Lierre Keith is an American environmentalist and author. Keith is a founder of environmental organization Deep Green Resistance, a radical feminist group that has been criticized for anti-transgender views.
Background
Keith was born in 1964 and went to high school in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the 1980s Keith was involved in a number of feminist projects, including Vanessa and Iris: A Journal for Young Feminists, the journal Rain and Thunder, the groups Women Against Violence Against Women, Minor Disturbance, Feminists Against Pornography.
Keith’s environmental activism includes the 2009 book The Vegetarian Myth and the 2011 book Deep Green Resistance, co-authored with Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay. McBay left in 2012, citing increasing anti-trans views of the other co-founders.
Anti-trans activism
Keith helped found the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF). WoLF was founded in 2013, incorporated in 2016, and earned non-profit status in 2018. They have held meetings called WoLF Fest since 2016 that largely consist of anti-transgender networking and presentations.
In a sympathetic 2014 piece by Michelle Goldberg titled “What Is a Woman?” Keith explained:
Trans women say that they are women because they feel femaleâthat, as some put it, they have womenâs brains in menâs bodies. Radical feminists reject the notion of a âfemale brain.â They believe that if women think and act differently from men itâs because society forces them to, requiring them to be sexually attractive, nurturing, and deferential. In the words of Lierre Keith, a speaker at Radfems Respond, femininity is âritualized submission.â
[…]
Three years ago, she co-founded the ecofeminist group Deep Green Resistance, which has some two hundred members and links the oppression of women to the pillaging of the planet.D.G.R. is defiantly militant, refusing to condemn the use of violence in the service of goals it considers just. In radical circles, though, what makes the group truly controversial is its stance on gender. As members see it, a person born with male privilege can no more shed it through surgery than a white person can claim an African-American identity simply by darkening his or her skin. Before D.G.R. held its first conference, in 2011, in Wisconsin, the group informed a person in the process of a male-to-female transition that she couldnât stay in the womenâs quarters. âWe said, Thatâs fine if you want to come, but, no, youâre not going to have access to the womenâs sleeping spaces and the womenâs bathrooms,â Keith told me.
References
McBay, Aric (May 14, 2013). DGR and Transphobia. http://www.aricmcbay.org/2013/05/14/dgr-and-transphobia/
Derrick Jensen is an American environmentalist and author. Jensen is a founder of environmental organization Deep Green Resistance, a radical feminist group that has been criticized for anti-transgender views.
Background
Jensen was born on December 19, 1960. Jensen earned a bachelor’s degree from Colorado School of Mines in 1983 and a master’s degree from Eastern Washington University in 1991.
In 2011, Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay founded Deep Green Resistance. McBay left due to the organization’s positions on transgender people.
Anti-transgender views
Jensen’s concerns center around postmodernism and queer theory. Jensen believes these theories are attempts to justify nonconsensual sex with minors. Jensen also claims any dissent from acceptable views will lead to cancelation:
This is the cult-like behavior of the postmodern left: if you disagree with any of the Holy Commandments of postmodernism/queer theory/transgender ideology, you must be silenced on not only that but on every other subject. Welcome to the death of discourse, brought to you by the postmodern left.
Jensen has laid out these anti-trans views in a number of essays and posts:
The Emperor’s New Penis
Liberals and the New McCarthyism
Letter to a Publisher: On the Destruction of Discourse and the Cult of the Postmodern Left
Derrick Jensen Resistance Radio
Jensen is host of a show that has included many environmentalists, some trans-inclusive feminists, and anti-transgender activists:
Houlberg, Laura (2017). “The End of Gender or Deep Green Transmisogyny?”. Routledge Handbook of Gender and Environment. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-88657-2.
Pellow, David Naguib (2019). Eco-Defence, Radical Environmentalism and Environmental Justice. Routledge Handbook of Radical Politics. Routledge. p. 112. ISBN 9781315619880.
Stephanie Davies-Arai is a British anti-transgender activist. Davies-Arai is director of Transgender Trend, a clinical advisor to anti-trans hate group Genspect, and has been involved in numerous anti-trans campaigns in the UK and beyond.
Background
According to Lily Maynard:
Stephanie & her twin sister Helen were born in Chester in the late 50s, hot on the heels of their older sister Gill. Their father was a bank manager and their mother a housewife and librarian, who managed and reorganised information systems for the Leicester police after their move to a small market town when the twins were seven.
Davies-Arai wrote: “I am a heterosexual woman who lived most of my childhood wanting to be a boy; for a few years my sister and I would answer to nothing except our ârealâ names: Bill and Mike. I entered puberty kicking and screaming.” The twins dressed as schoolboys and engaged in “tomboy” activities until age 12. At puberty Davies-Arai reportedly became bulimic.
