Hey everyone,

We’ve got a bit of bittersweet news: after a lot of thought (internal peer review), Brad and I have decided to wrap up Citation Needed. We’ve genuinely loved making the show—digging through ridiculous academic papers, laughing at the nonsense, and hopefully helping you laugh (and think) along with us. But despite how much fun it’s been, the audience growth has kind of plateaued, and it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep putting in the time it takes to produce each episode at the level we’ve been doing.

We really hope you’ve enjoyed the show during its run. There’s still so much crazy scholarship we wanted to cover, and Colin will be continuing that kind of content over at Reality’s Last Stand. Expect new analyses there roughly every other week, covering many of the papers we still had on our “to roast” list.

If you paid for an annual subscription, don’t worry—we’ll be prorating refunds so you only pay for the time the show was active.

Thank you so much to everyone who supported Citation Needed. Your messages, shares, and general enthusiasm meant the world to us. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have quite enough support to justify keeping it going, but we’re proud of what we made and grateful you were part of it.

Until next time, keep your citations real, your sample sizes large, and try not to marry any shrimp.

—Colin & Brad

In this episode, Colin breaks down one of the most disturbing academic papers we’ve ever covered—a peer-reviewed article that doesn’t just question the idea of childhood sexual innocence, but calls for it to be dismantled entirely. The authors argue that society should stop viewing children as needing protection from sexuality, claiming that “childhood pleasure is indispensable” to building a “just sexual future.” They describe “pre-adolescent children’s erotic capacities” as being “pathologized” and call innocence itself a “colonial fiction” that must be “challenged, reinvented, and reinterpreted.” They even go so far as to propose integrating “erotics” into sex education and reframing children as “pleasurable beings.” It’s not hyperbole — this is real scholarship published by the American Sociological Association, and it’s laying the intellectual groundwork for policies that dismantle important safeguards for children against sexual predators.

Then, in a rapid-fire lightning round, Colin highlights two more jaw-dropping examples of academia at its worst: a paper claiming that scientists conducting field research abroad are oppressive colonizers and a doctoral dissertation based on communing with “spirit guides,” rabbits, and ancestral archetypes as “data.” But it’s not all bad. Colin wraps up with an example of science done right: a rigorous critique of “transgender brain” research that debunks myths and shows how evidence-based methods should actually look.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

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.

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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.

Citation Needed

A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

For this episode, Colin is joined by our very first guest: Canadian nurse Amy Hamm. Amy is well known for being persecuted by Canadian nursing regulators simply for stating a basic truth—that males are not females. In our conversation, we dive into a new paper published in Advances in Nursing Science titled “A Scoping Review of Action Toward Decolonizing and Indigenizing Nursing.”

Together, we examine what it really means to “decolonize” and “indigenize” nursing, how these ideas are reshaping healthcare in Canada, and why this ideology ultimately undermines evidence-based medicine. Amy shares her personal experiences, her perspective as a nurse working inside Canada’s healthcare system, and her analysis of how these policies infantilize Indigenous people while putting patient care at risk.

If you want to understand how far the ideology of “decolonization” has spread into nursing—and why that should worry anyone who cares about science, medicine, and health outcomes—you won’t want to miss this conversation.

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A Weekly Reality Check for 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.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

For our first segment, we cover the latest Gordon Guyatt scandal. The “father of evidence-based medicine” tries to paint the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) as biased while admitting, in a new interview with Jesse Singal, that social pressure and PR optics drove him to distance himself from the one group doing rigorous systematic reviews—and even to push ideological language into those reviews. We unpack the contradictions, the pressure campaign, and what this means for science when politics comes first.

Plus, in our second segment, we examine a Master’s thesis out of UBC arguing Canada’s child welfare system should stop keeping records of child abuse because documentation disproportionately leads to Indigenous children entering foster care. We analyze the thesis and explain why abolishing records would erase accountability, hide patterns of harm, and put vulnerable kids—especially those facing neglect, violence, and disability—in harm’s way.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

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!

