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Andrew Doyle is a writer and anti-transgender activist who created the Titania McGrath character, a satire of social justice warriors.

Background

Doyle was born in Derry, Northern Ireland and grew up Catholic. Doyle cearned a bachelor’s degree at Aberystwyth University, a master’s degree at University of York, and a doctorate from University of Oxford.

Doyle co-wrote satiric news reporter Jonathan Pie and has published two books as Titania McGrath: Woke: A Guide to Social Justice (2019) and My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism (2020).  

Doyle joined GB News in 2021 as host of Free Speech Nation.

Anti-trans activism

UnHerd published an overview of Doyle’s anti-transgender views, which center on the “gay erasure” conspiracy theory that claims trans people are a plot to eliminate gay people like Doyle:

certain Left-leaning activists are doing their utmost to advance a social constructionist view of both sex and gender. The result has been a curious theoretical alliance between gender ideologues — for whom outmoded stereotypes are taken to signify an authentic self — and traditionalists who similarly feel that male and female behaviour ought to be strictly defined.

[…]

In her new book Time to Think, Hannah Barnes has revealed that between 80-90% of adolescents who were referred to the Tavistock paediatric gender clinic were same-sex attracted. Other writers, such as Helen Joyce, have already drawn on studies that confirm a strong correlation between gender non-conformity in youth and homosexuality in adult life. Members of the staff at the Tavistock itself joked that soon “there would be no gay people left” and whistle-blowers revealed that homophobia was endemic.

[…]

It is significant that activists who insist that stereotypes of male and female behaviour are suggestive of an innate “gender identity” should also seek to deny the reality of sexual dimorphism. The view that sex is a “spectrum” has even infiltrated major academic literature, including the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. 

References

Doyle, Andrew (March 24, 2022). Have we reached peak trans? UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/03/have-we-reached-peak-trans/

Doyle, Andrew (February 19, 2023). JK Rowling is NOT a transphobe, says Andrew Doyle. GBNews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sPytU-qgq8

Doyle, Andrew (January 29, 2023). Nicola Sturgeon ‘not being honest’ over transgender bill, Andrew Doyle says. GBNews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxTy5ZXMN1U

Doyle, Andrew (March 20, 2022). Andrew Doyle on trans debate: If murderers get upset about being misgendered my sympathy is limited. GBNews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW5TuawAjig

Doyle, Andrew (March 1, 2023). The gender wars started in 1531. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2023/03/the-gender-wars-started-in-1531/

Resources

Andrew Doyle (andrewdoyle.co.uk)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Sarah Ditum is an English “mommy blogger,” opinion columnist, sex segregationist, and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Sarah Ruth Webster Ditum is a freelance writer and production editor based in Bath. Ditum contributes to UnHerd and other anti-trans publications.

As a teen, Ditum learned to identify with metaphors of disease and impairment, pretending to be ill to avoid school. After first year at university, Ditum transferred to be near a romantic partner and almost immediately got pregnant: “Whatever had made its home in my belly had made me a mother, and I would have to catch up with that. Even as the person who made that decision, I find it hard to reconcile the ambition I had at 20 with the will to throw my lot in with maternity.”

Ditum completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees, then dropped out of a doctoral program after getting pregnant again.

Ditum started self-publishing a “mommy blog” called Paperhouse. Early gigs were for Venue magazine, Yarn Forward, and Official PlayStation Magazine.

Ditum married Nathan Mark Ditum (born 1981). Ditum changed surnames because “there was already a Sarah Webster working as a writer.” They have two children, Maddy and Jay. Ditum is involved in the knitting community.

In 2023 Ditum incorporated Burn Book Ltd in the UK.

Anti-transgender activism

Ditum has been criticized for views on transgender issues.

Ditum got press for a 2018 Genderquake panel with Germaine Greer, Munroe Bergdorf and Caitlyn Jenner.

In 2019, Ditum criticized all-gender bathrooms at The Old Vic. The Stage later removed the piece following backlash. 

Ditum is an “autogynephilia” activist, in the same way that some people believe in “nymphomania” as a legitimate disease.

