In this episode Brussels-based Irish journalist Róisín Michaux and I discuss what happened when we attended the recent IGLYO Proud Pupils conference in Barcelona (Hint: using heretical language will get you excluded by the inclusion people…)

Róisín helps me make sense of what I heard and saw at the conference and explains how the European political ecosystem works to influence the gender policies adopted by member states like Spain.

We cover IGLYO’s history and role in advocacy for quite extreme LGBTQI+ policies, and the ways that activists in European countries can use commitments made by their governments at the European level to get their favoured policies implemented at home. We clarify some of the Orwellian language used in this world and look in a bit more detail at two of the sessions at the IGLYO conference which illustrate, rather disturbingly, how the sausages are actually made.

Towards the end we have a more general discussion about the style of activism from organisations like IGLYO, the cultish adherence to gender dogma and the suppression of any dissent. We question whether any of these policies actually help the people they claim to and air our worries about a right wing backlash due to overreach by trans activists.

Apologies for the length but there was a lot to talk about!

Guest info:

Róisín Michaux is a Brussels-based Irish journalist tracking the activities of gender identity movements and their adversaries all over Europe.

Subscribe to her free and excellent Substack Peaked which covers gender ideology, women’s rights and free speech in Europe.

Twitter / X: @RoisinMichaux

Resources & Links:

We talk about the organisation IGLYO and the conference they held in Barcelona in June 2025: IGLYO Proud Pupils LGBTQI Inclusive Education Conference

We mention that IGLYO was involved in producing the infamous Dentons document “Only adults? Good practices in legal gender recognition for youth’” which is very well explained by James Kirkup in this article from the Spectator.

Róisín mentions Faika El-Nagashi, an Austrian former Green party politician who writes about human rights and policy in Europe on her Substack The Other Side of Politics

Róisín spoke to Amparo Domingo (Spain country contact for WDI) and Silvia Carrasco (President of Feministes de Catalunya) for advice when she was thrown out of the IGLYO conference. You can hear interviews with these fierce Spanish feminists on Gender Lupa Episode #2 Silvia Carrasco and Episode #4 Amparo Domingo

Feministes de Catalunya issued a statement (in Spanish) about Róisín being thrown out of the conference, in which they criticised the exclusion of women from a publicly funded conference on the basis of her ideological views politely expressed in a private conversation. They said that an event funded by Catalan institutions and attended by Catalan public officials shouldn’t be censoring women with feminist views.

The first conference session discussed was “Addressing Bullying, Tackling Violence and Ensuring Safer Education Systems for All through Inclusive Curricula” I talked about the contribution of one of the panelists, Catherine O’Sullivan (Committee on the Rights of the Child, Council of Europe) who explained the importance of framing Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) as a human right, as laid out in this feasibility study prepared by the committee. This example showed how linking activist objectives (the quite extreme ideological positions taught as fact as part of CSE) to human rights is a mechanism for getting favoured policies taken up by governments and a way to thwart the expected opposition from families.

The second conference session discussed was the workshop on the development of a new inclusive educational tool by the Council of Europe SOGIESC Unit in collaboration with IGLYO. The tool will be aimed at policy makers and guide them to create school policies that are in line with gender identity ideology. Notably, any failure by students or teachers to accept very extreme ideas is defined as bullying.

We mentioned children’s literature, which was discussed at the conference as part of making the curriculum inclusive. Often these picture books introduce harmful ideas to very young children, such as that it’s possible to be born in the wrong body, or that if you don’t identify with gender stereotypes you might be the other sex. As an example, this thread explains a picture book and classroom activity En la Piel de Daniel (in Daniel’s Skin) promoted by a trans activist organisation in Spain (you can see the original story in Spanish here)

Róisín mentioned how EU commission funding under the CERV programme is being directed towards countering the public backlash against extreme policies on gender and other issues. This funding is often directed towards “hate speech” projects which aim to limit free expression. You can search for specific projects on the European Commission Funding and Tenders Portal.

Róisín mentioned she attended the European Lesbian Conference earlier this year.

Róisín mentioned the story of a Belgian woman, Magali Cornelissen, who was attacked on International Woman’s Day 8 March 2025. You can find details on Róisín’s X account here and a news article here.

We mentioned that IGLYO produces a map and index which scores 49 European countries based on how inclusive their education systems are for LGBTQI learners and students according to a set of 10 indicators. Spain scores very highly. In Gender Lupa Episode #3 you can hear a discussion of the Trans Protocol applying to schools in Catalunya with Maricruz Garrido from the feminist teachers association DoFemCo Many of the policies that IGLYO advocates for are already embedded in Spanish education regulations.

