That was an amazing essay. Your wordsmithing with comments such as "As if the arc of the moral universe bends naturally towards the eradication of the female sports category" nails the target to a cross. As a woman, I know my purpose in life is not to be part of a treatment plan for deranged males, and their transmaidens can go crawl back in their holes and pack sand. Going with a paid subscription tomorrow on payday.
AnCu, you cannot win this war against women and children and against reality itself. The truth always asserts itself. You seriously need help, if you are even a real human. Bots are taking over social media trying to inflame real users who are trying to have a genuine conversation about issues that matter. Are you a bot? Are you AI? Whoever/whatever you are seek help.
Fantastic essay, I will restack it. The point of trashing the TERFs is for the author to remain allowed to publish. Imagine you're an 'expert' on extremists but fail to take the socially correct position on the most conspicuous extremists: the Foucault fan club.
Thank you - I arrived here by followed your refs. I've read RM previously but hadn't encountered this article yet - or Ebner and her bizarre simultaneous observance/obscurantism about the gender issue.
We should just start calling Foucault and his buddies intellectual vandals.
Excellent article. Róisín Michaux never disappoints. Are the Julia Ebners of the world entirely confident that the bubble of the trans fad won't burst within their lifetimes? How long do they imagine that a lie as big as the claim that a man is some kind of woman can last? Doesn't the thought of eventually having to make embarrassing, unconvincing excuses for their earlier zealotry and dishonesty keep them up at night?
In my experience, there is no anxiety about being wrong. These types go with the crowd, and when the crowd moves on, they will be safely in the middle of the new thinking. No one around them will care about their past as long as they say the accepted things right now. Such is the life of ‘keeping up with the Jones’ intellectually.
I agree. Elites such as Ebner don't necessarily have much intelligence or self-awareness but they seem to have an unshakable sense of superiority, confidence and authority. They show no evidence of doubt that where they stand on an issue is the absolutely correct place, even when—as with the trans stuff—it is on the edge of a crumbling precipice.
I groan to think of all the (non) apologies these so-called intellectuals will be writing in 5 to 10 years: 'The far right were on the march... everyone was confused by this new phenomenon... we may have been overzealous but we meant well... vulnerable minority... I, in fact, was among the first to call for moderation...' No, Julia Ebner. We were there. At every step of the way—before, during, after—your types helped to marginalize those who were warning the world about the harms of trans-ideology.
Fascinating and fun. Thanks for the vocabulary expansion, including the link: Paltering: the active use of selective truthful statements to mislead. Does sound familiar indeed.
Absolutely brilliant essay. “The problem isn’t really that we don’t understand it. It’s that we understand it all too well, but that we won’t politely shut up about it”. So many truly excellent points and rabbit holes to dive into. 🙏
Just remembered. Similar anecdote to the tube train. A couple of weeks ago one morning myself 50 + man and a lady of similar age to myself only people waiting at a bus stop. A tranny comes striding towards us, bandy legs in a bizarre all black garb with a skirt with sequins...clothing that would be oddly out of context even if worn by an actual woman. This man had a grim expression, glared at me and continued on his way. There wasn't the slightest effort to walk in a more feminine manner. Anyways the lady waiting at the bus stop and myself exchanged glances....and a good bit of laughter to boot.
Thing is this man looked troubled and disturbed. No evidence of euphoria at 'being his authentic self' more like someone in the grip of a compulsion he can't control.
If I could offer one weapon in this fight, it would be to suggest a reframing.
Male animals imitating female animals is widespread and in some circumstances common in nature. It’s called sexual mimicry. Even certain plants will imitate the female of an unrelated species to get pollinated.
No supernatural “female brain” or gender involved, those are pure fabrications and their use is to deflect from the simple reality: a man is imitating a woman compulsively.
Some people have a compulsion to eat, some to drink, some to not eat, some to gamble.
Some men have a compulsion to imitate women.
Their doing so creates two outcomes. They confuse men who (let’s be honest) are not too bright or choosy about looks, so avoiding competition.
This also in turn grants some access to female institutions (feminism, prisons, lesbians, sports) which allows the men unwanted emotional, sexual, and reproductive gratification. They require constant feedback about being female so they know the mimicry works.
Being unmasked is emotionally lethal, which is why they require constant confirmation of the mimicry, and react as through their life were in danger otherwise. Male-male competition and violence.
TERF are women who simply state (imply):
These are men with a compulsion to imitate women.
The compulsion is innate and natural, and occurs often among animals.
It must be contained, because it creates damaging behaviors.
