Debra W. Soh

Soh holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in psychology from York University in Toronto. Her dissertation was titled Functional and Structural Neuroimaging of Paraphilic Hypersexuality in Men, and her committee included Keith Schneider of York University and James Cantor of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.[3] During her graduate studies, Soh received the Michael Smith Foreign Research Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and York's Provost Dissertation Scholarship.[4]

While at York, she studied paraphilias, which are abnormal sexual preferences. Her research indicates that these are neurological conditions rather than learned behaviours.[5] A 2016 Cosmopolitan article highlighted some of Soh's findings and their implications for determining which men are likely to commit rape.[6]

Soh has written articles for Quillette, The Globe and Mail, New York magazine, Playboy, Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal.[4] She began hosting Quillette's Wrongspeak podcast with Jonathan Kay in May 2018.[2] Soh describes herself as a former feminist who later became disillusioned with the term.[7]

In a 2015 editorial, Soh criticized the prevalence of childhood gender transitions, advising parents and doctors to wait "until a child has reached cognitive maturity."[8] Soh's essay, which referenced gender non-conforming aspects of her own childhood, argued that "a social transition back to one's original gender role can be an emotionally difficult experience." David A. French characterized this as "an understatement."[9] Soh has also written against anti-conversion therapy laws that include both sexual orientation and gender identity, believing that such laws conflate the two and prevent legitimate therapeutic counselling for individuals with gender dysphoria.[10] She believes that the current societal view to allow for gender transition in childhood is mostly based on homophobia due to studies which show that many transgender children will desist and detransition in adolescence and early adulthood and come out as gay or lesbian.[11] Fellow Canadian academics Florence Ashley and Alexandre Baril disputed Soh's interpretation of these studies.[12]

Soh opposed the 2015 decision to close Toronto's gender identity clinic, which was known for beginning treatment after or during puberty in most cases.[13][14] A previous inquiry had put the clinic's chief physician, Kenneth Zucker, at odds with other gender dysphoria specialists who encourage social transitions at ages as young as three.[15] Critics of Soh on this matter have stated that hormones are prescribed after puberty according to the Endocrine Society guidelines.[16] The following year, Soh wrote an editorial which criticized CBC News for cancelling its airing of a British documentary that featured Zucker.[17]

In 2016, Soh spent a weekend documenting the furry fandom in order to dispel myths about the subculture being primarily sexual in nature.[18]

In August 2017, Soh wrote a column for The Globe and Mail and contributed to an article at Quillette defending engineer James Damore's memo "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber."[19][20] She continued to give interviews on the topic over the following year.[21] Soh was described as a member of the "intellectual dark web" by New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss.[22]

In April 2019, Soh supported a lawsuit by Nova Scotia resident Lorne Grabher against the Registrar of Motor Vehicles. The suit was filed to reinstate a license plate bearing Grabher's last name whose similarity to the phrase "grab her" had made it the subject of a complaint. Soh testified that the plate would not encourage any socially adjusted person to commit a violent act and opined that the government was "overreaching."[23][24]

On 4 August 2020, Soh published her first book, The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society.[25]

• Official website