The Transgender Menace Is Far from Defeated: Conservative Triumphalism Is Wildly Overstated
There is increasing gloating from certain conservative pundits that the transgender menace has been defeated. These people assert that mainstream conservatism actually won this battle in what is otherwise a decades-long trend of defeat after impending defeat in the-so-called culture war. Matt Walsh has been particularly strident on this matter, confidently declaring that “the fight over “transgenderism” is over and the Left lost.” This is a sentiment he has expressed repeatedly over the past several months. Last October, Matt Walsh made this bold assertion in response to the Eric Kaufman study mentioned below:
Transgenderism is effectively over. We destroyed it. Clearest and most decisive cultural win that conservatives have ever achieved.
Even some of a more radical persuasion have made similar remarks, including Jared Taylor who wrote “Has the White Trans Plague Peaked?” One encouraging development after this essay’s original publication concerns a public statement by The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, declaring it now recommends “that gender-affirming surgeries be delayed until patients turn 19.” The statement specifically cited “‘insufficient evidence’ that the benefits of chest, genital and facial surgeries on minors experiencing gender dysphoria outweigh the risks.”
Transgenderism has been repelled to some limited extent. The election of Donald Trump is a key, critical component of this. Executive orders banning federal funding for so-called gender affirming care for minors have been a huge setback for those institutions promoting transgender nuttery, and do so at a handsome profit. Banning transgender “people” from the military is another important policy decision that stigmatizes transgenderism to some degree and distances this mad delusion from mainstream life, at least to some limited degree. These and other policies are a welcome reversal from the peak influence that transgenderism enjoyed during the Biden Administration.
However, a survey of both those institutions promoting and advancing transgender lunacy and a review of American society—particularly in urban, leftist strongholds—reveal that transgenderism remains entrenched in important sectors of American life. These and other considerations demonstrate that the transgender menace has not, in fact, been defeated. It is merely in remission. If—or rather when—democrats are elected back in power, the effort to render transgenderism as a part of mainstream American life will likely be stabilized and then rendered a permanent long-standing component of modern American society, with only modest retreats from some of the more outlandish demands and practices that characterize the utter insanity and delusion that is transgender ideology.
Perhaps the single most significant indication that transgenderism has not, in fact, been defeated is that newspapers and other mainstream media outlets still adhere to the idiocy of customized pronouns as well as the so-called “singular they,” particularly in relation to a known, single individual whose sex is known. Similarly, almost all such media outlets continue to use the made-up names favored by transgender “people.” Few if any publications and media outlets have stopped calling Bruce Jenner “Katelynn” or Richard Levine “Rachel.” Although Ellen Page is no longer a woman as the term is properly understood, neither could such a creature or any biological woman ever be a man. And yet no media outlets refrain from referring to this freak as “Elliot.” Indeed, any search for Ellen Page on various search engines will reveal results for “Elliot Page.”
This trend does not just pertain to left-wing publications such as The New Yorker or The Huffington Post. Consider the manner in which The Daily Mail recently reported outrage on how, under the Trump Administration, a portrait of Levine “misgendered” and “deadnamed” him by captioning his portrait in the capitol building with his real birth name, Richard Levine. Quite significantly, this article referred to the individual as “Rachel,” and used the incorrect pronouns “she” and “her.” Interestingly, an article in Fox News covering this same story studiously avoided referring to Levine by any pronouns at all, while stating his birth name and what he calls himself now.
Further consider the altercation between Kelsea “Kaden the Pooner” Rummler and the Department of Homeland Security. Coverage in both The Daily Mail and Fox News refer to Rummler as a man, refer to this individual by the name Kaden, and use he/him pronouns. Neither article denotes that Rummler was transgender, but given all the “tells” attending the littlest pooner who got her eye shot out, it beggars belief that these reporters did not know Rummler is a biological woman.
While periodicals like The Daily Mail do not exactly exemplify the loftiest standards in journalism and writing, they are generally regarded as “right of center” on most matters and quite often present readers with an important survey of the continuing madness that pervades modern society. That mainstream outlets like these willingly adhere to this perverse charade of customized pronouns and refuse to “dead name” transgender “people” is a strong indication that these practices are mainstream and will be extremely difficult to dislodge from everyday life and society. Stated another way, it seems transgender ideology and its adherents have succeeded in their campaign of linguistic capture, both in relation to fantastical and utterly wrong pronouns as well as a marked aversion to if not outright prohibition of so-called dead-naming.
