I am really curious to see how this someone will respond. I've gotten increasingly cynical in the last while with regards to good faith conversations, but I really admire and root for individuals like you, Lisa, who are still continuing the good fight. Also Julia Malott - she's pretty amazing up here in Canada.
I am 99.99% sure that Honey-I-shrunk-the-kid's-brain Jeff is high on self-righteousness and will not even bother to read this informative carefully written letter. It will not go to waste, there ARE minds that can be changed . Jeff seems like a lost cause though.
We seem to have found ourselves on the axis of 'hater' vs 'carer' where anyone trying to speak sense is automatically a hater when we are really a carer. These parents who affirm and protect are impossible to budge from their position. The cognitive dissonance of what they have done would be too hard to bare.
I admire your desire to engage on the issues, but I don’t think engaging this particular person is worth your time. His whole brand is predicated on perpetuating the idea that we are headed toward a civil war because of the white supremacists he thinks are hiding under every rug and around every corner. That’s nonsense. He’s either delusional or acting in bad faith. Also, someone who uses his kid as a social media prop to draw attention to his own exhaulted morality and goodness is pretty much unreachable.
Thank you once again Lisa for laying out the issues in a very objective way. No hyperbole, just facts. It is a sad statement that Andrea makes when she says she would love to share this but doesn’t have the courage. It is impossible to have civil discussion about this. Which is why calling for more research and data is so important.
I couldn’t love this anymore if I tried. I want to repost this. If I only had the courage. Do you have an essay or an article where you raise these points?
You could always post the expert witness testimony of Dr. Stephen B. Levine and his 13 fallacies of the trans diagnosis. His webpages can be found under a search of his name and the phrase, 13 untruths. He' s a formerly affirming psychiatrist who had too many patients coming to him from 7 to 30 years later, telling him they regretted it all. Trans widows and the violence we've suffered at the hands of our crossdressing (now ex) husbands could also be mentioned. Unfortunately, I am the only person in the world collecting data on us. So far, with information from 47 women whose husbands/partners suddenly "identified" as female, 18 were sexually assaulted including 5 rape victims and only 1 of these reported to law enforcement. If they are so oppressed, how could this be? The link is from when I had 43. The latest 4 trans widows to answer my survey, 20 Questions to Ask a Trans Widow, had quite shocking stories to tell. I'm waiting for the last 2 to send me their answers, then I'll report on 50 of us.
What is the truth about trans people being faced with real violence? I keep hearing these broad claims but I don't know of any specific incidents. I do know about specific incidents where gender critical people are bullies, threatened, and hurt. Can you tell me where to find info on these violent confrontations that are supposedly happening? And where?
With respect, Lisa, I don't think this is the way to change hearts and minds. I agree with the entire content of what you posted, and I fully support all the work you do. But when I looked up the lengthy multi-comment response in context of the actual Instagram post, it did honestly read as way too involved and way too long to be an honest attempt at a dialogue. You also admitted exactly that in your write up here.
If you were trying in good faith to start a conversation, what might you do differently?
I would look into some of the work that Peter Boghossian has done around this issue. His book with James Lindsay "How to Have Impossible Conversations" is a good place to start.
And Lisa, maybe the best way to start a conversation is not on social media, but in a one-to-one conversation. As others have noted, Jeff is prone to posturing on social media, but perhaps a sincere face-to-face conversation might actually get him to think.
Thank you for all your work, Lisa. Your writing more than anyone else’s is the reasonable, intelligent, informed, caring response that I always want to share with my family members and friends. (And I feel the same way about education — bi-partisaning everything is so detrimental and the kids are the ones suffering from everyone’s posturing.)
Thank you, Lisa, as always, for setting out the arguments so clearly. That's a great addition to the "Letters to Change Minds". I have tried the pleading and I have tried replacing all those "I would love you to..."s with "Would you consider...?"s, and still, I mostly get radio silence. Thank you for not giving up.
I am really curious to see how this someone will respond. I've gotten increasingly cynical in the last while with regards to good faith conversations, but I really admire and root for individuals like you, Lisa, who are still continuing the good fight. Also Julia Malott - she's pretty amazing up here in Canada.
I am 99.99% sure that Honey-I-shrunk-the-kid's-brain Jeff is high on self-righteousness and will not even bother to read this informative carefully written letter. It will not go to waste, there ARE minds that can be changed . Jeff seems like a lost cause though.