We mentioned two current news stories in Spain: The appointment of diplomat Jorge Noval Álvarez to the position of ambassador on the Special Mission for the Rights of the LGBTQ+ Collective, a newly created post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the introduction of a new bill to parliament that would criminalise conversion therapy practices. These issues were discussed in English by Amparo Domingo in this WDI video.

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In this episode we’re looking at the difficulties faced by girls and young women growing up in a hyper-sexualised society, and the way a trans identity can come to be seen as a solution for girls who feel alienated by the vision of womanhood that predominates in our culture today.

My guest is Nagore de Arquer, an early career psychologist and a co-author of the book Mamá, soy trans: Una guía para familias de adolescentes con conflictos de género. As a teenager, Nagore identified as trans for several years. Eventually she came to understand that transition was not the solution to her distress and learned to accept herself as a gender non-conforming woman. Now, as a young psychologist, Nagore is focused on the pressures girls and young women face in a sexist society, and what can be done to help them.

We know from multiple studies both in Spain and internationally that the number of girls and young women seeking medical transition has exploded in the last decade or so. Nagore and I discuss how the normal difficulties of puberty and adolescence can be even more challenging for girls who are coming to terms with same-sex attraction, or who are living with autism, or who have histories of trauma. Nagore talks about how our pornified culture and the influence of social media can lead these girls to see a trans identity as a solution.

We also cover how many of the professionals such as psychologists and teachers who surround these girls are fully on board with gender identity ideology - one of the most shocking moments in the podcast is when Nagore explains how it was her psychologist who first suggested to her that she might be trans. We also discuss how conversion therapy laws make it difficult for psychologists and other professionals to take a more exploratory, nuanced approach to supporting adolescent girls through the tumultuous teenage years.

Guest info:

Nagore de Arquer is an early career psychologist and co-author of the book Mamá Soy Trans a guide for families of adolescents experiencing gender issues.

Twitter / X: @psicores

Resources & Links:

Mamá, soy trans: Una guía para familias de adolescentes con conflictos de género. (Deusto) Authors: José Errasti, Marino Pérez Álvarez, Nagore de Arquer.

Feministes de Catalunya report on the Catalan Health Service’s Servei Trànsit - Executive Summary in English This report shows the large demographic change in people seeking medical transition in Catalunya. There was a huge increase in the number of adolescent girls and young women seeking medical transition for the years studied. Girls from 10-14 years old attending the Catalan Servei Transit surged by 5700% between 2015 and 2021.

Clarification: In the episode I mention the figure of 7000% which comes from this presentation of the Informe Transit report to the Spanish parliament (in Spanish). This figure refers to the increase in the total number of people accessing the service, not only the group of girls we are discussing in the episode. Apologies if that was not clear.

We mentioned the organisation AMANDA which is for families of adolescents struggling with gender issues. Amanda supports families, provides evidence-based information about gender and transition, and advocates for a cautious, compassionate approach to gender. They also have a Substack blog.

Nagore said the following about Amanda during the episode:

“There's a group of people out there, Amanda, that are looking for information on this topic. And they are really doing some change on Spain. They are talking to politicians and also people that make the laws. And they are changing things. It's a long, hard path. But I think it's really important to talk about them because they are doing a really good job. And as parents, you see light when you see Amanda.” - Nagore de Arquer

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In this episode of Gender Lupa, I speak to Amparo Domingo about the Spanish self-ID law known as the Ley Trans. We discuss what self-ID means and the consequences of the law for human rights, especially women’s rights, in Spain.

Since 2023, Spain has had full self-ID in law. This means anyone over the age of 16 can change their legal sex by declaration (and there are provisions for children from the age of 12 to do the same, with some conditions). This law doesn’t apply only to trans people, however they are defined, it applies to everyone. There’s no need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, or any change in physical presentation or name. There are no requirements or restrictions at all, because that’s what self-ID means.

As we discuss in the episode, men who are on the register for convicted perpetrators of intimate partner violence (similar to the UK sex offenders register) can and do change their legal sex. People who don’t otherwise have legal capacity to act on their own behalf (due to disability or impairment for example) can do it too. Even manosphere YouTubers who openly admit they’re doing it just to show how ridiculous the law is can do it.

Amparo explains how it’s impossible to demonstrate any fraudulent use of the law when legal sex is determined by a subjective declaration without any objective criteria.

