Joe Rogan, I Would Love to Talk to You

You said something true in that clip. I want to build on it, and I want to do it on your show.

Mar 09, 2026

There is a clip going around of Joe Rogan talking about transgender people. He says some things that are wrong, some things that are genuinely complicated, and one thing that is absolutely right. I want to start with the thing he got right, because I think it matters more than anything else in that clip.

The One Thing Joe Got Right

Joe Rogan said this: “I genuinely think there are people that feel like they are in the wrong biological sex.” He said it plainly, without embarrassment, in the middle of a conversation that had already gone quite far in the other direction. That sentence is not a small thing. That is the clinical reality that a decade of my medical practice was built on. Those people are real. Their distress is real. The relief they feel when they are finally seen, finally heard, finally supported, is one of the most profound things I have ever witnessed as a doctor.

So Joe, if you are reading this, I want you to know that I am not here to argue with you. I am here because the conversation you are trying to have, the one about

safety and reality and complexity, is a conversation that needs a doctor in the room. I would very much like to be that doctor.

The Claim About Trans Shooters

Joe claimed that trans people are responsible for the majority of high school shootings in the United States. This is not true, and it is not a matter of opinion. The data does not support it. A small number of perpetrators of mass violence have been reported as transgender, and those cases have received enormous media attention, far disproportionate to the numbers. The overwhelming majority of gun violence in America is committed by cisgender men. Researchers and journalists who have examined this claim directly have found it to be false. Repeating it does real harm to a community that already faces disproportionate rates of violence, suicide, and exclusion.

Trans people are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators of it. That is a documented, replicated finding across multiple countries and multiple datasets. It matters that we say this clearly.

Autogynephilia: A Real Concept, Badly Misused

Joe introduced the concept of autogynephilia, which describes sexual arousal in some people associated with the idea of being a woman. It is a real phenomenon, described in the academic literature. Where Joe goes wrong is in using it as an explanation for transgender identity as a whole, and as a justification for treating all trans women as potential predators.

The autogynephilia model was proposed by Ray Blanchard in the 1980s and has been heavily contested in the decades since. Modern gender medicine does not use it as a classification system, and most contemporary researchers consider it an incomplete and often misleading framework. The evidence is that trans women are not, as a group, motivated by sexual gratification. They are motivated by the same things that drive all human beings: the need to be themselves, to be safe, and to live with dignity.

Creeps exist. Predators exist. They exist in every demographic. The answer to that is safeguarding, enforcement of laws that already exist, and support for survivors. The answer is not to treat an entire community as guilty by association.

Bathroom Safety: What the Evidence Actually Shows

The bathroom question has been studied. Researchers have looked at crime data in states that have inclusive bathroom policies versus those that do not, and they have found no increase in safety incidents in inclusive states. The feared wave of predatory men using trans protections as cover to access women’s spaces has not materialised. That is not a political statement; it is an empirical one.

What has been documented extensively is the harm done to trans people when they are denied access to facilities that match who they are. Trans women forced to use men’s bathrooms face significant risks. Trans men forced to use women’s bathrooms cause the kind of confusion and distress that people say they want to avoid. The current wave of bathroom restriction policies does not make women safer. It makes trans people less safe.

I want to have that conversation properly, with evidence, with kindness, and with respect for everyone’s concerns. I think Joe is capable of having it. I think his audience deserves to hear it.

Chromosomes Are Not the Simple Answer

Joe asked “What are your chromosomes?” as though it were the conversation-ending fact. As a doctor, I have to tell you that human biology is more complicated than that. Approximately one in a hundred people are intersex in some way, meaning their chromosomal, hormonal, or anatomical sex characteristics do not fit neatly into the binary model. There are people with XY chromosomes who are phenotypically female. There are people with XX chromosomes who are phenotypically male. Chromosomes matter enormously in genetics, and they are one of several biological factors that contribute to sex characteristics, but they are not a complete description of a human being.

None of this is fringe science. This is taught in medical schools. It is in the textbooks. The honest conversation about sex and gender has to include this complexity, not paper over it.

The Person Who Felt Compassion Was Right

There was a second voice in that clip. A man who had spoken to a transgender person, who had listened to their experience, and who said it “genuinely broke his heart.” He described compassion as his takeaway. Joe told him that was nice but not the point. I want to say, gently and directly: it was the point. Compassion is always the starting point for good medicine, good policy, and good human relationships. The man who felt something when he heard about someone being denied the basic dignity of a toilet at their own workplace was responding to a real injustice. His instinct was correct.

Joe, Come and Talk to Me

I am a doctor. I spent thirty years in medicine, including a decade specialising in gender care. I have sat with hundreds of trans patients, listened to their stories, assessed their needs, and prescribed their treatments. I lost my medical licence because I refused to deny care to people who needed it, and after six years of regulatory proceedings, my clinical approach was vindicated. I have been through the fire on this subject.

I am not a politician and I am not an activist, though I care deeply about the rights of the people I used to treat. I am a clinician who has looked at the evidence for decades and who wants to talk to people who have genuine questions about it. I think Joe Rogan has genuine questions. I think his audience does too.

So, Joe: I will come on your show. I will not lecture you. I will not be offended by hard questions. I will bring the evidence, I will bring my experience, and I will bring the stories of the real people whose lives hang on these conversations being had well rather than badly. I think we could make something genuinely important together. The invitation is open. All you have to do is say yes.

A Note to Everyone Watching

Whether or not Joe ever sees this piece, the conversation matters. Every time someone with a large platform shares misinformation about trans people, it has consequences in the real world. Trans young people hear it and feel less safe. Parents of trans children hear it and feel more afraid. Clinicians who provide gender-affirming care hear it and wonder whether their work will survive the political climate. We need better conversations, not louder ones. We need evidence, not anecdote. We need humanity, not performance.

I am here to offer all three. Share this piece with anyone who needs it. Let’s make the conversation better.

Dr Helen Webberley, Gender Specialist and Medical Educator

If this piece reached you at the right moment, share it with someone who needs it. The more people who are part of this conversation, the better it goes for everyone.

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