Davies-Arai trained as a sculptor after attending Wyggeston Grammar School for Girls in Leicester. Davies-Arai earned a bachelor’s degree from Gwent College of Higher Education in 1979, took courses at St. Martins College, and earned a master’s degree from Bidai University of Art & Design in 1990. While there, Davies-Arai gave birth to the first of four children. Davies-Arai’s sculptures began to be primarily about pregnancy and motherhood.
Davies-Arai and spouse moved back to England. Davies-Arai’s oldest child had behavioral problems. In 2000, Davies-Arai was a founder of Lewes New School, a small private school in East Sussex where that child might get specialized attention. Davies-Arai became a certified educational trainer in 2003.
Materials on how to deal with troubled children led to Davies-Arai’s “parental rights” activism:
âIt was too child-centred. It kind of treated children as victims in a way, as if they always had a problem. It didnât seem to give permission for parental authority.â
In 2008 Davies-Arai and spouse divorced. Davies-Arai began the training course Communicating with Kids, which was later developed into a 2014 book.
Anti-trans activism
As the four children reached adulthood, Davies-Arai was writing a weekly parenting blog.
Davies-Arai founded Transgender Trend in 2015 after being outraged by an article titled “Parenting a Transgender Child” by Sarah Virginia White. Davies said:
Youâre validating a childâs false belief. You wouldnât get that in any other area, in any parenting book. Itâs not healthy when listening to your child becomes so key that it becomes âyou must agree with your childâ. If you believe that your child knows best, youâre then supposed to follow the child. The child becomes the adult and the adult becomes the child.â
After getting more and more into the transphobic “parental rights” movement, Davies-Arai produced an anti-trans schools guide “Supporting gender diverse and trans-identified students in schools” in 2018.
After Liz Truss announced plans to change the UK’s Gender Recognition Act in 2020, an open letter signed by about 8,000 cisgender women said “we are incredibly concerned that the language you have used is very similar to the anti-trans rhetoric used by transphobic hate groups and organisations such as Womanâs Place UK, Transgender Trend and the LGB Alliance.”
In 2022, Davies-Arai was awarded the British Empire Medal by Queen Elizabeth II.
Davis, Lisa Selin (June 13, 2022). From Tomboy to Transgender Trend. https://lisaselindavis.substack.com/p/from-tomboy-to-transgender-trend
White, Sarah Virginia (February 20, 2015). Parenting a Transgender Child. HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/parenting-a-transgender-child_b_6709858
Davies-Arai, Stephanie (2015). Is My Child Transgender? https://stephaniedaviesarai.com/is-my-child-transgender/
Kat Rosenfield is an American writer and “dissident feminist” whose work frequently appears in conservative outlets.
Background
Rosenfield earned a bachelor’s degree from Drew University in 2003. Rosenfield worked in marketing and publicity before becoming a reporter at MTV in 2010. Rosenfield has done freelance work in pop culture.
Rosenfield is an advice columnist at anti-trans publication UnHerd and co-host of the Feminine Chaos podcast with Phoebe Maltz Bovy.
Like many trans-suspicious writers, Rosenfield claims to be part of a left-wing but “heterodox” movement standing up against cancel culture to speak the truth.
Thereâs a loose but growing coalition of lefties out there, artists and writers and academics and professionals, whoâve drawn sympathetic attention from conservatives after being publicly shamed out of the progressive clubhouse (that is, by the type of progressive who thinks there is a clubhouse, which is of course part of the problem). Itâs remarkably easy these days to be named an apostate on the left. Maybe you were critical of the looting and rioting that devastated cities in the wake of George Floydâs murder by police in 2020. Maybe you were skeptical of this or that viral outrage: Covington Catholic, or Jussie Smollett, or the alleged racial abuse at a BYU volleyball game that neither eyewitness testimony nor video evidence could corroborate. Maybe you were too loud about the continued need for due process in the middle of #MeToo. Maybe you wouldnât stop asking uncomfortable questions about the proven value of certain divisive brands of diversity training, or transgender surgeries for kids, or â come the pandemic â masking. Maybe you kept defending the right to free speech and creative expression after these things had been deemed âright-wing valuesâ by your fellow liberals.
