Julia Serano Profile picture
Jun 18, 2018 42 tweets 12 min read Read on X
THREAD: earlier I tweeted about Jesse Singal's long history of writing fearmongering anti-#trans/GNC #children articles (+ also treating me & other trans women shittily): #transgender #LGBTQ #health #psychology
...Here I will "live tweet" Singal's latest Atlantic article, which is in the same vein as the others. If I was teaching a journalism class, I'd use this latest article as an example of how to write a highly biased piece that comes across as "fair & balanced" as possible...
...and since people unfamiliar with this subject will no doubt be unaware of all the misinformation & biases at work here, I'm gonna do math to it! I'm dividing it into 14 sections, each of which begins with its own header (aka, giant capital letter)...
...to be clear, I don't doubt any personal stories he shares, nor do I dismiss any individual opinion expressed here. I'm just saying that his overall presentation/emphases/omissions paint a distorted picture, one that is in line with his history of penning anti-trans pieces...
(btw, my apologies in advance for being an extremely a slow writer)
...let's begin w/sections 1 & 2, which focus on Claire & her family. At 12, Claire thought about transitioning to male, but now (at 14) identifies as female. there was no GD diagnosis here, just YouTube videos & online info...
plus, at that young of an age, no physical interventions. but this sets up the premise of the piece: "kids are being rushed into transitioning & irreversible procedures," even though neither happened in this case...
...a side-note: many now-happily-transitoned adults (including myself) had pre-teen desires to transition that we then transcended/repressed during teen years, only to transition later...
I am *not* saying this will happen to Claire. but it's extremely disingenuous of Singal to portray this as though "see, Claire was cisgender all along," when he knows all of this is more complicated than that...
for the trans-unaware, I discuss all of these complications in this essay: medium.com/@juliaserano/d…
- it's a long-read b/c this is all far more nuanced than Singal depicts it...
...anyway, section 3 ("THE NUMBER OF SELF-IDENTIFYING TRANS PEOPLE...") talks about the rise in trans-identification, and all the "pro-trans articles" that are supposedly being written, as though this were the 2014 "Transgender Tipping Point" era...
In reality, way more trans-antagonistic & trans-suspicious articles are being penned these days (especially in the UK) these days than the opposite. This omission is super-f-ing glaring, and makes this seem like a "pro-trans section" (for balance) when it's a mere distortion...
section 4 ("WE ARE STILL IN THE EARLIEST STAGES") frames the gender-affirming approach as a debate between those rushing kids into irreversible procedures vs those who are more hesitant (who he calls "competent" later on). THERE IS NO DISCUSSION OF HOW AFFIRMING ≠ TRANSITION!!!
...affirming approaches treat children differently, depending on who/where they are, whether they are "insistent/persistent/consistent" (a phrase Singal never utters once in his piece). but he does talk about surgeries, which no affirming practitioners advocate for trans kids...
...also (unsurprisingly) not mentioned in this section: forcing insistent/persistent/consistent trans kids to delay transition until after puberty is ALSO IRREVERSIBLE, and may lead to otherwise unnecessary surgeries/procedures...
section 5 ("FOR GENDER-DYSPHORIC PEOPLE, physical transition can be life enhancing") is a short section immediately followed by section 6 ("FOR GENDER-QUESTIONING CHILDREN AND TEENS the landscape is different"). this continues the lie...
......that the gender-affirming approach = rushing to hormones/surgery, and ignores gender diversity. like, seriously, READ ANY GENDER-AFFIRMING RESEARCH PAPER AND IT'S OBVIOUS THIS IS NOT THE CASE! Singal is blatantly/purposefully misrepresenting here...
interesting side-note: in section 6, Singal acknowledges that gender-reparative therapies are now considered unethical. In which case, he might want to go back & retract some of his earlier articles on the subject: juliaserano.blogspot.com/2016/02/placin…
taking a breather for a few minutes. be back shortlly. in meantime, if you appreciate this and other work I do, please consider supporting me on Patreon: patreon.com/juliaserano/ov…
ok, back now. so to summarize so far, the first two sections of Singal's piece were dedicated to Claire (a non-diagnosed person who never transitioned) & the next 4 to misrepresenting gender-affirming approaches as being "universally accepted" (ha!) and...