Whilst you're correct to point out that sexual mimicry does indeed occur in some animal and plant species, you're very much mistaken in equating sexual mimicry with "male animals imitating female animals."
You're even more mistaken in saying that, "Male animals imitating female animals is incredibly common in nature."
The number of animal species that engage in sex mimicry make up just a teeny-tiny fraction of the total number of animal species- which is estimated at 7.77 million, give or take a million or so.
Moreover, in the small number of animal species where sex mimicry occurs, the sex mimics aren't always male like you allege.
The vertebrate species best known for sexual mimicy are spotted hyenas. In that species, it's the females who mimic the males.
Similarly, in some species of damselflies females mimic males in appearance, apparently so that males who want to mate will leave them alone.
I’ve heard about it for at least four decades, and there are so many papers on Google scholar I couldn’t count easily.
We could debate “widespread” vs “common” but that’s called a meaning of meaning conversation. It is definitely not hard to find. You can find sexual mimicry at multiple levels of complexity in all chordates except amphibians, all arthropods except millipedes, but not in any animal phyla with weak or nonexistent sexual dimorphism.
Were you to look at different ecologies I suspect you would always find multiple examples of sexual mimicry at play. In a reef you’d find sexual mimicry plentiful among wrasse, sunfish, blennies, cuttlefish, marine isopods, “midshipman” fish. Wrasse are among the most abundant and widespread fish on globe. And that’s only what’s been clearly documented - the behavior is not always obvious unless there are multiple male morphs.
In my complete writing here I also reference female mimicry of male animals but seems more unusual. The hyena is an conspecific example, the fossa in Madagascar is another, binturongs in Southeast Asia another. There is a predatory firefly but that’s heterospecific. Damselflies as you mention, there are other examples.
Key though is that female mimics don’t act predatory, which is the issue I address, males do. Female mimics appear male to ward off males.
If we to study every bony fish, every insect, every bird, every mammal, reptile, and look specifically for this evolved behavior, we’d find it much more so than we have so far. Amphibians, not so.
Across species is rare.
Mammals have scent cues for the female sex, particularly for female estrus, so for primates. It’s hard for males to smell a female in heat.
Then come humans.
Humans have no vomeronasal system, so with that fact there is no direct pheromone system as in other primates to detect females. Human females give off no signals that they are ovulating.
So, humans rely on visual and behavioral cues much more strongly to ascertain sex and so comes in body hair, facial hair, body shape, size, voice, fat patterns, and so on. Precisely what makes sexual mimicry - male mimics and female mimicry alike - easier to sustain in humans versus other primates. Grooming and clothing are the basis of sustaining mimicry, different than in all other animals.
@AnCu, In my entire life I've never felt the need to degrade and dehumanize someone who disagrees with me by calling them names like 'pervert' or use profanity. Are you even a real human? I hear that half the inflmmatory exchanges on social media are actually bots seeking to increase engagement to make more ad money. More likely you're projecting exactly what and who you know yourself to be deep down. Civil discourse is clearly not in your repertoire of skills.
Trans ideology is an abomination. Trans people are victims of that ideology but become perpetrators of heinous crimes against women and children when they advocate for the wholesale destruction of women's rights and mutilation of healthy children's bodies.
Ancu is not a real person, every single weird reply doesn't even begin to engage with the comment and instead accuses everyone of lunacy, being "freakish", or delusional. The lack of variance in vocabulary and the inability to respond to any part of a comment makes me think it's a bot programmed to only respond in this manner, so not worth engaging with imo.
There are more bots on substack now. I am noticing people without identities (handles) popping up more in comments, and if you click on them, they are no longer there. Bots, I figure.
Wow! Thanks for the incredibly thorough reporting.
Re the claims that trans are murdered at a higher rate than others, here's a calculation for the US using data for 2021 from Statista and The US's Williams Institute (trans advocacy nonprofit):
In 2021, 21,317 people age 13+ in the US were victims of criminal homicide (including non-negligent manslaughter), including 16,640 males, 4,581 females, 96 undetermined (assumed to be proportionally male/female split so 75 male and 21 female) and 53 trans people, all according to Statista (takes some digging for all of the numbers):
The Williams Institute estimated 1.6 million trans people in the US age 13+ as of 2021.
Statista says there were 141 million females 13+ and 138 million males 13+ in the US as of 2021.
