The concept of “republican motherhood” emerged in the late 1700s and post-Revolution in the United States, as early Americans believed that educated women would use their knowledge to go beyond their station and potentially threaten to be the first American female academies. This idea of an educated woman became known as “republican motherhood”, which aimed to raise children to practice the principles of republicanism, making them perfect citizens of a new nation.
The ideology of Republican Motherhood represented women’s roles during the American Revolution and in the foundation of the early United States. It centered on the belief that patriots’ daughters should be raised to uphold the ideals of republicanism, passing on republican values to the next generation. The key idea of Republican Motherhood was that women were responsible for the early education of boys who would someday become voting citizens.
Ministers like Reverend Thomas Bernard were major promoters of Republican Motherhood, viewing it as a way for women to live a moral life. Through Republican Motherhood, women integrated and masked political behavior with domestic behavior. While most historians focus on the positive side of this role, letters to John Adams highlight both a darker side.
Post-revolutionary women adopted Republican Motherhood as an ideology that carved out a political niche for themselves. This chapter considers the notion of Republican Motherhood, which sought to constrain women within the domestic sphere, and its influence on the educated women. As with the abolition of slavery, changes for women would not come overnight.
📹 The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling | ContraPoints
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📹 I Debunked Evolutionary Psychology
Hello people who read the description. Why are you here? The video’s up there. Well to give you a basic rundown… men’s …
As a women who has been assaulted by multiple cis men, I understand fearing sexist violence. But you know who else understands this? Trans women. I was actually saved from possible assault once by a trans woman who found me drugged and vomiting in the street outside a bar – she immediately recognised that I was unsafe and called her friends back to come help me. Multiple men walked passed me before this and even joked about me having “one too many”… they weren’t trying to be cruel they just never considered how dangerous my position was. It took a woman to recognise how scary my predicament was, it had happened to her before. Im not saying that sexist violence is what makes us women, but I do think fear mongering about violent trans women distracts from the far far more common issue of violent cis men. This is why the right wing loves transphobia so much, because it turns the ire of so-called feminists against other women and away from men, thus allowing right wing men to quietly hold on to their seat at the top
So… Anita was worried about how being around gay people could influence children, but she was not worried how being raised by a father who abused their mother could influence HER children? She didn’t think that would lead her kids to have a problematic view of marriage, relationships, men, etc.? Yep, makes total sense.
the really brutal thing about Megan is that that she’s horrified about how destructive and damaging her behavior originally was, but the position she’s in now is actually a lot more dangerous and a lot more meaningfully destructive, because there are vastly more people who will listen to her from where she is now who never would have listened to the Obvious Lunatic From Westboro
This article promted me to do a little bit more research on Anita Bryant. As I’m not from the US and this part of history isn’t really well known here. Turns out, that when she tried to give a concert in my country (The Netherlands) in 1977, it sparked a huge protest. So huge in fact that that was the first Dutch Pride.
I’m a cis lesbian. I hate this crazy online narrative that we’re ‘anti-trans’… I haven’t met a single one lesbian like that IRL. The whole narrative about “trans people being predators” leaves a REALLY bad taste in my mouth… (That’s the language h0m0phobes have been using to demonize us for decades. Insane, offensive stereotypes like these kept me from coming out for 20+ f*cking years.) The L in LGBT comes first because of the support lesbians showed to gay men and trans women during the AIDS crisis. The huge majority of lesbians have always supported and stood up for the Gs, Bs, and Ts. 🥰💖🌈
When I was at pride, there was a woman shooting pictures of us while we walked in the parade. We smiled nicely at her, but then she took cover, hiding from us, and then proceeded to scream something along the lines of: “I practice homophobia!” She said it in dutch, so it was way more awkwardly phrased. I still think of her.
The obsession with fertility is what always gets me with these people. They will swear up and down to you that they don’t think all women need to be birthing machines…but that’s exactly what they believe. I know this because boy did the true colors come out when I (a childless cis woman) had a hysterectomy. It was like I had told them that I’d had my lungs removed. They just couldn’t fathom a woman being a woman without that one particular organ because motherhood and womanhood are so closely entwined in their minds that they can’t imagine any woman WANTING such a thing.
Thank you for the motte and bailey explanation. Another favourite is “paltering” where each individual statement is true, but the reader/listener is left with a totally false impression. Marjorie Taylor Greene does it too. “This hospital treats transgender people. They perform genital surgeries. Their youngest patients are 8 years old.” All true, but they don’t do genital surgeries on minors. The 8 year olds are talking to psychologists.
I had to do security for a private event for the westboro baptist church… it was like… 10 years ago or so. It was great, talking to them and having them thank me for keeping them safe and shit. Right up until i said something along the lines of “cant wait to see you again when you protest the funeral of this trans soldier” with the biggest smile and they all avoided me after that.
“This is pretty common with people who used to be religious fundamentalists. They were so certain they were right, only to realize that everything they believed about the world is wrong. So they become distrustful of any strong moral convictions, because it reminds them of their former fanaticism.” This hit me hard. Thank you Natalie. You’ve definitely still ‘got it’.
46:00 I’m a trans woman. I’m a trans woman who identifies as a lesbian and am well aware that most cis lesbians aren’t transphobic. But when I actually heard the statistics of how cis lesbians are the most accepting group of all cis people for us trans folks, I nearly cried. I didn’t know that. Thank you, so much. Not even for the article – which itself is extremely good – but just that detail. Thank you.
