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Bill Maher is an American comedian and anti-transgender activist.

Background

William “Bill” Maher was born on January 20, 1956 in New York City. Maher earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1978 and began a comedy career in 1979.

Maher hosted the panel show Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher on Comedy Central from 1993 to 1997 and on ABC from 1997 to 2002. In 2003 Maher began hosting the weekly show Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO.

Maher has platformed many anti-trans figures over the course of the HBO show, including:

  • Steve Bannon
  • Roseanne Barr
  • Andrew Breitbart
  • Pat Buchanan
  • Vivek Ramaswamy
  • Ralph Reed *
  • Hanna Rosin
  • Dave Rubin
  • Chloe Valdary

Key:

  • [no asterisk] >5 appearances
  • * = 5+ appearances
  • ** = 10+ appearances
  • *** = 15+ appearances
  • **** = 20+ appearances

Maher has had a far smaller number of trans-supportive guests. Maher has had trans guests, including:

  • Janet Mock
  • Eddie Izzard
  • Elliot Page
  • Chaz Bono

References

GLAAD (May 21, 2022). GLAAD Responds to ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ Segment ‘Along for the Pride.’ https://glaad.org/glaad-responds-real-time-bill-maher-segment-along-pride-1/

Tapper, Jake (March 1, 2023). Maher: ‘Woke’ community wants to ‘shut down debate’ around transgender issues. CNN https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2023/03/01/bill-maher-transgender-community-debate-tapper-intv-sot-vpx.cnn

Joseph A. Wulfsohn (January 21, 2023). Bill Maher says Biden admin ‘all-in’ on trans indoctrination of kids https://nypost.com/2023/01/21/bill-maher-biden-all-in-on-trans-indoctrination-of-kids/

Gabriel Hays (September 4, 2023) Bill Maher tells Joe Rogan gender surgeries are harmful, claims kids turn trans to say ‘f— you’ to parents. Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-maher-tells-joe-rogan-gender-surgeries-harmful-claims-kids-turn-trans-say-f-you-parents

Molly Jong-Fast (May 26, 2022). Bill Maher Isn’t a Liberal Anymore. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/05/bill-maher-anti-lgbtq-transgender-comments/676673/

Bill Maher takes on Trans kids in sports, gender affirming surgery in debate with Neil Degrasse Tyson. The Hill https://thehill.com/video/bill-maher-takes-on-trans-kids-in-sports-gender-affirming-surgery-in-debate-with-neil-degrasse-tyson/9151163/

(August 6, 2023). Bill Maher interviews Riley Gaines to discuss the Transgender movement in sports, including penis sizes. Marca https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/tv-shows/2023/08/06/64ceeb79e2704e1ea48b460f.html

Vakil, Caroline (May 21, 2022). Maher says increase in those identifying as LGBT partly attributed to being ‘trendy’. The Hill

Wakefield, Lily (May 21, 2022). Bill Maher says US is ‘experimenting on kids’ and ‘everyone will be gay by 2054’. PinkNews

GLAAD (April 19, 2021). Medical Association Statements Supporting Trans Youth Healthcare and Against Discriminatory Bills. https://www.glaad.org/blog/medical-association-statements-supporting-trans-youth-healthcare-and-against-discriminatory

Media

Maher, Bill (May 20, 2022). New Rule: Along for the Pride. Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMBzfUj5zsg

Resources

Bill Maher (billmaher.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Tumblr (tumblr.com)

YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/CrazyStupidPolitics)

  • https://www.youtube.com/user/CrazyStupidPolitics

StumbleUpon (https://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/billmaher

  • https://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/billmaher)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

(https://www.hbo.com/billmaher)

  • https://www.hbo.com/billmaher

Helen Pluckrose is a British writer and anti-transgender activist. Pluckrose was editor of anti-trans group blog Areo magazine from 2018 to 2021.

Pluckrose is critical of postmodernism and cultural constructivism. While claiming to take a centrist position that is generally trans-supportive, Pluckrose has espoused many anti-transgender views.

Background

Pluckrose was born in August 1974. Pluckrose earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of East London and a master’s degree from Queen Mary University of London.

Pluckrose was a social care worker from age 17 to 34.

In 2017 Pluckrose, Peter Boghossian, and James A. Lindsay carried out the “grievance studies” affair, where they submitted 20 hoax papers to academic journals in hopes of getting them published. One recommended that people challenge their transphobia by inserting sex toys into their anuses.

Pluckrose was editor of anti-trans group blog Areo magazine from 2018 to 2021, founding Areo Magazine Ltd in 2019. Pluckrose and Lindsay published the book Cynical Theories in 2020. Pluckrose founded Counterweight Support Limited in 2021.

