Athena: On the Record

In 2026 Spain knocked Malta off the top spot on the ILGA Europe Rainbow map - a clear indication of just how far the most extreme ideas about gender identity have penetrated into Spanish law, policy and society.

Our guest today is Silvia Carrasco. Silvia has been a vocal critic of these developments and their consequences for women’s rights and the safeguarding of children, despite intense pressure from activists, the media, and even her former employer to silence her.

In this conversation we discuss:

* The consequences of Spain’s self-ID law for the rights of women and girls

* The new proposal to introduce criminal penalties for so-called conversion practices

* The impact of these laws on education and health policy

* Silvia’s experience of facing down violent threats and protests in her workplace

* The Spanish media environment where gender critical views are framed as extremist

* The strength and resistance of the radical feminist movement in Spain and its historical context in left-wing politics

About our guest:

Silvia Carrasco Pons is a former Professor of Social Anthropology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), where she founded and led a research group on migration, education and social inequality, her primary areas of research.

Alongside her academic work, she is a prominent feminist campaigner and President of Feministes de Catalunya, which published an influential report on the Catalan health department’s gender transition services based on official data. She co-founded DoFemCo, a feminist teachers’ organisation, and is the lead author of La Coeducación Secuestrada (Coeducation Hijacked), a critique of the hollowing out of the concept coeducación (feminist education) in favour of policies based around gender identity.

In 2024, Silvia faced protests at her workplace over her views on the impact of Spain’s self-ID law on women’s rights, and stood as a candidate for the feminist party Partido Feministas al Congreso in the European elections.

About on the record

On the Record features interviews with people across Europe whose lives have become entangled in the politics of sex and gender. Journalists, academics, feminists, parents and others who have the courage to speak on the record, despite the personal and professional consequences they may face for doing so.

The host is Annette Pacey, a member of Athena Forum.

About Athena Forum

Athena Forum was founded in 2025 by Faika El-Nagashi, a former member of parliament in Austria for the Greens and a lifelong advocate for women’s rights and lesbian and gay rights. For an in-depth account of the issues we are addressing in Europe, read our report Beneath the Surface.

All of our work is produced by a small team of dedicated volunteers. We have no institutional funding and no wealthy backers, just a growing community of regular supporters who believe in what we do. If you are able to join them by making a donation, you can do so here. We really appreciate your support.

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matt-stewart-evans/final-waltz

License code: XHP1HNP4UKJIVMDV

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit athenaforumeu.substack.com

If contested ideas can no longer be openly debated in universities, what does that mean for their role as truth-seeking institutions?

In the latest episode of on the record, we speak with Anne Kalvig - Norwegian scholar of religion and former Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Stavanger - about her experiences of challenging prevailing ideas on gender identity in academia and why she ultimately decided to leave her professorship.

We also explore:

• Why Norway became an early adopter of gender identity policies.

• Whether small countries are more likely to embrace new social movements.

• Anne’s analysis of gender identity belief through the lens of the academic study of religion, including parallels with new religious and New Age movements.

• The importance of free academic debate and open inquiry.

About our guest

Anne Kalvig is a Norwegian scholar of religion and former Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Stavanger, Norway. Her research has focused on contemporary spirituality, new religious movements, vernacular religion, religion and popular culture, gender, and the intersections between religion and society. She has long campaigned for the rights of women and girls and was previously a politician on the left. Today, she works independently outside academia, political parties and traditional women’s organisations, which she sees as having abandoned sex-based rights. She is a member of Women’s Declaration International (WDI) Norway and a member of Athena Forum’s expert network.

Anne’s book, which we discussed: Kjønnstru – Kampen om røynda “Gender belief - the struggle for reality” examines contemporary ideas about sex and gender through the lenses of religious studies, feminism, and public policy. Anne argues that the concept of gender identity has come to function as a belief system detached from biological sex, and she explores the implications she believes this has for science, law, education, women’s rights, and democratic debate.

Another book from Anne’s own publishing house Medvit Forlag is: Kjerringer mot strømmen “Women Against the Current: For Science, Democracy and Freedom of Expression.” An anthology of essays and personal reflections by nine Norwegian women, including Anne, who describe themselves as speaking against prevailing views on sex, gender, and identity.

About on the record

On the Record features interviews with people across Europe whose lives have become entangled in the politics of sex and gender. Journalists, academics, feminists, parents and others who have the courage to speak on the record, despite the personal and professional consequences they may face for doing so.

The host is Annette Pacey, a member of Athena Forum.

About Athena Forum

Athena Forum was founded in 2025 by Faika El-Nagashi, a former member of parliament in Austria for the Greens and a lifelong advocate for women’s rights and lesbian and gay rights. For an in-depth account of the issues we are addressing in Europe, read our report Beneath the Surface.

All of our work is produced by a small team of dedicated volunteers. We have no institutional funding and no wealthy backers, just a growing number of regular supporters who believe in what we do. If you are able to join them by making a donation, you can do so here. We really appreciate your support.

“Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/matt-stewart-evans/final-waltz License code: Y3NB7NYOWOKOWG7D”

This episode is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit athenaforumeu.substack.com

Zsófi Balogh is a feminist podcaster and editor at Partizán, an independent media platform in Hungary known for its in-depth political journalism and social commentary. She has worked extensively on violence against women (VAW) and was previously active in several of Hungary’s leading women’s rights NGOs.

In this conversation we talk about the momentous political changes in Hungary and what they mean for women’s rights and for lesbian and gay rights in the country. We discuss tensions within the LGBT movement, Zsófi’s criticisms of the direction taken by Budapest Pride and the lonely position of radical feminists. And we speculate about the approach the new prime minister Péter Magyar will take towards the protection of women's sex-based rights in law and policy, bearing in mind competing demands from civil society organisations within Hungary and the EU's policy priorities.

Watch Zsófi’s interview with Athena Forum director Faika El-Nagashi here.

About on the record

On the Record features interviews with people across Europe whose lives have become entangled in the politics of sex and gender. Journalists, academics, feminists, and parents - what they have in common is the courage to speak on the record, despite the personal and professional consequences they may face for doing so.

The host is Annette Pacey, a member of Athena Forum.

About Athena Forum

Athena Forum was founded in 2025 by Faika El-Nagashi, a former member of parliament in Austria for the Greens and a lifelong advocate for women’s rights and lesbian and gay rights. For an in-depth account of the issues we are addressing in Europe, read our report Beneath the Surface.

All of our work is produced by a small team of dedicated volunteers. We have no institutional funding and no wealthy backers, just a growing group of regular supporters who believe in what we do. If you are able to join them by making a donation, you can do so here. We really appreciate your support.

Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/matt-stewart-evans/final-waltz License code: PYGDSNVGUOKI889J

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit athenaforumeu.substack.com