Episode 142: Do Men Need Their Own Spaces?

Russell Brand has been sentenced to 10 and a half years for rape and three sexual assaults. We discuss his conviction, Brand's history on the political Left, Megyn Kelly’s defence of Brand, and whether his wife is being coercively controlled? Plus,Brand’s magnetism, our skepticism of charisma, sex addiction, Andrew Sachs’ granddaughters comments post-conviction and the original 'Sachsgate', and how sexuality is like no other thing and therefore sexual violence is incredibly different to other forms of violence.

We react to news of Meghan Markle's father, Thomas Markle, being investigated for possessing child sexual abuse imagery in the Philippines, and the failure of the London Metropolitan Police to investigate him back in 2019. Plus, family legacies that cast shadows, managing inherited baggage, the contagiousness of class anxiety, Meghan’s homeware brand, the new £1000 fines for telephones on loud speaker on British public transport, how the UK police force have been ideologically captured, and where does the slur 'fag' come from?

Comedian and actor Russell Brand's trial for three counts of rape and other sexual assaults against a total of six women began in London a fortnight ago. We discuss the allegations, the women's testimonies in court, and the tactics that Brand's defence team are using to defend him. Plus, whether Christianity and history of being simply a 'cad' are cover stories, Brand's time on the political left from 1999 to the 2010s, and what will happen if he's found guilty.

Gloria Steinem, a key figure of the feminist second-wave, died last month. We are joined by Australian academic and feminist philosopher Kate Phelan to discuss Steinem's work and whether she had a moderating, liberalising effect on the women’s movement. Plus, menstrual leave, hobosexuals, feminist revolution, porn as free speech, women becoming more radical as age, and Steinem’s CIA connections.

We discuss whether the defeat of transgenderism in the UK could be reversed? Specifically under our incoming new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who is to the left of Keir Starmer. How are sexual politics going to fit in to Burnham’s Britain? Will the new Burnham regime embolden the possibility of euthanasia being passed on its second try? And why has the Labour Party never had a woman leader?Plus, the claim Andy Burnham is in effect the UK’s ‘first female prime minister’, the particularities of the feminised, deep-seated beta male sexism of the left, Starmer's mistreatment of gender critical MP Rosie Duffield, and the uniformity and ruthless conformity amongst women on the left in order to survive politically.

We discuss the recent outcome and wider context of the pivotal Australian legal case Tickle vs. Giggle. Its specifics involve a bloke joining a female-only app, but the case has all encompassing consequences for how single-sex law is interpreted and applied in Australia. With examples from court, such as Sall Grover, Giggle's creator, being fined $10,000 for laughing for 2-seconds and so breaking the tension of faux seriousness in such a ridiculous situation, the case represents so much of the dilemma transgenderism causes for women and institutions. Plus, how the American right came late to care about the trans issue, maternity rights as a break point, why Australia has an advantage over Canada in battling transgenderism, and the backlash to transgenderism as a contributing factor to the rise of populism.

The Labour Party is in termoil and Keir Starmer is hanging on for dear life as PM. We discuss who the next leader will be, the Mandelson scandal taking more scalps, Stella Creasy dancing while Rome burns, the parliamentary Labour party’s ‘chumocracy’ of former third sector wonks, and why Reform will win big on May 7th.

We discuss whether men should be entitled to their own single-sex spaces using the example of Men in Sheds, a club set up specifically for men that has recently been infiltrated by their wives and female partners. We also consider why exceptions to the rule should never guide policy, the reasons why women want to join men's clubs that cater to very male hobbies, and to what degree women have power over men.

We discuss why men who claim to be women by identifying as transgender are almost all exclusively perverts. Using Lacan’s concept of perversion and what perversity of mind entails we link fetishism, sexual offending, and the need for others to collude in ‘disavowing’ the rules of reality.‘Transwomen’ are guided at all times by the knowledge they are men, so the idea they are a woman is not quite a delusion, but rather a perverse way of relating. This creates an integral need for others to affirm and validate that false claim as a source of collusion in their ‘disavowal’ as if the laws of reality somehow do not apply to them.Why is Lacan’s concept of the perverse useful? It offers a theoretical psychoanalytic perspective why ‘transwomen’ continually raise the stakes, push boundaries, and why an erotic charge accompanies it, as well as their incandescent rage when the other won’t pretend and agree they are women. It also explains why there’s such a higher than average rate of sexual offending for ‘transwomen’ and a confident belief that anyone at all would join in to pretend that men can be women.

Noelia Castillo, a 25-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by euthanasia on March 26th in Barcelona. Her case gained worldwide prominence due to Noelia’s status as the first person granted to die of euthanasia in Spain due to mental health issues.We discuss the case, euthanasia’s knock on effects on other services, the UK’s defeat of proposed assisted suicide laws, and how euthanasia laws are an acceptance of institutional failure. Plus,  Anna Khachiyan’s dehumanisation of Noelia in the final hours of her life, pre-Christian Europe’s relationship with death, the book Do Not Go Gentle, and why Noelia’s life need not have been one tragedy after another.