# Natalie Wynn

Natalie Wynn (born October 21, 1988) is an American YouTube personality who specializes in comedic and educational videos about gender (she is a trans woman), race, politics, philosophy and social justice on her channel ContraPoints.

## Quotes
### ContraPoints

* I look inside myself and ask, do I feel like a man, or a woman, and the answer is that I feel like shit.
** Non-Binary Genders, published 2016-09-30
* What is the connection between alpha and racism? Well, here's one idea. Calling yourself "alpha" basically means that you fetishize male dominance, which likely means that you're extremely anti-feminist, and extreme anti-feminism is often coupled with racism because these beliefs are not as separate as they seem. In fact they form two parts of the white nationalist world-view where the third part is anti-Semitism. The anti-Semitism is important because it helps explain why the supposedly naturally dominant white males are losing power to women and minorities. See, the core of the white nationalist world-view is concerned for the purity of white women. This leads to anti-feminism on the one hand because feminism is seen as a threat to traditional gender roles, that make white women subservient and loyal to white men. Non-white races are viewed as a threat to the purity of white women because they're often viewed as barbaric, dangerous, unclean and brutish. This is why xenophobes place so much emphasis on the sexual danger non-white immigrants pose to white women and it's why you'll see endless discussion of news events that validate this fear in white nationalist circles. But notice that this world-view is in need of an explanation for why the supposedly inferior races pose such a serious threat to the supposedly superior whites. Well, this is where the Jews come in. Anti-Semitism is different from other forms of racism in that, instead of being resented for being supposedly brutish and stupid, the Jews are resented for being smart, but in an evil duplicitous cunning sort of way. So the idea is that a Jewish elite is poisoning white society with ideas like multiculturalism, feminism and "Cultural Marxism", thereby leaving it vulnerable to the so-called third world invasion and it seems to me that this world-view is becoming increasingly common which is worrying since, funny though it may be on the fringe, with the wrong mix of power and desperation, the conclusion of these peoples' world view is genocide.
** Alpha Males, published 2016-10-09
* This catalogue aria [from Mozart’s Don Giovanni] is what a boring white weirdo named Kierkegaard called the most epic moment of the opera. It’s the moment that we learn that Don Giovanni is not just a predator, but that he’s actually fucking insane. He doesn’t care whether the women are young or old, beautiful or ugly, rich or poor, he seduces them all the same, just to satisfy his manic urge to add them to the list. In the 21st century there are men who are really like this. They’re called Pick-Up Artists, and they want you to buy their erotic memoirs.
* The most absurd thing about Roosh is that he doesn’t really seem to like sex very much. [...] It’s pretty clear that Roosh is not a hedonist. He is not pursuing pleasure. There’s an important distinction between a genuine voluptuary - someone like Casanova, who actually seems to like women and enjoy spending time with them - and a mere list-making maniac like Roosh or Don Giovanni.
* For your sake, stop counting how many people you’ve slept with. Women all seem to mysteriously have no idea how many people they’ve fucked. This is charming and adorable and men should emulate it because, in the real world, a Don Giovanni is a pretty unhappy thing to be.
** Pick-Up Artists, published 2016-10-26
* Maybe all critique itself can do is allow you to sketch the bars of your own prison.
** Fat Acceptance, published 2016-11-30
* This means that if someone acts like a fascist, has fascist beliefs, repeats fascist talking points, and hangs out with other fascists, the fact that they publicly denounce fascism should be worth absolutely nothing to you, and shouldn’t even enter into your consideration of whether they’re a fascist. After all, “I’m not a fascist” is exactly what a fascist would say.
** Decrypting the Alt-Right: How to Recognize a F@scist, published 2017-09-01
* To fascists, the pursuit of individual happiness must be subservient to the health and success of the race. So in a sense, traditionalism is a much more collectivistic philosophy than Communism, which only demands communal ownership of the means of production. At least in theory, Communism doesn’t tell you what gender to be, or who and how to fuck.
* That's the difference between me and the fascists. I want a society where people like me are simply allowed to exist, and - this is the important part - where people who are not like me are simply allowed to exist. Fascists want a society where only people like them are allowed to exist. The queer quest is to survive. The fascist quest is to be the only survivor.
** Degeneracy, published 2017-10-19
* We all consent to be governed because it is in our own interest. Except it's really hypothetical consent more than anything, because no one actually asks you and you can't say no.
** Violence, published 2017-11-24
* Political dissent begins with the vaguest feeling that something is wrong and a lot of people have that feeling but the problem with vague feelings is they can be channelled in any direction. The same vague angst can drive people to Communism or Fascism or anything in between.
** What's Wrong with Capitalism (Part 1),1:59–2:12, published 2017-12-30
* I think it's heartwarming gibberish but there is also, I think, a legitimate role in the discourse for heartwarming gibberish. Sometimes you have to explain what being trans is to a person who believes that dogs go to heaven and, in most circumstances, saying "I'm a female soul in a male body" gets the point across.
