That list is followed by a curated but rather random list of articles, posts, books, and videos that provide background to what is happening. And also to the people who are doing something about it and how you can help.
This is a work in progress and will always never do justice to the amazing work of so many people.
If you have resources you would like to share that you think would be helpful please put them in the comments and I will add. Thank-you.
In the US. Lisa Selin Davis’s Substack Broadview is an excellent resource. Davis is a journalist. Her primary focus is the impact of gender identity-related issues on families, and her mission is to model sound investigative journalism that allows the full, complex picture to emerge.
In the UK. The UK is far ahead of the US in grappling with these issues. That is largely because there is now a critical mass of people, particularly women, who have managed to break through the wall of silence so that a substantive discourse can occur. Below are three of the women we often turn to for trenchant, substantive, provocative analysis—often spiced with trademark British wit.
Helen Joyce. Her book “Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality” offers a readable, intelligent, thought-provoking overview. She also writes for the UK online magazine, The Critic. Her debut article, “Hard Lessons in Life,” can be found here: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/april-2023/hard-lessons-in-life/
Also, she recently participated in a “book club” format discussion focused on the book that provides an excellent overview of her thinking. https://youtu.be/ivinqYpBnsE
Victoria Smith. We haven’t yet had a chance to read her book, “Hags,” but, for those interested in issues relating to aging and womanhood, this looks like a good option. She also writes for The Critic, and her most recent article, “Running Like a Girl” is excellent. https://thecritic.co.uk/running-like-a-girl/
Kathleen Stock. Her book, “Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism,” is superb. Stock is a philosopher and former professor. Her book offers, among other things, many insights into what happened in the halls of academe that helped get us into this fix. Stock also writes for the UK online magazine Unherd. Her most recent article, “How the Trans Census Fooled Britain,” provides a typically smart and witty take on the mess sex and gender miscategorizations can make in compiling critical data: https://unherd.com/2023/04/how-the-trans-census-fooled-britain/
Hannah Barnes. Barnes is a journalist with the BBC. Her book, “Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children,” is foundational for those wanting to know more about this topic. (Hannah Barnes will join Lisa Selin Davis on Davis’s Broadview Substack to discuss the book on May 4.) Two articles in The Economist provide a short form overview of the findings in the book:
“The evidence to support medicalised gender transitions in adolescents is worryingly weak”
“What America has got wrong about gender medicine”
A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul.
https://womensspaceireland.ie/articles/a-new-religion/
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Just happened upon your charming blog, by way of Milne and Wodehouse. Bravo!
Thanks David - Glad you found something interesting and/or entertaining. What ho!