“Christina Buttons” / Christina Berry vs. transgender people

“Christina Buttons” is the pen name of Christina Berry, an American writer, former sex worker, illustrator, and anti-transgender activist who wrote articles for anti-trans publication The Daily Wire until 2023. Berry joined the anti-trans Manhattan Institute in 2024.

Background

Christina “Tina” Berry is reportedly “from a small town in Alabama” and grew up in the San Diego area.

Berry stated, “I received many diagnoses throughout my life, the most recent being Asperger’s syndrome at age 30.” Starting in middle school, Berry felt ostracized and reported the following problems that required therapy:

body dysmorphia
dermatillomania
insomnia
obsessive-compulsive habits
self-cutting
anorexia
major depressive disorder
trips to “emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, outpatient programs, and group homes”
monotone voice
“limited eye contact”
“flat affect”
“stumbling while walking and almost falling”
“a large number of atypical perceptual experiences”
“social immaturity”
“significant inflexibility in her thinking”
“difficulty identifying feelings”
“tendency to express emotions indirectly and impulsively”
“emotionally disturbed”
drug and alcohol use
groomed and raped at age 15 by a 47 year old

“After running away from two lower-security residential treatment facilities, flunking out of a wilderness program in Idaho, and several more psychiatric hospital stays, I arrived at my final destination: a lockdown psychiatric residential treatment center in Utah called Provo Canyon School, where I would live for a year.”

After returning home and getting a GED, Berry moved in with a boyfriend and began doing sex work. As a young adult, Berry appeared in pornography as “Rita Lovely” and “Cute Courtney.”

Berry worked at Moonbow Publishing as a contract illustrator, which began a turning point away from some of these earlier self-destructive behaviors.

Anti-transgender activism

Berry stated, “I became a journalist after discovering the stories of detransitioners—stories that deeply resonated with my own struggles with mental health and identity.”

After working for anti-diversity organization Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, Berry worked at The Post Millennial in 2022 before joining The Daily Wire.

Berry plans to continue this anti-trans work with a book titled The Parent’s Survival Guide to Gender Ideology and a website genderdebunked.com.

In 2024, Berry joined Manhattan Institute, which led to revelations about Berry’s work in hardcore pornography.

Over the course of this activism, Berry began a relationship with anti-trans activist Colin Wright.

2023 Daily Wire resignation

Berry covered transgender issues for The Daily Wire, switching to “Christina Buttons” after starting. In 2023, Berry resigned from The Daily Wire over its increasingly inflammatory anti-trans rhetoric, particularly that of Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles:

I’m leaving The Daily Wire. I work hard getting the facts right and using precise language because of the heated nature of the gender debate, with so much at stake, while their pundits dump gasoline all over it for entertainment and clicks.

As an independent journalist I will continue my commitment to factual and rigorous reporting on gender ideology and pediatric gender medicine, with the goal of reaching people across the political spectrum. You can help support my journalism by donating.

I’ve already begun receiving inquiries from left-wing publications to see if I’ll give them dirt. As a company, The Daily Wire is a fantastic place to work, they treat their employees extremely well, their editorial team is top notch and everyone I have ever interacted with there is wonderful. I am leaving because I want to reach people on the center-left and lately I’ve felt there has been a distinct increase in inflammatory rhetoric from some of The Daily Wire’s personalities that make it more difficult to accomplish that.

Why? I didn’t misrepresent their views. They made extremely controversial public statements, doubled down on them, and I left so that I could express my opinions on them. My loyalty is to the people who are trying to improve the situation with gender medicine, not inflame it.

I would never use the word transgenderism to describe gender ideology. It was either a sloppy choice from not having done enough research or it was intentionally meant to inflame. Most people believe that being transgender is the same as being gay. That’s why I expend so much energy trying to inform people on why “gender identity” has no biological basis. Furthermore, “eradicating” gender ideology completely from all aspects of life is not realistic, nor attainable and amounts to conservative virtue signaling. We have to be specific about what “gender identity” ideology is, where it came from, what the tenets are, where it should not be taught (K-12) or accommodated (sports, prisons, etc) otherwise you drive mass hysteria. Most reasonable people would agree with all of these points if they were given the opportunity to have them be explained.

References

Goforth, Claire (March 7, 2023 ). Matt Walsh lashes out at Daily Wire reporter who quit over his increasing transphobia. Daily Dot https://www.dailydot.com/debug/daily-wire-reporter-christina-buttons-resignation-matt-walsh-transphobia/

Meyer, Ken (March 7, 2023) Reporter Quits The Daily Wire With Scathing Open Letter Decrying ‘Overtly Partisan’ Trans Coverage. Mediaite https://www.mediaite.com/news/reporter-quits-the-daily-wire-with-scathing-open-letter-decrying-overtly-partisan-trans-coverage/

“thunderturdy” (March 7, 2023). Comment: Why I’m leaving the Daily Wire. reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/transgender/comments/11l1vb0/why_im_leaving_the_daily_wire_christina_buttons/ [deleted]

I know her from college. This girl was and very likely still IS seriously troubled. She had a few break downs in front of us all at a classmates’ home, like people saw her do incredibly inappropriate shit that I will not repeat here out of respect for her. She then went on to do porn for a while (not kidding), then decided she wanted to move to Europe and got married to a Swiss dude only to dump him and run back home..THEN she reappeared wanting to be a microbiologist (or some kind of scientist) then moved on to illustration…my point with saying all of this is that she’s a lost grifter, clinging to anything that will get her love, admiration, and attention. I feel bad for her honestly, because she was always so sweet and kind… but not that bad anymore since she decided to align herself with fascists. I thought she was ok up til now. Bummer.

Selected writing by Berry

Buttons, Christina (December 10, 2024). Crazy is You or Me, Amplified. Buttons Lives https://www.buttonslives.news/p/crazy-is-you-or-me-amplified

Berry, Christina (September 7, 2022). Alabama Nonprofit Fighting Underage Gender Treatments Says They’re Being Targeted By ‘Unprecedented’ DOJ Subpoena. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/alabama-nonprofit-fighting-underage-gender-treatments-says-theyre-being-targeted-by-unprecedented-doj-subpoena [archive]

Berry, Christina (September 6, 2022). Nearly 1 In 4 Democratic Voters Believe Men Can Get Pregnant: Poll. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/nearly-1-in-4-democratic-voters-believe-men-can-get-pregnant-poll [archive]

Buttons, Christina (March 7, 2023). Why I’m Leaving The Daily Wire. Reality’s Last Stand https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/why-im-leaving-the-daily-wire