Wow, thank you for another information filled and action packed episode of Broadview in Brief! I love particularly your rumination, which I have been curious about as well: “but what really intrigues me is the ways the current conflicts about gender may be reflecting larger patterns of human beliefs and behaviors over time.” I do think, as a society, we are vastly underestimating the cascade of traumas arising out of living through the pandemic, and historical analogues could have much to teach us here.
There is a post by Colin Wright that connects to this, and I have been wondering ever since I read it what lessons we might learn from historic examples, such as the huge rise in spiritualism in the wake of the trauma of WWI, the Scopes trial era, and, related to that, the more recent case Wright describes in the linked article, from which this excerpt is taken:
“In the 2005 case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, plaintiffs contested a Pennsylvania school district’s policy that mandated teaching the religious concept of Intelligent Design (ID) alongside evolution in biology class. Biologists were summoned to defend the extensive evidence supporting evolution and explain how ID does not meet the fundamental standards of the scientific method: ID is unfalsifiable and relies on supernatural explanations that fall outside the purview of science. . . .
“While both arguments highlight genuine complexities within biology, they misconstrue the actual scientific understanding. In the Kitzmiller case, the presiding judge, a Christian appointed in 2002 by President George W. Bush, saw through the ruse and ruled against teaching ID as science, stating that “ID is a religious view . . . and not a scientific theory.” The denial of biological sex is no different, and its societal impacts are more pervasive and harmful than the denial of evolution.”
Kate, I think with this you have hit on a particularly rich, untapped vein to pursue, and I look forward to learning anything further you, and others here, discover.
To add on to this, regarding the question about the ways the current conflicts about gender may be reflecting larger patterns of human beliefs and behaviors over time, you might find some relevant content on Louise Perry's podcast, Maiden, Mother, Matriarch. https://louiseperry.substack.com/podcast/archive?sort=new
Kate, Another thought on the question you pose about societal changes, I am reading Eric Hoffer's the True Believer (1951) and think that while it's outdated in some ways, he was really on to something in terms of understanding how societal change happens and in particular how mass movements are fueled. Here's a quote, “There is apparently some connection between dissatisfaction with oneself and a proneness to credulity. The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. The refusal to see ourselves as we are develops a distaste for facts and cold logic. There is no hope for the frustrated in the actual and the possible. Salvation can come to them only from the miraculous, which seeps through a crack in the iron wall of inexorable reality. They ask to be deceived.” I wish Hoffer were around today as I'd be very interested in his thoughts on gender!
I am loving Puzzle Therapy’s and your book suggestions in response to the question you posed, and at the same time realizing, once again, that problem of not having world enough and time. Kate, if you see this, I don’t know whether there’s any non-dry way to compile a “big picture” reading list on the question you raised and post it? I loved, as one example of format, RBL_Reason’s blurb and pull quote--and would love to hear more about what Puzzle Therapy saw as an “ah-hah” moment or two from The Sleeping Beauties.
Another thing I am discovering right now is that almost anything I read reveals something that might bear on the fix we are currently in. For example, I am currently reading “Modernism: A Very Short Introduction,” and when finished with that, my next planned book is “Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction,” both by Christopher Butler.
I feel, as I read, that I’m sliding along on one of the very slippery slopes of thought that deliver us to today. For example, Butler quotes a character in Sartre’s “Nausea” writing, “The word Absurdity is now born beneath my pen,” and observes, “and with it, post-war existentialism, with moral and political commitments which moved from a modernist to a postmodernist way of seeing the universe. For moderns, it was at best unified like a work of art; but for the atheist existentialist it is ironically contingent, making no sense except a comic one, with no particular place for human beings, who have to try vainly to come up with a narrative explanation.”
So, well over my skis now, I postulate that DSM codes offer a “narrative explanation” for the feelings of chaos and debilitation that can be occasioned by psychological distress, and mass movements like gender identity activism offer a “narrative explanation” in the face of feelings of helplessness and powerlessness to make meaning, let alone to make positive change. And none of it, I would posit, is in the least bit a healthy response to the problems people individually and society generally are facing right now.