** Autogynephilia.., published 2018-02-01
* Hail mortals! I come to thee from my fairy grove to bring thee tidings of great woe. Western culture is being destroyed by cucks, and by genderbending, intoxication and sodomy. You know, things that have never happened in Europe.
** The West published 2018-07-13
* Once bigotry or self-loathing permeate a given community, it is only a matter of time before deep metaphysical significance is assigned to the shape of human skulls.
** Incels, published 2018-08-27
* This is an aesthetic century. In history, there are ages of reason and ages of spectacle, and it's important to know which you’re in. Our America, our internet, is not ancient Athens - it's Rome. And your problem is you think you're in the forum, when you’re really in the circus.
** The Aesthetic, published 2018-09-19
* As trans women we have little influence in society. The people who lead the conversations about us are bigger and stronger than we are. So we're like a jogger racing against a car. The only way to win is to hijack the car. And so this video is my attempt to hijack the conversation that straight men are having about us. As always my aspiration is to derive a woke conclusion from edgy premises, to shitpost my way to the moral high ground.
* Real acceptance has to be built on real understanding.
* The idea of heterosexuality includes much more than just sex between a man and a woman. It actually encompasses a complex series of rituals that must be performed by people who are playing the correct roles. So if a man deviates from his assigned part in the approved bedroom activities, then according to this very fragile view of heterosexuality, he ceases to be straight.
* I really don't want to shame men for feeling anxious about dating trans women because I mean, I was anxious too in the other direction, but I do want to shame men for treating trans women like their dirty little secrets. And I do wanna shame men for dehumanizing us and voting away our rights by day, while jerking off to "shemale" porn by night. And I do wanna shame men for refusing to date us because they're not strong enough to shoulder one hundredth of the burden of stigma that every trans woman carries every moment of every day. I do wanna shame men for attacking their trans girlfriends because they couldn't stand being treated like a gay man for five minutes. That is pathetic! If you're so worried about proving you're a man, why don't you start by standing up for the women you love, you chickenshit cowards?
** "Are Traps Gay?", published 2019-01-17
* It's boring and immature, like when someone says he wants to watch the world burn. You only get to watch when you have the privilege of not being on fire. It's edgy but it's not the darkness. The darkness is finding a way to laugh about being on fire.
** The Darkness, published 2019-03-02
* When I try to psychoanalyze myself, I find that my desires to look female, to look feminine, and to look beautiful are not exactly the same, but they're woven together so tightly that it's kind of difficult to untangle them.
* Where I can see an escape from my particular doom spiral is in style as an alternative ideal to beauty. You can be stylish at any age. You can be stylish whether you pass or not. Style is a way of cultivating a personal aesthetic that you have complete control over. It's like art in that originality is a virtue. Style is an individual aesthetic, unlike the collective aesthetic of beauty standards.
** Beauty, published 2019-05-22
* Do you think you can purchase acceptance through conformity? Because that is not freedom. [...] That is simply adding another cell to the prison.
* Do we have a theory on why people are gay? No. They just are. The only reason we even feel like we need a theory about trans people is that society is so unaccepting of us that it’s constantly demanding we justify our own reality.
** "Transtrenders", published 2019-07-01
* Existential angst is often a disease of privilege. If you're actually being oppressed you have a struggle. You have something to fight for, and therefore a purpose, but for a lot of men their lack of purpose puts them in search of a struggle.
* We say "Look, toxic masculinity is the reason you don't have room to express your feelings, and it's the reason you feel lonely and inadequate". So, while feminism tells women "You hate your body and you're constantly doubting yourself because society did this to you and needs to change", we kinda just tell men "You're lonely and suicidal because you're toxic. Stop it!" We tell them that they're broken without really telling them how to fix themselves.
** Men, published 2019-08-23
* Why does Donald Trump’s apartment look like Liberace married a Turkmenistani dictator and moved into a Cheesecake Factory? Well, because he’s trying to send a message, maybe to the world, maybe to himself.
* What about YouTubers? Which side of the revolution are we on? I’m just trying to figure out where I stand here, ‘cause if the revolution starts on Twitter, my head is definitely going in the basket, and then I’ll have no choice but to do the conservative talk show circuit, you know, like most people whose brains are detached from their bodies.
** Opulence, published 2019-10-12
* I really wish people would pay less attention to the tweets I spend 30 seconds writing and a little more attention to the video that I spent, you know, hundreds of hours making.
** Canceling, published 2020-01-02
* I feel that retributive justice is still spiritually akin to revenge. It scratches the same emotional itch. It's basically revenge by proxy. If revenge is “wild justice” then retributive justice is domesticated revenge.
