My son is a trans man, and I despise the vicious, anti-science, misogynistic ideology of online trans activism.
These irrational dogmatic fools do not represent my son, nor, I suspect, do they represent MOST transgender people.
In fact, they are trivializing a very real and painful medical condition by promoting Gender self-ID, and the trendy concept of being "non-binary".
Medical gender transition is an EXTREMELY serious life change, and NO ONE under 21 should make such an irrevocable life change.
My son fought against the truth of his gender dysphoria for years, and underwent long term therapy before making the choice to transition.
Today, my son is much happier after taking testosterone and presenting to the world as male.
But he is fine with acknowledging that he is genetically female, and wants to preserve the female gender marker on his birth certificate for accuracy in medical treatment.
When I asked him if he was offended by the comments made by JK Rowling, he literally laughed out loud.
"Of course not!" he said.
I suspect this is how most trans people feel, but are afraid to say anything for fear of being attacked online.
Thank You for your courage, and please don't judge the whole trans community by people who call for outrageous cheating in women's sports, and for easy male access to women's spaces, which could be exploited in horrific ways by sexual predators (who, by the way, could use gender self-ID to harm trans women as well as cis women).
Hang in there! I trust that History (and Herstory) is on your side!
"The event was moved off campus. It was limited to 35 people. And the police were called in because of threats." What a shame. It deserved to be a commencement speech.
"And when I look back on my life thus far, it occurs to me that the decisions of which I am most proud—the ones that strike like an unexpected kiss—are not the times when I obeyed the algorithm. They’re the times when I defied it and felt, for a moment, the magic and power of being alive."
I find it interesting that so many self proclaimed liberals, which cried out how transphobic North Carolina was about a bathroom policy, are now starting to understand what conservatives saw 6-7 years ago; How these same liberals were calling to cancel an entire state. How these same liberals backed pulling business from NC because how they are a state of hate. These same people are waking up.
I think conservatives saw Critical Queer Theory creeping in and knew it was wrong but they were unable to articulate why it was wrong. They didn’t even know there was such a thing as Critical Queer Theory.
Conservatives are waking up as well. The sad thing is Critical Theories have fully captured the Democratic Party and I don’t know how to uncapture them.
I want to be able to vote for a Democrat again. I want to have a choice.
"Yes, you can reject the false, dogmatic insistences of Gender Ideology and still wish to see transgender Americans prosper and flourish and fulfill their dreams in America."
This doesn't seem accurate to me. If a transgender American's concept of fulfilling his or her "dreams in America" requires other people to affirm that a person has changed sex, or to admit a person of one sex into spaces or competitions for the other sex, that cannot be accomplished without coercion.
What is the admission of males to women's sports, bathrooms, shelters, or prisons but the same old story of the strong devouring the weak? How many incarcerated women should be sacrificed out of "courtesy" to men who believe they are or wish they were women?
On the question of why I'd speak up as well: I can't live with myself if I keep quiet and ignore the lies. So many old friends have silenced themselves, refused to speak to me when I bring up the usual forbidden (but bestselling!) authors--you, John McWhorter, others. How many times have I heard: "trust me and don't talk about this." I feel like I'm the kid who points out the emperor is naked, and I wish a few other kids would wave and say the same thing!
“Take back the right to speak your mind—thoughtfully, courteously, with a goal in mind beyond giving offense. The list of unmentionable truths expands so rapidly, without reason other than the attempt to suffocate a free people so that they forget the exhilaration of a lungful of air.”
-Abigail Shrier 12.2021
Abigail,
Thank you for inspiring us to enjoy a deep breath and to continue to speak our minds courteously, unapologetically, & out of love for each other and for the truth.
So proud of you and this message.As someone who has raised two wonderful women I am so impressed that your voice rings so loudly and true in the crazy madness of todays social warrior nonsense.I have wondered why young women don’t unite and respectfully boycott women's sports when they exclude women by putting biological men in the mix.The only way around this is putting on the XX or XY games where one plays in the games which one is.Years of women’s rights and hard fought improvements will be lost in a single generation and not just on the sports field.So much of this progressive nightmare is just to tear down the strength of the individual and the push for the collective which almost always devolves at the point of a gun.Be quiet and get back in line or we will shoot you,imprison you,take away your children or you ability to make a living.Please stand strong against these tides,there are many folks who stand with you.
My only quibble is I don’t think it’s a courtesy to go along with someone’s delusions like with their pronouns - it’s submission. We wouldn’t go along with someone who thinks they are Napoleon or a cat, we’d see them as rightly needing mental help. And we shouldn’t embrace someone who is transgender because there is no such thing, it’s only a person who mutilated themselves. A man can never not be a man. A woman can never not be a woman. The courteous thing to do, the kind thing to do, is help them get help.
Mr. Orwell put it in a nutshell many years ago: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." He was good at that. We should emulate him as best we may.
