Transgenderism, Diversity, and Social Trust

Highlights from this month’s Open Q&A.

This month’s Open Q&A sparked a fascinating discussion about transgenderism, diversity, and social trust. Here are some highlights, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

Jonathan Watson asked about the link between transgender activism and Marxism:

How can we irrefutably link movements such as transgenderism to Marxism? Every school or administration that waves the Pride flag should fully understand that the equivalence is the hammer and sickle. Every parent should see it for what it is.

Practically speaking, the transgender movement certainly is aligned with the radical Left, but intellectually, the genealogies of modern neo-Marxism, such as critical race theory, and Queer Theory are different. Transgender ideology is mostly derived from postmodernism and left-wing Nietzscheanism, predominantly through the influence of Michel Foucault. Some transgender theorists have tried to hitch trans identity into a Marxist oppressor-oppressed dynamic and believe that “transgender liberation” can be achieved only through the abolition of both gender and capitalism. On the Left, we constantly observe a “blender effect,” in which all these ideologies are mixed together. But from a strict genealogical perspective, Marxism and transgenderism developed from different lines of thought.

Elena P. adds that, in her experience, Marxist regimes did not push the boundaries of gender and sexual ideology: