Thank you for this interesting recap, and thank you for bringing the "Skeptical Inquirer" article to people's attention. As a scientist, my opinion is that the field — writ large — has always been rife with political agendas… biology especially so: "Biologists Don’t Mean to Mislead You. But, Sometimes It’s for Your Own Good." https://everythingisbiology.substack.com/p/biologists-dont-mean-to-mislead-you … However, it has just gotten much worse of late. I think the change is driven primarily by people's needs for attention, power, and political influence within the academy. Certainly, not all academics have succumbed, but a very vocal and aggressive minority have. Thank you again. Sincerely, Frederick
Kate, I really enjoyed your Gender Wider Lens podcast interview, and found your recap here interesting and entertaining. Thank you for answering Lisa's call! There is so much on this topic all week and I appreciate the highlights and links. I find it encouraging that more of the US public are expressing skepticism about medical interventions for youth. I feel like a missing link for public perception and awareness, is the connection between what appears to be a compassionate, accepting, polite approach - the "affirmative" model - and medical interventions. I think people are still largely unaware that affirming is not a neutral act, which increases the tension between those who consider themselves "allies" and those who advocate for more of a wait-and-see, and/or exploratory approach in therapy.
Thank you, Michele. Yes, raising awareness on what that word affirmation really means is an incredibly important piece of this puzzle. Certainly conservative writers and journalists are trying, but liberals simply don't believe it yet.
It makes sense that people of color are cooling on the cross-sex ideology. Many are regular church goers. Also, other than the RuPaul phenomenon, they haven't seen as many of their relatives/children expressing cross-sex ideation. Black men, in my experience, do not appreciate or approve of males using the womens/girls bathroom facilities. Two Black men in my town have suffered consequences for expressing their concerns for women being expected to tolerate males in their Ladies' Rooms, and both were fired from jobs they'd had for years, just for expressing this concern. This is upstate NY. I'm assisting both of them in finding attorneys for their lawsuits. They were both wrongfully fired for protected beliefs.
Here's a question i thought of yesterday, re gender stuff in general--why, when a girl expresses that she doesn't feel like a girl, isn't she given estrogen, to "affirm" her biological sex, rather than given surgery and male hormones...if any hormonal therapy is going to be "tried" before doing therapy, support groups, reading of female coming of age novels, etc. One could certainly make the case that that would be Affirming care...
Ah, but remember, in this area, and this area alone, children as young as 10 or 12 possess abiding, incontestable wisdom about "who they are," and that means when your pre-teen declares he is a girl or she is a boy, you *must* immediately affirm and praise and celebrate and (sometimes, eventually) mutilate. /s
Ooh-wee, not to be pedantic, but I would never cite Epoch Times for any reason.
I am a hospice volunteer. One recent elderly patient had piles of this pulbication lying around, so I picked one up to look at it. As a long-time former daily journalist, I can say this is not real journalism. Its skewed and incredibly biased, intentionally.
That does not undermine the point you and the writer are making, Lisa, but sources do matter, IMO.
Let’s all watch the documentary. It features liberal objectors. It tells the horrendous story of Yaeli Martinez, which no mainstream outlet would cover. Liberals made a documentary. It got booted from the theater.
That is a perpetual challenge. Organizations like The Daily Wire, Mom's for Liberty, or even Fox news, all of which hold views I find suspicious (to say the least) are the ones speaking truth about gender affirmative care and trans activism. Peter Boghossian had wonderful countable discussion with Billboard Chris and other activists and journalists that was insightful, enlightening, and kind. Then one participants opined that George Floyd died of a Fentanyl overdose. That one comment, would make an open minded observer discount all entire discussion. I am slowly becoming comfortable with the "strange bedfellows," but does associating with outlets like the Epoch times pose some challenges to the cause? I'm in the "more the merrier" camp but I can see ways in which this is not helpful.
You named the nuance in the conversation. As a conservative I am no fan of Fox News because their schlocky practices diminish our credibility. And the Epoch TImes has problems as well.
But that doesn't mean their take on this topic is wrong.