My trans granddaughter loved Harry Potter when she was a child. It has been heartbreaking for me to watch her suffer the pain of a formative author attacking the very centre of her selfhood. Rowling is a bigot and a misogynist herself, and I am disappointed beyond measure in her. And the “Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling” is a piece of utter rubbish. Thank you, Ms. Wynn. For standing up for your community and my granddaughter. EDIT I’ve never had such a lovely response to a comment I’ve made before! I sent a screenshot of this to my granddaughter (because I was flabbergasted that Ms. Wynn replied), and she said “Senpai noticed you, Nan!” which I’m told by her is very funny and she wanted me to share it, though I’m not entirely sure what that means. Anyways, much love to all of you who’ve replied and “liked” this, and I hope each and every one of you has a very good day. Much love, Grandma Bea
I grew up mormon, and left officially at 18. Deconstructing bigotry is a life-long, CONSTANT process. Phelps-Roper is stuck in a mindset believing that she’s flipped a binary switch from “bigot” to “ex-bigot,” but if you grew up hateful, it’s important to work the entire rest of your life to weed out the latent bigotry still clinging to your neural pathways just out of reach. If anything, being an “ex-bigot” isn’t enough — you have to become an anti-bigot and genuinely accept that you have been wrong, can be wrong, and WILL be wrong. Accepting that and being ready to grow and support marginalized groups is so incredibly important to your personal growth and impact on the world around you. Otherwise, you run the risk of implicitly or even explicitly supporting substantially more harmful movements, policies, and systemic violence — all because you’ve assumed that you’ve already “fixed” your bigotry. This is absolutely true for racists, homophobes, transphobes, misogynists, and every other bigot out there. Whether a conscious convert to hate or someone coerced or reared into it, you have a responsibility to maintain constant vigilance. You can do better and be better, but you have to work for it. Don’t let yourself backslide into casual, passive bigotry if you escaped already; it’s YOUR responsibility.
as a young trans man living in America, i’m terrified for the future of this country. but i can’t say a damn thing about it because if i express my genuine fear and rage and sadness, i’ll be labeled as “hysterical” “delusional” “confused” or a “woke snowflake”. we need to stop conflating having human emotions and reactions with being irrational and deranged. people have feelings. the problem is the right-wing can’t see transgenders as people.
The fact that one of the most concise, informed and insightful quotes here (29:38) was said by a teenager is a testament to how much self-work, social analysis and bending over backwards trans folks are required to do just to survive and make sense of our world and ourselves. I’m 21 and I feel like I’ve already gone through a lifetime’s worth of self-growth just to ensure I don’t completely fall off the edge
Hello, ContraPoints. I’ve been following your website for the past several years, and I will say that you and others have changed how I view trans people and your struggles, wanting no more than to live their lives as human beings with the same protections as every law-binding citizen. I hope to become a better ally in the future. I think you guys need it. Take care of yourself and never give up the fight. Thank you, Natalie Wynn, for contributing to my education and the changes I need to experience and go through. Take Care! 😀
I had a conversation with my therapist about something similar, i was asking her why i spend too much time wondering why bad people do the things they do, why do serial killers kill people, why do bullies bully, stuff like that. She then told me a really wonderful analogy “the zebra never runs back to the lion to talk to it, it simply runs” meaning that there’s no point to trying to convince the people who are actively trying to hurt you to not hurt you. We aren’t human engineers, we aren’t responsible for how other people think or believe, if someone is bullying you, trying to talk to them will not only fail but will actively hurt you in the process, sure they might have their reasons, they might be troubled, but they’re not your responsibility. Bigots do not need convincing, they don’t need to be talked to, no matter how possible it is, oppressed people have absolutely no responsibility to convince them, it’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure human rights are protected and that includes silencing bigots.
Trans woman here. I’ve seen all your vids, including the previous JK one, but this vid really opened my eyes about how explicitly transphobic she is being. Until now, I’d seen her as somebody with their own issues who blundered unawares into the area, got monstered by the unreasonable end of activism, and went down the rabbit hole through lashing back. The section where you set out exactly what she is saying these days opened my eyes. I’m old enough to remember Anita Bryant and Janice Raymond and that old quote about those who forget history being condemned to repeat it springs to mind. Excellent, necessary work. Thank you.
Listening to Republicans talk about saving and protecting children always makes me livid. AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN, I’ve worked in education and social work, and Republicans in most states cut those programs to the bone all the time. Don’t use children to vilify LGBT people and then turn and tell a starving, abused, or neglected child that they’re on their own because big business really needed the tax break this year.
this was extremely insightful as an NB person of color! reminds me of the colonial impact on LGBT rights in Hong Kong (and Asia as a whole…), and how western countries today wonder ‘how come they still have homophobic legislation?’ like they weren’t the ones who imposed it lol. this isn’t to say the pre-colonial age was 100% queer-friendly, but several aspects like the crossdressing in Cantonese Opera, genderless Taoist figures, and even our spoken language has no gendered pronouns (but the written one was revised to have that throughout the colonial period). In the 90s we had a rise in queer media and some of the most beloved celebrities (to this day) were queer / had queer gender presentation – but the cultural and religious influence maintains the LGBT stigma 🙁
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” – Eliezer Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, during his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize Edit: It’s been a while, but I want to clarify something. I’m not trying to imply this will be a second Holocaust. The situation today is similar to some earlier parts of it, but I don’t think it’s going to get to be like the Final Solution in 1942. I quoted this because I found it applicable to the situation, and Wiesel put it very well, due to his wisdom that came from his own experiences. Here he wasn’t just talking about the Holocaust, he was talking about any situation where humans were suffering, and how it was important to not only acknowledge that, but speak out about it
The Mott and Bailey argument structure helps me understand better how many conservatives structure their rhetoric. I think Natalie has referred to in the past as “doing a Jordan Peterson”. I’ve adopted this phrase in my own life, but will also be looking for the Mott and Bailey when engaging in a discussion with someone
My takeaway is how important it is to learn about the history of our LGBTQ rights movement. There has been so many parallels. I’ve told my friends who sympathize with gays in China years ago, civil rights policies should always be prioritized over changing people’s minds, because there will always be bigots. Natalie made me feel smarter today❤
as a lesbian i HATE the whole “lesbians are afraid of trans women” or the idea trans women are forcing lesbians to sleep with them. ive had friends who are trans women and they are the sweetest, most gentle people ive known. some lesbians are comfortable being with trans women and some arent, but there isnt any tension between the two communities as far as i can see
i had no idea how untrue & lesbophobic the “lesbians are more likely to be transphobic” thing was. as a trans man i think i’ve been guilty of believing that, simply because TERFs always talk about “protecting lesbians” as well as encountering a vocal minority of lesbian TERFs that come from the lesbian separatist persuasion. the statistics you used to disprove this are staggering. thank you for including it
Having trouble recalling the exact quote, but I remember the line being close to “The public sees all previous civil rights movements as being just and necessary because now we agree with them NOW, but all current/future civil rights movements as being extremist because they disrupt our own status quo.”