One somewhat encouraging trend that Jared Taylor and others have pointed to is the sharp drop in minors declaring themselves transgender or even non-binary. As Taylor informs his readers, some reports indicate that numbers have fallen from about eight percent to one percent. Another report cited by Taylor is less encouraging; according to “The Kaufmann report. . . the percentage of students calling themselves trans has dropped from 7 percent to 4 percent since 2023. . ..” That eight percent of youngsters—ostensibly both adolescents and children—succumbed to this utter madness is yet another indictment against mainstream conservatism and its intractably tepid nature and constitution. While that number, for now, has fallen to an appreciable degree, one percent is still much higher than the baseline number that should characterize any sane society and indeed even American society a decade ago and in eras past since time immemorial; that baseline number is zero percent. As even one percent is totally unacceptable, four percent is a far more alarming number, rendered even more troubling that it is close to the 3-4 percent margin of error that typifies these sorts of polls and studies.
These trends are further mitigated by the consideration that only about half of the states have banned so-called transgender care for minors. This, quite obviously, means that the other 25 states still allow and thus promote this abomination to continue. This is all the more damning because so-called gender affirming care should never be tolerated or countenanced for anyone, anywhere. A ban of so-called gender affirming care only in relation to minors in effect in just a little over half the states is so far off the mark from the obviously correct objective—banning transgender care categorically, for adults and minors alike.
Nor is it the case that transgender ideology has lost favor in leftist strongholds, from certain social media platforms to coastal elites. A brief examination of reddit and TikTok alike reveals that transgenderism is still quite prevalent in these and other social media platforms. In addition to subreddits that pertain specifically to transgender nuttery, a brief perusal of reddit reveals that posts celebrating or boasting transgender identity as well as transgenderism writ large occur quite often. This is true even, most especially, in subreddits that have nothing whatsoever to do with this pariah afflicting modern society. Indeed, posts celebrating transgenderism appear fairly regularly on otherwise mainstream subreddits, including subreddits pertaining to football and even r/bitchimatrain, the purpose of which is to showcase pictures, videos and other media depicting trains in a variety of sensational contexts, from colliding into cars left stranded at crossing gates to any number of matters.
TikTok similarly remains a hotbed of both transgender nuttery and radical gender ideology as well as far-left lunacy more broadly. The insidious social media platform is riddled with profiles and short videos asserting fantastical, customizable, and—above all—wrong pronouns as well as advancing transgender identity and radical gender ideology. This of course is in addition to the countless videos endorsing violence in response to the ICE raids in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
Readers are of course right to decry both platforms as the veritable cesspools that they are, but it is a mistake to dismiss either of these platforms outright, as many mainstream conservatives are wont to do. Reddit retains significant influence and reach. It retains such reach and influence despite its ridiculous censorship policies and the plague of super moderators such as bardfinn—real name Steven Joel Akins—and merari01—real name believed to be Joost Eggelaar of Eindhoeven, Netherlands. Indeed, Google’s search engine artificially foists reddit at the top of any query. Most AI queries—including Grok—often refer to results in reddit, above and beyond even Quora. TikTok, although nothing less than veritable brain rot that eviscerates ever diminishing attention spans and intelligence of the collective masses, is also similarly influential, if not more so.
Such considerations are further bolstered by the observation that few celebrities and persons of influence who have embraced transgenderism and inflicted such insanity on their offspring have recanted. To this author’s knowledge, there is not a single celebrity or person of influence who has expressed regret in endorsing so-called transition of a son or daughter, whether that son or daughter is an adult or minor. Once again, readers are correct to decry celebrity influence. But such objections notwithstanding, it is nonetheless the case such figures unfortunately wield profound influence over the masses in American society and “culture.”
