Today's anti-trans activism is about so much more than transgender people

LGBTQ people scare the fearful because they seem to threaten their imagine world order.
Photo: valentin russanov

The extreme anti-trans activism we see today is about much more than gender diversity. The transphobia is driven by a deep and irrational fear of the unknown, a fear political extremists are exploiting in order to gain power.

When I started this blog back in 2008, most of the transgender debate gave the impression of being about "facts", both inside and outside the transgender community. We wrote article after article about science addressing gender variance and the real life experiences of trans people themselves.

Sure, there were transphobic activists around, as well as transphobic pseudo-science. But many believed that it should and could be possible to come to an agreement on what gender variance was, based on sound science and the lived experience of trans people.

Those of us who took part in the debate back then, still have a tendency to appeal to science, facts and the reality of the lived experience of trans people when debating transgender issues, the idea being that  our opponents will actually listen to knowledge-based arguments. It worked before, so why not now?

This is about much more than gender identity

In order to understand this, it is important to understand that the current backlash against transgender people is not really about transgender people in isolation  – or about what it really means to be transgender. 

It may look as if the "debate" continues to be about "facts", given that anti-trans activists often refer to "science" when dismissing transgender identities. But the truth is that this has nothing to do with science or facts. This is all about feelings, and particularly about  the fear of the unknown. They are not debating in order to learn. They are debating in order to win. They seek control.

Moreover, at this point in history the social and economic context makes it so much easier to use transphobia as a political tool.

The fall of the progress narrative

The modern Western narrative has been about continuous progress towards a better future for all. Politics, economics, science and innovation will eventually make all of us live safe and meaningful lives, protecting us from the cold winds of an unforgiving universe. 

This has been the social contract: People give our society their working hours in return for the promise of comfort and safety now or in the future.

Politicians  promised them flying cars. Instead they are on the brink of losing their homes.
(From Tomorrowland)

As long as it looked like this contract was upheld – in the sense that we seemed to live better lives than our parents –  suffering could be blamed on the fact that we had not reached the endpoint yet. There was more work to do, and people would do it – for themselves, for their kids and for the next generation.

This narrative also gave room to an increasing tolerance of groups that had previously been excluded, including people of color, poor people and queer people. When people feel safe, the unknown seems less threatening. The inclusion of marginalized groups was also part of the story about progress.

In many countries, however, it is as if politicians have forgotten that this contract requires active social policies that makes sure that everyone gets their part of the growing cake of plenty. In other words: These politicians  have not fulfilled their side of the bargain. 

Instead they have gotten lost in ideas of perfect markets, unfettered competition and extreme individualism. Capitalism no longer delivers what it promised and the fundamental, instinctual, fear of chaos, hunger and social exclusion is back.

The fear of loss of social standing

It has been said that Hitler did not win in Germany because the middle class had become poor. He won because they feared that they would become poor and lose their social status. We see the same today, especially among those who are wired for caution and conservatism: They no longer trust the system, and their fear of chaos and poverty drives them into the arms of fascist charlatans.

It does not matter if these politicians are cynically exploring these fears or if they – like Hitler – actually believe in their own fever induced fantasies. 

This process lead to toxic feedback loops where the fear of the oppressed and the timid leads to hate fueled political narratives that promise to fix the system and bring back the good old days. The propaganda of hate makes people even more afraid and more likely to go for bigoted policies.

Since the fearful no longer believe in the promise of endless progress, they instead look for salvation in an imaginary past. In this imaginary past people like themselves got their  piece of the pie and the social order was simple and easy to understand. 

Or, at least, this is what White people like to believe, given that people like them used to rule the world in whatever time period they dream about, the 1950s, the 1960s or the Confederacy and the British Empire of the19th century.

This world view does not represent a future world of plenty, so it makes sense for those who believe in this dream to put their own tribe first and take whatever they need from the others.

An imaginary past (Photo H. Armstrong Roberts)

The great conspiracy

It seems to me that relatively few of the fearful actually understand what is really going on, and the few that do (Steve Bannon comes to mind) skillfully exploit this lack of understanding when manipulating those who experience  this nostalgia for a past that never was.  

The manipulators tell them that all their suffering is caused by some kind of sinister cabal of Jews and Bolsheviks (Hitler) or Postmodernist Communists who are pushing a disruptive "Gender Ideology" on our youth (Trump).  These ideologies (Communism in the 1930s and Gender Ideology in the 2020s)  are – according to these narratives –  destroying the ideal society that once gave the fearful safety and wealth.

An essential part of this fantasy is the  importance of the nuclear family (father+mother+children). Historically speaking this family structure is an outlier, but in this narrative it becomes a God given or Nature given necessity. 

This vision of the cisgender and heterosexual nuclear family ensures that men rule, women take care of children, and society gets the people they need for industry and war. It is therefore extremely important to stop people from seeing that there are alternative models that work just as well.

It has become extremely hard for the political manipulators to exploit the traditional fear of homosexuality, since too many now know gay and lesbian people and therefore see them as human. Far fewer know transgender people, however, so they can be used as dehumanized scapegoats. 

Trans people are seen as  threatening the building block of the traditionalist narrative, the nuclear family. The mom plus pop plus 2.1 kids and a dog narrative requires a  firm and unquestionable divide between the two "biological sexes".  

Moreover, both right wing transphobes (fascists and religious fanatics) and left wing transphobes ("gender critical" TERFs) believe men are violent by nature. This violence requires a social structure that protect weak women from strong men, and the only ones who can give that protection are strong men. This is completely bizarre, I know, but this is how they think, and this is why it becomes hard to get real gender equality. Strong men are there to protect their property (women and children)  against other violent men, and men who do not want to live up this stereotype cannot be real men. And if they want to be women, they must be mad.

