The most tragic thing of all about the political project, wrapping race and gender together and the attempt to destabilize institutions, is that children are being indoctrinated with these ideas at school, through social media, in the culture at large. If it is hard for adults to tease all of this apart, and to figure out that water is wet and sex is real, I don’t think vulnerable kids really stand a chance. It seems like we need a wholesale societal effort to teach people about the importance of objective reality and how to determine what is and is not factually true.
Whenever I have this worry, I remind myself that what's true remains true regardless of whatever ideology anyone tries to push about it. The world we live in is marked by by the truth in ways far beyond what any activist movement could hope to hide or change. Eventually, people notice when the ideology they've been taught doesn't match the world they experience, especially when that ideology is a transient social phenomenon. It might take much longer than we'd like, and a lot of damage might be done in the meantime; that's what worries me so much about this. But I believe that in the long run the truth always wins out.
My guess is rather than being indoctrinated with ideas, that kids (and adults) are just learning that you say certain formulae to signal commmitment to the broader moral tribe. I think this is as much indoctrination as it is when kids are told Jesus turned water into wine in church. Is it a propositional claim? Kind of? Is it a values claim? Definitely. Of course there are die-hard ideologues, but I think most gender identity beliefs have the epistemological character of religious beliefs, not "2+2=4" beliefs. This doesn't make them harmless, but should frame how we deal with them.
For more about the ideas Ben talks about in this episode that inform the worldview of the liberal justices and the protestors who yelled at Jamie that she was racist, I can’t recommend the book, “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity - and Why This Harms Everybody,” by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay, enough. I now realize in retrospect that much of my early years online were spent essentially watching postmodernism eat liberal feminism, and this book fills in the “meanwhile, in academia” details.
Great conversation, you are all inspiring. A discussion topic I’d like to see is what causes gender dysphoria. So many people seem to be believe in some sort of innate true trans and it’s something that just seems to be taken as a given by almost all media coverage. Even the media stories that are quite balanced about trans medicine don’t ever seem to actually question this premise. I guess I want to have some convincing arguments to use with people who say things like ‘oh yes, it’s gotten a little out of control, and there is some social contagion, but there are some people who really are born trans’. My usual reply that there is no evidence of that isn’t really getting me anywhere.
I don't think there is any universal agreement on whether there is an actual diagnosis of being transgendered, but Az Hakeem has treated a large number of patients over many years. His view is that people who have a deeply seated notion of being transgendered are almost always autistic. Hakeem observes that some of these autistic people, even after many years of therapy, remain convinced that they are "in the wrong body".
It's worth listening to the whole youtube discussion. Hakeem also acknowledges that another group of transgendered people are "fetishistic transvestites." And yet another group choose a trans identity because of social influence. However, the group that doesn't seem to change their mind about being "in the wrong body" are primarily those with autism.
It's because of this group, the autistic transgendered group, that I don't go along with the belief of some in the gender critical movement that "trans people don't exist".
There has to be room for acknowledging that neurodivergence exists, and this neurodivergence can lead to a deeply seated and unwavering sense of being "in the wrong body."
To be clear, I am not arguing that these neurodivergent/autistic individuals must be medically or surgically transitioned. However, it would be wrong to say that their experience of being "in the wrong body" does not exist.
Hakeem does make the point that cases of autistic transgenderism are quite rare.
Hey, thanks for posting that link - fascinating. I'm subscribed to Gender: A Wider Lens on YT, but didn't get round to watching that one with Az Hakeem.
Yeah, so much important stuff in there. I see the distinction now between what I've been calling "delusion" and is better thought of as an "overvalued idea". This is a revelation to me (assuming it's true - I've not had time to knock it about and see if the wheels come off yet). I had never considered that anorexics might not actually think they're fat, they just WANT to be thinner than they are and FEAR being fat, or similarly that many trans-identified people don't actually think they're "the other sex" (or "a different gender"), they just want to be that, and fear being the sex they are.
I hesitated putting "fear" into that sentence. The common substitute there would be "hate" - the belief is that someone just cannot abide being their sex, that they're "distressed" by it, replused, but under the hood that's just fear, I think. They're terrified of dealing with the reality of themselves.