That makes the 2021 homicide rates the following:
Men & male teens: 16,715/138 million = 121 per million
Women & female teens: 4,602/141 million = 33 per million
Males & females 13+ combined: 21,317/279 million = 76 per million
Trans teens & adults: 53/1.6 million = 33 per million
So statistically in terms of killings, trans are about as safe as women, a lot more safe than men, and safer than non-trans people in general.
If you wanted to use HRC's number of 60 trans killed in 2021 instead, I don't think all of them meet Statista's criteria for "murder or non-negligent homicide", but at 60 the rate becomes 37 per million instead of 33 per million.
To whom you are attracted sexually is purely subjective and therefore cannot reasonably be contested by an outside observer.
Where you decide to live your life on a spectrum of superficial, stereotypical male to female attributes (and we all do) is also purely subjective and similarly cannot be questioned.
However, your biological sex reflects an objective reality which cannot be changed by your subjective personal view and futile attempts to do so can result in serious health impacts to you as well as harms to members of the sex you are impersonating (primarily women).
Others who are grounded in objective reality should never be forced to accept your subjective version of your actual biological sex.
Finally, it's past time for the LGB community to separate themselves from the trans activists who are trying to take away the rights of women to fairness in sports and to privacy and safety in their restrooms, locker rooms and prisons. They also advocate for the chemical and surgical mutilation of children many of whom would grow up gay.
Their actions are evil and the
understandable negative reaction to the harm they are causing is spilling over to innocent people who are just going about their business, marrying and leading their lives.
We HAVE tried to separate, from us Lesbian Michfesties INSISTING ON our Lesbian and Female only spaces for decades and villified by Trans, to LGB ALLIANCE and their conferences stalked by Trans and told it was a " hate group" for NOT including them, to " Let Women Speak" Movement where so many of us were shouted down and/ or threatened or brutaliz3d by Trans and their advocates!!
That was an amazing essay. Your wordsmithing with comments such as "As if the arc of the moral universe bends naturally towards the eradication of the female sports category" nails the target to a cross. As a woman, I know my purpose in life is not to be part of a treatment plan for deranged males, and their transmaidens can go crawl back in their holes and pack sand. Going with a paid subscription tomorrow on payday.
Astonishing. Great writing too! Fucking insane. How did this icky demi-monde ever become so ascendant, so powerful?
Good question.
AnCu, you cannot win this war against women and children and against reality itself. The truth always asserts itself. You seriously need help, if you are even a real human. Bots are taking over social media trying to inflame real users who are trying to have a genuine conversation about issues that matter. Are you a bot? Are you AI? Whoever/whatever you are seek help.
Bot
Fantastic essay, I will restack it. The point of trashing the TERFs is for the author to remain allowed to publish. Imagine you're an 'expert' on extremists but fail to take the socially correct position on the most conspicuous extremists: the Foucault fan club.
Thank you - I arrived here by followed your refs. I've read RM previously but hadn't encountered this article yet - or Ebner and her bizarre simultaneous observance/obscurantism about the gender issue.
We should just start calling Foucault and his buddies intellectual vandals.
Excellent article. Róisín Michaux never disappoints. Are the Julia Ebners of the world entirely confident that the bubble of the trans fad won't burst within their lifetimes? How long do they imagine that a lie as big as the claim that a man is some kind of woman can last? Doesn't the thought of eventually having to make embarrassing, unconvincing excuses for their earlier zealotry and dishonesty keep them up at night?
In my experience, there is no anxiety about being wrong. These types go with the crowd, and when the crowd moves on, they will be safely in the middle of the new thinking. No one around them will care about their past as long as they say the accepted things right now. Such is the life of ‘keeping up with the Jones’ intellectually.
I agree. Elites such as Ebner don't necessarily have much intelligence or self-awareness but they seem to have an unshakable sense of superiority, confidence and authority. They show no evidence of doubt that where they stand on an issue is the absolutely correct place, even when—as with the trans stuff—it is on the edge of a crumbling precipice.
I groan to think of all the (non) apologies these so-called intellectuals will be writing in 5 to 10 years: 'The far right were on the march... everyone was confused by this new phenomenon... we may have been overzealous but we meant well... vulnerable minority... I, in fact, was among the first to call for moderation...' No, Julia Ebner. We were there. At every step of the way—before, during, after—your types helped to marginalize those who were warning the world about the harms of trans-ideology.
I spot a bot.
Fascinating and fun. Thanks for the vocabulary expansion, including the link: Paltering: the active use of selective truthful statements to mislead. Does sound familiar indeed.
