Last week Plebity awarded its most recent Free Speech Fund grant to Valerie Pelletier. Plebity thanks Jodi Shaw for her generous donation to our Free Speech Fund which makes our support for individuals like Valerie possible.
In February of 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was reaching Canada, a large Montreal women’s agency fired Valérie Pelletier because of allegedly “transphobic” posts on her personal Facebook account.
In this episode, Sasha and M.K. discuss the story of Valerie Pelletier, who was fired from a Canadian women’s organization last year for expressing her gender critical views outside of work. Valerie went public with the details of her story on May 14th, in an interview with Plebity. They discuss the ins and outs of the story, what we think of it, and why this is so ominous for free speech and women only spaces.
This episode is about shame.
We begin with our usual segment, ICYMI—'In Case You Missed It' where we highlight some of this week's events in the gender critical world.
Then we do a deep dive into shame. Does shame play a role in encouraging people to remain silent rather than to speak out about a controversial issue? Does it have a role in helping bad ideas to disseminate?
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In this episode Sasha sits down with Jodi Shaw and Colin Wright for a conversation on gender identity ideology, critical race theory, and what it was like to be excommunicated from their careers after going against the grain of political and cultural orthodoxy.
Cancellation, like the death of a loved one, is a loss. It can be the loss of a job, the loss of friends, the loss of community, the loss of home, the loss of a sense of safety and security, the loss of a future you had planned, and, often, the loss of an identity.
After the immediate crisis passes, when you are forced to get back to some semblance of “normal,” can be when the weight of these losses really hits the hardest.
Most people I know who have been cancelled define their life in two stages: The Before, and The After. The change is often one so great that it impacts nearly every aspect of your life. For some, being “cancelled” becomes a new, defining part of their identity.
For me, cancellation proved that I couldn’t rely on others for my financial safety. It also proved that anchoring my support system in a community that required strict adherence to a particular ideology was untenable. I decided I needed freedom, and set out to create a life for myself centered around this idea.
This episode is the second part of a two part series on surviving cancellation (part one is episode 14). MK and Sasha talk about how to rebuild after a cancellation or firing.
In 2015, I lost my mother to suicide only a few weeks after being fired from what I believed was my dream job. At a time when I already lacked stability, I suddenly had to step up and help provide for my family.
While everyone’s situation is unique, and I’ve certainly enjoyed some privileges that have aided my ability to bounce back each time, these are the skills that have helped me survive the immediate aftermath of being cancelled.
Graham Linehan sits down with Sasha to discuss the recent critique he drew from Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog. Graham talks about his work as a journalist, his response to the accusations from Katie and Jesse, and a variety of things gender critical.