This conflict between transactivists and all other interest groups arises from the extreme and essential narcissism of gender cult believers.
Because the notion of "gender identity" is so flimsy and superficial -- and artificial -- once removed from its biologically sexed origin, its supremacy must be forcibly rammed home by gender cult warriors: by downgrading or negating the validity of any other interest group.
Perceived conflicting interest groups must be deemed "transphobic" on a kneejerk basis should they dare to centre their own interests.
And I disagree that "Everyone has a gender identity". As a woman I cannot have a "gender identity" because it has been stolen from me by LARPing men.
I also disagreed with the comments about ‘everyone has a gender identity’, but I liked what it threw out there - dismantling the idea that trans ‘owns’ gender. How can you own a psychological/social construct? Especially one feminists have been fighting for decades and our advocacy is based on dismantling. Trans ppl can’t just adopt ‘gender’ and try to force it back into the world as a legitimate thing that can be utilised yet again to oppress women and devalue us, in the name of ‘inclusivity’. The only way it ‘belongs’ to TRAs is that it is patriarchal and trans rights activism is just another form of patriarchal oppression, so it’s just another men's rights movement trying to dismantle women's autonomy. That’s what they’re ‘owning’ and parading around so proudly. And so feminism is back at the beginning again having to explain that girls and boys can like pink or blue and it doesn't mean anything and shouldn’t change how we’re treated.
Excellent piece, thank you, I'm always surprised that more of the charities supporting autistic people aren't concerned about gender identity ideology as it is having such a huge affect on the lives of autistic people . I looked at https://genderkit.org.uk/ the other day, it seems a perfect instruction manual for the autistic mind to, it's not surprising they fall for the trans rhetoric. My grown up son, who has many autistic traits, has completely fallen for the being assigned wrong at birth and having a gender identity as an explanation, yet gender identity is just a list of regressive stereotypes and is curtailing autistic people's natural quirkyness into a series of rules.
Update: this organisation responded to a consultation about gender care and I appreciated their response. I will become a supporting member because I want to support the only autism organisation resisting this stuff and responding with evidence and their own perspective.
Oh really, is there a link to it please? Yes, it's very good to see an autism charity talking sensibly about this topic and not bowing down to the trans activist mob. It's a huge scandal and I'm appalled at all the autism organisations for ignoring this mess it's put us in and allowing trans activism to ruin autism healthcare and understanding.
This is brilliant, I'm in shock they have done it so thoroughly and not backed down. They did well standing in the face of the trans activist mob with their original work on autism and gender, but I was worried they would crumble. How amazing that they've pushed further and done this - the FIRST and ONLY autism organisation to do so. What a win this is. Thank you for telling me. Please send me any more updates if you come across them
Great summary how spaces can get taken over by the most recent novelty politics and risk losing their raison d'etre. But also very encouraging how people are responding, reasonably and compassionately to the needless muddying of the waters.
From my perspective, the higher level politics is best viewed hrough power, where an ideology is seeking to overrun the current knowledgebase around autism with its own ideological goals. This isn't just true for autism groups, or woman's rights groups but also LGB groups.
The way we can distinguish ideology with more scientific attempts to understand autism is just to go back 10 years and see where the knowledge was at. Of course we know that people with autism have difficulty in social relating and identity -its almost definitional. They also can have obsessive interests and can be prone to high screen time. This already gives clues to autistic people being much more likely to attend gender clinics, because trans has become a social contagion, increasing in line with other mental health problems.
Perhaps there has been an overreach in neurodivergence as too much insistence on being normal. If we don't have normative concepts, appropriate treatment gets lost. I'm afraid to tell people but autism comes with severe deficits (also many positive qualities). Perhaps we should reclaim some common-sense around this.
Thank you! It really has been taken over by novelty politics, it’s a shambles. Once the mess has cleared there will be a lot of work to do to untangle the thread and start again. If that ever happens!
