Atomic Gender is a hub of collected resources by Zinnia Jones on the science of gender identity and the activities of the worldwide anti-transgender movement.
In nine years of running the Gender Analysis blog, I’ve witnessed a dramatic deterioration on all fronts of public will to understand or improve the lives of trans and gender-diverse people, fueled by a long-term political campaign to create an explicit and comprehensive anti-trans belief system — a mission to teach the world how to hate us.
This has brought us to the disastrous state of affairs in 2023: an explosion of bans on gender-affirming care accomplished in mere months by the global right wing; evidence manufactured against trans healthcare to support partisan political goals; assertions by judges that United States law does not contain a right for trans adults to receive their gender-affirming medication; the academic laundering of anti-trans prejudice; attempts to limit the freedom of gender expression by deeming drag performances “obscene” and placing clothes, names, and pronouns within a medical-regulatory framework; numerous conservative religions shifting their focus to articulate a cosmic absolute morality against trans acceptance; incursions of religiously-motivated transphobia into secular democracies; the intrusion of anti-trans conversion practices into healthcare systems and policy; ongoing threats targeting trans-supportive medical providers, schools, and businesses; policies mandating that trans students be misgendered and outed; the removal of content discussing trans people from academia and libraries; and all of it cheered on by increasingly open declarations that there are zero “true” trans people and our very existence to any extent is an impossibility.
Sometimes it feels like nobody cares about us anymore. But I care about this more than anything else. Transitioning gave me a life worth living, and this is the reality of millions of trans people worldwide. The trans community itself is an empirical fact about our world, yet millions more are at this moment being deprived of this right to their very identity and selfhood, in a shadow of oppression that’s spreading to every corner of the transgender earth. We are faced today with a force that will not stop and will not allow us to exist anywhere. But I believe we can make a world that is safe for trans people everywhere.
Atomic Gender is inspired by our opponents’ confidence that trans people hold the power to reshape the face of this world. I believe we are at an unprecedented moment in history, as more of us than ever before have emerged from the dark of wordless confusion, harnessing the new energies of a global networked community and learning what it means to be trans. We’re ready to keep learning, and Atomic Gender is here to arm trans people and our advocates with the information and living resources we need. Use these atoms of insights and intel, smash them together, and wield the power of an informed trans community.
As we stand on the precipice of losing everything, trans people together can aspire to pose an existential threat to the transphobic social order. We know that trans people have always existed and will always exist — under any conditions. Today, we’ve been presented with a unique opportunity to guarantee a permanent future for trans people as equals in all of society. We’ve come this far. I believe we can finish the job. ⬢