Dear @ohdahlia.bsky.social Are you familiar with polydactyly? It's a congenital condition resulting in extra fingers or toes caused by genetic mutations. Does this mean that 5-fingers is not the norm—that digits is on a spectrum between 1 & 6? Intersex people are not a 3rd sex. Sex is binary

Dahlia 🏳️‍⚧️@ohdahlia.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Biologists recognize intersex people, if they don’t then they’re not biologists. Cut the shit.

Dear @grumblekitty.bsky.social I say that there are only 2 sexes: male and female. You say I'm wrong. Is there a 3rd sex of which I (and all biologists) are unaware?

Grumble Kitty@grumblekitty.bsky.social · 11mo ago

You’re really stupid & sensitive. Don’t you have anything to do? I can suggest several uses for your time than proving to the world that you’re “skepticism” doesn’t extend to re-evaluating your misogyny & need to maintain concepts of gender & sex binaries, in spite of all contrary evidence.

Dear @profrichardson.bsky.social You say you "do not engage with inflammatory personal attacks & threats," but in Lancet you said anyone who thinks sex is binary (me, Pinker, Hooven & almost all biologists) is bigoted and driven by "political aims". That seems inflammatory & a personal attack. No?

Dear @profrichardson.bsky.social You: "The goal of my work is to build conversations across fields and disciplines...." O-kay, but in Lancet you say anyone who thinks sex is binary is a bigot & "it facilitates their political aims" I think sex is binary (as do almost all biologists) Am I a bigot?

"menstruating individual" If only we had a word for such a person What do you call a menopausal individual? A "post-menstruating individual"? What if they're pregnant? A "temporarily-paused menstruating individual"? A child? A "pre-menstruating individual"?

I really enjoyed this chat with @michaelshermer.bsky.social about the epic Report from Iron Mountain hoax, its strange afterlife and what it tells us about the roots of the 'deep state' fear. Have a watch/ listen: www.skeptic.com/michael-sher...

The Hoax of the Century: Iron Mountain

New on the podcast: Iron Mountain and its influence on the perceptions of the military-industrial complex. Listen now.

skeptic.com

Why are conspiracy theories so good at creating cult followings? In this interview, @michaelshermer.bsky.social explores how conspiracy theories undermine the generally accepted scientific, materialist paradigm. iai.tv/video/conspi... #philsky #socsky

Conspiracy and belief

In this intimate interview, Michael Shermer explores how conspiracy theories undermine objective truth or the generally accepted scientific, materialist paradigm. He covers everything from his most…

iai.tv

My convo with @phil_tinline author of one of my favorite books, out Tuesday. Must read in the context of current Military Industrial Complex. Hoax worked because there was so much truth in it! My copy of the original assigned in college as real! skeptic.com/michael-sher...

Getting some queries about the April 18–20, 2025 workshop on science & spirituality at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur that I am hosting. 3/4 full. Will sell out. It's a magical place (if a skeptic can use such language). Register here: www.esalen.org/workshops/sc...

The slew of new books on female-male differences in sexual psychology all owe a debt to the late Donald Symon's 1979 book The Evolution of Human Sexuality. Excellent obit/overview of evolutionary psychology's history by @sapinker.bsky.social quillette.com/2025/02/04/s...

Sage of Sex and Psyche

Remembering Don Symons (1942–2024).

quillette.com

Can Science Find God? Stephen Meyer vs. Michael Shermer evolutionnews.org/2025/02/can-...

Can Science Find God? Meyer vs. Shermer | Evolution News

Humans seem to be drawn in a certain direction toward truth and beauty. Is that an accident of nature?

evolutionnews.org

What's it like to be a sugar baby? Who are sugar daddies? Can young women really put themselves through college or make a great living on sex work? Brook Urick pulls back the curtain on the reality of what really goes on behind closed doors. Watch/listen: www.skeptic.com/michael-sher...

502. Brook Urick — Sex Work, Ethics, and Evolutionary Psychology: What Really Happens on Sugar Daddy Websites?

Brook Urick reveals the hidden risks of sugar dating, from her experience as a sugar baby to becoming a company insider. She exposes how these platforms protect exploiters and mislead young women. Uri...

skeptic.com

Wokeness Poisons Science Part II of my series on why I am no longer woke open.substack.com/pub/michaels...