I quite agree that the ideology of gender is a toxic concept, an invitation amounting to a demand that all of us abandon the concept of objective reality in favor of "tolerance" and "inclusion." This demand extends to other dogmas of postmodern progressivism as well, such as "anti-racism." And as Ms. Shier notes, the demand is backed up by the threat of persecution and punishment. At my age (72) that's really not much of a threat. But for young people just beginning to make their way in the world, it's a serious one indeed. Yes, female athletes should speak out against the ideology that makes nonsense of all their hard work and dedication—and what is worse, the demand that they smile and nod along as a mockery is made of women's sports. But when I remind myself of the near-universal condemnation and hymn of hate that would descend upon those young women, I can well understand their reluctance to raise a protest.
But I also see reason for hope. The very virulence of the gender ideology mob, its willingness to blame, bully, blight reputations, destroy lives, betrays a knowledge that the cause is not just, that it cannot be sustained by rational argument or appeals to justice. The devotees of this inhuman ideology know that power and power alone, in the sense of compelling people to do and say what they would not otherwise do and say, is the only way of imposing their will on the rest of us. That may look like their strength but in reality it's their great weakness.
Outstanding work Abigail; those are powerful words, sentences, and ideas.
The mob, led by government officials in Wisconsin, knew they weren't going to get a guilty verdict on Rittenhouse. But that was not the objective of the prosecution. The true objective of that prosecution was to create fear and doubt in those who may think of opposing the mob in the future. And the mob has succeeded; Rittenhouse himself now says, in retrospect, he wouldn't have gone to Kenosha.
And there are probably millions of people who saw that prosecution and said to themselves "Rittenhouse was defending himself, but I'd never put myself in the position risking losing everything."
As "the mob" continues their march towards tyranny, more and more people are likely to decide "it's just not worth it to risk losing everything", without realizing that giving into the mob will result in you, or your children, losing everything. It is only a matter of when.
I believe the US is currently in a civil war. It has not yet turned bloody, but it probably will. I can only hope that enough people will be willing to sacrifice all to save the greatest country the world has ever known: a country that has done more good for more people around the world for a longer period of time than any country that has preceded it. If we lose this country to the mob, it will be many centuries before a worthy successor appears.
Abigail Shrier on Freedom in an Age of Fear
My son is a trans man, and I despise the vicious, anti-science, misogynistic ideology of online trans activism.
These irrational dogmatic fools do not represent my son, nor, I suspect, do they represent MOST transgender people.
In fact, they are trivializing a very real and painful medical condition by promoting Gender self-ID, and the trendy concept of being "non-binary".
Medical gender transition is an EXTREMELY serious life change, and NO ONE under 21 should make such an irrevocable life change.
My son fought against the truth of his gender dysphoria for years, and underwent long term therapy before making the choice to transition.
Today, my son is much happier after taking testosterone and presenting to the world as male.
But he is fine with acknowledging that he is genetically female, and wants to preserve the female gender marker on his birth certificate for accuracy in medical treatment.
When I asked him if he was offended by the comments made by JK Rowling, he literally laughed out loud.
"Of course not!" he said.
I suspect this is how most trans people feel, but are afraid to say anything for fear of being attacked online.
Thank You for your courage, and please don't judge the whole trans community by people who call for outrageous cheating in women's sports, and for easy male access to women's spaces, which could be exploited in horrific ways by sexual predators (who, by the way, could use gender self-ID to harm trans women as well as cis women).
Hang in there! I trust that History (and Herstory) is on your side!
"The event was moved off campus. It was limited to 35 people. And the police were called in because of threats." What a shame. It deserved to be a commencement speech.
Shrier is extraordinary.
Actually Abigail you are loved and admired. The only hate you receive is from a tiny cohort of zombified elites..
"And when I look back on my life thus far, it occurs to me that the decisions of which I am most proud—the ones that strike like an unexpected kiss—are not the times when I obeyed the algorithm. They’re the times when I defied it and felt, for a moment, the magic and power of being alive."
I'm ready to run through a brick wall.
I find it interesting that so many self proclaimed liberals, which cried out how transphobic North Carolina was about a bathroom policy, are now starting to understand what conservatives saw 6-7 years ago; How these same liberals were calling to cancel an entire state. How these same liberals backed pulling business from NC because how they are a state of hate. These same people are waking up.
I think conservatives saw Critical Queer Theory creeping in and knew it was wrong but they were unable to articulate why it was wrong. They didn’t even know there was such a thing as Critical Queer Theory.
Conservatives are waking up as well. The sad thing is Critical Theories have fully captured the Democratic Party and I don’t know how to uncapture them.
I want to be able to vote for a Democrat again. I want to have a choice.
"But—when asked, I will not state my pronouns and if you don’t believe in Gender Ideology, you shouldn’t either."
Compelled speech is the sine qua non of fascism.
"Yes, you can reject the false, dogmatic insistences of Gender Ideology and still wish to see transgender Americans prosper and flourish and fulfill their dreams in America."