References

Ditum, Sarah (May 16, 2016). What is gender, anyway? New Statesman

Ditum, Sarah (March 10, 2022). The taboo trans question. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/03/the-taboo-trans-question/

Ditum, Sarah (July 6, 2021). Who loses when trans women win? https://unherd.com/2021/07/who-loses-when-trans-women-win/

Ditum, Sarah (July 6, 2021). Why I had a baby at university. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/06/lessons-of-a-student-mother/

Ditum, Sarah (February 14, 2023). The tragedy of becoming a woman. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2023/02/the-tragedy-of-becoming-a-woman/

Ditum, Sarah (June 17, 2020). How the Left betrayed feminism. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2020/06/how-the-left-betrayed-feminism/

Valentine, Vic (July 12, 2018). Trans-inclusive feminist voices are being ignored. The Economist https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/07/12/trans-inclusive-feminist-voices-are-being-ignored

https://yogscast.fandom.com/wiki/Nathan_Ditum

Al-Kadhi, Amrou (May 9, 2018). Opinion: The Genderquake debate did more harm than good for transgender people and for feminists. The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/genderquake-channel-4-debate-genderqueer-transgender-caitlin-jenner-munroe-bergdorg-sarah-ditum-germaine-greer-a8342771.html

Glass, Jess (May 10, 2018). Exclusive: Genderquake audience were allegedly ‘encouraged to heckle’ trans panellists. PinkNews https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/05/10/genderquake-debate-heckling-transphobia-munroe-bergdorf-caitlyn-jenner/

https://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/news/17156155.a-level-students-make-plans-for-the-future/

Tobitt, Charlotte (October 7, 2019). The Stage accused of ‘cowardice’ after removing comment articles on theatre’s gender-neutral toilets. Press Gazette https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/the-stage-accused-of-cowardice-after-removing-comment-articles-on-theatres-gender-neutral-toilets/

Parsons, Vic (April 3, 2020). Neo-Nazis and homophobes are among the supporters of the ‘anti-trans’ group LGB Alliance. PinkNews https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/04/03/lgb-alliance-neo-nazi-homophobia-spinster-death-head-charity-commission/

Resources

Sarah Ditum / Paperhouse (sarahditum.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

UnHerd (unherd.com)

The Guardian (theguardian.com)

Ravelry (ravelry.com)

WordPress (wordpress.com)

Jess de Wahls is an East German-born artist and anti-transgender activist based in London.

Background

Jess de Wahls was born in 1983 and grew up in East Berlin and moved to the UK in 2004. de Wahls’ medium is embroidery.

According to de Wahls, one parent crossdresses: “My father doesn’t do labels other than sometimes jokingly calling himself a paradise bird.”

Anti-transgender activism

in 2019, de Wahls published a long statement accompanying an embroidered artwork. In it, de Wahls revealed bring deeply involved in anti-transgender activism.

In 2021 de Wahls became a cause cĂ©lĂšbre for anti-transgender activists when the Royal Academy pulled de Wahls’ work from their gift shop after complaints about de Wahls’ transphobia. They later apologized.

de Wahls has gone on to write for anti-transgender publications, including UnHerd and The Spectator.

References

de Wahls, Jess (August 5, 2019). Somewhere over the Rainbow, something went terribly wrong… https://www.jessdewahls.com/blog/2019/8/5/somewhere-over-the-rainbow-something-went-terribly-wrong

Perry, Louise (29 June 2021). “The Jess De Wahls debacle shows you can only really be cancelled by your friends”. New Statesman. London. Archived

RA (23 June 2021). “Media Statement from the Royal Academy of Arts” (PDF). Royal Academy of Arts. Archived

Whitworth, Damian (22 June 2021). “Jess de Wahls: Death wishes and fear after the Royal Academy cancelled me”. The Times UK. Archived

de Walhls, Jess (December 31, 2021). The heretics will not be silenced. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/12/the-heretics-will-not-be-silenced/

de Walhls, Jess (June 15, 2022). How the RA uncancelled me. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/06/how-the-royal-academy-uncancelled-me/

Resources

Jess de Wahls (jessdewahls.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Instagram (instagram.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Tom Chivers is a British science writer and anti-transgender activist. Chivers was the science editor at UnHerd when they published numerous unscientific articles about sex, gender, and biology. Chivers and podcast co-host Stuart Ritchie frequently logroll for anti-trans activist Jesse Singal.

