Anna Slatz is a Canadian journalist[1] and gender-critical activist.[2] [3] She is the co-founder and editor of the gender critical website Reduxx[4] and was previously affiliated with far-right website Rebel News. Slatz served as editor of student newspaper The Baron until she was fired following the publication of an opinion piece by and an interview with the leader of a neo-Nazi group, which led to a wave of resignations.[5]
Slatz served as the editor-in-chief of The Baron, a student newspaper from the University of New Brunswick Saint John campus (UNBSJ). In 2018, the newspaper published an op-ed written by and an interview with the president of the National Socialist Canadian Labour Revival Party, a neo-Nazi group. Following criticism directed towards the newspaper, Slatz defended the publication on the principle of free speech, arguing that that no opinion should be censored regardless of how controversial it may be.[6] She was later fired from The Baron and the publication's board of directors published an apology for the incident.[7] [8] [9]
In 2020, Slatz was affiliated with Canadian far-right website Rebel News,[10] [11] [12] later co-founding her own publication, Reduxx. After an article by Reduxx was shared by author J. K. Rowling, The Washington Posts gender columnist Monica Hesse wrote of Reduxx, "what kind of 'feminist news' site has zero articles on fair pay or reproductive rights, and only articles about transgender people who have allegedly committed crimes?"[13] Reduxx has been subjected to criticism from transgender rights rights activists and organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, which called the site "nothing but rabid transphobia," and argued that "like many white nationalist websites that list endless pages of 'Black crime' meant to suggest that Black people are inherently prone to criminality, Reduxx is an endless scroll of alleged trans sex offenders and pedophiles."[14] Conversely, the site has been praised by numerous gender-critical feminists and others in the anti-gender movement - among them Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who called the site "a ground-breaking publication and database which keeps track of the exploding cases of men invading women’s spaces and exhibiting paraphilic behavior."[15]
In June 2020, Slatz traveled to New York on behalf of Rebel News to cover the Manhattan protests related to the killing of George Floyd, where she was arrested under suspicion of having violated a curfew. She faced multiple charges including disorderly conduct, and spent two days in custody. The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded her release, stating: "We call on New York authorities to quickly release Anna Slatz without charges. It is unacceptable to arrest journalists who are doing their jobs and reporting on matters of public interest, including protests."[1] The charges against Slatz were later dismissed at the request of the Manhattan District Attorney's office.[16]
Following the publication of a video showing anti-transgender activist Chris Elston following a woman in the street and asking her about "gender ideology", Slatz criticized Elston's actions, stating they were not "activism" but "theater". In 2023, Slatz responded to a video produced by ThePrint in which Indian men stated that women who dress provocatively are "inviting" rape, saying "I can’t think of a single valid reason for any woman to visit India".[17]