Yes, but the reality of their experience of being in the wrong body doesn't mean trans people exist unless you define being trans as having that particular experience. That is a potentially confusing definition, since it's not what most people understand "trans" to mean. To me, it's like saying you can't deny some people are "Napoleon", because their experience of being Napoleon is real. The whole point of this argument is about reality and unreality. Just because a delusion doesn't stop doesn't mean someone isn't deluded. That's what "trans" means. It's a delusion. I.e., there aren't any real trans people.
Do you think autism is a "delusion" or a neurological condition?
One definition of a "delusion" is presenting with a false fixed belief. Let's admit that an autistic person may have a false fixed belief ie. a "delusion". As Hakeem points out, one reason that an autistic person may choose to think they are "born in the wrong body" is their tendency toward rule based thinking. This might not allow them to accept that they might be gay. It may be more tolerable for them to believe they are "born in the wrong body" than accept that they are gay. Apparently, Hakeem has seen a high correlation of this belief in autistic men who present with gender dysphoria.
So . . . one could simply say that gender dysphoric autistic people don't exist or are simply delusional. However, there are many high functioning autistic people with gender dysphoria. Computer science and engineering are full of high functioning autistic people. Many of them are wealthy and influential. Quite a few have funded and participated in trans activism.
Whether or not these people are viewed as being delusional, "true trans", or something else, our workplaces, our online experiences and even our law courts clearly have enough of these "delusional" gender dysphoric autists that it is affecting our society.
To me, the question isn't whether or not these gender dysphoric autists are delusional or not. The questions are: how do we diagnose and treat this condition humanely? Also, how do we mitigate the effect that these gender dysphoric autists have on the rest of society.
I think autism is a neurological condition, not a delusion. And I agree with your last paragraph: we do indeed need to work out how to treat 'gender dysphoric autists' and anyone else 'humanely', while avoiding their false personal beliefs or general philosophies contaminating others.
As you say, an autistic person may hold a 'false fixed belief'. Plenty of people (indeed, most of the human race) hold delusions - they have untenable religious beliefs, for instance. Similarly, I imagine, 'autistic' people are more prone to indoctrination with *other* religions, as they apparently are with the 'trans religion'. (I'm taking this opinion about autistm as read; I have no idea.)
I think one of the most appropriate responses to trans-radical activism is to keep repeating the truth - as in this discussion - that 'water is wet' and 'sex is real' and nobody is "born in the wrong body". I'm not very interested in what particular neurological constellation might cause one person to believe the lies more than another (I leave that to the psychologists). It doesn't matter to lay people who are sufficiently informed, if we just keep reminding everyone that it's false. The only cure for a false belief is correction of the belief, and I imagine autistic people are capable of changing their minds. They are, as you know, highly intelligent, but sometimes need to find the correct route through the logical maze, as we all do.
"Autism is not a disease but a syndrome with multiple nongenetic and genetic causes. By autism (the autistic spectrum disorders [ASDs]), we mean the wide spectrum of developmental disorders characterized by impairments in 3 behavioral domains: 1) social interaction; 2) language, communication, and imaginative play; and 3) range of interests and activities."
Born trans = has persistent idiopathic gender dysphoria? Even by gender ideology logic you can't be literally trans because gender is a cultural performance. You can be born I guess with intuitions toward a cultural performance but that would still be a culturally conditioned response. The trans activists sort of want to combine the concept of gender dysphoria with the concept of cultural conditioning to create an essentialist state called trans, but it is a philosophical logical mess.
I don’t get how the overreach of anti-colonialism as an explanation “is communism” though. I agree it’s a very specious argument, but how in the world is it communism?
Good point, and I simplified that aspect of it too much. I should’ve strictly used words like anti-colonial, although the desire to raze civilization and build in its place a socialist utopia is accurate. But I do think communism is relevant because of the anti-capitalism at the core of this radical project, as well as its close alignment with Maoism.
Ah utopianism is what all these people on the internet mean by communism. I think that’s what’s called a synecdoche? Not all utopias are communist. The one that contemporary progressives imagine certainly isn’t. They literally just want to “flip the pyramid” as all the 2020 infographics they posted explained.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for this, friends. I felt like I was taking crazy pills while listening to the arguments at SCOTUS last week, especially the astonishing dumbassery of Sotomayor and Brown-Jackson. It's sad that these women--one of whom is a mother--are so uninformed or heedless about basic human biology and evolution. Pouring opposite-sex hormones into an adolescent doesn't turn a boy into a girl or a girl into a boy--it just screws with their sexual development and endocrine systems.