** Justice (Part 1), published 2020-09-04
* Children, if I have to crawl off the goddamn floor on the morning of November 4th, brush aside the empty wine bottles and pick up my phone to discover that Caligula Jackson is President For Life; I am going to chew my way through the bathroom tile and I will not stop until I reach the gates of Hell. [...] Don't make me eat my bathroom tile, children. There's probably asbestos in that tile, because America's so great even the floor is made of poison.
** Voting, published 2020-10-19
* So when you reduce bigotry to a caricature of pure hatred you obscure that bigotry is a deeply human problem. [...] I believe that understanding bigots is the best defense against becoming one yourself because when you dehumanize the villains you become unable to recognize the villain within.
* Some questions should be dissolved rather than solved. That's what Wittgenstein said. (That's right, we're dragging Ludwig into this!) Sometimes the only way to answer a question is to realize you're asking the wrong question.
* I feel like trans culture is just so obsessed with reassuring ourselves that we’re valid, that we sometimes forget that the end goal of a political movement is not validity, it’s equality.
* To be a famous woman is to constantly have every part of your body and soul subjected to endless critique. You know, if you're one pound overweight they call you "fatty". If you're one pound underweight they say you have an eating disorder. And if you're exactly the right weight? They call you a fatty with an eating disorder!
** J.K. Rowling, published 2021-01-26
* Men often slut-shame because they want to control female sexuality. And by female sexuality, I do mean male sexuality. Because often what they're really struggling to control is their own desire.
* We have a psychological incentive to believe that people whom we envy are immoral monsters because then we get to label our hatred and violence towards them "justice".
* Cruelty generally cannot conceptualize itself as cruelty, and part of the reason for that is calling cruelty what it is takes the fun out of it. [...] Cruelty is only pleasurable as long as they're able to convince themselves it's something other than cruelty, "Justice served".
* [About Friedrich Nietzsche] You know I think it's interesting that a person this pathetic can also be a genius whose name will never die. He's someone who had a lot of reason to be envious and self-pitying, but his philosophy couldn't be more against that, and as a person of pathetic experience myself, that is unironically kind of inspiring to me.
* Isn't caring about other people also in our nature? I do think that most of what Nietzsche says about resentment accurately describes a very real thing but it's not the only thing. There is genuine care and love in this world, I've been told. I've heard rumors.
* In "Spongebob Squarepants" the character Squidward is fundamentally a figure of envy, stemming from failed ambition.... A lot of people my age who watched Spongebob as a kid, rewatch it now and are horrified to discover that they identify with Squidward. Whereas as children, they identified with Spongebob. Well, you either die a Spongebob or you live long enough to see yourself become the Squidward– And there's a pain in becoming the Squidward, which is usually explained as "the disappointing drudgery of adult life", or simply loss of childhood. I would argue that "envy of childhood" is the distinctive Squidwardian emotion.
** Envy, published 2021-08-07
* You know who's really being silenced? People who are silent. Being silent is a big part of being silenced. That's what being silenced means. So who's really being silenced? Not people on podcasts. Not rich morons screaming into the biggest megaphone in world history about how silenced they are. No, the people who are silenced are people we never hear from because, and I really can't emphasize this enough, they are silenced: people in prison, queer teenagers in conservative towns, the actual downtrodden and oppressed people of this country, not you, Miss America, not you, Mother Superior. You're not silenced. You just know that what you're saying is indefensible, so you defend your "right" to say it.
** The Hunger, published 2022-05-28
* It's possible to take genuine virtues like nuance, empathy, and impartiality, and to twist them into fucked up apologia for horrible, oppressive behavior. If you play this game long enough you can essentially explain away the entire concept of bigotry, and conclude that in reality there are no bigots, there's only tragically misunderstood people with difficult childhoods and valid concerns, cruelly demonized by militant activists defaming and silencing them with such reputation-ruining slurs as "homophobe".
** The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, published 2023-04-17
* You're never too old to become an 18th century villain.
** HARPSICHORD | ContraPlays, published 2023-07-03

### Interviews

* The measure of fame that I have is kind of like micro fame, relative to a certain kind of community of people. It’s awful. It’s horrible. I wouldn’t wish fame on my worst enemy.
** ContraPoints Talks Twitter, TERFs, and Tasting the 'Ideal Beer', Interview for October, November 11, 2020
* It is true that lot of anti-trans sentiment gets expressed in pseudo-feminist terms. Even if the pre-existing order of sex and gender disadvantages women, the idea of breaking down barriers is frightening to many members of the same group. Having segregation of a kind is actually what these women see as one of their few protections against men. In addition, it is hard to be angry at men or fight against them, simply because men are everywhere. Men are your father, brother, husband, or son. But trans people are perceived as different, weird and foreign. This makes them a good target for displaced feelings of threat and anger.
** Natalie Wynn: "I believe in the power of intellectual empathy", Interview for Philosophie Magazin, January 5, 2023

## External links

* ContraPoints YouTube channel
* Transcripts (including older videos no longer available on YouTube)