Note: for the British poet and archaeologist born in 1983, see thisisyogic.com

Background

Thomas “Tom” Chivers began writing for the Telegraph in 2007. Chivers was science editor at UnHerd from 2018 to 2022, then became the science writer at the i newspaper.

Chivers has written for the Times, the Telegraph, the Observer, the Guardian, politics.co.uk, New Scientist, CNN, Wired, Smithsonian Air & Space, BuzzFeed UK.

Chivers is author of The Rationalist’s Guide to the Galaxy (2019), How to Read Numbers (2021), and Everything is Predictable (2024).

Anti-trans activism

Setting aside some questionable pieces on “Thai transvestites” and what-not, Chivers’ first salvo in anti-transgender activism was a 2014 piece using Laverne Cox to assert that trans women are not women. Chivers then characterizes biologists who use value-neutral terms and conceptualizations as engaging in “science denial.” Chivers defends the term “biological sex ” and supports anti-transgender reparative therapy.

Chivers is situated within the right-wing media landscape in the UK:

The UK has an increasing number of small but influential online-only media, in addition to the websites, apps and podcasts of many of the titles listed above. On the political right, sites like Conservative Home, Spiked, UnHerd, CapX, Reaction and The Spectator’s Coffee House blog are sources of right-wing opinion and debate but play relatively little role in breaking news stories.

CMDS (2021)

In 2024, Chivers promoted the anti-trans Cass Review on The Studies Show.

References

Chivers, Tom; Ritchie, Stuart (April 23, 2024). Paid-only Episode 7: Youth gender medicine & the Cass Review. The Studies Show https://www.thestudiesshowpod.com/p/paid-only-episode-7-youth-gender

Chivers, Tom (December 7, 2021). Trans counselling is not conversion therapy. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/12/trans-counselling-is-not-conversion-therapy/

Center for Media, Data and Society (November 2021). Media Influence Matrix: United Kingdom. https://cmds.ceu.edu/sites/cmcs.ceu.hu/files/attachment/basicpage/1923/mimukfinalreport_0.pdf

Chivers, Tom (December 10, 2019). Of course biological sex exists. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2019/12/yes-of-course-biological-sex-exists/

Chivers, Tom (December 10, 2019). The Left’s science denial. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/09/the-lefts-science-denial/

Chivers, Tom (April 2, 2015). 25 Quite Unexpected Facts About Sex. Buzzfeed https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomchivers/facts-about-sex

Chivers, Tommy (June 1, 2014). Whether or not Laverne Cox is a woman is not a question of biology; it’s a question of language. https://tommychivers.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/whether-or-not-laverne-cox-is-a-woman-is-not-a-question-of-biology-its-a-question-of-language/

Tom Chivers (June 1, 2008). Thai transvestites compete in Miss Tiffany Universe. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2061631/Thai-transvestites-compete-in-Miss-Tiffany-Universe.html

Resources

Tom Chivers (tomchivers.com)

WordPress (wordpress.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

i news (inews.co.uk)

Substack (substack.com)

Julie Burchill is a writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Julie Burchill was born on July 3, 1959 in Bristol. After graduating Brislington Comprehensive School, she began writing for New Musical Express in 1976. Her future husband Tony Parsons took an interest in the 17-year-old. They soon married, and she then started freelancing as a culture writer. They divorced in 1984.