I'll see what we can do about a Reader's Recommend list--I'm mulling over what you've said here, wow...and what an enlightening article. I'm additionally amused and astounded by the Monty Python Mouse Problem which I'd somehow missed in the past--broken link so here's another way to watch it: https://youtu.be/uK92NYwBMts?si=uOqdIYbLVGGLQzbR
I can relate! I see the applicability of just about everything I read to gender ideology even when it’s not explicitly about gender. I have to admit it’s become an obsession for me 🤦♀️
I think gender represents the desperate need to escape from under society's pressures as applied through enforced (or it feels like they are enforced) stereotypes of boy and girl. I think some of the time, other medicalization of problems is also a desperate attempt to escape society's pressure to be "productive" and use the time you're given on earth in ways that feel like they obliterate you. Would we need so *much* anti anxiety medication, etc, if we had more freedom to use our lives as we wish? Even a little bit more?
"but what really intrigues me is the ways the current conflicts about gender may be reflecting larger patterns of human beliefs and behaviors over time."
Yes, this is the question that haunts me every day. I have been seening gender questioning youth and their families for about 5 years now. In the aftermath of all this, we will be addressing the issue of what ideas so permeated the culture that so many otherwise reasonalble and compassionate people would see the idea of being born in the wrong sexed body as a self evident truism. Carl Truman in "The Rise and Triump of the Modern Self" goes a long way in answering this but the medical anthropology of Ian Hacking and Edward Shorter contribute as well by describing the perenial symptom pool from which people experiencing distress can draw.
"religious groups within the same denomination go different directions" - Being a gnostic belief, GI is parasitic. It gloms onto other belief systems, incorporates itself, turns the host into a reproducer of the gnostic belief.
Thank you, as always, for another great recap - and thank you to Alejandra for your research assistance! As for the bigger question about how we got here, one conversation that's worth a listen is today's Gender:A Wider Lens interview with Corinna Cohn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nSUAqdT0fw). There are some poignant and hard-to-hear moments in it and many important ones. At one point, Cohn (who transitioned at 19) says:
"For a lot of people who transition, how other people perceive them and affirm them is a huge component for how they feel about themselves. And if you cannot get to the point where your feelings of being comfortable with yourself are only coming from within you, then even trying to work through the issue of [transition] is going to be very difficult...you might be trying to do this work of taking ownership of your body...and you'll really get thrown off that journey if you're not able to feel comfortable in your own skin."
That focus on how we appear to others, together with the internet, identity politics in a polarized world, and our consumerist medical system (some of those are largely US phenomena with "versions" in other "developed" countries), seem to be some of the elements of "how we got here". May our investigation of "how we got here" lead us quickly to the way out!
Suzanne: I had the Corinna Cohn interview bookmarked, and your prompt inspired me not to put it off any further. Cohn is a marvel: so insightful and intelligent. We are lucky to have people like Cohn and Erica Anderson speaking out as they do.
Very interesting as always. Thank you for the laugh about our (British) pronunciation of 'router'! Needless to say, it's every bit as weird for us hearing 'rowter' from our transatlantic friends! 😁
I can’t link to anything specific as I’ve watched/, listened to and read so much over the last 3 years that it’s hard to remember what I learned from where.
The current conflicts around gender seems to originate from a convergence of several different strands, all of which reflect wider patterns of human behaviour
1) the move towards individualism, each person’s truth is valid, we are all responsible for ourselves. This is an idea rooted in postmodernism but entrenched by capitalism/ neoliberalism. This has been the western cultural climate for 40 years now is thoroughly embedded as a cultural narrative. It encourages selfish behaviour and some people not being able to see the bigger picture and consider how their behaviour affects others. Selfish behaviour is general human trait but I think exacerbated by our current social system.
2) The desire to be in control - including of our bodies. The desire to create life or extend life which has lead to ‘trans-humanism’. This is coming from a few very rich men some of whom identify as women (Martine Rothblatt). They are pumping money into pushing this (see the work of Jennifer Bilek). This is not a universal human behaviour but I think it’s a widespread belief that being able to cure illness and live longer is a good thing. Trying to be more than our bodies is the extreme end of this.
