Great article. I would add that social media encourages us to see each other, and ourselves, as a ‘what’ rather than a ‘who’. Description takes precedence over acquaintance, and that is partly due to a medium that facilitates connection ‘in the ether’ rather than ‘in the flesh’. I believe culture wars focus on gender for much the same reason that any fascist movement attempts to regulate gender norms and gender roles. But you are pointing to something much more fundamental: the need for each of us to balance stability and flexibility, wisdom and compassion, within ourselves. Only then can we be the change.
Beautifully put, thanks Cesca - I'd never considered that crossover between fascism and this wave of activism - there's a whole article in that I reckon
Another great piece, though I think that JK is getting less credit than she deserves, since her position clearly included the point that Kai highlights - they both agree on openness around gender norms and roles; JK has made it clear repeatedly that she is not talking about limiting or restricting gender roles, and she is not responding to people showing up outside of an expected gender role. She is addressing people who are confused about sex, which is why she emphasizes sex/gametes. Its unfortunate that Kai did not really acknowledge JK's point, so it seems they are talking past each other...
Thank you, Ali, for having the courage to present another clear synthesis of how the objective and subjective worlds intersect and influence each other. I am convinced that nurturing our individual sovereignty is crucial now more than ever, along with our connection to what is 'real,' experienced through our five senses and felt in our bodies. By doing so, we create the possibility for the mature masculine spirit to make way for and ultimately, protect the mature feminine spirit, which can and will hold Life for us all...at the very least, this is my hope and one that I carry for you too.
Hard to accept that male or masculinity is lacking in today’s culture especially given the reaction to the death of wife-beater OJ Simpson. Few expressed sympathy for the one beaten. Nicole as a person was lost in the show trial that exonerated her obvious killer. What agencies protected her from the stalking that continued for two years after the divorce? Courts, police, government are male-created enterprises, revealing prejudices that denied women the vote up until a hundred years ago.
Yes I think you're right and this is simultaneously true with the decline of men - I think men are both dominant and non-dominant in different domains - it's a complex picture
You have explained one thing here that has always been a conundrum for me. Someone, expanding on the enneagram 2 “carer” once mentioned that these were the book-burners, the lieutenants of the inquisition the conform or burn people. I could never work out how this went together with the carer perspective, often the most feminised aspect of the enneagram sectors. But your explanation of the small, tight, safe community-fiercely enforced- really starts to make sense in relation to the comments on feminine aspect. It also took me to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, where it is the young women who spread the contagion, in which the whole community becomes disastrously embroiled. Love that you have given me a whole new perspective to cogitate! Thankyou Ali for taking the time to pull all of this together.
Wonderful article, Ali. Thank you! I had to put myself in a fully receptive mindset before reading it when I saw “Trans Activism” in the title because those are the waters I swam in for many years as a mental health therapist working exclusively with this population. I appreciate the sensitivity and angle with which you approached this as a subtopic to your larger point. Balancing the mature masculine and mature feminine (animus/anima) within us is a vital goal. Could it be that those who identify as non-binary gender fluid may be attempting to do just that? I have met many who present a level of courage, creativity, and dedication to mature growth that I find inspirational. They can also be “loud and proud” as they navigate cultural resistance.
What if culture were to embrace these folks as an attempt to integrate polarities rather than shun them for not expressing one polar end over another? If that were the case, how might they relate to their bodies? Would there even be a need for surgical interventions that de-masculinize or de-feminize bodies? I do know that hormonal interventions go a long way towards reducing anxiety and depression and help with external presentation, especially in trans masculine people. Surgery, however, is invasive and intense, and from what I can tell largely a response to how society thinks bodies are supposed to look. I imagine a world in which children are given freedom to express gender however they want, while simultaneously encouraged to love their bodies as they are. This might not eliminate the need for surgeries (for example in the case of the trans woman who interoceptively feels like a woman and experiences deep pain when regarding her male genitalia), but it could reduce surgeries in those who are non-binary.
Thanks Leslie - I actually thought of you and our conversations a few times while writing this, so it means a lot that you felt it was balanced. I think you're making an important delineation between social acceptance and bodily intervention, that's kind of the line I was exploring most in the piece and I reckon it points to a wider confusion we have around the mind and body. "I imagine a world in which children are given freedom to express gender however they want, while simultaneously encouraged to love their bodies as they are." - that's a world I would like to live in, and I think there's a general body dysmorphia in culture that could be preventing that... so much we could unpack in that idea too - hopefully in our next community call if you can make it :)
Everything is now instantaneously inter-connected so it could be said that to one degree or another we are all being affected at a feeling level by a toxic psychic meme (mind virus)
Have you considered that one reason for the seeming confusion for many young people re their emotional-sexual identity is the now everywhere presence of synthetic hormones in our food and water. Hormones are quite powerful and even minute traces can have significant effects on the growing brains and nervous systems of youngsters.
