Skip to content

The “gender critical” anti-transgender movement

The “gender critical” movement is a politically diverse alliance of people critical of gender identity and expression as it pertains to the transgender community.

Note: this is under development.

  • trans-exclusionary feminism (TERF)
  • trans-exclusionary sexual minorities (the GLB movement)
  • conservative and exclusionary transitioners (transmedicalists/transsexuals)
  • ethical objections (against some or all trans healthcare)
  • moral or spiritual objections (opposing “gender ideology”)
  • medical objections (“drugging,” “mutilating,” “sterilizing”)
  • political and legal objections (opposing trans rights through laws)
  • objections based on academic training
    • sexology
    • philosophy/ethics
    • psychology
  • sex segregationists
    • sports
    • incarceration
    • public accommodations
  • reproductive rights (opposing bodily autonomy)
  • age of consent (claiming minors or people under age 26 can’t give informed consent)
    • the “parental rights” movement
  • aesthetic objections
  • objections around attraction to transgender people
    • the “super straight” movement
    • exclusionary queer people (“cotton ceiling” etc.)
  • theoretical objections
  • appropriation objections
  • racial and ethnic objections
  • linguistic objections (especially gendered language like pronoun use)
  • free speech objections
    • art
    • comedy
    • journalism
  • criminological objections
  • regret objections (the “ex-trans” movement)
  • cisgender supremacists

Gender critical resources

Books

  • The Transsexual Empire by Janice Raymond
  • Gender Hurts by Sheila Jeffreys
  • Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective by Sheila Jeffreys
  • Galileo’s Middle Finger by Alice Dreger
  • The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society by Debra Soh
  • Transgender Body Politics by Heather Brunskell-Evans
  • Transgender Children and Young People: Born in Your Own Body by Heather Brunskell-Evans
  • Inventing Transgender Children and Young People by Heather Brunskell-Evans
  • The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey
  • Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female by Ashley McGuire
  • Female Erasure: What You Need To Know About Gender Politics’ War on Women, the Female Sex and Human Rights by Ruth Barrett
  • Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism by Mary Daly
  • What Is a Woman? by Matt Walsh
  • Blood and Visions: Womyn Reconciling with Being Female by Autotomous Womyn’s Press
  • Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier 
  • When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment by Ryan T. Anderson
  • The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men by Robert Jensen
  • Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism by Kathleen Stock
  • Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce
  • The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity by Douglas Murray
  • Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose
  • My Sister, Daisy by Adria Karlsson
  • Men Trapped in Men’s Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism by Anne A. Lawrence
  • The Corrosive Impact of Transgender Ideology by Joanna Williams
  • Re-Sisters: Stories of Desistance from Transgender Identification by Hailey Mangelsdorf
  • Desist, Detrans, & Detox: Getting Your Child Out of the Gender Cult by Maria Keffler

Websites

Quillette (quillette.com)

  • One of the most consistently gender critical outlets.

UnHerd (unherd.com)

  • One of the most consistently gender critical outlets.

Heterodox Academy

Sex and Gender: A Beginner’s Guide (sexandgenderintro.com)

Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine (segm.org)

LGB Alliance (lgballiance.org.uk)

4thWaveNow (4thwavenow.com)

Genspect (genspect.org)

Partners for Ethical Care (partnersforethicalcare.com)

Whose Body Is It (whosebodyisit.com)

Gender Identity Watch (genderidentitywatch.com)

GenderTrender (gendertrender.wordpress.com)

  • Gallus Mag / Linda V. Shanko
  • Created in December 2010; suspended for policy violations in November 2018 [archive]
  • Restarted as gendertrending.com (active 2019–2020) [archive]

Transgender Trend (transgendertrend.com)

 Women’s Human Rights Campaign (womensdeclaration.com)

  • Women’s Declaration on Human Rights

Other gender critical groups (many of which are nonexistent/astroturfing)

