For decades, conservative evangelicals and so-called gender critical feminists 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?
In Gender Heretics, Rebecca Jane Morgan tackles this reactionary alliance head on. With unique insight, she explores how theological arguments snaked their way from anti-trans feminist tracts into the everyday practices of evangelical churches today, and how the unlikely alliance remains strong in spite of seemingly irreconcilable worldviews.
Shedding light on the roots of today's transphobic backlash, she provides crucial tools to overcome it, offering a hopeful way forward by advocating for a full recalibration of evangelical thought on gender identity and trans activism.
What People Are Saying
"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
About the Author
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.
Table of Contents
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
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