One of the weirdest stories over the last few months is about Jessica Yaniv. If you’ve not heard of who she is, you’re probably not the first, and that’s for a good reason. Right now, Yaniv, who is presumed to be a trans rights advocate — at least self-professedly — is engaging in all manners of unwieldy behavior, and it’s starting to put into question whether her reputation has much to account for. This movement of skepticism surrounding Yaniv has been led by the trans community’s most progressive block, and it all came after alt-right personality Blaire White — who often tokenizes her trans experience to deny other trans people the courtesy of being well-treated — put her on blast in a YouTube video decrying self-ID laws, and positing the theory that trans people would only exploit them for malicious use.

Kat Blaque’s all-encompassing video on the issue.

To ask the most pressing question of who Jessica Yaniv is, trans activist and prolific BreadTube personality Kat Blaque went through the trouble of researching her, and found out that most articles mentioning her presence as significant in the trans rights advocacy community before the most recent round of controversy, were predominantly coming from outlets with an outspoken right-wing bias. Blaire White, who’s already known for flirting with radical rhetoric on the right, would’ve surely wanted to distance herself as far away as possible from a partisan reading of the story — but she chose nonetheless to basically engage in the most rudimentary forms of confirmation bias.

For context, Blaire White’s inquiry was predicated on three distinct stories. The first was Yaniv looking to host an all-body LGBT+ public pool party in Langley, British Columbia in Canada; the second was a detailed account of online interactions with a minor alleging Yaniv had basically indulged in child predation; and the third — which perhaps got most of the attention — is a full-blown controversy where Yaniv filed human rights violation suits against spas denying her bikini wax services on the basis of transphobia. As appealing as taking this information on face-value might be, it must be laced with a grain of salt — the only outlets to have circulated these stories have a poor record of journalistic rigor. The Post Millennial, the Sun, and the Daily Caller aren’t exactly known for facticity — quite the opposite. But the central issue isn’t that right-wing outlets have a vested interest in portraying trans people negatively — far from it. It is the fact that the only parties to corroborate Yaniv’s antics are either Yaniv herself, or sources so far off from mainstream access, that it makes the proliferation of these stories all in the span of July’s latter weeks rather questionable.

Kat Blaque’s video is a great resource on the topic because it provides all the necessary context for why calling out Jessica Yaniv’s rise into the alt-right’s consciousness is an imperative to make sure she doesn’t hijack the conversation surrounding trans acceptance. In the same way the alt-right uses the language of community-wide culpability for the actions of a minority in the case of Muslims, Yaniv’s behavior is unrepresentative of the formed moral consensus within the trans community — as illustrated by ample amounts of research. The idea that certain subsections of the LGBT+ community have an inherent propension to prey on children isn’t exactly new — it’s been pushed by the conservative movement in America and across the world since discussion of granting them further rights became more prevalent, and its propogation has everything with conservative electoral sway, rather than any shred of reality.

Among other things, Yaniv’s social media following seems to be largely artificial.

The weaponization of bigoted stereotypes isn’t the beginning, nor the end of it all however. After guesting on a follow-up Blaire White stream where she was supposed to defend herself, Yaniv got raided for illegal ownership of a taser — something only law enforcement is allowed in Canada. And most recently, Yaniv was caught using racist language when she took a selfie next to a Sikh preceded by the message “Sitting right next to a turban fucker.” Seasoned trans writer Cursed E mentioned earlier this month that Yaniv has a passif of xenophobia, denoting that “the pattern of it and the statements she’s made about immigrants before do look like she’s just a racist on a power trip.” This and other similarly mind-boggling events crossed Yaniv over from provocateur-land, well into the uncharted plains of lunacy. She’s become the perfect parody for transphobes and trans-exclusionary radical feminists to fawn over as a great example of “PC culture run amok”, but all that seems to spring up from each and every new incident is a greater indication that the projected cliche of trans people being this ambivalent, is just as artificially-crafted as Jessica Yaniv herself.

It’s clear that Yaniv’s existence has now become confined by the parameters of being a punching bag for both the left and the right, but it wouldn’t be entirely out of the realm of possibility if Jessica’s rise into the public scene was deliberate, and not as organic as it’s been traditionally panned. I’ll abstain from making any final judgments as to whom her notoriety seeks to benefit most, but it doesn’t take much to guess who that party might be.