She did a lot of drugs and wrote a lot of obnoxious things through the 1980s. She married Cosmo Landesman in 1985; that lasted 7 years. She co-founded Modern Review and had a brief affair with Charlotte Raven in the 1990s. She also lost a big libel case and several writing gigs. From 1998 to 2003 she had a weekly column at The Guardian, where she wrote anti-Irish pieces and supported the invasion of Iraq. She made Channel 4’s 2003 poll of 100 Worst Britons. She continued to fail upward, landing a gig at The Times until she was fired in 2007, returning to the Guardian, then a gig at The Independent for 18 months.

Anti-transgender activism

In 2013, Burchill wrote an article for The Observer defending  a transphobic piece by Suzanne Moore. Burchill quipped it showed “chutzpah” to have one’s “cock cut off and then plead special privileges as women.”

Burchill has since gone on to write many other anti-trans pieces.

References

Burchill, Julie (13 January 2013). “Transsexuals should cut it out”. The Observer.

^ Kaveney, Roz (13 January 2013). “Julie Burchill has ended up bullying the trans community”. The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2013.

^ Pearce, Ruth. “Transphobia in The Guardian: no excuse for hate speech”. Lesbilicious. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.

Philipson, Alice (13 January 2013). “Lynne Featherstone calls for Observer’s Julie Burchill to be sacked following ‘disgusting rant’ against transsexuals”. The Telegraph. London. Archived

Stephen Pritchard “Julie Burchill and the Observer, The readers’ editor on why the paper was wrong to publish slurs against trans people” The Guardian, 18 January 2013Archived

Burchill, Julie (19 April 2018) I knew I was right
 The Spectator https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/i-knew-i-was-right/

Tatlock, John (January 14, 2013). “Nasty Idiotic Tripe”: Stand Against Julie Burchill’s Years Of Transphobia. The Quietus https://thequietus.com/articles/11108-julie-burchill-suzanne-moore-transphobia

Bindel, Julie (March 19, 2018). Why you can’t rely on the news media to understand
 trans issues. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2018/03/cant-rely-news-media-understand-trans-issues/

Burchill, Julie (October 12, 2022). What incels and trans activists have in common. Spiked https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/10/12/what-incels-and-trans-activists-have-in-common/

Resources

Substack (substack.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Jonny Best is a British musician, researcher, and producer who identifies as a gender critical gay man.

Background

Jonathan “Jonny” Best worked in theatre as a director (with RSC, National Theatre etc), as a staff director in opera (ENO, Royal Opera & Opera North), in commercial theatre (pantomime, West End musicals and plays), classical music (with Aurora, BBC Scottish Symph, and ten years in association with City of London Sinfonia).

In 2005 Best became the artistic director of Manchester’s Queer Up North Festival. Best was criticized for inviting the act Bitch to perform after they had played the trans-exclusionary Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.

Best then produced Classical Sheffield, Festival of the North East, and Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.

Best began a doctorate degree in music at University of Huddersfield in 2016.

Activism

Best made a number of provocative statements, believing there are no such things as misgendering and deadnaming. Huddersfield University opened an investigation, but later apologized to Best.

Best has written for anti-trans publication UnHerd, arguing that “The marginalisation of sex in trans activism sits uneasily with the centrality of sex to lesbian and gay activism.”

Best is especially critical of UK’s Stonewall:

But this good-natured debate is as nothing compared to the division that has opened up in lesbian and gay communities following Stonewall’s 2015 decision to re-formulate homosexuality around the nebulous concept of “gender identity”. Its policy today, which it has promoted through its Diversity Champions scheme, is that biological sex is less important than self-declared “gender identity” — an inner feeling of being either man or woman, male or female, which, according to Stonewall, is an identity we all possess. It follows that biological males can be lesbians, and biological females can be gay men. To disagree is transphobic.

Stonewall’s strategy for dealing with the fallout has been to insist that there can be “no debate”, characterising entreaties to discussion as equal to debating trans people’s very existence.

References

Best, Jonny (August 2018). My first brush with trans activism and what I learned. Medium https://www.jonnybest.co.uk/my-first-experience-of-trans-activism

Best, Jonny (October 7, 2020). Why I can’t trust Stonewall any more. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2020/10/why-i-cant-trust-stonewall-any-more/

Best, Jonny (August 27, 2021) Stonewall’s greatest betrayal. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/08/stonewalls-greatest-betrayal/

Resources

Jonny Best (jonnybest.co.uk)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Jo Bartosch is a British writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Josephine Eleanor “Jo” Bartosch was born in August 1982.

