Rise of the Cosplaymanauts: The 272nd Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

This week in women: the UK Supreme Court declares that transwomen are not women, and women are lauded for putting on matching jumpsuits and being launched into space for a minute. In Britain, rapists can no longer pretend to be women; in the United States, we are asked to celebrate one of the oldest plays in the book—attractive woman attaches herself to wealthy man and attains power—and pretend that it represents female empowerment, while conveniently forgetting actually skilled women who have come before. Also: a hostage situation in Podcastistan: in which we explore the strange about-face of some prominent free speech warriors. Finally: the amazing institution that is Ralston College, whose themes are truth, freedom of inquiry, beauty, and fellowship.

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Thumbnail courtesy of Blue Origin.

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Mentioned in this episode:

How women won the gender wars, by Kathleen Stock: https://unherd.com/2025/04/how-women-won-the-gender-wars/

Rapists aren’t women in the UK: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/18/trans-rapists-can-no-longer-claim-to-be-women/

Federal contracts to SpaceX, ULA & Blue Origin: https://spacenews.com/spacex-ula-blue-origin-win-13-5-billion-in-u-s-military-launch-contracts-through-2029/

Best shot at space for Amanda Nguyen: https://www.thecut.com/article/amanda-nguyen-blue-origin-space-flight-controversy.html

MIT research team: https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/amanda-nguyen-carries-mit-research-projects-into-orbit/

Former NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, in Ebony: https://www.ebony.com/black-women-technology-nasa/

Douglas Murray in the New York Post: https://nypost.com/2025/04/17/opinion/douglas-murray-so-called-israel-hamas-ukraine-war-experts-spew-false-info-on-joe-rogans-podcast-there-has-to-be-a-standard/

Ralston College: https://www.ralston.ac

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 Hold Screen
00:05:26 Welcome
00:08:22 Sponsors: Timeline, ARMRA, Brain.fm
00:22:33 This Week in Women Part I: UK Supreme Court
01:00:45 This Week in Women Part II: Blue Origin’s Cosplaymanauts
01:55:14 Douglas Murray and Podcastistan
02:17:10 Ralston College: truth, freedom of inquiry, beauty, and fellowship
02:27:36 Closing