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I monitor / research / write about anti-trans feminists in the US and I'm wrapping up that work (at least the frequent writing).
I'm here to tell you why.
SPOILER ALERT: because the connections between anti-trans feminists and the Christian Right are now broadly understood.
I'm here to tell you why.
SPOILER ALERT: because the connections between anti-trans feminists and the Christian Right are now broadly understood.
When I started monitoring anti-trans feminists, there was quite a bit of writing in more mainstream queer media about "unlikely bedfellows" and a LOT of work done by incredible trans researchers (like @cristanwilliams at the @transadvocate) but little mainstream coverage.
At @PRAEyesRight, we deliberately partner with organizations who don't have access to traditional resources, like their own opposition monitoring shops.
Trans orgs and movements don't have their own opposition monitoring shops.
Trans orgs and movements don't have their own opposition monitoring shops.
Trans movements and communities have long relied on amazing researchers like @cristanwilliams, @TransGriot, @Chican3ry @CaseyExplosion, @JuliaSerano and others to follow TERF networks, TERF rhetoric, TERF behavior, and to keep one another safe and informed.
In early 2019, when I started talking to trans orgs about how my monitoring could be useful to them, I heard from EVERY SINGLE ORG: "omfg please fucking talk to the feminist and women's orgs partnering with us to STOP REPLICATING TERF RHETORIC."
This is something that @PRAEyesRight excels at: using our long tenure monitoring the Right and our expertise in Right-wing contexts to locate novel, or seemingly novel rhetoric or movements in the larger context of US (and international) Right-wing activity.
I am proud to have leveraged my privilege (being paid to do the work that others have been doing for decades for free) and @PRAEyesRight's name to get access to feminist and women's spaces to help them disrupt the replication of anti-trans feminist rhetoric.
You can now view that training for the first time PUBLICLY here.
(Please be sure to note the *vital* correction we made in response to the email that WoLF sent us after they attended the webinar.) https://www.politicalresearch.org/webinar-7162020-disrupting-anti-trans-feminist-advocacy-interactive-training
(Please be sure to note the *vital* correction we made in response to the email that WoLF sent us after they attended the webinar.) https://www.politicalresearch.org/webinar-7162020-disrupting-anti-trans-feminist-advocacy-interactive-training
This training gives an overview of anti-trans feminist rhetoric, maps the network of anti-trans feminists partnering with the Right, and help viewers practice disrupting scarcity-based anti-feminist rhetoric with intersectional feminism.
Here's that link: https://www.politicalresearch.org/webinar-7162020-disrupting-anti-trans-feminist-advocacy-interactive-training
Here's that link: https://www.politicalresearch.org/webinar-7162020-disrupting-anti-trans-feminist-advocacy-interactive-training
Over the past year and a half of monitoring anti-trans feminists, I have also spoken to countless journalists seeking to "understand" why anti-trans feminists do what they do.
And I've written over and over about how BORING, PREDICTABLE, and RACIST these networks are.
And I've written over and over about how BORING, PREDICTABLE, and RACIST these networks are.
Here's what I've written:
"Accusing trans people of taking advantage of children with autism heightens the rhetoric and moves the center of the discussion towards the Right, forcing those attacked to defend themselves against absurd allegations." http://www.politicalresearch.org/2018/12/19/anti-lgbtq-media-outlets-peddle-myths-about-autism-and-trans-identity
"Accusing trans people of taking advantage of children with autism heightens the rhetoric and moves the center of the discussion towards the Right, forcing those attacked to defend themselves against absurd allegations." http://www.politicalresearch.org/2018/12/19/anti-lgbtq-media-outlets-peddle-myths-about-autism-and-trans-identity
"Kao also warned us of “LGBT extremists” and mentioned that “some radical feminists” are speaking out against LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws because they believe these laws will result in the “erasure of women and girls.”" https://rewire.news/article/2018/09/24/religious-conservatives-at-values-voter-summit-use-gender-ideology-as-anti-lgbtq-rallying-cry/
"And yet two self-proclaimed feminist organizations have found themselves on the same side as the ultra-conservative policy advocacy organization that Schlafly founded off the back of her STOP ERA win, the Eagle Forum." https://rewire.news/article/2019/01/11/feminist-groups-teaming-up-with-phyllis-schlaflys-organization-to-put-trans-kids-safety-at-risk/
