Michelle Goldberg's relentless anti-trans bias

People are asking me to respond to the latest Michelle Goldberg article, wherein she paints transgender activism as this horrible activist movement that oppresses both feminists and its own transgender constituents.

I don't have the time or energy to fully respond to this particular piece at the moment. But I do want to remind/alert people that Goldberg has a strong & persistent anti-trans bias that has been articulated by me here, and has been chronicled by the Columbia Journalism Review, Bitch Magazine, Autostraddle, Bilerico, and New Statesman.



Trans people (like every minority or majority group) don't agree with each other on every issue. There are more than one or two or five or twenty or more (many more!) trans perspectives on our collective experiences and activism. We, like all communities, often disagree with one another. To reduce this down to a strict dichotomy, and to pit certain trans people against other trans people (and to play up those differences to entice unaware cisgender audiences and dismiss transgender activism) is the worst kind of dumbed-down salacious journalism.

I am fine with people having opinions. If you have a strong opinion, state it! And own it! That way people will be able to know where you stand. Passionately make your case and show all sides of the story - convince us why your stance is the most reasoned position. If you do this, I will respect you. I may not agree with you, but I will respect you. So long as you do not resort to lies and/or ad hominem attacks.

While I respect (albeit disagree with) TERFs who hold theories/positions different from my own, I abhor charlatan's who pretend to dispassionately/objectively chronicle such debates, while clearly (to those aware of said issues) promoting one side or the other.

At this point in time, there are two people who seem most driven to repeatedly denounce transgender activism under the guise of supposedly objective journalism. One is Alice Dreger. The other is Michelle Goldberg. Both pretend to be objective, while purposefully promoting heavily slanted agendas. Both create false dichotomies & straw men, when in reality trans perspectives are vast & diverse.