Weekly Roundup
Feb 16 - 22, 2026
LEADING ARTICLE
LGBTQ+ Identification Holds at 9% in U.S.
Gallup
IN MEMORIAM: Robert Duvall
At The Nuzzo Letter, one of my aims is to promote romantic art, namely through movies. With that in mind, I wanted to memorialise legendary actor Robert Duvall, who passed away earlier this week, by sharing my favourite Duvall movie.
The Judge stars Duvall and Robert Downey, Jr., who plays Duvall’s lawyer-son. The Judge beautifully depicts a complex father-son relationship, which is fundamentally rooted in love and respect. The Judge is dramatic, suspenseful, and original. The acting is also stellar.
Watch the trailer (until the end). If the trailer “grabs you” or makes you feel something, then watch the movie. And perhaps have a tissue nearby.
THE NUZZO LETTER IN THE NEWS
“Scholarly Harassment” and the Sisterhood of Academia
Reality’s Last Stand
A new proposal designed to shield female scholars from criticism will destroy the university.
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Sex/Gender
University of Florida to stop ‘gender-affirming care’ for students
The College Fix
Boys/Men Commission bill passes Senate, on way to Governor’s desk
Virginia Coalition for Boys and Men
Kent State U. professor caught on camera: ‘They want to keep the white men in power’
The College Fix
‘Substantive Gender Equality:’ Blueprint for Totalitarian Feminist Takeover
Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance (DAVIA)
(*My brief comment on this press release is available on X here.)
Education
Do Universities Need Radical Reform?
The Freeman
DEI remains strong at UMich a year after president promised to gut it
The College Fix
Arizona State U. dean says DEI efforts remain despite rebranding in undercover video
The College Fix
Medicine’s Descent Into Madness
Washington Free Beacon
REVIEW: ‘Doing Great Harm? How DEI and Identity Politics Are Infecting American Healthcare―and How We Are Fighting Back’ by Stanley Goldfarb.
Meritorious disparities: AP exams and the academic pipeline to medicine
Theory and Society
Abstract: American universities have long treated racial underrepresentation in academic programs as a problem to be solved at the point of admission. Race-conscious selection, whether explicit or concealed, rests on the assumption that disparities in outcomes reflect systemic exclusion and can be corrected by relaxing formal thresholds based on merit. With medicine as the focus, this essay challenges that assumption by shifting attention to earlier in the pipeline, where preparation and performance are first measured at scale. Advanced Placement (AP) exam participation and performance—such as in AP Chemistry—are early meritocratic filters, and we document persistent gaps in both. We trace these disparities along the “success sequence” to medicine and demonstrate how conclusions about underrepresentation depend entirely on the denominator chosen. Relative to the general population, Blacks are underrepresented among medical school graduates; relative to AP examinees, they are neither under nor overrepresented among medical school graduates; relative to top AP performers, they are strongly overrepresented among medical school graduates. The same data tell three different stories, only one of which respects the structure of a meritorious pipeline. We argue that treating disparity as prima facie evidence of discrimination obscures the real problem: unequal preparation. A post-progressive research agenda should abandon the reflex to equate disparity with racism and instead confront the upstream factors that shape academic readiness. If the aim is durable representation in medicine and other selective professions, lowering standards at the end mistakes symptoms for causes.
Psychology
Evasion strategies for belief system defence
Backcountry Psychology
A funny new study outlines strategies that people use to slip and slide away from morally objectionable scientific research. More evidence for the importance of viewpoint diversity in academia.
Exercise to treat depression yields similar results to therapy and antidepressants
Cochrane
Researchers found that exercise can have a moderate benefit in reducing depressive symptoms, comparable to therapy and antidepressants.
