Skeptics of transgender ideology typically believe that men cannot become women, that gender-confused children should not undergo permanent sex-change treatments, and that individuals should be able to state basic facts about biological sex without fear of retribution. This position, sometimes described by those who hold it as “gender critical,” is moderate, reasonable, and widely shared. Yet Reddit — the forum-based social-media platform with hundreds of millions of users and hundreds of thousands of communities — recently categorized these views as “hateful” and banned the forum for over 64,000 gender-critical members.
Reddit’s new conduct policy, announced earlier this month and applied retroactively, lays out that “communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned.” Curiously, gender identity is a protected characteristic, but sex is not. More curiously still, misogynistic activists and pornography fans are still welcome to assemble on Reddit’s subforums, but women who dare say that women don’t have penises and fans of J. K. Rowling are not. In what world is de-platforming people for supporting women’s rights progressive?