You probably had the unfortunate experience of seeing the word” Detrans” trending if you were on X at all at the end of last week. For those who did n’t look into it, let me give you the unpleasant rundown:” Detrans” is the most recent short film from the conservative nonprofit Prager University Foundation ( also known as” Pager U” ), which is best known for its videos that present out-of-date perspectives on a variety of civic and social justice issues.
Its most recent film is about a select group of young people who underwent transition before making the decision to detransition. By the way, this movie is no popular because people like it or dislike it. According to reports, ProtherU spent X$ 1 million to impose its mission on everyone. People who values speech may be terrified by this strategy because it essentially boils down to a huge propaganda campaign. Even though detransitionists do exist and have the right to share their experiences, they just make up about 1 % of all transgender people.
You can see that the show’s producers are acting dishonestly when they withhold that information and portray vast numbers of trans people as regretting their choice to recognize their sex. The movie gives the impression that transphobia is a popular issue that we should all be concerned about because it affects children all over the world.
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When I contacted a PragerU press representative to inquire about the film’s directors and producers, they simply replied,” Prager U produced the short documentary,” proving that I was unable to learn which individuals did so.
Allen Estrin, a writer, and Dennis Prager, the number of the traditional television talk show PragerU ( which is not connected to an actual academic institution ), founded the program in 2009. They offer an “alternative to the strong left-wing ideology in tradition, media, and education” on their website and make the claim that they “promote American values.” When the Florida Board of Education approved their PragerU Kids movies for use in people K–12 classrooms earlier this year, PragerU made headlines. One of the video was geared toward children and featured a cartoon by Christopher Columbus that justified colonialism by calling Native Americans “vicious cannibals.”
After I questioned why they decided to put so much muscle behind this campaign specifically, Prager U’s spokesperson responded via email,” We put a lot of resources behind promoting [ Detrans ] because it is one of the most important projects we have ever done.” ” We are doing everything we can to reach a sizable visitors about the risks of gender affirming care because it has quickly spread like savagery and has negative effects.”
Although I should n’t have been surprised and disgusted, I most certainly was. Their use of the term” social contagion” demonstrates just how much they see transness as an existential threat.
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According to Deseret News, the software previously known as Twitter has apparently permitted PragerU to encourage its documentary despite opposition from other platforms like YouTube. The website has lost millions of dollars in advertising profit since Elon Musk took control of it. The” Detrans” documentary also appears to be fairly consistent with Musk’s anti-trans sentiments. His conception of free speech has always seemed to center on the right to treat those he does n’t understand with disrespect. And this film also accomplishes that.
You do n’t have to watch the 20-minute documentary because I did. Three persons who transitioned after spending a lot of time on YouTube or Tumblr and watching other transgender people explore their names make up the majority of it. These three individuals ultimately made the decision to detransition by ceasing and/or changing their gender-affirming treatment.
There is no nuance or context provided, and it is obvious that the documentary’s goal is to give the impression that all children are in danger due to trans acceptance, despite the fact that their stories are true and undoubtedly involve some instances of physician neglect. Furthermore, as Out points out,” the film uses the stories of both subjects as part of a larger condemnation of gender-affirming treatment for minors,” even though both of the subjects transitioned into adulthood.
There are n’t many knowledgeable sources mentioned in the documentary. Harmeet Dhillon, a attorney and former Republican Party president from California, is one of the most prominent voices mentioned. She frequently uses the term” transsexuals,” which is hardly an objective source.
Another joke is that Oli London, who gained notoriety for claiming to be a” transracial” Vietnamese and who is now an outspoken traditional anti-trans supporter, appears in the documentary’s closing picture. It’s upsetting to be reminded that these kinds of documentaries may be the only information about trans people that those who do n’t personally know will ever interact with. Fear-mongering at its worst is what it is, and we need to visit it out.