I do think as conservatives who are (media and entertainment-industry wise) the unfavored and despised minority, people who diminish our credibility (Trump, anyone?) are damaging our cause.
I watched those videos. It is beyond frustrating when radical activists feel so invested on preventing conversations. I can only hope that more and more of those individuals on the moderate silent majority are taking notes and that, in their eyes, these activists help prove their critics right.
Don't know that I understand your comment. Falun Gong appears to be in opposition to the CCP government, persecuted by same, and thus arguably a friend to my way of thinking.
Are you familiar with the aphorism "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." or "Any port in a storm"? What "respectable" sources would you recommend Lisa cite, if none but the Epoch Times are actually bothering to cover the story in question? Also, I am curious as to how you come to the conclusion that those who staff this publication are "intentionally" casting aside the journalistic ideals of straight reporting, even if you think that their product is biased and not "real" journalism. Do you know this for a fact, or are you simply engaging in what psychologists call "projection?" Are not we all capable of failing to acknowledge (or even perceive) details that contradict what we already believe? Do you deny that the long-established "paragons" of journalism, the New York Times and the Washington Post, have produced skewed reporting on this topic? By your logic, this would make all the reporting they produce unworthy of being cited. What about Lisa's long and frustrating experience of being unable to find a mainstream outlet willing to let her point out the inconvenient perspectives and lived experiences that clashed with their prior reporting on this topic? There's a comment I saw once made by the civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin (organizer of that famous march on Washington where MLK jr. made his immortal speech), that if he wanted to know the time, and a racist had the only watch, he wouldn't hesitate to ask him what time it was. The fact that the racist was wrong about race didn't automatically make his knowledge of the correct time valueless. I think we should remember Rustin's profound ability to transcend his justifiable feelings to prioritize truth above all. The "gender critical" (for lack of a better label) movement is just as vulnerable to breaking apart due to purity spirals as the "wokest" communities out there. (Here's Rustin making the same point, only this time the bigot says "the sun is shining" https://youtu.be/fybq5UQn8M8)
According to the All Sides media bias chart, it shows Epoch Times only in the leans right category, which would make it equally as appalling to share an article from the AP, CNN, the NYT, NPR, or Yahoo Today, just to name a few - all of which they’ve labeled as leans left. I’m sure there are criticisms of all sides, but just thought I’d point this out.
The Left has adopted what may be called the "Fox News Fallacy" as one of its more popular rhetorical tricks. "Those fascists at Fox News, literally Hitler! said that, so the opposite must be true!" You're right, though, to be reluctant to cite Epoch Times. It would discredit what you want to say in some quarters.
The problem is, it's becoming increasingly difficult to identify the popular news outlets that may be relied on. Even more insidious is the widespread practice among outlets with longstanding reputations such as NYTIMES, WAPO, NPR to simply quash any coverage of developments that contradict their preferred explanation of events.
Critical Gender Theorists, rooted as they are in postmodernism and denying the existence of anything that might be called "Truth" as it's commonly understood, feel free to spout any sort of nonsense that suits their agenda and to demonize anything that contradicts it. Facts and logic don't matter. There's no such thing as "facts", and logic is a tool of the white European cisgendered heteronormative patriarchy, designed to colonize and subjugate everyone else.
Welcome Kate and thank you for a great recap! Your conversation with Sasha Ayad and Stella O'Malley was super! I am up in the Bay Area - would love to connect sometime.
The lack of support for affirming minors among Democrats and the wider public is really striking. Now, how to translate that into the moratorium that Lisa proposed in an earlier post?
I am Norwegian and here the debate is really picking up steam. Even Main Stream Media have stories about detransister now and according to the comment section the tendency is definitely that more and more people now dare to speak against the extreme trans activist. And many of those those that speak out are like me, liberals, centre or left wing and we are getting sick of the canceling from the left. I am also a biologist (retired teacher ) and feed up of science denying post-modernist nonsense
In my teaching, I have always been honest about my view, biological sex is binary, while gender identity, which basically is a subjective feeling that may be said to be on a spectrum, although in most cases align with biological sex. I am shocked to see the madness in the USA and Canada
Bjorn, thank you so much for bringing the news from Norway. I suspect I speak for everyone here in wishing you and your country good luck and in welcoming any news you might bring to us about how this is proceeding.