“Staking your claim on supporting drag-queen story hour, as opposed to a $25 minimum wage, is really silly.”
Hear, Hear!
We seem to have found ourselves on the axis of 'hater' vs 'carer' where anyone trying to speak sense is automatically a hater when we are really a carer. These parents who affirm and protect are impossible to budge from their position. The cognitive dissonance of what they have done would be too hard to bare.
I admire your desire to engage on the issues, but I don’t think engaging this particular person is worth your time. His whole brand is predicated on perpetuating the idea that we are headed toward a civil war because of the white supremacists he thinks are hiding under every rug and around every corner. That’s nonsense. He’s either delusional or acting in bad faith. Also, someone who uses his kid as a social media prop to draw attention to his own exhaulted morality and goodness is pretty much unreachable.
💯. The impending Civil War theme is threadbare, but that’s Sharlet’s brand. He wants to be another John Brown, not Walker Evans.
Thank you once again Lisa for laying out the issues in a very objective way. No hyperbole, just facts. It is a sad statement that Andrea makes when she says she would love to share this but doesn’t have the courage. It is impossible to have civil discussion about this. Which is why calling for more research and data is so important.
Well said.
I couldn’t love this anymore if I tried. I want to repost this. If I only had the courage. Do you have an essay or an article where you raise these points?
You could always post the expert witness testimony of Dr. Stephen B. Levine and his 13 fallacies of the trans diagnosis. His webpages can be found under a search of his name and the phrase, 13 untruths. He' s a formerly affirming psychiatrist who had too many patients coming to him from 7 to 30 years later, telling him they regretted it all. Trans widows and the violence we've suffered at the hands of our crossdressing (now ex) husbands could also be mentioned. Unfortunately, I am the only person in the world collecting data on us. So far, with information from 47 women whose husbands/partners suddenly "identified" as female, 18 were sexually assaulted including 5 rape victims and only 1 of these reported to law enforcement. If they are so oppressed, how could this be? The link is from when I had 43. The latest 4 trans widows to answer my survey, 20 Questions to Ask a Trans Widow, had quite shocking stories to tell. I'm waiting for the last 2 to send me their answers, then I'll report on 50 of us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA_5p3yI7d0&t=249s
What is the truth about trans people being faced with real violence? I keep hearing these broad claims but I don't know of any specific incidents. I do know about specific incidents where gender critical people are bullies, threatened, and hurt. Can you tell me where to find info on these violent confrontations that are supposedly happening? And where?
Do you know the work of Vaishnavi Sundar? The brilliant filmmaker of Dysphoric: Fleeing Womanhood Like a House on Fire? Her current project in the works is a film on trans widows. https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/25142/private/f5937247-3317-469c-af3c-21981686b80e.rss Good interview with Louise Perry.
With respect, Lisa, I don't think this is the way to change hearts and minds. I agree with the entire content of what you posted, and I fully support all the work you do. But when I looked up the lengthy multi-comment response in context of the actual Instagram post, it did honestly read as way too involved and way too long to be an honest attempt at a dialogue. You also admitted exactly that in your write up here.
If you were trying in good faith to start a conversation, what might you do differently?
I would look into some of the work that Peter Boghossian has done around this issue. His book with James Lindsay "How to Have Impossible Conversations" is a good place to start.
And Lisa, maybe the best way to start a conversation is not on social media, but in a one-to-one conversation. As others have noted, Jeff is prone to posturing on social media, but perhaps a sincere face-to-face conversation might actually get him to think.
So what was his tattoo? There is an unlabeled pic of someone’s arm saying “Fuck Fa” or something like that. Just TELL US.
Click the image. It will send you to Instagram where you'll see entire image of the tattoo and Jeff Sharlet's post.
Thank you for all your work, Lisa. Your writing more than anyone else’s is the reasonable, intelligent, informed, caring response that I always want to share with my family members and friends. (And I feel the same way about education — bi-partisaning everything is so detrimental and the kids are the ones suffering from everyone’s posturing.)
Thank you, Lisa, as always, for setting out the arguments so clearly. That's a great addition to the "Letters to Change Minds". I have tried the pleading and I have tried replacing all those "I would love you to..."s with "Would you consider...?"s, and still, I mostly get radio silence. Thank you for not giving up.