This is an edited version of a lengthier email sent to one anonymous reader's district officials and school board. Details specific to the district have been edited. The topic pertains to proposed changes which would grant students access to private facilities and sports based on “gender identity,” keep at-school gender transitions secret from parents, compel teachers to use “preferred pronouns” or risk being fired, and allow trans-identified students and chaperones accommodation on overnight field trips based on gender identity, not sex.
I really don’t know how to work Substack that well obviously I just hate that it keeps coming on randomly and there’s no way to get rid of that particular post or any for that matter goes to the archives And I don’t want it in my archives
On that note our goal should be to limit hormonal intervention availability to adults, who can choose to switch with a cognizant of mind and not the adolescent maturity of a child.
If that becomes the overwhelming fight by those against this idiocy, people will start to listen and agree, just like with partial abortion limits instead of a full on ban.
I wish I could get every politician in the Democratic party to read this. Their position on trans rights, though well-intentioned, is erasing legal protections for women and subjecting school kids and athletes to what would be considered sex crimes in other settings. True compassion would be to keep this issue out of schools completely.
Brilliant, very well meaning, but WAY too long. The "Exercise In Critical Thinking" starts with "Indulge me for a moment" then goes on and on and on and on. That part needs to be cut out. Just stick to the facts.
This is just stellar: the quality and scope of the arguments, their intellectual rigor, and the many additional resources, which may be the most comprehensive list I have seen anywhere. Thanks so much for the hard work and thought that went into this. It's a model for parents everywhere confronting schools that now act as mouthpieces for gender ideologues, to the profound detriment of the children who are their charges.
If you do not know the extent to which your local schools have imbibed the Kool-Aid, I found this useful group online: https://defendinged.org/map/ It can guide you through the process of filing a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, to determine just how bad things are, or aren't, in your local schools.
I awoke angry this morning that so much valuable mental energy is being diverted to counter the combination of madness/mental illness/purposeful-indoctrination-to-nefarious-ends known as gender ideology. I wouldn't indulge it at all if ideologues weren't reifying their delusions into policy and law, to the harm of youth, especially girls, and women, especially lesbians. So here we are, our energies given to arguing the patently self-evident -- one sex cannot change into the other, children should not be medically and surgically mutilated -- while problems rooted in actual reality (climate change, anyone? species extinction? the age-old violence of war?) continue to get worse. In a sane world, none of this gender identity crapola would need to be dignified with a response, and we could turn our energies elsewhere, where they are desperately needed.
I hate that we do not live in a sane world, that this fight must be fought. But I'm glad -- here in PITT and in other expanding pockets of resistance -- to find myself in good company.
My thoughts on the decision to mention sexual paraphilia in the letter:
Autogynephilia (AGP) and autoandrophilia / autohomoeroticism (AAP/AHE) are such tricky, sticky subjects. On the one hand, explaining the recent explosion of trans-identified individuals without acknowledging the existence of sexual paraphilia is like explaining the U.S. Civil War without acknowledging the existence of slavery. You're forced to talk around one of the central causes of the situation in question, and inevitably you can't account for all the facts. The lacuna undermines any narrative that you construct.
On the other hand, AGP and AAP/AHE are a tough, tough sell for anyone who hasn't already seen these paraphilias in action. A trans widow who somehow hasn't heard of AGP will have a "eureka!" moment as soon as the concept is introduced to her. So will many lesbians who have made the mistake of seeking a girlfriend on a dating app. (So many men in sloppy makeup putting their terrifying fetishes on full display . . . so . . . many . . .) But the nice, normal, left-leaning straight woman who's married to a nice, normal man? If you try to tell her about AGP, she'll write you off as a crackpot and a bigot. You'll come across as some kind of Westboro Baptist Church-style nutcase who stands on streetcorners ranting about gay men eating poop and shoving gerbils up each other's butts.
Even many people who are otherwise skeptical of gender ideology stop short of fully recognizing paraphilia for what it is. Many parents who don't for a second believe that their son is really a "trans lesbian" or their daughter is really a "trans gay boy" refuse to consider that these identities arise in part (or perhaps even in whole) from a sexual fetish; virtually any other explanation is more palatable. Radfems have a pretty good grasp on AGP but tend to regard "trans gay boys" as victims of misogyny who can't imagine having an equal, mutually respectful relationship with a man unless they are men themselves. (There may be a grain of truth in the radfem account of "trans gay boys," but the fact is that most of them suffer from a dysfunctional sexual obsession with gay men that goes far beyond a misguided attempt to escape from the porn-poisoned hellscape of heterosexual dating.)
And as difficult as it is to talk about AGP and AAP/AHE as the motivation for adult transition, it's infinitely more difficult to talk about them as the motivation for teenage transition. Any discussion of sexuality in minors inevitably comes across as prurient, if not borderline pedophilic.
All of this is to say that I'm not certain it is a strategic decision to raise the subject of AGP and AAP/AHE when communicating with school administrators. And if the subject is raised, I think it calls for very, very careful handling. You can't assume that the person you are communicating with will be familiar with the concept or open to giving it a fair hearing.
I really don’t know how to work Substack that well obviously I just hate that it keeps coming on randomly and there’s no way to get rid of that particular post or any for that matter goes to the archives And I don’t want it in my archives
I’m talking about this Letters to the school board.