The outrage over Tala was kinda hilarious. The implications of this rhetoric are no joke, but this woman truly needed to know how Tala got freaky and how Tala’s parents got freaky. It’s wild how much transphobes worry about “the children” while indicating that their worry can only be addressed via highly invasive/weirdly seggsual tests of biological sex identity.
Thank you, Natalie, for this extraordinary and, by the end, terrifying journey into the world of Terfs. I’m 65 & I guess(?) I was a lesbian separatist in 1979 – 1980 ish?? In the sense that it was a significant punk thing to just live in a very dysfunctional, lively community of women who were completely & utterly angry at men. Times changed, and the point of being visible was to change society as best as you could. My lesbian separatist period was more about trying to understand how we were all trapped by the patriarchy. Thank you for mentioning Rita Mae Brown: If you can get your hands on her book Plain Brown Rapper: a series of essays on feminists, dykes, downard mobility etc its – it is a great marker of my emerging political thoughts. Thank you for pointing out that Lesbian terfs are a minority. 😮My eyes were opened to a broader spectrum of life in 1979 when Sxxxxy; a radical trans woman in the process of waiting for the ‘op’ moved into our house. She was radical in that she identified as lesbian & her Dr couldn’t understand why she didnt wear high heels & dresses because in 1979, to prove to your Dr you were needing to transition, you had to present yourself in a hyper feminine way- almost drag? You were told to pack negligees for hospital. That’s another bit of important history isn’t it. I’m so grateful for your brilliance, your grasp of history, because all of the current hate, as you point out, has been around a long time. Cudos to your production team too, so much work & brilliant research goes into your articles.
The answer to “Do centrists think civil rights came from debate?” – Is unironically: Yes absolutely. There is a long tradition of a sanitation of western history and the violence of rights movements are simply not taught in school people genuinely think that if you ask nicely long enough you get the rights you always deserved they don’t mention why it took so long to get those rights.
I came out as a high school junior in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1976; the reason was Anita Bryant. Thanks, Anita! (And, yeah, I subsequently was physically attacked at school by a student while a teacher looked on and did nothing, and when I reported it, I was told that I would be suspended if it happened again. Is anyone surprised?)
1:42:25 – I don’t understand how someone could keep pretending that they’re hating on trans people for “the good of our children” or “the good of society”, when their rhetoric is so immensely hate-filled like Posey Parker’s is. How can you say you’re doing any kind of good when you’re spouting such hatred? Does she have no self-awareness whatsoever?
I’ll never forget a former friend of mine who called me hysterical for saying Trump would leave this country far worse than when he went into office. His wife is pregnant. They live in Idaho. Her nearest OB just closed because nobody wants to work in a state where they will be jailed for treating a miscarriage. He called me hysterical.
On gender neutral characters disrupting chindren’s development: let me introduce you to the classic Hungarian puppet show, Raisin and Tade. It is about a piglet and a guinea pig who are adopted and raised by an elf, living inside a pumpkin house. Hungarian has no gendered pronouns and this is a puppet show for children, so you cannot be sure about anyone anyone’s gender. My sister and I grew up on these and apparently we assigned different genders to certain characters – for instance she always thought of Raisin as female, and I, as male. The piglet and guinea pig are voiced by women, possibly because they are portraying children; the elf, the parent character, is voiced by a man. Despite that, my mom told me that she always thought of the elf as female, whereas my sister and I thought that they were male. The guinea pig is pink and white, has a high-pitched feminine voice – and a male name. The whole thing was produced from 1969-1973. As far as I know, nobody ever got hung up on the characters’ genders. As a kid I understood that these are a parent and their children. The concept of family made sense to me without anyone having to be a specific gender, or without there needing to be two parents.The story was mostly about resolving sibling rivalry and little everyday conflicts. Genders were just not that important.
Never heard of that Birthday Boy tweet before. My family calls the Birthday Boy argument, “squishing the pillows”. As kids, our mother converted our old family/playroom into this all-white sitting room so fragile she feared the pillows would lose their fluffy shape if laid on too much. Our youngest brother loved to hit and/or antagonize us to the point of wanting to hit him and then he’d go running into that room and jumping on the couch. When we chased him into that room, he would scream, “Mom, (name) is squishing the pillows!” which basically sent mom into a panicked fury and we would be the ones to get into trouble. “We didn’t touch anything!” Well, we could have broken something. “He hit us/was mean to us!” Well, we were older and should know better than him. “He was the one on the couch!” Well, we chased him in there. It truly didn’t matter how we justified it to her. We would be grounded for squishing the pillows.
When you mentioned that Noah is a teenager, there was a voice inside me that just yelled “Of fucking course he is.” So, you’re telling me, a podcast about supposedly listening to both sides of the discussion couldn’t handle getting more than a single philosopher trans person. No, they had to go hunting for a teenager to argue about his existence. It’s very much like Ben Shapiro (someone who was trained and has made a career out of public speaking) debating college students (who maybe weren’t even in their school’s debate club), except, somehow, even worse. Like, why is a teenager trying to argue about their identity on a podcast? Can someone tell me that? Why is the teenager not recording a silly lil dance on tiktok to share with his friends. Why is a teenager getting his youth robbed from him because he has to defend his identity against people that only experience the “debate” as a mere thought experiment. Makes me sick to my stomach.
