Articles
Arty Morty: Graham Linehan’s gender blasphemy exposes the fear that stifles the trans debate
One side — my side — starts with the foundational assumption that everyone, trans or not, is first and foremost to be treated as an individual, no more or less equally deserving of respect than any other individual, and then builds from there. Of course I understand how much sensitivity there is in the transgender community about, say, pronouns. I’m a gay man; I’m deeply embedded in the gay community. I even worked at a trans bar back in the day. But I don’t take it as religious doctrine that anyone who simply claims to be a transgender woman is one — I don’t believe in gender religion and I reserve the right to have my own beliefs about anyone — and I don’t take it as law that I have to abide anyone’s pronouns. I aim to be respectful, but it’s case-by-case, and I’m the judge.
The Progress Paradox: Revisiting Steven Pinker’s Brand of Optimism
Is the world a better place? Opinions vary, though the enduring Western-centric belief is that humankind has never had it better. This belief is commonly espoused by technologists who praise the information age for ushering in a new era of opportunity and prosperity. The information age, coupled with industrialization, has certainly shaped the world in ways previously thought unimaginable. Advances in technology have transformed everyday life. Facial recognition software. Artificial intelligence. Microchip implants. Renewable energy. Genetic engineering. A revolutionary mRNA vaccine designed in just two days.
Given all this progress, it’s hard not to believe in the “prosperity presumption,” the belief that the world, as a whole, is getting better. Indeed, techno-utopians who adhere to the prosperity presumption also hold the belief that any form of technological stagnation is antithetical to progress. Some of the biggest technologists fall under this category.
Take Nobody’s Word For It: Sophie Watson
Sophie Watson joins me to chat about her experience at Cambridge University, where she is currently working on an undergraduate dissertation about surrogacy. (Sophie’s proposed dissertation topic was detransition, but her advisors told her they would not and could not oversee this project, deterring her from writing it). In November 2020, Sophie published a piece in Unherd called “Cambridge is censoring any dissent on trans issues” about the student campaign against Kevin Price, a porter at Clare College who resigned as Labour Councillor rather than agree with a motion that included the statement “transwomen are women.”
Identity Crisis: Arkansas HB 1570 and Responsible Reporting on Suicide
Suicide is a national public health crisis. It's also preventable, and there are things we know from decades of public research that can either increase the risk of suicide or decrease it. In the wake of a series of new bills in Arkansas meant to address the gender identity crisis in sports, medicine, and schools, trans "advocates" are foreshadowing an impending epidemic of suicide among trans-identifying youth. In doing so, they are flying in the face of all known research on preventing suicide, and quite possibly creating the very problem they claim they've set out to solve.
Want to Stop A Pandemic? Stop Eating Animals.
Trigger moments in human history awaken us to injustice and turn the tide of public perception. What happened in Waterloo, Iowa may not have been a watershed moment but as far as human folly, it was a doozy.
Between March and mid-April 2020, as the pandemic surged, managers at the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo lay bets on how many employees would fall prey to COVID-19. This, while the brass told workers they had “a responsibility to keep working in order to ensure Americans don’t go hungry.”
Identity Crisis Episode 12: Arkansas Bill 1570—Saving Kids from Medical Experimentation?
In this episode we talk about two Arkansas bills—HB1570 and HB1749—both of which pertain to minors undergoing gender transition. The first bill we discuss, HB 1570, titled the "Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act" prohibits medical gender procedures for minors (these include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and a variety of surgeries). We discuss what the bill actually says, and cover some of the misinformation that's been propagated about it by various sources.
A Conversation with Feminist Lawyer Kara Dansky
Kara Dansky is an attorney, public speaker, writer, and consultant who currently serves on the steering committee of the U.S. chapter of the Women's Human Rights Campaign (WHRC). She also serves as the Chair of the Committee on Law and Legislation for WHRC globally. Kara has a background in criminal justice law and policy, and formerly served on the board of the Women's Liberation Front.
She joins me in this episode to talk about the push to redefine sex in the law to include the nebulous concept of gender identity, the current court cases where women's sex-based rights hang in the balance, and how she sees the gender identity ideology movement as a continuation in a long history of male abuse and silencing of women.
Is the World Going Plant-Based? It’s Complicated.
Every day we learn more about our home planet’s fascinating cohabitants: we know that mother pigs sing to their piglets while nursing; we know that chickens form complex social hierarchies; we know that dolphins have the longest memories in the animal kingdom; we know that birds can sing a wide range of complex songs, each with its own specific meaning; we know that when a goose’s mate dies, its partner will remove themselves from the flock and mourn for life.
High School Track Stars File Lawsuit to Save Girl’s Sports
I'm joined by Alanna Smith, a high school track athlete from Connecticut, along with her mom Cheryl Radachowsky, and Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Christiana Holcomb.
Alanna is one of four athletes, the others being Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, and Ashley Nicoletti, who have filed a lawsuit that would block male athletes who identify as transgender from competing in girl’s sports in Connecticut.
The four girls have been consistently deprived of honors and opportunities to compete at elite levels due to a policy in their state that allows males who self-identify as female to compete in girls’ athletic events.
Identity Crisis Bonus Episode: The Mob Comes After Jesse Singal
We discuss what's currently happening with Jesse Singal and why we think it matters.
Identity Crisis Episode 10: How To Question Everything Without Going Crazy
In this episode, we follow up last week's chat about logical fallacies with a conversation about how we've questioned our own assumptions and ideologies and what we've learned from it.
“Identity Politics is Being Pushed Because it Disrupts Class Analysis” -Hamza Watani
Hamza Watani joins me for an in depth conversation on the nature of identity politics to disrupt conversations around class. We also talk about the super straight movement, gender identity ideology, the wave of anti-woman bullying going on right now and much more.