Our middle child was born a biological female on 1 May 2007. This summer, that child informed us that his biological sex was a physical misrepresentation of his true gender. That, in fact, he was a boy in his heart and his mind. Thus, we now have a son. His name is Scott, and we… Read more Behold, Our Son
Last summer my family and I took a trip to Cornwall (which is gorgeous), and while there we discovered the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. It was both fun and informative, which is what I like from both museums and tourist attractions, so I can recommend it. Of course, as someone who writes nonfiction history,… Read more Medieval Folklore of Stones
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. ( Ecclesiastes 1:9) While the terms ‘transgender’ and ‘gender dysphoria’ are new, the phenomenon of believing yourself to be trapped in the body of the ‘wrong’ gender is not. There is archeological evidence of… Read more Medieval Understandings of Being Transgender
I’ve written about Dunning-Kruger Effect before, but some things bear repeating. The first part of the Dunning-Kruger effect found that, in a nutshell, dumb people will always think they are smart because they are too dumb to know how much they DO NOT know. Smart people will always understand that they aren’t that smart, because… Read more I Wish Facts Mattered More
I had an epiphany about certain cultural realities almost 20 years ago. At the time, I was newly married, in grad school studying medical anthropology, and living in Dallas, TX. I had been reading copious amounts of scholarly works about ethnicity and culture. I had been trying to explain habitus and systemic racism to undergraduates… Read more The White Fragility About White Privilege
I was a transgender ally, even before my son came out as a trans boy. I was shocked and appalled to learn that not all feminists are trans allies. Some feminists are flat out transphobic. They insist biological sex is the only aspect that truly counts in gender identity, and cis women are the only… Read more Controlling the Dialog
At the moment, JK Rowling is feeling very hard done by due to the backlash against her transphobia. Those who support her, and support a transphobic agenda, are particularly butthurt that they are being called bigots. Tough. That is exactly what they are. The very definition of a bigot is: a person who is obstinately… Read more Bigotry without Bigots
My son is transgender. He was born a female, but his identity is male. He’s also a fan, as so many kids his age are, of the Harry Potter series. That’s why it’s extra-painful that the author of that series, JK Rowling, has outed herself as a TERF — a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. My son,… Read more Jo “Karen” Rowling v/s My Transgender Son