I want to live in a world where being trans doesn’t automatically come with the responsibility of becoming an activist and to fight for our rights. I just want to be me with dignity. Edit: Well this comment blew up. Guess I’ll say one more thing while I got your attention: I want to state how important it is to be gentle, patient, and compassionate with ourselves. The world is aggressive enough as it is, so treating ourselves well is in order, in my opinion. We cannot hate ourselves into becoming a version of ourselves we like more. Stand strong. Be yourself. With pride and dignity. Fear keeps us from doing the things that we know are good for us. Also Stay safe. Drink water. And get Sunshine. We’re like cool wired plants.
The posie parker stuff was genuinely so upsetting because driving across America at least once a year I genuinely have used the men’s restroom (specifically in missouri because im not trying to die) out of fear of making anyone uncomfortable and even then you can’t win. I’ve had women chase me in a cracker barrel to tell me I’m using the wrong bathroom when walking to the men’s room and have had men IN the men’s room think THEY are in the wrong bathroom when I was just trying to avoid anything and I’m like yall I’m just trying to pee can we please just not.
Oh my god the self congratulatory “we’re having the conversation” piece hit so hard. I’d consider myself straight-passing and back when I was a teacher, a colleague of mine expressed discomfort that another school was having “acceptance week” and thought it should be instead called “tolerance week” since she didn’t want to have to “accept the lifestyle.” 🙄🙄🙄 When asked to put together a presentation on anti-bullying, I thought I was being SUPER tame, but got parents mad by even acknowledging that racism and homophobia were bullying factors. SO happy that I was able to make my classroom a safe space (without even coming out to my students because I didn’t want middle schoolers knowing about my personal life lol), but yeah…fuck all that lol
My TW daughter has been trying to explain her outrage at the world while this child of the 60’s had been trying to preach love. I get it now. Thank you Natalie for your well reasoned and beautifully executed article. We need more than the “all you need is love” kind of thinking for real reform. Radicalism and demanding acceptance, inclusion and fighting for a just world is a form of love. It’s love with a sword… defending and demanding the evolution of humanity. 🌈 Right on.👏
Being raised in a fairly conservative Christian family I was fed some really subtle transphobia that I just assumed was the natural way of the world. It scares me so much how easy this bigotry is to swallow when you hear nothing else so thank you so much for the work you do. Absolutely incredible article
Hi, former professional Harry Potter fan and trans man here (also guy who’s voice apparently appears in the witch trials podcast, but of course I wasn’t asked permission or anything). I recently fell into a huge Twilight reread/rewatch that I am genuinely enjoying for some reason so I just had to pop in here to say how much I fucking loved the end of this article. Roared with laughter at your last line. Watched every second of the credits. This entire article is a masterpiece, of course, but way to stick the landing.
I love (hate) how every time Natalie makes a article on Joanne, she just progressively gets worse and worse 😭 We’ve officially abandoned the “concern” and have now moved on to straight up calling trans women rapists and partaking in Holocaust denial folks, we think she’s reached the bottom but she just keeps on digging 😬
Just to address the Tala aspect: I work at two public libraries. I run story time for kids on occasion. I noticed she said “Men and younger women don’t know about this.” All men, full stop. There are a LOT of men who bring their baby to story time, whether they’re dad or grandpa or an uncle. Enough that we routinely use the word “parents” in songs that mention “mommy” OR we sing it twice so we can include BOTH parents. This tells me she probably hasn’t been to a story time in decades (or she never went at all) and is making up a reason to think this is discriminatory. Additionally, story time isn’t ABOUT the parent. It’s about the child learning literacy skills. So, like they said, having a gender neutral character attracts kids of all backgrounds. It’d be like getting mad that the character is Black because most of the parents are white (which is, unfortunately, something I’ve seen people do in retail before). You’re way too worried about this cartoon and making sure your child NEVER sees someone who isn’t white or straight or whatever the case may be. It is bigoted bs.
Natalie, I’m a cult survivor like MPR. She was honestly very helpful in my journey. Thing is, by far the MOST impactful voice on my journey was yours. Your articles were empathetic but not apologetic. You expressed some understanding of why bigots believe what they do, but did not shy away from the harm bigotry causes. Growing up a repressed queer person, I didn’t see myself as a bigot, but if I was okay with being a member of a bigoted group, what does that say about me? There can’t be that much of a difference between the bigot and the person who tolerates it. At least for me, it was not gentle nudging that got me to realize I couldn’t tolerate queerphobia within the group—it was perusal content that made clear that homophobes and transphobes were the irrational ones. Accepting these things was seen as the bare minimum of human decency (I think the show Community has a line basically saying just that, and it always stuck with me). I sent basically this exact message to Megan, in the hopes that she’d be willing to have a conversation with me, the same way she wanted to have a “concerned” conversation with JK Rowling. I got left on read. So, she sucks and you’re awesome is what I’m saying. Also I was going to make a article about this stupid podcast but now I don’t have to so you’re still saving my life!
The fact Rowling thinks trans men are erasing fertility is just so showing of her lack of knowledge on this subject. I’m a trans man, and there was a big emphasis on whether I wanted to save eggs or not. T decreases fertility – but, I don’t want kids, so it’s not an issue for me. Point is, trans men can still have kids. Being told I’m just a woman and my purpose is to be fertile makes me feel sick. Thank you for this article, Contra. Really needed this, with the total despair the state of the world has the trans community in right now. Hope you’re doing okay in America. Edit: holy moly this comment of mine has created a bit of contention in the replies below… I’d like to add that while I personally don’t want kids, some trans men do, and I wholly support and want that for them. We all deserve to live our best lives! My comment was targeted at the way TERFs view trans men for their fertility alone, and for Rowling’s lack of education on the topic, not at the healthcare system or my trans siblings. If you’re reading this, I hope you have a good day. Please, keep fighting, please stay alive. The bigots can never win as long as one of us is still standing.