Wokeness Poisons Science

Part II of my series on why I am no longer woke

open.substack.com

Dear @sobekhotep97.bsky.social Here is a study in the journal for the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine: "The finding of low suicide rates and no evidence of benefits of gender reassignment continues to challenge the practice of youth transitions" segm.org/Suicide-Gend...

Suicide Mortality Among Gender-Dysphoric Adolescents and Young Adults in Finland

Summary A recent study published in BMJ Mental Health, All-cause and suicide mortalities among adolescents and young adults who contacted specialised gender identity services in Finland in 1996–2019, ...

segm.org

Sobekhotep 🐊@sobekhotep97.bsky.social · 2y ago

This is false btw. Only the UK has ceased gender affirming care, and only because anti-trans pseudoscience activists campaigned for it, despite the vast majority of medical professionals disapproving of the ban. Also: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dear @sobekhotep97.bsky.social Here is the biologist Colin Wright on why biological sex is binary and not on a spectrum: www.realityslaststand.com/p/sex-is-not...

Sex Is Not a Spectrum

Claims that ‘sex is a spectrum’ rely on fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of biological sex.

realityslaststand.com

Sobekhotep 🐊@sobekhotep97.bsky.social · 2y ago

That included trans kids, but you’re willing to abandon them and not give them the treatment they may need for your own ideological ideological reasons. The hysteria around gender affirming care is 100% politically manufactured and grounded in pseudoscience.

Dear @sobekhotep97.bsky.social Here is a general overview of all the trans issues in the debate, which we released free in Skeptic. It is politically/ideologically neutral, best piece I've read on the subject: www.skeptic.com/reading_room...

Trans Matters: An Overview of the Debate, Research, and Policies

In this overview of the debate, research, and policies related to various trans matters, Lisa Selin Davis has written what is arguably the best and most balanced treatment of the culturally radioactiv...

skeptic.com

Sobekhotep 🐊@sobekhotep97.bsky.social · 2y ago

Where is this study? Also, there are plenty of other studies showing the safety and efficacy of gender affirming care, and quality of life improvements for trans people, especially minors. But members of your religion dismiss those studies because they’re inconvenient.

You will be called a transphobe for even suggesting this @mrsamericano.bsky.social The counter is: these adolescents will commit suicide if they don't get gender affirming care. "Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son?" But new studies debunk the suicidality claim.

Mrs Americano@mrsamericano.bsky.social · 2y ago

We need to talk about the normal confusion that some adolescents have about their bodies and who they are. The natural path of adolescence involves skewed hormones - and not just sex hormones. What if we tell adolescents it's normal to be confused about who you are at this stage of your life?

The case for assisted death for the terminally ill is well made here by Coleman Hughes that includes a deeply moving account of his mother's agonizing death from cancer. IMO, the government has no business controlling people's choices on how they want to die. www.thefp.com/p/coleman-hu...

Coleman Hughes: My Mom—and the Case for Assisted Death

My dying mother chose to end terrible suffering. I want others to have that choice, too.

thefp.com

Key points screen shots: www.realityslaststand.com/p/the-truth-...

Re Gender Affirming Care, study finds minors undergoing gender dysphoria are fast-tracked into puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones & surgery, ignoring comorbid conditions: autism, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders, suicidality www.realityslaststand.com/p/the-truth-...

The Truth About ‘Gender-Affirming Care’

‘Gender-affirming’ doctors are medicalizing distress in the name of social justice.

realityslaststand.com

Hypnosis, mind control, MK-Ultra, altered states of consciousness, suggestibility vs. gullibility, magic and illusion, and how rational an animals are humans anyway? My convo with psychologist Amir Raz: www.skeptic.com/michael-sher...

