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Aaron Terrell is a conservative American transgender activist opposed to US medical consensus on care for gender diverse youth.

Terrell is affiliated with the website Gender Dysphoria Alliance and co-hosts the Transparency podcast.

Background

Terrell was born in ~1984 and grew up in a conservative Evangelical Christian environment.

Terrell self-identifies as having a controversial disease called “autoandrophilia”: “I found gay men most attractive, and fantasized about being one.” Terrell transitioned in ~2011 and lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Activism

In 2021 Terrell was reportedly radicalized by J.K. Rowling.

Terrell co-founded the Gender Dysphoria Alliance website in 2020.

References

Sahakian, Teny (August 10, 2023). A trans man asked this simple question about kids at a trans conference. He was kicked out. Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/media/trans-man-asked-simple-question-kids-trans-conference-kicked

Media

Benjamin Boyce (October 27, 2021) Being A Woman Being A Man | A Transitioner’s Tale, with Aaron Terrell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS2rLY_jVQI

Benjamin Boyce (May 27, 2023). Fatal Flaws in “Gender Affirming” Care | with Eliza Mondegreen & Aaron Terrell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f2-a7fY9Zc

Resources

Gender Dysphoria Alliance (genderdysphoriaalliance.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Calvin Lunt aka Cal Fox aka Calvin Fox is a British ex-transgender activist.

Background

Calvin Lunt was born in 1990 and has lived in the Fairfield area of Liverpool.

Fox was a contestant on MTV’s Beauty School Cop Outs in 2013.

Lunt performed in drag as Cal Fox in Liverpool clubs. Fox began a gender transition as an adult at age 24, documenting the steps on Facebook.

After about a year of hormones, Lunt made additional changes in identity and expression.

Ex-trans activism

In a podcast description, Lunt said:

“It has been 6 years now since I de-transitoned (returned back to my birth gender) and during these past 5 years I have spent my time learning more about myself, the reasons why I wanted to take the journey of completely changing my body and also exploring the reasons why so many young people are feeling the same.
I am not sitting here writing this saying that everyones story will be like mine but I will be honest and transparent and say I do believe there are many more people out there like me who maybe making choices based on false thoughts and feelings.”

Fox has become a favored source for anti-trans activists like Stella O’Malley and Sasha Ayad of Genspect.

References

Staff (June 2, 2015). Cal Fox discovers she’s transgender by accident. news.com.au https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/cal-fox-discovers-shes-transgender-by-accident/news-story/65c4eea38c8e032981c627c1a43c49a2

Tweedy, Jo (June 1, 2015). Aspiring model realised she was transgender by ACCIDENT after dressing up in hot pants and blonde wig for night out. Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3105504/Aspiring-model-realised-transgender-ACCIDENT-dressing-hot-pants-blonde-wig-night-out.html

Collinson, Dawn (January 22, 2016). I’m a transgender woman but I still want to have my own child. Liverpool Echo https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/real-lives/im-transgender-woman-still-want-10775477

Collinson, Dawn (January 22, 2016). 5 awkward questions every transgender woman gets asked. Liverpool Echo https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/real-lives/5-awkward-questions-every-transgender-10776171

Hoyle, Antonia (June 1, 2023). ‘Social media encouraged me to be a trans woman… the truth is I was gay’: Man reveals how he was lambasted for de-transitioning by siren voices online. Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12150451/Man-reveals-lambasted-transitioning-siren-voices-online.html

Toureille, Claire (May 11, 2023). Man who lived as a trans woman for two years before detransitioning admits he was influenced by staying ‘current’ on social media. Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12071685/Why-detransitioned-living-transgender-woman-two-years.html

(September 16, 2021). Three trans journeys: ‘I spent so long hiding.’ BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-58255156

Media

Stella O’Malley and Sasha Ayad (July 21, 2023). EP 123: Drag, Drinking and Taking Off the Mask with Calvin Lunt. Gender: A Wider Lens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5kz3cYMnOw

Will Reusch (July 26, 2023). Transgenderism, Homophobia and Self-Hatred with Calvin Lunt | Cylinder Radio #149 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvRPYVdRGfM

Resources

Calvin Lunt (calvinlunt.com) [archive]

Instagram (instagram.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Sara Higdon is a conservative American transgender activist.

