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So a shocking number of you like me reading you b̶e̶d̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶r̶i̶e̶s̶ social and political theory, nice. https://twitter.com/Chican3ry/status/1294409843420401664
And if I'm not reading Christian right anti trans hate texts, I'll be live tweeting Classic Writings in Anarchist Criminology next https://twitter.com/Chican3ry/status/1294412102485053440?s=19
Which anti trans hate text?
How about this one which has an almost identical weird graphic to that one that went around Mumsnet fit a while.
How about this one which has an almost identical weird graphic to that one that went around Mumsnet fit a while.
This was published in 2018 and several of the authors are connected with both the Gender Critical scene *and* the explicitly open about it Conversion Therapy circuit (they call it "reparative therapy for unwanted same sex attraction or gender confusion")
As the trans community have noted for a really long time, the actual religious fundamentalists working away at fucking up trans rights stuff are also very clear about wanting to fuck up LGB stuff too.
I'm pretty sure @katebornstein already did the Transgender Agenda back in the 90s, these wacky Christians are so behind the times https://twitter.com/thattransjew1/status/1294776289715523586
So interestingly, this book is the product of a Christian right conference that came about around the same year GC feminists (as shown in my research here https://freedomnews.org.uk/gender-ideology-up-yours/) started adopting/sharing Christian right propaganda and memes.
You'll also note the far-right antisemitic conspiracy jargon "Cultural Marxism" in there, at the time popularised by JBPeepers, but also in the Breivik manifesto and numerous other places neo fascists gather.
The preface goes on to describe in panicked tones the refusal of public face of the church to Get Political, and preaches despair that "the [presumably sex and gender] revolution is becoming the 'New Normal'"
The preface adopts a sort of militant missionary vanguard tone, posing Christian reactionaries as "a few pioneers".
"But our children's welfare, present and future is at stake. There is too much to lose."
"But our children's welfare, present and future is at stake. There is too much to lose."
"transgender rights, which arguably pose an even greater threat than the imposition of lesbian, gay and bisexual rights across society"
Christ these melts.
Christ these melts.
They lay out named people and legal support organisations that readers can get in touch with in order to fight against LGBT rights in your local area and point to some success stories around the Isle of Wight, as well as suggesting engaging your local church to help with pressure
Just in case you're not convinced of the far right nature of this text, this is a screenshot from one of the orgs recommended, first two articles 1) strong anti trans stuff, 2) celebrating anti BLM extremists.
And the preface ends with an Ayn Rand quote. Perfect.
I swear this shit is so incredibly goofy, I can't even rinse it
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
This chapter is quite interesting as a scholar of the crossover between GC shit and the antilgbt Christians because it covers a lot of the "Christian Anthropology" (ie, how God created humanity to procreate, as a complementary pair of sexes, but also this is nature).
People may or may not be aware that this unity in far right Christianity between biological reality and Christian claims about the genesis of human life is actually a very long standing rhetorical trick which enables them to talk in secular terms with feminists who don't notice.
The book makes no apologies for making the case that human beings were created to get married and have babies and that's it. Obviously transgender life is a significant threat to this worldview as much or moreso than being LGB
They also argue just as clearly that the special individual soul is created at conception (making Abortion a matter of murder rather than simply the prevention of development of foetal tissues).
It then goes into an *extremely* literal and convoluted theological investigation of "born in the wrong body" claims regarding how a person's soul could be so carelessly misplaced during conception. This has the good stuff!!
"Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that souls are created male or female... The purpose of the male and female body is for sexual reproduction, something that souls being immaterial can not do"
Jesus fucking Christ.
Jesus fucking Christ.
What I hope is becoming clear is that actually there's quite a lot of work going on here to bring this theology into line with Gender Crit dogma:
* Sex is real, gender is fake
* No such thing as a male/female soul
* The whole point of physical sex is reproduction, no other.
* Sex is real, gender is fake
* No such thing as a male/female soul
* The whole point of physical sex is reproduction, no other.
All the meanwhile this entire dogma is deeply, some cynical individuals might say quackily, theocratic and built around reinforcing patriarchal sex roles as the church prefers
(This is far from the first time I've mentioned this is at the root of the GC takeover from the right)
(This is far from the first time I've mentioned this is at the root of the GC takeover from the right)
Janice Raymond klaxon!