3) On the flip side is the pro-social human desire to be kind and accepting of difference, particularly after a history of abuse and discrimination towards people of different races and sexualities. Of course some individuals are still racist sexist or homophobic but it is no longer supported by discriminatory legislation. People fear repeating the past which lead to the horrors of the holocaust and abusive practices towards homosexuals.
4) Linking back to no2 is the development of technology; hormone development, plastic surgery, the internet. Without these we would not be where we are.
5) Wanting to fit in, to be in the ‘in’ group - an evolutionary response as being in a group meant a greater chance of survival
6) Greed - I don’t know if those making money out of this are aware of their drive to make money through something which is causing harm. I suspect their psychological defences protect them so they believe they are doing the right thing.
Americans pronounce the noun route as "root" or "rowt"--more the former in the northeast and more the latter elsewhere but to be honest a lot of us spontaneously switch back and forth. But the verb to route is always "rowt" and router is always pronounced "rowter" across the US. It rhymes with shouter and powder [so to be completely accurate, that t in the middle is pronounced as a flapped d].
What gender may be metaphorically representing in society as a whole: I strongly recommend Suzanne O’Sullivan’s The Sleeping Beauties. It is not about gender (and when asked point blank about how her writing may relate to gender dysphoria as a social contention, the author froze up and then finally said, “I don’t want to answer that question.”) but I have never read anything that more thoroughly explores how social and cultural dynamics can create forces on the individual expression of emotional distress as “disease” and how societies interpret these expressions. Seriously, move it to the top of your book stack. You will find so much material to give you a deeper understanding of what’s going on with the gender phenomenon.
Great round up as usual. I just wish this all would stop. Was just at my 11-year-old son’s soccer game, and a boy started saying “I’m pregnant I’m about to have a baby” and my son said “no, you’re not.” To which another kid started chanting “J is a transphobe, J is a transphobe, J is a transphobe.” My son was embarrassed and confused.
I found this to be an interesting example of how the professional managerial class is out of synch with the working class on this issue. In this case, for Anheuser-Busch, a fatal ignorance. Here the PMC would be represented by the "brains" in Bud marketing, thinking outside the box, reaching out to marginal communities like Dylan Mulvaney, the minstrel performer of femininity. The working class would be represented by Bud Light's biggest market. For the marketers the issue seemed settled. TG is here to stay and they drink beer like everyone else. What they had no clue about was how this issue resonated with the people that buy their product. To me, this screams "insularity" and provides a stark example of the segregation of the classes.
What articles would you recommend to people trying to understand gender ideology? I am talking about people who believe that people who are “anti-trans” are bigots and that we need to be kind. Want to explain that this is not the case
"what gender may be metaphorically representing in current human society as a whole. Any suggestions?"
i guess its fun to think that the current trend to focus on gender in terms of gender identification is part of some sort of cultural acceptance or social evolution. sorry you break it to you - its neither. all of it can be traced to rich activists whose goal was to erase child safeguarding in law as a means to give kids gender meds. this is documented in the following article.
at times this article is pay walled. if it is for you simply search - "only adults?" transgender lobby. thats the name of a report by the denton law firm.
with the goal of changing laws world wide to erase child safeguarding, activists invented the idea of the transgender child. they published documents that read like sci fi novels that were accepted as fact by academia. one of these docs is https://www.hrc.org/resources/supporting-caring-for-transgender-children
in this lengthy "guide" the author's use a shell game to conflate normal psych issues all kids experience with the imaginary trait of being transgender. they provide stats based by activists online polls to support the falsehood that dysphoric kids have high suicide rates and are helped by gender affirmation. neither of these are true but democrats believe it and have built a castle of laws based on this and other false claims.
the false claims these activists use to promote their law changes have snowballed into a religious/cult movement that have captured democrats and many others. but this isnt some sort of organic cultural change. its whats called astroturfing and has more in common to the trump craze than anything.
an ad hoc categorization of believers of gender ideology is as follows.