Higdon has been affiliated with extremist group Gays Against Groomers.

Background

Sara James Higdon was born in 1987 and grew up in Michigan. Higdon earned a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University in 2009. Higdon served in the United States Army from 2010 to 2017, then worked at QÂČ Solutions.

In 2018 Higdon founded apparel company Steubens Ltd. In 2021, Higdon launched the media platform TRANSform to Freedom.

Higdon has contributed to conservative publications The Post Millennial and Human Events.

Resources

Sara Higdon (sarahigdon.com)

Steubens Ltd. (steubensltd.com) [archive]

Twitter (twitter.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Marcus Dib Jensen is a conservative Danish transgender activist.

Jensen uses the nickname “The Offensive Tranny” and has been affiliated with extremist group Gays Against Groomers.

Jensen lives in KĂžbenhavn, Denmark. Jensen identifies as “not a real man but a biological woman living life as a man.”

References

Wager, Kristjan (June 27, 2022). Dansk RegnbuerÄd is a front for Dansk Folkeparti. FreethoughtBlogs https://freethoughtblogs.com/kriswager/2022/06/26/dansk-regnbuerad-is-a-front-for-dansk-folkeparti/

Resources

Instagram (instagram.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Locals (locals.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Camille Paglia is a conservative American transgender academic who is considered part of the so-called intellectual dark web.

Paglia has made a number of statements critical of the transgender rights movement. Paglia has said, “No one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity.”

Paglia has also called trans healthcare for youth “child abuse.”

Background

Camille Anna Paglia waas born on April 2, 1947 in Endicott, New York. As a child, Paglia occasionally used the names Anastasia, Stacy, and Stanley.

Paglia earned a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University in 1968, followed by a master’s degree and a doctorate from Yale in 1972. Paglia was menotred by Harold Bloom and inspired by Susan Sontag’s role as a celebrity public intellectual.

Paglia is best known the the 1990 book Sexual Personae (based on Paglia’s dissertation and originally titled The Androgynous Dream). Paglia is also known for criticism of feminist movements, thus winning praise from Christina Hoff Sommers, Germaine Greer, and other anti-trans activists.

Paglia and artist Alison Maddex were in a relationship, and Paglia adopted Maddex’s child before the two split up.

References

Last, Jonathan V. (June 15, 2017). Camille Paglia: On Trump, Democrats, Transgenderism, and Islamist Terror. The Weekly Standard https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/camille-paglia-on-trump-democrats-transgenderism-and-islamist-terror

Media

Battle of Ideas (November 4, 2016). Feminism: in conversation with Camille Paglia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8BRdwgPChQ

Friedersdorf, Conor (May 1, 2019). Camille Paglia Can’t Say That. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/05/camille-paglia-uarts-left-deplatform/587125/

Resources

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Dan Carlin is an American podcaster and author considered by some to be part of the intellectual dark web.

Carlin has been conspicuously silent on the historic civil rights struggle of trans and gender diverse people.

Background

Daniel “Dan” Carlin was born November 14, 1965 to parents involved in film and TV production. Carlin earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Colorado, Boulder in 1989. Carlin worked as a journalist in Los Angeles.

Carlin began podcasting in 2005, eventually hosting three shows: Hardcore History, Hardcore History: Addendum, and Common Sense.

Intellectual dark web

Analysis of the DanCarlin subreddit suggests that the connection to the intellectual dark web is weak.

Carlin has been a frequent guest on The Joe Rogan Experience. Nicholas Quah stated in Vulture that both “possess politics that can be fairly hard to describe, but typically run counter to the dominant strings of liberal politics.” 

