There's no weekly newsletter this week because I've been travelling to Belfast and Amsterdam for TERF-related activities (see below), so here's an interview I did with one of Germany's fiercest warriors against the forces of gender irrationality, Rona Duwe. Rona was sued by a psychotherapist called Sabine Maur because she shared a video in which Maur could be seen telling fellow mental health professionals how to fiddle with insurance forms so that 'gender-affirming' mastectomies get reimbursed for women claiming to be 'non-binary'. While female-to-male breast removal is considered totally sane in Germany, breast removal for female-to-non-binary is not, which is bizarre, to be fair, because neither of these things is actually real. The Maur video was not originally shared by Rona, but she did share it once it was already online. Rona also made comments on Maur's dubious practices. Because she is a known (and much-hated) entity in German feminist/queer circles, Rona was the one who was pursued in court for this already-public video. In the interview we get into the details of what went down during the legal proceedings, and we also talked about Rona's strategy of being gloriously defiant. Like a growing number of women being hounded over this trans nonsense, Rona has decided to take on her detractors rather than slinking away in fear and silence. You love to see it. "Did you consider coming out in defence of those women?" Meanwhile, I spent 24 hours in Belfast on Tuesday in order to cover the Women's Rights Network Northern Ireland non-reinstated Féile and Phobail event. If you missed all that and you have no idea what I'm talking about, I recommend you read this article by Helen Joyce and my running thread of the conference content. Bonus: enjoy this awkward confrontation between myself and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, neo-Laundry Nun Ailbhe Smyth (prolific Irish prawn sandwich brigadier feminist), and even the brand new Lord Mayor of Belfast. @sinnfeinireland) about the exclusion of Women's Rights Network Northern Ireland from this year's Féile festival in West Belfast. @ni_wrn ","username":"RoisinMichaux","name":"Róisín Michaux","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/2057428507693666304/Bb4VKDB3_normal.jpg","date":"2026-08-05T00:53:26.000Z","photos":[{"img_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!065p!,w_1028,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best,fl_progressive:steep/l_play_button_usfui2,w_88,e_colorize:0/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F__ss-rehost__tw-video-preview-13_2084804026932031488.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/uH2IDd4q41"}],"quoted_tweet":{},"reply_count":299,"retweet_count":457,"like_count":1963,"impression_count":344492,"expanded_url":null,"video_url":"https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2084804026932031488/vid/avc1/720x1280/Vm5-XdHYNqSBsIOt.mp4","video_preview_media_key":"13_2084804026932031488","belowTheFold":false}"> Róisín Michaux@RoisinMichaux "Did you consider coming out in defence of those women, at all?" I asked Mary Lou McDonald and the Lord Mayor of Belfast (both of @sinnfeinireland) about the exclusion of Women's Rights Network Northern Ireland from this year's Féile festival in West Belfast. @ni_wrn 2:53 AM · Aug 5, 2026 · 344K Views 299 Replies · 457 Reposts · 1.96K Likes After a whirlwind few hours in Belfast, I had an hour or two's worth of kip on Dublin Airport floor before heading to Amsterdam to attend (incognito) the World Pride Human Rights Conference 2026. The event confirmed all my priors: it was never about gays, and always about AIDS, and you can tell because thanks to funding cuts, gay activism is going back to being about public health. It will be less and less about the warm-and-fuzzy human rights as the funding pot shrinks. One UNDP attendee accused the Global Fund of abandoning 'the community' to become more like a "commodities fund" (the commodities being HIV drugs and medical infrastructure). This was inevitable. Also, gay is trans in the places in the world where HIV is worst, which is why western countries who invest in AIDS work are so desperate to 'affirm' the homophobic 'third genders' in these places. If that's confusing, listen to my interview about it with Stephanie Winn from a few weeks back. I asked a Pakistani 'trans woman' point-blank: if it was ok to be a gay man in Pakistan, would there be fewer Hijras or whatever these men are called over there? Oh yeah, he said emphatically, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then I asked a senior Dutch diplomat if he could see how reinforcing these 'half man' identities is just a different kind of homophobia, and that by celebrating all these third genders — as part of Western donors' effort not to appear all colonial — they could perhaps be making things worse? He literally did a massive