Already by page 18
Don't let anyone tell you the far right doesn't read TERF texts.
Already by page 18
Don't let anyone tell you the far right doesn't read TERF texts.
So the author then goes on to start discussing an alternative theory of Gender Dysphoria - that babies can sense in the womb that their parents wanted another gender and ultimately end up trying to conform to this somehow.
The other etiologies they propose include things like maternal abortion grief (resulting in a child attempting to change sex to match the foetus!) as well as child sexual abuse and the internet/television normalising trans kids and porn.
We then have a detour onto Transgenderism as a form of "Gnostic heresy" and a description of the transgender priestesses (gallae) of the cult of Cybele. This is why I read hate texts, I guess.
I think whereas when trans folks normally cite the Gallae as a proof we existed through time, the wacky Christian extremists writing this book are similarly trying to paint a picture of an epic foe of Christianity which rivaled the early church and was once defeated.
They even try to extremely tenuously lay the persecution of Christians by Nero at the feet of The Trans Cult.
I guess this adds to some mocked up sense they're trying to produce that somehow the LGBT movement is going to manifest anti Christian pogroms somehow.
I guess this adds to some mocked up sense they're trying to produce that somehow the LGBT movement is going to manifest anti Christian pogroms somehow.
We then get a lengthy ramble about the connections between transgenderism and mental illness, focusing heavily on experiencing alternate realities, schizophrenia, etc, before a discussion on how Transgender ideology pushes an unreasonably sharp distinction between sex and gender.
The next passage covers a range of survey data on British people's attitudes to transgender topics which reads like market research, I guess helping inform evangelists what things to prioritise when being secular people on board with anti trans campaigns.
DrAz Hakeem is listed as a shrink who's been shouted down by transgender activists and therefore may be useful to follow I guess.
They also cite Colette Chiland (allegedly France's equivalent to Ray Blanchard in terms of unpopular gender shrinks).
They also cite Colette Chiland (allegedly France's equivalent to Ray Blanchard in terms of unpopular gender shrinks).
The notes and bibliography for chapter one are as fascinating as the chapter itself
- Janice Raymond
- sexnotgender dot com
- claims that transgenderism is the result of a fetish
- Kenneth Zucker
- Jordan B Peepers
- Janice Raymond
- sexnotgender dot com
- claims that transgenderism is the result of a fetish
- Kenneth Zucker
- Jordan B Peepers
I think my overall impression of the first chapter is one of both slightly vanguardist bravado but also raising a lot of alarm about the fact that the tide was observed to be turning in popular culture towards transgender acceptance at the time, so very "urgent let's stop this".
I'll just quickly skip to the author biographies section because this is kinda tidy:
This guy co wrote the book against same sex parenting with @bindelj's collaborator Jennifer Lahl!
It's such a small world!
Just to be 100% clear this is a far right anti LGBTQ book.
This guy co wrote the book against same sex parenting with @bindelj's collaborator Jennifer Lahl!
It's such a small world!
Just to be 100% clear this is a far right anti LGBTQ book.
I'll carry on with chapter two tomorrow: Gender Dysphoria.
This is the playlist of conference talks that this book was launched from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCUHpFg0EbNENHRTzqHMYi4i4TcV6jh7X
Hi folks, returning to live tweeting my read through this Christian far right book on the Transgender Agenda. But first I should explain why:
There is a *huge* amount of coverage of TERF stuff already. People make not the slightest hesitation about hate reading and moving TERFs.
There is a *huge* amount of coverage of TERF stuff already. People make not the slightest hesitation about hate reading and moving TERFs.
As someone who has live tweeted the entirety of Janice Raymond's transsexual empire, I'm not entirely against this, but given the danger our community is in from a conservative, anti woman, anti human rights government, I hope I can encourage people to take more interest in..
..players beyond our scuffles inside of the broadly "left"/"feminist" arena which is not even dominant politically in the UK right now.
Our tendencies towards in fighting mean we're ignoring a much better class of adversary during the culture wars here, and I think to some extent engaging in conflict with anti trans Feminisms while necessary is less of a priority right now than the resurgent religious nationalism
..which has characterised the most powerful bulk of the wave of regression passing across Europe, parts of Africa, and the Americas.