"It’s notable that anti-trans feminists are employing similar racist dog-whistles that have been used by the Right for centuries to create out-sized fear and outrage among their constituents and followers . . ." http://www.politicalresearch.org/2019/02/20/racism-in-anti-trans-feminist-activism
"In fact, Beck had found a welcoming political home for her testimony on Thursday, as she had when she spoke to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in February and at the Heritage Foundation in January." https://rewire.news/article/2019/03/08/house-republicans-hide-behind-lesbian-radical-feminist-to-push-anti-trans-agenda/
"“If the act passes in its current form as HR 5, then every right that women have fought for will cease to exist. HR 5 is a human rights violation,” said Julia Beck." https://rewire.news/article/2019/04/03/house-republicans-deploy-conspiracy-theories-to-attack-lgbtq-legal-protections/
"The seeming obsession with trans students’ access to the correct bathrooms and locker rooms is mirrored in what trans writer @ParkerMolloy described as the cognitive bias behind anti-trans advocacy surrounding access to sports." https://rewire.news/article/2019/05/31/supreme-court-anti-transgender-fearmongering/
"All stories of gender identity are valid, as are all journeys, including the stories of people whose gender identities may fluctuate over time, as perhaps Duncan’s has." https://rewire.news/religion-dispatches/2019/10/17/anti-transgender-panel-at-values-voter-summit-continues-shift-towards-storytelling-as-tactic/
"Partnering with and platforming members of one marginalized group for the express purpose of throwing another group under the bus is a tried-and-true tactic of the Right. And white feminists have always been willing to accept that platform." https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/hillary-clinton-half-assing-transgender-support
The above work has culminated in my analysis of the past three years of anti-trans feminist activism and advocacy in the United States. http://www.politicalresearch.org/2020/07/14/room-their-own-how-anti-trans-feminists-are-complicit-christian-right-anti-trans
"In short, anti-trans feminist advocacy is not effective by itself. But as a part of the larger network of anti-trans organizations and thought leaders, anti-trans feminism provides important support." http://www.politicalresearch.org/2020/07/14/room-their-own-how-anti-trans-feminists-are-complicit-christian-right-anti-trans
I hope that I have have been part of the movement to STOP CALLING TERFs "confusing" and their partnerships with the Right "surprising" and "unlikely" and "unholy."
The Right will always platform spokespeople who are willing to throw their community under the bus. No mystery.
The Right will always platform spokespeople who are willing to throw their community under the bus. No mystery.
I'm going to take a step back from writing about anti-trans feminists, since it appears that mainstream media has a greater understanding of the role that anti-trans feminists play in greater anti-LGBT advocacy and activism.
I will still be monitoring anti-trans feminists and their connections and providing as MUCH support to folks in the UK as humanly possible.
I will also be providing a few more trainings to feminist and women's orgs as requested.
I will also be providing a few more trainings to feminist and women's orgs as requested.
And what am I moving on to?
Well, I've been monitoring gender critical conversion therapists for a minute now (thank you @TeenVogue!!)
I will continue to watch and write about the orgs and networks platforming gender crit conversion therapy. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/gender-critical-support-board-trans-youth
Well, I've been monitoring gender critical conversion therapists for a minute now (thank you @TeenVogue!!)
I will continue to watch and write about the orgs and networks platforming gender crit conversion therapy. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/gender-critical-support-board-trans-youth
Annnnnnddddd????
I'M GONNA BE MONITORING AND WRITING ABOUT ANTI-SEX WORK FEMINISM Y'ALL!!!!!!
SWERFs watch out.
(I know the networks are tightly related to TERF networks. And there are also a much larger proportion of mainstream feminist anti-sex work groups in the U.S.)
I'M GONNA BE MONITORING AND WRITING ABOUT ANTI-SEX WORK FEMINISM Y'ALL!!!!!!
SWERFs watch out.
(I know the networks are tightly related to TERF networks. And there are also a much larger proportion of mainstream feminist anti-sex work groups in the U.S.)
So, follow me! Share my work!
If you have any thoughts on SWERFs to watch, hmu in my DMs and I can give you my # so we can talk confidentially if you like.
Likewise for gender crit conversion therapists!
If you have any thoughts on SWERFs to watch, hmu in my DMs and I can give you my # so we can talk confidentially if you like.
Likewise for gender crit conversion therapists!
Niiiiiiiiiice