shrug and wished me a good day. Finally, I spoke to Luke Sheehan for the Irish podcast Cassandra Voices a few weeks back and the episode has just gone online. I did a lot of hyperactive waffling about how the EU works, and we also talked about Irish culture generally and why we're so susceptible to woke cultism. Podcast: On Europe, Gender and Sh*tposting with Róisín Michaux I'll be publishing a backlog of podcast episodes over the next week or two, and some other bits and pieces. If you like/appreciate my work, I can only keep going with your support. Please share this newsletter with someone you think might like it, upgrade to a paid subscription if you're on a gratos plan, or donate to my PayPal below. Every little helps. Thanks bud. Make a donation Show notes (AI generated) In this episode of Peaked, Róisín Michaux speaks with German feminist activist Rona Duwe about Germany's rapidly changing gender identity landscape, her legal battle involving psychotherapist Sabine Maur, and the wider implications for women's rights, medical ethics, freedom of expression, and public policy. The discussion examines Germany's conversion therapy legislation, gender medicine for minors, the role of the German Psychotherapists Chamber, health insurance reimbursement for gender-related treatments, freedom of speech, investigative journalism, self-identification laws, prison policies, and feminist activism. Rona also discusses her ongoing projects documenting gender-related cases across Germany, her legal victories, and how public support for gender-critical voices has evolved in recent years. Featured Topics Germany's Self-Determination Act Conversion Therapy Ban Sabine Maur legal case German Psychotherapists Chamber Gender medicine for minors Health insurance reimbursement Non-binary medical interventions Medical ethics Freedom of expression Investigative journalism Women's rights under Article 3 of the German Constitution Women's prisons Public activism in Germany Sabine Maur Former Vice President of the German Psychotherapists Chamber. Instagram The episode centers on legal proceedings following Rona's criticism of Maur's role in developing treatment guidelines for minors and allegations relating to a webinar discussing insurance reimbursement for non-binary medical interventions. Alice Schwarzer Germany's best-known feminist and founder of Emma Magazine. Official Website https://www.emma.de/ Genevieve Gluck Investigative journalist for Reduxx, referenced during the discussion of Germany's historical relationship with gender ideology. Reduxx https://reduxx.info/ Magnus Hirschfeld German physician and sexologist whose early work on sexuality and transgender medicine is discussed in relation to Germany's historical background. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Hirschfeld Günter Wallraff Germany's most famous undercover investigative journalist. Referenced when discussing how the court compared Rona's reporting to investigative journalism conducted in the public interest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnter_Wallraff Marie-Luise Vollbrecht German biologist referenced while discussing the changing public atmosphere surrounding gender-critical speech in Germany. https://cne.news/article/3976-conservative-biologist-wins-court-case-over-gender-view Frauenheldinnen Women's rights organization supporting legal campaigns and crowdfunding related to Rona's case. https://frauenheldinnen.de/ Was ist eine Frau? Campaign website documenting gender-related cases across Germany. Website https://was-ist-eine-frau.de/ Interactive Case Map https://was-ist-eine-frau.de/nur-ein-einzelfall/ WPATH World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Referenced during discussion of international treatment guidelines. https://www.wpath.org/ Emma Magazine German feminist magazine founded by Alice Schwarzer. https://www.emma.de/ Laws & Policies German Self-Determination Act Germany's legislation allowing legal change of sex without previous legal requirements. https://www.bmj.de/ German Conversion Therapy Ban Discussed throughout the episode in relation to psychotherapy and gender identity treatment. https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/ Article 3 — German Basic Law The discussion covers proposals to include "sexual identity" alongside sex protections in Germany's Constitution. English text https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/ Medical Topics Johns Hopkins – Metoidioplasty https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/metoidioplasty-for-gender-affirming-care Cleveland Clinic – Phalloplasty https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/procedures/21585-phalloplasty Companies Discussed GenderGP Referenced during discussion of cross-border hormone prescribing. https://www.gendergp.com/ Imago Referenced during discussion of online European hormone services. https://i