This doesn't seem accurate to me. If a transgender American's concept of fulfilling his or her "dreams in America" requires other people to affirm that a person has changed sex, or to admit a person of one sex into spaces or competitions for the other sex, that cannot be accomplished without coercion.
What is the admission of males to women's sports, bathrooms, shelters, or prisons but the same old story of the strong devouring the weak? How many incarcerated women should be sacrificed out of "courtesy" to men who believe they are or wish they were women?
On the question of why I'd speak up as well: I can't live with myself if I keep quiet and ignore the lies. So many old friends have silenced themselves, refused to speak to me when I bring up the usual forbidden (but bestselling!) authors--you, John McWhorter, others. How many times have I heard: "trust me and don't talk about this." I feel like I'm the kid who points out the emperor is naked, and I wish a few other kids would wave and say the same thing!
“Take back the right to speak your mind—thoughtfully, courteously, with a goal in mind beyond giving offense. The list of unmentionable truths expands so rapidly, without reason other than the attempt to suffocate a free people so that they forget the exhilaration of a lungful of air.”
-Abigail Shrier 12.2021
Abigail,
Thank you for inspiring us to enjoy a deep breath and to continue to speak our minds courteously, unapologetically, & out of love for each other and for the truth.
So proud of you and this message.As someone who has raised two wonderful women I am so impressed that your voice rings so loudly and true in the crazy madness of todays social warrior nonsense.I have wondered why young women don’t unite and respectfully boycott women's sports when they exclude women by putting biological men in the mix.The only way around this is putting on the XX or XY games where one plays in the games which one is.Years of women’s rights and hard fought improvements will be lost in a single generation and not just on the sports field.So much of this progressive nightmare is just to tear down the strength of the individual and the push for the collective which almost always devolves at the point of a gun.Be quiet and get back in line or we will shoot you,imprison you,take away your children or you ability to make a living.Please stand strong against these tides,there are many folks who stand with you.
Excellent speech and a true warrior for freedom.
My only quibble is I don’t think it’s a courtesy to go along with someone’s delusions like with their pronouns - it’s submission. We wouldn’t go along with someone who thinks they are Napoleon or a cat, we’d see them as rightly needing mental help. And we shouldn’t embrace someone who is transgender because there is no such thing, it’s only a person who mutilated themselves. A man can never not be a man. A woman can never not be a woman. The courteous thing to do, the kind thing to do, is help them get help.
Inspiring speech. You are one of a small group of people who have become modern day freedom fighters. Congratulations!
Courage such as yours is a rare and beautiful thing. God bless you Abigail.
Mr. Orwell put it in a nutshell many years ago: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." He was good at that. We should emulate him as best we may.
I quite agree that the ideology of gender is a toxic concept, an invitation amounting to a demand that all of us abandon the concept of objective reality in favor of "tolerance" and "inclusion." This demand extends to other dogmas of postmodern progressivism as well, such as "anti-racism." And as Ms. Shier notes, the demand is backed up by the threat of persecution and punishment. At my age (72) that's really not much of a threat. But for young people just beginning to make their way in the world, it's a serious one indeed. Yes, female athletes should speak out against the ideology that makes nonsense of all their hard work and dedication—and what is worse, the demand that they smile and nod along as a mockery is made of women's sports. But when I remind myself of the near-universal condemnation and hymn of hate that would descend upon those young women, I can well understand their reluctance to raise a protest.
But I also see reason for hope. The very virulence of the gender ideology mob, its willingness to blame, bully, blight reputations, destroy lives, betrays a knowledge that the cause is not just, that it cannot be sustained by rational argument or appeals to justice. The devotees of this inhuman ideology know that power and power alone, in the sense of compelling people to do and say what they would not otherwise do and say, is the only way of imposing their will on the rest of us. That may look like their strength but in reality it's their great weakness.
Outstanding work Abigail; those are powerful words, sentences, and ideas.
The mob, led by government officials in Wisconsin, knew they weren't going to get a guilty verdict on Rittenhouse. But that was not the objective of the prosecution. The true objective of that prosecution was to create fear and doubt in those who may think of opposing the mob in the future. And the mob has succeeded; Rittenhouse himself now says, in retrospect, he wouldn't have gone to Kenosha.
And there are probably millions of people who saw that prosecution and said to themselves "Rittenhouse was defending himself, but I'd never put myself in the position risking losing everything."
As "the mob" continues their march towards tyranny, more and more people are likely to decide "it's just not worth it to risk losing everything", without realizing that giving into the mob will result in you, or your children, losing everything. It is only a matter of when.
I believe the US is currently in a civil war. It has not yet turned bloody, but it probably will. I can only hope that enough people will be willing to sacrifice all to save the greatest country the world has ever known: a country that has done more good for more people around the world for a longer period of time than any country that has preceded it. If we lose this country to the mob, it will be many centuries before a worthy successor appears.
Thank-you Abigail for your life affirming piece. Light in the darkness.