Bartosch founded the group Chelt Fems, a network of feminist activists, academics and professionals. From 2017 to 2019 Bartosch was co-director with Sadia Hameed of Gloucester-based Critical Sisters, which “offers a platform for marginal feminist opinion with particular emphasis on unravelling the twin man-made beliefs of gender and religion.”

From 2019 to 2020 Bartosch was Director of Click Off Limited. Bartosch was replaced by Edward Charles Buxton after resigning.

From 2017 to 2018 Bartosch was a Co-Director of Libra Learning Ltd. with Sadia Hameed and Emma Robertson.

From 2018 to 2022, Bartosch was a Director of Not Buying It Ltd. with Naomi Paxton, Almudena Fernandez-Alonso, Edward Charles Buxton, Rebecca Mordan, Josephine Liptrott, Kate Kerrow, Ellen Mary Grogen, Jeremy Jonathan Coutinho, and Rachel Carline Bell. Bartosch resigned in May 2022.

Bartosch has authored several reports exploring the links between violence against women and commercial sexual entertainment.

References

Bartosch, Jo (September 14, 2017). What about the children who said they were transgender – and then changed their minds? The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/john-lewis-gender-neutrality-trangender-children-medicalisation-lesbian-gay-education-a7946426.html

Bartosch, Jo (). Why won’t progressives speak up about NHS conversion therapy? Kemi Badenoch laid out evidence of the practice in a letter today 07 FEB 2024

Bartosch, Jo (). Network Rail’s capitulation to Stonewall The railway company has been mocked for its The myth of JK Rowling’s ‘heart of darkness’ Another opinion column unfairly maligns the Harry Potter author 16 JAN 2024

Bartosch, Jo (). Britain has bigger problems than toothbrushing Keir Starmer’s jaw-dropping proposal will anger parents 12 JAN 2024

Bartosch, Jo (). Kemi Badenoch is right about Britain’s trans ‘epidemic’ Linguistic disputes can’t disguise the surge in referrals 14 DEC 2023

Bartosch, Jo (). Why is Doctor Who obsessing over pronouns? Britain’s public broadcaster is championing a niche ideology
27 NOV 2023

Bartosch, Jo (25 AUG 2023). The New York Times is finally standing up to trans censorship Advocacy groups have criticised the paper for its gender coverage

Bartosch, Jo (12 JUL 2023). Nancy Kelley leaves Stonewall in a mess The outgoing charity boss dragged a once-great organisation down a rabbit hole

Bartosch, Jo (). The problem with ‘cis’ Elon Musk has vowed to restrict the word on Twitter. 22 JUN 2023

Bartosch, Jo (13 JAN 2023). Tate criticised for Drag Queen Story Hour children’s readings Several groups claim the gallery is targeting kids with gender propaganda

Bartosch, Jo (04 MAY 2022). The Survivors’ Network succumbs to gender ideology The group is failing to provide women with all-female spaces.

Bartosch, Jo (16 FEB 2022). Unions are failing women The NEU is the latest to bow to trans activists

Bartosch, Jo (18 JAN 2022). Inside the Tory trans civil war 18 JAN 2022

Bartosch, Jo (09 DEC 2021). Inside the trans publishing purge

Bartosch, Jo (11 OCT 2021). Feminist “dinosaurs” are getting organised Protestors outside the Labour Party HQ were embracing David Lammy’s label

Bartosch, Jo (30 AUG 2018). When did women’s rights stop being human rights?

Critical Sisters Ltd Company number 10875625 Sadia Hameed and Jo Bartosch, Directors.