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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.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

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In our first segment, we dive into a shocking development from the father of evidence-based medicine himself, Dr. Gordon Guyatt. Guyatt has seemingly abandoned the very principles he pioneered, arguing that children should be able to access puberty blockers, hormones, and even surgeries despite admitting that the evidence supporting these interventions is of “low” or “very low” quality. We break down his statement, why it turns evidence-based medicine on its head, and highlight whistleblower Dr. Eithan Haim’s sharp critique of this astonishing reversal.

Plus, in our second segment, we take a detour into Toon Town with the bizarre story of a 67-year-old man with prostate cancer who, after going on and off testosterone blockers, psychedelic trips, and spiritual revelations, emerged identifying as a nonbinary grandmother named Leela. It’s a wild ride that totally undermines the activist claim that gender identity is innate, immutable, and knowable by toddlers.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

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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.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

In our first segment, we tackle an article by Andrew Sinclair—the very scientist who discovered the SRY gene—slamming World Athletics for using it as the basis for sex eligibility testing in women’s sports. Sinclair asserts the policy is “misguided,” but we break down why he’s confused about the science, ignorant of the rules, and explain why testing for the SRY test is a clear, enforceable, and scientifically sound method for ensuring the integrity of female sports. Turns out, discovering the gene doesn’t make you an expert in sports policy any more than discovering fire makes you a Michelin chef!

Plus, in the second half, we wade into the world of Fat Studies—specifically, a paper fretting that the diabetes drug Ozempic is a dire threat to “the future of fatness.” Yes, that’s an actual phrase. We explore the author’s claims that weight loss drugs perpetuate “anti-fatness” and “oppressive economic structures,” examine her desire to conserve fatness like it’s the rainforest, and have some laughs along the way.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

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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.

Citation Needed

A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

In the second segment, we dig into a wildly unserious master’s thesis that queers classic fairy tales. From dystopian rewrites of Cinderella to critiques of “happily ever after,” this thesis shows how activist scholarship is turning children’s stories into political manifestos.

This episode is for supporters only, but next week’s episode will be completely free—so it’s a great time to try it out and see if you want to join the community!

Citation Needed

A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

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.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

In the second (supporters-only) segment, we dive into a disturbing academic study that tested how to indoctrinate young children into gender ideology using the children’s book I Am Jazz and a similar story about a marker. Researchers explicitly set out to reduce kids’ belief in biological sex by feeding them ideologically loaded interpretations of events and tracking their responses. We walk you through exactly what they did, what they found, and why this kind of research should deeply concern every parent.

Subscribe to support the show and unlock the full episode, including all past premium segments!

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

In our supporter-only second segment, we dive into the unhinged world of queer whale theory just as Pride Month comes to an end. Yes, really. We explore how activist academics are determined to queer sea life—especially whales—to push ideological narratives about sexuality and gender in nature. It’s weird, it’s revealing, and it’s a perfect reminder that the rainbow industrial complex never sleeps.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

In our second (supporter-only) segment, we explore two academic papers that take Kafka-trap scholarship to new heights. The first, funded by the NIH and published in Child Development, frames white teenagers’ rejection of racism as evidence of “white ignorance.” The second, from Men and Masculinities, interviews vulnerable fathers in support groups—only to conclude that their emotional openness is proof of their complicity in “hegemonic masculinity.” We break down how these studies use ideological blinders to contort participants' good-faith responses to support activist conclusions. Spoiler: disagreeing with the researchers just makes you more guilty.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

In the second supporters-only segment, we dive into the unhinged world of peer-reviewed academia with a paper titled—no joke—“My pronouns are fuck ICE,” published in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. This paper is a jargon-drenched call-to-action where identity, activism, and fantasy blur into one. It features students declaring their gender as “prison abolition,” engaging in anti-colonial tea time, and denouncing the colonial violence of gender neutral bathroom stalls that resemble “holding cells.”

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

Then, we dive into the bizarre and revealing case of Olympic gold medalist “women’s” boxer Imane Khelif, cutting through the myths and media fog obscuring the biological facts.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

As it turns out, this widely-cited claim traces back to a 2021 “systematic review” that is filled with so many errors that its conclusions are utterly useless. We break down this infamous paper and the withering critiques of it that somehow haven’t stopped activists from constantly citing it.

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A Weekly Reality Check for Academia

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Citation Needed

A Weekly Reality Check for Academia