In addition to connections to Joe Rogan, Carlin has collaborated with Bill Maher, Sam Harris, and Tim Ferriss

References

Beres, Derek (March 5, 2018). These are the women behind the Intellectual Dark Web. Big Think https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/these-are-the-women-behind-the-intellectual-dark-web/

Quah, Nicholas (November 17, 2020). The Rise of Right-Wing Podcasts Is Upon Us. Vulture https://www.vulture.com/2020/11/rise-of-right-wing-podcasting.html

Mountjoy, Anthony (Jun 6, 2018). Crawling The Intellectual Dark Web. Verboten Publishing https://medium.com/verboten-publishing/deep-data-of-the-intellectual-dark-web-5c323ee782b4

Media

Lex Fridman (November 2, 2020) Dan Carlin: Hardcore History | Lex Fridman Podcast #136. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k-ztNsBM54

Resources

Dan Carlin (dancarlin.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Patreon (patreon.com)

Substack (substack.com)

reddit (reddit.com)

Tim Ferriss is an American podcaster and lifestyle influencer. Although Ferriss is sometimes considered part of the intellectual dark web for having a few guests who are part of that movement, Ferriss has not engaged in anti-transgender activism.

Selected podcast guests

Resources

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Tim Ferriss (tim.blog)

Four Hour Workweek (fourhourworkweek.com)

This archival page covers 2003 to 2008.

A Bailey-Blanchard-Lawrence clearinghouse

This clearinghouse explores varying viewpoints about The Man Who Would Be Queen and the ideology that informs the work of J. Michael Bailey, Ray Blanchard, and Anne Lawrence.

This clearinghouse was created in April 2003 to document materials in this controversy as they became available. Though much of it remains in an unsynthesized format, pages about key people and concepts have been updated in some cases. Due to renewed interest in the topic following attacks on Bailey’s critics by his coworker Alice Dreger, links and descriptions are being updated throughout.

For a chronological overview of this matter, please see the timeline of events compiled by Professor Lynn Conway.

The earlier version of this page is available on Internet Archive at this URL:

http://tsroadmap.com/info/bailey-blanchard-lawrence.html

Section history

revised 26 June 2008

Only revisions deemed notable or significant by the editor are listed. Minor revisions and corrections occur almost daily throughout the section.

26 June 2008

Added Alice Dreger’s attacks on critics of J. Michael Bailey

14 August 2007

Added Alice Dreger article and timeline of her personal feud with me

19 April 2007

Added Kiira Triea article

12 February 2006

Added link to Autogynephilia Redux: A Memoir – The Trans-woman Who Is Me

15 October 2005

Added Gay, Straight or Bailey.

24 August 2005

Added links to Bailey’s male bisexuals are liars research throughout section.

14 May 2005

Added update about Bailey’s homosexual eugenics paper defense and no-show by co-author Aaron Greenberg.

Added more blasting of Bailey by Eli Coleman.

17 April 2005

Added Johns Hopkins information

31 January 2005

On the science of bonerism and the identity politics of “single heterosexual men”

19 December 2004

Added information on Bailey’s resignation as Psychology Department Chair and that Northwestern’s secret unspecified action based on their investigation.

14 November 2004

Added link to timeline of events at the J. Michael Bailey investigation compiled by Professor Lynn Conway.14 November 2004

Updated page on Simon LeVay.

09 November 2004

Added link to anti-gay hit piece by John Stossel of ABC’s 20/20, featuring J. Michael Bailey, days before the US elections.

18 October 2004

Added “autogynephilia” and disability , a reader comment on A defining moment.

17 October 2004

Revised Bailey’s responses to critics to include link to a corroborating article by Lynn Conway.

19 September 2004

Added The silent treatment continues at the National Academies by Lynn Conway.

09 September 2004

Added A defining moment in our history: examining disease models of gender identity

13 July 2004

Added scientific criticism page.

11 July 2004

Added Neil Whitehead page.

Revised Daniel Linzer page.

20 May 2004

Revised “autogynephilia” page.

16 May 2004

Revised Kurt Freund page.

Added page on plethysmograph.

3 May 2004

Noted that Anne Lawrence has removed original “Men Trapped in Men’s Bodies” pro-“autogynephilia” essay.

Expanded “autogynephilia” page.

Revised APA Division 44 page.

6 April 2004

Switched from “emergency mode” on Bailey damage control to theoretical issues.

Began reorganization and extensive crosslinking within section.

Background

In March 2003, J. Michael Bailey, then Chair of the Psychology Department at Northwestern University, published The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism.

Despite having “science” in the title and being promoted as “original research,” many consider the book scientifically unsound and deeply biased. It describes gender variance in metaphors of disease and impairment that are an extension of Bailey’s belief that homosexuality is an evolutionary mistake and a developmental error. Bailey’s writings on homosexual eugenics and his belief that male bisexuals are liars echo his thinking on trans issues as well.