Doyle articulates pretty much what I have come to think much better than I have been able to do.
Andrew Sullivan has put his finger on the fundamental difference between the movement for gay equality and the radical trans ideologues. We gays did not ask anyone to change their behavior; the trans activists demand the rest of us agree to patent falsehoods and act as though they were true. It's exactly the program of Big Brother, and it's leading toward the same totalitarian dogma: freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength
This is an absolutely terrific round-up. Thank you so much. Just also ran across this video of 6/21/23 of Rachel Levine touting "gender-affirming" care, and wondered whether you or anyone here has seen it rebutted: https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1671652208428081153
Three things I want to note; I am sure there are more:
1) Levine talks about how just one supportive adult can make a significant difference, and this may not be a parent;
2) Levine refers to a 988 "help line"; if I understand Levine correctly, it is run by the Trevor Project;
3) Levine states, as he has many times, that gender "affirming" care is medical care, medically necessary care, and is backed as effective by years and years of studies, along with support of medical associations, and the WPATH standards.
Again, if anyone has link(s) to commentary that directly rebuts Levine's 6/21/23 comments, I would appreciate it if you'd reply with the link (not general rebuttals, but in response specifically to the 6/21/23 comments).
Thank you again for this excellent, information-filled newsletter.
Please be careful of anything to do with the Epoch Times. It's a CIA funded media operating in about 35 countries to promote United States propaganda. It's been around for many decades fronted by the Falun Gong and Hongzhi Li a religious cult that wants to destroy the Chinese government. It fuels the Hong Kong and Taiwanese civil, social, political unrest. In other countries Epoch Times agitates for regime change. Though we might agree with outlets like this on some narrow issue they usually take their stand for all the wrong reasons. In addition, they badly damage our credibility and use our limited concurrence to enhance their own credibility and to promote their own toxic politics. Please see "Inside the Epoch Times" Atlantic Magazine and "The World of Falun Gong" ABC News. Li Hongzhi the Living God of Falun Gong is much like the Reverend Sun Moon who's media outlet is the Washington Times. But Epoch Times is more opaque and more widely involved in international regime change and covert operations like NED- National Endowment for Democracy.
From another weekly round-up, not far from BROADview: the very popular Mom blog Cup of Jo included in this week's Have a Fun Weekend, alongside "slip skirts for summer" and "the sex scene that made Emily Henry blush", NYMag's "Transgender Family Handbook". "Puberty Blockers and Hormones Don't Have to be Scary", it assures parents. (https://www.thecut.com/article/transgender-family-support-handbook.html)
Good round up thx you and glad you highlighted style guides. I’ve been thinking that’s one to tackle and got a response from a wash post writer when i took issue with language used like “ gender affirming care” the writer wrote back saying she understand my concern but was following their style guide
Thank you for joining the team. I would be thrilled if you would take a look at my book The Unexpected Penis: Conversations on the Gender Trail. I saw a need to offer to my peers (60+) an easy-to-read, non-confrontational memoir that would bring them up to speed on the gender wars and all the many sectors of society that it touches. Subversively humourous, it compiles five years of following all the gender podcasts, studies, news events, political developments and pushback from adult human females. As a longtme lesbian activist, I show my street cred watching the movement develop in San Francisco, and draw from several pools of knowledge including my gender non-conforming childhood raised with the third culture tradition in Thailand. Tomboys rule. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8QBJXCK?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860&fbclid=IwAR28XHqJxCcwGv_WK90mAjNisYo7g_LE_B2gejnwi9XcZRk1RJk4st3GRX0
Thank you for this interesting recap, and thank you for bringing the "Skeptical Inquirer" article to people's attention. As a scientist, my opinion is that the field — writ large — has always been rife with political agendas… biology especially so: "Biologists Don’t Mean to Mislead You. But, Sometimes It’s for Your Own Good." https://everythingisbiology.substack.com/p/biologists-dont-mean-to-mislead-you … However, it has just gotten much worse of late. I think the change is driven primarily by people's needs for attention, power, and political influence within the academy. Certainly, not all academics have succumbed, but a very vocal and aggressive minority have. Thank you again. Sincerely, Frederick
Kate, I really enjoyed your Gender Wider Lens podcast interview, and found your recap here interesting and entertaining. Thank you for answering Lisa's call! There is so much on this topic all week and I appreciate the highlights and links. I find it encouraging that more of the US public are expressing skepticism about medical interventions for youth. I feel like a missing link for public perception and awareness, is the connection between what appears to be a compassionate, accepting, polite approach - the "affirmative" model - and medical interventions. I think people are still largely unaware that affirming is not a neutral act, which increases the tension between those who consider themselves "allies" and those who advocate for more of a wait-and-see, and/or exploratory approach in therapy.