Synthetic hormones are now everywhere.
In the form hormone mimicing plastics (food wraps and even the micro-particles in the ink on sales receipts etc. And of course the presence of growth promoting hormones in both milk/dairy products and all forms of meat ( beef/pork/chicken.) The use of which is now hugely enormous.
The age when girls have their first period has dropped considerately in recent years. Some/many girls experience this even before they are teenagers. Even as young as 8 or 9 - this has been the case for many years now, decades even.
The psycho-physical (and therefore emotional) structures of the human body-mind-complex do not complete their growth until the early twenties. There are all kinds of such structures in the genetic patterning of all human beings. All of which develop in a genetically pre-patterned time line.
Which is to say that young girls in particular do not have anywhere near the emotional and intellectual capacity to deal with the (premature) profound changes that their bodies are going through.
What do you think of the hypothesis that social media and the internet is just the latest downstream effect of capitalism? And what capitalism does is make us not need the people and nature around us, but substitutes a need on an abstract economic production and distribution system? So it weakens families, villages, tribes, bands, small communities, small companies, and the only thing different about social media is that it weakens integrated individuals (who are themselves composed of personalities)?
These nested levels of life not only reduce internal competition and incentivize cooperation among their parts. They also have a protected environment for their parts: the higher level is that environment, and only the highest functional level has to deal with a hostile, very competitive environment. But also truth is about modeling the environment well, and higher functional levels are more predictable than the outside environment of the highest functional level.
This is not just pedantic nitpicking. It's as if Hansel and Gretel misdiagnosed their problem and thought it was the oven and not the witch (and the witch also provides some addictive benefits). Of course the oven is easier to tackle than the witch. If it's not social media, or the internet that is the problem, but capitalism itself, then efforts to eliminate or reform social media are not going to help...
I think capitalism you’re right that capitalism is a big generator function underneath the problem - it’s the market forces that drive the structure of social networks
Not quite what I was trying to convey. It's the fact that these market forces do not respect "proper nesting" of levels/parts that is the problem. Local markets and a bit of global trade markets are not a problem for social networks. Also, proper nesting can be disrespected in other ways besides market forces, like large scale governmental forces, where there are not enough intermediate levels between individuals and the large scale government organization. Both capitalism and large scale government without sufficient intermediate levels can lead to the chaos attractor, though the latter can also lead to the totalitarian attractor. And even having intermediate levels is not sufficient to prevent the totalitarian attractor--additional conditions have to hold to give the human individual level some agency and evolvability.
Does one get selected against within capitalism if one critiques it? Is it taboo because it reminds us of Marxism? My critique is almost the opposite of the Marxist critique, but that requires a post of its own to explain.
gender critical feminists have always been breaking down gender roles and stereotypes. The seventies were in many ways less gender conformist than today's culture. People have been subverting gender norms in Western culture for a hundred years - it's not new. Transgenderism reinforces stereotypes to the extent that people are using hormones and surgeries to conform to physical stereotypes.
While this essay's exploration of the issues is sound it seems unfortunate to me that in order to illuminate the toxicity of internet culture you fall into the trap of talking 'about' a group of people and not 'with' them. Dealing with gender dysphoria is a very personal, one-person-at-a-time thing. I have a friend who is undergoing surgery at the age of sixty to address that life-long challenge of feeling mis-gendered. I wouldn't presume to speak for them and, not having that issue myself, don't think it appropriate to give my opinion. If you had chosen abortion or suicide the same problem would occur, but it wouldn't further pull innocent people into the meat-grinder of the Trump administration's scapegoating.
Great article. I would add that social media encourages us to see each other, and ourselves, as a ‘what’ rather than a ‘who’. Description takes precedence over acquaintance, and that is partly due to a medium that facilitates connection ‘in the ether’ rather than ‘in the flesh’. I believe culture wars focus on gender for much the same reason that any fascist movement attempts to regulate gender norms and gender roles. But you are pointing to something much more fundamental: the need for each of us to balance stability and flexibility, wisdom and compassion, within ourselves. Only then can we be the change.