Bailey’s book is based on an obscure and outdated model of gender variance created by Ray Blanchard of Toronto’s notorious Clarke Institute. Bailey’s and Blanchard’s models contradict cutting-edge research by renowned experts on causes and motivations of those who express gender variance.

Initial positive spin created by Joseph Henry Press publicist Robin Pinnel and a handful of Bailey supporters (primarily sexologist Anne Lawrence and members of a conservative-run eugenics thinktank) quickly gave way to a deluge of negative responses by a wide range of concerned communities, starting with academics, notably those responding to Bailey’s lectures exploiting gender-variant children. For a sense of the size and global scope of the protest, a petition against the book garnered over 1,300 signatures from 35 countries in just its first few days. Given our percentage of the population, this would be equivalent to obtaining millions of signatures in a few days from the general population.

Also speaking out were those of us working to stop defamation of trans people in the media, and even the research subjects portrayed in Bailey’s book. These voices were later joined by those from the gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex communities. In early 2004, hate group monitor Southern Poverty Law Center featured Bailey’s and Blanchard’s ties to neo-eugenicists and right-wing journalists.

These early negative reviews were later echoed by many of Bailey’s own peers in sex research, as well as by clinical experts on transsexualism. In front of large crowds of peers, Kinsey Institute Director John Bancroft M.D. said the book was “not science,” and HBIGDA President Dr. Eli Coleman said it was “bad science”).

In the wake of this, book sales tanked, Bailey has vacated his position as an officer of the International Academy of Sex Research and was subject of a full investigation by Northwestern University for failure to get informed consent. In November 2003, Bailey’s mentor Ray Blanchard finally resigned from HBIGDA after their officers wrote to Northwestern expressing concerns, suggesting that Blanchard will go down in history as what George Rekers is to homosexuality: the old-school holdout who outlived his time.

Normally, a book this scientifically unsound and tainted with charges of academic misconduct, practicing without a license, fabricating data, and sex with a research subject would not even be dignified with a response by many involved, but this book somehow got published through the National Academies Press, online via the NAP website and in print through their Joseph Henry Press unit, which specializes in science books for popular audiences.

Executive Editor Stephen Mautner claimed in a 24 June 2003 letter that the book was subjected to “scientific review” and “was reviewed as a well-crafted and responsible work.” Mautner refers to Bailey as a “scientist” who follows “a legitimate avenue of scholarship and research.” In the wake of a full investigation into the systemic failures at the National Academies, they continue to remain silent about their culpability.

In November 2004, Northwestern University reported that Bailey resigned as Psychology Department Chair and that Northwestern was taking secret unspecified action against Bailey based on their findings. In February 2006, the online version Bailey’s book was quietly removed from the National Academies Press website.

Bailey’s lurid and unscientific portrayal is easily disproven by successful trans women and men around the world leading joyous and productive lives after transition.

Introduction

Discrediting Bailey was the easy part. Framing the theoretical issues involved is the profoundly difficult part of this controversy. The Bailey-Blanchard-Lawrence model of gender variance raises several issues regarding reproduction, assimilation, biological determinism, and what it means for trans people and society at large.

Please note that many of the concepts and terms discussed in the following articles are controversial and/or inconclusive. They give a sense of the issues at hand, and are not definitive statements on any particular subject.

“Illegal immigrants” vs. the border patrol of sex and sexuality

This short essay seeks to frame the debate sparked by this book.

Causes of transsexualism: Current findings

This position paper by Milton Diamond, Ph.D. and 20 other renowned sex researchers summarizes the latest scientific research.

True Selves: An introduction to motivations for transition

Dr. Mildred Brown has observed in her clinical practice that some people seeking feminization do so for reasons other than the traditional motivation, and questions whether these reasons are “transsexual” in the clinical definition.

Bailey’s words and ideology

Homosexuality and gender variance represent an “evolutionary mistake” and “developmental error,” according to Bailey’s ideology. This disease model of these traits has led him to “gay gene” and “gay germ” hypotheses about causation. This section explores Bailey’s links to the eugenics movement. It includes extensive quotations from his work and includes a chart of “usual suspects” who are part of this movement.