Maybe Sotomayor, as a childless woman, hasn't really thought through human development from birth to adulthood, but how anyone who made babies with her own body can fall for this dystopian fantasy is truly beyond me.
For real though, I think I audibly groaned when that one justice said something like "but if a boy can affirm his gender by taking testosterone to lower his voice to his preference, why can't a female boy do the same?" 🤦♀️
And the Tennessee lawyer finally managing to get past her interruptions to say "no. Doctors can't prescribe steroids where there's no physical illness, even to boys." And the justice being like "really?!" 🤡 🤪 Girl thought you could just use disease-inducing, body-morphing drugs to Mr Potatohead a healthy kid?
If I was the lawyer, I would have said "if it wouldn't be legal for a doctor to give a black child with a healthy scalp, a scalp transplant so they could have straight hair, because the child doesn’t want to be black and hates their hair, then it shouldn't be legal to give a girl a mastectomy just because she hates her breasts and doesn't want to be a girl."
Also dying at "gender home companion" although "informed dissent" is fire 🔥
It’s no less painful than what they’re doing to these kids! People need to consider what penile inversion does to a would-be healthy boy and severe atrophy of a vagina does to a would-be healthy girl- excruciating!! 😣😖 And for what?! Makes me sick.
Right? They would instantly see what is so wrong about all this if we used race. Trying to stop a boy from growing at a young age so he doesn’t develop visibly-masculine traits is like using painful procedures to bleach a black child’s skin “early, while he’s young and lighter” so he doesn’t “darken unnecessarily with time.” Nobody would accept that.
Absolutely, I agree 100%. ... well, except maybe that "they would instantly see what is so wrong if we used race," but only because of the capacity of people to ignore the cognitive dissonance. Some will, of course, wake up with something shocking like this spelled out to them, but a lot of those deeply invested in the cultish beliefs will twist and turn in all sorts of crazy ways, or just shut down and dodge the issue.
Yes I agree. I’d just only heard white people not understand the race comparison- I wonder if a black woman would be more likely to understand the validity of comparing gender dysphoria with race dysphoria, but who knows!
I endorse the idea of discussing theology and trans ideology. During the 90s, when I was studying right wing movements, I heard a presentation regarding how the world view of people who believe in elaborate conspiracy theories (The Jews, the New World Order, e.g.) hold these beliefs on a deep theological
level. It makes these people practically impossible to reach with rational argumentation.
Their “theology” may not include a belief in God per se, but it has the deep structure of a religious belief system. I think we need to get a handle on this if we are going to have any hope of understanding WTAF is going on.
In fact, I recommended to Sasha Ayad that they find a guest for Gender: A Wider Lens who can explore the theological aspect of gender ideology.
I'm a woman married to a woman (I don't like to call myself "lesbian" because I don't want to be associated with all the letters that come after "LGB", but I'm feeling heartened by all the gay people taking our words back!) and she COMPLETELY buys into the gender woo. I don't buy any of it. She has called me racist and I was bewildered where that came from. Now I know. Thanks for explaining that, Ben.
This racism charge is new to me. Ben explained the idiotic roots of it. I think I’ll just call it vomit. When people are spewing insults at those of us who don’t buy into their crap, they reach for the usual vomit. ‘Racism’ which is meaningless
"gender creationists" is excellent and makes my woe of a prof saying "two sexes with variation" and not going along with compelled speech to agree with multiple sexes nonsense, and the attack on sex realism was seen similar to the attack on evolution (along with sex bedrock biology) by Creationists in the 90s.
"Name a third type of human gamete and explain its role in reproduction and evolution. I'll give you a million dollars, go." I have never had to pay out on this challenge.
Yes, love that Helen Joyce uses that question, too! I didn't sign up to be the Binary Sheriff but I'm looking for a lawyer to sue my U including DEI admin who supported students who wanted me to confess to multiple sexes as compelled speech. Also U held me responsible for creating hostile environment after the fact for unintentional "she"/misgenderings?
