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Helena Kerschner and transgender people

Helena Kerschner is a conservative American “ex-transgender” activist. Kerschner is part of Pique Resilience Project, an anti-transgender group that includes Chiara Caignon-Lewis, Dagny Walton, and Kerschner’s ex-lover Jesse Hinty.

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 “trans man”, otherwise known as “FtM”. 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. 

Kerschner (2022)

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 has spoken at a number of anti-transgender events and has appeared on fascist and conservative media outlets, including interviews with Tucker Carlson, Benjamin Boyce, Alex Kaschuta, Keri Smith, Gender Dysphoria Alliance, Tim Pool, The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, Jennifer Lahl, Michael Laidlaw, Colin Wright, Preston Sprinkle, Carole Hooven, Rod Dreher, Michael Knowles, and Ben Shapiro.

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.

References

Kerschner, Helena (February 19, 2022). By Any Other Name: The story of my transition and detransition. Substack https://lacroicsz.substack.com/p/by-any-other-name

Kerschner, Helena (March 20, 2019). Tumblr — A Call-Out Post. 4thWaveNow https://4thwavenow.com/2019/03/20/tumblr-a-call-out-post/

Olohan, Mary Margaret (July 25, 2022). Catholic Chicago Hospital Chose Ideology Over Biology In Treating Biological Girl Who Believed She Was Male, De-Transitioner Says. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/catholic-chicago-hospital-chose-ideology-over-biology-in-treating-biological-girl-who-believed-she-was-male-de-transitioner-says

Kerschner, Helena (May 19, 2022). Proponent: HB 454 Banning affirming care for minors (The SAFE Act). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P58fW6Lb7Wo

“Fortunately, I was not on [testosterone] long enough to suffer long-term physical effects…”

Equality Ohio (May 2022). HB454 https://equalityohio.org/legislation/the-safe-act/

HB454: Banning Affirming Care

Media appearances

Q Ideas

Tucker Carlson

Ben Shapiro

Michael Knowles

Tim Pool

Benjamin Boyce

Resources

Substack (substack.com)

Reddit (reddit.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

  • Vincent Jaszczak (2016)
  • https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmx95K_aHzL59iI6_wmrQow

Medium (medium.com)

Spotify (spotify.com)

Duolingo (duolingo.com)

Tumblr (tumblr.com)

Twitter

Discord

  • posts under many names including “slavic steppe wife”

Instagram (instagram.com)

Snapchat (snapchat.com)

  • parscilla [deleted]

Curious Cat (curiouscat.me)