Ben Appel

I’ve been coming to Barnes & Noble since I was a kid. Today they’re selling my memoir.

@NotMikeHarlow Yeah you do! :)

@benappel I seriously need to read this book already!

Latest 5-star Goodreads review of my memoir: ‘Fantastic book and very timely for current political circumstances. He articulated so many things I have been stewing about with regards to gender ideology and where queer ideology is headed. How did supporting gay rights somehow move into supporting children transitioning genders, anti-Americanism, extreme-Islamism, calling any disagreement "violence," and so many other areas? He really delves into where the Democratic party has steered so far left and as a result how many lifelong Democrats find themselves politically homeless and why. A particular quote that I loved that sums up the book well: “I wanted to live in reality. I wanted to be part of the world. And if there were aspects of the world that I thought might need changing, then I would work within the bounds of shared empirical reality to try and bring that change about, rather than demanding everyone else bend reality to my whims.”’

@JuliePo34431144 @wesyang They are able to undergo surgeries, but you're right, they are not able to identify out of the female sex class. Iranian refugees I've interviewed have said the transman community is much more underground in Iran.

@benappel @wesyang What is the situation in Iran for females who wish to transition? Is this also state funded, or is it just for the males? I find it hard to imagine that females could identify themselves out of an oppressed class

Do trans-identified males have to wear headscarves in the Middle East?

Highly recommended. From the producers of the Witch Trials of JK Rowling (@jk_rowling). Some may disagree with aspects of Ben's analysis, but no one may disagree with what I say in Episode 2.

Fantastic series. Grateful I got to be a part of it.

@j4ppleby Thought the same thing

Me, unable to sleep: why can’t they trace the launch sites and obliterate them, there can’t be that many of them

“What gays like me wanted was to be part of our society and to contribute to it. These queer radicals want to burn it all down.” 🔗 👇

@BatuCharlemagne Currently just hardcover and ebook (kindle, nook)

@benappel Is there any softcover versions out there? Was looking to see if there was any on amazon.

Recent reviews of my book: - "This book was an absolute page-turner. Ben's journey from living in a cult as a child to ending up at Columbia and recognizing the cult-like situation there was so interesting and eye-opening. Very well written." - "Wow, I inhaled this book. The author deftly connects things that seem disparate like a Christian cult-like childhood to attending Columbia University as an adult in the late 2010's and current gender ideology. I appreciated having my assumptions as a leftie challenged right along with him as if I were there in the room. I have been in those rooms. I too started to wonder what the heck is going on?? Appel did his work diving deep at Columbia into the literature and thought that has led the left down some dark paths. I certainly saw Michel Foucault in a new light from my grad school reading! This book is in unfamiliar territory these days, in that it's not clearly aligned with any ideology. While the terrain was at times heavy and challenging, it was thrilling to encounter Appel's fresh thinking! Thrilled to see his article based on this memoir in The Atlantic recently." - "Insightful, eye-opening, deeply personal account of mental illness, substance abuse, and long-term resilience. Ben is a great writer and a great spokesperson for the growing gender-critical movement. Whether you agree with him or not, you'll find this book hard to put down. And it's genuinely funny!"

I appreciate the kind words, but I want to be very clear that I never said gays should sacrifice anything. I was expressing how I feel sometimes. That there are days when I feel so regretful about where we’ve ended up, that I wonder what lengths I’d go to in order to make things different.

@timothyjamaal84 @benappel And I don’t hear anybody suggesting that heterosexuals give up their marriages, nor should they! That the LGB community is considering this kind of thinking just depresses the hell out of me. Of course, they’re allowed to do so & express it; doesn’t mean it’s not devastating.

Not my most hopeful contribution to the discourse, but things seem bad. Link below.

"The activist organizations I once revered now champion causes that lend credence to the right-wing claim that gay marriage was the slippery slope toward the erosion of traditional social and moral values." 🔗👇

Latest review of my book: "I haven't been this excited to read a book in a while. As a cult survivor myself who went to grad school in 2020 to study extremism ... I was alarmed at how we seemed to only talk about extremism on the left as it pertained to history (Mao, etc) and only talk about modern day extremism on the right. No one could talk openly about anti-racism or gender ideology. I had to go poking around to find other people outside of academia who would talk about the cultiness I was seeing. Tying in the rise of anti-semitism on the left is truly all of my interests being married into one book. On page 122 and had to come here to give it 5 stars. I would have eagerly read any book discussing these topics (and I have) but them being addressed by someone who has personal experience of a cult is such a gift."

@bpt326 Hi Brian, I see you are a gay man, and willing to judge me as a lesbian and my parenting based on a Twitter post - If you are willing to please read one thing today will you please read this post from my friend @benappel theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/…

Gender studies professor: 'If being “gay” means being a man attracted to men, it assumes “man” is a stable, inherent category, when history shows the definition of manhood is constantly changing.' I'm pretty sure we've always agreed that the males are the ones with the penises. news.ucr.edu/articles/2026/…

"On further testing," as in, after being subjected to irreversible medical harm. Also, for this analogy to work, transition would need to be life-saving, and it is not.