I was still working in an office when that Joe Rogan episode with Ben Shapiro came out, and I remember it because this young guy on my team who was just out of college would have the podcast up on his laptop while he was working on his desktop. My team lead said to me, mostly but not entirely facetiously, “I’m a little worried that (name redacted) is going to get radicalized if he keeps listening to Joe Rogan when he has all these alt right guys on.” After the young guy had finished the episode, my team lead asked him, “So what did you think of Ben Shapiro?” The young guy responded, “He seems like an impressive talker, but he also sounds like he’s never been outside.”
Something that improved my mental health significantly was simply not trying to engage in online debate about being trans. I was a heavily online activist in my early teens and as a young trans person, it slowly started destroying me when I was constantly ‘debating’ my own rights against people who wanted me dead. It was a kind of subtle self harm, as I carried on in the name of activism and helping bigots understand, all I was doing was hurting myself. Now, I don’t engage at all. I give a joking or plain statement every other week if I feel like it, not giving a shit about the replies. I’m done debating my rights to exist and be happy, quitting was the best choice I ever made.
As an author, she knows perfectly well that you can put across an idea without directly saying it. To respond to someone saying you are framing yourself as a victim, by saying “quote me where I said that directly” is the most obvious example of playing dumb I’ve seen. We know you know better JoRo, you being a top selling author proves it.
When you posted “The hunger” I was barely learning I needed to transition. I was discovering why I suffered so much my whole life, and how badly I needed to change. That I wasn’t just a queer guy, that I needed to stop evading this and sorta go all the way in. That I wasn’t living at all. Now I’m two months into HRT and I’m already more happy and healthy. I’m an OG of this website. I watched everything since before you transitioned. The article about the Baltimore riots, that one with the swedish guy… I saw your whole transition “live”. Stuff that is no longer in your website. All the messy non linearity of it, all the twists and turns, the hopes and fears, the funny parts and the scary parts. That was one of the most formative experiences of my life. I didn’t realize the meaning back then, but I immediately felt there was something fundamental, something that had to be protected and fought for. It was later that I realized that it was me. It’s funny because my journey mirrors yours in some ways, the kinky boy stage, the gender nerd stage (I even got to give biology classes in college), the genderqueer stage, the depression, the adhd… And through all those storms and dances, I had the memory of your journey, and all the charm and beauty that you brought to your tale. I think that the best texts the trans community has are our autobiographies. Just the stories of our journeys. That is the most helpful and transformative thing we can share. Stories like yours saved my life and who knows how many more lives.
Hearing you spell out the Birthday Boy argument, as you called it, made me literally tense up in my seat. That was my childhood bullies in a nutshell – constantly make fun of me and laugh at me for any number of reasons to my face, but when I tried to retaliate in any way, they’d go run to the teacher to tell on me and I’d get in trouble. It was infuriating then, and it is now. Moreso now actually, now that I think on it. At least as a kid you’d graduate from elementary school and leave most of the bullies behind in a few years. Rowling’s still young enough to stick around for decades…
Finally, after YEARS of perusal and loving Contrapoints articles, I find myself with an insight worthy of comment: The little musical phrase around 1:52 is what plays when you go in a fairy hole in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This means, one assumes, that there’s a writing credit for Clair de Lune on Tommy Tallarico’s website.
Thank you for putting out the term “Motte and Bailey Argument” for further research! I keep saying that whenever some leads their argument with “I’m JUST saying…” that 99% of the time they’re not “JUST” saying, and are hiding really firmly-packed baggage behind something said simplistically (in my experience, they’re about to say something racist). I knew there had to be a name for it, but didn’t know how to google it.
My parents listened to the podcast “the witch trials of jk Rowling” and found it to be very interesting. They said I should listen to it, and even name dropped that “Natalie Wynn was on it, you like her!”. I am now ashamed that they fell for such bigoted rhetoric. Guess when it’s my turn to pick the movie, we’re perusal this!
Watched this with my 13 yr old son and he said at school (here in Australia) The couple of kids who come from religious homes bring up jktrolling as justification whenever they are being cruel/bashing someone. . . .BUT when these same kids were in primary school they’d beat up and harrass kids who liked HP because it was sinful 😂😂😭
This latest wave of transphobic laws and media coverage has really been getting me down. I try not to let it get to me but it’s blasted everywhere all the time, and I’ve been kinda exhausted. I’m relieved to see you posting again, you always put what I’m feeling into words better than I ever could lol, giving me hope in these insane times. Much love contra!!
Just a quick comment less than halfway in: I’m a mom. Also, I’m not a woman. I’m afab, nonbinary and transmasculine. When I came out to my entirely supportive (adult) children, we talked about what they would call me (I changed my name, but my kids aren’t the call-parent-by-their-name type, heh). I had already decided I was perfectly happy to continue to be called Mom (or Ma, Mama, or Ima, all of which they’ve used), if they wished to do so. The concept of “dad” doesn’t resonate with me; Mom is my title, my role in their lives, my relationship to them. But it’s NOT a reference to my gender. Similarly, I continue to be called Nana by my grandkids. So, no, Maya, not all moms are women. Sincerely, Mama/Nana Lloyd.
“This kind of skepticism (toward every ideology) is in some ways a good impulse, but valuing dispassionate intellectualism above all else can cause problems, especially where topics of social justice are concerned, because it can lead you to this kind of toxic centrism that asks, ‘why are marginalized people so unwilling to have calm philosophical debates about their rights?'” As a former Evangelical, this really hit home for me. It explained in 30 seconds flat why my de-conversion and de-radicalization came in two distinct waves several years apart. First I had to become disillusioned with my religious indoctrination, then I had to become disillusioned with the uber-rational skepticism that had become the grounding point of my new sense of reality. A lot of Atheists who de-convert from Christianity never reach that second wave and end up like Richard Dawkins.
That Dworkin quote at 1:27:09 is an absolute revelation. It’s pretty much how homophobic/transphobic men talk about homosexual men and trans women, and speaks volumes as to how even straight men are on some level aware of how other straight men treat women, and how afraid they are of being on the other side of that dynamic. I’m frankly surprised that I didn’t make the observation earlier.
