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‘Radical gender theory’ is itself a social construct

Christopher Rufo's website has a section called "A Parent's Guide to Radical Gender Theory," offering a pamphlet for download.

The people who’re making it up do not have good intentions. This isn’t a serious intellectual project. There’s no scholarly substance. Chris Rufo just wants to organize the right-wing to make noise and hurt LGBTQ people.

Anti-trans bills encourage far-right violence

The letters TRUM- backwards on a teal flag, in front of a USAmerican flag

That may be the intent. It sure looks like the outcome. The far-right wants the support of the center. The center has anti-transgender legislative campaigns. The far-right perpetrates anti-transgender violence.

Why is the far-right ever more intensely anti-trans?

One yellow cube amidst many blue cubes

Because they’re bored by finally winning against abortion rights. Fascists oppose trans people because they find difference threatening. Being anti-trans is fundamental to their politics, and it predicts what comes next.

How the far-right comes for trans people

Police unrolling yellow tape in front of a crowd holding Trump/Pence and USA flags

Violent far-right U.S. groups are ‘hugely and deeply’ anti-transgender. Anti-transgender rhetoric isn’t “just asking questions!” or curiosity or nuance. It is hateful; it is organized; it foments organized violence.

Baldness isn’t just physical

A bearded man wears a button-down shirt with floral embroidery. He's playing a banjo and is wearing a large hat, so you can't tell if he's bald.

It’s also performative. Labels describe how we live. Even when they describe reality, they’re about perceptions and performances. How we live interprets who we are.

A philosopher discusses gender

Transgressive - detail from the book cover

Transgressive by Rachel Anne Williams. Fabulous trans philosophy book. Trans people can be men, women, or something else, and no one should be subject to cis normativity.

How do we know who we are?

Crystal ball balancing on a rock near a bridge with an upside-down reflection of the bridge

Do we learn it from a crystal ball—or from our guts? How do others state with certainty that they know who they are? Do they have a crystal ball? Of course, we’re jealous. How can we know ourselves, too?

Do we choose to be who we are?

Monarch caterpillar clings to a leaf

And what, by the way, is choice? If you can’t snap your fingers to change, how do you change? What do we ask people to do when we ask them to change? Why should anyone change?

Green birds are birds

Two Asian green bee-eaters. The underside of the wing is rust orange. The breast is vibrant green.

I point this out because you asked. Look at these bird friends. Both are green. They’re both birds! Neither is confused. Neither is upset. And your mind will really be blown when you realize—