Resources

Josephine Bartosch (jobartosch.co.uk)

The Critic (thecritic.co.uk/author)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Spiked (spiked-online.com)

The Spectator (spectator.co.uk)

New Statesman (newstatesman.com)

Uncommon Ground (uncommongroundmedia.com)

Independent (independent.co.uk)

Feminist Current (feministcurrent.com)

Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk)

4W (4w.pub)

The Article (thearticle.com)

UnHerd (unherd.com)

Conatus News (conatusnews.com)

  • conatusnews.com/newlook/author/jbartosch/ [archive]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and former politician. Ali is an anti-Islam and anti-transgender activist. Ali is often associated with the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right.

Background

Ayaan Hirsi Magan was born November 13, 1969 in Mogadishu. Ali’s parent Hirsi Magan Isse was a political prisoner who escaped Somalia in 1977, eventually settling the family in Kenya.

In 1992 Ali sought asylum in The Netherlands to avoid an arranged marriage. Ali worked as a translator while earning a master’s degree in 2000 from Leiden University. Ali became a Muslim apostate around that time. Ali’s 2004 film “Submission” with Theo Van Gogh criticized Islam and led to Van Gogh’s murder. Ali faced threats and went into hiding. In 2006 an exposĂ© revealed Ali lied on the Dutch asylum application. Ali resigned from Parliament and was ultimately allowed to retain Dutch citizenship. Ali took a position at the American Enterprise Institute in the US, getting her green card in 2007.

In 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center listed Ali as an anti-Muslim extremist, though they later removed the whole list.

Ali created the AHA Foundation and has worked for conservative organizations like the Hoover Institution.

Anti-transgender activism

Ali wrote for anti-trans publication UnHerd:

Those who would divorce “woman” from its biological implications often present their ideas as innocuous. They are, we are told, simply champions of “inclusion”. But their ideology is hardly uncontroversial, and surrendering to it is not harmless. The past year has seen reports of transgender women attacking women in female-only spaces and unfairly winning trophies in women’s sports. The spirit of these failures was perhaps best-distilled in the words of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who in March was unable to define what being a woman entailed during her Senate confirmation hearing. “I’m not a biologist,” she said, as if one needed to be a professional scientist to know basic biological facts.

A word of clarification. I am immensely sympathetic to the plight of transgender people and believe they ought to have the same moral and legal rights as everyone else. To be against militant trans activists’ gender ideology is not to be transphobic. Rather, it is simply to agree, as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie succinctly put it, that “trans women are trans women”. Adichie was savaged for this and other statements evincing wrongthink, but acknowledging that trans women are distinct from women, that there are potential conflicts between their rights, and that gender ideology opens the door to abusive men masquerading as women, should not be controversial. Standing up for the rights of transgender people should not mean pretending sex does not exist altogether.

Podcast

Ali’s podcast logrolls for other anti-trans activists, including:

References

Ali, Ayaan Hirsi (December 27, 2022). The year the West erased women. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/12/the-year-the-west-erased-women/ 

Ali, Ayaan Hirsi (March 25, 2022). Do we need a Trans Olympics? UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/03/do-we-need-a-trans-olympics/

Resources

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (ayaanhirsiali.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Hoover Institution (hoover.org)

Zhana Vrangalova is an anti-trans psychologist and “autogynephilia” activist.

Background

Snezana Zhana Vrangalova was born in November 1981 in Skopje, Macedonia. Vrangalova earned a bachelor’s degree from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje. She earned a doctorate from Cornell University in 2014. She worked with Ritch Savin-Williams, Anthony Ong, and David Pizarro.

She was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at New York University in 2014. She authored the 2016 book The Casual Sex Project and often writes about hookup culture.

“Autogynephilia” activism

On April 13, 2015, Vrangalova made a comment about about the video game Gender Bender DNA Twister Extreme, summoning “autogynephilia” creator Ray Blanchard.

When video games & psych research clash w/ views of ‘politically correct’ http://ow.ly/LxZK4#GenderBender#autogynephilia @BlanchardPhD

On June 13, 2015 Vrangalova made a comment about Caitlyn Jenner that revealed her anti-trans views:

In all the #CaitlynJenner media madness, 1 thing went unsaid: That there are 2 types of trans women. #autogynephilia http://ow.ly/OcLji

The link went to religion site Patheos and an article by conversion therapist Warren Throckmorton discussing “autogynephilia” with unethical sexologist J. Michael Bailey.

