Ill Conceived

THIS IS A PREVIEW OF A BONUS B-SIDE EPISODE. For access to the full length version of this and every other biweekly bonus B-side, go to Patreon.com/illconceived -------------------------- We try to clarify some of our thoughts last week on weight and health, then dig a bit more into some claims made by the Bro Scientists. Plus, June gets a bit loopy and we spend a solid 10+ minutes on ball tanning. We also read your emails about: Avoiding plastics because your dad is afraid of estrogen Jobs with lots of physical activity that are bad for your health Finally, here's a link to the GIF that June was cracking up about.

Testosterone is lowering. Sperm counts are shrinking. Men, a once proud and noble half of the human race, are accelerating down the road to extinction. So say many natalists, who tie their fear of demographic decline into their anxieties about gender. But how much of what they claim has any basis in truth whatsoever? This week, June and Josh take a look at Tucker Carlson's 2022 Fox Nation short "The End of Men" to see how it both set a template for and propagated narratives about declining masculinity that have since become ubiquitous. ***WANT MORE ILL CONCEIVED? Every other week, we release B-side supplements to the main episodes where we read your e-mail responses and discuss things further. Come check us out at Patreon.com/illconceived!*** ***WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE WORLD FAMOUS MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to illconceivedpod@gmail.com*** EPISODE ART: Tucker Carlson in an ABC News press photo. After spending years as a mid-level host of various news shows, Carlson became a leading star of Fox News' primetime lineup with the debut of Tucker Carlson Tonight in 2016. Carlson was fired by the network in 2023 for spreading falsehoods and misleading video about the January 6, 2020 riots on the United States Capitol and has since become a leading voice of right-wing new media. SOURCES: Why Tucker Carlson's 'The End of Men' Is So Disturbing Why Are Testosterone Levels Decreasing? Secular trends in testosterone- findings from a large state-mandate care provider Environmental Toxins Likely Cause of 50% Decline in Global Sperm Count Male fertility is declining – studies show that environmental toxins could be a reason Low t and fertility Low Testosterone & Fertility Endocrine Disruptor What are endocrine disruptors? What Are Ultra Processed Foods? How Diet Impacts Health Seeding doubt: The truth about cooking oils Trump executive order on a weed killer chemical didn’t do RFK Jr. any favors RFK Jr. post agreeing with Trumps EO Red Light Therapy: Benefits, Safety and Things to Know Is Eating Raw Eggs Bad? Cold Plunge Benefits: The Science Behind Ice Baths for Recovery Beef Tallow: Doctors Group Shares Consumer Health Alert Warning “Unapologetically Bomb” Whitehouse post The Myth of the New Man in Italian Fascist Ideology FOLLOW THE SHOW: Website: illconceivedpodcast.com Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com Tumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.com Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds Stream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beer Other podcast: Kill The Computer Writing: June's Substack ILL CONCEIVED THEME SONG BY: Caleb (Linktree / Bluesky)

THIS IS A PREVIEW OF A BONUS B-SIDE EPISODE. For access to the full length version of this and every other biweekly bonus B-side, go to Patreon.com/illconceived -------------------------- The new CEO of Xbox is worried about birthrates and thinks AI might have the solution. We're talking about it, plus we read your letters from the Jeffrey Epstein episode regarding: How "pregnant people" provides more specificity as a term than "pregnant women" and why natalists don't like it The emails that Sarah Ferguson, the then-wife of then-Prince Andrew, sent to Epstein How Epstein associate Nick Bostrom's obsession with superintelligent AI reflects a faulty consensus among tech industry types Also, here's a link to the official music video for Jimmy MacMillan's song "Ain't Nothing To Talk About" in its entirety.

Newly released documents link a notorious financier to technologists and evolutionary biologists. They explore his funding of academic programs, secretive salons with tech elites, and proposals for genetic data mining and designer offspring. The conversation traces ties to prominent scientists, troubling communications, and how these networks intersected with natalist and transhumanist ideas.

THIS IS A PREVIEW OF A BONUS B-SIDE EPISODE. For access to the full length version of this and every other biweekly bonus B-side, go to Patreon.com/illconceived -------------------------- We didn't get a lot of mail about surrogacy this week. But you wanted to hear more about weird Silicon Valley Christians and we wanted to talk about them, so we read from an interview with the founder of a Peter Thiel-connected organization called ACTS 17 that hosted the "Code and Cosmos" event we mentioned in last week's main feed episode. Plus, an update on Trump Accounts.

