Month/Year of Graduation

5-2025

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Katherine Storck

Abstract

As debates about transgender identity and inclusion influence discussions and policy across the United States, it is important to understand the rhetoric and manifestations of transphobia and trans exclusion. One organization advocating for the exclusion of transgender individuals is Moms for Liberty which is dedicated to preserving parental rights. On their official X (formerly Twitter) account Moms for Liberty often voices their opposition to the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports and women’s private spaces, justifying their exclusive stance by denying transgender women’s womanhood. They additionally cast themselves as the authorities on who is a woman and who is not, as well as who should be allowed into women’s spaces, because of their motherhood. With their denial of womanhood and access to women’s spaces, Moms for Liberty creates a border around womanhood and positions themselves as legitimate police of this border by leveraging their motherhood and their rights as mothers to control spaces that their children could enter.

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