Sympathy, Fear, Hate

Abstract

Abstract A recent pastoral guide designed to help Christians better understand “transgender individuals and the broader ideological movement” took a seemingly bizarre turn when it urged readers to sympathize with radical feminist concerns about the safety of women and the increasing threat to their very identity. While the depiction of the dangerous trans subject as a potential source of injury is nothing new, the increasingly frequent evangelical reliance on affectively charged rhetoric mimicking trans-exclusionary radical feminist writing is surprising enough to merit further investigation. This essay analyzes and responds to the burgeoning connections between trans-exclusionary radical feminism, “gender critical” writing, and transphobic evangelical Christian rhetoric by arguing that their affective resonance, predicated on the proper cultivation of sympathy, fear, and hatred, is made possible by a shared commitment to a dimorphic conception of sex difference and the politics of injury.

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