- the lazy democrat and lazy cool person. the lazy democrat and lazy cool person accepts gender ideology without knowing much about it. they accept activist claims that gender affirmation is a science based and compassionate response to those who self identify as another gender. they are naive in not imagining anyone would purposefully lie about the issues surrounding gender ideology.
- the cult member. the gender ideology cult member is informed of gender biz misinformation and believes it as a fact. this could be someone who identifies as "transgender". or it could be an "ally". these persons believe gender biz misinformation and repeat statements such as "there is evidence gender meds help kids" (no theres not). "trans kids commit suicide more than others" (no they dont). ect ect ect. when challenged on these assumptions these individuals will cite the lamest low quality completely false stat or study to back their claim. they are being lied to and are lying to others. but who created the propaganda in the first place? it goes back to the activists who paid for the denton law firm to create a plan to erase child safeguarding.
the short answer is gender ideology is just another form of what men have always done: colonize. this time the colonizing is via rich activists. but its the same as always: rich white men who are robbing the rights of historically disadvantaged groups. this time the disadvantaged groups include women, kids, gays, dysphoric ppl etc.
Yes, I agree on all points. What I'm seeing happen with the kindest of teachers and parents is the genuine and heartfelt conflation of sexual orientation--innate sexual attraction--with gender identity. They believe that a trans identity is innate and discovered vs a mental health issue that's a response to distress (usually over the reality of one's biological sex). If they don't understand the latter and if they don't understand the multiple well-known comorbidities of gender dysphoria, then they think this is an issue of identity, not healthcare. That's why Anderson's testimony is critically important. Of course, the whole concept is so riddled with sexism, that some kids actually don't feel sex-specific distress and have simply wholeheartedly embraced feminine and masculine clichés...
Wow, thank you for another information filled and action packed episode of Broadview in Brief! I love particularly your rumination, which I have been curious about as well: “but what really intrigues me is the ways the current conflicts about gender may be reflecting larger patterns of human beliefs and behaviors over time.” I do think, as a society, we are vastly underestimating the cascade of traumas arising out of living through the pandemic, and historical analogues could have much to teach us here.
There is a post by Colin Wright that connects to this, and I have been wondering ever since I read it what lessons we might learn from historic examples, such as the huge rise in spiritualism in the wake of the trauma of WWI, the Scopes trial era, and, related to that, the more recent case Wright describes in the linked article, from which this excerpt is taken:
“In the 2005 case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, plaintiffs contested a Pennsylvania school district’s policy that mandated teaching the religious concept of Intelligent Design (ID) alongside evolution in biology class. Biologists were summoned to defend the extensive evidence supporting evolution and explain how ID does not meet the fundamental standards of the scientific method: ID is unfalsifiable and relies on supernatural explanations that fall outside the purview of science. . . .
“While both arguments highlight genuine complexities within biology, they misconstrue the actual scientific understanding. In the Kitzmiller case, the presiding judge, a Christian appointed in 2002 by President George W. Bush, saw through the ruse and ruled against teaching ID as science, stating that “ID is a religious view . . . and not a scientific theory.” The denial of biological sex is no different, and its societal impacts are more pervasive and harmful than the denial of evolution.”
https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-sex-binary-on-trial
Kate, I think with this you have hit on a particularly rich, untapped vein to pursue, and I look forward to learning anything further you, and others here, discover.
To add on to this, regarding the question about the ways the current conflicts about gender may be reflecting larger patterns of human beliefs and behaviors over time, you might find some relevant content on Louise Perry's podcast, Maiden, Mother, Matriarch. https://louiseperry.substack.com/podcast/archive?sort=new
Kate, Another thought on the question you pose about societal changes, I am reading Eric Hoffer's the True Believer (1951) and think that while it's outdated in some ways, he was really on to something in terms of understanding how societal change happens and in particular how mass movements are fueled. Here's a quote, “There is apparently some connection between dissatisfaction with oneself and a proneness to credulity. The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. The refusal to see ourselves as we are develops a distaste for facts and cold logic. There is no hope for the frustrated in the actual and the possible. Salvation can come to them only from the miraculous, which seeps through a crack in the iron wall of inexorable reality. They ask to be deceived.” I wish Hoffer were around today as I'd be very interested in his thoughts on gender!
