Citation Needed Podcast

This week’s episode is free, but remember—we paywall every other episode. That means next week’s is for supporters only. If you want access to double the content and don’t want to miss out, become a paying subscriber. Your support helps us keep exposing the most unhinged corners of academia.This week, Colin is joined by Canadian writer Eva Kurilova to tackle one of the strangest academic papers we’ve ever read: “What Puppygirls Know? The (in)Human Pedagogy of a Trans Feminine Style,” published in the journal Australian Feminist Studies by Taylor & Francis.Yes, you read that right—puppygirls. As in, trans lesbians (i.e., straight men) who identify as puppies. The paper earnestly explores this “erotic style” as a legitimate transgender identity and even suggests that defining transness with humans as the point of reference is “ciscentric.” We go through the author’s immersion in “puppygirl culture,” their claims about consent and dehumanization, and wonder how in the world this paper got published as serious peer-reviewed scholarship.Along the way, we’ll ask whether this is just fetish blogging dressed up as scholarship, laugh at some of the paper’s more absurd passages (complete with ridiculous figures), and reflect on how far gender studies has strayed from reality.Collar up, grab some treats, and watch one of the most awkward and disturbing episodes we’ve aired. 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 week’s episode of Citation Needed is for supporters only—but don’t worry, next week’s will be free. We alternate between free and paywalled episodes every week, so if you want a taste of what you’re missing, be sure to tune in next week or check out our previous free episodes. And if you enjoy this show, please consider becoming a supporter—it help…

This week’s episode of Citation Needed is free to everyone! Every other episode is for supporters only, so if you enjoy this one and want to tune in next week, be sure to subscribe. Your support helps us keep producing the show and exposing the ideological rot in academia.In our first segment, we dig into a brand-new paper on “ableism” by activist Alice Wong. Instead of research, the journal published what amounts to a personal diary entry—laced with profanity—arguing that society is oppressive because most people communicate through speaking and hearing. The author describes herself as a “nonspeaking cyborg kraken” and insists that the “medical industrial complex” is an act of violence against her. We break it down and show how this kind of ideology turns lived experience into scholarship while demanding the impossible: that the basic norms of society be completely reoriented around fringe outliers.Then, in our second segment, we try something new: a lightning round of ridiculous abstracts published just in the last two weeks as theses or peer-reviewed papers. We can’t devote an entire episode to every one of them, but this rapid-fire tour shows just how common this unserious, ideological work has become in academia. 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 episode is free! I (Colin) am flying solo this week—Brad is away on last-minute travel—but this episode will still cover two big stories.A reminder: we paywall every other episode, so when Brad returns next week, that one will be for supporters only. If you want access to next week’s show (and double our content every month), make sure to subscribe today!In the first segment, I break down a recent article in The Conversation that dismisses concerns about “reverse discrimination” as a paranoid right-wing myth. I explain why that claim doesn’t hold up, pointing to very real DEI policies that explicitly exclude white and Asian applicants through job postings, grants, and hiring criteria.Plus, in the second segment, I discuss the tragic Minneapolis shooting carried out by a trans-identifying male, resulting in the death of 2 children and many more injured. I examine how mental illness, combined with dangerous activist narratives about a supposed “trans genocide,” creates a powder keg—and what this tragedy should teach us about the risks of separating vulnerable people from reality. 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 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