Introducing a New Collaborative Project to Counter TERF Arguments

The Inconvenient Truth to 'Gender Critical' Ideology

I'm thrilled to announce that People with Inconvenient Truths about Transphobes (PITT) is teaming up with TransFriend to create a new resource for our community - a "living library" to methodically debunk and refute common TERF talking points with facts, science and receipts. You can read a similar announcement on their site here!

If you're not yet familiar, TransFriend is a wonderful publication by

Robin Taylor (he/him)

, a captivating storyteller and transmasculine third gender parent. Through humor, vulnerability and keen insight, Robin shares his experiences navigating family, masculinity, career and more as a trans person. He aims to make trans people more relatable and inspire readers to see the humanity in all. Robin is also creating an vital anthology elevating the voices of trans kids, their families and allies. I have been raising awareness of this via other social media channels, and occasionally, I post a note to boost this effort. You can read more about it here. I'm honored to partner with Robin to expand the reach and impact of our shared mission. If you have not read any of his work, I highly recommend reading and supporting his work and efforts. Please consider doing so:

TransFriend’s goals and my own overlap, and are complimentary. Robin writes from the heart and seeks to make the trans and queer community more relatable and accessible to everyone. I tend to counter the hateful rhetoric and narratives of “Gender Critical” ideologues, cissexism, and transmisia¹ through facts, empathy, and satire. We share in the desire to build and grown a community of love, acceptance, tolerance, and equality.

The idea first sparked for me a few weeks ago while working on rebuttals to J.K. Rowling's anti-trans post on twitter (“Fantastic Biases”), and the "natural bodies" argument countering Lisa Shultz’s recent article. I envisioned building a go-to reference where our community could easily look up solid, well-researched counter-arguments to copy, paste, link and share as needed. Maybe even have a small primer or explanation behind the arguments and counter arguments, because context matters.

But it was your incredible response, dear readers, to pieces like "Love, Not Politics" that transformed this concept from a percolating notion into an inspired mandate. Seeing how you pulled together to support one another and stand against hate was deeply moving and motivating. Your thoughtful comments and requests showed me how much a resource like this is needed and desired.

I'm humbled and energized that this resonated so much, and I am now collaborating with the brilliant Robin Taylor at TransFriend to make it a reality and expand its reach! We'll be working out the details of how to make the content easily accessible and widely available across both of our platforms.

Importantly, we want this to be a living, evolving project that's continuously updated as new information emerges. A sort of SubStack+wiki of sorts (a SubStacki, if you will?). We're committed to promptly implementing this resource, even if it's a work in progress, and refining it as we go, to show you that we hear you and take your needs seriously. For now, you can find this resource here under the new “Q&A” section. At time of release, I am still working on some initial content, so presently this section is empty. I shall have an introduction/index posted shortly.

To start, we're planning to tackle some of the most common and fundamental TERF questions like:

• What is a woman/female? What is a man/male?

• What is gender? What is gender identity?

• How can someone know their gender?

• What does "transgender" mean?

But we want to hear from YOU! What questions and arguments do you most want to see addressed? What formats and features would make this most helpful for you? Please share your thoughts, feedback and priorities in the comments, or feel free to email or message me directly.

I'm so grateful for this incredible community and excited to work together with you all and TransFriend to build this much-needed resource.

Stay tuned for the first installment coming soon!

With appreciation,

V / (PITT)

@astralqueen

1.

LC Sharkey

has recently pointed out, this is the better term to use. You can read more about it here: https://translanguageprimer.com/transmisia/