Pluckrose and spouse David have one child.

Anti-transgender activism

Pluckrose asserts that “extreme trans activists” want to compel people to accept the following:

  • people must believe that trans people “straightforwardly are the gender they experience themselves to be”
  • people must use language that reflects a trans person’s gender
  • people must be trans-inclusive when choosing sexual partners

Pluckrose’s most significant anti-trans position is that “transitioning children is difficult to justify ethically.”

Pluckrose’s reasoning is a form of cisgender supremacy that prioritizes the well-being of cisgender children over the well-being of transgender children. According to Pluckrose, giving parental consent to medical transition for a trans youth “cannot justify permanently damaging the bodies” of young people who might not benefit in the long term from medical transition. In Pluckrose’s argument this “collateral damage” is worse than collateral damage to trans young people denied medical transition.

Pluckrose’s position is predicated on the potent “regret” narrative and its medicalized manifestations: “desistance” in minors and “detransition” in adults. Regret narratives are vastly overrepresented in mainstream media because it taps into parental anxiety and justifies suspicion about all trans people. Those who believe being trans is a medical problem like “social contagion” often believe there is a cure. Those who believe being trans is an ideology or cult often cling to the powerful fantasy of trans apostasy.

Ideologues who wish to involve themselves in the bodily autonomy of others often amplify regret narratives. For instance, though abortion regret is rare, abortion opponents amplify regret narratives to make abortion less accessible for those who might benefit, including minors.

During Pluckrose’s tenure at Areo, there were several articles critical of trans people (written by people like anti-trans activist Louise Perry), and no articles written by trans people.

In a 2020 Quillette interview, Pluckrose complained about trans activism:

People are being no-platformed, fired, and cancelled for disagreeing with these ideas. Here in the UK, the police have investigated somebody posting a limerick on Twitter that did not adhere to trans activism’s concept of gender identity and a journalist publishing an interview with a historian who said slavery was not genocide. Gender critical feminists are routinely threatened and intimidated for making arguments that self-ID is a threat to women’s sex-based rights. 

References

Pluckrose, Helen (September 27, 2017). An Argument for a Liberal and Rational Approach to Transgender Rights and Inclusion. Areo https://areomagazine.com/2017/09/27/an-argument-for-a-liberal-and-rational-approach-to-transgender-rights-and-inclusion/

Hill, Jason D. (December 16, 2020). On Activist Scholarship: An Interview with Helen Pluckrose. Quillette https://quillette.com/2020/12/16/on-activist-scholarship-an-interview-with-helen-pluckrose/

Perry, Louise (July 8, 2019). Minds Without Bodies: Transgenderism and the Authentic Self. Areo https://areomagazine.com/2019/08/07/minds-without-bodies-transgenderism-and-the-authentic-self/

Smith M (pseudonym) (2018). Going in Through the Back Door: Challenging Straight Male Homohysteria and Transphobia through Receptive Penetrative Sex Toy Use. Sexuality & Culture. 22 (4): 1542. 10.1007/s12119-018-9536-0

Resources

X/Twitter (x.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Caroline Farrow is a British writer and anti-transgender extremist.

Background

Farrow attended Brentwood School, Essex and New Hall School in Chelmsford, Essex.

Farrow worked as an accountant before working as an airline flight crew member. In 2010 Farrow began a pro-Catholic blog. Farrow has served as campaign director for the far-right lobby group CitizenGo.

Farrow is married to a priest named Robin and has five children. They live in Ash, Surrey.

Anti-transgender activism

Farrow posted on anti-trans site Kiwi Farms as Caroline Farrow, without a pseudonym, which was very unusual. After Farrow made a number of transphobic comments during a debate with Susie Green on Good Morning Britain, an investigation was opened. Farrow complained about being investigated on a 2019 Quillette podcast hosted by Toby Young.

In 2022 Farrow was arrested at home after many years of harassing, doxxing, and misgendering Stephanie Hayden. Surrey Police said:

“On Monday, 3 October, officers attended an address in the Guildford area as part of an investigation into allegations of malicious communications (sending of indecent, grossly offensive messages, threats, or information) and harassment. A 48-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of both offences. A number of electronic devices were seized as potential evidence from this address under section 19 of PACE. Where an offence is alleged to have been committed on an electronic device, for example, it may hold a key piece of evidence and may routinely be seized during an investigation. The woman was taken to Guildford police station where she was interviewed. She has now been released under investigation and inquiries remain ongoing.”

In October 2023, Farrow announced that CPS were not proceeding with prosecution because “the evidential test has not been met.”