Oooooh!
I am loving Puzzle Therapy’s and your book suggestions in response to the question you posed, and at the same time realizing, once again, that problem of not having world enough and time. Kate, if you see this, I don’t know whether there’s any non-dry way to compile a “big picture” reading list on the question you raised and post it? I loved, as one example of format, RBL_Reason’s blurb and pull quote--and would love to hear more about what Puzzle Therapy saw as an “ah-hah” moment or two from The Sleeping Beauties.
Another thing I am discovering right now is that almost anything I read reveals something that might bear on the fix we are currently in. For example, I am currently reading “Modernism: A Very Short Introduction,” and when finished with that, my next planned book is “Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction,” both by Christopher Butler.
I feel, as I read, that I’m sliding along on one of the very slippery slopes of thought that deliver us to today. For example, Butler quotes a character in Sartre’s “Nausea” writing, “The word Absurdity is now born beneath my pen,” and observes, “and with it, post-war existentialism, with moral and political commitments which moved from a modernist to a postmodernist way of seeing the universe. For moderns, it was at best unified like a work of art; but for the atheist existentialist it is ironically contingent, making no sense except a comic one, with no particular place for human beings, who have to try vainly to come up with a narrative explanation.”
So, well over my skis now, I postulate that DSM codes offer a “narrative explanation” for the feelings of chaos and debilitation that can be occasioned by psychological distress, and mass movements like gender identity activism offer a “narrative explanation” in the face of feelings of helplessness and powerlessness to make meaning, let alone to make positive change. And none of it, I would posit, is in the least bit a healthy response to the problems people individually and society generally are facing right now.
And here, if anyone reads this far, please forgive my indulgence, but I do think my spouse’s latest article, “Operation Pied Piper: Lessons from History on Childhood Trauma and Resilience” relates. Here’s a link: https://www.josieholford.com/operation-pied-piper-lessons-from-history-on-child-trauma-and-resilience/
I'll see what we can do about a Reader's Recommend list--I'm mulling over what you've said here, wow...and what an enlightening article. I'm additionally amused and astounded by the Monty Python Mouse Problem which I'd somehow missed in the past--broken link so here's another way to watch it: https://youtu.be/uK92NYwBMts?si=uOqdIYbLVGGLQzbR
Oh, wow, that is so nice of you to say. And thanks for the heads up on the broken link. It is now fixed.
I can relate! I see the applicability of just about everything I read to gender ideology even when it’s not explicitly about gender. I have to admit it’s become an obsession for me 🤦♀️
Love this book. just read it last year!!
I think gender represents the desperate need to escape from under society's pressures as applied through enforced (or it feels like they are enforced) stereotypes of boy and girl. I think some of the time, other medicalization of problems is also a desperate attempt to escape society's pressure to be "productive" and use the time you're given on earth in ways that feel like they obliterate you. Would we need so *much* anti anxiety medication, etc, if we had more freedom to use our lives as we wish? Even a little bit more?
"but what really intrigues me is the ways the current conflicts about gender may be reflecting larger patterns of human beliefs and behaviors over time."
Yes, this is the question that haunts me every day. I have been seening gender questioning youth and their families for about 5 years now. In the aftermath of all this, we will be addressing the issue of what ideas so permeated the culture that so many otherwise reasonalble and compassionate people would see the idea of being born in the wrong sexed body as a self evident truism. Carl Truman in "The Rise and Triump of the Modern Self" goes a long way in answering this but the medical anthropology of Ian Hacking and Edward Shorter contribute as well by describing the perenial symptom pool from which people experiencing distress can draw.
"religious groups within the same denomination go different directions" - Being a gnostic belief, GI is parasitic. It gloms onto other belief systems, incorporates itself, turns the host into a reproducer of the gnostic belief.
