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Once I sobered up, the mate (an internist) and I had an interesting philosophical discussion on pain. This was a few days ago. I have what has finally been identified by x-ray as a separated a/c joint in my left shoulder. For the last three months, I’ve been in pain most of the day, which…

I’m getting lectured lately on how I am “failing to be an ally” to transgender people, especially transgender women. This charge has been leveled at me recently because I have (a) referred to a girl-identified child as having been “born with a male body”; (b) pointed to data showing that most gender nonconforming and gender dysphoric children do…

When I told a colleague a few days ago that I was resigning over my dean’s censorship, he said to me somewhat pissily that no one would remember it in a week. Paradoxically, he said it because he cares about me. He thought I might be overestimating what I could achieve with the resignation, and he was worried…

Here are some FAQ based on questions I’ve been getting from people I’ve been telling about my resignation from Northwestern University. Why are you resigning?  In short, I can’t work at a medical school where my dean is allowed to censor the work of his faculty in the name of the hospital brand’s welfare. See my…

Since I’ve been asked about this on Twitter…. Today, my colleague Carl Elliott posted a short note at his blog that surprised me. By way of background, I have long supported Carl’s quest to bring justice to bear in the Markingson research ethics scandal; I’ve written essays on it, participated in leading a call for the external…

Last night I dreamed I had a date with Donald Trump. We were in the Trump International Hotel and Tower® in Chicago, in a ballroom that looks out over the river. I was wearing my black Banana Republic dress, the one I wore to the Guggenheim Fellowship reception in 2008, with black strap sandals that…

What happened yesterday has me thinking about Twitter. Yesterday, before I got out of bed, at about 7:30 am, I took a look at Twitter and found a post by Dr. Alison Barrett (@DrAlisonBarrett). It read, “Anyone else worried about the ethics of this? Anyone?” Barrett linked a post at KevinMD.com, a blogging site. Normally I…

A stranger (with whom I’ve since been corresponding) wrote this to me: I’m having trouble putting into words how much I loved Galileo’s Middle Finger. It’s like every cell in my body suddenly decided to scream “yes” all at the same time. The one false note, though, was your description of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. Talk…

Readers of Galileo’s Middle Finger have been asking me some questions about autogynephilia, particularly since Vanity Fair’s coverage of Caitlyn Jenner. I encouraged one reader who contacted me by Twitter today to send her questions by email, and she was kind enough to do so. Below are answers to her questions. First, for folks who haven’t read the book,…

According to Yahoo News, Nobel Prize-winner Tim Hunt has lost “his position with the European Research Council science committee, his role at the Royal Society, and his honorary post at University College London.” This has happened because, at the World Conference of Science Journalists, he stupidly remarked that “girls” pose a problem in the lab because…