It’s a shame that we still haven’t done enough to help autistic people socially, like creating autism social spaces and skills learning, for example, so that we are not so isolated and scrambling for a place in society through unhealthy means like identity politics. I think the TQ spaces have called out to autistic people, and people with other mental health conditions or divergences, like a life-line into society by accepting everybody’s ‘differences’. But it’s all been fakery and not actually accepting of autism, but getting the autistic people to bury their autism and replace it with made up ‘gender identities’ to explain their differences and their struggles. It’s a fake community based on lies and inauthenticity. So, it’s just another way for autistic people to ‘mask’ their struggles without being recognised as struggling.
I am worried about what will happen to the autistic youth who’ve gone through gender affirming care without having their autism identified and supported, because once they’ve reached adulthood there are no services for autistic adults, and their younger years of distress have been wasted on fictional beliefs about trans/gender rather than accessing autism support services while they were in the right age range. And now they have medical problems added on and worsening mental health challenges. It’s a scandal.
Thanks NP, I totally agree with the wasted opportunity while this thing goes on. Once we get our heads around effective modalities, treatments and well organized educational approaches then all this bullshit will fade into the background. But we need people to stand up and turn the tide.
I love this. It is so logical and reasonable. How ridiculous that the trans narrative tries to overwhelm everyone else and their needs and understanding of themselves and the world.
It's obviously threatening to trans activists as a whole to describe the cultural, social and neurological reasons people might be uncomfortable with performing gender. You're turning gender into a series of tasks, responsibilities and privileges that one may struggle to opt in to or choose (rationally) to opt in to, which puts every transaction person under a microscope. (Alternatively, the theory that some people just have gendered souls in the wrong body deflects this level of criticism.)
I agree that we need to be able to talk about gender in these terms and that this right is important for women and autistic people. I wouldn't be shocked that a different movement with different incentives is trying to defend itself.
This conflict between transactivists and all other interest groups arises from the extreme and essential narcissism of gender cult believers.
Because the notion of "gender identity" is so flimsy and superficial -- and artificial -- once removed from its biologically sexed origin, its supremacy must be forcibly rammed home by gender cult warriors: by downgrading or negating the validity of any other interest group.
Perceived conflicting interest groups must be deemed "transphobic" on a kneejerk basis should they dare to centre their own interests.
And I disagree that "Everyone has a gender identity". As a woman I cannot have a "gender identity" because it has been stolen from me by LARPing men.
I also disagreed with the comments about ‘everyone has a gender identity’, but I liked what it threw out there - dismantling the idea that trans ‘owns’ gender. How can you own a psychological/social construct? Especially one feminists have been fighting for decades and our advocacy is based on dismantling. Trans ppl can’t just adopt ‘gender’ and try to force it back into the world as a legitimate thing that can be utilised yet again to oppress women and devalue us, in the name of ‘inclusivity’. The only way it ‘belongs’ to TRAs is that it is patriarchal and trans rights activism is just another form of patriarchal oppression, so it’s just another men's rights movement trying to dismantle women's autonomy. That’s what they’re ‘owning’ and parading around so proudly. And so feminism is back at the beginning again having to explain that girls and boys can like pink or blue and it doesn't mean anything and shouldn’t change how we’re treated.
Excellent piece, thank you, I'm always surprised that more of the charities supporting autistic people aren't concerned about gender identity ideology as it is having such a huge affect on the lives of autistic people . I looked at https://genderkit.org.uk/ the other day, it seems a perfect instruction manual for the autistic mind to, it's not surprising they fall for the trans rhetoric. My grown up son, who has many autistic traits, has completely fallen for the being assigned wrong at birth and having a gender identity as an explanation, yet gender identity is just a list of regressive stereotypes and is curtailing autistic people's natural quirkyness into a series of rules.
Update: this organisation responded to a consultation about gender care and I appreciated their response. I will become a supporting member because I want to support the only autism organisation resisting this stuff and responding with evidence and their own perspective.