...and pushing a one-size-fits-all "rushing kids into transition" agenda, which they don't (although readers won't be aware of this, because Singal never even brings up "insistent/persistent/consistent" or gender-affirming recognition of non-binary & gender-questioning kids)...
...so it's only at this late point that Singal finally shares first-hand experiences of trans kids who who've benefited from socially transitioning & have their identities affirmed. whoops. my bad, actually before that happens, we get 2 sections about kids who detransition...
...as I've said many times before, some people detransition, and should be able to tell their stories. but hacks like Singal are determined to pit their stories against those who are happily transitioned, when our stories are not 100% mutually-exclusive: tinyurl.com/y8x6rmxx
...section 9 ("WHEN IT COMES TO HELPING TGNC young people") is centered on a psychologist who predicted all this (detransitioning & desistance) all would happen...
...finally, it's not until section 10 (of 14) that we meet our first happily transitioned subjects of the piece, Scott & Orion. of course, the section begins with the line: "COMPETENT CLINICIANS do occasionally challenge their clients’ conception of their gender identity"...
...the logic implying that it's "competent" to challenge clients' gender identities, and that this (and this alone, since we've been given no other positive example) leads to happy trans lives...
...anyway, the final sections are more back-and-forth along the false dichotomy/misrepresentation Singal has established between "rushing kids into hormones/surgery" vs "competent" delaying and diagnosing...
...by this point, readers have a skewed view & are oblivious to the actual concerns that drive gender-affirming approaches, which I describe & cite here: medium.com/@juliaserano/r…
okay, finally stepping away from the computer for a bit. if you appreciate this and other work I do, please consider supporting me on Patreon: patreon.com/juliaserano/ov…
[ooops. unintended thread break, we continue here...] ...the logic implying that it's "competent" to challenge clients' gender identities, and that this (and this alone, since we've been given no other positive example) leads to happy trans lives...
...by this point, readers have a skewed view & are oblivious to the actual concerns that drive gender-affirming approaches, which I describe & cite here: medium.com/@juliaserano/r…
that's it for now. if you appreciate me spending the time on this thread, and the other work/writings I do, please consider supporting me on Patreon: patreon.com/juliaserano/ov…
...upon re-reading this thread this morning, I wanted to add a couple more points. first, forgot to mention that Singal spends section 12 ("WHEN PARENTS DISCUSS") forwarding the anti-trans talking point of "social contagion"...
there is absolutely no scientific/research evidence that "social contagion" is making kids trans, but Singal promotes it anyway, even though there are simpler, less sinister, explanations for increase in trans identities
medium.com/@juliaserano/t…
As I've outlined in this thread, nearly every step of the way, Singal both emphasizes & personalizes the potential horror stories of early transitioning, while omitting or overlooking both positive stories of early social transition for insistent/persistent/consistent trans kids
...as well as the horror stories of delayed transitions & parents who disaffirm their children's identities. Regarding the latter, here is a review of that research (none of which Singal discusses); source: cfp.ca/content/64/5/3…
...Singal's horror stories only go in one direction (what if "cis kids" accidentally transition?). but what about the potential harm to trans kids if we deny their genders until after puberty? Singal never shares scenarios like this; source: medium.com/@juliaserano/d…
...while Singal doesn't explicitly state it, his article (like all his previous ones) is an argument for pushing back the age trans kids can self-ID & transition until well into teenage years. If he believes that, fine, let him write an f-ing op-ed!
