Ethnographer, entrepreneur, lecturer; looking for world peace
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[AGTRT-BF31] Is dialogue about transgender really that difficult now, or does each side feel too good to talk to the other?
Jan Bergstra & Laurens BuijsAmsterdam Gender Theory Research Team It seems that anno now only extreme positions receive attention and attempts to seek a compromise or middle ground are often ignored by the media. Do they sometimes see it as a sign of strength to propagate their own positions with great energy and visibility and…
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[AGTRT-BA16] Amsterdam nightlife facilitates sexual abuse of young gay men
Laurens BuijsAmsterdam Gender Theory Research Team With new revelations surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, it is worth taking a closer look at the relationship between sexual abuse and political corruption. Indeed, this is also current in the Netherlands, and in Amsterdam in particular, as my research in recent years has shown. The Epstein case often focuses on…
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[AGTRT-BF30] Paradoxical support: Extinction Rebellion helps the PVV, and the trans movement helps anti-trans activism
Jan Bergstra & Laurens BuijsAmsterdam Gender Theory Research Team In previous blogs, we have put forward the notion of paradoxical support as a way of describing the effects, intentional or otherwise, of taking extreme positions. Paradoxical support we have observed at Extinction Rebellion Netherlands (XRNL). XRNL makes a strong contribution to the PVV’s political agenda…
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[AGTRT-BF29] The proposed law on criminalizing “gay healing” is now also about gender, and this leads to confusion
Jan Bergstra & Laurens BuijsAmsterdam Gender Theory Research Team Earlier this year, the Council of State (Raad van State, RvS) published an opinion on a proposal for a law criminalizing conversion acts. Conversion acts aim to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity to the prevailing norm. This includes, for example, “homogenous healing.” The RvS…
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[AGTRT-BA15] The transition to a better world calls for a new sexual revolution
Laurens BuijsAmsterdam Gender Theory Research Team I like to compare sex to electricity. It’s about polarity and energy. Good sex flows freely, requiring a plus and a minus. The plus and minus of sex are dominance and submission. Kink is not just something of the BDSM scene, but is part of every person’s sexual desires.…
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[AGTRT-BF28] Our search for a middle-of-the-road gender theory has led us into a curious two-front war
Jan Bergstra & Laurens BuijsAmsterdam Gender Theory Research Team We with the Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team have been searching for some time for a compromise between gender essentialism (man and woman as highly fixed) and gender co-essentialism (man and woman as highly malleable). In other words, we are looking for a Middle-of-the-Road (MotR) version…