It’s REALLY hard to sit here and say “it’s gone too far, and therefore it is officially us vs them” I was raised to not be an “us vs them” person, but then my parents turned out to be homophobic. The last thing my mother said to me was “I thought the lgbt community were the ‘tolerant left’”( in response to me telling her that comparing us to pedophiles was homophobic.) She thought that me combating her opinion put me on the offense because I confronted her about it. Like I was responsible for the initial action rather than a reaction/ defense. I realized this whole time that I was in fact being taught to be tolerant. I don’t know why that was always so virtuous, but now I believe it to be a form of brainwashing. Like a parent saying “because I said so” It IS us vs them, but I think I’m going to start saying them vs us, because we are only protecting ourselves. We did nothing to deserve this, and I’m not going to be held to the same standard as them. They can’t even “tolerate” Our existence, and they expect us to tolerate their hate? they are out of their minds with lead poison. They started this
Your last article left me and the wife kinda worried about your well-being. We were completely oblivious to you being back on Twitter or anything else, so for the past year or so we just occasionally went “wonder how Natalie is doing. Hope she’s all right.” All just a long-winded way to say: good to see you back.
Thank you for putting out such an amazing article on this ongoing threat! As a cis woman who doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes going into a the womens room is frightening. I’m tall with short hair and don’t wear girly clothes. I can’t tell you how often women look at me with scorn and then point at the woman symbol on the door of the washroom. The whole concept of washroom policing is one of the violation. Posie’s call to men to go into washrooms with guns and shoot people who don’t appear to be woman is abhorrent.
I think that the fact that she did an interview for Playboy in the 70s trying to push “christian morals” says a lot more about her ability to critically think than anything she ever actually said. (edit) I guess I should clarify that I wasn’t bashing Playboy or downplaying it’s place in history and the kind of content they produced. I was just saying that Anita Bryant was using a platform that any other day she’d have been boycotting as immoral and sinful to her religion. Hypocrisy at it’s finest.
The “say terrible things and then, soon as you’re criticized for it, say you’re being oppressed” thing always reminds me of one of those articles where a small dog will be aggresively yapping at a bigger dog who doesn’t react, but then as soon as the bigger dog even twitches or grunts, the smaller dog runs off screaming.
Not all people who are amab experienced “male puberty” the way people typically envision “male puberty” to be Natalie. I found out I’m Intersex as well as transgender, & holy shit being a genetic mosaic with a dying Y chromosome really throws a whack into the traditional sense of “male puberty”! Trust me on that! Lmao! God the number of times somebody said something akin to “hey dead name! Eat this! Drink that! That’ll put hair on your chest! You need more testosterone in you!” When the whole time the problem was that I was making so much testosterone it was turning into estrogen!
I remember my grandparents talking about reading J.K.’s newest books and I immediately went “I don’t read her books anymore because we don’t support her” my grandmother inquired why and my mom tried to shut the conversation down because she knew were I was going and didn’t want to cause a stir, but I went there anyway. They didn’t know this and because I disturbed the social silence they don’t read her work anymore.
Very happy you named this article The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling (my goal is that this comment helps with SEO lol), I hope it’s the first result when people look up the podcast. Thank you for the work you do, it sounds exhausting enough to exist as a trans person right now, so making article essays like this is a massive accomplishment. Your hard work means so much to me as a cis woman, I am happy I have your articles to share with family & friends who could benefit from your insight. I have benefitted myself from hearing your perspective and changing or solidifying my own beliefs. Thank you again Natalie, you’re doing amazing work on this website even though your focus/approach has shifted over the years from de-radicalizing to more directly confronting and defeating bigotry.
The whole second of the article had me thinking of the most memorable line of Harry Potter (To me) : “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to your enemies, but it takes even more courage to stand up to your friends.” It’s a shame that Rowling forgets about her own books, she might not have gotten sucked so deep into the whirlpool.
I’m not sure what’s worse: Posie Parker calling for random armed men to go into women’s bathrooms and execute anyone they don’t conclude to be a cis woman, or the fact that she’s made it much harder to google indie film legend Parker Posey without accidently stumbling on a call for random armed men to go into women’s bathrooms and execute anyone they don’t conclude to be a cis woman. Either way, hearing this bigot’s name so many times has made me want to rewatch Waiting For Guffman so… silver lining?
the saddest thing is when supposed allies dismiss criticism of JK as CANCEL CULTURE or TWITTER BEING TWITTER because they don’t follow her and do not care about what she says but will not accept that she is transphobic. my sister is like that and it makes me feel very uncomfortable cause she used to be the only person in my family I could somewhat rely on as a queer person
A person can simultaneously be a victim and a perpetrator. In fact alot of people who committed some of the most evil acts recorded in history were victims of crimes or abuse or deplorable circumstance. You can have sympathy for the things they have suffered while also condemning their actions. You can do both.
Something that’s been bothering me— when JKR/this podcast talks about Harry Potter book burning, what they’re describing is very different from the historical book burnings they’re alluding to, right? I.e. this isn’t a state/authority forcibly removing her books from institutions or private homes. It’s private individuals destroying books they already own. Surely an important distinction is getting elided?
I am glad you put this out. Catholic radio used to be a source of comfort for me, but this week I came back to the USA for the first time in over a year (working abroad) and then heartbreakingly 3 of 5 times I listened, it was this anti-trans stuff… same old arguments about grooming children. Made me sad. Very sad. I am glad you put out another insightful piece exploring this topic. The world really needs it.
So, for all of those who are like me and love Harry Potter but never got to read the books and still don’t want to support the author, check out a local library. Not only will you not support a bad person, you will support a great way to prevent people like her from existing. Libraries are amazing at introducing a new world to people, including me.