Politics
How China supercharged ‘birth tourism’ and scammed American citizenship for up to 1.5 million babies
New York Post
Australia: The World’s Most Bloated Bureaucracy | Mike Newman
Description: John Anderson sits down with former NSW Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Mike Newman to examine the culture, size and direction of Australia’s modern public service. While both men acknowledge the vital role of capable public servants, they question whether the system has become bloated, inward-looking and detached from the realities faced by households and businesses. At a time of falling productivity and rising cost-of-living pressures, they ask whether the balance between administration and wealth creation has drifted out of alignment. The discussion moves beyond numbers to deeper questions of accountability, incentives and institutional culture. From regulatory overreach to major project failures, Newman argues that expansion has too often come without corresponding responsibility. Yet, he also highlights examples where strong leadership and a service-first mindset have delivered genuine reform. It is a serious, practical examination of how Australia governs itself, and what must change to restore discipline, effectiveness and public trust. Mike Newman has four decades of business experience in North Asia and served as NSW’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the region. He has written insightfully on many topics, and most recently on the problem of government bureaucracies.
RUBBISH BIN
Federal government announces new support for women entrepreneurs with disabilities
Women and Gender Equality Canada
(*My brief comment on this press release is available on X here.)
‘It’s Women who Suffer’: A Case Study in Silencing Obstetric Violence in Australia
Australian Feminist Studies
Abstract: In May 2024, the NSW State Parliament Select Committee Inquiry into Birth Trauma handed down a landmark report on birth trauma following a year-long inquiry. However, the Final Report omitted the term ‘obstetric violence’, and the Committee refused to include a finding that some instances of birth trauma amounted to gender-based violence. This article grapples with the erasure of obstetric violence in what is otherwise a significant step towards addressing maternity care issues in Australia. Taking up intersectional feminist approaches to obstetric violence and Reproductive Justice frameworks, I argue that at present, obstetric violence is an overlooked form of gender-based violence in feminist theory and reproductive healthcare in Australia. Connecting historic and contemporary issues in obstetric violence to international debates and theory, I unpack the arguments present in the Inquiry, which rejected the concept’s use in Australia. These arguments included: (1) definitional disputes over ‘obstetrics’ and ‘violence’; (2) concepts of medical benevolence and (3) and finally a contention based on ideas of woman-centred care. Critiquing these arguments, I present a case for the importance of obstetric violence’s ability for “epistemic rupture” in Australia (Chadwick [2021: “Breaking the Frame: Obstetric Violence and Epistemic Rupture.” Agenda 35 (3): 104-115
Gender and Society
Abstract: Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a pervasive harm disproportionately affecting Indigenous women and marginalised communities in Australia and across the globe. Despite the centrality of GBV in criminological research, limited attention has been paid to how it is taught in higher education. This article reflects on our experiences teaching GBV within criminology in Australia and the UK, drawing on feminist, queer, intersectional and decolonial frameworks. We argue that teaching GBV requires more than trauma-informed approaches, and highlight the importance of critically examining the politics of naming GBV, foregrounding marginalised voices, and situating GBV within broader structures of colonialism, heteropatriarchy and racial capitalism. We explore strategies for fostering inclusive and reflexive classrooms, such as flipped classroom design and embedding decolonial perspectives into curricula. Attention is also paid to the challenges of teaching GBV within neoliberal academic institutions and the need for reflexivity, particularly for educators from privileged groups.
Knowing or philosophizing? An epistemic injustice perspective on gender inequalities in academia
Gender and Education
Abstract: The underrepresentation of women professors signals the persistence of dynamics that inhibit women’s full participation in science. Using the lens of epistemic injustice, we highlight how gendered experiences of inequality are ‘unspeakable’. We focus on two women senior researchers from a medical science department at a Danish university whose interviews reveal how epistemic gaps manifest, showing how the women are unable or unwilling to express their experiences of gender inequality as unfairness and injustice. These gaps are shaped by contextual dynamics, including the postfeminist gender regime, the ideal researcher norm, the positivist research paradigm, and the meritocratic myth. We further mobilize ‘testimonial smothering’ to discuss how epistemic oppression may lead the women to self-silence, thereby reinforcing the status quo. The study highlights the need for adequate vocabulary that facilitates critical discussions about gender inequality which, in turn, may challenge the institutional and epistemic contexts that hamper these conversations.
(*My brief comment on this article is available on X here.)
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I'm so glad you picked The Judge!
It's one of my favourites, a very underrated film 🍿
Going to watch The Judge tonight