Genderism & The BITE Model
I watch a lot of skeptics and debunkers on YouTube, as you do, and recently I’ve been made aware of the BITE Model. BITE standing for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control. It describes the common techniques of cults and similar groups and how they control their members’ thoughts and behavior.
Now people roll their eyes when many radfems refer to the current gender identity trend as a cult. But let’s take a look at the model and what I think lines up with the sort of behavior you see on tumblr and beyond.
Starting with Behavior Control:
I was tempted to highlight “control clothing and hairstyle” cause… well lol genderhair. But let’s be real here.
- Promote dependence and obedience See my previous anon who said their social circles are full of genderists. See any detransitioner who lost all their friends. People are encouraged to isolate themselves with their “queer” “chosen family”.
- Modify behavior with rewards and punishments You are awarded with praise and attention for virtue signaling, for making posts about “transwomen are awesome and beautiful!” and “if you’re a terf unfollow me!” And you’re punished with ostracization and hate messages if you even accidentally say anything against the current groupthink.
- Restrict or control sexuality This one should be obvious” “lesbians who don’t want to sleep with trans women and gay men who don’t want to sleep with trans men are gross bigots and bad people”, “who would want to be a cishet”, “people not genitals!”
- Require you to seek permission for major decisions This one is a bit abstract and a bit of a stretch, but it often seems like people are seeking permission from the group to say, do, or like certain things. What’s been “cancelled” and what hasn’t.
On to Information Control:
This one is a doozie.
- Deliberately withhold and distort information “Puberty blockers are reversible”, “Even gynecologists can’t tell the difference”, “biological sex doesn’t exist because intersex people”, and in general denying or obfuscating the details of the process and results of so-called “sex change surgery”.
- Forbid you from speaking with ex-members and critics The shunning of detransitioners, the block lists of “terfs”, the deplatforming of critics, the attacks on professors, doctors and experts who speak out. Warning you that reading anything by “terfs” could corrupt your beliefs.
- Discourage access to non-cult sources of information This is another one that’s a bit abstract in this context as the gender trend doesn’t have any sort of cohesive head organization or leadership. But similar to above people are discouraged from reading anything that goes against the current groupthink.
- Divide information into Insider vs Outside doctrine Critics are bigots and TERFs who want you dead.
- Gaslight to make you doubt your own memory No, no it was the TERFs that came up with the cotton ceiling not us. No, it’s the TERFs who say trans women demand sex from lesbians not us, no no dysphoria was never needed to be trans, no you were never trans in the first place if you detransition.
- Encourage you to spy and report on others’ “misconduct” “OP IS A TERF” Any girl or woman who has ever had to beg for forgiveness because she said something not in line with the groupthink and was sent over a dozen messages asking if she’s a “terf” or accusing her of being a “terf”. Anyone who will dig through someone’s blog to ensure they’re ideologically pure and immediately throw them under the bus if they’re not.
And now, Thought Control
- Instill Black vs White, Us vs Them, & Good vs Evil thinking TERFS are evil. Homosexuals who won’t force themselves to be bisexual are evil. Anyone who questions the genderist rhetoric is bad no matter what their background or expertise.
- Change your identity, possibly even your name How could I not include this one?
- Use loaded language and cliches to stop complex thought Anyone who questions genderist rhetoric wants trans people dead. Anyone who even gives a rational argument is gross and should die. You either accept that men are women when they say so, and women are men when they say so, with no explanation of what that even means, or you’re on the wrong side of history and we don’t need to talk to you.
- Teach thought-stopping techniques to prevent critical thoughts REPEAT AFTER US TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN REPEAT THAT UNTIL YOU PERISH
- Allow only positive thoughts You can’t think ill of any trans-identified male, no matter what he’s done, and misgendering him is far worse than him raping, assaulting or murdering someone.
- Reject rational analysis, critical thinking, & doubt Having second thoughts? Doubt you want to be trans? No. You’re trans. Once you have the thought that’s it. Desisting means you’re a bigot. A radfem just wrote a detailed rebuttal to something you said? Tell her you don’t have time for this conversation, you don’t need to listen to her, and call her a crusty c*nt for good measure.
And lastly, Emotional Control
- Instill irrational fears of questioning or leaving the group Detransition or disassociate with a genderist group? You’re a bigot. Question the group? You’re a TERF and will be attacked and shunned.
- Promote feelings of guilt, shame, & unworthiness Especially if you’re “afab” you’re never doing enough to support trans women. They’re so much more marginalized and so much better than you. What are you even doing if you’re not devoting all of your feminism to them? Stop talking about the issues and needs surrounding female anatomy. Female anatomy is now heretical speech because women have penises because the people with penises said so.
- Shower you with praise and attention (”love bombing”) The easy praise and attention gained from virtue signalling is a huge draw for many and possibly addictive.
- Threaten your friends and family More prominent individuals have had their children and their spouses threatened (like Graham Linehan whose wife’s workplace was doxxed in retaliation to him criticizing the trans movement in the UK), but there is also the threat of losing all of your friends if you doubt or criticize.
- Shun you if you disobey or disbelieve Girls and women living in constant paranoia that they’ll be the next one branded a “TERF” and discarded. Literal shunning occurs.
- Teach that there is no happiness or peace outside the group If you don’t go through with this you will be miserable, you will kill yourself. Alternatives are bigotry because it questions the one path we’ve laid out. You have your “chosen family” now you don’t need anyone else. Why would you want to be a boring cishet?
I thought about putting part of this under a cut, but I want it to be seen. I’ve tried to keep the length down as much as possible.
Discuss.
Accurate as fuck.
100% accurate. As someone who grew up in an isolationist cult of fundamental, biblical christianity; this also perfectly mirrors what it looked like. The trans cult is nothing but the same authoritarian structure with different content.
I see so many people who now identify as trans who came from religious and conservative backgrounds. It’s like they flock to this kind of groupthink control without even being aware of it. It doesn’t have to be religious for you to be indoctrinated.