I want to delete this post it keeps coming on and I already read it and I don’t need to hear it
On that note our goal should be to limit hormonal intervention availability to adults, who can choose to switch with a cognizant of mind and not the adolescent maturity of a child.
If that becomes the overwhelming fight by those against this idiocy, people will start to listen and agree, just like with partial abortion limits instead of a full on ban.
Moderation brings the majority to acceptance.
https://forwomen.scot/
Congratulations !
https://open.substack.com/pub/portlanddissent/p/an-honorable-suicide?r=als5r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I wish I could get every politician in the Democratic party to read this. Their position on trans rights, though well-intentioned, is erasing legal protections for women and subjecting school kids and athletes to what would be considered sex crimes in other settings. True compassion would be to keep this issue out of schools completely.
Brilliant, very well meaning, but WAY too long. The "Exercise In Critical Thinking" starts with "Indulge me for a moment" then goes on and on and on and on. That part needs to be cut out. Just stick to the facts.
This is just stellar: the quality and scope of the arguments, their intellectual rigor, and the many additional resources, which may be the most comprehensive list I have seen anywhere. Thanks so much for the hard work and thought that went into this. It's a model for parents everywhere confronting schools that now act as mouthpieces for gender ideologues, to the profound detriment of the children who are their charges.
If you do not know the extent to which your local schools have imbibed the Kool-Aid, I found this useful group online: https://defendinged.org/map/ It can guide you through the process of filing a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, to determine just how bad things are, or aren't, in your local schools.
I awoke angry this morning that so much valuable mental energy is being diverted to counter the combination of madness/mental illness/purposeful-indoctrination-to-nefarious-ends known as gender ideology. I wouldn't indulge it at all if ideologues weren't reifying their delusions into policy and law, to the harm of youth, especially girls, and women, especially lesbians. So here we are, our energies given to arguing the patently self-evident -- one sex cannot change into the other, children should not be medically and surgically mutilated -- while problems rooted in actual reality (climate change, anyone? species extinction? the age-old violence of war?) continue to get worse. In a sane world, none of this gender identity crapola would need to be dignified with a response, and we could turn our energies elsewhere, where they are desperately needed.
I hate that we do not live in a sane world, that this fight must be fought. But I'm glad -- here in PITT and in other expanding pockets of resistance -- to find myself in good company.
Thank you, so powerful and confirming my feelings of what is happening to our teens, including my own daughter.
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! Thank you for this amazing document that shouts out truth.
I don't just like, I love this! Thank you.
An amazingly truthful letter: I'm in awe! Bless you!
My thoughts on the decision to mention sexual paraphilia in the letter:
Autogynephilia (AGP) and autoandrophilia / autohomoeroticism (AAP/AHE) are such tricky, sticky subjects. On the one hand, explaining the recent explosion of trans-identified individuals without acknowledging the existence of sexual paraphilia is like explaining the U.S. Civil War without acknowledging the existence of slavery. You're forced to talk around one of the central causes of the situation in question, and inevitably you can't account for all the facts. The lacuna undermines any narrative that you construct.
On the other hand, AGP and AAP/AHE are a tough, tough sell for anyone who hasn't already seen these paraphilias in action. A trans widow who somehow hasn't heard of AGP will have a "eureka!" moment as soon as the concept is introduced to her. So will many lesbians who have made the mistake of seeking a girlfriend on a dating app. (So many men in sloppy makeup putting their terrifying fetishes on full display . . . so . . . many . . .) But the nice, normal, left-leaning straight woman who's married to a nice, normal man? If you try to tell her about AGP, she'll write you off as a crackpot and a bigot. You'll come across as some kind of Westboro Baptist Church-style nutcase who stands on streetcorners ranting about gay men eating poop and shoving gerbils up each other's butts.
Even many people who are otherwise skeptical of gender ideology stop short of fully recognizing paraphilia for what it is. Many parents who don't for a second believe that their son is really a "trans lesbian" or their daughter is really a "trans gay boy" refuse to consider that these identities arise in part (or perhaps even in whole) from a sexual fetish; virtually any other explanation is more palatable. Radfems have a pretty good grasp on AGP but tend to regard "trans gay boys" as victims of misogyny who can't imagine having an equal, mutually respectful relationship with a man unless they are men themselves. (There may be a grain of truth in the radfem account of "trans gay boys," but the fact is that most of them suffer from a dysfunctional sexual obsession with gay men that goes far beyond a misguided attempt to escape from the porn-poisoned hellscape of heterosexual dating.)
And as difficult as it is to talk about AGP and AAP/AHE as the motivation for adult transition, it's infinitely more difficult to talk about them as the motivation for teenage transition. Any discussion of sexuality in minors inevitably comes across as prurient, if not borderline pedophilic.
All of this is to say that I'm not certain it is a strategic decision to raise the subject of AGP and AAP/AHE when communicating with school administrators. And if the subject is raised, I think it calls for very, very careful handling. You can't assume that the person you are communicating with will be familiar with the concept or open to giving it a fair hearing.
[He slowly stands to his feet with his mouth open, clapping slowly, then slightly faster. He then begins cheering,] “Bravo! Brav-effing-o!”
That was magnificent!