Absolutely brilliant essay. “The problem isn’t really that we don’t understand it. It’s that we understand it all too well, but that we won’t politely shut up about it”. So many truly excellent points and rabbit holes to dive into. 🙏
Just remembered. Similar anecdote to the tube train. A couple of weeks ago one morning myself 50 + man and a lady of similar age to myself only people waiting at a bus stop. A tranny comes striding towards us, bandy legs in a bizarre all black garb with a skirt with sequins...clothing that would be oddly out of context even if worn by an actual woman. This man had a grim expression, glared at me and continued on his way. There wasn't the slightest effort to walk in a more feminine manner. Anyways the lady waiting at the bus stop and myself exchanged glances....and a good bit of laughter to boot.
Thing is this man looked troubled and disturbed. No evidence of euphoria at 'being his authentic self' more like someone in the grip of a compulsion he can't control.
Brilliant journalism. Ferocious, angry, informative.
Brilliant thank you
All terven must read this!
Incredible collating and making sense.
If I could offer one weapon in this fight, it would be to suggest a reframing.
Male animals imitating female animals is widespread and in some circumstances common in nature. It’s called sexual mimicry. Even certain plants will imitate the female of an unrelated species to get pollinated.
No supernatural “female brain” or gender involved, those are pure fabrications and their use is to deflect from the simple reality: a man is imitating a woman compulsively.
Some people have a compulsion to eat, some to drink, some to not eat, some to gamble.
Some men have a compulsion to imitate women.
Their doing so creates two outcomes. They confuse men who (let’s be honest) are not too bright or choosy about looks, so avoiding competition.
This also in turn grants some access to female institutions (feminism, prisons, lesbians, sports) which allows the men unwanted emotional, sexual, and reproductive gratification. They require constant feedback about being female so they know the mimicry works.
Being unmasked is emotionally lethal, which is why they require constant confirmation of the mimicry, and react as through their life were in danger otherwise. Male-male competition and violence.
TERF are women who simply state (imply):
These are men with a compulsion to imitate women.
The compulsion is innate and natural, and occurs often among animals.
It must be contained, because it creates damaging behaviors.
There is no other explanation needed.
It is rational, exact, empirical.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sufeitzy/p/mimesexuality-1-incipendum?r=o79yv&utm_medium=ios
Just saw your comment. Wow. Thank you. Very interested in this
Whilst you're correct to point out that sexual mimicry does indeed occur in some animal and plant species, you're very much mistaken in equating sexual mimicry with "male animals imitating female animals."
You're even more mistaken in saying that, "Male animals imitating female animals is incredibly common in nature."
The number of animal species that engage in sex mimicry make up just a teeny-tiny fraction of the total number of animal species- which is estimated at 7.77 million, give or take a million or so.
Moreover, in the small number of animal species where sex mimicry occurs, the sex mimics aren't always male like you allege.
The vertebrate species best known for sexual mimicy are spotted hyenas. In that species, it's the females who mimic the males.
Similarly, in some species of damselflies females mimic males in appearance, apparently so that males who want to mate will leave them alone.
Thanks for responding, I appreciate it. Debate is good, and your name here is a great pun.
“Sexual mimicry among animals is widespread,” begins a recent paper:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15662403/
I’ve heard about it for at least four decades, and there are so many papers on Google scholar I couldn’t count easily.
We could debate “widespread” vs “common” but that’s called a meaning of meaning conversation. It is definitely not hard to find. You can find sexual mimicry at multiple levels of complexity in all chordates except amphibians, all arthropods except millipedes, but not in any animal phyla with weak or nonexistent sexual dimorphism.
Were you to look at different ecologies I suspect you would always find multiple examples of sexual mimicry at play. In a reef you’d find sexual mimicry plentiful among wrasse, sunfish, blennies, cuttlefish, marine isopods, “midshipman” fish. Wrasse are among the most abundant and widespread fish on globe. And that’s only what’s been clearly documented - the behavior is not always obvious unless there are multiple male morphs.
In my complete writing here I also reference female mimicry of male animals but seems more unusual. The hyena is an conspecific example, the fossa in Madagascar is another, binturongs in Southeast Asia another. There is a predatory firefly but that’s heterospecific. Damselflies as you mention, there are other examples.
Key though is that female mimics don’t act predatory, which is the issue I address, males do. Female mimics appear male to ward off males.
If we to study every bony fish, every insect, every bird, every mammal, reptile, and look specifically for this evolved behavior, we’d find it much more so than we have so far. Amphibians, not so.
Across species is rare.
Mammals have scent cues for the female sex, particularly for female estrus, so for primates. It’s hard for males to smell a female in heat.
Then come humans.
