Abstract
Anthropology would seem the discipline least likely to adopt a universalist version of gender identity ideology, as the strongest versions of this ideology are so clearly an epiphenomenon of recent Anglophone internet culture. It is nevertheless the case that this paradigm has been institutionally embraced within anthropology and anthropologist dissenters like myself are subject to cancellation for our vocal skepticism. The present essay argues that this is due in large part to pre-existing disciplinary predilections, so that it is possible to speak of a local culture of anthropological cancellation. Because of this, when anthropologists eject critics of gender identity ideology, they do not see themselves as participating in a recent general “cancel culture” but instead as doing good traditional anthropology.
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Notes
I am not able to provide a link to this text. I originally posted it to my account on the feminist social media site Spinster.xyz, on which I was active between August 2019 and January 2022. The complainant indicates having come across it on Twitter some time in 2021, but does not give an exact source or date. My guess is that someone was re-posting to Twitter things I posted on Spinster. It is likely that I posted this to Spinster in 2020, as it draws from an Intercept article (cited in the text) that appeared in January 2020. The letter of complaint is confidential, so I cannot post a link to it.
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Lowrey, K. Gender Identity Ideology Conquers the World: Why Are Anthropologists Cheering?. Arch Sex Behav 52, 27–33 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02440-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02440-2