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Corinna Cohn and transgender people

Corinna Cohn is an American software developer who identifies as transsexual and gender critical. Cohn frequently appears in media to share conservative opinions and criticize various aspects of the trans rights movement.

Cohn was an officer in the Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network, an organization which promotes gatekeeping models of care.

Background

Corinna Ariel “Cori” Cohn was born on June 13, 1975 and transitioned in the 1990s.

Cohn ran a comic store and website called Otakurama from 2002 to 2005.

Cohn is a software engineer who has worked for Fusion Alliance and Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance.

Activism

Cohn is a longtime internet troll who participates in virulently anti-trans forums.

In 2015, Cohn was profiled in a piece by anti-trans activist Michelle Goldberg on the conservative transgender movement. The piece mentioned “Helen Highwater,” Miranda Yardley, “Snowflake Especial,”Ā “Gender Minefield,”Ā “Gender Apostates,” and “Aoife Assumpta Hart.”

In 2018 Cohn was triggered by Twitter’s revised policies that prohibited deadnaming and misgendering trans and gender diverse people. Cohn began making media appearances soon after.

Cohn has appeared in media with an number of gender critical and anti-transgender people, including Benjamin Boyce, Miranda Yardley, Nina Paley, Carey Callahan, Genspect, Call Me Sam, Mars F (Upperhandmars), Stephanie Winn, Gender Dysphoria Alliance, ICONS – Independent Council on Women’s Sports, and Feminist Heretics.

Cohn is a board member of Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network, an activist group involved in the “ex-trans” movement that seeks to reduce options for medical transition.

In 2021 Cohn and fellow gender critical activist Nina Paley began the podcast Heterodorx.

In 2022 Cohn published a regret narrative in the Washington Post, suggesting that minors and young adults considering transition should “slow down.” Cohn has expressed the following regrets:

  • “a lifetime set apart from my peers”
  • “I wasnā€™t old enough to make that decision”
  • “I have resigned myself to never finding a partner”
  • “became a medical patient and will remain one for the rest of my life”
  • “intercourse never became pleasurable”
  • “Iā€™m still working out how much regret to feel”

Via Media Matters for America:

Cohn, who hosts the podcast Heterodorx, has recently begun to put her anti-trans views into action. In late January, Cohn spoke in front of the Indiana House of Representatives in favor of HB 1041, a legislative effort that Cohn claimed would ā€œstrengthen the rights for girls and young women competing in sportā€ by excluding trans student athletes from competition. In her testimony, Cohn defined herself as ā€œa transsexual,ā€ arguing that her ā€œsex is male, and neither science nor medicine can change that.ā€ In the months since, Cohn has served as an expert and a witness for legislative efforts to restrict gender-affirming care in both Alabama and Ohio. 

Cohn signed her testimony to the Ohio General Assembly as the secretary and treasurer of Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network. GCCAN was founded in 2019 under the stated mission ā€œto empower recipients of gender transition-related care to become healthy and whole,ā€ but it has rapidly aligned itself with the right-wing campaign against gender-affirming care policies, with Cohn serving as a board member. 

Informed Dissent podcast

In December 2024, Cohn began co-hosting Informed Dissent, a “gender critical” podcast with Ben Appel, Lisa Selin Davis, ā€œEliza Mondegreenā€, and Jamie Reed. Guests include Alex Byrne, Anna Hutchinson, Maud Maron, Leor Sapir, Lauren Schwartz.

References

Downard, Whitney (February 22, 2023). Anti-trans medical care bill passes Senate committee. Indiana Capital Chronicle https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2023/02/22/anti-trans-medical-care-bill-passes-senate-committee/

Tirrell, Alyssa (October 31, 2022). Recent witness in anti-trans legislative hearings claims that trans people ā€œdid not even exist in 1939ā€ and could not have been victims of the Holocaust. Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/recent-witness-anti-trans-legislative-hearings-claims-trans-people-did-not-even-exist-1939

Steve Hammer and Chuck Workman (September 3, 2003). 30 under 30: Innovators in the arts. Nuvo https://www.nuvo.net/arts/30-under-30-innovators-in-the-arts/article_c99ebd9c-ae71-5c71-93dd-4f0f26bc75bc.html

Anti-trans coverage

Green, Emma (May 17, 2023). The Party Is Cancelled: Inside a monthly New York City hangout, where fired university professors and controversial TikTokers get together to have discussions they feel they canā€™t have anywhere else. New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-party-is-cancelled

Olohan, Mary Margaret (January 24, 2022). EXCLUSIVE: Biologically Male Transsexual Tears Into Radicals Attacking Womenā€™s Sports: ā€˜It Is Unfair to Expect Girls to Cede Their Hard-Won Rights.ā€™ Daily Signal https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/24/transsexual-slams-planned-parenthood-aclu-womens-sports/

Goldberg, Michelle (December 9, 2015). The Trans Women Who Say That Trans Women Arenā€™t Women: Meet the apostates of the trans rights movement. Slate https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/12/gender-critical-trans-women-the-apostates-of-the-trans-rights-movement.html

Selected writing by Cohn

Cohn, Corinna (April 11, 2022). Opinion: What I wish Iā€™d known when I was 19 and had sex reassignment surgery. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/11/i-was-too-young-to-decide-about-transgender-surgery-at-nineteen/

Cohn, Corinna (June 22, 2020). For 30 Years, Iā€™ve Tried to Become a Woman. Hereā€™s What I Learned Along the Way. Quillette https://quillette.com/2020/06/22/for-30-years-ive-tried-to-become-a-woman-heres-what-i-learned-along-the-way/

Resources

Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)

Substack (substack.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

  • corinna-cohn-83026a24 [deleted]

Otakurama (otakurama.com) [archive]

Blogspot (blogspot.com)

Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network (gccan.org) [archive]

  • Who We Are [archive]
  • gccan.org/who-we-are

X/Twitter (x.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Quillette (quillette.com)