wrt the podcast - Jane Clare Jones has written this up:
Given the corner he’d been backed into, it’s seriously commendable that Webb held his ground, despite Thorn pushing him over six, awkward, exchanges. Those committed to the belief in innate gender identity – while simultaneously denying that it is a belief, and hence that other people are entitled not to share it – will only interpret ideological non-compliance on this issue as “hatred of trans people,” and feel fully justified in punishing all detractors for their wickedness. As Webb tries to express to Thorn, there is no space for questioning gender identity ideology, or the way it leads to the affirmative treatment model practiced by Mermaids, that isn’t immediately assimilated to charges of “phobia.” In this rhetorical context, Webb could not honestly express what he believes about this issue. And, while I’m loathed to put words in his mouth, especially given the impossible corner he was backed into, everything we know about Robert Webb – particularly from his excellent 2017 memoir How Not To Be A Boy – suggests that he thinks social norms about masculinity and femininity are a load of oppressive, harmful nonsense.
thecritic.co.uk/owen-jones-vs-robert-webb/