Note 1: Bess's Feminist Basics

In less than 25 minutes, Bess finally talks about her feminist principles and the purpose of the podcast: differentiating feminist analysis from old fashioned conservatism.

Using the example of a popular conservative framework that describes people who adopt a transgender identity as "mentally ill," Bess explains how this understanding of transgender people and their identities is in conflict with at least three basic feminist principles:

1. Structural social critique (anti-individualism)
2. Anti-authoritarianism
3. Anti-essentialism

Feminist analysis: A Feminist Critique of Cisgender, one of Bess's favorite feminist (but not radical feminist!) essays about anti-(gender) essentialism, first published on June 8, 2012.

Conservative analysis: Alliance Defending Freedom, radical Christian nationalists who provide support to self-identified feminist organizations to spread moral panic about transgender people, are protecting "God's creative order" with "Generational Wins!" Learn more!

Gay marriage was first recognized in Massachusetts in 2004 via a beautifully written judicial decision: Goodridge v. The Dept of Public Health. We've come a long way, but it was not long ago that lesbian legal rights were just a fantasy.

Next time! No, really! Rethinking Coalitions: Anti-Pornography Feminists, Conservatives, and Relationships between Collaborative Adversarial Movements by Nancy Whittier