References

Wakefield, Lily (October 13, 2022). Anti-trans activist Caroline Farrow sues trans woman she’s accused of doxxing. PinkNews https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/10/13/stephanie-hayden-caroline-farrow-arrest-kiwi-farms/

Gilbert, David (October 6, 2022). J.K. Rowling Ally Arrested for Allegedly Doxing a Trans Activist. Vice News https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k87vq/caroline-farrow-arrested-kiwi-farms

Young, Toby (March 26, 2019). Quillette Podcast 23 – Catholic journalist Caroline Farrow talks about being investigated by the British police for misgendering a transwoman. Quillette https://quillette.com/2019/03/26/quillette-podcast-23-catholic-journalist-caroline-farrow-talks-about-being-investigated-by-the-british-police-for-misgendering-a-transwoman/

Staff report (March 20, 2019). Surrey Police investigation over ‘misgendering’ tweets. BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-47638527

Hill, Amelia (March 20, 2019). Mother drops action against woman who said she ‘mutilated’ trans daughter. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/20/catholic-journalist-investigated-by-police-after-misgendering-trans-woman

Resources

Caroline Farrow (carolinefarrow.net)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Premier Christianity (premierchristianity.com)

CitizenGO (citizengo.org)

Crisis Magazine (crisismagazine.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Dennis Prager is a conservative writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Dennis Mark Prager was born on August 2, 1948 in Brooklyn to Max and Hilda (Friedfeld) Prager. Prager has a sibling Kenneth.

Prager attended Yeshiva of Flatbush and earned a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College in 1970. Prager then took graduate courses but did not complete further degrees.

Prager was recruited by a British Jewish group to interview Jewish people in the Soviet Union, then toured speaking about the findings. From 1976 to 1983 Prager ran the Brandeis-Bardin Institute.

In 1982 Prager began a religious talk show and began writing more about antisemitism. Prager became known for criticism of narcissism and secularism. Prager has been married three times.

In the 1990s Prager began working to forge alliances between conservative Jews and Conservative Christians. Since 1999 Prager has hosted the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Dennis Prager Show. 

Anti-transgender activism

In 2009, Prager and producer Allen Estrin started PragerU, which creates five-minute videos promoting conservative views.

References

Vaush (March 1, 2023). Debunking DERANGED Anti-Trans Prager U Propaganda. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MggPrrXnAPw

Jessie Gender (December 3, 2021). How PragerU Creates Transphobia (in Trans-Affirming Folks). YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-vIGz2SuO0

January, Brianna (November 23, 2020). YouTube removed anti-trans PragerU videos for violating hate speech policies. Media Matters for America

Staff report (Jun 30, 2022). Daily Wire Tightens Alliances With ‘The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast’ And Dennis Prager. Inside Radio https://www.insideradio.com/free/daily-wire-tightens-alliances-with-the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast-and-dennis-prager/article_4da336f0-f8ba-11ec-ab59-137e6e6efdb2.html

Ben Shapiro is a conservative American writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Benjamin Aaron “Ben” Shapiro was born January 15, 1984 in Los Angeles, California. Shapiro’s parent Cynthia Block Shapiro (born 1956) has worked as an executive coach, and parent David Jay Shapiro (born 1956) has been a writer and musician. David Shapiro has also written under the pseudonym “William Bigelow” and possibly “Hank Berrien,” often puff pieces praising child Ben.

Ben Shapiro studied classical violin as a child. Shapiro has a sibling named Leah and another sibling Abigail, a singer known as Classically Abby.

Shapiro used the online handle frumfiddle in college at UCLA, while earning a bachelor’s degree awarded in 2004. Shapiro was hired by Creators Syndicate at 17 to become America’s youngest nationally syndicated columnist, publishing the first of many subsequent books that year.

Shapiro earned a law degree from Harvard in 2007. Shapiro worked at Goodwin Procter LLP before setting up Benjamin Shapiro Legal Consulting in Los Angeles.

Ben Shapiro married Israeli physician Mor Toledano Shapiro (born 1988) in 2008. They have four children.

In 2012, Shapiro became editor of Breitbart News, resigning in 2016. In 2012, Shapiro also began work as a radio host.

In 2013, Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing co-founded conservative media watchdog TruthRevolt, which continued until 2018. In 2015, they founded Daily Wire and the podcast The Ben Shapiro Show. In 2020, Shapiro became editor emeritus of Daily Wire.

Shapiro frequently appears in the media and on campuses, usually making provocative statements in hopes of getting a response.

