Exposes and explains the unlikely alliance between Evangelical Christians and anti-transgender feminists
For decades, conservative evangelicals and Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) have worked hand-in-hand to oppose trans liberation. But how did this alliance come about? What makes it tick? And how can trans people and allies respond?
This book, written by a transfeminist who is also an evangelical Christian, is a history and genealogy of reactionary ideas. Gender Heretics traces how a shared belief in the essential unity of the mind and the body, together with a common fear of 'dualist' or 'Gnostic' philosophies, first brought these groups into contact in the 1970s.
Morgan explores how theological arguments snaked their way from anti-trans feminist tracts into the everyday practices of evangelical churches today. She offers a hopeful way forward, advocating for a full recalibration of evangelical thought on gender identity and trans activism.
Recenzijos
'Compellingly explains the seemingly quixotic anti-trans alliance of radical feminists and conservative evangelicals. Intellectually rich yet accessible, it demonstrates how that alliance is rooted in a shared ideological inheritance and weaponizing of a range of political tactics and hackneyed conspiracies. In doing so, it also points to ways in which their anti-trans stances can be understood and countered.' -- Pippa Catterall, Professor of History and Policy, University of Westminster; Chair of AIDS Memory UK 'We live in a time when anti-trans politics is becoming increasingly dehumanizing and dangerous. Reading this illuminating book will help the open-minded, open-hearted Christian reader hear, encounter, and love their trans neighbors. I learned much from this book. I am grateful for it.' -- David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer University
Preface: A Tower to the Heavens
Introduction
Part I: An 'Unlikely' Alliance
1. Warzone
2. Of Feminists and Mystics
3. Trans as Heresy in Evangelical Thought
4. The Alliance Goes to War
Part II: The Theological Bit (And Why It Matters)
5. Gender Orthodoxy
6. Rebellion
Part III: Covering the Cracks
7. 'God is bullshit, and so is gender'
8. Masking Strategies
Part IV: The Future
9. A Coming Storm?
10. Getting Christianity Right
Acknowledgements
Notes
Rebecca Jane Morgan is a transfeminist and evangelical Christian, a historian of modern Britain, popular culture, and queer identities. Her PhD research at the University of Nottingham explores the history of trans politics in the UK since the 1970s. Rebecca Jane Morgan is a trans historian and recent PhD graduate (University of Nottingham). She is the author of Gender Heretics: Evangelicals, Feminists, and the Alliance Against Trans Liberation (Pluto 2023) and has published articles in the International Journal of Heritage Studies, the Midlands Historical Review, and DiGeSt The Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies. She has a chapter in a forthcoming book edited by Kit Hayem and Jon Ward and published by Bloomsbury New and Decolonial Approaches to Gender Nonconformity: Forging a Home For Ourselves.