Beautifully put, thanks Cesca - I'd never considered that crossover between fascism and this wave of activism - there's a whole article in that I reckon
"Ultimately, it is a question of balancing internal essences, not of sexuality......" As always.
Another great piece, though I think that JK is getting less credit than she deserves, since her position clearly included the point that Kai highlights - they both agree on openness around gender norms and roles; JK has made it clear repeatedly that she is not talking about limiting or restricting gender roles, and she is not responding to people showing up outside of an expected gender role. She is addressing people who are confused about sex, which is why she emphasizes sex/gametes. Its unfortunate that Kai did not really acknowledge JK's point, so it seems they are talking past each other...
But again, overall, another good piece.
Thank you, Ali, for having the courage to present another clear synthesis of how the objective and subjective worlds intersect and influence each other. I am convinced that nurturing our individual sovereignty is crucial now more than ever, along with our connection to what is 'real,' experienced through our five senses and felt in our bodies. By doing so, we create the possibility for the mature masculine spirit to make way for and ultimately, protect the mature feminine spirit, which can and will hold Life for us all...at the very least, this is my hope and one that I carry for you too.
Thanks Claudia - I think a lot of us yearn for that merging of the archetypes, which gives me hope
Hard to accept that male or masculinity is lacking in today’s culture especially given the reaction to the death of wife-beater OJ Simpson. Few expressed sympathy for the one beaten. Nicole as a person was lost in the show trial that exonerated her obvious killer. What agencies protected her from the stalking that continued for two years after the divorce? Courts, police, government are male-created enterprises, revealing prejudices that denied women the vote up until a hundred years ago.
Yes I think you're right and this is simultaneously true with the decline of men - I think men are both dominant and non-dominant in different domains - it's a complex picture
You have explained one thing here that has always been a conundrum for me. Someone, expanding on the enneagram 2 “carer” once mentioned that these were the book-burners, the lieutenants of the inquisition the conform or burn people. I could never work out how this went together with the carer perspective, often the most feminised aspect of the enneagram sectors. But your explanation of the small, tight, safe community-fiercely enforced- really starts to make sense in relation to the comments on feminine aspect. It also took me to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, where it is the young women who spread the contagion, in which the whole community becomes disastrously embroiled. Love that you have given me a whole new perspective to cogitate! Thankyou Ali for taking the time to pull all of this together.
Love that you mentioned The Crucible - I watched a production in London a few months ago, it says a lot about the times we live in
Excellent piece of theatre and sadly easy to find relevance every decade since it was first written
Remarkably thoughtful and nuanced, and superbly communicated. I will be reading this a few more times, and letting it simmer. Thank you, Alexander.
Thanks Jack :)
The image of raindrops on leaves looks suspiciously like AI - rather ironic given the topic of your article!
I might have been bamboozled by internet bullshit! I got it from Google but you're right it does look a bit too perfect...
Really nicely written, thank you 🙏🏻
Wonderful article, Ali. Thank you! I had to put myself in a fully receptive mindset before reading it when I saw “Trans Activism” in the title because those are the waters I swam in for many years as a mental health therapist working exclusively with this population. I appreciate the sensitivity and angle with which you approached this as a subtopic to your larger point. Balancing the mature masculine and mature feminine (animus/anima) within us is a vital goal. Could it be that those who identify as non-binary gender fluid may be attempting to do just that? I have met many who present a level of courage, creativity, and dedication to mature growth that I find inspirational. They can also be “loud and proud” as they navigate cultural resistance.
What if culture were to embrace these folks as an attempt to integrate polarities rather than shun them for not expressing one polar end over another? If that were the case, how might they relate to their bodies? Would there even be a need for surgical interventions that de-masculinize or de-feminize bodies? I do know that hormonal interventions go a long way towards reducing anxiety and depression and help with external presentation, especially in trans masculine people. Surgery, however, is invasive and intense, and from what I can tell largely a response to how society thinks bodies are supposed to look. I imagine a world in which children are given freedom to express gender however they want, while simultaneously encouraged to love their bodies as they are. This might not eliminate the need for surgeries (for example in the case of the trans woman who interoceptively feels like a woman and experiences deep pain when regarding her male genitalia), but it could reduce surgeries in those who are non-binary.