Anti-LGBTQ activism

Shapiro considers sex and gender minorities mentally ill and sinful. Shapiro does not think they should be able to marry or adopt.

Shapiro has said trans people should not be allowed to own guns, and Shapiro believes transgender youth are caused by “social contagion” or “crap parenting.”

References

Harris, Dan (September 2017). Outspoken conservative Ben Shapiro says political correctness breeds insanity. Nightline https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/outspoken-conservative-ben-shapiro-political-correctness-breeds-insanity-50603406 [archive]

Harris, Dan; Torres, Ignacio; Effron, Lauren (October 21, 2017). Conservative commentator on future of free speech on campus. ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/US/outspoken-conservative-ben-shapiro-free-speech-place-college/story?id=50610394 [archive]

Goldstein, Sasha (July 15, 2015). Ben Shapiro files complaint against transgender reporter Tur. New York Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ben-shapiro-files-complaint-transgender-reporter-tur-article-1.2298804 [archive]

Walker, Lauren (July 21, 2015). Editor Ben Shapiro Files Police Report Against Transgender Reporter After Heated TV Exchange. Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/conservative-editor-files-police-report-against-transgender-reporter-after-355851 [archive]

Tobin, Andrew (July 21, 2015). Jewish pundit, trans journalist in on-air spat. The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-pundit-trans-journalist-in-on-air-spat/ [archive]

Walker, Lauren (July 21, 2015). Editor Ben Shapiro Files Police Report Against Transgender Reporter After Heated TV Exchange. Newsweek. https://web.archive.org/web/20170318225103/http://www.newsweek.com/conservative-editor-files-police-report-against-transgender-reporter-after-355851 [archive]

Tavernise, Sabrina (November 23, 2017). Ben Shapiro, A Provocative ‘Gladiator,’ Battles to Win Young Conservatives. The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/ben-shapiro-conservative.html [archive]

Wilburn, Caroline (November 1, 2022). Ben Shapiro visits A&M, criticizes transgender community. The Battery https://www.thebatt.com/news/ben-shapiro-visits-a-m-criticizes-transgender-community/article_9340e138-5a5f-11ed-bd70-4b233c964e13.html

Henry, Vesper (March 22, 2023). Facts trump Ben Shapiro’s feelings on social contagion theory of trans identity. Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/facts-trump-ben-shapiros-feelings-social-contagion-theory-trans-identity

Staff report (March 7, 2023). Ben Shapiro accuses parents of trans children of “crap parenting.” Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-accuses-parents-trans-children-crap-parenting

Prieb, Natalie (April 13, 2022). Ben Shapiro gets into scrap with student at ‘Men Cannot Be Women’ event. The Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/3266482-ben-shapiro-gets-into-scrap-with-student-at-men-cannot-be-women-event/

Staff report (March 31, 2023). Ben Shapiro says trans people should be banned from owning firearms. Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-says-trans-people-should-be-banned-owning-firearms

Resources

Media Matters for America (mediamatters.org)

GLAAD Accountability Project (glaad.org/gap)

Daily Wire (dailywire.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

PragerU is a conservative American nonprofit advocacy group that frequently posts anti-transgender media.

Background

PragerU was founded by Dennis Prager and Allen Estrin in 2009. They create short-form animated content that explains a conservative view on a subject.

Key people include:

In 2020, YouTube took down two anti-trans videos featuring Candace Owens for violating their policy on hate speech, wherein being transgender was likened to schizophrenia and disease.

Anti-trans content

DETRANS: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care (October 25, 2023)

Abigail Shrier

  • Why Girls Become Boys (March 29, 2021)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7bMJd_QAXs
  • critical of trans and gender diverse youth
  • Preferred Pronouns or Prison (April 15, 2019)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn5opUFNs-I
  • critical of gender recognition bills

Ashley McGuire

  • Gender Identity: Why All the Confusion? Oct 3, 2017
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAAlFya89aw
  • critical of Fallon Fox and trans athletes

Amala Ekpunobi

  • A (Biological) Woman’s Take on Trending TRANS TikToker Dylan Mulvaney- Unapologetic LIVE (Apr 18, 2022)
  • critical of Dylan Mulvaney
  • A Conservative, Transgender, & Transexual Walk Into A Studio… (Dec 2, 2022)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpRJ6YZErdA
  • Guests Blossom Brown and Buck Angel
  • Children Should Not Choose Their Gender: An Unapologetic Special (May 8, 2022)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUZ_o5kX6u0

Aldo Buttazzoni

  • If You Can Choose Your Gender Can You Choose Your Race? Apr 26, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJQOSV3lJNw
  • Should San Francisco Guarantee Income for Trans People? Dec 7, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=827PcqodBc8