Possessed by the Shadow

But there is more: This divide gives the fearful an easy to understand social role to live up to. Performing the role of the masculine man and the feminine woman, gives them the social confirmation they need. They are accepted. They will not be excluded.

Trans people  threaten this sense of meaning and belonging. Since the whole binary is false, and nature's diversity applies to the most conservative of conservatives, the very existence of trans and gay people triggers feelings that threaten the traditionalist's sense of self. They have feelings that go against the strict binary.

That doubt has to be suppressed. The fear and the anger must be redirected towards an external enemy. And that enemy is "the Other", in this case trans people, in other contexts people of color. (Or both, as reflected in the fact that Black transgender women are most exposed to transphobic violence.)

Carl Gustav Jung talked about both people and cultures being possessed by their "Shadow." The Shadow archetype represents the part of their psyche they have suppressed and denied, because it threaten their understanding of the world and their place in it. These feelings do not go away, however. They seek another outlet, which  leads  these people to irrational acts of aggression and violence. This is indeed what we are witnessing today.

The feeling of emotional relief and  agency that follows transphobic acts is a powerful drug, indeed.

In Star Wars the Empire and the First Order exemplifies
 how a culture possessed by its shadow (fear of disorder) leads to
fascism and bigotry. From the TV series Andor)

I believe this psychological possession is strengthened by the fact that so many today actually seem to embrace diversity and dismiss the strict binaries as oppressive and bad. 

There are so many people out there who are not wired for this kind of fear. Whether this is an end result of socialization or and inborn personality is hard to determine, but it is clear that for every fearful traditionalist we find a curious explorer, open to new experiences and new acquaintances. 

David Godhart wrote about "Somewheres" and "Anywheres". According to Goodhart, the Somewheres are people who are more locally rooted and conservative as opposed to the Anywheres, who are globalists, open to change. I do not think that this necessarily is a divide defined by globalization, but it is definitely about openness to diversity. There are people who are  more accepting of people that are not like themselves.

This especially applies to younger people, who – having lived in a world of open access to all kinds of communities online – are not  so easily liable to "other" those that are different. They are also much more likely to see and accept the diversity in themselves.

For the fearful this is an affirmation of the belief that the enemy is indeed seducing the young, destroying the world order they long for in the process. 

For many of them this point in history seems to be their last chance at stopping the revolution of tolerance and open-mindedness. When Gen Z takes over the world will end in chaos, as they see it. This is the message of Putin, Orban, Farange and Trump. This is why so many of them are even willing to end democracy in order to stop this from happening.

Trans-exclusionary "radical feminists" like J.K. Rowling are not that different. They want, like the right wingers, to use the state to force everyone else to accept their banal view of "biological sex" being "biological sex", forcing all trans people back into the closet in the process. Theirs is also an authoritarian program of social exclusion, make no mistake about it.

In other words: This is not really a debate about transgender lives. This is about establishing a  fixed and unchangeable social order, using violence and the power of the state. The goal is to make sure that  ambiguity and diversity are removed, so that the fearful can sleep well at night without awareness of an unpredictable universe.

We need diversity

Yes, theirs represents a childish and immature approach to the world. Every time someone tries to tame the universe and establish a completely safe and predictable social order, it ends in tragedy. 

A thriving culture and an adaptable society requires a mix of tradition, creativity and radical innovation. We need visible diversity in order to be able to expand our understanding of the world and find new solutions to both old and new problems. Gender variance is part of that diversity. 

We have been through some horrible years of transphobia and  anti-trans legislation in many countries. The far right and the transphobic left (TERFs) have tried to overwhelm the democratic system with laws and propaganda that blame gender variance for everything from male aggression to youth rebellion. The tactic is to make the reactionary goal seem inevitable, wearing those who defend diversity and democracy down. 

They succeeded in Russia. They have nearly won in the UK. It seems, however, that the fever is breaking in the US, where those who love diversity and freedom seem to have gotten their hope back. 

This energized anti-fascist counter-movement is not succeeding because of its use of science and policy papers, however. The tactic that truly seems to work is to put up a contrast between joy, laugher and humanity on one side, and aggression, lies and hypermasculine policing on the other.  In this context the defense of marginalized groups become a sign of compassion and love.

When I write this it seems like the Harris/Waltz campaign in the US is based on a strategy where the message is that it is the compassionate defenders of the weak who are the "normal" ones and the haters who are the "weird" ones. After all, being hopeful and glad is a natural human trait, so why not embrace it?  

The right wing reactionaries seem to sense the trap. Over at Fox News they are spending a lot of time presenting compassionate men as feminized weaklings. Even female politicians who smile, laugh and hug are seen as dangerous. But this only confirms that they are misogynists who have lost their ability to love, and that the only thing that drives them is hate, fear and the need to dominate. And that is "weird".

Voting for Kamala Harris can turn men into women, Fox News reports.

In this context trans people might win. Not because we have science on our side, but because we have good people on our side.

Thanks to very valuable input from Joanna Santos and my friends over at CDL.

See also:

SIDEBAR: On the connection between fascism and transphobia

• The “average woman”, gender testing and the white gaze: racialized notions of gender in elite sport
• Strong American support for the LGBTQ-community, but trans people do not get as much love as the rest
• UN organization for women condemns gender-criticals and other transphobes
• More trans youth coming out is not about social contagion. It is about being allowed to be who you are.
• The Transphobic Olympic Travesty, the Imane Khelif Story (Resources)
• Judith Butler: Who is afraid of Gender?
• A Transgender Psychology: Carl Gustav Jung and the Shadow
• Othering, peaking, populism and moral panics: The reactionary strategies of organised transphobia
• Fascism and the Trans Villain: Historically Recurring Transphobia in Far-Right Politics
• Some Queer Thoughts about the “Weird” Discourse