MK Fain, the Communications Fellow at the Women's Liberation Front, answers questions about the Equality Act: what it means for women's and LGBT rights, and the poison pill nature of the gender identity wording in the bill.
In this episode, we take a deep dive into woke instagram. We read and analyze posts from a popular account that "dissect[s] progressive politics and social issues in graphic slideshow form". We break down a number of neoliberal and pop political talking points about the paradox of tolerance, Karl Popper, pronouns, dysphoria, gender & sex, and free speech. We critique the "fast food" type of political diet that this instagram account represents.
We make the case for free speech, for the enduring value of the First Amendment, and talk about how anyone who is challenging the status quo is someone who needs speech rights to be protected.
We also touch on one particular area of public speech that we do consider harmful: rhetoric which implies that suicide will result from any particular action, event, or speech—or any form of suicide encouragement/suggestion in the media. We talk about ethical reporting guidelines around suicide and consider the role of this kind of rhetoric in the gender identity conversation.
Mars joins Sasha for a discussion about choosing individuality over ideology, different ways of talking about gender, teenagers with dysphoria, and the value of getting out of your box and interpreting issues with nuance.
In this episode, we discuss losing friends over politics, building resilient relationships, and give four tips on how to survive as a gender critical teen.
Zach Elliott is the founder of the Paradox Institute, a science education group presenting contemporary sex difference research in short animated videos. He researches and writes about human sex differences and the biology of sex, and plans to pursue a Master of Science in Biology.
Zach joins Sasha to talk about his book, Gender Paradox, the origin of his interest in learning about sexual dimorphism, and his view that we should consider both social and biological factors when analyzing the differences between the sexes.
Zach Elliott is the founder of the Paradox Institute, a science education group presenting contemporary sex difference research in short animated videos. He researches and writes about human sex differences and the biology of sex, and plans to pursue a Master of Science in Biology.
Zach joins Sasha to thoroughly dissect a recent tweet thread by the American Civil Liberties Union, “Four Myths About Trans People in School Sports: Debunked.” We read through each “myth” presented by the ACLU and tried to give as impartial and rational a critique as we could. Zach explains why the “facts” about biological sex in the thread are misleading or downright incorrect. We also discuss the recent legal cases surrounding girl’s high school track teams. Zach gives one proposal for how to solve the issue of transgender people and sports teams, and we muse on the circularity and vagueness of many of the ACLU’s points.
We explain some of our own critiques of 'preferred pronouns', including the idea of compelling the speech of others, and of normalizing gender ideology that says we don't know what sex someone
We also talk about how you might go about dealing with the question when asked to give your own pronouns.
Julia D. Robertson is an author and journalist. She has contributed to Huffington Post, AfterEllen, Quillette, Curve, Feminist Current and more. She also has her own website, The Velvet Chronicle.
She has been a long time critic of gender identity ideology, especially as it relates to the transing of young lesbians. She was an early voice of dissent around the idea that minors can consent to medical and surgical transition.
Her first novel, Beyond the Screen Door, was published by Flashpoint Publications (formerly Regal Crest) in 2016.