I really really really want to hear more about Dr Olsen Kennedy, the intentional self suppression of her research, and her motives. I sadly have a good friend who’s child (now 13) has been a long time patient of Dr Olsen Kennedy’s and despite being allowed to socially transition early, being put in schools and programs and sent to trans camps and offered nothing but support - this child has steadily deteriorated over the years. Like you mention in the show, the mother has sort of doubled down because how could you not when you set your child on this path. The child refused to come to dinner because he had run out of binding tape, won’t get in a pool, won’t even go to school most days, abuses his own body and restricts food…and worst of all the child is aggressively self harming his upper body and Dr Kennedys solution for the 13 year old was…. You guessed it…. Double mastectomy. I am floored and deeply saddened. This is a good family with a good kid who have been totally taken in by this person who has built a career and a fortune on harming kids and I want her exposed. I really hope this podcast gains traction and these ideas and conversations spread to the coverage in the MSM. How can we be doing this to our kids.
On religion and trans. Are you all familiar with the Unitarian universalists latest national meeting. Despite being non credal they adopted a business resolution to make it more authoritative that expounds on the holy divine nature of trans and non binary people and commits to defending medical transition services with no safeguards and admonishes members to support a a group that helps you ng people cross state lines to relocate or receive services. To underscore this I have collected clips of some of the statements our clergy areaking about the spiritual place trans people occupy. They sound nuts. I left active ministry years ago but while still active I gained a great deal of name recognition as the author of a beloved curriculum, familiarity with an illustrated advent calendar I produced for churches to use,and my leadership in the initial work to make our congregations more welcoming to persona with various disabilities and mental health issues. (In response to Ben's query on religion and trans. I would love to engage more on this at any time.)
Fascinating! I know Heterdorx and Blocked and Reported have had episodes on the religious aspect, specifically an interview with Heterdorx and a segment on a specific UU church on BarPod.
The UU, UCC and liberal Presbyterian churches in my city all have progress flags and “affirming” messages. Feels very faith based.
My favorite thing in all the world is seeing my gender-critical heroes get together and talk about what's real and true. Can't wait to watch!!
❤️
The most tragic thing of all about the political project, wrapping race and gender together and the attempt to destabilize institutions, is that children are being indoctrinated with these ideas at school, through social media, in the culture at large. If it is hard for adults to tease all of this apart, and to figure out that water is wet and sex is real, I don’t think vulnerable kids really stand a chance. It seems like we need a wholesale societal effort to teach people about the importance of objective reality and how to determine what is and is not factually true.
Whenever I have this worry, I remind myself that what's true remains true regardless of whatever ideology anyone tries to push about it. The world we live in is marked by by the truth in ways far beyond what any activist movement could hope to hide or change. Eventually, people notice when the ideology they've been taught doesn't match the world they experience, especially when that ideology is a transient social phenomenon. It might take much longer than we'd like, and a lot of damage might be done in the meantime; that's what worries me so much about this. But I believe that in the long run the truth always wins out.
My guess is rather than being indoctrinated with ideas, that kids (and adults) are just learning that you say certain formulae to signal commmitment to the broader moral tribe. I think this is as much indoctrination as it is when kids are told Jesus turned water into wine in church. Is it a propositional claim? Kind of? Is it a values claim? Definitely. Of course there are die-hard ideologues, but I think most gender identity beliefs have the epistemological character of religious beliefs, not "2+2=4" beliefs. This doesn't make them harmless, but should frame how we deal with them.
For more about the ideas Ben talks about in this episode that inform the worldview of the liberal justices and the protestors who yelled at Jamie that she was racist, I can’t recommend the book, “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity - and Why This Harms Everybody,” by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay, enough. I now realize in retrospect that much of my early years online were spent essentially watching postmodernism eat liberal feminism, and this book fills in the “meanwhile, in academia” details.
Great book! They have a simplified reader, too.
Great conversation, you are all inspiring. A discussion topic I’d like to see is what causes gender dysphoria. So many people seem to be believe in some sort of innate true trans and it’s something that just seems to be taken as a given by almost all media coverage. Even the media stories that are quite balanced about trans medicine don’t ever seem to actually question this premise. I guess I want to have some convincing arguments to use with people who say things like ‘oh yes, it’s gotten a little out of control, and there is some social contagion, but there are some people who really are born trans’. My usual reply that there is no evidence of that isn’t really getting me anywhere.
Noted!
What causes Gender Dysphoria?
Az Hakeem (psychiatrist) thoughts on what causes gender dysphoria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHe5vbMj_YU
I don't think there is any universal agreement on whether there is an actual diagnosis of being transgendered, but Az Hakeem has treated a large number of patients over many years. His view is that people who have a deeply seated notion of being transgendered are almost always autistic. Hakeem observes that some of these autistic people, even after many years of therapy, remain convinced that they are "in the wrong body".