Thank you, Michele. Yes, raising awareness on what that word affirmation really means is an incredibly important piece of this puzzle. Certainly conservative writers and journalists are trying, but liberals simply don't believe it yet.
Also, I added the Epoch Times piece, so don't blame Kate!
Welcome Kate Parker!!!!
It makes sense that people of color are cooling on the cross-sex ideology. Many are regular church goers. Also, other than the RuPaul phenomenon, they haven't seen as many of their relatives/children expressing cross-sex ideation. Black men, in my experience, do not appreciate or approve of males using the womens/girls bathroom facilities. Two Black men in my town have suffered consequences for expressing their concerns for women being expected to tolerate males in their Ladies' Rooms, and both were fired from jobs they'd had for years, just for expressing this concern. This is upstate NY. I'm assisting both of them in finding attorneys for their lawsuits. They were both wrongfully fired for protected beliefs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phJMKPBVOXY&t=11s
Here's a question i thought of yesterday, re gender stuff in general--why, when a girl expresses that she doesn't feel like a girl, isn't she given estrogen, to "affirm" her biological sex, rather than given surgery and male hormones...if any hormonal therapy is going to be "tried" before doing therapy, support groups, reading of female coming of age novels, etc. One could certainly make the case that that would be Affirming care...
Ah, but remember, in this area, and this area alone, children as young as 10 or 12 possess abiding, incontestable wisdom about "who they are," and that means when your pre-teen declares he is a girl or she is a boy, you *must* immediately affirm and praise and celebrate and (sometimes, eventually) mutilate. /s
Ooh-wee, not to be pedantic, but I would never cite Epoch Times for any reason.
I am a hospice volunteer. One recent elderly patient had piles of this pulbication lying around, so I picked one up to look at it. As a long-time former daily journalist, I can say this is not real journalism. Its skewed and incredibly biased, intentionally.
That does not undermine the point you and the writer are making, Lisa, but sources do matter, IMO.
Let’s all watch the documentary. It features liberal objectors. It tells the horrendous story of Yaeli Martinez, which no mainstream outlet would cover. Liberals made a documentary. It got booted from the theater.
That is a perpetual challenge. Organizations like The Daily Wire, Mom's for Liberty, or even Fox news, all of which hold views I find suspicious (to say the least) are the ones speaking truth about gender affirmative care and trans activism. Peter Boghossian had wonderful countable discussion with Billboard Chris and other activists and journalists that was insightful, enlightening, and kind. Then one participants opined that George Floyd died of a Fentanyl overdose. That one comment, would make an open minded observer discount all entire discussion. I am slowly becoming comfortable with the "strange bedfellows," but does associating with outlets like the Epoch times pose some challenges to the cause? I'm in the "more the merrier" camp but I can see ways in which this is not helpful.
You named the nuance in the conversation. As a conservative I am no fan of Fox News because their schlocky practices diminish our credibility. And the Epoch TImes has problems as well.
But that doesn't mean their take on this topic is wrong.
I do think as conservatives who are (media and entertainment-industry wise) the unfavored and despised minority, people who diminish our credibility (Trump, anyone?) are damaging our cause.
I watched those videos. It is beyond frustrating when radical activists feel so invested on preventing conversations. I can only hope that more and more of those individuals on the moderate silent majority are taking notes and that, in their eyes, these activists help prove their critics right.