Marissa Streit

  • Child Regrets Transitioning Soon after Mastectomy & Hormones (Dec 22, 2022)
  • Guest Chloe Cole

Selina Soule

  • The End of Women’s Sports (November 16, 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BuV-s1SYLk
  • critical of trans athletes Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller

Christina Hoff Sommers

  • War on Boys (May 19, 2014)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFpYj0E-yb4

References

Anderson, Drew (2019-08-06). “BACKGROUNDER: PragerU’s Ties to White Supremacy, Horrific Anti-LGBTQ Record”. GLAAD. Archive

Ingram, Mathew. Congress and the platforms: The circus is back in town. Columbia Journalism Review. 

Vaush (March 1, 2023). Debunking DERANGED Anti-Trans Prager U Propaganda. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MggPrrXnAPw

Jessie Gender (December 3, 2021). How PragerU Creates Transphobia (in Trans-Affirming Folks). YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-vIGz2SuO0

January, Brianna (November 23, 2020). YouTube removed anti-trans PragerU videos for violating hate speech policies. Media Matters for America

Resources

PragerU (prageru.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Nina Power is a British philosopher and anti-transgender activist from the movement’s gender critical faction. Power is a sex segregationist who promotes the unfounded conspiracy theory that transgender people are “erasing” lesbians and tomboys.

Background

Power was born around 1980 and attended University of Warwick, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Power then earned a doctorate from Middlesex University.

Power’s book The One-Dimensional Woman (2009) examines pornography, consumer capitalism, and the ideology of “women’s work.” In the 2021 book What Do Men Want?: Masculinity and Its Discontents, Powers proposes the term hetero­sociality “to appeal for a new appreciation of sexual difference based not on conflict, antip­athy and commodification, but on friendship, trust and mutual respect between the sexes.”

Power hosts the podcast The Lack with political theorist Benjamin Studebaker and filmmaker Helen Rollins.

Anti-transgender activism

Power platforms and logrolls for a number of other anti-trans activists, including Benjamin Boyce, Andrew Doyle, Matt Walsh, Scott Newgent, Keira Bell, Maya Forstater, Allison Bailey, Kathleen Stock, Victoria Smith, Bev Jackson, J.K. Rowling, Julie Bindel, Helen Joyce, Suzanne Moore, and anti-trans groups like Woman’s Place UK, Mumsnet, Sex Matters, and LGB Alliance.

Praising Walsh’s What Is a Woman?, Power writes:

Walsh goes further than his dumb-beardy act, pinning various medical and psychological practitioners on why they think it’s a good idea to give children an osteoporosis-causing drug also used in chemical castration. Their answers are terrifying: Children will know when they’re ready; children know best; the drugs are reversible (they are not). Nobody, in fact, knows the long-term effect of giving young people (or adults) cross-sex hormones. What we do know isn’t good; they don’t reduce negative thoughts in the gender-dysphoric children who take them, for example.

On the erasure of “tomboys,” Power says:

Today, the boyish girl is in danger of being told she was “born in the wrong body,” and whisked off to a gender clinic to begin the journey from puberty blockers to breast removal to reproductive surgery and, ultimately, infertility. Setting children on this path—one that many regret—is an obvious, grotesque harm.

Power has been critical of Nicola Sturgeon, Dylan Mulvaney, and that shining example of the failures of federally centralized “gender clinics,” the Tavistock.

References

Power, Nina (June 14, 2022). Trans Barbarism. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/trans-barbarism

Power, Nina (January 24, 2023). The Trans War on Tomboys. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/the-trans-war-on-tomboys [references photo from ~1991n when she was 10 or 11]

Power, Nina (February 16, 2023). Nicola Sturgeon’s Trans Folly. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/nicola-sturgeon-s-trans-folly

Power, Nina (March, 2023). Welcome to TERF Island. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/welcome-to-terf-island

Media

Benjamin Boyce (Mar 10, 2021). What Men & Women Want | with Nina Power. -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uex1YPdw1h4

Benjamin Boyce (Jan 7, 2023). Considering Systems of Power | with Nina Power! -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0-mSdpyHas

Chris Williamson (Jan 31, 2022). The Crisis Of Modern Masculinity – Nina Power. | Modern Wisdom Podcast 429 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGO_XWSO7CQ

Triggernometry (Feb 13, 2022). “Demonising Men Will Make Things Worse” – Nina Power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5whVOaxuS0

Louise Perry (Feb 12, 2023). Masculinity and Its Discontents – Nina Power. | Maiden Mother Matriarch 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXD1DgXezU

Gus Carter (Mar 17, 2023). Why are all our young men being demonised? | SpectatorTV The Spectator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEiUwQafyDk

Andrew Doyle (Jul 10, 2021). GBNews Nina Power: In a ‘thriving healthy culture, everything has to be potentially mockable.’ -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uImdUzulhg

Resources

Nina Power (ninapower.net)

Compact Magazine (compactmag.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Patreon (patreon.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Michael Shermer is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Shermer has devoted considerable space for anti-trans views in the publication Skeptic and on the podcast The Michael Shermer Show.

