This is the best clarification of the historical record of Pauli Murray that I have seen, by far. I really appreciate your deep dive and challenge of the back-projected mythologization which ignores the climate of homophobia she grappled with. Your points about the disrespect to her own self-expression over the course of her life are well-taken, and the first time I have seen the suggestion that, if that trans interpretation was to be taken seriously, then she would be detran. Great work.
Wow. Stunning piece of writing. I was recommended to read it on spinster.xyz
As a 64 year old Tomboy who went through gender-distress (and extensive bullying) as a child and teenager, I deeply sympathize with this amazing lady.
I'm glad for her that, like me, she lived before this insane modern craze to delete masculine-appearing women from society. We're here, we're proud, and we're activists!
Thank you so much for this important history and for protecting Black Lesbians, Butches, and women from the trans cult erasing females in every way they can. I'm a Euro-descent Lifelong Butch, but Black Lesbians and women and Butches have been in the forefront of creating Lesbian and Feminist culture, writing, art, ... everything, across the earth. Pauli Murray's life and history is so important for all girls and women to know. It should be a shock, but this male supremacist cult has been trying to wipe out every Lesbian and woman they can. I would have hoped that there would be more respect for someone like Pauli Murray, whose life and history is so important to know and never forget. How dare they? But these are the same men who send rape and death threats to any woman who says no to them, plus their women collaborators, so no surprise. (They have killed too many of us already and still are called women and put into women's prisons.)
It's like they want to skin us and wear our skins, and I worry for all of us that they will re-write our lives when we die. (I've been in the fight against the trans cult appropriating us since 1973, print, in our book, and at my blogs and my life is constantly slandered.)
It's so important to know Pauli's life for many reasons, including how she made choices that harmed her, that we can understand more knowing who she was and the ways she was oppressed as a courageous Black Butch. (Not "masculine," when being so Butch and Lesbian is as female as a woman can be.) In our book, Dykes-Loving-Dykes, we tried to describe the harm of a lifetime of such oppression as Pauli went through and her story is so important too because she survived and they didn't stop her. How dare they erase her like this? (Most of our book and my later articles, including about the trans cult appropriating us is at: https://bevjoradicallesbian.wordpress.com
Fascinating post! Thank you. It is sad indeed to realize that today Pauli would have been immediately given testosterone, etc. instead of the chance to figure things out on her own.
I've never heard of this person - thank you for making me aware of someone I haven't previously read about. And yes, I agree with you about the "borrowing of faked history" to drive present ideological agendas.
Of course the modern transgender movement is not progressive.
It is based on victimhood and coercion towards others' free speech and behaviour.
That people have to back up their insecurity by attributing pronouns and misinformation inappropriately and decietfully is evidence enough of this for me.
Thank you for a fascinating article.
Let's keep referring to women as we have always done.
Thank you for all the work you are putting in to communicating this perspective. I inhabit an artistic world in which it is very dangerous to express concern over this sort of thing, but as a student of history and the sister of both a lesbian and gay man who would most certainly have been confused by, and perhaps harmed by, Trans messaging had it existed when they were children, I am very concerned indeed by this ideological claiming of our ancestors' experience. It is very clear to me that there is a conflict of interest between feminism and the Trans rights movement, which can't be untangled unless we acknowledge it. It is galling to be labeled as a cruel person for pointing thus out. You seem to be making a very clear case for the way in which Pauli's legacy is to most truthfully and respectfully be regarded, which could be very helpful to the entire project of protecting all our ancestors from anachronism.
It's so disrespectful to the past and terrible what modern "writers" and "historians" are doing. When I was writing my own snarky little piece on this matter, I imagine I missed dozens of people because they have since been mislabeled as the opposite sex. And, somehow, the rewriting of history makes history all the more uninteresting, while still being decisive.
Your work is always on point and the receipts are always receipting! But honestly thank you for applying critical thinking and nuance to your research findings. I plan to send this to a few black feminist publications who continue to push and sell the gender fallacy.
This is an absolutely brilliant piece. You unpack and demolish every major trick and linguistic sleight of hand in the trans activist playbook, and with such clarity and logic! You rightly point out that the seemingly innocuous practice of calling “she/her” “feminine” rather than “female” pronouns is highly regressive. Your argument that historical revisionism is happening because the concept of transgenderism itself is historically and geographically bounded rings true. Closest to my heart is your full-throated rejection of what I believe to be the central idea upon which gender ideology rests: that femaleness itself is maliciously exclusionary because it doesn’t include males. That idea is the essence of female erasure. Trans activism has completely mangled the righteous notion of inclusion, which implores us to recognize the femaleness of all women, and in particular those who don’t conform to sex stereotypes. I look forward to sharing your wonderful piece. Thank you.
This was such an excellent piece! Not only is it important to bring light to the contemporary queer theorists re-writing history, but telling the truth about Murray's story provides insights into the struggle for self-acceptance that so many women with same-sex attraction have experienced in many points in time. Thanks so much for this well-researched in-depth article. We look forward to speaking with you on the Gender: A Wider Lens Podcast!
This is the best clarification of the historical record of Pauli Murray that I have seen, by far. I really appreciate your deep dive and challenge of the back-projected mythologization which ignores the climate of homophobia she grappled with. Your points about the disrespect to her own self-expression over the course of her life are well-taken, and the first time I have seen the suggestion that, if that trans interpretation was to be taken seriously, then she would be detran. Great work.
