I get a lot of hate mail. 

And that’s fine. I signed up for it many years ago when I became an opinion columnist. When you give your opinion, people want to give theirs right back at you.

More recently, however, I’ve noticed a perplexing – and just plain weird – trend. 

Among the usual ad hominem attacks aimed at my appearance or intelligence, there’s something else: Readers keep accusing me of being transgender (and not in a nice way). One individual went so far as to run my column photo through artificial intelligence to “turn” me into a man. That was somewhat creative, at least.

This feedback happens more frequently whenever I write critically about gender identity or keeping biological men out of women’s sports, so I have to assume the insults are coming from the pro-transgender crowd. That holds its own irony. 

Sadly, I’m far from alone in being on the receiving end of this rhetoric. 

'Transvestigations'? This is a weird obsession for some.

I learned a new word while working on this column: Transvestigations. 

There’s a whole term for the conspiracy-driven corners of the internet obsessed with “proving” that certain women public figures are, in fact, men. 

Some of the targets include France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, and former first lady Michelle Obama. Snopes has had to do “fact-checks” on the obviously false accusations. 

“‘Transvestigators’ tend to be on the far right and draw on debunked phrenological tropes to make their case,” a recent article in BuzzFeed explained. “They use skeletal and cranial overlays to identify what they claim are masculine physical characteristics in photos and videos of famous women they’re convinced were born male.”

BuzzFeed detailed how other famous women are getting caught up in these witch hunts, including actress Sydney Sweeney and Erika Kirk, the wife of murdered Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. 

While BuzzFeed (of course) tries to pin all the blame for this ugly impulse on the “far right” – think conspiracy-theorist extraordinaire Candace Owens – this is a bipartisan problem.

Conservative women also bear the brunt of 'trans' name-calling

Plenty of conservative women – myself included – find themselves targets of those on the left.

A few months ago, former progressive CNN anchor Don Lemon said on his podcast that he thinks pundit Megyn Kelly looks “trans” and “clockable,” meaning someone who easily appears transgender. 

Kelly has been a strong voice in support of fairness in women’s sports and preserving female athletics for women, which makes her a target for this kind of name-calling.

Similarly, former collegiate swimmer and conservative activist Riley Gaines first made a name for herself by speaking out when she had to compete against a transgender athlete. This has made her an enemy of the trans community. 

In 2025, transgender comedian Stacy Cay posted a photo of Gaines and quipped: “She looks more trans than any trans woman I’ve met in my entire life.”

I’ve seen numerous other examples, too, among conservative women I follow on social media. 

This shouldn’t be surprising. It’s the logical conclusion of this cultural moment. 

The left has pushed for years that being a woman is a feeling rather than a biological reality: How you look or present yourself on the outside is more important than your literal internal makeup. 

Women – much like men – come in all shapes and sizes. No matter what the haters say, it really is what’s on the inside that counts. 

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques

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