The investigation

This site is designed to complement the concurrent Investigative Report by Lynn Conway. Our research into how this book got published and promoted focuses on the following six entities.

Joseph Henry Press and the National Academies

Joseph Henry Press published this book under the auspices of the National Academies. This section documents the people accountable for this decision.

Northwestern University

J. Michael Bailey’s employer. Northwestern faculty, administration, and students have had a range of responses to Bailey’s work and the charges leveled against him. This section documents these reactions.

Clarke Institute (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)

This Toronto mental institution is home base for most of Bailey’s collaborators and is heavily involved in the North American eugenics movement. It is widely considered by gender-variant people and experts who work with them as out of touch and regressive.

Human Biodiversity Institute

This conservative-run eugenics think tank hopes to usher in “The Age of Galton.” Francis Galton coined the term “eugenics,” and this group represents a revival of the eugenics movement.

Amazon.com Reviews

In March 2004, Amazon removed 35 customer reviews of Bailey’s book, all but one of which gave it the worst review possible. This had a net effect of raising his average rating a full point and giving the wrong impression that opposition to the book was evenly divided. Since that time, one or two anonymous trolls continue to add shill reviews, which are pretty easy to spot.

Lambda Literary Foundation

This group nominated Bailey for an award in February 2004, which led to immediate protests. The nomination was revoked in March 2004, the Director was ousted in 2005, and the site is currently offline.

The response

Scientific criticism and commentary

A selection of papers by academics and other experts.

Community response

The trans community has mobilized around this matter, with a wide variety of letters, published commentaries, petitions, etc.

Published commentaries on Bailey

A selection of comments from people concerned about this book and its message.

Commentaries on Anne Lawrence

Anne Lawrence is the chief apologist and collaborator with Bailey and Blanchard. Lawrence very strongly identifies as having a sex-fueled mental illness invented by Ray Blanchard. Lawrence’s career and life are now spent promoting this diagnosis.

Alice Dreger’s attacks on critics of J. Michael Bailey

In 2006, Bailey’s coworker Alice Dreger at Northwestern University began an ongoing backlash against the populist response to Bailey’s book, culminating in a one-sided hatchet job on key critics of Bailey.

Theoretical issues

A defining moment in our history: examining disease models of gender variance

LINK: My GenderTalk interview on “A defining moment”

Gender identity and expression take on different meanings within different systems of thought. Because medical technologies are available to assist in the somatic expression of these identities, several medicalized disease models of the phenomena have developed. This article examines three disease models as typically applied to those who seek feminization:

Psychosexual pathology (Bailey-Blanchard-Lawrence [BBL] model)

The author argues that the BBL model is the least scientific and most stigmatizing, tracing its roots to the eugenics movement of the 19th century.

Psychopathology (“gender identity disorder” [GID] model)

The GID model is currently considered legitimate within psychological literature and is a required diagnosis to receive access to trans health services in many places. The author reviews several problems with mental illness models, including “childhood gender nonconformity” and “transvestic fetishism,” two other “mental disorders” currently considered legitimate diagnoses. The author makes several analogies, asking readers to consider whether “racial nonconformity” or “religious identity disorder” seem legitimate as well.

Pathology (“birth defect” model)

This third metaphor of impairment describes a physical disorder rather than a mental one. The “order” implied by positioning these traits and behaviors as diseases reinforces heteronormative hierarchies. These models use scientific-sounding terminology to reinforce the social belief that the “purpose” or “function” of sex and sexuality is procreation. This leads to an examination of historic problems with anatomical thresholds for determining sex, and parallels with other bioethical debates about technologies that disrupt the “natural” order of procreative sexuality. The author suggests this is a phenomenon that is stigmatized in many cultures, and makes some suggestions for ways to consider it independently from models of sin or disease.

Introduction to taxonomies and theory

This section looks at various models of gender variance and the implications of those models.

Lighter fare

Comic relief

Some funny parodies, cartoons, and essays about this matter. I’m sure you need it by now.

Andrea Long Chu is an American writer and critic whose work frequently focuses on sex and gender.

Chu won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2023.

Background

Chu was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1992 and grew up in a Christian household in Asheville, North Carolina. Chu earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 2014 and a master’s degree from New York University in 2016.