Background

Michael Brant Shermer was born September 8, 1954 in Los Angeles, California.

Shermer earned a bachelor’s degree form Pepperdine in 1976 and a master’s degree in psychology from California State University, Fullerton in 1978. Shermer got involved in competitive cycling during this time.

Shermer earned a doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in 1991. Shermer helped found the Skeptics Society in 1991. Shermer has taught at Glendale Community College, Occidental College, and Chapman University.

For 18 years Shermer was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. Shermer has been dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct since 2013. Shermer has produced and appeared in a number of television shows about science and pseudoscience.

Anti-transgender activism

Shermer is especially angry about transgender athletes, trans and gender diverse youth, WPATH, and how Scientific American has gone “woke” due to their coverage of trans issues.

Shermer has also promoted and published anti-trans writings of other “gender critical” activists:

References

Shermer, Michael (November 14, 2024). Postmortem 2024. Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/postmortem-2024

Shermer, Michael (March 14, 2024). Death by Theory. Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/death-by-theory

Shermer, Michael (June 11, 2024). What’s It Like to Be Trans? [letter from a conservative transmedicalist] Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/whats-it-like-to-be-trans

Shermer, Michael (July 8, 2022). What is a Woman, Anyway? Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/what-is-a-woman-anyway

Shermer, Michael (March 7, 2024). Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Redux—WPATH Edition. Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/extraordinary-popular-delusions-and

Shermer, Michael (December 9, 2021). Trans Athletes and Conflicting Rights. Skeptic https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/trans-athletes-and-conflicting-rights

Hall, Harriett (). A transgender controversy. Skeptic Volume 27 Number 1 https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/transgender-controversy/

Tavris, Carol (2022). Behind the Rhetoric: The Untold Story of “Gender-Affirming” Clinics. Skeptic Volume 27 Number 1 https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/behind-rhetoric-untold-story-of-gender-affirming-clinics/

Davis, Lisa Selin (2022). Trans Matters: An Overview of the Debate, Research, and Policies. Skeptic Volume 27 Number 1 https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/trans-matters-overview-debate-research-policies/

Tavris, Carol (). Trans Reality: “I Didn’t Know There Was Another Side.” https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/transgender-reality-i-didnt-know-there-was-another-side/

McCaffree K, Saide A (March 7, 2023). Trans, Identity and Institutional Controversies. Research Report: PADS-002 https://www.skeptic.com/research-center/reports/Research-Report-PADS-002.pdf

Media

(). EPISODE # 160 Abigail Shrier — Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. The Michael Shermer Show https://www.skeptic.com/michael-shermer-show/abigail-shrier-irreversible-damage-transgender-craze-seducing-our-daughters/

(August 27, 2024). Are We Confused About Social Justice? (Helen Pluckrose). The Michael Shermer Show

(May 14). Nellie Bowles — Reporting From the Frontlines of the Culture Wars The Michael Shermer Show

(September 21). Colin Wright – Biology vs. Gender Ideology: The Science Behind the Debate. The Michael Shermer Show

(September 15). Matt Ridley, Steven Pinker, and Michael Shermer Challenge Conventional Narratives. The Michael Shermer Show

(August 17). Bones, Bias, and Backlash: Elizabeth Weiss on the Politicization of Anthropology. The Michael Shermer Show https://www.skeptic.com/michael-shermer-show/elizabeth-weiss-politicization-of-anthropology/

(August 6). Richard Dawkins on Genetic Insights Into the History of Life. The Michael Shermer Show

(). 461: Helen Pluckrose — Principled Strategies for Surviving and Defeating Critical Social Justice. https://www.skeptic.com/michael-shermer-show/helen-pluckrose-principled-strategies-for-surviving-defeating-critical-social-justice/

(). Aella — From a Christian Upbringing to Sex Work

(). Bradley Campbell — How to Think About Social Justice

Katherine Brodsky — How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage

Michael Shellenberger Explains Government Censorship of Social Media

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Converted to Christianity

Yascha Mounk — Identity Politics and its Discontents

Greg Lukianoff & Rikki Schlott — Cancel Culture and What to Do About It

Gad Saad — The Saad Truth About Happiness

Christopher Rufo Decodes Cultural Shifts in America

Umut Özkirimli — How the Left Can Make Its Way Back From Woke

Jean Twenge — Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents, and What They Mean for America’s Future

