Blog
Three books that tell us to smash our categories
Recommended nonfiction by Miller, Fox, and Waters. Nonfiction recommendations: A 2020 book about David Starr Jordan, a 2023 book about William Beebe, and a 2024 book about Avery Brundage.
The indispensable history of ‘sex testing’ in sports
Waters keeps the book focused on the 1930s, with the history told in such a way that it’s crystal clear how it’s relevant today. The moral panic over trans people in sports continues not to be about sports.
As Berlin held the 1936 Olympics, these athletes changed their sex
Assigned female at birth, some went on to live as men. Eugenicists, sexists, racists, and fascists held power. Possibilities were disrupted when the Nazis rose. And the 1936 Olympics belonged to Hitler.
Choosing what you won’t regret
Ask ‘Will I regret not taking this step?’ and feel confident you’re making the best choice for yourself.
The false narrative of regrettable transness
One function of ‘regret’ in anti-trans narrative. It’s the ‘good queer’/’bad queer’ distinction. The scapegoater projects; do they accept their own queerness? The idea of trans people is a scapegoat.
Why transphobia teaches us to be terrified of regret
What if you start to change your gender and regret it? Modern transphobia is a fascist cult. It is related to the destruction of the planet. Both kinds of oppression are related to the concept of Regret.
In myth, the extra-binary thing explains everything
‘Fabulous monsters’ are boundary-crossers that reconcile opposites. Trans people right now are the bridge fascists stomp on with their boots. Fascists need the bridge and also like to complain about it while stomping.
Everything is subjective and contains its opposite
This is not a reason to reject trans people and their language. They’re using shared language in an off-center way because the shared language doesn’t center them . Not their fault. Should they reinvent language?
Transphobia speaks in the voice of surveillance capitalism
It believes it knows, and can shape, who we are and what we’ll do. Surveillance capitalists believe in determinism, not free will. Transphobes, taking their cue, reject the gender freedom by which some of us are trans.