My name is Sophia Hottel. I am an essayist with a primary focus on political philosophy, especially liberal thought, and science, especially medical and transgender issues. I have been published at Liberal Currents, an outlet dedicated to discussing and defending liberal thought, and Exponents Mag, the former community magazine of the Center for New Liberalism. Most of my essays have been published on my blog, Transliberalism.
The Liberal Tradition Against Anti-Trans Laws at Liberal Currents
"Lastly, as Charles Wade Mills would put it, the liberal tradition is stridently melioristic, retaining hope that we can improve our society, despite the challenges. This doesn’t mean that all challenges are necessarily going to be overcome. Rather, the liberal tradition often insists that we at least act as though we can build a better world. Whether by radical or by reformist means, the liberal takes a critical look at society to ascertain where action might make society more free and equal. Even though things look dark now, we must keep the faith that we may yet do better than this."
Lives Worth Living at Transliberalism
"Eugenics did not make the world a better place. The poor, the weak, the socially marginalized: These were the primary victims of eugenics. They could not defend themselves as well as the rich, the powerful, and the privileged. Rich white businessmen’s good genes were never in question, but poor Black women were not so fortunate. As it so often went, people with outsized control over society determined that those with minimal control were inferior. It was never a rational process, but always a deeply political and all too human one."
The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and Desistance at Transliberalism
"This has led to a repeated claim: the vast majority of transgender children and adolescents stop being transgender by adulthood. In a nutshell, “it’s just a phase.” This is not backed up by the data. Very few of the studies provide enough information to speak only of those who had actual diagnoses. The one I could find (Wallien & Cohen-Kettenis, 2008) provided a persistence rate for children with GID somewhere between 40% and 50%, the uncertainty caused by being unclear how many of the people with actual diagnoses were lost to follow-up. The fact that it’s only one study, combined with the uncertain rate and the small sample in the study (56 with a diagnosis), means it’s hard to draw strong conclusions. In another study (de Vries et al., 2010) a cohort of 70 adolescents on puberty blockers all stuck around to continue hormone therapy a few years later."
"Sophia’s substack is highly recommended. She's one of our better young writers in the neolib-sphere" - Jeremiah Johnson, Co-Founder of the Center for New Liberalism and writer at Infinite Scroll
"A banger" - Maia Mindel, economics graduate and writer at Some Unpleasant Arithmetic