Recent events in Auckland have reminded us that a tiny minority of radical activists are determined to shut down the speech of so-called TERFs ('Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists') and stop trans issues being openly discussed. So we invited leading feminist thinker Kathleen Stock on the podcast to have a wide-ranging discussion of trans rights, women's rights, and related issues.

Kathleen was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021, when she was driven out by a campaign of targeted harassment. We talked to her about the Posie Parker episode; feminism and free speech; what gender is anyway; and what futures there might be for those who want to be able to discuss things openly and freely but who no longer feel at home in universities.

Kathleen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Docstockk
Free Kiwis! Twitter: https://twitter.com/FreeKiwis

Dr. David Lillis is a statistician and data scientist who has worked for the Royal Society of New Zealand, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, and the New Zealand Institute for Sport. We talked to him about some recent studies of the representation of Māori and women in NZ academia. We also talked about reforms to the school curriculum and about the response to Listener letter on science.

McAllister 2022, 50 Reasons Why There Are No Māori in Your Science Department: .
https://www.journalofglobalindigeneity.com/article/55788-50-reasons-why-there-are-no-maori-in-your-science-department

McAllister et al. 2019, Why Isn't My Professor Māori: https://www.journal.mai.ac.nz/content/why-isn%E2%80%99t-my-professor-m%C4%81ori-snapshot-academic-workforce-new-zealand-universities

McAllister et al 2020, Glass Ceilings in NZ Universities: https://www.journal.mai.ac.nz/content/glass-ceilings-new-zealand-universities-inequities-m%C4%81ori-and-pacific-promotions-and-earnings

Lillis 2023, Allegations of Racism in NZ Universities: https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2023/03/dr-david-lillis-allegations-of-racism.html

Brower and James 2020, Research Performance and Age Explain Less than Half of the Gender Pay Gap in NZ Universities: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226392

Pluckrose, Lindsay, and Boghossian, Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship: https://areomagazine.com/2018/10/02/academic-grievance-studies-and-the-corruption-of-scholarship/

Kierstead and Johnston 2022, Rift Exposes Why NZ Science Body Needs Serious Reform: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/opinion/rift-exposes-why-nz-science-body-needs-serious-reform/

Dr. Nick Matzke is Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. We talked to him about what phylogenetic biogeography is; his involvement in the debate over creationism (including 'intelligent design' theories) in the US; and to what extent Maori traditional lore can be considered science.

Nick's open letter on vitalism in the NZ school science curriculum: https://plainsight.nz/letter-to-the-nz-herald-ncea-pseudoscience-mauri-is-present-in-all-matter/

Roger Openshaw is Emeritus Professor of Education at Massey University. We drew on his rich knowledge of NZ educational history as we discussed the changing relationship between central government and NZ schools over the past century or so; the perils and promises of the new history curriculum; and how solid the evidence is for the common assertion that the NZ education system is racist.

The review mentioned by James: https://www.academia.edu/494364/Roger...
Roger's book that is reviewed there: https://www.abebooks.com/978086469179...

In this second Free Kiwis! book club, we were joined by Dane Giraud of the NZ Free Speech Union to discuss our previous guest Jacob Mchangama's book Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.

The book: https://www.amazon.com/Free-Speech-History-Socrates-Social/dp/1541600495

On many American university campuses over the last few years speakers have been shouted down, students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly, and rates of anxiety and depression are rising. 'Deplatforming' is also not unknown at New Zealand universities.

In this episode we review Haidt and Lukianoff's book The Coddling of the American Mind and ask to what extent similar tendencies are present on Kiwi campuses.

https://www.thenile.co.nz/books/jonat...

Dr. Eric Crampton is Chief Economist at the New Zealand Initiative. We talked to him about how much Kiwis know about their political system, and how much it matters; content regulation, on- and off-line; and why Wellington's latest regulations about smoking have made him want to join forces with pirates.

Eric's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericcrampton
Eric's blog: http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com

David Rozado is an Associate Professor of Information Technology at Otago Polytechnic. One of his interests is in word frequencies and word associations in large collections of texts, especially from the news media.

We talked to David about our recent survey of free expression among NZ undergraduates; his work on prejudice-denoting terms in news media and in academic papers; and his work on negative emotionality in news media.

David's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidRozado
David's Substack: https://davidrozado.substack.com

Our survey of NZ undergraduates: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/11/502

Nicholas Wade's piece: https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-o...

FreeKiwis! Twitter: https://twitter.com/FreeKiwis

A version of this episode with graphs is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE-3gCtKs3Y

Dame Catherine Healy is a spokesperson and founding member of the New Zealand Sex Workers' Collective. We talked to her about all aspects of sex work in New Zealand, from the legislative environment to social attitudes. 

The NZ Sex Workers' Collective: NZPC > New Zealand Prostitutes Collective

Prof. Paul Moon teaches at the Auckland University of Technology and is the author of a score of books. We talked to him about the Treaty of Waitangi, its context and reception; the evidence for cannibalism; the new New Zealand history curriculum; and the intellectual atmosphere in modern universities.

Paul's latest book: https://www.routledge.com/Colonising-...