Weekly Roundup
What is a TERF and Why it Matters in Today’s Political Climate
For FAIR’s Substack, Kara Dansky writes about the term “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist” and why it matters in today’s political climate.
Finally, it is common to characterize TERFs as being essentially conservative or “right-wing reactionaries.” This is not accurate either. Radical feminists generally come from the political Left and typically have very traditional liberal values. Most American radical feminists are either Democrats or Greens, or they have become independents in the past few years because they are tired of the Democratic Party’s embrace of “gender identity” (among other things). I know of no radical feminists who are Republicans and of no Republicans who claim to be radical feminists.
So what are we, exactly? In short, a TERF is a radical feminist leftist who recognizes the material reality of sex.
The Promise of Individualism
For the Cato Institute, FAIR Advisor Erec Smith writes about why he believes individualism is the best thing for curing the ills of social injustice.
This agency, possibility, and hope imply the concept of defensive confidence I reference in a recent Discourse article. If people have defensive confidence—the confidence that one can successfully defend one’s ideas in given situations—they are more likely to engage the world more courageously as individuals unbeholden to a group and is, ironically, more likely to have one’s mind changed precisely because of this willingness to engage.
These concepts suggest the benefits individualism can have to a sense of social justice and, especially, in combatting the fatalism of social justice activism. Individuals can think independently, adapt to circumstances, and, therefore, more effectively exercise agential fate and defensive confidence, thus better ensuring an attempt to communicate across differences.
Segregation Won't Return. It's Already Here.
For her Substack The Faction, FAIR Advisor Kimi Katiti publishes the first part of her transcribed conversation with Michael Jerome Wolff on the new push to racially segregate in the name of safety.
Keke has every right to express her take on politics and pop culture. However, I found it ironic that her segregation fear was vocalized in light of the SCOTUS decision that removed race as a factor for college admissions. I also found it doubly ironic because, well, segregation is already here.
It just isn't going by the same name, nor is it coming from the villains we love to hate.
I thought this would be a fitting opportunity to showcase just one of many instances where neo-apartheid is taking place, and so I transcribed portions of a conversation I had with Michael Jerome Wolff concering the construction of 'affinity' housing at Western Washington University in Bellingham, where he's an Associate Professor of Political Science. While I have been a part of a racially-segregated affinity group myself, I'd never heard of initiatives backed by a budget as large as this one, so I was curious to understand the mechanics behind this Bull Connor fantasy.
Asking the right questions about race
For The Critic, FAIR Advisor Inaya Folarin Iman writes about what explains racial disparities.
The American civil rights movement from the 1950s often gets taught in British schools, not because we’re importing American history, but because it was an extraordinary demonstration of the transformational capacity of human agency in the face of sickening injustice. We need powerful moral stories. Yet today those who advocate for colourblindness are often cast as racism deniers, a moral tragedy indeed. We’ve given up on ideals and given up on the future.
The challenge for critics of identity politics is not just to critique, but to explain and genuinely understand the questions being asked. It is all well and good to say that racial disparities don’t necessarily equate to racism. Then what does explain racial disparities? It is fine to say we shouldn’t have racial quotas. Then how do we guarantee opportunity for all, regardless of race? Both This is Not America and It’s Not About Whiteness, It’s About Wealth form part of the urgent and long-awaited intellectual work needed to create a genuinely fair and socially just society, one that doesn’t depend on treating ethnic minority people like children.
Civility Isn’t Weakness—It’s How We Win
For Quillette, FAIR Advisor Angel Eduardo and Julian Adorney write about why they believe a commitment to civility is about not becoming the mirror image of those we oppose.
When we attack our political opponents’ characters and impugn their motives—even when we’re simply copying the tactics our adversaries are using against us—we alienate the Exhausted Majority. They conclude that we don't share their values: we’re not interested in listening or making compromises. The shriller our vituperation, the more we push away the unconverted. And the Exhausted Majority is right to distance themselves from us because such behavior communicates that gaining a cheap victory over the enemy is more important to us than improving society. And why should they favor us over our opponents if our rhetoric and tactics mirror the opposition’s so closely that it’s nearly impossible to tell the two sides apart?
My Research on Gender Dysphoria Was Censored. But I Won’t Be.
For The Free Press, Michael Bailey writes about how trans activists forced the retraction of his paper, yet their efforts have only redoubled his commitment to the truth.
We are outraged and disappointed that our article was retracted. But the belief that activists have won and science has lost is mostly wrong. Our article’s retraction has inadvertently resulted in a triumph for truth and reason.
Start with the support we’ve received from FAIR, Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine, and others. Unless you have ever been cancelled, you have no idea how important this is.
The campaign against our article, from the open letter to the final retraction, has generated immense publicity by academic standards, so far largely favorable. Our academic article has been viewed online more than 100,000 times in not quite three months, an astonishing number for an article of this nature. This reflects a thirst for knowledge about this important subject.
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