Birds of a Feather: A Guide to Selective Outrage

Or A Guide to Modern Witch-Hunting (Without Getting Your Hands Dirty)

By a “Concerned Observer” in response to Andrew Doyle’s disingenuous article “The bullying fringe of the gender-critical movement” and how “A handful of activists are bringing an important cause into disrepute”¹

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In today's masterclass on "Having Your Bigotry Cake While Denouncing and Eating It Too," we explore the delicate art of pearl-clutching over extremism while nurturing the very soil it grows in. It's rather like being shocked – shocked! – to find gambling in a casino while dealing the cards.²

Our subject today presents a fascinating study in selective outrage, comparing their colleagues' "Troon Index" to historical witch hunts while conveniently forgetting that every witch hunt started with "reasonable concerns" about "protecting society." How curious! It is a masterful technique of clutching pearls over a "handful of activists" going too far, while steadfastly defending the very beliefs that dehumanize and exclude trans people. It's quite the balancing act!³

Let's examine this sophisticated dance of distancing:

1. Step One: Express horror at obvious hate speech while maintaining that your own "biological sex card" and call for excluding trans women from spaces is totally different)⁴

2. Step Two: Compare extremists to historical villains, while ignoring how your own "reasonable concerns" mirror historical prejudice

3. Step Three: Declare yourself one of the "good ones" who just happens to believe sex is immutable and trans identities invalid, using an ever-shifting carousel of contradictory claims about what "causes" or invalidates transness.⁵

4. Step Four: Insist that your "reasonable" belief in biological essentialism has absolutely nothing to do with others taking it to its logical conclusion

It's rather like complaining about McCarthyism while running your own little inquisition – but don't worry, yours is different because you use words like "safeguarding" and "biological reality" instead of "communist threat." Totally different!

Remember folks, if you find yourself saying "I'm not like those extremists, I just believe in [checks notes] excluding trans people from public life while using polite language," you might want to consider whether you're really as far from the "fringe" as you think. After all, when you're feeding breadcrumbs to ducks, you can't really complain about the flock showing up for dinner.

Editor's Note: For those struggling with metaphors, yes, we're saying that if you don't want to be associated with extremists, perhaps don't provide the ideological foundation for their actions. But we're saying it with style!

Additional Note: No actual birds were harmed in the making of this satire, though several metaphors were stretched to their breaking point. Unlike gender critical arguments about biological sex, we admit when we're taking creative liberties.

1. https://www.andrewdoyle.org/p/the-bullying-fringe-of-the-gender

2. https://juliaserano.medium.com/a-gender-critical-and-terf-primer-92ba8a1d6a1e

3. https://juliaserano.medium.com/why-are-gender-critical-activists-so-fond-of-gametes-b76bdd116331

4. https://juliaserano.substack.com/p/why-are-gender-critical-activists

5. https://twitter.com/JuliaSerano/status/1551652282877353985