Similarly, at the time of this writing, no medical institutions or associations have denounced transgenderism in all its abject insanity. So-called gender affirming care and the very foundations of transgender ideology are still endorsed by all major American medical institutions. Neither the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Psychological Association (APA), nor the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have backed down from their advocacy and endorsement of transgenderism. None of these and other incredibly powerful and influential institutions have either recanted these positions or curtailed them in any significant way.1 It is true of course that the Cass Review rebuked the use of puberty blockers in minors and was an important blow to transgender lunacy. However, both the report and Dr. Cass herself still affirmed transgenderism in principle. Indeed, a letter by Dr. Cass herself expressly affirmed transgenderism and gender affirming care, particularly for adults but also, quite critically, even minors. Salient portions from a letter denying association or endorsement of Abigal Shrier’s Irreversible Damages read as follows:
Anyone who has actually read my Report will see that it advocates to provide appropriate support for all gender questioning young people, regardless of whether they choose a medical pathway or not. I have never read Irreversible Damage, and the suggestion that I recommended it to anyone is fabrication. I note that by the time it was published I had already been reviewing the evidence for six months and had spoken to people who had had successful medical transitions, and I continued to do so throughout my Review. I have consistently said, both in my report and in multiple public fora that this is the right pathway for some young people.
Together, these and other considerations reveal that transgenderism remains entrenched in American society and Western culture more broadly, and will likely remain so given the ineffectual nature of mainstream conservatism. As has been asserted before by this author, the critical failure of the conservative response was how tentative and qualified it was. Most mainstream conservative pundits spent more time qualifying their objections, limiting their objections to men in women’s intimate spaces like locker rooms and nude spas as well as women’s athletics. In the same way, their opposition was further limited to advancing and propagating transgender nuttery to minors, instead of denouncing transgenderism categorically for adults and minors alike. The vast bulk of mainstream, “normie” conservatism spent far too much time and effort to assure they do not denounce transgenderism in adults, and would never stoop to mocking, denouncing, or ridiculing transgenderism categorically.
Consider for example the tepid, weak tea offered by Ryan T. Anderson in When Harry Became Sally. As set forth in the review “When the Temperate Is Decried As Extreme: A Review of When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment,” a substantial portion of the text is expended on pointless disclaimers that transgender people have “rights” and that “discrimination” against transgender “people” is wrong. As examined at length in this critique and review, Anderson expends quite a bit of verbiage placating so-called civil rights concerns. Indeed, he is hopelessly and shamelessly “beholden to the civil rights ethos, as well as its ideological and rhetorical baggage,” as demonstrated in this remarkable passage:
Granted, there has been historic bigotry against those who identify as transgender, and it has not vanished. If people are being turned away from restaurants or denied basic medical care solely on grounds of a transgender identity, that is real discrimination and it should be addressed appropriately so that people are treated with dignity and respect. (197)
This could not be more wrong. Treating such persons with “dignity and respect” is to normalize such behavior. If not hatred than certainly contempt and disdain for transgenderism and thus transgenders themselves is not only acceptable but righteous. Individual proprietors of various establishments should be able to express such contempt and disdain by refusing service just as everyone should refuse any association with such individuals. If done with ridicule and mockery, all the better.
Consider also the likes of Peter Boghossian, who constantly bloviates how grown adults should be—and must be—allowed to do whatever they want with their bodies. This is of course a most spurious assertion in relation to self-harm in other contexts. No sane society allows a person to amputate a limb or leg because of an insane delusion that a person’s intrinsic self is an amputee. Nor does society allow anorexics and bulimics to persist with their own particular fit of self-harm and self-destruction.
Opposing the propagation of transgender nuttery to children and minors is of course laudable, but if transgenderism is not rejected and denounced universally and unequivocally, conservative opponents are unwittingly, or perhaps wittingly, normalizing it and allowing transgender delusions to become part of mainstream life. Just like anything, once this lunacy is allowed to enter the mainstream, once it is allowed to take a foothold in the stream of culture and discourse, such elements inevitably contaminate the minds of adolescents and children alike. By expending so much time and rhetoric granting so much ground to ideological and political enemies, conservative punditry accomplishes very little besides normalizing transgenderism. As with gay marriage and other ills that have afflicted modern society, this demonstrates ignorance or disregard for the fundamental concept of defining deviancy down. By not ostracizing, stigmatizing, and condemning transgenderism forcefully, society and the individual alike eventually become acclimated to it, as it then becomes mainstream. Once formerly deviant behavior becomes mainstream, deviancy is defined further downward, as even worse, more extreme proclivities that were once unthinkable then enter into the periphery of deviant behavior that is nonetheless cognizable and known in society.
