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Premium: Did The Trans Debate Get Trump Elected?

Benjamin Ryan on TERF wars, the fallout of the Cass Review, and gender's role in the election.

Update: Ben and I will continue the conversation and take questions on a Substack livestream this Sunday, Nov 24 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. If you follow either of our Substacks, you’ll be pinged. Hope to see you there!

Paid subscribers get early access to my interview with Benjamin Ryan. To hear the entire conversation, become a paying subscriber here.

(Very) Early access to the November 25, 2024 edition

Journalist Ben Ryan returns to the podcast to reflect on the role of the trans debate in the recent election as well as the impact of the Cass Review, which he talked about on the podcast last May. He also discusses various aspects of gender transition treatments, explains what is known about rates of surgeries among minors, and speculates on to what extent medical care for trans adults could be affected by Trump administration policies. Finally, he and Meghan discuss the TERF Wars, i.e. infighting within the “gender critical community.” Is using preferred pronouns a harmless courtesy? Or is the first step down the slippery slope of reality denial?

Ben’s May 2024 interview can be found here.

Guest Bio

Benjamin Ryan is an independent journalist who focuses on health care and science. He contributes to several major publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, and NBC News. He has a particular interest in public health, medicine, and psychology, and has spent years reporting on HIV.

His work has received multiple awards from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, including the Excellence in HIV/AIDS Coverage Award. Benjamin is a cancer survivor and enjoys reading, theatre, movies, biking, cooking, and photography in his spare time.

Visit Ben’s Substack.

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The Unspeakable with Meghan Daum
The Unspeakable Podcast
The Unspeakable Podcast is a weekly interview show hosted by writer Meghan Daum. It's a place for conversations with writers, scientists, philosophers, artists and all kinds of interesting people about topics that have been deemed "unspeakable." Of the many podcasts offering nuanced conversations, this is the only one with official Nuanced AF merchandise available at the Nuance Store.
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