Thank you, as always, for another great recap - and thank you to Alejandra for your research assistance! As for the bigger question about how we got here, one conversation that's worth a listen is today's Gender:A Wider Lens interview with Corinna Cohn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nSUAqdT0fw). There are some poignant and hard-to-hear moments in it and many important ones. At one point, Cohn (who transitioned at 19) says:
"For a lot of people who transition, how other people perceive them and affirm them is a huge component for how they feel about themselves. And if you cannot get to the point where your feelings of being comfortable with yourself are only coming from within you, then even trying to work through the issue of [transition] is going to be very difficult...you might be trying to do this work of taking ownership of your body...and you'll really get thrown off that journey if you're not able to feel comfortable in your own skin."
That focus on how we appear to others, together with the internet, identity politics in a polarized world, and our consumerist medical system (some of those are largely US phenomena with "versions" in other "developed" countries), seem to be some of the elements of "how we got here". May our investigation of "how we got here" lead us quickly to the way out!
Suzanne: I had the Corinna Cohn interview bookmarked, and your prompt inspired me not to put it off any further. Cohn is a marvel: so insightful and intelligent. We are lucky to have people like Cohn and Erica Anderson speaking out as they do.
Very interesting as always. Thank you for the laugh about our (British) pronunciation of 'router'! Needless to say, it's every bit as weird for us hearing 'rowter' from our transatlantic friends! 😁
I can’t link to anything specific as I’ve watched/, listened to and read so much over the last 3 years that it’s hard to remember what I learned from where.
The current conflicts around gender seems to originate from a convergence of several different strands, all of which reflect wider patterns of human behaviour
1) the move towards individualism, each person’s truth is valid, we are all responsible for ourselves. This is an idea rooted in postmodernism but entrenched by capitalism/ neoliberalism. This has been the western cultural climate for 40 years now is thoroughly embedded as a cultural narrative. It encourages selfish behaviour and some people not being able to see the bigger picture and consider how their behaviour affects others. Selfish behaviour is general human trait but I think exacerbated by our current social system.
2) The desire to be in control - including of our bodies. The desire to create life or extend life which has lead to ‘trans-humanism’. This is coming from a few very rich men some of whom identify as women (Martine Rothblatt). They are pumping money into pushing this (see the work of Jennifer Bilek). This is not a universal human behaviour but I think it’s a widespread belief that being able to cure illness and live longer is a good thing. Trying to be more than our bodies is the extreme end of this.
3) On the flip side is the pro-social human desire to be kind and accepting of difference, particularly after a history of abuse and discrimination towards people of different races and sexualities. Of course some individuals are still racist sexist or homophobic but it is no longer supported by discriminatory legislation. People fear repeating the past which lead to the horrors of the holocaust and abusive practices towards homosexuals.
4) Linking back to no2 is the development of technology; hormone development, plastic surgery, the internet. Without these we would not be where we are.
5) Wanting to fit in, to be in the ‘in’ group - an evolutionary response as being in a group meant a greater chance of survival
6) Greed - I don’t know if those making money out of this are aware of their drive to make money through something which is causing harm. I suspect their psychological defences protect them so they believe they are doing the right thing.
Re "... I’ve been mildly traumatized by the British pronunciation of a wifi router as a ‘rooter’..."
Ditto!
But the book entire is quite level-headed.
I was puzzled by this sentence cos in French router is of course pronounced rooter... how else would you even pronounce it I wonder
Americans pronounce the noun route as "root" or "rowt"--more the former in the northeast and more the latter elsewhere but to be honest a lot of us spontaneously switch back and forth. But the verb to route is always "rowt" and router is always pronounced "rowter" across the US. It rhymes with shouter and powder [so to be completely accurate, that t in the middle is pronounced as a flapped d].
What gender may be metaphorically representing in society as a whole: I strongly recommend Suzanne O’Sullivan’s The Sleeping Beauties. It is not about gender (and when asked point blank about how her writing may relate to gender dysphoria as a social contention, the author froze up and then finally said, “I don’t want to answer that question.”) but I have never read anything that more thoroughly explores how social and cultural dynamics can create forces on the individual expression of emotional distress as “disease” and how societies interpret these expressions. Seriously, move it to the top of your book stack. You will find so much material to give you a deeper understanding of what’s going on with the gender phenomenon.
Will do!