  • Independent Women’s Forum
  • Woman’s Place UK
  • Fair Play for Women
  • Feminist Salon
  • Gender Park
  • Survivors With Biros
  • It’s About Eve
  • Women’s Guild NSW
  • Looking at the big picture
  • Church of All Worlds
  • Coalition for a Feminist Agenda
  • PBB Media
  • Rethinking Eve LLC
  • Fight Slavery Now!
  • Make More Noise!
  • Margaret Birdseye
  • Australian Radical Feminists
  • Birmingham ReSisters
  • Critical Sisters
  • Get the L Out
  • End the War on Women Collective
  • Leeds Spinners
  • Lesbian Rights Alliance
  • Mayday4Women
  • South London & Kent ReSisters
  • WOLF (Women’s Liberation Front)
  • International Women’s Day, Brisbane Meanjin
  • #OccupiedAustralia
  • Standing for Women
  • Erinyes Autonomous Activist Lesbians
  • PDF Quebec
  • Haringey ReSisters
  • RadFem Collective
  • DC574
  • Center for Civil Courage
  • Fair Go for Queensland Women
  • Women’s Rights Action Group Edinburgh
  • Forwomen.scot
  • Canadian Women’s Declaration
  • Alberta Radfems
  • Edmonton Women and Allies Against the Sex Industry
  • The last shall be the first
  • REAL for Women
  • Georgia Green Party
  • Labour Women’s Declaration
  • Conservative Women’s Pledge
  • Liberal Democrats’ Grassroots Challenge to Policy on Women’s Sex Based Rights
  • Women Uniting
  • Anti Fascist Feminists
  • Deep Green Resistance
  • Women’s Action Group
  • Women Speak Tasmania
  • Feminists in Struggle
  • Safe Schools Alliance UK
  • WEP Women’s Sex-Based Rights Caucus
  • Leeds ReSisters
  • Hull and East Yorkshire ReSisters
  • Campaign Against Sex Robots
  • Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights – caWsbar
  • Royal Berkshire ReSisters
  • Transgender Trend
  • Maternity Consumer Network
  • Australian Feminist Lesbians for Equity
  • Women’s Space Vancouver
  • Radicailin
  • The Countess Didn’t Fight for This
  • Keep Prisons Single Sex
  • Campaign4Truth
  • LGB Alliance Ireland
  • Merched Cymru
  • Women’s Liberation Aotearoa
  • Partners for Ethical Care
  • Making Herstory
  • CIAMS-ICASM International Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogate Motherhood
  • Kerry Women’s Resource Centre
  • Temple of Diana, Inc
  • The Foundation for Families
  • Breaking Free
  • Victorian Women’s Guild
  • Greater Manchester Doulas CIC
  • Inga Thompson Foundation
  • The Vulva Temple of Witchcraft
  • Australian Lesbian Health Coalition
  • women@thewell
  • Stigamót
  • Zonta Club of Glens Falls
  • FOVAS (Female Only Violence and Abuse Survivors)
  • Freedom Programme
  • Shakti Moon Foundation
  • Women’s Liberation Radio News
  • Women’s Voices Matter
  • Crones Counsel
  • Edmonton Small Press Association
  • Radical Womyn Film Festival
  • An American Conversation Podcast
  • WREE – Women for Racial and Economic Equality
  • ACPicks Press
  • We Need To Talk
  • Ananke
  • Feminist Heretic
  • Radical Matriarchy
  • XX-Power Nation
  • Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre Ltd.
  • Audacious Women Festival
  • In Mothering
  • LesbianMeToo
  • Lesbian Echoes

Responses to the movement

What Is “TAnon”?

Contrapoints (March 30, 2019) Gender Critical

References

Parsons, Vic (June 7, 2021). So-called ‘gender-critical’ feminists are ‘peddling the far-right agenda’, warns Institute of Race Relations. PinkNews https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/06/07/gender-critical-feminism-far-right-agenda-institute-race-relations-trans-transphobia/

Zanghellini, Aleardo (May 26, 2020). Philosophical problems with the gender-critical feminist argument against trans inclusion. SAGE Open https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020927029

(June 5, 2021). A backlash against gender ideology is starting in universities. The Economist https://www.economist.com/international/2021/06/04/a-backlash-against-gender-ideology-is-starting-in-universities

Resources

The TERFs (theterfs.com)

  • Analysis by trans historian Cristan Williams