2023: A Good Year for Sex-Realist Feminism
Looking Back
As 2023 draws to a close, we're looking back at the accomplishments of the past year and planning for the next.
Last year at this time, we were gathering our team and putting the finishing touches on version 1.0 of our website. There, we aggregated content that articulated a new vision of feminism: one that embraces the reality of sexual difference, rejects the myth of radical autonomy, and celebrates interdependence.
In January, we brought together an all-star group of featured authors for a launch panel, titled What Is Sex Realist Feminism?
After a few months of building our audience through this weekly newsletter, in March, we started publishing original content. We began with a manifesto from our editor, Serena Sigillito, titled "Feminism's New Wave Is Here."
Over the past nine months, we've published thought-provoking essays from an array of outstanding authors (while still bringing you the best sex-realist feminist content from around the web).We've included just a few highlights in this email, but you can find all of our original essays on our website.
2023's Biggest Hit
In our most-read piece of 2023, featured author Eliza Mondegreen tells the stories of parents whose children have come out as trans. Mondegreen weaves together their tales with empathy, letting the parents speak for themselves and recognizing that there are no easy answers for these families.
(And if you love how Eliza skillfully weaves together real-life testimonies, you'll also appreciate Abigail Anthony's "The Endo Warriors," profiling women who are fighting for a world that treats female reproductive diseases without treating female reproduction as a disease.)
Fairer Disputations
What Happens to Parents When Kids Come Out a Trans
ELIZA MONDEGREEN
Julia Serano derides the “concerned parent” as just a toxic trope, applying air quotes so large that they can be seen from outer space. According to Serano, parental “concerns” are just a pretense, a flimsy cover for ignorance, rejection, and bigotry.
But I’ve corresponded with dozens of parents of gender-questioning children, and nothing could be further from the truth. It’s easy to demonize these parents. It’s harder to stop and listen to what they have to say. Their stories tangle up the simple narrative that trans activists push and raise tough questions about what it means to “affirm” something about a child when that something isn’t true. What is a parent to do when “affirming” a child’s transgender identity means rejecting everything the parent knows about that child: her life story, her one and only body, her scraped knees and bruised feelings, her darkest fears, the dreams she jettisoned when she started chasing gender instead?
Inviting Dialogue Through Symposia
We at Fairer Disputations pride ourselves on bringing together voices within—and on the fringes of—the sex-realist feminist movement. We did that in a special way this year with our three symposia:
Men, Women, & Children
Sex-realist feminists recognize that women and men are distinct by virtue of our sexed bodies. This distinction is seen most clearly in our differing relations to our children. Motherhood and fatherhood are both important, but they are not interchangeable. Many of our authors reflected on the the meaning of this difference, and how we ought to respond to it.
Louise Perry argued that a feminism oriented towards maternity must voice the needs of mothers in the corridors of power. Philip Jeffery suggested that sex-realist feminists would do well to learn from Marxist social reproduction theorists, who recognized mothers as essential to society's survival. And Martin Robb reflected on the distinctive care that men provide.
Sex, Gender, & More
This year, our authors have tackled all kinds of tricky questions: why is sexual orientation often at odds with who people actually have sex with? Does sex mean anything? What does it mean to be "kind" to people who identify as trans? Who counts as a feminist? What analogies are helpful when speaking about the "transgender moment"?
Support Us
We're proud of what we've accomplished in 2023. And we've got big plans for 2024, including: announcing some terrific new featured authors; college reading groups; website improvements; and a more frequent publication schedule.
But to make those things happen, we need your support. We're a lean operation, so even small gifts make a big difference. Your donations go directly to the salaries of our editors, authors, and web developer (and, indirectly, those of their babysitters, too).
All donations are secure, tax deductible, and essential for the vitality of this online journal. Make a one-time gift or set up monthly donations today.
Write for Us in 2024
Is one of your new year's resolutions to write more? Fairer Disputations happily accepts pitches and submissions for publication on our site. Email us at submissions@fairerdisputations.org.