“The System is fundamentally flawed”, a phrase regularly used to describe the Academic journal system. Throughout all history it seems that lying and deceiving in the pursuit of power and so we create systems that give the illusion of democratisation but allow us to reinforce our own ideas and biases; Think Parliament, The electoral college, Liberal democracy as a whole, and the Academic Journals I’m thinking about sit in this same space.

I’m thinking about this because yesterday (03/04/26) I explored the way we use these systems to gain influence and power over others.
Medusa.is.a.heroin (instagram) is a relatively unknown yet persistent blog dedicated to analytically engaging with TERF ideas and science, because of this I feel drawn to the account despite their consistent use of pejorative language towards trans people, the account serves as a useful repository of the current ideas and ideology of the intellectual TERF.

Yesterday (03/04/26) they shared a paper “Transgender Homicides in Britain, 2000-2025 and Perpetrators" by Michael Briggs of Oxford University. The paper tabulates reports of trans people as victims and perpetrators of homicide with the intention of “finding” trends. Reasonable weekend science, however the systems designed to highlight the biases built into the system not only highlight possible bad science they act a beacon to those who wish to use the system for their own gain. In this example Professor Briggs is a trustee of the “charity” Sex Matters on paper as of April 2024 but listed as a board member on their website as early as October 2023. (A willingness to manipulate systems built for accountability is implied)

Searching through Briggs Previous works something immediately stands out Previous to 2018 Briggs work was incredibly broad but post 2018 Briggs begins to focus on sex and gender, his first work on the subject being an article for the blog 4thWaveNow a blog created in 2015 in response to her trans sons transition which she blames on social media. For those within the field 2018 stands out as a prominent date, 2018 being the year the mainstream media latches onto a concept and field of study called “Sudden onset Gender Identity Disorder” and suddenly it feels like the whole media institution wants to talk about this issue and trans people as a topic.

What I'm alluding to is a phenomenon that's larger than this specific topic, but within this topic arguably started with Dr Debra Soh.
What happens is a scientist will be investigating a controversial and/or politically influential field, their work will get picked up by a politically motivated media outlet or thinktank and they will give them resources to pursue that field and so begins the cycle of bad politically influenced science in one of two directions; continuing your studies in the traditional academic setting working in university and taking funding or taking a position with a media company and becoming a celebrity scientist.