When Bari Weiss and team went after a Missouri children’s hospital and its gender clinic with some questionably obtained medical records of children and adolescents, Rosenfield sided with the unsupportive parents:
Zooming out for a moment here, seems both unsurprising and weâll-articulated by the original piece that the child who wants [life-altering medical procedure] against a parentâs wishes is going to have a different perspective on said topic than the parent https://t.co/3leYalr6SV
In a piece on author and anti-trans activist JK Rowling, Rosenfield makes the oft-used false equivalence of Christians protesting Rowling’s occult themes and trans people and their supporters protesting Rowling’s vocal support of anti-transgender activists:
In the 15 years since Harry Potter made his final stand against Voldemort, the angst directed at Rowling has evolved from nebulous fears of neo-paganism into a far more sustained and focused rage over her perceived transphobia. But when it comes to the shape the anger takes, very little has changed. Rowlingâs haters canât stop her from writing, and they canât stop people from reading her writing â but by god, theyâll do what they can to make sure those people donât enjoy it.
This framing was later used by Megan Phelps-Roper in “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling,” a podcast apologia produced by Bari Weiss.
References
Rosenfield, Kat (August 9, 2021). How cancel culture hurts the Left.UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/08/how-the-left-will-lose-the-culture-wars/
Rosenfield, Kat (October 27, 2022). Why I keep getting mistaken for a conservative.National Review https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2022/11/07/why-i-keep-getting-mistaken-for-a-conservative/
Rosenfield, Kat (September 2, 2022). JK Rowling sees through her enemies.unHerd https://unherd.com/2022/09/j-k-rowling-sees-through-her-enemies/
Rosenfield, Kat (September 10, 2020). How Do I Stop Being a TERF?Persuasion https://www.persuasion.community/p/how-do-i-stop-being-a-terf
Gad Saad is a Lebanese-Canadian marketing professor and anti-transgender activist involved in the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right.
Background
Gad Saad was born October 13, 1964 in Lebanon. Saad’s Jewish family fled during the civil war in 1975 and moved to Montreal.
Saad attended McGill University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1988 and a master’s degree in 1990. Saad then attended Cornell University, earning another master’s degree in 1993 and a doctorate in 1994.
Saad teaches marketing at Concordia University and is known for promoting evolutionary psychology. Saad has authored several books and articles and writes a blog on Psychology Today. Saad’s YouTube channel and podcast are titled The Saad Truth.
Anti-transgender activism
When psychologist Jordan Peterson refused to use gender-neutral pronouns for transgender people, Saad invited Peterson on The Saad Truth. The episode was extremely popular and started Saad on an anti-trans crusade.
Saad has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience many times, often discussing Saad’s trolling and provocations about gender identity and expression.
Laroche, Michel; Saad, Gad; Cleveland, Mark; Browne, Elizabeth (2000). “Gender Differences in Information Search Strategies for a Christmas Gift”. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 17 (6): 500â522. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760010349920.
Raquel Rosario SĂĄnchez is an anti-transgender activist involved in anti-trans group Woman’s Place UK.
Background
Raquel M. Rosario Sanchez is from the Dominican Republic. Rosario Sanchez has published work in Meghan Murphy’sFeminist Current, The Critic, and Quillette.
2018 University of Bristol incident
Rosario Sanchez began a PhD course at the University of Bristol in January 2018 with a focus on online communities for men who pay for sex. Itb is part of Rosario Sanchez’s work ending violence against girls and women.Â
In November 2017 Woman’s Place UK asked Rosario Sanchez to chair its upcoming meeting in Bristol, scheduled for 8 February 2018. During protests, Rosario Sanchez claimed that the university had failed to protect them from a “hate campaign” over the event.
Uwe Steinhoff is an academic and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Steinhoff earned a degree in philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt. After graduation Steinhoff travelled for nine months in Central America. Steinhoff earned a doctorate in WĂŒrzburg. Steinhoff has held roles at Humboldt-University Berlin and Oxford University.
Steinhoff teaches in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong.
References
Steinhoff, Uwe (June 11, 2022). The Transgender Craze and the Babble about âSelf-Identifying as a Womanâ: Why Men Who Think Theyâre Women Are Psychotic and the Politicians Humoring Them Are Opportunistic https://uwesteinhoff.com/2022/06/11/the-transgender-craze-and-the-babble-about-self-identifying-as-a-woman-why-men-who-think-theyre-women-are-psychotic-and-the-politicians-humoring-them-are-opportunistic/
Steinhoff, Uwe (20 Jul 2022) Gender Ideology Comes to Germany. Quillette https://quillette.com/2022/07/20/gender-ideology-comes-to-germany/
Allan Stratton is a Canadian playwright and novelist. Stratton has been critical of several aspects of the trans rights movement.
Background
Stratton was born in 1951 in Stratford, Ontario. Stratton attended University of Toronto, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1973 and a master’s degree in 1974.