Chu has written numerous book reviews and interviewed many notable public figures.

Writing on sex and gender

Much of Chu’s work is deliberately provocative. In 2018, Chu presented two works on sissy subculture and wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times titled “My New Vagina Won’t Make Me Happy.”

The thesis for Chu’s 2019 book Females is that “everyone is female and everyone hates it.”

Who’s Afraid of Gender? review (2024)

In 2024, Chu reviewed Who’s Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler in New York Magazine. Chu gives an excellent overview of the influence of Butler’s work on transgender rights. The piece is also notable for tracing the recent history of the anti-transgender movement. It lays part of the blame on those who embrace disease models of our community: “We must be able to defend this desire clearly, directly, and — crucially — without depending on the idea of gender.”

Chu notes the same tipping point in anti-trans activism that many trans people immediately noted:

In 2018, The Atlantic published a long cover story by the reporter Jesse Singal called “When Children Say They’re Trans,” focusing on the clinical disagreements over how to treat gender-questioning youth. The story provided a template for the coverage that would follow it. First, it took what was threatening to become a social issue, hence a question of rights, and turned it back into a medical issue, hence a question of evidence; it then quietly suggested that since the evidence was debatable, so were the rights.

Chu (2024)

Chu identifies three groups that compose the anti-trans bloc in America today:

  • the religious right
  • gender critical feminists (TERFs)
  • trans-agnostic reactionary liberals (TARLs)

Chu notes that the key outlet for the third group is the New York Times:

The Times is not alone; it is one of many respectable publications, including The Atlantic and The Economist, engaged in sanitizing the ideas promoted by TARLs in the more reactionary corners of the media landscape. Here one finds journalists like Singal, Matthew Yglesias, Matt Taibbi, Andrew Sullivan, Helen Lewis, Meghan Daum, and, of course, former Times staffer Bari Weiss. Many of these writers live in self-imposed exile on Substack, the newsletter platform, where they present themselves as brave survivors of cancellation by the woke elites. But they are not a marginal force.

Chu (2024)

We will never be able to defend the rights of transgender kids until we understand them purely on their own terms: as full members of society who would like to change their sex. It does not matter where this desire comes from. When the TARL insinuates again and again that the sudden increase of trans-identified youth is “unexplained,” he is trying to bait us into thinking trans rights lie just on the other side of a good explanation.

Chu (2024)

I am speaking here of a universal birthright: the freedom of sex. This freedom consists of two principal rights: the right to change one’s biological sex without appealing to gender and the right to assume a gender that is not determined by one’s sexual biology. One might exercise both of these rights toward a common goal — transition, for instance — but neither can be collapsed into the other. 

Chu (2024)

Selected publications

Chu AL (March 11, 2024). Freedom of Sex: The moral case for letting trans kids change their bodies. New York https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trans-rights-biological-sex-gender-judith-butler.html

  • Coleman, Madeleine Leung (March 15, 2024). Gender Identity Is Not Enough, [interview about Chu’s piece] The Critics / New York https://nymag.com/newsletter/2024/03/the-critics-march-15-2024.html

Chu AL (2019). The Impossibility of Feminism. differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 30, no. 1 (Spring 2019). https://doi.org/10.1215/10407391-7481232

Chu, Andrea Long (May 1, 2019). The Impossibility of Feminism. Differences. 30 (1): 63–81. https://doi.org/10.1215/10407391-7481232

Chu AL (November 24, 2018). My New Vagina Won’t Make Me Happy. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opinion/sunday/vaginoplasty-transgender-medicine.html

Chu AL (November 5, 2018). No One Wants It. Affidavit https://www.affidavit.art/articles/no-one-wants-it

Chu AL (2018). On Liking Women. n+1 30 (Winter 2018): 47–62. https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-30/essays/on-liking-women/

Chu AL (2018). Did Sissy Porn Make Me Trans? Queer Disruptions 2 Columbia University, New York, NY March 1–2, 2018.

Chu AL (2018). Pornographic Spectatorship, or, Did Sissy Porn Make Me Trans? 2018 annual meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association UCLA, Los Angeles, CA March 29–April 1, 2018.