Great round up as usual. I just wish this all would stop. Was just at my 11-year-old son’s soccer game, and a boy started saying “I’m pregnant I’m about to have a baby” and my son said “no, you’re not.” To which another kid started chanting “J is a transphobe, J is a transphobe, J is a transphobe.” My son was embarrassed and confused.
Umm wtf
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/19/dylan-mulvaney-bud-light-boycott
I found this to be an interesting example of how the professional managerial class is out of synch with the working class on this issue. In this case, for Anheuser-Busch, a fatal ignorance. Here the PMC would be represented by the "brains" in Bud marketing, thinking outside the box, reaching out to marginal communities like Dylan Mulvaney, the minstrel performer of femininity. The working class would be represented by Bud Light's biggest market. For the marketers the issue seemed settled. TG is here to stay and they drink beer like everyone else. What they had no clue about was how this issue resonated with the people that buy their product. To me, this screams "insularity" and provides a stark example of the segregation of the classes.
What articles would you recommend to people trying to understand gender ideology? I am talking about people who believe that people who are “anti-trans” are bigots and that we need to be kind. Want to explain that this is not the case
"what gender may be metaphorically representing in current human society as a whole. Any suggestions?"
i guess its fun to think that the current trend to focus on gender in terms of gender identification is part of some sort of cultural acceptance or social evolution. sorry you break it to you - its neither. all of it can be traced to rich activists whose goal was to erase child safeguarding in law as a means to give kids gender meds. this is documented in the following article.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-document-that-reveals-the-remarkable-tactics-of-trans-lobbyists/
at times this article is pay walled. if it is for you simply search - "only adults?" transgender lobby. thats the name of a report by the denton law firm.
with the goal of changing laws world wide to erase child safeguarding, activists invented the idea of the transgender child. they published documents that read like sci fi novels that were accepted as fact by academia. one of these docs is https://www.hrc.org/resources/supporting-caring-for-transgender-children
in this lengthy "guide" the author's use a shell game to conflate normal psych issues all kids experience with the imaginary trait of being transgender. they provide stats based by activists online polls to support the falsehood that dysphoric kids have high suicide rates and are helped by gender affirmation. neither of these are true but democrats believe it and have built a castle of laws based on this and other false claims.
the false claims these activists use to promote their law changes have snowballed into a religious/cult movement that have captured democrats and many others. but this isnt some sort of organic cultural change. its whats called astroturfing and has more in common to the trump craze than anything.
an ad hoc categorization of believers of gender ideology is as follows.
- the lazy democrat and lazy cool person. the lazy democrat and lazy cool person accepts gender ideology without knowing much about it. they accept activist claims that gender affirmation is a science based and compassionate response to those who self identify as another gender. they are naive in not imagining anyone would purposefully lie about the issues surrounding gender ideology.
- the cult member. the gender ideology cult member is informed of gender biz misinformation and believes it as a fact. this could be someone who identifies as "transgender". or it could be an "ally". these persons believe gender biz misinformation and repeat statements such as "there is evidence gender meds help kids" (no theres not). "trans kids commit suicide more than others" (no they dont). ect ect ect. when challenged on these assumptions these individuals will cite the lamest low quality completely false stat or study to back their claim. they are being lied to and are lying to others. but who created the propaganda in the first place? it goes back to the activists who paid for the denton law firm to create a plan to erase child safeguarding.
the short answer is gender ideology is just another form of what men have always done: colonize. this time the colonizing is via rich activists. but its the same as always: rich white men who are robbing the rights of historically disadvantaged groups. this time the disadvantaged groups include women, kids, gays, dysphoric ppl etc.
Yes, I agree on all points. What I'm seeing happen with the kindest of teachers and parents is the genuine and heartfelt conflation of sexual orientation--innate sexual attraction--with gender identity. They believe that a trans identity is innate and discovered vs a mental health issue that's a response to distress (usually over the reality of one's biological sex). If they don't understand the latter and if they don't understand the multiple well-known comorbidities of gender dysphoria, then they think this is an issue of identity, not healthcare. That's why Anderson's testimony is critically important. Of course, the whole concept is so riddled with sexism, that some kids actually don't feel sex-specific distress and have simply wholeheartedly embraced feminine and masculine clichés...