Insidious Concern

This article examines media that couches criticism of trans medicine, pediatrics, and activism in terms of “care” or “concern” for trans people and youth in particular. It identifies these as “insidious concerns,” speech acts, utterances, and proclamations that would harm that which they claim to care for or about. It proceeds to argue that this type of discourse is endemic to a wider crisis of social reproduction exacerbated by neoliberal economic restructuring. Through historical contextualization, cultural analysis, and ethnography, this article highlights the racist, nationalist, and reactionary undercurrents motivating the current trans panic in the United States. It concludes that theoretical attention to social reproduction might offer new insights for trans studies that can act as counterdiscourse to “insidious concern.”