Sasha and Stella speak live from the Genspect Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, with special guest Billboard Chris, a Canadian activist dedicated to challenging gender ideology through public engagement and thought-provoking messages.
In this conversation, Chris explores the psychological and cultural forces influencing social changes around gender, sharing his motivations for activism and the journey that led him to raise awareness about the implications of puberty blockers for children. He also discusses strategies for facilitating constructive dialogues with those who hold differing views, emphasizing the significance of calm, rational discourse in controversial discussions.
Because ultimately, this is all about stereotypes. And they all will claim that they're against stereotypes, but they have this blind spot. They're not all evil, but they have a blind spot where they don't see that they're pushing stereotypes to such a degree that they now think we need to change children's bodies to match these regressive, sexist stereotypes.
This episode examines the complex interplay of gender ideology in our culture, focusing on ongoing debates over children’s medical treatments, freedom of speech, educational content in schools, and the critical need to address the mental health challenges surrounding gender dysphoria.
So testosterone being given to eight-year-olds. And very upset girls, because early puberty is very upsetting for girls. They're eight. They're all believing in magical thinking, and my gosh, I mean, these people are ghouls. This is ghoulish.
Chris shares personal anecdotes from his activism, including his recent experience at the United Nations and community engagement, emphasizing the importance of parental involvement and informed consent in children's healthcare decisions.
Listeners will be confronted with a compelling exploration of the current landscape surrounding gender issues and the potential for meaningful change through open dialogue.
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Explore more from Billboard Chris
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Billboard Chris speaks at the UN
University of Oregon: Leftist Students Try To Shut Down Child Sterilization Debate | Episode 4
University of Oregon: Children Cannot Consent To Puberty Blockers | Episode 3
I loved this. I love hearing Billboard Chris speak b/c he simply states the obvious with conviction. We parents should not have to hesitate to speak the truth. I wish I could be brave enough to stand on a street and engage people. Perhaps one day. I am wowed but his commitment to protecting girls. Thank you, thank you.
This was such an inspiring conversation. Although I was aware of Billboard Chris I'd never heard him interviewed. As a CA parent who gathered signatures for Protect Kids California, the volunteer-driven ballot initiative that failed to reach the signature threshold, I could not be happier to hear that Chris intends to fundraise for ballot initiatives in blue states. Our conversations with voters showed that the majority of people agreed with the ballot initiative's aims. With the right funding, we would be able to overturn the terrible laws enacted by CA lawmakers.
I was particularly interested in the part of the conversation that began with Chris' assertion that we've turned a mental illness into a civil rights movement. It may have started that way but it is more complicated than that now, as my own experience attests. My own daughter never showed any signs of being uncomfortable with her sex and had absolutely no mental health issues prior to her declaring herself a boy at age 13 (also the age at which, we believe, she started confronting her sexuality and realized she was attracted to girls). She has been boy-identified ever since and at age 16 she remains very high functioning (we are non-affirming so no medical interventions). She's not depressed or anxious, and yet she holds insane beliefs about gender and thus could be argued to be mentally ill. If anything I think this civil rights movement creates mental illness so there's actually a spiral where the TQ turned their mental illness into a civil rights movement which in turn has created mental illness in a wide range of children and young people.
Thank you Chris for your work to help kids and educate the public.
Yes, I tried to pee standing up like my brothers - not good.
No, I was not really thrilled about going through puberty. My daughters certainly weren't.
Thanks to Billboard Chris for his amazing efforts.
People ask 'why aren't the women standing up against this', but perhaps it's up to the men, and I say that because it's extremely aggressive men who are fighting their way into women's spaces, and they need to be fought back by strong and tough men.
Really appreciated this conversation. I have a related question that I've been meaning to ask somewhere in the "gender critical" (I'm not a huge fan of the label but what can you do?) space, and this seems as good a place as any since I don't use social media.
Does anyone know of a comprehensive look at the narrative around suicide ("trans kids will kill themselves if they don't get the medically necessary gender affirming care they need") and why the evidence doesn't support it? Something like a podcast episode, article, or whatever else?
I ask because ever since I "peaked" earlier this year I've been trying to learn as much as I can about what the evidence really shows in case I find myself in the position to have conversations like Billboard Chris does with my "Team Kindness" (Jenny Poyer Ackerman's term, I believe) friends. I don't like to just take something someone said about the evidence for granted; I want to check the receipts myself and have spent a lot of time over the list few months doing that. I trust the people I trust now because when I have checked the receipts they've turned out to be right, and so I'm strongly inclined to trust their judgement on the suicide narrative. But I haven't yet found what I thought was a satisfactory collection of the evidence and what it does or doesn't show.
On a side note, I would love to see Gender: A Wider Lens take on a series focused specifically on the commonly held narratives in polite liberal spaces (like the ones I occupy) and why they are not supported by the evidence.
Check out episodes 34 (Gender Dysphoria and Suicide), 40 (Social Transition: A Powerful Pyschosocial Intervention) and 146 (Myths, Misconceptions and Exaggerations About Gender) you might find some of what you are looking for in there. Also, check the notes on these episodes for references.
Wow. In episode 34 Stella talked about fears that the changing legal status of puberty blockers in the wake of the Keira Bell ruling might lead to a wave of suicide attempts by kids in the UK who had been told they would become suicidal if they weren't allowed to transition (fears that evidently did not come to pass, thankfully). Very salient given the stories I saw coming out of the US media last week (this one from NPR being a typical example): https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/09/25/nx-s1-5127347/more-trans-teens-attempted-suicide-after-states-passed-anti-trans-laws-a-study-shows
Fabulous, will do. Thank you!
I watched an hour-long Billboard Chris interview/challenge - I saw a lot of approaches. Watch a few of his videos, maybe.