It's worth listening to the whole youtube discussion. Hakeem also acknowledges that another group of transgendered people are "fetishistic transvestites." And yet another group choose a trans identity because of social influence. However, the group that doesn't seem to change their mind about being "in the wrong body" are primarily those with autism.
It's because of this group, the autistic transgendered group, that I don't go along with the belief of some in the gender critical movement that "trans people don't exist".
There has to be room for acknowledging that neurodivergence exists, and this neurodivergence can lead to a deeply seated and unwavering sense of being "in the wrong body."
To be clear, I am not arguing that these neurodivergent/autistic individuals must be medically or surgically transitioned. However, it would be wrong to say that their experience of being "in the wrong body" does not exist.
Hakeem does make the point that cases of autistic transgenderism are quite rare.
Hey, thanks for posting that link - fascinating. I'm subscribed to Gender: A Wider Lens on YT, but didn't get round to watching that one with Az Hakeem.
Welcome! I too found Hakeem's thoughts in this interview quite enlightening.
Yeah, so much important stuff in there. I see the distinction now between what I've been calling "delusion" and is better thought of as an "overvalued idea". This is a revelation to me (assuming it's true - I've not had time to knock it about and see if the wheels come off yet). I had never considered that anorexics might not actually think they're fat, they just WANT to be thinner than they are and FEAR being fat, or similarly that many trans-identified people don't actually think they're "the other sex" (or "a different gender"), they just want to be that, and fear being the sex they are.
I hesitated putting "fear" into that sentence. The common substitute there would be "hate" - the belief is that someone just cannot abide being their sex, that they're "distressed" by it, replused, but under the hood that's just fear, I think. They're terrified of dealing with the reality of themselves.
Yes, but the reality of their experience of being in the wrong body doesn't mean trans people exist unless you define being trans as having that particular experience. That is a potentially confusing definition, since it's not what most people understand "trans" to mean. To me, it's like saying you can't deny some people are "Napoleon", because their experience of being Napoleon is real. The whole point of this argument is about reality and unreality. Just because a delusion doesn't stop doesn't mean someone isn't deluded. That's what "trans" means. It's a delusion. I.e., there aren't any real trans people.
Do you think autism is a "delusion" or a neurological condition?
One definition of a "delusion" is presenting with a false fixed belief. Let's admit that an autistic person may have a false fixed belief ie. a "delusion". As Hakeem points out, one reason that an autistic person may choose to think they are "born in the wrong body" is their tendency toward rule based thinking. This might not allow them to accept that they might be gay. It may be more tolerable for them to believe they are "born in the wrong body" than accept that they are gay. Apparently, Hakeem has seen a high correlation of this belief in autistic men who present with gender dysphoria.
So . . . one could simply say that gender dysphoric autistic people don't exist or are simply delusional. However, there are many high functioning autistic people with gender dysphoria. Computer science and engineering are full of high functioning autistic people. Many of them are wealthy and influential. Quite a few have funded and participated in trans activism.
Whether or not these people are viewed as being delusional, "true trans", or something else, our workplaces, our online experiences and even our law courts clearly have enough of these "delusional" gender dysphoric autists that it is affecting our society.
To me, the question isn't whether or not these gender dysphoric autists are delusional or not. The questions are: how do we diagnose and treat this condition humanely? Also, how do we mitigate the effect that these gender dysphoric autists have on the rest of society.
I think autism is a neurological condition, not a delusion. And I agree with your last paragraph: we do indeed need to work out how to treat 'gender dysphoric autists' and anyone else 'humanely', while avoiding their false personal beliefs or general philosophies contaminating others.
As you say, an autistic person may hold a 'false fixed belief'. Plenty of people (indeed, most of the human race) hold delusions - they have untenable religious beliefs, for instance. Similarly, I imagine, 'autistic' people are more prone to indoctrination with *other* religions, as they apparently are with the 'trans religion'. (I'm taking this opinion about autistm as read; I have no idea.)
I think one of the most appropriate responses to trans-radical activism is to keep repeating the truth - as in this discussion - that 'water is wet' and 'sex is real' and nobody is "born in the wrong body". I'm not very interested in what particular neurological constellation might cause one person to believe the lies more than another (I leave that to the psychologists). It doesn't matter to lay people who are sufficiently informed, if we just keep reminding everyone that it's false. The only cure for a false belief is correction of the belief, and I imagine autistic people are capable of changing their minds. They are, as you know, highly intelligent, but sometimes need to find the correct route through the logical maze, as we all do.