Thanks Leslie - I actually thought of you and our conversations a few times while writing this, so it means a lot that you felt it was balanced. I think you're making an important delineation between social acceptance and bodily intervention, that's kind of the line I was exploring most in the piece and I reckon it points to a wider confusion we have around the mind and body. "I imagine a world in which children are given freedom to express gender however they want, while simultaneously encouraged to love their bodies as they are." - that's a world I would like to live in, and I think there's a general body dysmorphia in culture that could be preventing that... so much we could unpack in that idea too - hopefully in our next community call if you can make it :)
Everything is now instantaneously inter-connected so it could be said that to one degree or another we are all being affected at a feeling level by a toxic psychic meme (mind virus)
Have you considered that one reason for the seeming confusion for many young people re their emotional-sexual identity is the now everywhere presence of synthetic hormones in our food and water. Hormones are quite powerful and even minute traces can have significant effects on the growing brains and nervous systems of youngsters.
Synthetic hormones are now everywhere.
In the form hormone mimicing plastics (food wraps and even the micro-particles in the ink on sales receipts etc. And of course the presence of growth promoting hormones in both milk/dairy products and all forms of meat ( beef/pork/chicken.) The use of which is now hugely enormous.
The age when girls have their first period has dropped considerately in recent years. Some/many girls experience this even before they are teenagers. Even as young as 8 or 9 - this has been the case for many years now, decades even.
The psycho-physical (and therefore emotional) structures of the human body-mind-complex do not complete their growth until the early twenties. There are all kinds of such structures in the genetic patterning of all human beings. All of which develop in a genetically pre-patterned time line.
Which is to say that young girls in particular do not have anywhere near the emotional and intellectual capacity to deal with the (premature) profound changes that their bodies are going through.
Confusion all the way down the line!
Really insightful as always, Ali. I love your written word and the way you navigate with such nuanced clarity.
Thanks Shae!
Compassionate and concise. You are skillfully articulating thoughts that lots of us, or most of us(?) have. Thanks!
Thanks Alen :)
What do you think of the hypothesis that social media and the internet is just the latest downstream effect of capitalism? And what capitalism does is make us not need the people and nature around us, but substitutes a need on an abstract economic production and distribution system? So it weakens families, villages, tribes, bands, small communities, small companies, and the only thing different about social media is that it weakens integrated individuals (who are themselves composed of personalities)?
These nested levels of life not only reduce internal competition and incentivize cooperation among their parts. They also have a protected environment for their parts: the higher level is that environment, and only the highest functional level has to deal with a hostile, very competitive environment. But also truth is about modeling the environment well, and higher functional levels are more predictable than the outside environment of the highest functional level.
This is not just pedantic nitpicking. It's as if Hansel and Gretel misdiagnosed their problem and thought it was the oven and not the witch (and the witch also provides some addictive benefits). Of course the oven is easier to tackle than the witch. If it's not social media, or the internet that is the problem, but capitalism itself, then efforts to eliminate or reform social media are not going to help...
I think capitalism you’re right that capitalism is a big generator function underneath the problem - it’s the market forces that drive the structure of social networks
Not quite what I was trying to convey. It's the fact that these market forces do not respect "proper nesting" of levels/parts that is the problem. Local markets and a bit of global trade markets are not a problem for social networks. Also, proper nesting can be disrespected in other ways besides market forces, like large scale governmental forces, where there are not enough intermediate levels between individuals and the large scale government organization. Both capitalism and large scale government without sufficient intermediate levels can lead to the chaos attractor, though the latter can also lead to the totalitarian attractor. And even having intermediate levels is not sufficient to prevent the totalitarian attractor--additional conditions have to hold to give the human individual level some agency and evolvability.
Does one get selected against within capitalism if one critiques it? Is it taboo because it reminds us of Marxism? My critique is almost the opposite of the Marxist critique, but that requires a post of its own to explain.
gender critical feminists have always been breaking down gender roles and stereotypes. The seventies were in many ways less gender conformist than today's culture. People have been subverting gender norms in Western culture for a hundred years - it's not new. Transgenderism reinforces stereotypes to the extent that people are using hormones and surgeries to conform to physical stereotypes.
While this essay's exploration of the issues is sound it seems unfortunate to me that in order to illuminate the toxicity of internet culture you fall into the trap of talking 'about' a group of people and not 'with' them. Dealing with gender dysphoria is a very personal, one-person-at-a-time thing. I have a friend who is undergoing surgery at the age of sixty to address that life-long challenge of feeling mis-gendered. I wouldn't presume to speak for them and, not having that issue myself, don't think it appropriate to give my opinion. If you had chosen abortion or suicide the same problem would occur, but it wouldn't further pull innocent people into the meat-grinder of the Trump administration's scapegoating.
I did interview a transgender person in this piece for exactly that reason