Gender Matters: Insights from a Physician

This episode explores the ethical failure behind the closure of gender affirming care clinics and what happens when patients are left without continuity of care. Through a medical ethics lens, it explains why abruptly discontinuing treatment places transgender and gender diverse youth at risk regardless of personal or political beliefs.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

Why do some people share their pronouns while others hesitate? And how do you know what’s right for you?
In this episode, I break down why pronoun sharing should never be mandatory, and why it still carries real meaning. We’ll look at how sharing pronouns can signal safety, why it can put some people in difficult positions, and what it communicates when you choose to include them.

If you're a provider or someone who wants to create a more inclusive environment, this episode offers a grounded, practical way to think about pronouns and their role in helping people feel safe.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

Language shifts long before most people notice it, and when one word keeps resurfacing, it’s worth asking why. 

In this episode, I walk through a single term that’s showing up more often in conversations about gender and what its resurgence might be telling us about the moment we’re living in.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

On July 9th, the Department of Justice issued subpoenas to clinics, doctors, and even drug manufacturers connected to gender-affirming care. These subpoenas appear to include private patient information.

In this episode of Gender Matters: Insights from a Physician, I explain why this affects far more than transgender patients. From patient trust to access to standard treatments like puberty blockers or hormones for non-trans conditions, this action has ripple effects across healthcare.

What happens when fear replaces trust in medicine?

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

What happens when legal decisions about healthcare don’t align with medical reasoning?

In this episode, A Physician’s Response to U.S. v. Skrmetti, I invite you to consider the recent court ruling through a medical lens. I walk through why some of the legal distinctions made in the case do not reflect how medicine works and how the decision departs from the way we provide care in similar situations.

If you believe these laws are about protecting kids, I hope you’ll listen with curiosity. At the end, I offer a simple way to reflect on whether your concerns are truly about the care itself or whether something else may be at play.

Listen now and share with someone who is open to hearing the medical perspective on gender-affirming care.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

In this episode of Gender Matters: Insights from a Physician, Dr. Shannon and Bandit kick off a new series in response to "The Protocol," The New York Times' limited podcast on gender-affirming care.

This first conversation centers on Episode 1, which explores the origin of youth medical transition. As a physician and longtime gender educator, Dr. Shannon dissects subtle moments of bias that might go unnoticed to most, but matter deeply in how the public understands transgender healthcare. Bandit brings a thoughtful outside perspective, asking the questions many listeners may be wondering themselves.

Whether you’ve already listened to The Protocol or you’re just curious what all the discussion is about, join us as we explore what’s said, what’s implied, and what’s missing.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

If you’ve ever wondered, “What if they change their mind?”—you’re not alone. This episode breaks down the newest data on how often trans youth stop hormone therapy and retransition to a cisgender identity.

We walk through a 2025 study of over 1,000 adolescents and explore what it really tells us—about numbers, nuance, and how we think about gender-affirming care.

📚 Citation:
 Boskey ER, Scheffey KL, Pilcher S, et al. A Retrospective Cohort Study of Transgender Adolescents' Gender-Affirming Hormone Discontinuation. J Adolesc Health. 2025;76(4):584–591. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.11.002

Olson KR, Durwood L, Horton R, Gallagher NM, Devor A. Gender Identity 5 Years After Social Transition. Pediatrics. 2022;150(2):e2021056082. doi:10.1542/peds.2021-056082

van der Loos MATC, Hannema SE, Klink DT, den Heijer M, Wiepjes CM. Continuation of gender-affirming hormones in transgender people starting puberty suppression in adolescence: a cohort study in the Netherlands. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2022;6(12):869-875. doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00254-1

Roberts CM, Klein DA, Adirim TA, Schvey NA, Hisle-Gorman E. Continuation of Gender-affirming Hormones Among Transgender Adolescents and Adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2022;107(9):e3937-e3943. doi:10.1210/clinem/dgac251

Gupta P, Patterson BC, Chu L, et al. Adherence to Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy in Transgender Adolescents and Adults: A Retrospective Cohort Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2023;108(11):e1236-e1244. doi:10.1210/clinem/dgad306

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

Bandit is back!

This time to talk through Utah’s newly released findings on gender-affirming care for youth. In this episode, we break down what the report actually says, why it matters, and why it’s being ignored.

One of us is a physician. The other? A thoughtful outsider with no personal stake in the issue—just honest questions shaped by headlines and algorithms.

Together, we explore what gender-affirming care really includes, how misinformation spreads, and what it means when good science is excluded from political decisions.

Real conversation still matters, and this one doesn’t shy away.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

What if the thing you’ve been told is a fact… is actually just an assumption?

In this episode of Gender Matters: Insights from a Physician, we take a closer look at fertility and gender-affirming care for youth. From social and medical transition to puberty blockers and hormones, we break down what we know, what we don’t, and what we’re still trying to learn.

If fertility concerns are shaping your views on gender-affirming care, this episode offers a clear, data-informed foundation—free from hype, fear, or assumption.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music. 

In this follow-up episode, I answer honest gender questions from a friend in a space grounded in curiosity, not debate. We talk about student names, parental rights, and how to handle pronoun mistakes with care. A practical, thoughtful conversation for anyone still learning and wanting to understand more.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it on social media or send the link to a colleague or a friend who’s curious about learning more about gender. For more insights, visit engenderlove.com and join our mailing list. Don’t forget to rate or review the podcast—your support helps more people discover and learn with us.

Special thanks to Indy M W for the music. Like and follow him on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your music.