In the episode, we cover how the law was rushed through parliament on the fast-track route with dubious justification, and other ways in which the government sought to minimise time for public scrutiny or consultation with affected groups. We also talk about some of the consequences we’ve seen for women’s rights in the two years since the law came into force, especially in the area of violence against women.

Guest info:

Amparo Domingo is the Women’s Declaration International country contact for Spain.

Women’s Declaration International (WDI)

At the beginning of the episode we briefly discuss the Women’s Declaration International. Sign the Declaration on Women's Sex-Based Rights here

Here’s a great talk Amparo gave recently at Plataforma de Acción Feminista de Almería about the Ley Trans which covers many of the points we discuss in this episode (but in Spanish)

Amparo’s original blog Abolición de la realidad which she started when first looking into gender identity ideology in Spain. It contains many useful cases and examples (in Spanish).

Twitter / X: @WDI_Es / @Amparo__Domingo

Resources & Links:

The official link to the Spanish Ley Trans, otherwise known as: Ley 4/2023, de 28 de febrero, para la igualdad real y efectiva de las personas trans y para la garantía de los derechos de las personas LGTBI. At the link you can download a PDF of the full text of the law. This is Spain’s national self-ID law, which we discuss in the episode.

The UK Cass Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People. Mentioned in the episode in the context of social transition of pre-pubescent children (in Spain, children under 12 can change their legal name in order to facilitate social transition. See especially the FAQs about social transition, which clarify “there are studies demonstrating that for a majority of young children presenting with gender incongruence, this resolves through puberty” and “it is possible that social transition in childhood may change the trajectory of gender identity development for children with early gender incongruence. Living in stealth from early childhood may also lead to stress, particularly as puberty approaches.”

In Spain, draft laws are reviewed by the Consejo General del Poder Judicial (CGPJ) which is Spain’s judicial regulator. The CGPJ issues a non-binding report as part of the procedure for approving laws. Four (out of 20) members of the CGPJ gave dissenting opinions as part of the review process of the draft law, pointing out potential problems with it, specifically how it related to the principle of equality between men and women and other problems with its constitutionality. However the problems raised did not result in any alteration of the text of the draft law.

The Ley Trans was passed via the emergency fast track route “por vias urgentes” which limited time for scrutiny and objections. Amparo explains in the episode why the reasons given for the urgency were not justified, and mentions that the Deputy Minister for Equality at the time, Ángela Rodríguez, admitted that they wanted to ensure it was passed before the end of the legislative session and elections. See this El Mundo article for more details.

A man convicted of domestic violence, Cándido del Cerro, changed his legal sex to female with the result that his former partner is not eligible for protections to victims under Spain’s 2004 Gender Violence law (because the violence is considered to be between two women).

Men who are on the official register of domestic violence perpetrators have been able to change their legal sex to female and in some cases seek access to the shelters where their victims are housed, according to this article in El Mundo. The Minister of Social Affairs in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Ana Dávila-Ponce de León, has written to the Spanish Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, to express her concern at this problem.

The documentary made by Spanish manosphere YouTuber Inocente Duke which documents how he changed his legal sex (this is where you’ll find the full story of what happened when he tried to use the women’s sauna in the gym, which we discussed in the episode).

Asociación Trans No Normativos - TNN - An association which provides advice to those wishing to change their legal sex on the national registry without undergoing any medical or social transition. Mentioned in the episode in the context of men in traditionally male-dominated professions, especially the military, who believe the law treats men less favourably than women, and who seek to remedy this by changing their legal sex under the Ley Trans. Such men have been accused of fraudulent use of the Ley Trans, however since anyone can change their legal sex with no requirements, it appears that there is nothing illegal about what they are doing.

Get in touch:

Email: [email protected]

Follow on Twitter/X: @genderlupa

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In this episode of Gender Lupa, we’re focusing on schools. I’m joined by Maricruz Garrido, an English teacher with many years of experience at both primary and secondary levels in Spain, and a member of the feminist teachers’ organisation DoFemCo.

We talk about the concept of coeducación in Spain and how new ideas about gender and identity are replacing feminist principles in Spanish schools. We go through the trans protocol used in Catalan schools and question whether it actually benefits the trans-identified children it's meant to protect—let alone other children. We also look at an example of a classroom activity promoted by trans activist organisations and find that it seems to reinforce gender stereotypes rather than challenge them (see links below).

Some of this may make for uncomfortable listening. I think we all want to believe that policies introduced in the name of protecting vulnerable groups do exactly that. But what if they don’t? What if enforcing gender identity ideology in schools is actually harming the very children it claims to help? If you disagree with me, I’d love to hear from you—feel free to leave a comment on Substack. Let’s start a conversation.