Bethany Mandel — How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence & Indoctrinating a Generation

Valerie Fridland — Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English

Gerald & Patricia Posner on Evil

Louise Perry — The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century

Meghan Daum — The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars

Marty Klein — Sex Matters

Andrew Doyle — How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World

Sabine Hossenfelder — Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions

Konstantin Kisin — An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West

Helen Joyce — Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality

Frans De Waal on Sex and Gender Across the Primate Spectrum

Douglas Murray on The War on the West: Race, Politics, and Culture

Cathy Young — The Russian Riddle Wrapped in a Ukrainian Mystery Inside an American Enigma

Jesse Singal on Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure Our Social Ills 

Dave Rubin — Left, Right, and Woke, based on his book Don’t Burn This Country: Surviving and Thriving in Our Woke Dystopia

Elizabeth Weiss on Woke Archaeology and Erasing the Past

Batya Ungar-Sargon — Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy

Sally Satel on Addiction, the Opioid Crisis, Deaths of Despair, and How Psychiatry Has Gone Woke

Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein on evolution and the challenges of modern life, based on their new book A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century

Steven Pinker on Rationality: What it is, Why it Seems Scarce, Why it Matters

Richard Dawkins on evangelizing for evolution, science, skepticism, philosophy, reason, and rationality, based on his new book Books Do Furnish a Life: Reading and Writing Science

Carole Hooven on T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us

Bari Weiss & Bion Bartning on Their New Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism

David Buss — When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault

Jordan Peterson & Michael Shermer on Science, Myth, Truth, and the Architecture of Archetypes

Niall Ferguson — Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe

John McWhorter — The Elect: Neoracists Posing as Antiracists and their Threat to a Progressive America

John McWhorter — The Elect: Neoracists Posing as Antiracists and their Threat to a Progressive America

Abigail Shrier — Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters

Greg Lukianoff — How Free is Free Speech?

Debra Soh — The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society

Gad Saad — The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense

Scott Barry Kaufman — Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization

Dave Rubin — Don’t Burn This Book: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Unreason

Douglas Murray — The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race, and Identity

Geoffrey Miller — Virtue Signaling: Essays on Darwinian Politics and Free Speech

Peter Boghossian — How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide

Ben Shapiro — The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great

Dr. Gad Saad — Doing Gad’s Work

Dr. Jonathan Haidt — The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

Amy Alkon — Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence

Dr. Jonathan Haidt — Coming Apart

Resources

Michael Shermer (michaelshermer.com)

Substack (https://substack.com/)

X/Twitter (x.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Glenn Loury is an American economist and key figure in the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right.

Loury is connected to a number of anti-trans figures.

Podcast

Guests include:

References

Loury, Glenn (April 25, 2023). Does “T” Belong with “LGB”?-https://glennloury.substack.com/p/does-t-belong-with-lgb

Jennifer Finney Boylan is an American author, professor, and activist. Boylan has written several memoirs and novels and has frequently appeared in the media to discuss trans issues.

Notable work involving gender and media includes:

  • The memoir She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders (2003)
  • Writing a New York Times opinion column (2007–2022)
  • The memoir Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders (2013)
  • Serving on the GLAAD Board (2013)
  • Collaborating with transbians Parker Molloy and Christina Kahrl on pushing GLAAD to adopt their prescriptivist views on slang and slurs (2014)
  • Unsuccessfully lobbying behind the scenes to boycott/cancel RuPaul’s Drag Race (2014)
  • Mentoring and promoting writer Parker Molloy during and after abuse allegations against Molloy
  • Being a consultant for Jeffrey Tambor on the dramedy Transparent (2014) during and after abuse allegations against Tambor
  • Appearing as Caitlyn Jenner’s friend on I Am Cait (2015)
  • Giving the thumbs up to an anti-trans article by Lisa Selin Davis (2017)
  • Signing the Harper’s letter with J.K. Rowling and dozens of other anti-trans activists, later withdrawn (2020)

Background

Boylan was born June 22, 1958.

Boylan graduated from Wesleyan University in 1980, then completed graduate work at Johns Hopkins University. Boylan was a professor at Colby College from 1988 to 2014, then took an appointment at Barnard. Several of Boylan’s early books were published prior to beginning transition in 2000. Boylan wrote an opinion column for the New York Times from 2007 to 2022 among other writing.