493. Amir Raz — The Suggestible Brain

World-renowned cognitive psychologist Amir Raz explores the power of suggestion, showing how it can shape perception, memory, and even physical health. Using insights from neuropsychology, magic, and ...

skeptic.com

The real mystery of the drone wave over New Jersey is how the Chinese, Iranians, Russians, & aliens are able to cloak their advanced UAPs to look so similar to airliners, planes, helicopters, commercial drones, and the bright planets Venus & Jupiter (in the early night sky now). DARPA beware!

If you're so inclined come join us for a weekend workshop on Science and Spirituality April 18-20, 2025, at what is surely one of the top 10 most beautiful places on the planet... open.substack.com/pub/michaels...

Science and Spirituality

The Search for Meaning in a Secular Age workshop at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, April 18–20, 2025, led by Dr. Michael Shermer and Dr. Ralph Lewis

open.substack.com

Dear @queenwaifu.bsky.social Please read the Cass Report. European and UK medical institutions and practitioners are ceasing gender affirming care on minors for lack of evidence that it works + considerable evidence that it harms. Practice watchful waiting cass.independent-review.uk/home/publica...

Final Report – Cass Review

cass.independent-review.uk

Queen Waifu@queenwaifu.bsky.social · 2y ago

Person announces dissatisfaction with medical procedure, that has one of the highest rates of reported satisfaction in all of the medical procedures out there. Shermer pronounces the medical community as failing/being a cult/not listening to his pwecious feelings.

Dear @lancecstcuddy.bsky.social I am a classical liberal. I am not a conservative. My positions are based on what is true and just. The vast majority of liberals today do not endorse far-left illiberal positions. I am simply reflecting old-school liberalism in my posts on DEI & trans issues.

Lance Constable Cuddy@lancecstcuddy.bsky.social · 2y ago

I once quite admired you. We spoke at length at TAM one year. More than an hour of just us talking more than a decade ago. Now, you are a caricature of an alt-right stooge. Your positions are predictably “whatever makes the left angry these days” What a fall from grace, and what a disappointment

Dear @ree81.bsky.social What disinformation? What lies? Can you be more specific? I posted an article summarizing the research showing DEI programs not only don't work but make people more racist & another on a woman who regrets transitioning & is suing her doctors. Where's the lying?

Ree@ree81.bsky.social · 2y ago

You don't belong on this platform. I, along with many others, will keep reporting you for disinformation until the site owners react and you're permanently banned. Keep lying, asshole. See where it leads you.

Here's an idea: instead of cutting off her breasts, how about getting her the professional help she needs for PTSD from sexual abuse? A school counselor? A successful verdict here should open the legal floodgates and bury these butchers in lawsuits and end this madness. nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-...

UCLA student sues California doctors, says she was 'fast-tracked' into transgender surgery

The lawsuit alleges Kaya Clementine Breen, 20, was misdiagnosed with gender dysphoria and rushed into “irreversibly damaging” transition-related treatment and surgery.

nbcnews.com

“I wish that somebody had suggested real, genuine therapy first, instead of gender-specific therapy, because really the only therapy that I received until much later was specifically focused on gender dysphoria, and didn’t connect my gender dysphoria to anything else.” yahoo.com/news/ucla-st...

UCLA student sues California doctors, says she was 'fast-tracked' into transgender surgery

A UCLA student is suing multiple California health care providers and hospitals for medical negligence, alleging she was wrongly diagnosed with gender dysphoria and then “fast-tracked onto the conveyo...

yahoo.com

The Great Drone Panic of 2024...and 1914 Guest columnist Robert Bartholomew considers the panic over New Jersey drone sightings (as Chinese or Iranian threats) and compares it to the panic of 1914 (people worried it was the Germans) open.substack.com/pub/michaels...

The Great Drone Panic of 2024...and 1914

Guest columnist Robert Bartholomew, one of the world’s leading scholars of mass hysterias and social panics, considers the panic over the recent drone sightings in the skies over New Jersey

open.substack.com

Not only do DEI training programs make matters worse: 1. The vast majority of Americans are not racist/misogynist 2. The few who are either don't take DEI training programs or if they do just ignore the message open.substack.com/pub/paresky/...

Does the DEI Paradigm Do More Harm Than Good?

Our new report at the Network Contagion Research Institute sheds some light.

open.substack.com