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Guest Info

Maricruz Garrido Pascual is an English teacher with decades of experience, working with children from nursery to secondary school levels. She’s a member of the feminist teachers' organisation DoFemCo.

Watch a video of Maricruz giving a presentation on non-sexist language at the 2024 DoFemCo conference (in Spanish).

Twitter/X: @Mcruz_Garrido

Resources & Links

DoFemCo

DoFemCo – Docentes Feministas por la Coeducación (Feminist Teachers for Coeducation)

* Downloadable guides

* Letter templates

La Coeducación Secuestrada – A book about how gender identity ideology is replacing the feminist aims of coeducation (in Spanish)

Catalan Trans Protocol

* Download the original document (from the Catalan Department of Education)

* Read a Google-translated English version (as of March 2025)

Classroom Activity

We discussed the activity “En la piel de Daniel” (In Daniel’s Skin), created by Chrysalis, a trans activist group that runs workshops, lobbies politicians, and publishes teaching guides. In this activity, children are encouraged to question whether they are a boy or a girl based on which toys, clothes, and activities they prefer. Yes, really (!!!).

The activity is on page 23 of this teacher's guide.

En la piel de Daniel also appears in storybook form (in Spanish), where Berta, a girl who likes things stereotypically associated with boys, decides she must be a boy. The teacher helps by doing the classroom activity. All the children feel uncomfortable dressing in gender non-conforming clothes and being addressed by the wrong name—except Berta. She enjoys “boy clothes” and “boy things,” so according to the story, she must really be Daniel, a boy.

If you think that sounds regressive, you’re not alone.

View a Google-translated English version of the storybook

Other Things We Mentioned

* "Run Like a Girl" – A video campaign highlighting gender stereotypes

* Garenak Emakume Feministak report – On youth transitions in Navarra, Spain (in Spanish)Maricruz mentions very young children being transitioned by their families. According to this report, 12 children aged 5 or younger (including two 3-year-olds) were seen by transition services in Navarra from 2012–2022.

* AMANDA – A support organisation for families with kids questioning gender. We didn’t get into this in the episode, but I hope to speak with them in a future one.

More on Social Transition

Finally, I encourage you to check out this older (2021) episode of Gender: A Wider Lens, recently republished on Stella O’Malley’s Substack. It covers social transition—that is, changing a child’s name, pronouns, records, and grouping them with the opposite sex at school (toilets, changing rooms, overnight stays, sports, etc). Because it doesn’t involve medical interventions, it’s often seen as harmless. But Sasha and Stella, both therapists, argue that it’s a major psychosocial intervention in a child’s life.

In some schools, children are socially transitioned at very young ages—sometimes without parental consent or despite teacher concerns. Is it the role of schools and teachers to be doing this?

Get in Touch

Email: [email protected]/X: Gender Lupa

Even better, tell me what you think in the comments:

Support the Podcast

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Silvia Carrasco on, well, just about everything:

In this episode of Gender Lupa, I’m joined by Silvia Carrasco. If you’re not already familiar with her work, you’re in for a real treat. With decades of experience in both academic research and feminist activism, Silvia has many insights to share into the current state of gender politics in Spain. I certainly learned a lot.

We discuss the two separate demonstrations held in Barcelona for International Women’s Day this year, the stark differences in their approaches to feminist issues, and the difficulty of getting feminist perspectives into mainstream media when gender identity ideology dominates the discourse.

Silvia also shares key findings from a report by Feministas de Catalunya on the Catalan Health Service’s Servei Trànsit, which highlights an alarming rise in the number of young girls seeking medical interventions related to gender identity. We examine the shift in co-education from a feminist framework to one shaped by gender identity ideology—and what that means for children and teachers in schools.

We also talk about the ongoing efforts to silence Silvia and other feminists raising these issues, and how rights are sometimes more fragile than we think, but we also well as the resilience and resurgence of Spain’s radical feminist movement.

Guest info:

Silvia Carrasco Pons is a Professor of Social Anthropology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and director of the EMIGRA-UAB Research Group. She’s a specialist in migration, education and inequalities. Silvia is also an active feminist campaigner: The president of Feministes de Catalunya and co-founder of DoFemCo (Docentes Feministas por la Coeducación - a feminist teachers organisation). She is the lead author of the book La Coeducación Secuestrada (Coeducation Hijacked) which is a feminist critique of the encroachment of gender ideology into education in Spain. In 2024 she was a candidate for the Partido Feministas al Congreso (the feminist party) in the European elections.