In 1988 Boylan married Deirdre Finney Boylan (born 1960). They have two children, Sean (born 1996), and Zaira (born 1994) who is also trans.

Boylan served on the board of GLAAD and has held other roles at organizations benefiting sex and gender minorities. Boylan has appeared on Oprah and the Caitlyn Jenner reality show I Am Cait.

Anti-drag factionalism

Boylan was a key figure with Christina Kahrl in the 2014 transbian attacks led by Parker Molloy that were critical of drag artists and the offensive language some of them use. This strain of respectability politics reached a boiling point when the three of them combined their ongoing anti-drag and anti-slur crusades to extract an apology from RuPaul and RuPaul’s Drag Race for a transphobic segment that was ultimately pulled. They bragged about taking over GLAAD, an organization built by the entire community that had previously helped settle intra-community disputes out of the public eye. In a mutually beneficial piece of logrolling, Boylan told Molloy:

“This is, to coin a phrase, not your father’s GLAAD, and this is not the work that was being done a decade ago. One reason why I think we’ve been able to make a little progress is that GLAAD is now largely run by trans people. We occupy positions from staff to volunteers to the board of directors, including its national co-chair, which is me. These are our lives we are talking about; the people demeaned by incidents like this one are the men and women who work here. And other cis staff members have been working for trans rights for years and years now. I am proud of the board and staff for their passion.”

Even after being presented with extensive evidence of Parker Molloy’s abuse and slurs toward other trans people, Boylan remained one of Molloy’s staunchest supporters. In exchange, Molloy would write publicity pieces for Boylan and launder them through Advocate.com until being suspended and ultimately resigning.

2020 Harper’s Letter

Boylan was a signatory on the 2020 “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” in Harper’s Magazine. That open letter was criticized for the high percentage of “gender critical” people in the media, most notably anti-trans extremist J.K. Rowling. Boylan had been in awe of Rowling to the point that in 2010 Boylan created a children’s fantasy series called Falcon Quinn that shared remarkable similarities with Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise.

Boylan asked to be taken off the Harper’s Letter, claiming ignorance of the other signatories, while trans economist Deirdre McCloskey remained a signatory.

Books

  • Remind Me to Murder You Later (1988)
  • The Planets (1991)
  • The Constellations: A Novel (1994)
  • Getting In (1998)
  • She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders (2003)
  • I’m Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir (2008)
  • Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror (2010)
  • Falcon Quinn and the Crimson Vapor (2011)
  • Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders (2013)
  • Foreword fo Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community (2014)
  • You Are You (2015)
  • Falcon Quinn and the Bullies of Greenblud (2016)
  • Long Black Veil (2017)
  • Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs (2020)
  • Mad Honey: A Novel (2022) [with Jodi Picoult]

References

Nolan, Emma (July 8, 2020). Trans Author Jennifer Finney Boylan Recants ‘Cancel Culture’ Letter Signed by J.K. Rowling. Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/author-jennifer-finney-boylan-recants-cancel-cultureletter-jk-rowling-1516235

Crane, Emily (July 8, 2020). Trans writer Jennifer Finney Boylan distances herself from free speech letter she signed calling out cancel culture after realizing JK Rowling had also endorsed it – but is immediately called out by the Harry Potter author. Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8503571/Trans-writer-Jennifer-Finney-Boylan-distances-free-speech-letter.html

Molloy, Parker Marie (May 2, 2014). Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Aims to Educate the Trans Masses. Advocate.com https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/05/02/trans-bodies-trans-selves-aims-educate-trans-masses

Molloy, Parker Marie (May 1, 2014). GLAAD Cochair Jennifer Finney Boylan Joins Barnard College. Advocate.com https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/05/01/glaad-cochair-jennifer-finney-boylan-joins-barnard-college

James, Andrea (July 24, 2014). The GLAAD Board’s “Tranny” Trouble: How Its Trans Takeover Is Reshaping LGBT Politics. Queerty https://www.queerty.com/the-glaad-boards-tranny-trouble-how-its-trans-takeover-is-reshaping-lgbt-politics-20140724 [archive]

Molloy, Parker Marie (March 29, 2014). Logo, RuPaul’s Drag Race Respond to Antitrans Slurs. Advocate.com https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/03/29/logo-rupauls-drag-race-respond-antitrans-slurs

Davis, Brendan (November 8, 2013). Meet GLAAD’s new board co-chairs! https://glaad.org/blog/meet-glaads-new-board-co-chairs [archive]

Resources

Jennifer Finney Boylan (jenniferboylan.net)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Harvard University, Hollis Archives (hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Bluesky (bsky.app)