Humans have no vomeronasal system, so with that fact there is no direct pheromone system as in other primates to detect females. Human females give off no signals that they are ovulating.
So, humans rely on visual and behavioral cues much more strongly to ascertain sex and so comes in body hair, facial hair, body shape, size, voice, fat patterns, and so on. Precisely what makes sexual mimicry - male mimics and female mimicry alike - easier to sustain in humans versus other primates. Grooming and clothing are the basis of sustaining mimicry, different than in all other animals.
“Star Trek Fan, shaped like a bison “
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Epic take-down of trans ideologues which, sadly, won't be read or shared by those who most need to see it.
@AnCu, In my entire life I've never felt the need to degrade and dehumanize someone who disagrees with me by calling them names like 'pervert' or use profanity. Are you even a real human? I hear that half the inflmmatory exchanges on social media are actually bots seeking to increase engagement to make more ad money. More likely you're projecting exactly what and who you know yourself to be deep down. Civil discourse is clearly not in your repertoire of skills.
Trans ideology is an abomination. Trans people are victims of that ideology but become perpetrators of heinous crimes against women and children when they advocate for the wholesale destruction of women's rights and mutilation of healthy children's bodies.
Ancu is not a real person, every single weird reply doesn't even begin to engage with the comment and instead accuses everyone of lunacy, being "freakish", or delusional. The lack of variance in vocabulary and the inability to respond to any part of a comment makes me think it's a bot programmed to only respond in this manner, so not worth engaging with imo.
There are more bots on substack now. I am noticing people without identities (handles) popping up more in comments, and if you click on them, they are no longer there. Bots, I figure.
One of the best articles I have ever read on this subject. Also funny 'Occam's pervert" 🤣
Wow! Thanks for the incredibly thorough reporting.
Re the claims that trans are murdered at a higher rate than others, here's a calculation for the US using data for 2021 from Statista and The US's Williams Institute (trans advocacy nonprofit):
In 2021, 21,317 people age 13+ in the US were victims of criminal homicide (including non-negligent manslaughter), including 16,640 males, 4,581 females, 96 undetermined (assumed to be proportionally male/female split so 75 male and 21 female) and 53 trans people, all according to Statista (takes some digging for all of the numbers):
https://www.statista.com/statistics/191134/reported-murder-and-nonnegligent-manslaughter-cases-in-the-us-since-1990/
The Williams Institute estimated 1.6 million trans people in the US age 13+ as of 2021.
Statista says there were 141 million females 13+ and 138 million males 13+ in the US as of 2021.
That makes the 2021 homicide rates the following:
Men & male teens: 16,715/138 million = 121 per million
Women & female teens: 4,602/141 million = 33 per million
Males & females 13+ combined: 21,317/279 million = 76 per million
Trans teens & adults: 53/1.6 million = 33 per million
So statistically in terms of killings, trans are about as safe as women, a lot more safe than men, and safer than non-trans people in general.
If you wanted to use HRC's number of 60 trans killed in 2021 instead, I don't think all of them meet Statista's criteria for "murder or non-negligent homicide", but at 60 the rate becomes 37 per million instead of 33 per million.
To whom you are attracted sexually is purely subjective and therefore cannot reasonably be contested by an outside observer.
Where you decide to live your life on a spectrum of superficial, stereotypical male to female attributes (and we all do) is also purely subjective and similarly cannot be questioned.
However, your biological sex reflects an objective reality which cannot be changed by your subjective personal view and futile attempts to do so can result in serious health impacts to you as well as harms to members of the sex you are impersonating (primarily women).
Others who are grounded in objective reality should never be forced to accept your subjective version of your actual biological sex.
Finally, it's past time for the LGB community to separate themselves from the trans activists who are trying to take away the rights of women to fairness in sports and to privacy and safety in their restrooms, locker rooms and prisons. They also advocate for the chemical and surgical mutilation of children many of whom would grow up gay.
Their actions are evil and the
understandable negative reaction to the harm they are causing is spilling over to innocent people who are just going about their business, marrying and leading their lives.
We HAVE tried to separate, from us Lesbian Michfesties INSISTING ON our Lesbian and Female only spaces for decades and villified by Trans, to LGB ALLIANCE and their conferences stalked by Trans and told it was a " hate group" for NOT including them, to " Let Women Speak" Movement where so many of us were shouted down and/ or threatened or brutaliz3d by Trans and their advocates!!
Best phrase: “unscratchable, dopamine-depleting autogynephilic itch”
Seek help.
Brilliant, thank you.