The Genetics of Autism
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/113/5/e472/66709/The-Genetics-of-Autism
"Autism is not a disease but a syndrome with multiple nongenetic and genetic causes. By autism (the autistic spectrum disorders [ASDs]), we mean the wide spectrum of developmental disorders characterized by impairments in 3 behavioral domains: 1) social interaction; 2) language, communication, and imaginative play; and 3) range of interests and activities."
Born trans = has persistent idiopathic gender dysphoria? Even by gender ideology logic you can't be literally trans because gender is a cultural performance. You can be born I guess with intuitions toward a cultural performance but that would still be a culturally conditioned response. The trans activists sort of want to combine the concept of gender dysphoria with the concept of cultural conditioning to create an essentialist state called trans, but it is a philosophical logical mess.
I don’t get how the overreach of anti-colonialism as an explanation “is communism” though. I agree it’s a very specious argument, but how in the world is it communism?
Good point, and I simplified that aspect of it too much. I should’ve strictly used words like anti-colonial, although the desire to raze civilization and build in its place a socialist utopia is accurate. But I do think communism is relevant because of the anti-capitalism at the core of this radical project, as well as its close alignment with Maoism.
Ah utopianism is what all these people on the internet mean by communism. I think that’s what’s called a synecdoche? Not all utopias are communist. The one that contemporary progressives imagine certainly isn’t. They literally just want to “flip the pyramid” as all the 2020 infographics they posted explained.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for this, friends. I felt like I was taking crazy pills while listening to the arguments at SCOTUS last week, especially the astonishing dumbassery of Sotomayor and Brown-Jackson. It's sad that these women--one of whom is a mother--are so uninformed or heedless about basic human biology and evolution. Pouring opposite-sex hormones into an adolescent doesn't turn a boy into a girl or a girl into a boy--it just screws with their sexual development and endocrine systems.
Maybe Sotomayor, as a childless woman, hasn't really thought through human development from birth to adulthood, but how anyone who made babies with her own body can fall for this dystopian fantasy is truly beyond me.
So awesome to see gays and lesbians fighting gender ideology.
Hey Lisa,
Tell Ben I’ve been using gender philosophy.
For real though, I think I audibly groaned when that one justice said something like "but if a boy can affirm his gender by taking testosterone to lower his voice to his preference, why can't a female boy do the same?" 🤦♀️
And the Tennessee lawyer finally managing to get past her interruptions to say "no. Doctors can't prescribe steroids where there's no physical illness, even to boys." And the justice being like "really?!" 🤡 🤪 Girl thought you could just use disease-inducing, body-morphing drugs to Mr Potatohead a healthy kid?
If I was the lawyer, I would have said "if it wouldn't be legal for a doctor to give a black child with a healthy scalp, a scalp transplant so they could have straight hair, because the child doesn’t want to be black and hates their hair, then it shouldn't be legal to give a girl a mastectomy just because she hates her breasts and doesn't want to be a girl."
Also dying at "gender home companion" although "informed dissent" is fire 🔥
Ouch, that scalp-transplant comparison is powerful. ...What about a child who's been assigned black at birth, but who was born in the wrong skin? :)
It’s no less painful than what they’re doing to these kids! People need to consider what penile inversion does to a would-be healthy boy and severe atrophy of a vagina does to a would-be healthy girl- excruciating!! 😣😖 And for what?! Makes me sick.
Right? They would instantly see what is so wrong about all this if we used race. Trying to stop a boy from growing at a young age so he doesn’t develop visibly-masculine traits is like using painful procedures to bleach a black child’s skin “early, while he’s young and lighter” so he doesn’t “darken unnecessarily with time.” Nobody would accept that.
Absolutely, I agree 100%. ... well, except maybe that "they would instantly see what is so wrong if we used race," but only because of the capacity of people to ignore the cognitive dissonance. Some will, of course, wake up with something shocking like this spelled out to them, but a lot of those deeply invested in the cultish beliefs will twist and turn in all sorts of crazy ways, or just shut down and dodge the issue.
Yes I agree. I’d just only heard white people not understand the race comparison- I wonder if a black woman would be more likely to understand the validity of comparing gender dysphoria with race dysphoria, but who knows!