Moreover, as Rules for Radicals stipulates, mockery and ridicule is one of the most devastating tools available in any effort in discourse and persuasion. Saul Alinsky asserts there is no defense when something is made an object of ridicule sharply and with competence. Fuddy-duddy conservative types like Anderson, Boghossian and others have utterly forfeited this essential, devastating approach, omitting it entirely in the conservative “tool kit” on the issues of transgenderism and radical gender ideology. This is all the more damning as a brief, cursory survey of various transgender specimens, of both the so-called male-to-female and male-to-female variety, reveals that they are the greatest objects of ridicule of all. And yet most of these fuddy-duddies would never sully their precious respectability by calling such an individual a “troon” or a “pooner:” derogatory epithets and insults for the male-to-female and male-to-female sorts, respectively. Nor would they ever resort to mocking, demeaning, or ridiculing these “people” in any way, even though, as Rules for Radicals stipulates, that is one of the most effective, devastating rhetorical and persuasive tools available. Such cowardice also forfeits the power of shaming and stigmatizing undesirable behavior to deter individuals from entertaining such ideas or conduct.
Readers have doubtlessly noticed the phrase “transgender ‘people’” has been qualified with quotation marks for the word “people.” This connotes dehumanization, now explicitly denoted in this paragraph. Consider the blithe and seemingly outrageous assertion that the notion of transgender “people” is an oxymoron. For once such individuals go beyond the point of no return by permanently mutilating their genitals or destroying bodies with puberty blockers and hormones in ways that can never be repaired, such individuals have abrogated and negated their very humanity. Normal sexuality that humans have been blessed with is not only the quintessential core of humanity, but indeed goes to the very heart of the mammalian essence. Those possessed and deluded by the maddest folly that is transgender insanity and delirium have destroyed and gutted that quintessence of what it means to be human and thus dehumanize themselves beyond all hope of redemption. As set forth in “Less Than Human: An Argument for Prescribing ‘It’ for Certain Transgender ‘People,’” any “man who mutilates his penis through so-called gender-affirming surgery to create a very poor counterfeit of a vagina has negated so much of his humanity as to cease to be human in many important ways.” Similarly, “Women who remove their ovaries, have their breasts lopped off, sterilize themselves and destroy the ability to ovulate, as well as undergo man-made horrors beyond most people’s imagination by way of the neo-penis have destroyed not only so much of what makes them women but their own humanity as well.” As obvious but harsh as such rhetoric is, what mainstream conservative pundit would ever dare to condemn transgenderism in such a firm, cavalier, and uncompromising manner? This lack of vision is why they lose time and time again.
If opposition to liberal orthodoxy more generally and transgender insanity specifically had been more strident and assertive, the transgender menace would likely have been defeated very quickly. Instead, by hemming and hawing, this madness was allowed to establish itself in mainstream society. Some of the more outlandish demands are currently being repelled, but time is running out to oust this pariah from all visible corners of society. This as well as the wishful thinking that transgenderism has been defeated both further inform readers of the structural deficiencies of mainstream conservatism and the need for much more radical, hard-hitting opposition to the left.
Readers, particularly younger ones who have no living memory of the 90s, should consider that such premature gloating is nothing new among mainstream conservatism. After the New Gingrich revolution in 1994, in which The Republican party seized control of both the House and the Senate for the first time in over half a century, there was much confidence that so-called “political correctness” had not only been defeated, but had been defeated decisively, intractably. History has shown how wrong such declarations were. Then, as now, the forces of liberalism and cultural Marxism have not been defeated, they are simply in a temporary state of regression and remission. Precisely because mainstream conservatism always resorts to half measures, because mainstream conservatism wastes so much time with pointless qualifications and reassurances that they would never object to “what consenting adults do,” this is almost certainly a temporary respite. Transgenderism is very much alive and doing fairly well, all things considered. And unless much balder strategies are resorted to in the immediate future, this pariah and menace will soon be permanently entrenched into the fabric of modern American society—and thus European civilization more broadly. There may still be time to prevent this, but those opposed to transgenderism will have to stop limiting objections to and arguments against transgenderism as they relate to propagating minors or infringement against women’s spaces. Opposition to transgender insanity and delusion must embrace that “call for uncompromising intolerance,” correctly discerning that this menace must be eradicated from all areas of mainstream public life.
Other articles and essays by Richard Parker are available at his publication, The Raven’s Call: A Reactionary Perspective, found at theravenscall.substack.com. Please consider subscribing on a free or paid basis, and to like and share as warranted. Readers can also find him on twitter, under the handle @astheravencalls. Those readers particularly concerned with the transgender menace are particularly encouratged to peruse the section “Against Transgenderism.”
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