When people pointed out the problem with her beliefs, she said:

I’m aware of the controversy, but there’s a lot of research to support #autogynephilia, pc or not pc.

When people pointed out that once-skeptical Bailey magically discovered bisexuality exists after getting paid by the American Institute of Bisexuality.

they didn’t “recant”, the conducted a study using more rigorous definition of “bisexual”.

It’s good science accepted by scientists.Those rejecting it r nonscientist activists who wrongly think it’s transphobic

Podcast

Vrangalova co-hosted the The Science of Sex podcast with Joe Pardavila from 2017 to 2019. Guests included a number of anti-trans sexologists associated with J. Michael Bailey, including James Cantor and Gerulf Rieger.

  • 1 Brian Dodge
  • 2 Michal Kosinski
  • 3 Lisa Dawn Hamilton
  • 4 James Pfaus
  • 5 Brooke Wells
  • 6 Ryan Scoats
  • 7 Lara Greaves
  • 8 Nan Wise
  • 9 Samuel L. Perry
  • 10 Kirstin Mitchell
  • 11 Sofia Jawed-Wessel
  • 12 Neil Malamuth
  • 13 Naomi Muggleton
  • Special from Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (2 parts)
    • Dayna Henry
    • Megan Maas
    • Ron Rogge
    • Margaret Bennett
    • Lauryn Vander Molen
  • 14 Justin Garcia
  • 15 Kayla Knopp
  • 16 David Frederick
  • 17 Justin Lehmiller
  • 18 [no guest]
  • 19 Kathryn Klement 
  • 20 Qazi Rahman
  • 21 Benjamin Breyer
  • 22 Cynthia Graham
  • 23 Ritch Savin-Williams
  • 24 Richard Wassersug
  • 25 J. Michael Bailey
  • 26 James Cantor 
  • 27 Jim Pfaus
  • 28 [no guest]
  • 29 Christian Joyal
  • 30 Dylan Selterman
  • 31 Lori Brotto
  • 32 Emily Rothman
  • 33 Dulcinea Pitagora
  • 34 Kirstin Mark
  • 35 Christian Grov
  • 36 Patrick Jern
  • 37 Amy C. Moors
  • 38 Amy Muise
  • 39 Jimmy Moran
  • 40 Tierney Lorenz
  • 41 [no guest]
  • 42 Justin Lehmiller
  • 43 Kaci Mial
  • 44 Kirstin Mitchell
  • 45 Wednesday Martin
  • 46 Gerulf Rieger
  • 47 Gregory D. Webster
  • 48 Menelaos Apostolou
  • 49 Eric W. Schrimshaw
  • 50 Seth Pardo
  • 52 Liam Wignall
  • 52 Pascal Wallisch
  • 53 Jessica Wood 
  • 54 Michelle Drouin
  • 55 Gideon Nave
  • 56 Kenneth Play 
  • 57 Kate Esterline
  • 58 Christina Parreira 
  • 59 Shayna Sparling

References

Molay, Jack (Oct 8, 2015). What Dr. Zhana Vrangalova Taught Me About Transphobia in Science. Crossdreamers https://jackmolay.medium.com/what-dr-zhana-vrangalova-taught-me-about-transphobia-in-science-c40dd244b68d

Throckmorton, Warren (June 11, 2015). What Kind of Woman is Caitlyn Jenner? Part One of a Q&A on Autogynephilia with Michael Bailey. Patheos https://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2015/06/11/what-kind-of-woman-is-caitlyn-jenner-part-one-of-a-qa-on-autogynephilia-with-michael-bailey/ [archive]

Vrangalova Z (Apr 13, 2015). https://twitter.com/DrZhana/status/587695608976248832 https://archive.ph/KWNkh

Vrangalova Z (Jun 13, 2015). https://twitter.com/DrZhana/status/609737211211325440 https://archive.is/wip/KtOZc

Resources

Dr. Zhana (drzhana.com)

The Casual Sex Project (casualsexproject.com)

Cornell College of Human Ecology (human.cornell.edu)

Freewebs (freewebs.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Danielle Crittenden Frum is a Canadian-American writer and anti-transgender activist.

