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Can Democrats Admit Republicans Were Right On Gender?

Lisa Selin Davis on how leftist purity politics on trans issues handed power to the right.

September 15, 2025 edition

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

Lisa Selin Davis returns to discuss where the gender debate stands after years of institutional groupthink and policy whiplash. We look at how anything other than “don’t question it” became blasphemy, why there is still no solid evidence for pediatric gender interventions, and what to do with the fact that some people report thriving post-transition while others were clearly harmed. We also talk about gender clinics closing under threats from the Trump administration (are some clinicians secretly grateful for the excuse?), the ongoing taboo and confusion around AGP, and the recent controversy over male NFL cheerleaders and what it revealed about a lack of intellectual consistency within the gender critical movement. Finally, Lisa explains her thinking regarding the difference between stopping and ending and the difficult reality facing trans-identified people who are already well into a path of medicalization.

Guest Bio:

Lisa Selin Davis is the author of two novels, two non-fiction books, and a forthcoming book on the culture of trans kids and gender identity. She writes the Substack BROADview.

For a discussion about the trans identification of the shooter in the August 27 mass shooting at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis, see my August 28 conversation with Ben Appel.

Visit Lisa’s Substack

The Unspeakeasy LIVE

Minneapolis shooting and the trans connection: with Ben Appel

Minneapolis shooting and the trans connection: with Ben Appel

The best laid plans. When the news broke about the horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis and the trans (and possibly detrans) identity of the shooter, I asked writer Ben Appel to join me for a livestream conversation at 8pm ET and 5pm my time in Los Angeles.

Lisa’s previous visits to the pod.

From Betty Friedan to Ballerina Farms

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April 19, 2024
From Betty Friedan to Ballerina Farms

Early access to the April 22, 2024 edition.

We Can’t Know: Lisa Selin Davis On Getting Comfortable With The “Giant Mess” That Is The Current Gender Conversation

·
October 8, 2021
We Can’t Know: Lisa Selin Davis On Getting Comfortable With The “Giant Mess” That Is The Current Gender Conversation

Part three of Gender Nuance, a three-part series for the week of October 4, 2021 In the third and final part of the podcast’s weeklong “Gender Nuance” series, Meghan talks with journalist Lisa Selin Davis about the cultural and political forces that have factored into the current gender movement and why the media has failed to cover the whole story. The…

Housekeeping

📖 Order my new book, The Catastrophe Hour: Selected Essays, on Amazon or directly from the publisher here.

Lisa will be a guest speaker at our Unspeakeasy Small Gathering for Big Ideas coed weekend retreat, October 11-12 in New York City. The retreat is officially at capacity, but you can get on the waiting list.

📺 Visit The Unspeakeasy on YouTube.

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