Oh really, is there a link to it please? Yes, it's very good to see an autism charity talking sensibly about this topic and not bowing down to the trans activist mob. It's a huge scandal and I'm appalled at all the autism organisations for ignoring this mess it's put us in and allowing trans activism to ruin autism healthcare and understanding.
here it is. i really appreciated the section about gender identity exceptionalism. https://autisme-asperger.dk/hoeringer/10399/hoeringssvar-autisme-koensinkongruens
This is brilliant, I'm in shock they have done it so thoroughly and not backed down. They did well standing in the face of the trans activist mob with their original work on autism and gender, but I was worried they would crumble. How amazing that they've pushed further and done this - the FIRST and ONLY autism organisation to do so. What a win this is. Thank you for telling me. Please send me any more updates if you come across them
I've translated it into English and posted it here. Thank you! It's superb!
https://neuropoppins.substack.com/p/dutch-autism-organisation-takes-a
Great summary how spaces can get taken over by the most recent novelty politics and risk losing their raison d'etre. But also very encouraging how people are responding, reasonably and compassionately to the needless muddying of the waters.
From my perspective, the higher level politics is best viewed hrough power, where an ideology is seeking to overrun the current knowledgebase around autism with its own ideological goals. This isn't just true for autism groups, or woman's rights groups but also LGB groups.
The way we can distinguish ideology with more scientific attempts to understand autism is just to go back 10 years and see where the knowledge was at. Of course we know that people with autism have difficulty in social relating and identity -its almost definitional. They also can have obsessive interests and can be prone to high screen time. This already gives clues to autistic people being much more likely to attend gender clinics, because trans has become a social contagion, increasing in line with other mental health problems.
Perhaps there has been an overreach in neurodivergence as too much insistence on being normal. If we don't have normative concepts, appropriate treatment gets lost. I'm afraid to tell people but autism comes with severe deficits (also many positive qualities). Perhaps we should reclaim some common-sense around this.
I like the way you approach this though.
Thank you! It really has been taken over by novelty politics, it’s a shambles. Once the mess has cleared there will be a lot of work to do to untangle the thread and start again. If that ever happens!
It’s a shame that we still haven’t done enough to help autistic people socially, like creating autism social spaces and skills learning, for example, so that we are not so isolated and scrambling for a place in society through unhealthy means like identity politics. I think the TQ spaces have called out to autistic people, and people with other mental health conditions or divergences, like a life-line into society by accepting everybody’s ‘differences’. But it’s all been fakery and not actually accepting of autism, but getting the autistic people to bury their autism and replace it with made up ‘gender identities’ to explain their differences and their struggles. It’s a fake community based on lies and inauthenticity. So, it’s just another way for autistic people to ‘mask’ their struggles without being recognised as struggling.
I am worried about what will happen to the autistic youth who’ve gone through gender affirming care without having their autism identified and supported, because once they’ve reached adulthood there are no services for autistic adults, and their younger years of distress have been wasted on fictional beliefs about trans/gender rather than accessing autism support services while they were in the right age range. And now they have medical problems added on and worsening mental health challenges. It’s a scandal.
Thanks NP, I totally agree with the wasted opportunity while this thing goes on. Once we get our heads around effective modalities, treatments and well organized educational approaches then all this bullshit will fade into the background. But we need people to stand up and turn the tide.
I love this. It is so logical and reasonable. How ridiculous that the trans narrative tries to overwhelm everyone else and their needs and understanding of themselves and the world.
It's obviously threatening to trans activists as a whole to describe the cultural, social and neurological reasons people might be uncomfortable with performing gender. You're turning gender into a series of tasks, responsibilities and privileges that one may struggle to opt in to or choose (rationally) to opt in to, which puts every transaction person under a microscope. (Alternatively, the theory that some people just have gendered souls in the wrong body deflects this level of criticism.)
I agree that we need to be able to talk about gender in these terms and that this right is important for women and autistic people. I wouldn't be shocked that a different movement with different incentives is trying to defend itself.