It's Time for a Non-Woke, Pro-Trans Perspective
It's the viewpoint the right-leaning anti-woke media doesn't want you to hear
Today, I am announcing that, going forward, there will be a change in the focus of my work. While I'm still dedicated to the promotion and revival of liberal values across the West, I feel like it is time for a more specific focus. Given that contemporary Western politics is generally fought on the grounds of specific cultural controversies, I think this will be a more effective way for me to make my point, compared to more philosophical pieces. This is why, going forward, I will have a specific focus on arguing against anti-trans sentiment from a non-woke perspective.
There are several other reasons for this change. Firstly, the authoritarian postliberal right, with many ties to religious authoritarianism, have decided to make trans issues an important part of their culture wars. In other words, they are whipping up anti-trans sentiment to justify a move to a more authoritarian politics. Therefore, a lot of the arguments against the postliberal right would have to be specifically on the grounds of defending the validity of gender dysphoria, and the humanity and dignity of trans people more generally. Upholding classical liberal values is also an important part of this work, but sometimes, there needs to be more of a focus on the specifics of the issue at hand. The two parts of the argument (pro-trans and pro-liberalism) will help reinforce each other, against the attacks coming from the right-wing culture warriors.
Secondly, the right-leaning faction of the anti-woke movement has gone all in to portray all pro-trans policies and actions as 'woke'. This, of course, is incorrect by any definition of 'woke', and is therefore dishonest. (Previously, I gave my own definition of 'woke', and I stand by it. But no definition of 'woke' would make being pro-trans inherently woke.) From what I see, this dishonesty is entirely in the service of helping the Republican Party win elections, which is why we can expect it to get particularly bad in the run up to the 2024 US elections. This is why it is important to show that one can be non-woke and pro-trans too. At least this will expose the hypocrisy of the 'Republican at all costs' culture warriors. It might even win some credibility back for real non-woke liberalism.
Finally, there's a personal factor for me. As a trans woman writing on cultural and political issues, I've found that much more people read my trans-related stuff than my general stuff. This is why having a trans focus more generally would likely help to bring my point of view to more audiences.
I will still be putting out philosophical pieces every now and then, but making a non-woke case for being pro-trans will be the new focus for my work going forward. I hope my effort will be able to change minds out there, and expose the hypocrisy of both the woke movement, as well as the authoritarian postliberal right, in their approach to the trans issue in particular, but also their approach to politics more generally.
TaraElla is a singer-songwriter and author, who recently published her autobiography The TaraElla Story, in which she described the events that inspired her writing.
She is also the author of The Trans Case Against Queer Theory.