Wow. The Dream Team. Felt like I was in an open motorboat, zooming across a lake with fresh cool air in my face.
You are all amazing and it feels like history is happening right now and you are there including us.
I endorse the idea of discussing theology and trans ideology. During the 90s, when I was studying right wing movements, I heard a presentation regarding how the world view of people who believe in elaborate conspiracy theories (The Jews, the New World Order, e.g.) hold these beliefs on a deep theological
level. It makes these people practically impossible to reach with rational argumentation.
Their “theology” may not include a belief in God per se, but it has the deep structure of a religious belief system. I think we need to get a handle on this if we are going to have any hope of understanding WTAF is going on.
In fact, I recommended to Sasha Ayad that they find a guest for Gender: A Wider Lens who can explore the theological aspect of gender ideology.
I'm a woman married to a woman (I don't like to call myself "lesbian" because I don't want to be associated with all the letters that come after "LGB", but I'm feeling heartened by all the gay people taking our words back!) and she COMPLETELY buys into the gender woo. I don't buy any of it. She has called me racist and I was bewildered where that came from. Now I know. Thanks for explaining that, Ben.
This racism charge is new to me. Ben explained the idiotic roots of it. I think I’ll just call it vomit. When people are spewing insults at those of us who don’t buy into their crap, they reach for the usual vomit. ‘Racism’ which is meaningless
The liberal churches are all over being trans inclusive to get young members.
"Gender creationists" is a term I've used for a while. See also "Transboro Baptists."
"gender creationists" is excellent and makes my woe of a prof saying "two sexes with variation" and not going along with compelled speech to agree with multiple sexes nonsense, and the attack on sex realism was seen similar to the attack on evolution (along with sex bedrock biology) by Creationists in the 90s.
"Name a third type of human gamete and explain its role in reproduction and evolution. I'll give you a million dollars, go." I have never had to pay out on this challenge.
Yes, love that Helen Joyce uses that question, too! I didn't sign up to be the Binary Sheriff but I'm looking for a lawyer to sue my U including DEI admin who supported students who wanted me to confess to multiple sexes as compelled speech. Also U held me responsible for creating hostile environment after the fact for unintentional "she"/misgenderings?
I'm guessing you are already familiar with FIRE taking on these types of cases, but if not: https://www.thefire.org/news/ohio-professors-pronoun-use-lawsuit-delivers-first-amendment-victory
I really really really want to hear more about Dr Olsen Kennedy, the intentional self suppression of her research, and her motives. I sadly have a good friend who’s child (now 13) has been a long time patient of Dr Olsen Kennedy’s and despite being allowed to socially transition early, being put in schools and programs and sent to trans camps and offered nothing but support - this child has steadily deteriorated over the years. Like you mention in the show, the mother has sort of doubled down because how could you not when you set your child on this path. The child refused to come to dinner because he had run out of binding tape, won’t get in a pool, won’t even go to school most days, abuses his own body and restricts food…and worst of all the child is aggressively self harming his upper body and Dr Kennedys solution for the 13 year old was…. You guessed it…. Double mastectomy. I am floored and deeply saddened. This is a good family with a good kid who have been totally taken in by this person who has built a career and a fortune on harming kids and I want her exposed. I really hope this podcast gains traction and these ideas and conversations spread to the coverage in the MSM. How can we be doing this to our kids.
On religion and trans. Are you all familiar with the Unitarian universalists latest national meeting. Despite being non credal they adopted a business resolution to make it more authoritative that expounds on the holy divine nature of trans and non binary people and commits to defending medical transition services with no safeguards and admonishes members to support a a group that helps you ng people cross state lines to relocate or receive services. To underscore this I have collected clips of some of the statements our clergy areaking about the spiritual place trans people occupy. They sound nuts. I left active ministry years ago but while still active I gained a great deal of name recognition as the author of a beloved curriculum, familiarity with an illustrated advent calendar I produced for churches to use,and my leadership in the initial work to make our congregations more welcoming to persona with various disabilities and mental health issues. (In response to Ben's query on religion and trans. I would love to engage more on this at any time.)
Fascinating! I know Heterdorx and Blocked and Reported have had episodes on the religious aspect, specifically an interview with Heterdorx and a segment on a specific UU church on BarPod.
The UU, UCC and liberal Presbyterian churches in my city all have progress flags and “affirming” messages. Feels very faith based.