Epoch Times is backed by the Falun Gong cult so it should not be referenced! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/technology/epoch-times-influence-falun-gong.html
Don't know that I understand your comment. Falun Gong appears to be in opposition to the CCP government, persecuted by same, and thus arguably a friend to my way of thinking.
Are you familiar with the aphorism "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." or "Any port in a storm"? What "respectable" sources would you recommend Lisa cite, if none but the Epoch Times are actually bothering to cover the story in question? Also, I am curious as to how you come to the conclusion that those who staff this publication are "intentionally" casting aside the journalistic ideals of straight reporting, even if you think that their product is biased and not "real" journalism. Do you know this for a fact, or are you simply engaging in what psychologists call "projection?" Are not we all capable of failing to acknowledge (or even perceive) details that contradict what we already believe? Do you deny that the long-established "paragons" of journalism, the New York Times and the Washington Post, have produced skewed reporting on this topic? By your logic, this would make all the reporting they produce unworthy of being cited. What about Lisa's long and frustrating experience of being unable to find a mainstream outlet willing to let her point out the inconvenient perspectives and lived experiences that clashed with their prior reporting on this topic? There's a comment I saw once made by the civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin (organizer of that famous march on Washington where MLK jr. made his immortal speech), that if he wanted to know the time, and a racist had the only watch, he wouldn't hesitate to ask him what time it was. The fact that the racist was wrong about race didn't automatically make his knowledge of the correct time valueless. I think we should remember Rustin's profound ability to transcend his justifiable feelings to prioritize truth above all. The "gender critical" (for lack of a better label) movement is just as vulnerable to breaking apart due to purity spirals as the "wokest" communities out there. (Here's Rustin making the same point, only this time the bigot says "the sun is shining" https://youtu.be/fybq5UQn8M8)
According to the All Sides media bias chart, it shows Epoch Times only in the leans right category, which would make it equally as appalling to share an article from the AP, CNN, the NYT, NPR, or Yahoo Today, just to name a few - all of which they’ve labeled as leans left. I’m sure there are criticisms of all sides, but just thought I’d point this out.
https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart
The Left has adopted what may be called the "Fox News Fallacy" as one of its more popular rhetorical tricks. "Those fascists at Fox News, literally Hitler! said that, so the opposite must be true!" You're right, though, to be reluctant to cite Epoch Times. It would discredit what you want to say in some quarters.
The problem is, it's becoming increasingly difficult to identify the popular news outlets that may be relied on. Even more insidious is the widespread practice among outlets with longstanding reputations such as NYTIMES, WAPO, NPR to simply quash any coverage of developments that contradict their preferred explanation of events.
Critical Gender Theorists, rooted as they are in postmodernism and denying the existence of anything that might be called "Truth" as it's commonly understood, feel free to spout any sort of nonsense that suits their agenda and to demonize anything that contradicts it. Facts and logic don't matter. There's no such thing as "facts", and logic is a tool of the white European cisgendered heteronormative patriarchy, designed to colonize and subjugate everyone else.
Thank you so much Kate! Love the recap!
Welcome Kate and thank you for a great recap! Your conversation with Sasha Ayad and Stella O'Malley was super! I am up in the Bay Area - would love to connect sometime.
The lack of support for affirming minors among Democrats and the wider public is really striking. Now, how to translate that into the moratorium that Lisa proposed in an earlier post?
Happy to talk anytime, Suzanne! You can reach me at klgparker@gmail.com.
I am Norwegian and here the debate is really picking up steam. Even Main Stream Media have stories about detransister now and according to the comment section the tendency is definitely that more and more people now dare to speak against the extreme trans activist. And many of those those that speak out are like me, liberals, centre or left wing and we are getting sick of the canceling from the left. I am also a biologist (retired teacher ) and feed up of science denying post-modernist nonsense
In my teaching, I have always been honest about my view, biological sex is binary, while gender identity, which basically is a subjective feeling that may be said to be on a spectrum, although in most cases align with biological sex. I am shocked to see the madness in the USA and Canada
Bjorn, thank you so much for bringing the news from Norway. I suspect I speak for everyone here in wishing you and your country good luck and in welcoming any news you might bring to us about how this is proceeding.