An increasingly popular childbirth option for couples who cannot easily naturally conceive is to utilize a surrogate who gestates and births the pregnancy on behalf of the intended parents. And as of late, surrogacy is also being used by some especially wealthy people, particularly in the tech industry, as a way for them to avoid pregnancy altogether. This week, June and Josh look at the history of surrogacy, the moral disagreements among the religious right about the practice, and some of the ethical and legal complications that can result. ***REMINDER: WE HAVE A PATREON! Every other week, we release B-side supplements to the main episodes where we read your e-mail responses and discuss things further. Come check us out at Patreon.com/illconceived!*** ***WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to illconceivedpod@gmail.com*** EPISODE ART: Cindy Bi, a venture capitalist who attempted to give birth via surrogacy. When the pregnancy resulted in a stillbirth, Bi sued her surrogate and went to the press to disparage her further. AUDIO CLIPS: 1:15:47 – Epic Church promotional "About Us" video 1:22:49 – Ben Pilgreen, pastor of Epic Church, delivering a sermon called "What Maturity Demands" SOURCES: Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex (1933) The History of Surrogacy: A Legal Timeline Baby M and the Question of Surrogate Motherhood Surrogacy Laws: The Best States For Compensated Surrogacy Severe Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity Among Gestational Carriers: A Cohort Study Americans want biological children but prefer adoption to surrogacy The Difference Between Love and Surrogacy Gestational Surrogacy Success Rates Common issues with surrogacy and IVF Surrogates 20 years on: long-term psychological health, contact with surrogacy families, and thoughts and feelings about post-birth contact The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It? The billionaire obsession with surrogacy Christianity Was “Borderline Illegal” in Silicon Valley. Now It’s the New Religion The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate Artificial womb robot promises cheap surrogacy but sparks deep ethical fears Silicon Valley wants to help me make a superbaby. Should I let it? Suggestion to use brain stem dead women's bodies for surrogate pregnancies sparks huge backlash Regulation of Genetic Tests Perspectives on Surrogate Motherhood FOLLOW THE SHOW: Website: illconceivedpodcast.com Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com Tumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.com Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds Stream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beer Other podcast: Kill The Computer Writing: June's Substack ILL CONCEIVED THEME SONG BY: Caleb (Linktree / Bluesky)

They wrestle with mistakes and on-air corrections about menstrual apps and public figures. They debate the ethics of platforming ex-influencers and how social media rewards solipsistic conservative personalities. They examine coordinated promotion tactics in right-wing media and revisit controversies from tech elites' college years.

A deep dive into a tech billionaire’s influence on surveillance software, government contracts, and the PayPal-to-Facebook fortune that made it possible. They unpack his apocalyptic religious beliefs, fascination with the Antichrist, and fear of demographic decline. The conversation also covers natalist investments, fertility tech, and how those bets tie into a vision of preserving Western power.

THIS IS A PREVIEW OF A BONUS B-SIDE EPISODE. For access to the full length version of this and every other biweekly bonus B-side, go to Patreon.com/illconceived -------------------------- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is now going to allow young women to go on their mission starting at the age of 18 in the hopes of getting young Mormons married even younger. We're talking about it, plus we read your letters responding to our Masturbation & Pornography episode regarding: How age verification works for restricted websites in Australia How anti-pornography action reflects the natalist agenda Resources and organizations that are fighting online CSAM, including the Canadian Centre for Child Protection's Project Arachnid The important differences between the Kellogg brothers From here on out, you can expect Mailbag & Chill episodes every other Friday where we read your letters responding to the previous week's episode. (And we'll eventually get around to doing a dramatic reading of the Zootopia abortion comic.) Thanks as always for being a subscriber!

Moral panic about masturbation and pornography is nothing new, but in the wake of Donald Trump's re-election, numerous conservative groups—many of whom have deep ties to the natalist movement—have started to ring the alarm bell once again. This week, June and Josh take a look at the early history of fear of masturbation, then jump forward to the present day to see how the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) reflects many of these paranoias and introduces problems of its own. There's also a pretty significant detour into talking about the Zootopia abortion comic, if that's your thing. ***REMINDER: WE HAVE A PATREON NOW! We record bonus mailbag episodes and release them at the beginning of each week. Come check us out at Patreon.com/illconceived!*** ***WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to illconceivedpod@gmail.com*** EPISODE ART: John Harvey Kellogg, a physician who founded the Kellogg Company with his brother Will in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1906. Kellogg believed that bland food such as unsweetened corn flakes could aid in reducing the urge to masturbate. He also was a notable eugenicist and co-founded the Race Betterment Foundation in 1914 to discourage interracial relationships. AUDIO CLIPS: 16:07 – Tucker Carlson talks to Milo Yiannopolous about homosexuality FURTHER READING/LISTENING: The Worst of All Possible Worlds episode about Every Young Man's Battle (Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube)  The Zootopia abortion comic SOURCES: The Age-Gated Internet Is Sweeping the US. Activists Are Fighting Back The far right’s crusade against porn is a red herring – it’s actually a crusade against progress Re-Victimized: When Sexual Assault Gets Uploaded to Porn Platforms The Disturbing True Story of Kellogg’s Anti-Masturbation Cereal How Project 2025 Tries to Demonize LGBTQI+ People—and Why It’ll Fail Nick Kristof and the Holy War on Pornhub Delete history: Pornhub changed the world, but its empire faces a reckoning Internet Censorship Bills Wouldn’t Help Catch Sex Traffickers Project 2025 Tracker Age verification regulations in the United States of America Hack of Age Verification Company Shows Privacy Danger of Social Media Laws Press release about the passage of KOSA from the office of Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-MD) IHOPKC founder committed sexual abuse, misconduct against 17 women, investigation finds Melissa McCarthy Apologizes for Supporting Charity with Anti-LGBTQ Past FOLLOW THE SHOW: Website: illconceivedpodcast.com Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com Tumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.com Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds Stream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beer Other podcast: Kill The Computer Writing: June's Substack ILL CONCEIVED THEME SONG BY: Caleb (Linktree / Bluesky)