of anti-trans site 4thWaveNow.
“a few disclaimers just cause ill talk about this stuff and i dont want u to see me talk about it and not know whats going on: 1. i have experience with abuse but dont talk to me about it unless ur also an abuse survivor 2. im pretty mentally ill so sorry if i cry a lot but you can talk to me about it idc jus⊠beware my screaming”
Deirdre Nansen McCloskey is an American economist and philosopher. McCloskey is also transgender and made a gender transition in 1995 in the midst of a distinguished career, described in the 1999 autobiography Crossing: A Memoir.
McCloskey was born in 1942 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and studied Economics at Harvard University, earning a Bachelor’s degree in 1964 and a Ph.D in 1970. McCloskey has held appointments at University of Chicago, University of Iowa, and University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2015 McCloskey was named Distinguished Professor of Economics and of History, and Professor of English and of Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago, Emerita.
Writings on gender after retirement
McCloskey holds a number of views that are considered conservative within the trans community. In 2019, McCloskey chose to share reflections on gender transition in Quillette, a notoriously anti-trans publication. The comment section is an excellent survey of transphobic talking points from the time.
In 2021, McCloskey was announced as affiliated with the proposed “anti-woke” University of Austin, along with Bari Weiss, Steven Pinker, Kathleen Stock, Jonathan Haidt, and other gender critical figures. In June 2022, McCloskey and Stock had a “debate” about gender in which they largely agreed with each other.
References
McCloskey D (1999). Crossing: A Memoir. University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226556680
Adam Nagourney is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Nagourney’s dismissive views of trans and gender diverse people have been noted by peers and historians.
Nagourney and Jeremy W. Peters claimed in the New York Times that there is a âmedical disagreementâ in 2023 about trans healthcare. There is clear medical consensus on best practices which is opposed by a conservative fringe minority.
Background
Adam Nagourney was born on October 10, 1954. Nagourney earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from SUNY Purchase in 1977.
Nagourney joined The New York Times in 1996.
1999 book Out for Good
Nagourney has long been known for dismissive views of trans and gender diverse people. Dudley Clendinen and Nagourney co-authored the 1999 book Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America. By the late 1990s, only out-of-touch old gay cis men called our rights movement “gay rights.” The most common inclusive term at the time was GLBT (later amended to LGBT).
Nagourney’s coverage of the activism in Minnesota that led to the nationâs first transgender-inclusive human rights laws reveals this anti-trans bias:
As Donna Cartwright has pointed out in âDistorting Mirror: Trivializing and Silencing Transgender people in Queer Media,â (Transgender Tapestry Magazine), even one of the most extensive accounts of that history, Adam Nagourney and Dudley Clendinenâs Out for Good, âtreats [trans people] largely as a disempowered, voiceless âother.ââ In their account of the Minnesota struggles about trans inclusion, for example, Cartwright notes that Nagourney and Clendinen âprimarily quote opponents of trans-inclusion, and to a lesser extent, gay advocates for transgender rights,â while failing to let the voices of transgendered activists appear in their narrative. Cartwright also points out that âtheir description of us âgender queersâ virtually drips with condescension.â
As an example, here is how Nagourney and Clendinen describe trans folk singer Beth Elliott (p. 165ff):
The program included a performance by a folksinger named Beth Elliott, a tiny woman with a guitar slung around one shoulder, beads around her neck, wearing granny glasses and an earth-mother gown. Indeed, she might have been the only woman in the room wearing a skirt or a gown â except for the fact that Beth Elliott wasnât a woman. Beth Elliott was a preoperative transsexual, a man in the process of trying to become a woman, and who, to complicate things, claimed to be a lesbian. The radical lesbians from San Francisco recognized her, or him, the moment she, or he, stepped onstage. This was the same transsexual whose demand to be admitted into the San Francisco chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis had torn the group apart.
2019 book Pride
In the 2019 photo anthology Pride: Fifty Years of Parades and Protests from the Photo Archives of the New York Times, Nagourney omitted nearly every contribution of trans and gender diverse Americans. The book omits the terms transsexual and transvestite completely, as well as historical figures like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. The term transgender is mentioned just nine times, compared to gay (69 times), lesbian (20 times), bisexual (1 time), and LGBT (3 times).
Cartwright, Donna (2000). Distorting Mirror: Trivializing and Silencing Transgender People in Queer Media. Transgender Tapestry Issue 91 https://archive.org/details/transgendertapes9120unse https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/v979v310m
Purchase College. Adam Nagourney â77. https://www.purchase.edu/live/profiles/3378-adam-nagourney-77
Barbaro, Michael (June 1, 2023). How the G.O.P. Picked Tans Kids as a Rallying Cry. New York Times -https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/podcasts/the-daily/anti-trans-bills.html
Sulzberger, A. G. (October 7, 2015). Our Path Forward (PDF). The New York Times Company. https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/m/Our-Path-Forward.pdf
Sulzberger, A. G. (January 1, 2018). A Note from Our New Publisher. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/01/opinion/Arthur-Gregg-Sulzberger-The-New-York-Times.html
The New York Times; Nagourney, Adam (2019). Pride: Fifty Years of Parades and Protests from the Photo Archives of the New York Times. Abrams, ISBN 9781683355878
Clendinen, Dudley; Nagourney, Adam (1999). Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America. Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9780684810911