228. Prisons, Schools, Sports & Therapy: the Gender Turf Wars with Judge Elspeth Cypher

Retired Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Elspeth Cypher returns to the podcast (her first appearance was episode 183) to map the legal landscape of the gender turf wars, fought on four major frontiers: prisons, schools, sports, and therapy. As president of the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), Elspeth walks me through the Chandler case challenging California’s SB 132, which eliminated all gatekeeping for men seeking transfer into women’s prisons, and the protective orders finally winning women in federal facilities some measure of relief. We discuss the aftermath of Skrmetti, Mahmoud, Chiles, and the BPJ sports ruling — and why a Supreme Court victory on paper doesn’t translate smoothly into changed practice on the ground.

We also explore how women’s speech has been silenced across millennia, from the scold’s bridle to modern cancelation; what “radical feminist” means to her; the ethics of surrogacy; the falsification of birth certificates; WoLF’s remarkable new executive director, Jasmine Faulk, who escaped Saudi Arabia; the FTC’s fraud case against WPATH; and why parental authority has to be established early. This conversation asks: when nearly 200,000 women are incarcerated in facilities an unknown number of men can now enter, who is defending their right to safety, privacy, and dignity?

Elspeth B. Cypher retired from the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts in 2024. She is president of the board of directors of the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), a nonpartisan radical (meaning "root") feminist organization dedicated to the rights of women and girls. She is also a founding member of the Gender Critical Law Society. Follow her on X @ebclaw or here on Substack Elspeth Cypher. Email: boardpresident@womensliberationfront.org.

{{chapters}}
[00:00:00] Start
[00:03:51] How Women's Speech Gets Silenced
[00:12:23] What Radical Feminism Really Means
[00:17:23] The Ethics of Surrogacy
[00:24:01] Falsified Birth Certificates and Identity
[00:28:27] WoLF's New Executive Director
[00:32:03] Chandler Case: Men in Women's Prisons
[00:39:15] Protective Orders in Federal Prisons
[00:47:30] Skrmetti, Mahmoud, and Chiles Rulings
[00:54:29] Supreme Court on Girls' Sports
[00:57:12] Four Frontiers of the Gender Battle
[01:00:30] Counting Women in US Prisons
[01:09:30] Gender Identity in School Curricula
[01:14:06] Parental Authority Starts Early
[01:19:08] FTC Fraud Case Against WPATH
[01:24:10] Final Words of Wisdom

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