Citation Needed Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.citationneededpodcast.comThis week’s episode is for supporters only—but you can gain access to it, along with every episode moving forward, by becoming a supporter of Citation Needed. Supporters get double the content and help us keep devoting our time to exposing the worst pseudoscience and cultural absurdities out there.

This week’s episode is free, but remember—because we paywall every other episode, if you want access to next week’s episode, you’ll need to become a supporter. Being a supporter gives you twice the content and helps us devote our time to tackling these stories with the right mix of humor and serious analysis.In our first segment, we break down the controversy over the Minnesota Vikings adding two men to their cheerleading squad—not in the traditional male stunt roles, but as pom-pom dancers alongside the women. Is this just another case of men taking spots from women, like we see in women’s sports? Or is it something different? Is allowing men to cross into this female-coded space a threat to womanhood? Or could it be part of the solution to helping gender-distressed youth?Plus, in our second segment, we turn to Nature, the world’s most prestigious scientific journal, which just published a paper calling for science to be “decolonized.” Written by eight Indigenous scholars, it proposes eight steps for academia to embrace “Indigenous ways of knowing” as equal to science—including everything from “data sovereignty” to returning stolen lands. We unpack what this really means, why it undermines universal standards of evidence, and how publishing pieces like this erodes trust in science itself. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.citationneededpodcast.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.citationneededpodcast.comThis episode is for supporters only. Every other episode of Citation Needed is free, so you can tune in next week for a free one—and if you enjoy it and want access to every episode each week (that’s double the content), please consider becoming a paying subscriber. Your support helps us devote time to digging into these papers, articles, and news items…

This week’s episode is free! If you want access to every episode, please become a paying subscriber. Your support allows us to keep shining a light on the most absurd corners of academia.In our first segment, Colin takes us inside his new legal action against Cornell University for racial discrimination in hiring. He explains how newly uncovered internal emails reveal a secret search for a “diversity hire” in his exact field—evolutionary biology—during the time he was actively applying for faculty jobs in 2020. The position was never posted publicly, ensuring that qualified candidates, including Colin, never had a chance to apply. We break down the evidence, the legal case, and why this lawsuit could have major implications for academic hiring across the country.Plus, in our second segment, we find out just how far academics can get their heads up their own… by dissecting the peer‑reviewed paper Black Anality. This bizarre work claims that “black” and “anal” are ideologically and representationally synonymous, building its argument based on a selection of graphic porn titles. We unpack the author’s “scavenger”‑style research methods, her fixation on connecting black sexuality to “wastefulness” and “filthy spaces,” and why this is yet another example of academia inventing a boogeyman out of nothing to heroically fight against. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.citationneededpodcast.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.citationneededpodcast.comIn this supporter-only episode, we kick things off with a look at a sharp rebuttal by Jon Pike and Emma Hilton to a recent academic paper defending Caster Semenya’s eligibility to compete in the women’s category. We break down their clear, evidence-based response, which exposes the original paper’s scientific errors and ideological framing, and explains…

New format alert! We’re changing how we monetize episodes. Instead of paywalling the second half of every show, we’re now paywalling every other episode in full. That means this week’s episode is completely free—but if you want access to any part of next week’s episode, you’ll need to become a supporter.In the first segment of this week’s episode, we break down the wild story of Aaron Barry, a white Canadian who posed as a gender-fluid Nigerian poet—and several other made-up identities—to publish 47 intentionally terrible poems across dozens of indie magazines. His hoax reveals how identity politics in the indie lit world can override even the most basic standards, as long as the author checks enough diversity boxes.Plus, in the second segment, we unpack a new Finnish study that complicates the narrative that trans-identifying youth are merely victims of bullying. The data show that non-binary adolescents, in particular, are more likely to be bullies than to be bullied—flipping the usual story and raising uncomfortable questions about performative victimhood and power dynamics in today’s schools. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.citationneededpodcast.com/subscribe

A recent decision at the University of Pennsylvania has sparked a discussion on banning male athletes from women's sports, affecting many female competitors. The podcast critiques misleading media narratives about transgender athletes and the biological differences that impact performance. They challenge the effectiveness of hormone therapy in leveling the playing field. Additionally, the conversation touches on the mental health implications for all athletes involved and the political ramifications of the ongoing debate over trans athlete participation.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.citationneededpodcast.comOn this week’s episode of Citation Needed, we cover the Trevor Project’s dark slide into promoting pseudoscientific gender ideology under the guise of helping distressed LGBTQ youth. Once a lifeline for bullied gay teens, the Trevor Project now pushes ideas like “sex is a spectrum” and gender ideology as fact, priming confused kids for medicalization in…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.citationneededpodcast.comFor this week’s episode of Citation Needed, we begin with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee’s law banning sex trait modification procedures for minors. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an emotional dissenting opinion, invoking the oft-repeated claim that these interventions are “lifesaving” and that denyi…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.citationneededpodcast.comIn this episode of Citation Needed, we kick things off with the viral social media feud between Olympic legend Simone Biles and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines over a male athlete playing on a girls' softball team. We cover the controversy, break down some of the science Biles ignored, and highlight the media’s double standards on the issue of male…