Twitter / X: @SilviaCarrascoP

Resources & Links:

Feministes de Catalunya

Report on Catalan Health Service’s Servei Trànsit - Executive Summary in English

Cass Review Final Report - The UK government commissioned independent review of gender identity services for children and young people.

Video of Silvia presenting the findings of the report to the Spanish Parliament (in Spanish)

DoFemCo Docentes Feministas por la Coeducación (a feminist teachers organisation).

The book about the replacement of the the feminist objectives of coeducation with gender identity ideology: La Coeducación Secuestrada (in Spanish)

Spanish news report (2024) including an interview with Silvia when trans activist protesters attempted to prevent her teaching her classes at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and called for her to be sacked (in Spanish).

Get in touch:

Email: [email protected]

Follow on Twitter/X: @genderlupa

Support the Podcast:

Enjoying the podcast? The best way to support it is to subscribe on Substack https://genderlupa.substack.com/ review it wherever you listen, and tell your friends.

Episode Summary:

In this first episode of Gender Lupa, I’m joined by María Reglero, a Spanish feminist with extensive experience in international human rights and women’s rights.

We explore the unique aspects of Spanish political culture, the achievements of Spanish feminism, and the rise of identity politics in Spain. María shares insights into how the political party Podemos sought to harness public outrage over the La Manada rape case to instrumentalise the Spanish women’s movement. We introduce Spain’s national self-ID law and point to a few of the far-reaching consequences for women’s rights. We also touch on the feminist organizations resisting these policies, the tensions over who gets to call themselves “feminist” and the backlash against feminism from the manosphere and the far right.

Guest info:

Maria Reglero is a Spanish feminist and women's rights independent consultant with 20 years' experience in senior advisory and project management roles from countries in East and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and South East Asia. Her expertise spans international human rights frameworks with a focus on women's rights, children's rights and equality between men and women.You can follow Maria’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@unwokespain

Resources & Links:

Here are a few articles with details of some of the examples of negative consequences for women of self-ID laws and policies in Spain which we referred to in the episode. Some relate to the national Ley Trans self ID law and some to the laws and policies in Spain’s autonomous regions.

📌 Men changing their legal sex in order to avoid charges under the gender based violence law: https://reduxx.info/im-a-woman-now-spanish-man-changes-sex-to-female-in-apparent-effort-avoid-harsher-penalties-for-abusing-his-wife/

📌 Men changing their legal sex in order to benefit from special provisions for women in traditionally male dominated workplaces like the military: https://reduxx.info/spain-male-soldier-who-identifies-as-a-lesbian-sues-military-for-e50000-after-being-denied-access-to-womens-washrooms/

📌 Archive version of El Mundo Article (in Spanish) about Jonathan de Jesús Robaina Santana, who claimed a female gender identity after being charged with the brutal murder of his female cousin. Now convicted, he is in prison in the Canary Islands where he is undergoing gender transition related medical interventions, enjoys an individual cell, is officially called "Lorena" (the name of a woman he previously harassed) and is only searched by female prison officers. According to the article, the director of the prison signed an internal order that suggested he would be moved to a female prison unit when he completes his transition. Currently it is not known if Robaina is housed in the male or female unit because the prison argues that the law protects the privacy of the inmates. Maria mentioned in the episode that women's groups have been requesting this information. https://archive.ph/cjvNM#selection-565.112-565.145

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Episode Summary:

In this brief trailer for the new Gender Lupa podcast, I explain what the podcast is about and what you can expect to hear in future episodes.

I’m Annette, the host. I’ve lived in Spain for about 15 years, and even though I speak Spanish and try to keep up with these debates, I still feel like I’m only just scratching the surface. There’s a whole story here that deserves a closer look.

That’s why I started this podcast—Gender Lupa. Lupa means magnifying glass in Spanish, and that’s exactly what this podcast is about: taking a closer look at the gender debate in Spain.

I’ll be talking to women who’ve found themselves in the thick of it—whether in education, politics, human rights, or sport. They’ve got insights to share, and luckily for us, they’ll be doing it in English.

Chances are, you’ll hear something that challenges the way you think about this issue. And that’s the whole point. Let’s have those conversations, even if we don’t always agree.

You can listen on all the usual platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify but I’d recommend Substack, where you can comment and join the discussion.

So, let’s get into it!

New episodes directly to your inbox, completely free.

Get in touch:

Email: [email protected]

Follow on Twitter/X: @genderlupa

Support the Podcast:

Enjoying Gender Lupa? The best way to support it is to subscribe and review it wherever you listen, and share it with your friends.