Michael Biggs aka “Henry Wimbush” is a sociologist from New Zealand known for anti-transgender extremism. In 2018 investigative journalists revealed that Biggs was behind the “Henry Wimbush” persona posting anti-trans propaganda online.
Biggs is involved in anti-trans group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM). Biggs also works closely with Stephanie Davies-Arai at anti-trans site Transgender Trend.
Background
Michael Biggs was born in New Zealand, earned an undergraduate degree at Victoria University of Wellington, and then pursued doctoral study at Harvard University. Biggs then took a role as Associate Professor of Sociology and Fellow of St Cross College at the University of Oxford.
Via anti-trans organization SEGM:
Biggsâ research focuses on social movements and collective protest. The transgender movement first attracted his attention for its extraordinary success in changing social norms and government policies. When he looked for empirical evidence to justify medical interventions on children and adolescents, he was surprised that there was so little and it was of such poor quality. His research on Britainâs experiment with puberty blockers has been widely reported in newspapers and on the BBC.
Transphobic comments as “Henry Wimbush”
In 2018, reporters at Oxford University exposed Biggs as the transphobic Twitter poster “Henry Wimbush,” a self-described âteenage shitlord to Oxford professor.â
Professor of Sociology and Fellow of St Cross College Michael Biggs has been posting transphobic statements online under the Twitter handle @MrHenryWimbush, The Oxford Student can reveal.
The Twitter account, named Henry Wimbush and still online at the time of publication, has been tweeting statements such as âtransphobia is a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate moronsâ since first Tweeting in January.
[…]
The account also Tweeted that the British medical journal The Lancet âendorses eugenicsâ, tagged â#transthegayawayâ, in response to an article from the journal which states that âbased on empirical evidence, clinician consensus, and results of non-randomised and observational studies [âŠ] [hormone] treatment should depend on an individualâs ability to make informed decisions, duration of puberty suppression, any coexisting health issues, and the level of family support.â
References
Ashworth J, Willis C (26 October 2018). Transphobic tweets linked to Oxford sociology professor. Oxford Student https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2018/10/26/transphobic-tweets-linked-to-oxford-sociology-professor/
Written evidence submitted by Dr Michael Biggs [PDF} https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/16943/pdf/
Biggs M (2022). Queer Theory and the Transition from Sex to Gender in English Prisons. Controversial Ideas 2022, 2(1), 2; https://dooi.org/10.35995/jci02010002
Biggs M (2020). Comment: Puberty Blockers and Suicidality in Adolescents Suffering from Gender Dysphoria. Arch Sex Behav 2020 Oct;49(7):2227-2229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01743-6.
Biggs M (2021). âConversion Therapyâ & Gender Identity Survey: an analysis by Michael Biggs. Transgender Trend https://www.transgendertrend.com/conversion-therapy-gender-identity-survey-analysis/
Biggs M (2019). Tavistockâs Experimentation with Puberty Blockers: Scrutinizing the Evidence. Transgender Trend [PDF] https://www.transgendertrend.com/tavistock-experiment-puberty-blockers/
- Part 2: An Update: https://www.transgendertrend.com/tavistock-experiment-puberty-blockers-update/
- Part 3: The Health Research Authority Report
- Part 4: The Judicial Review https://www.transgendertrend.com/tavistock-experiment-puberty-blockers-judicial-review/
- Part 5: The Belated Results https://www.transgendertrend.com/the-tavistocks-experiment-with-puberty-blockers-part-5-the-belated-results/
- Part 6: The Effects on Bone Density
Resources
Oxford Department of Sociology (sociology.ox.ac.uk)
SEGM (segm.org)
Twitter (twitter.com)