In this episode, Sasha and Stella welcome Malcolm Clark for a really interesting conversation exploring various facets of historical ideas and identities around gender, homosexuality, and the evolution of identity activism.
Malcolm Clark is an RTS and Emmy nominated executive producer. He worked as a producer for BBC's flagship science series called Horizon before becoming the head of science at Mentorn Television. He's also a leader within the LGB Alliance, which was started by Kate Harris and Bev Jackson, who invited Malcolm in the early days to join their leadership team. He's a brilliant writer on Substack and X (Twitter), and he explores the irrational notion of gender identity and anything else that catches his eye with a particular emphasis on the little-known shocking history of gender concepts and gender medicine.
This discussion navigates the intricate and contentious terrain of understanding gender non-conformity and identity expression across history. It also explores differing perspectives on rationality and irrationality regarding body modification and treatment options for distress, reflecting on the historical context of medical interventions and their evolution. The conversation highlights how these practices have been misrepresented or exposed for harmful outcomes, and how they continue to evolve amidst activism rather than scientific grounding.
Sasha and Stella reference previous Gender: A Wider Lens guest, Bob Ostertag's, book "Science Sex Self," which discusses the history of hormones. They highlight the importance of understanding the history of where hormones came from, how they were marketed, and how they were developed, underscoring the significance of historical context in comprehending the evolution of medical interventions and treatments.
“Sex offenders (given puberty blockers) actually complained that the puberty blockers were too strong. So these are adult sex offenders who found the side effects of puberty blockers, something they would rather not go through. Teenagers now getting them is just absurd.”
Malcolm discusses so much about how the history of the trans movement has been distorted, sharing a specific example in reference to claims about the targeting of trans people during Nazi Germany. This conversation is one that emphasizes the need to critically examine historical narratives and challenges assertions made in the name of activism.
Resources & Links
@TwisterFilm on X(Twitter)
The Secret Gender Files on Substack
The Midas Formula, from the BBC Horizon series
Parallel Universes, from the BBC Horizon series
The Hawking Paradox, from the BBC Horizon series
Healthy Limbs Cut Off at Patients' Request NHS trust puts stop to surgeon's amputations done as last resort on disturbed patients with 'life threatening' hate of their own bodies, by Gerard Seenan
The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift
All roads lead to WPATH How the strange, dark history of the gender movement built our strange, dark modern world, by Malcolm Clark
@_CryMiaRiver X(Twitter) thread about apotemnophilia
158 - The Little-Known Shocking History of Gender Identity Ideology with Malcolm Clark