Wow. Stunning piece of writing. I was recommended to read it on spinster.xyz
As a 64 year old Tomboy who went through gender-distress (and extensive bullying) as a child and teenager, I deeply sympathize with this amazing lady.
I'm glad for her that, like me, she lived before this insane modern craze to delete masculine-appearing women from society. We're here, we're proud, and we're activists!
Thank you so much for this important history and for protecting Black Lesbians, Butches, and women from the trans cult erasing females in every way they can. I'm a Euro-descent Lifelong Butch, but Black Lesbians and women and Butches have been in the forefront of creating Lesbian and Feminist culture, writing, art, ... everything, across the earth. Pauli Murray's life and history is so important for all girls and women to know. It should be a shock, but this male supremacist cult has been trying to wipe out every Lesbian and woman they can. I would have hoped that there would be more respect for someone like Pauli Murray, whose life and history is so important to know and never forget. How dare they? But these are the same men who send rape and death threats to any woman who says no to them, plus their women collaborators, so no surprise. (They have killed too many of us already and still are called women and put into women's prisons.)
It's like they want to skin us and wear our skins, and I worry for all of us that they will re-write our lives when we die. (I've been in the fight against the trans cult appropriating us since 1973, print, in our book, and at my blogs and my life is constantly slandered.)
It's so important to know Pauli's life for many reasons, including how she made choices that harmed her, that we can understand more knowing who she was and the ways she was oppressed as a courageous Black Butch. (Not "masculine," when being so Butch and Lesbian is as female as a woman can be.) In our book, Dykes-Loving-Dykes, we tried to describe the harm of a lifetime of such oppression as Pauli went through and her story is so important too because she survived and they didn't stop her. How dare they erase her like this? (Most of our book and my later articles, including about the trans cult appropriating us is at: https://bevjoradicallesbian.wordpress.com
Thank you so much again for your brilliant work!
Fascinating post! Thank you. It is sad indeed to realize that today Pauli would have been immediately given testosterone, etc. instead of the chance to figure things out on her own.
Superb, I look forward to your book.
I’d be happy to buy it.
This is the lesbian world we are missing.
Trying to fit this unique woman into today’s categories makes no sense and deprives her of her individual personhood.
I've never heard of this person - thank you for making me aware of someone I haven't previously read about. And yes, I agree with you about the "borrowing of faked history" to drive present ideological agendas.
Of course the modern transgender movement is not progressive.
It is based on victimhood and coercion towards others' free speech and behaviour.
That people have to back up their insecurity by attributing pronouns and misinformation inappropriately and decietfully is evidence enough of this for me.
Thank you for a fascinating article.
Let's keep referring to women as we have always done.
Thank you for all the work you are putting in to communicating this perspective. I inhabit an artistic world in which it is very dangerous to express concern over this sort of thing, but as a student of history and the sister of both a lesbian and gay man who would most certainly have been confused by, and perhaps harmed by, Trans messaging had it existed when they were children, I am very concerned indeed by this ideological claiming of our ancestors' experience. It is very clear to me that there is a conflict of interest between feminism and the Trans rights movement, which can't be untangled unless we acknowledge it. It is galling to be labeled as a cruel person for pointing thus out. You seem to be making a very clear case for the way in which Pauli's legacy is to most truthfully and respectfully be regarded, which could be very helpful to the entire project of protecting all our ancestors from anachronism.
This is just painful. Thank you so much for you continuous work on documenting Black lesbian herstory.
It's so disrespectful to the past and terrible what modern "writers" and "historians" are doing. When I was writing my own snarky little piece on this matter, I imagine I missed dozens of people because they have since been mislabeled as the opposite sex. And, somehow, the rewriting of history makes history all the more uninteresting, while still being decisive.
This is such an important piece of work! Thank you !
Your work is always on point and the receipts are always receipting! But honestly thank you for applying critical thinking and nuance to your research findings. I plan to send this to a few black feminist publications who continue to push and sell the gender fallacy.
This is an absolutely brilliant piece. You unpack and demolish every major trick and linguistic sleight of hand in the trans activist playbook, and with such clarity and logic! You rightly point out that the seemingly innocuous practice of calling “she/her” “feminine” rather than “female” pronouns is highly regressive. Your argument that historical revisionism is happening because the concept of transgenderism itself is historically and geographically bounded rings true. Closest to my heart is your full-throated rejection of what I believe to be the central idea upon which gender ideology rests: that femaleness itself is maliciously exclusionary because it doesn’t include males. That idea is the essence of female erasure. Trans activism has completely mangled the righteous notion of inclusion, which implores us to recognize the femaleness of all women, and in particular those who don’t conform to sex stereotypes. I look forward to sharing your wonderful piece. Thank you.
Thank you for an amazing work.
This was such an excellent piece! Not only is it important to bring light to the contemporary queer theorists re-writing history, but telling the truth about Murray's story provides insights into the struggle for self-acceptance that so many women with same-sex attraction have experienced in many points in time. Thanks so much for this well-researched in-depth article. We look forward to speaking with you on the Gender: A Wider Lens Podcast!