On the Record: The stories Europe isn’t hearing

Many of you have been following me on Substack since I began sharing my reflections and articles roughly a year ago: from my painful struggles over women's rights within the Greens to eventually leaving the party and politics after more than a decade; to remembering lesbian spaces and opposing the use of butch lesbians as a rhetorical justification for dissolving the meaning of 'woman'; from analysing the role of European institutions and national governments in advancing gender identity ideology to my political reappraisal of prostitution, my defence of intersectionality and my rejection of the burqa and cultural relativism, whether advanced by the queer-left or by free speech absolutists. And finally, to imagining, dreaming and building Athena: a European initiative for sex-based rights, democratic values and political courage. We launched in October 2025, less than a year ago.

Sometimes I have to pause to process everything that has happened in such a short time. I still cannot fully make sense of it. The body is moved, quite literally, into other spaces. My mind works overtime in old and new ways (cause some skills are seasoned and tested, while others are nascent and still developing). And my heart is beating, often still with caution and increasingly with courage, and healing and growing and daring to be present and engaged again.

With Athena, we moved into uncharted territory. We found new and unlikely allies. We spoke about the European politics and policies that fail women and girls, and about their complicity with a men’s rights movement. We decoded the agendas and networks behind the institutional capture that has elevated gender identity ideology to the highest political levels. But most of all, we met and connected with women across Europe whose stories eerily resemble one another: stories of isolation, hardship and loss, and of the vicious attacks unleashed on those who stand up for women’s rights.

Across Europe, people are losing careers, reputations and relationships for speaking openly about the impact of gender identity policies. Yet many continue to speak. They ask difficult questions, challenge powerful institutions and refuse to say what they know to be untrue simply because it has become socially or politically expected.

We decided to capture their stories and amplify their voices.

I am proud to introduce to you our newest companion: On the Record, Athena’s podcast dedicated to the stories Europe, and the world, needs to hear.

Hosted by my colleague Annette Pacey, each episode features someone who has chosen to speak openly despite the personal or professional cost. Women’s rights advocates, journalists, academics, healthcare professionals, teachers, lesbian and gay rights activists, detransitioners, parents and many others share their personal journeys, the realities they encounter in their work and communities, and what it means to hold onto intellectual honesty in an increasingly polarised debate.

These individual stories are part of something much bigger.

We have recently returned from Brussels, where we met Members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum. What struck us was how little many knew about developments taking place across Europe, or about the role the European Union itself is playing.

For years, the EU has sought to expand hate speech legislation to include gender identity as a so-called Eurocrime alongside offences such as human trafficking, cybercrime and drug trafficking. It continues to promote legal self-ID of sex across Europe, and supports legislative initiatives presented as bans on “conversion practices” that, in practice, can place parents, psychotherapists, teachers and other professionals under legal pressure to affirm a child’s declared gender identity.

These policies need informed public debate and democratic accountability. Instead, discussion has been replaced by social pressure, institutional activism and attempts to discourage dissent.

One question therefore sits at the heart of this podcast:

How did an issue affecting a comparatively small number of people come to reshape laws, public institutions, professional standards and the boundaries of acceptable speech across Europe?

Our first guest on the podcast was Hungarian journalist Zsófi Balogh who goes on the record about being a radical feminist in Hungary. We talk about the country's political transformation, tensions within the LGBT movement, and the future of women's rights under a new government.

We have just released the second episode, featuring Anne Kalvig, former Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Stavanger. After 25 years in academia, Anne felt forced to resign from the career she had built when she challenged gender-identity orthodoxy. In our conversation, she reflects on what happened and explores a provocative question: should gender-identity belief itself be studied as a contemporary belief system, with parallels to New Age and other new religious movements?

You can subscribe free here on Substack to receive new episodes first, watch them on YouTube, or listen on your preferred podcast platform. I hope you'll enjoy the podcast and share it with others who believe that difficult conversations are worth having.

As always, thank you for your support and for believing that change is possible, in small and big ways.