Dear all, Happy New Year and I hope that you and yours are well. Over two years after the foundation of this Substack, I’m delighted with reaction to it. I have over 1,200 subscribers in 58 countries, some of whom are major figures in academia and the media.
The debate over transgender issues (e.g. about proposed changes that would allow a change of legal sex on the basis of "self-ID") provides a good case-study of low liberalism in action.
By no means all trans-rights activists (TRAs) are low liberals. Some TRAs deploy a sophisticated understanding of international human rights law. Others have an intellectual background in gender studies/queer theory (the work of Judith Butler is very influential here).
But some TRAs are low liberals, as is seen by: (a) attempts to shift the Overton window so that opposition to the legal changes they favour is seen as politically unacceptable; (b) recurrent labelling of political opponents as "right" or "far right"(when in fact many of those opposed to self-ID, e.g. those associated with Womens' Place UK, have a long history on the left); (c) a willingness to resort to violence or intimidation to prevent their opponents from meeting ("no TERFS on our turf"); (d) using blocking software on social media (and encouraging others to do so) in order to reduce the reach of gender-critical voices; and (e) generally, deploying a very extended concept of "transphobia" in order to delegitimise opposition to their political agenda.
Congratulations on acing it at work and on here. For a post-partisan person like me this stack is a godsend.
Would you be interested in doing a cross-recommendation? (My readers number over 700 now; quite a bit less than you but still in the same ball park).
Happy New Year to you anyway.
The debate over transgender issues (e.g. about proposed changes that would allow a change of legal sex on the basis of "self-ID") provides a good case-study of low liberalism in action.
By no means all trans-rights activists (TRAs) are low liberals. Some TRAs deploy a sophisticated understanding of international human rights law. Others have an intellectual background in gender studies/queer theory (the work of Judith Butler is very influential here).
But some TRAs are low liberals, as is seen by: (a) attempts to shift the Overton window so that opposition to the legal changes they favour is seen as politically unacceptable; (b) recurrent labelling of political opponents as "right" or "far right"(when in fact many of those opposed to self-ID, e.g. those associated with Womens' Place UK, have a long history on the left); (c) a willingness to resort to violence or intimidation to prevent their opponents from meeting ("no TERFS on our turf"); (d) using blocking software on social media (and encouraging others to do so) in order to reduce the reach of gender-critical voices; and (e) generally, deploying a very extended concept of "transphobia" in order to delegitimise opposition to their political agenda.
Congratulations Tom! Glad it's going well