...but let's not pretend that Singal is a dispassionate uninvested journalist who is sharing all sides of the story, because he most certainly isn't...
finally, I agree with this line from Singal's last section. But pushing back the age of transition & self-ID *is* a one-size-fits-all approach. In contrast, gender-affirming approaches respect the fact that trans/GNC children are diverse from one another & have different needs.
another thought about Singal's The Atlantic piece, regarding editorial failure (or purposeful direction), whichever it was... source: patreon.com/posts/19542136 #LGBTQ #trans #transgender #health #children #psychology
fwiw, I've started work on a new piece - a guide of sorts - for how to write about #trans/GNC #children issues in a fair way, w/o pitting gender minorities against one another. perhaps it will come out next week, probably on my Medium channel: medium.com/@juliaserano/l…

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More from @JuliaSerano

Sep 19, 2018
if you are interested in inviting me to speak at your college or conference, please check out my recently revamped booking webpage: juliaserano.com/booking.html – in this THREAD I will share some of my most requested talks...
my most frequently requested talk continues to be "Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive" – it is based on my 2nd book Excluded, although I've added some newer material to it in the last few years... juliaserano.com/booking.html#E… #feminism #LGBTQ #queer #activism
...another popular talk is "I'll See It When I Believe It: On Perception and Gender Entitlement" juliaserano.com/booking.html#s… #trans #transgender #feminism #gender #sexism
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Sep 12, 2018
hey #SanFrancisco, come see me play music (as @softvowelsounds) next week (Thurs Sept 20th) at @elriosf along with the excellent @ShawnaVirago & Gender Trash! all details on the FB event page: facebook.com/events/4507133… #queer #trans #music #bands
btw, if you haven't heard my music yet, you can listen at the Bandcamp *soft vowel sounds* (softvowelsounds.bandcamp.com) & Bitesize (bitesize.bandcamp.com) sites! #queer #trans #music #bands #indiepop #noisepop #LGBTQ #transgender #feminist
...and you particularly appreciate #trans-themed songs, I have lots of those - I compile many of them (including my "Lola" parody "Ray") in the post "#Transgender-themed #artists, #bands, #music, #songs & anthems." juliaserano.blogspot.com/2014/12/transg…
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Sep 11, 2018
a THREAD based on my latest piece: I've heard many complaints over the years about how "born that way" arguments are essentialist or pathologizing, and some #LGBTQ folks will say "why do we even have to explain why we exist?"... medium.com/@juliaserano/t… #transgender #queer
...while I sympathize with such sentiments, they overlook the main reason *why* "born that way" arguments have been successful, namely, because they assuage longstanding fears that queerness is somehow contagious. medium.com/@juliaserano/t… #trans #transgender #LGBTQ #queer
...another thing I implicitly tried to convey in this piece is that, while I don't believe #trans or #LGBTQ are "contagious," the social stigma projected on us most certainly is - this is what sociologists call "courtesy stigma"... medium.com/@juliaserano/t… #transgender #queer
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Sep 5, 2018
last week I wrote two follow up essays regarding the whole ongoing "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria" controversy - you can access them both via my latest Patreon update - and while you're at it, please consider supporting me there! patreon.com/posts/21230320
and for those who haven't seen my ROGD meme, but wish to experience it in all it's glory, here it is...
if you are looking for more critical reviews of the Littman paper & ROGD more generally, I encourage you to read @ButNotTheCity's Medium essay... medium.com/@florence.ashl…
Read 4 tweets
Sep 4, 2018
My first day back from a social media break, I find out that Ray Blanchard is trying to pathologize me from afar. Yet again...
kinda rich to be called "prolix" by the guy who authored a series of 7–10 papers detailing an ornate and farfetched (& subsequently disproven) theory that can basically be boiled down to: all trans women are perverts, and any trans woman who disagrees with me on this is a liar...
I suppose I may as well share my main 3 debunking-autogynephilia-theory papers. my most thorough is "The Case Against Autogynephilia" (2010) - if it seems too "prolix", it's because Blanchard's theory is chockfull of jargon & caveats that I had to address tinyurl.com/q2whgeu
Read 5 tweets
Aug 28, 2018
okay, I just responded to all the questions and accusations here: medium.com/@juliaserano/r… #trans #transgender #LGBTQ #children #health #psychology #science
btw, I've spent almost all of my last 10 days writing the original piece & responding to it. neither essays are monetized, as I want them to be as accessible as possible. so if you appreciate all this work, please consider supporting me on Patreon: patreon.com/juliaserano/ov…
I am exhausted & in dire need of an internet break. but before I go, here are the most pertinent passages of this follow up essay. if you like them, please RT: medium.com/@juliaserano/r…
Read 7 tweets

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