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.

‘At any age’: Trump doesn’t want trans people
How Trump will oppress trans people if reelected in 2024. Trump’s influence on the GOP continues to have nightmarish effects for trans and queer people. If he is given power again, we know exactly what he’ll do.

Right wing lies about trans suicide
Steven Crowder makes up numbers and unfortunately is on Twitter. A former coworker actively fantasizes that my 21st-century transgender life is more miserable than if I were in a concentration camp.

2 times a trans man’s opinion was dismissed just because he’s trans
One happened to me. One happened to a more prominent trans person. Sure, these are “just” anonymous online comments. But they aim to delegitimize. Try to imagine the ripple effects into the rest of a trans man’s life.

I’m a gender autonomist
The term ‘gender activist’ is used to point at trans people living with dignity and solidarity, capable of saying ‘no thank you’ and daring to shrug at and disagree with someone who doesn’t like them just because they’re trans. ‘Activist’ is used as an insult for someone who believes in autonomy.

Cricket’s Still Alive (a poem)
Out of the gravel pit, up into the light. A poem after Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’. About Kristi Noem and the young dog she brags of shooting. Beautiful trans child, goddamn untrainable dog.

What’s in the 2023 Florida bill about gender transition
The bill is called ‘Treatments for Sex Reassignment’ (SB 254). Stigma and silencing is the real purpose of Don’t Say Gay. Restricting gender transition is another way of making it difficult for certain people to thrive.