Chu AL (2017). The Wrong Wrong Body: Notes on Trans Phenomenology. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 4, no. 1 (February 2017): 141–52. https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-3711613

References

Emre, Merve (January 30, 2024). I Want a Critic: Andrea Long Chu, interviewed by Merve Emre. The New York Review https://www.nybooks.com/online/2024/01/30/i-want-critic-andrea-long-chu-merve-emre/

Staff report (October 27, 2021). Andrea Long Chu Joins New York Magazine as Book Critic. New York Press Room. https://nymag.com/press/2021/10/andrea-long-chu-joins-new-york-magazine-as-book-critic.html

Lorusso, Melissa (30 October 2019). In ‘Females,’ The State Is Less A Biological Condition Than An Existential One. NPR https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/774365692/in-females-the-state-is-less-a-biological-condition-than-an-existential-one

Shapiro, Lila (October 16, 2019). Andrea Long Chu Wants More. Vulture https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/andrea-long-chu-on-her-debut-book-females.html

Thom, Kai Cheng (November 29, 2018). The Pain—and Joy—of Transition. Slate https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/11/andrea-long-chu-new-york-times-criticism-response-transgender.html

Blanchard, Sessi Kuwabara (September 11, 2018). Andrea Long Chu is the Cult Writer Changing Gender Theory. Vice https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ev74m7/andrea-long-chu-interview-avital-ronell-gender

O’Brien, Michelle Esther (November 2, 2018). Interview with Andrea Long Chu. New York Public Library Community Oral History Project. http://oralhistory.nypl.org/interviews/andrea-long-chu-lpf5er

Resources

Andrea Long Chu (andrealongchu.com)

The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

New York University (nyu.edu)

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Debbie Hayton is a conservative transgender British educator and critic of mainstream transgender activism. Hayton gets money and attention by siding with those opposed to rights for sex and gender minorities.

Hayton’s work frequently appears in anti-transgender publications, most notably UnHerd and The Spectator. Hayton’s views have also appeared in Daily Express, Global Research, The Critic Magazine, Fox News, TalkTV, Daily Mail, The Telegraph, and The Guardian.

Background

Deborah “Debbie” Hayton was born April 23, 1968. Hayton grew up in Consett in North East England. After graduating Blackfyne Comprehensive School in 1986, Hayton entered Newcastle University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1989 and a doctorate in 1992. Hayton worked in research until 1995, then began a career as a physics teacher. Hayton taught at Handsworth Grammar School in Birmingham from 1996 to 2002, then at King Henry VIII School in Coventry from 2002 to 2022. Beginning in 2016 Hayton began offering classroom timetable support and began freelance writing.

Hayton is based in Bristol, is married to Stephanie, and has three children. Hayton transitioned in 2012.

Activism and trolling

Hayton’s writing is a mix of first-person stories and gender critical views on several trans topics:

Hayton authored a letter supporting transphobic author Kathleen Stock. The letter was signed by like-minded gender critical trans people: Tina Daniels, Lily Geidelberg, Sophie Gibbons, Kristina Harrison, Seven Hex, Jennifer Kenyon, Claudia McLean, Sarah McDonnell, Fionne Orlander, Nyah Putzo, Toni Roche-Simmons, Katie Sangwell, Gillian Simpson, Sian Taylder, and Miranda Yardley.

Hayton appeared in the 2018 anti-trans propaganda piece Trans Kids: It’s Time to Talk hosted by Stella O’Malley.

Hayton enjoys trolling and mocking the trans community members who hold differing views. Hayton is known for wearing a T-shirt that says “Trans women are men. Get over it.”

References

Hellen, Nicholas (December 22 2019). Trans woman Debbie Hayton faces ban for transphobia. The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-woman-debbie-hayton-faces-ban-for-transphobia-96tfkl5gc

Hayton, Debbie (May 9, 2022). My autogynephilia story. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/05/the-truth-about-autogynephilia/

Stanford, Peter (October 16, 2021). The trans women who support women’s rights. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/10/16/meet-trans-women-agree-publicly-question-gender-self-identification/

Resources

Debbie Hayton (debbiehayton.com)

Timetable Support (timetablesupport.uk)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Muck Rack (muckrack.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

UnHerd (unherd.com)