Maiden Mother Matriarch with Louise Perry cover image

Maiden Mother Matriarch with Louise Perry

Trouble with Philosophy - Alex Byrne | Maiden Mother Matriarch 42

Dec 3, 2023
Alex Byrne, Professor of Philosophy at MIT and author of Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions, discusses the efforts to cancel his book and the controversies surrounding transgenderism in feminist philosophy. They also address the feminization of academia and the silence on autogynephilia within trans activist circles.
50:42

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Controversial books often attract more attention and sales despite facing rejection from academic publishing houses.
  • The dominance of women and emphasis on marginalized groups in feminist philosophy may contribute to covert aggression and social shaming in cancel culture.

Deep dives

Resistance to Publishing Controversial Books

The podcast episode discusses the challenges faced by authors trying to get their controversial books published. The guest, Alex Byrne, shares his experience of having his book rejected by Oxford University Press (OUP) due to a lack of seriousness and respect in addressing the subject. He also mentions another author, Holly Lawford-Smith, whose book was similarly cancelled by OUP. The discussion highlights the reluctance of academic publishing houses to publish books with potentially contentious viewpoints, even though controversial books often attract more attention and sales.

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