This came out right when I needed it. I drove 2.5 hrs out of state to attend a rally in St Louis this weekend because the MO general attorney issued an “emergency” order to ban trans healthcare. They made a special point to completely ban autistic people from being gender non-conforming & said that any “comorbid conditions” like depression or anxiety need to be “treated and resolved” before gender-affirming care can be accessed. Today I found out about a website they put out for people to “submit a complaint or concern about gender transition intervention you have experienced or observed in Missouri.” I don’t live in MO but I live in a nearby state with a conservative supermajority, so I’m sure it won’t be long until we have something similar here. I have no authority over my reproductive system. I have no authority over my identity. I have no authority over my own brain. Makes me wonder what the point is. Guess I just have to keep existing as a means of protest. I just want to exist in peace.
I wish Noah had the chance to have a carefree adolescence. He shouldn’t have to be so mature in justifying his existence to strangers. Also, I’m always elated to see a article from you, Natalie. You’re so insightful, funny, and honest. The sheer creative force behind all of your articles inspires me to no end.
Daryl Davis came to my college to speak about his conversion of kkk members. he made it abundantly clear that it was never his intent to de-radicalize these members or try to convince them to leave, all 200 ex-kkk members hung up their robes themselves after bonding w DD. the first time he spoke to a klansman, they did an interview at a motel (at this point, DD just revealed he was a black man) where a loud gunshot-like bang hit the door and they both looked at each with the same human fear in their eyes. and yes, after that, the klansman then became more comfortable around DD, happily did the interview as well as continue to hangout w DD afterwards and became bffs moral of the story, fake near-death experiences when talking to bigots
J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans stance, and her apologists saying “nuh-uh, she just made a few out-of-place remarks and it got all blown out of proportion,” etc. sounds a lot like some group of Andre Segovia apologists would sound like if they tried to spin the last forty years of his life and career calling the electric guitar “an abomination” just a few out-of-place remarks that got taken out of context. In both cases, no, they weren’t. Segovia was loud and bitter in his resentment and hatred of a musical instrument that uses electromagnets and electronic audio to produce sound, and J.K. Rowling has been loud and bitter in her denial of the basic human rights of trans and non-binary people. She’s not a victim of anything but her own bad judgment and personal prejudice.
omg in chapter 7 (1:27:12) She’s drinking tomato soup which is an homage to New Zealand Activist Eli. Eli is a trans intersex rainbow refugee. Eli poured tomato juice all over Posie Parker when she came to NZ as a metaphor for the ‘blood of trans people’ that she has on her hands, inspired by the pie throwing Anita Bryant got. There was 4000 counter protestors at Parkers ‘let women speak’ event who banged on pots ‘n’ played saxophones and kazoo’s to drown out anything Parker could say. Parker didn’t manage to get a single word in and 15 minutes after arriving, got Souped and then quickly left. I love my home and thank u Natalie for the Homage <33
As always, Natalie makes a perfectly argued article with only one minor flaw that I can think of: The majority of people who most need to hear the arguments presented in this article either… a) are not part of her typical audience and therefore likely won’t hear them, or b) are not interested and/or capable of engaging with her arguments in good faith anyway. Still, I am thankful these articles exist, as they articulate these complex ideas with the nuance they deserve
I was recently reunited with my 15-year-old brother who’s trans. He ran away from his father because he abused him so terribly. He also has autism, cptsd from being raped as a child and he’s currently getting tested for chronic illnesses. I’m trying to get guardianship of him and it pains me that every time we talk, he rarely has anything good to say. Every week, I have to learn that he’s afraid of having his dog taken away or that he’s afraid of his human rights being taken away and while I’ll always be here for him, it’s emotionally draining hearing him say things like that. I’m already getting mad at the thought of people genuinely trying to argue to me that my brother’s only trans because of his poor mental health and calling me a groomer for supporting him. Transphobic scum like JK Rowling want me to be calm and reasonable when they are directly contributing to his misery. Fuck them. The next time one of these bad faith concern trolls chide me for not being “reasonable,” I hope they know that the only reason I don’t knock their fucking lights out right then and there is because it might result in my brother being taken away from me. I just want to see my brother happy, that’s it.
As a cis heterosexual woman in my mid-twenties, I’ve never had to deal with the kind of hate trans people have to deal with on a daily basis. So I don’t have a clue how it must feel to live with this kind of pressure and fear. But in the last chapter of this article essay, when the clip of Trump was played, where he said the rights put in act by the Biden Government concerning trans gender health care were ridiculous. That was when a shiver ran down my spine and a feeling took hold of me I can only describe as sheer terror. It is just unbelievable that people who so easily dismiss the existential struggle of human beings, who promote their extinction and eradication, are allowed to run a country in this world we are living in. Do not get me wrong, on the rational side I always felt this way about Trump and so many other right-wing conservatives. But only now did I wholeheartedly feel afraid, truly afraid, of these people. It is more than ever an moral obligation for those who see these ideologys for what they are to speak out and to defend the rights of the whole LBTQ Community, no matter if cis or trans or anything else. Questioning LGBTQ rights is questioning human rights, at leasts thats my opinion. So what do I take with me from this beautifully crafted article essay? That it is not enough to just know how wrong it is what is happening right now, one should also act on it. Because of course I am absolutely on the “side” of the LGBTQ Community, but not being affected by the hatred aimed at them, I have just been a bystander, satisfied with having “picked the right side”.