Crittenden platformed many other anti-transgender activists while hosting the podcast The Femsplainers with Christina Hoff Sommers.

Background

Danielle Ann Crittenden was born April 20, 1963 in Toronto, Ontario. Crittenden’s parents and stepparent are all writers. After graduating from Northern Secondary School in 1981, Crittenden began working as a writer. Crittenden wrote a column for the New York Post and was a contributor at The Huffington Post.

Crittenden married David Frum in 1988 and converted to Judaism. They have three children, Miranda Ann Frum (1991–2024), Nathaniel Saul Frum (born 1993) and Beatrice Sarah Worthy Frum (born 2001). Much of Crittenden’s subsequent writing was on cooking, lifestyle, and parenting.

Anti-transgender activism

Crittenden is one of the higher-end “mommy bloggers,” a genre of writers and readers highly susceptible to anti-transgender radicalization. Crittenden’s 1999 book What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman lays out Crittenden’s conservative views.

From 2018 to 2022 Crittenden and Christina Hoff Sommers hosted the podcast The Femsplainers, which described trans women as “men identifying as women.” The hosts have suggested that trans women would violently attack people who questioned their gender identity. Their many anti-transgender guests over the years include Jordan Peterson, Debra Soh, Claire Lehmann, Meghan Murphy, Caitlin Flanagan, Emily Yoffe, Heather Heying, Bridget Phetasy, Andrew Sullivan, Meghan Daum, Mona Charen, Dave Rubin, Abigail Shrier, Bari Weiss, Katie Herzog, Corinna Cohn, “Angus Fox,” “Two mothers,” Carole Hooven, and Helen Joyce.

Crittenden is a biological essentialist and sex segregationist:

Denying or glossing over biological differences between men and women doesn’t help anyone — least of all women. As [Hadley] Freeman and others have observed, the legal and institutional brunt of ignoring these differences falls most heavily upon women (we don’t see transmen racing to be admitted to men’s prisons or compete in male sports, for example. Nor are transmen trying to cancel doctors who might recklessly assert their male patients more often than not possess prostate glands).

Crittenden (2022)

Crittenden further explained these positions to Inez Feltscher Stepman:

So that’s kind of the thread that keeps on going through all the conversations we’re having today, and that we’ve seen, I think, really magnified in these debates about trans, or there are 63 genders or whatever, that we’re trying again to deny any credibility to biological differences, to accept that there are biological differences. And the best way to deal with biological differences is to acknowledge them and think about how can we work with those to get the respect and equality and opportunities we all want as women, but without making the opposite sex the enemy. Also, without making the things we feel naturally as men or women somehow suspect or wrong or something we should suppress. If that makes sense.

Fletcher Stepman (2022)

References

Crittenden, Danielle (March 4, 2022). When The Sexes Blur There’s No Sex. The Femsplainers With Danielle Crittenden https://femsplainers.substack.com/p/when-the-sexes-blur-theres-no-sex

Stepman, Inez Feltscher (May 4, 2022). Danielle Crittenden – On Disappearing Feminine Allure, the Heated Battle Between the Sexes, and Whether Feminism Has Always Been Out of Touch. High Noon Podcast https://www.iwf.org/2022/05/04/danielle-crittenden-disappearing-feminine-allure-feminism-out-of-touch/

Frum, David (March 21, 2024) Miranda’s Last Gift. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/david-frum-miranda-daughter-grief/677815/

Obituary (February 21, 2024). Miranda Frum. The Globe and Mail https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/miranda-frum-obituary?id=54427346

Resources

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Substack (substack.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Fig Tree & Vine (figtreeandvine.com) [archive]

  • Lifestyle site “aimed at an affluent Jewish demographic”

Danielle Crittenden (daniellecrittenden.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

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HuffPost (huffpost.com)