This episode is being rereleased as part of our Top 5 Episodes of 2022 Countdown!

Jesse Singal was instrumental in shining a light on the defamation of Dr. Ken Zucker in 2016. Then, two years later, he became even more widely known in the gender world for his seminal, long-form piece in the Atlantic, “When a Child Says She’s Trans.” In this conversation, we discuss flaws in the science of gender dysphoria treatment and the misrepresentation of research findings in the media. We also look at the recent pronouncements from the Biden Administration, new state legislation, and Health and Human Services proposals. We discuss how all of this impacts our understanding of complex issues and shapes the American political landscape around gender today.

Links:

• Jesse’s Recent book: The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure our Social Ills https://amzn.to/3yIVwpn 

• Researchers Found Puberty Blockers And Hormones Didn’t Improve Trans Kids’ Mental Health At Their Clinic. Then They Published A Study Claiming The Opposite. (Updated) https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/researchers-found-puberty-blockers?s=r

• What the Media Gets Wrong on Gender Reassignment:  

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/media-wrong-gender-reassignment-transgender/

• Civil rights discrimination providers - gender affirming care: 

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/hhs-ocr-notice-and-guidance-gender-affirming-care.pdf

• The Cut

https://www.thecut.com/2016/02/fight-over-trans-kids-got-a-researcher-fired.html

https://www.thecut.com/2016/01/false-charge-helped-bring-down-kenneth-zucker.html

• When a Child Says She’s Trans:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-a-child-says-shes-trans/561749/

Extended Notes

• Jesse explains how he became involved in publishing transgender articles.
• Journalism allows Jesse to follow a subject to the core of an issue.
• Before Jesse became known for his Atlantic piece, he was already interested in psychology fads.
• Stella enjoys self-help books.
• In his new book, The Quick Fix, Jesse argues that Americans turn to fad psychology because the real problems are too big to be solved.
• Researchers have been known to give credence to work that does not warrant it.
• Bad journalism abounds and Jesse often follows up bad stories with the facts.
• Stella states that maybe the Dutch study should be more thoroughly examined by Jesse.
• Writing and publishing articles on gender is complicated.
• Jesse says Republicans are taking the gender issue to the state level.
• Politicians have no idea of what the real science around the issue is.
Sasha asks Jesse if he believes this to be a medical...

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