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Joe Rogan and Abigail Shrier spent nearly 2 hours pushing dangerous misinformation about trans youth. Rogan, one of the most influential podcasters in the world, compared being trans to joining "suicide pacts" and a "crazy radical cult." https://www.mediamatters.org/google/joe-rogan-and-abigail-shrier-equate-being-trans-having-anorexia-joining-cult-and-demonic
Rogan said that young people who are transitioning -- and parents who support them -- are doing so because of a “contagion” that he equated to “cutting” and “even suicide pacts.”
Rogan claimed without evidence that activists have an "agenda" to force kids to be trans: "this agenda is very ideologically driven that anyone who thinks they might be trans should be trans, and the more trans people the better.”
He also mocked Caitlyn Jenner for receiving gender confirmation surgery. He questioned whether she was really a woman before surgery and claimed that "We're in la-la land."
Shrier claimed that transitioning is a "form of self harm" and compared being trans to "cutting, demonic possession, witchcraft, anorexia, [and] bulimia." Her junk science book on trans kids is sold by Amazon and Barnes & Noble
YouTube & Apple's ToS ban hateful content targeted towards trans people. These dangerous (& false) anti-trans claims seem to violate those policies. This ep. should be removed, as YouTube did with a Heritage video that said being trans is a mental illness https://www.axios.com/youtubes-standoff-with-conservative-heritage-foundation-c2e2a5d4-7b82-40d6-9466-5822f8ece3a4.html
It's worth noting that Rogan recently signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Spotify worth more than $100m. His interview with Shrier has nearly 2m views on YouTube right now https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/business/media/joe-rogan-spotify-contract.html
I can't overstate how dangerous and harmful this interview is. Rogan and Shrier repeatedly encouraged parents to reject trans kids -- which has been shown to drastically increase rates of depression and suicide.
Rogan spread Shrier's discredited junk-science to millions of listeners. Most of them (80% of Americans) don't personally know a trans person -- and will take this fearmongering at face value.
Last thing: Shrier and Rogan questioned the legitimacy of conversion therapy bans and Shrier COULD NOT SAY HOW MANY TRANS BOYS SHE INTERVIEWED FOR A BOOK ON TRANS BOYS (she ofc misgenders them)