I urge every reader to watch this conversation between Peter Boghossian and Andrew Doyle on the question of whether the trans movement is anti-gay.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=FAgAVy_awh0&featurle=share9
Doyle articulates pretty much what I have come to think much better than I have been able to do.
Andrew Sullivan has put his finger on the fundamental difference between the movement for gay equality and the radical trans ideologues. We gays did not ask anyone to change their behavior; the trans activists demand the rest of us agree to patent falsehoods and act as though they were true. It's exactly the program of Big Brother, and it's leading toward the same totalitarian dogma: freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength
Second, third, and fourth this. Andrew Doyle is brilliant throughout.
This is an absolutely terrific round-up. Thank you so much. Just also ran across this video of 6/21/23 of Rachel Levine touting "gender-affirming" care, and wondered whether you or anyone here has seen it rebutted: https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1671652208428081153
Three things I want to note; I am sure there are more:
1) Levine talks about how just one supportive adult can make a significant difference, and this may not be a parent;
2) Levine refers to a 988 "help line"; if I understand Levine correctly, it is run by the Trevor Project;
3) Levine states, as he has many times, that gender "affirming" care is medical care, medically necessary care, and is backed as effective by years and years of studies, along with support of medical associations, and the WPATH standards.
Again, if anyone has link(s) to commentary that directly rebuts Levine's 6/21/23 comments, I would appreciate it if you'd reply with the link (not general rebuttals, but in response specifically to the 6/21/23 comments).
Thank you again for this excellent, information-filled newsletter.
Please be careful of anything to do with the Epoch Times. It's a CIA funded media operating in about 35 countries to promote United States propaganda. It's been around for many decades fronted by the Falun Gong and Hongzhi Li a religious cult that wants to destroy the Chinese government. It fuels the Hong Kong and Taiwanese civil, social, political unrest. In other countries Epoch Times agitates for regime change. Though we might agree with outlets like this on some narrow issue they usually take their stand for all the wrong reasons. In addition, they badly damage our credibility and use our limited concurrence to enhance their own credibility and to promote their own toxic politics. Please see "Inside the Epoch Times" Atlantic Magazine and "The World of Falun Gong" ABC News. Li Hongzhi the Living God of Falun Gong is much like the Reverend Sun Moon who's media outlet is the Washington Times. But Epoch Times is more opaque and more widely involved in international regime change and covert operations like NED- National Endowment for Democracy.
From another weekly round-up, not far from BROADview: the very popular Mom blog Cup of Jo included in this week's Have a Fun Weekend, alongside "slip skirts for summer" and "the sex scene that made Emily Henry blush", NYMag's "Transgender Family Handbook". "Puberty Blockers and Hormones Don't Have to be Scary", it assures parents. (https://www.thecut.com/article/transgender-family-support-handbook.html)
Utterly crazy. The comments get it.
Good round up thx you and glad you highlighted style guides. I’ve been thinking that’s one to tackle and got a response from a wash post writer when i took issue with language used like “ gender affirming care” the writer wrote back saying she understand my concern but was following their style guide
FYI, this is excellent on the Arkansas decision: https://archive.ph/2023.06.28-183920/https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/the-endocrine-societys-dangerous-politicization-endocrinologists-gender-affirming-care-arkansas-dac768bd
Thank you for joining the team. I would be thrilled if you would take a look at my book The Unexpected Penis: Conversations on the Gender Trail. I saw a need to offer to my peers (60+) an easy-to-read, non-confrontational memoir that would bring them up to speed on the gender wars and all the many sectors of society that it touches. Subversively humourous, it compiles five years of following all the gender podcasts, studies, news events, political developments and pushback from adult human females. As a longtme lesbian activist, I show my street cred watching the movement develop in San Francisco, and draw from several pools of knowledge including my gender non-conforming childhood raised with the third culture tradition in Thailand. Tomboys rule. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8QBJXCK?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860&fbclid=IwAR28XHqJxCcwGv_WK90mAjNisYo7g_LE_B2gejnwi9XcZRk1RJk4st3GRX0