Reading the Rainbows – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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Reading the Rainbows

Heather Looy

Science

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/23d. Total Eps: 19

How do we navigate the bewildering and rapidly-changing rainbows of sexual and gender diversity, and the rainbows of responses to this diversity? In this podcast I guide you through the research and the stories in a spirit of curiosity, compassion, humility, and hospitality. The goal is to provide accessible and digestible information to support your own journeys through this landscape. Your host is Heather Looy (rhymes with boy), a professor of psychology at The King’s University, a Christian university in Edmonton, Canada.

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Apple

Data updated on 04/07/2026

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
08/06/2026
#92
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
07/06/2026
#73
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
21/04/2026
#93
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
20/04/2026
#74
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
19/04/2026
#58
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
18/04/2026
#40
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
12/04/2026
#93
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
11/04/2026
#90
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
10/04/2026
#75
🇨🇦 Canada - Social Sciences
09/04/2026
#60

Spotify

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Score global : 53%

Publication history

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8. Transgender Stories

Monday, August 25, 2025 • Duration 48:19

Transgender. These days just speaking the word can trigger intense emotional reactions. The topic has become a political hot potato. It's difficult to have a considered, thoughtful, evidence-based conversation about transgender. I invite you to take a deep, calming breath. We're going to take time to reflect on what the term transgender means and what experiences the word captures. In this episode, we start by listening. What do transgender persons say about their experience? What is it like to be transgender? We hear from Hannah and Gill, who generously and vulnerably share their journeys. In the spirit of humility, curiosity, and hospitality, let's listen.

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7. The Biology of Gender Identity

Episode 17

Thursday, May 8, 2025 • Duration 42:28

How do you know your gender? Is it something you learn from others? Something that is hardwired into your brain from the beginning? Is gender identity something tightly connected to to your biological sex, or can it vary independently of sex? These questions become concrete when someone's experience and expression of gender differs from what we expect. This episode, co-hosted by Jonathan Sieswerda, introduces the research into the biology and neuroscience of gender identity.

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6C. The Science of Sexual Orientation: How and How Should Research Affect our Attitudes?

Episode 16

Saturday, September 7, 2024 • Duration 15:53

We casually toss around words like "gay," "straight,", "bi," and "ace" and use them as touchstones or calls to arms in our culture wars around sexual diversity. We often act as if we all know and agree on what these terms mean. And regularly we bolster our own positions with claims about what "scientists say." So what do "scientists say" about sexual orientation? In this three-part series, I examine the challenges of defining what sexual orientation is for research purposes (part A), what the research tells us about the causes and consequences of variations in sexual orientation (part B), and both how and whether we can use this research as we engage in conversations around sexual diversity.

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6B. The Science of Sexual Orientation: What Does the Research Say?

Episode 15

Saturday, September 7, 2024 • Duration 34:11

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6A. The Science of Sexual Orientation: Defining the Phenomenon

Episode 14

Saturday, September 7, 2024 • Duration 21:11

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5C. Those Were the Days: Are Sex and Gender Binaries Real?

Episode 13

Sunday, July 28, 2024 • Duration 08:39

The theme to the 1970s sitcom All in the Family, "Those Were the Days," is a lament for a time when, supposedly, a clear sex and gender binary existed and everyone conformed: "Girls were girls and men were men." What does the science say about these binaries? Are they real? Universal? Unchanging? In this series of three episodes, I explore three common arguments in support of a binary view of sex and of gender: Sexual reproduction requires two sexes contributing in unique ways (Part A); there are obvious physical and behavioral differences between females and males (Part B); and human societies are built on a binary female/male foundation (Part C). What does the evidence say? Are these binaries indeed "facts of nature," and if so, to what extent?

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5B. Those Were the Days: Are Sex and Gender Binaries Real?

Episode 12

Sunday, July 28, 2024 • Duration 17:19

The theme to the 1970s sitcom All in the Family, "Those Were the Days," is a lament for a time when, supposedly, a clear sex and gender binary existed and everyone conformed: "Girls were girls and men were men." What does the science say about these binaries? Are they real? Universal? Unchanging? In this series of three episodes, I explore three common arguments in support of a binary view of sex and of gender: Sexual reproduction requires two sexes contributing in unique ways (Part A); there are obvious physical and behavioral differences between females and males (Part B); and human societies are built on a binary female/male foundation (Part C). What does the evidence say? Are these binaries indeed "facts of nature," and if so, to what extent?

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5A. Those Were the Days: Are Sex and Gender Binaries Real? Part 1

Episode 11

Sunday, July 28, 2024 • Duration 16:34

The theme to the 1970s sitcom All in the Family, "Those Were the Days," is a lament for a time when, supposedly, a clear sex and gender binary existed and everyone conformed: "Girls were girls and men were men." What does the science say about these binaries? Are they real? Universal? Unchanging? In this series of three episodes, I explore three common arguments in support of a binary view of sex and of gender: Sexual reproduction requires two sexes contributing in unique ways (Part A); there are obvious physical and behavioral differences between females and males (Part B); and human societies are built on a binary female/male foundation (Part C). What does the evidence say? Are these binaries indeed "facts of nature," and if so, to what extent?

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4B. It's Emotional! Holiness, Hospitality, Disgust, and Empathy Part 2

Episode 10

Sunday, July 28, 2024 • Duration 24:38

Conversations about sexual and gender diversity often become emotionally heated. Christians especially struggle with the apparent tensions between the call to holiness and the call to hospitality, and the emotions of disgust and empathy seem to pull us in opposing directions. In these two episodes, I explore the emotional psychology around disgust and empathy, which are strongly involved in our conversations about sexuality and gender. These emotions serve important functions, but how do we navigate them in ways that enable constructive dialogue and sustainable communities in the face of diversity? Can Jesus serve as a model for how to bring both holiness and hospitality together?

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4A. It's Emotional! Holiness, Hospitality, Disgust and Empathy Part 1

Episode 9

Sunday, July 28, 2024 • Duration 27:21

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Reading the Rainbows – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Reading the Rainbows – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify