Attribution: Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., John K., Michael M., and Geoff Carter
Bots,
I’m going to revisit the transgender culture war. I don’t really have anything new to say, but I’d like to draw your attention to a recent eruption in said war.
Bots may recall that I’ve been skeptical of the push by “transgender advocates” to uncritically accept minors’ view of themselves as transgender. They challenge anybody who would slow the transition of teenagers with “Would you rather have a dead son or a transgende girl?” Talk about going nuclear. Parents, confused and afraid, have been confronted, at times, with clinical advocates that are pushing transition onto troubled kids.
But let’s be clear. The cultural reaction to transgender teens, in the right wing and then infecting the general public, has been an absolute moral panic. Conservatives have stressed “parent’s rights” for decades, demanding the right to pull little Johnny and Suzy from any class discussion that might expose their children to sex ed. But when the parents of transgender teens seek counseling and care for their kids? Now the government clearly knows best. Over half of the states now prohibit any form of gender treatment for minors. And the Trump Administration is attempting to pull Medicare and Medicaid funding from any institution that even hints at gender treatment. (Note: they’re not pulling funds for transgender care. They are pulling ALL gov’t funding, essentially shutting down these hospitals. The legality of this is highly questionable.)
US culture is prone to moral panics. There’s typically some grain of truth that gets spun up into absolute hysteria. Examples include the demonization of cocaine and drugs after the Len Bias death in the ’80s, leading to mass incarceration; the 80’s panic over the supposed infiltration of predator pedophiles into schools and day care facilities; AIDS; and more recently, the breakout of antivax sentiment into the mainstream. I’m sure there are more examples.
I present below a gift link to an essay recently written by a University of Oklahoma undergrad for her gender studies class. The students were asked to read a scholarly article on a topic related to gender norms, and to comment. The student makes no attempt to discuss the article, but instead launches into her own detailed Biblical justification for opposing “multiple genders”. She was given a grade of -0- by the graduate student TA, for failure to answer the questions for the assignment, and for her use of personal ideology over empirical evidence. Zero was pretty harsh, I will grant you, but this essay certainly doesn’t deserve a passing grade.
Of course, the undergrad complained, and the culture war erupted. The TA has been suspended from teaching, and the undergrad has been hailed as a conquering hero. Yay! Let’s get them damn dirty transgenders back in the closet where they belong!
The New York Times: Samantha Fulnecky Essay
MM
You had to go there, didn’t you! No seriously, thanks for the gift link. I have no problem with the student’s essay. She is expressing her fundamentalist Christian beliefs, which she has a right to do. I don’t happen to share her orthodox beliefs, but I don’t share the beliefs of the transgender orthodoxy either. The culture warriors on both sides seem to love these kerfuffles and love to create consequences for the participants that go way beyond the level that simple expressions of opinion should. Consider the grade of -0- for the paper. Having not read the exact parameters of the assignment, I can’t say whether she should pass or fail. She doesn’t comment much at all about the contents of the assigned reading, so I suppose she should get a very low grade. But even back in my scholastic days, any effort at all to complete an assignment would garner a C- or D+. A student can misunderstand an assignment and submit something inappropriate, but that shouldn’t earn an F or a -0-, unless it’s work done in pursuit of a doctorate or other advanced degree. A -0- grade seems either highly ideological or worse, personal, against this student. On the other side, firing the TA for giving a -0- grade? Ridiculous. Grading papers is so subjective and in my experience, totally maddening. The TA could have easily been at his/her wits end by the time this particular essay came along and could have just snapped at the moment of putting a number grade on it.
People deserve more grace than society is willing to allow nowadays. Let’s all give each other a break.
MarkO
Did my due diligence and read the article…against my knee jerk to ‘not bother w/ stupid crap by stupid others, ‘specially from Oklahoma’. Oops. The piece was fine. Based on MM’s, MO’s mild rxns and the TA’s draconian rxn I went in assuming she didn’t read it. Au contraire. She references it multiple times, then states her opinion. It is an informed opinion, references the bible—like a zillion, zillion others have since zero AD—even translates Hebrew. Then gets a zero for taking a 180 stand from the now obvious biases of an immature TA. (unlike us bots, he/she/they—the TA– haven’t made a zillion mistakes yet…) Knowing human nature I’d bet the TA was furious—max, frustrated—min, that this student wasn’t even a wee bit enlightened and chose to state her contrary opinion such that he/she/they missed her fourth reference—TA was skimming, shaking head, shocked and saddened how uniformed this student is. The school was 100% right to suspend the TA. Actually the piece was well written, not too long. I’d give her a B minus but challenge her one statement below—just the first sentence.
Does she truly believe men and women, (more importantly, young men and women) are not pressured to be more masculine or feminine? A wise teacher would softly point out the zillion examples of this during the coming semester, in: marketing of all forms, social media, in the classroom, at the school, in their town, in the news. Use it to gain a foothold on one flank—women’s rights. Baby steps, ay.
As far as the bigger issue, (MM drudges up just when we were looking forward to the new year–😎–.) We are in for a decades long mosh pit. Similar to the 10% society era, but amplified due to green lighting of adolescent rages by potus. It gets votes. This one may last centuries due to that and the big difference vis-a-via GayLez: Genitalia rearrangement. Allows the neanderthal to hit the squeamish button whenever they meet resistance. Or just want to text, late at night.
Dave S.
I admit I did not enjoy the recent era of gender identity politics. Damn, I try to be sensitive, but I could never quite figure out who was he, she, they or cisgender were no matter how many times my daughter explained it to me (background: she was a resident RA at UW Milwaukee a few years ago and had a good sense of how to navigate the minefield of it all). I believe everyone has the right to set their own path regardless of its direction. That being said, the transgender youth movement is at best confusing and at worst downright terrifying. Part of a parents job and responsibility is to guide their kids and provide a safe haven so that they can grow into responsible and functioning adults. Not an easy job all the time. As Mark M noted, our government and the conservative right stress parental rights, but only to a point. Whose job is it to provide moral guidance: Uncle Sam, Father McGiver or John and Jane Smith? I guess the answer, like the answer to a lot of moral questions, is elastic and depends on the circumstance and audience.
An aside, I would like to use the word kerfuffle in my post, but I feel Mark O has propriety ownership of this wonderful and curious word.
Kerfuffle–a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views.
I will try to drop that in conversation occasionally.
Relating to the article, I would give the student a B grade. I feel she addressed the article throughout her essay and gave a relatively succinct and educated answer. I suspect the caffeine fueled and addled TA found her politics and viewpoint reprehensible and gave her a 0 after grading too many AI assisted essays. I disagree with the student’s politics, but I suppose she has a right to her viewpoint.
John
You guys are way too soft on your grading! The essay writer used the time tested trick of referring generally to the assigned article without addressing the specifics of it. The only thing she argued against that sheds light on the article is the idea that accepting diverse gender expression can improve students’ confidence. And it somehow discusses the function of teasing in society. That’s it! I can’t conclude anything else about the article other than it offended this girl’s religious sensibilities.
This essay could have been produced by a Cliff Notes reader. Remember that stuff? Nowadays the kids don’t even have to bother reading those. Just go straight to the chatbot! D+ !
MarkO
Found this reel on FB messenger. Pretty hilarious. Always coveted my neighbor’s house.
John
That’s a great video, John,Thanks for sharing. But before I catch up to Dave’s favorite consonant of V, I also want to thank MM for his most generous Christmas gift. How did he know that what the ‘bots really wanted on Jesus’s birthday was a Christian fundamentalist anti-trans essay from an Oklahoma college kid?: #blessed!
Seriously though, I get why the essay and the subsequent fallout spurred Mams to revisit the transgender culture wars discussion. It’s such a compelling can o’ worms. (BTW, as y’all may know, worms have no gender–they are hermaphrodites.) The essay, the F-minus-minus grade it earned from the kid’s teacher, the teacher’s subsequent dismissal, the media hoopla–they all coalesce to create the perfect shitstorm of a battle in the American culture war drama.
I checked-out a few news articles about this latest battle–it appears that anti-trans conservatives saw their advantage and jumped on it. The author of the essay, Samantha Fulnecky, is a photogenic college junior who could be groomed to become quite the conservative spokesmodel. Her TA, William “Mel” Curth, is transgender.
As for the essay itself. It’s not poorly written and it addresses the topic of gender identity, so most people would view a grade of “0” to be unfair. That’s a big win for the conservatives. Even I believe the grade was unfair. Although the author didn’t cite empirical evidence, if she were a freshman, I’d give her maybe a B-, as a junior, maybe a C-. I’d probably also give her a chance to rewrite the paper. But I’m a soft grader and you guys already addressed the grading issue pretty thoroughly.
However, one other issue has sprung to mind about this latest skirmish. After my brief media perusal of “Zero-gate” (ok, it needs a catchier name), the whole story seems to play too smoothly into the Conservative spin machine.I mean, why would a Conservative Christian junior take a gender studies class taught by a liberal transgender person? Her essay seems almost custom-made to piss-off her TA while garnering sympathy from the masses. Could it be a set-up?
DC
A Christian Conservative Culture War false flag psy-op? I like it. Turns Zero-gate from an amusing rabbit hole into a giant brain-matter sucking mutant badger black hole.
Absolutely loved the video John. Made my day. Thanks
MarkO
Thanks, John. The video is hilarious. I guess I’m going to have to stop speaking Spanish in front of my neighbors. And no more tamales. And lock up my wine cellar. And arm my wife.
In terms of the transgender Bible-thumping essay, I do think Dennis has a great point. This seems to be an awfully convenient situation for furthering the Christian Nationalist ideology. Why indeed would this Samantha Fulnecky take the class? She certainly doesn’t sound like she’s open-minded. It also begs the question of what past interactions between the trans TA William Curth had been like. I have not delved into the details of the story, but I have to wonder whether there had been some previous enmity—maybe even some baiting—between the two of them. This might explain the -0-; if she had been warned against writing religious diatribes on previous assignments and ignored it and garnered the consequences. But it’s perfect for the religious right. I tend to suspect a set-up; a photogenic young coed extolling the values of a woman as a “helper”(even if she rationalizes the term) has to have Christian Nationalists salivating.
Now, as a retired English teacher who taught a few college courses, (thanks for bringing me out of retirement, Mark—I feel like Philip Rivers). In terms of grammar, lexicon, and vocabulary, it’s okay, maybe a “B”. In terms of developing and organizing her ideas—whether I agree with them or not—the paper was lower than average. The logic was muddy and sometimes ran in circles. Plus, there was no compelling introduction and a pretty lame thesis statement. Typically, anytime I assigned an essay and someone strayed from the topic (forget ignoring it), I docked them pretty hard. I would expect a short summary of the paper being written about and a point-by-point dissection. That would be an “A”. This to me was probably a “D”, maybe, if the student had been making progress in the course and needed encouragement, a “C” or “C-“ would have been more appropriate.
G
Great video, John. You do realize that Venezuela is in South AMERICA– which has has “America” as part of its name. What’s more America First than a stunning late night raid on another part of America? Gotta keep the neighborhood safe.
There’s some news on another Moral Panic front that I failed to mention: the persecution of social media commenters who did not worship at the altar of Charlie Kirk after his assassination. No less a personage than JD Vance encouraged us to go after the Philistines whose criticism of Charlie shocked the conscience of our nation. Well, in Texas, the American Federation of Teachers (are those communists back to work yet since COVID?) is suing the state’s education agency over its “investigations” of teachers who made comments unfavorable to St. Charlie.The comments were vile & reprehensible, and promoted violence, says the State Education Commissioner. What’s more, they could violate the code of ethics for teachers! But those squirrelly teachers are falling back on the last defense of a scoundrel — the First Amendment. They claim that even teachers, with their cushy vacations and “prep days”, have a right to non-standard political opinions. And wouldn’t you know that pesky Randi Weingarten is down in Texas, carryin’ on with the outside agitatin’.
MM
Stay tuned, bots. The Supreme Court is–as we speak–wrestling with the legality of trans athletes, specifically whether state bans on trans athletes violates the Constitution.
G