Beginning in 1977, Stratton has written several plays and novels. Stratton’s 2017 novel The Way Back Home features a transgender character named Zoe Bird.
Stratton is gay and married.
References
Stratton, Allan (August 29, 2022). A call for nuance and clarity on trans terminology. The Line https://theline.substack.com/p/allan-stratton-a-call-for-nuance
Stratton, Allan (22 June 2021 ). The ‘Gender Supremacist’ Threat to the Progressive Alliance: Part One of a Three-Part Series https://quillette.com/2021/06/22/the-gender-supremacist-threat-to-the-progressive-alliance-part-one-of-a-three-part-series/
Stratton, Allan (27 Jul 2021). Rescuing the Radicalized Discourse on Sex and Gender: Part Two of a Three-Part Series https://quillette.com/2021/07/27/rescuing-the-radicalized-discourse-on-sex-and-gender-part-two-of-a-three-part-series/
Stratton, Allan (21 Sep 2021). The Progressive Case for Renouncing Gender Extremism: Last of a Three-Part Series https://quillette.com/2021/09/21/the-progressive-case-for-renouncing-gender-extremism-last-of-a-three-part-series/
Stratton, Allan (April 29, 2022). If You Care About Trans Rights, Donât Let Predators Pick Their Pronouns https://quillette.com/2022/04/29/predators-dont-get-to-pick-their-pronouns/
Stratton, Allan (June 16, 2022). Ricky Gervais Knows No Fear https://quillette.com/2022/06/16/ricky-gervais-knows-no-fear/
Stratton, Allan (3 Aug 2022). Dave Chappelle vs. the New Puritans. https://quillette.com/2022/08/03/dave-chappelle-vs-the-new-puritans/
Cathy Young is a writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Yekaterina Jung was born on February 10, 1963 in Russia to Marina (born 1936) and Alexander Jung (1935â2011). Young’s family moved to the United States in 1980. Young became a naturalized US citizen in 1987 as Catherine Alicia Young and earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 1988.
Young is a writer at The Bulwark, a cultural studies fellow at the Cato Institute, a columnist for Newsday, and a contributing editor to Reason.
Young has authored two books.
References
Young, Cathy (October 5, 2023). Toxic culture on the right or left is wrong.Newsday https://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/cathy-young/culture-wars-transphobia-lgbt-gender-transgender-anthropology-i0un1yec
Young, Cathy (February 16, 2023). Transgender rights is a complex topic.Newsday https://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/cathy-young/transgender-rights-glaad-i0un1yec
Young, Cathy (June 21, 2022). Transgender rights require a more civil debate.Newsday https://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/cathy-young/transgender-rights-athletes-lia-thomas-swimming-i0un1yec
Sabine Hossenfelder was born September 18, 1976 in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. Hossenfelder attended Goethe University Frankfurt, earning an undergraduate degree in mathematics in 1997 and a doctorate in physics in 2004. Hossenfelder has researched and taught at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, University of Arizona, University of California, the Perimeter Institute, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Sweden, and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies.
Hossenfelder began working as a popular science writer in 2006. Hossenfelder’s first Youtube video was in 2011.
Hossenfelder married Stefan Scherer in 2006. They have twins born in 2010.
Views on trans and gender diverse people
Hossenfelder views trans youth as a scientific debate rather than a debate about science and its historic misuses.
Hossenfelder uncritically uses many disease models created by behavior scientists to describe sex and gender minorities. Diseases were once widely accepted among scientists to describe gay and lesbian people, until they were forced to stop by activists. It is still socially acceptable among people like Hossenfelder to describe trans, intersex, and gender diverse people using disorders, diseases, and metaphors of impairment and disability.
Among the contested diseases and terms Hossenfelder uses are:
comorbidities: trans people have other mental disorders
gender affirming care
“trapped in the wrong body”
“cutting off parts of the anatomy”
“some people are making a lot of money with this”
discusses puberty blockers risks, no discussion of benefits
“there are at present no high-quality studies that conclusively demonstrate these treatments are beneficial”
the shift in gender ratio among trans youth
“we don’t understand the long-term consequences”
YouTube
Videos include clickbait “just asking questions” titles:
“Trans athletes in women’s sports: Is this fair?” (2022)
This video looks at the field of sex science the way others use sports to make claims about race science. It does at least step back and take a big-picture look. Hossenfelder and I both believe that there is no long-term future for sex-segregated competitive sports.
“Is being trans a social fad among teenagers?” (2023)
This video is too caught up in a lot of unscientific assumptions about trans people being disordered and diseased.