Moral Panic
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society1.
A large portion of anti-trans rhetoric, especially by conservatives but also now being piggybacked by gender critical activists, is in the form of inciting moral panic. This has clear parallels with homophobia of recent history.
The purpose of moral panic is to incite fear, motivation and justification for the persecution of a minority. In right-leaning spaces this is often portrayed as a decline of civilization (“degeneracy”) and in left(er)-leaning spaces this is often portrayed as a battle of rights gone too far.
The collapse of western civilization https://t.co/7FoxdBdilL
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) April 7, 2023
“It is time for Labour to channel the Equality Act’s spirit of compassionate compromise. It should acknowledge the dangers for women in eroding sex-based rights, but look for solutions to accommodate trans people. “https://t.co/FZiQYdhymi
— Women's Rights Network - WRN (@WomensRightsNet) April 8, 2023
In both cases, the five key criteria of a moral panic are:
- concern: media coverage, public commentary, lobbying, social movement activity, etc.
- hostility: deviant group is collectively designated as the enemy of respectable society, e.g. “TRAs”
- consensus: certain segments of society agree there is a real or serious threat
- disproportionality: the concern of the threat posed is exaggerated or fabricated, e.g. “it’s out of control”
- volatility: erupting fairly suddenly, e.g. “everything was fine until 5 minutes ago”
The current moral panic that targets transgender (and other LGBT people) is the conspiracy theory that LGBT people, as well as allies and progressives more generally, are using LGBT sex education and campaigns for LGBT rights as a method of child grooming and enabling pedophilia2. These accusations and conspiracy theories are characterized by experts as baseless.
Child groomer https://t.co/z2Q3wXIBEJ
— Element115™✝️ (@DrElement115) April 6, 2023
The five stages of a moral panic, specifically targeting a group of people, according to Stanley Cohen (who developed the term) are:
- A group of people is defined as a threat to society
- The nature and apparent threats are amplified by the media through simplistic and symbolic rhetoric
- A sense of social anxiety and concern among the public is aroused
- Gatekeepers of morality respond to the threat, pronouncing diagnoses and solutions including laws or policies
- The condition disappears, submerges or otherwize fizzles out as the group of people become more visible