The whole debate chapter really resonates with me. The self-congratulations for “having the conversation” after a mild debate with a family member (particularly my grandfather or mother) has always made me feel so hollow. Especially considering that I am actually still entirely in the closet and trying to be on my “best behavior” to keep the conversation civil. I’m always like… I hope they took in even an ounce or what I said because it feels so pointless, and it honestly is exhausting just trying to argue that people different from them deserve rights, you know?
we learned in my cross-cultural psychology class about two types of sexism: benevolent sexism (e.g., “women need to be taken care of”; “no man is complete without a woman in his life”; “men should hold the door open for women”; “men should cover the bill, women shouldnt worry their pretty little heads about that”) and hostile sexism (“women weaponize feminism to manipulate men”; “every woman should learn to stay quiet and submissive”; “all women are whores”. there are studies that find that people tend to think of hostile sexism when thinking of “sexism” as a concept. given this, benevolent sexism is actually found to be a strong predictor of the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) of a given country– with societies that portray higher levels of benevolent sexism scoring lower on the GEM index. managers who portray higher levels of benevolent sexism pay women less, and such societies give women little room to grow. and yet, when asked about their opinions on benevolent sexism, a good number of people don’t have strong negative opinions about these beliefs as it can almost be disguised as “chivalry”. i feel like this is no different than what we’re seeing with JK Rowling and her supporters. they claim she hasn’t said anything transphobic, because she’s not displaying hostile transphobia. i’d like to say that she and her supporters are actively endorsing benevolent transphobia, which is no better than the former. we should call it as it is, even if it’s disguised as something more noble and innocent, it can be just as harmful or even worse than hostility.
NATALIE thank you for helping crystallize what I’ve been feeling lately. I was deradicalized myself years ago, when I left my Christian conservative family to attend art school. By graduation I had become a lesbian lmao. I came out to my family a few years ago, when I started dating my girlfriend and felt I could no longer keep it a secret. They predictably did not support me. Since then, (and really while i was still in the closet too) I’ve been yearning for closeness with my family. I’ve dragged my girlfriend to meet my parents and siblings, and we’ve had very civil afternoons… My grandmother (who has never been a Christian and is more like amorphously centrist) actually did come around quite a bit, telling me that while she still didn’t like it, she supported my right to be who I wanted to be. But not my parents and siblings. They’re still passing around Jordan Peterson x Dennis Prager propaganda vids in the family group chat. My parents are still Mug Club members. It’s the heartbreaking thing that I’ve been trying to avoid… my family are bigots. Not even having a gay daughter/sibling will move their hearts. They can talk all they want about loving me and my partner but at the end of the day if we got married, I don’t even know if they would attend the ceremony. My sister got offended when I called her a bigot the other day, saying she’s kind to me despite everything I say about Christians and conservatives. As if she and the rest of the family aren’t actively hostile to my lgbt brothers and sisters.
Thank you for this article! My dad is a pretty liberal Boomer, and he’s a feminist and pro-LGBTQ rights on almost every issue, but he just can’t get over the “canceling of JKR.” I think it’s because he was such a big fan of her books, and they were a big part of my childhood (and thus, he also has fond memories of them). I’ve slowly been trying to convince him why JKR is bad, and this article has given me some excellent 😚👌 new talking points.
It’s kind of wild to me how this article ends on the very smart conclusion to focus on systemic change rather than wasting our energy on trying to convince people full of hate and yet the comment section is full of people fighting windmills. Y‘all, people who sought out this kind of article only to be transphobic in the comments, are not here to have their minds changed, they are here to troll. Save your patience for someone who is genuinely interested in learning.
I still feel such overwhelming betrayal. I know they were just books. But the weird little girl who was me, who made potions and chanted luck spells with her friends and sat very still in the woods for hours hoping to see magical creatures still wants their idol to think shes cool. But she doesnt even think i exist. At best she would pity me and think i need to be fixed.
The point about drag being a massive part of British culture is really important. Most people in the UK went to panto (pantomime) when they were children, which is usually a gaudy performance of fairy tails or classic stories that the kids can enjoy, with it’s most important component being the involvement of people in drag, who often tell risque jokes based on double entendre for the parents that the kids in the audience will miss, so that parents and their kids can enjoy the performances equally. It is literally storytime with a drag queen. It is a staple of our culture. Despite being on TERF island, the whole drag storytime scare mongering is not as successful or wide spread as in the US, because everyone knows drag queens aren’t a risk to children. The reason I say it is a really important point is that it acts as a counter to this narrative. Anyone fearmongering with this shit can be directed to look into the fact that it has been a staple of British culture and yet there isn’t even a hint of an idea that drag shows are a threat to children, let alone any evidence of it. Our nation and history is direct EVIDENCE that their ideas are bullshit.
I swear to god – this captures exactly what drives me up the wall with the gender critical movement as a cis woman. I DO NOT CARE about my gender. It DOES NOT MATTER to me. I deSPISE when people focus so much on my gender when it really isn’t part of who I am. I use she/her pronouns cause whatever, but I don’t care if people mistake me for a guy. Pop me into the body of a man and my sense of self would not change. Treat me with respect like a regular person, goddamnit, not two tits and a fertile uterus.
As a sexual abuse survivor at the age of 15 it has been a rollercoaster of emotions having to question my world view. I have wen’t from hating all men, hoping I was lesbian, questioning if I were Asexual, realising I’m most likely Bi, relating to Pansexuality until I eventually 13 years later got into a healthy relationship with the nicest, most patient and moral understanding man, to realise my past trauma seriously broke my trust to men. Through discussions together it lead to realising my irrational fear of the whole gender-terminoligy and trans movement was because of my trauma. Going from hating all men to “I been hating the wrong men” might be a small step in the right direction, I’m not sure. I do still struggle with the fact that men can hurt me if they want to and I’m not sure how to truly calm that, just started in PTSD treatment tho. Changing peoples minds, requires the will to talk together with the purpose of solving issues, not ridiculing or attacking one another. I hope for better trans rights in the future and I also hope more emotionally hurt women gets the healing they need for a healthier look at the world, including J.K Rowling. Thank you for this well put together article <3
As a Disney gay, starting with Anita’s saga is making me so happy. I own a plush Orange Bird (the cartoon mascot for Florida Orange Juice which was created by Disney). They dropped the mascot from Disney World because of its connection to Anita. I’ve had “Squeeze a Fruit For Anita” stuck in my head since I found it on YouTube 5 years ago. The lesbian granddaughter is really the orange slice on top of the screwdriver <3