William Deresiewicz is an American academic and anti-transgender activist.
Deresiewicz has complained in anti-trans publication UnHerd about “the lunacy of transgender orthodoxy (‘affirmative therapy’ for small children, the ‘cotton ceiling’).”
Background
William Barry “Bill” Deresiewicz was born in ~1964. Deresiewicz’s parent Herbert Deresiewicz was an engineering professor at Columbia University. Deresiewicz attended Columbia, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1985, a master’s degree in 1987, and a doctorate in 1998.
Deresiewicz left academia in 2008 after being denied tenure at Yale. Deresiewicz wrote the “All Points” column for American Scholar from 2011 to 2013.
Deresiewicz is married to artist Aleeza Jill Nussbaum.
Anti-transgender activism
Deresiewicz came to anti-trans activism through the intellectual dark web. After appearing on The Unspeakable with Meghan Daum, Deresiewicz began consuming other anti-trans podcasts, including Blocked and Reported (Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal), The Dishcast (Andrew Sullivan), The Glenn Show (Glenn Loury, with John McWhorter as a regular guest), Honestly (Bari Weiss), and LibertiesTalk (Celeste Marcus).
Deresiewicz wrote an invited piece that was rejected by the editor, who said, “[T]he more I’ve thought about it, the less comfortable I’ve become with associating [the journal] with many of the assertions you make…. [T]here is too much in your piece that I could not defend.”
Deresiewicz then published the piece in anti-trans publication UnHerd. Deresiewicz has appeared on other anti-trans shows to discuss academic eleitis and art, inluding Megyn Kelly and Aryeh Cohen-Wade.
In 2024, Deresiewicz criticized the academic left in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election, citing a Blueprint poll that found many voters felt “Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues than helping the middle-class.”
References
Deresiewicz, William (March 8, 2022). Escaping American tribalism: Only personal bravery can end polarisation. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/03/escaping-american-tribalism/
Deresiewicz, William (November 21, 2024). Academe’s Divorce From Reality. The Chronicle of Higher Education https://www.chronicle.com/article/academes-divorce-from-reality
Media
Deresiewicz, William (November 13, 2024). How Zionist Youth Movement Changed My Life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjlW1sW2YTU
Resources
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
William Deresiewicz (billderesiewicz.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)