Megan McArdle / “Jane Galt” vs. transgender people

Megan McArdle is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. McArdle is a key historical figure in the oppression of trans and gender diverse youth.

McArdle is the central figure in the Washington Post opinion section’s shift to anti-trans positions during the 2020s.

Background

Megan J. McArdle was born January 29, 1973. McArdle earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in 2001.

McArdle blogged under the name “Jane Galt” at Asymmetrical Information:

McArdle has something of a contrarian streak. She’s the “black sheep” of her “rabid Democrat” family. She took her pseudonym from the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged, solely to irk a frequent commenter on a New York Times Internet forum who smeared anyone to the “right of Chairman Mao” as a “Randroid.”

McArdle authored the 2014 book The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success.

McArdle is married to Peter Suderman (born September 30, 1981), who ran the blog alarm-alarm.com. Suderman writes for Reason and previously worked for National Review, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, FreedomWorks, Doublethink, and Culture11.

McArdle has described distress from being personally misgendered: “I’m 6-foot-2, tall enough that distracted store clerks often call me “sir,” a fact that caused me great distress as a young woman.”

Anti-trans activism

McArdle began getting involved in anti-trans activism in 2018, after friend Jesse Singal published When a Child Says She’s Trans in The Atlantic. After promoting Singal in the Washington Post, McArdle has gone on to live events with Singal.

McArdle has since written dozens of pieces about trans issues in the Washington Post. McArdle has promoted and uplifted many anti-trans voices, including J.K. Rowling, Kat Rosenfield, River Page, Conor Friedersdorf, Leigh Stein, Hilary Cass, and Riittakerttu Kaltiala.

McArdle is the key figure on the Washington Post editorial board during their shift to attacking trans healthcare.

Podcast

In October 2025, McArdle launched the podcast Central Air with Josh Barro and Ben Dreyfuss.

Jerusalem Desmas
Ross Douthat
Liam Kerr
Steve Morris
Nate Silver
Peter Suderman
Matthew Yglesias

References

Urquhart, Evan (February 2, 2023). Megan McArdle Wants Child Abuse to Be Simple. Assigned https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/8yq09oito2gagnigwd4uqussnmkn6w

Staff report (June 11, 2010). Megan McArdle, Peter Suderman. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/fashion/weddings/13mcardle.html

Miller, Cheryl (April 15, 2007) What’s Your Story? America’s Future https://americasfuture.org/whats-your-story/

Selected writing by McArdle

McArdle, Megan (February 6, 2026). Opinion: The transgender orthodoxy is cracking. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/06/transgender-children-malpractice-plastic-surgery-lawsuit/

McArdle, Megan (January 17, 2026). Opinion: The gaping hole in the transgender sports case. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/01/17/transgender-sports-supreme-court/

McArdle, Megan (October 13, 2025). Opinion | Two Supreme Court cases, one unasked question about trans kids. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/13/gender-conversion-therapy-supreme-court/

McArdle, Megan (June 21, 2025). The ACLU bet big on a trans rights case. Its loss was predictable. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/21/supreme-court-youth-gender-transition-ban/

McArdle, Megan (June 8, 2025). Opinion | The Bluesky bubble hurts liberals and their causes. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/08/blue-sky-twitter-liberals/

McArdle, Megan (December 6, 2024). Civil rights isn’t the right framework for assessing many trans issues. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/06/transgender-rights-skrmetti-supreme-court-tennessee/

McArdle, Megan (October 23, 2024). Trump’s ads on trans issues are effective. Harris has herself to blame. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/23/harris-trump-transgender-ads/

McArdle, Megan (July 2, 2024). Opinion | The crucial questions about gender care are not political or legal. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/02/transgender-medicine-scientific-legal-political-children/

McArdle, Megan (March 8, 2024. When treating transgender youth, how informed is informed consent? Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/08/transgender-medicine-report-evidence/

McArdle, Megan (October 13, 2023). Opinion | Canceling is wrong no matter how bad the speech. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/13/hamas-israel-cancel-culture-students-speech/

McArdle, Megan (May 2, 2023). Opinion: Missouri’s effort to limit gender treatments for adults is a bad idea. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/02/missouri-transgender-medical-limits-bad-idea/

McArdle, Megan (April 21, 2023). Opinion: For conservatives, Dylan Mulvaney should be a role model. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/21/dylan-mulvaney-bud-light-trans-conservatives/

McArdle, Megan (February 2, 2023). Opinion: When kids consider transitioning, parents need to be involved. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/02/kids-transitioning-parents-debate/

McArdle, Megan (May 5, 2022). Can the women’s movement be as effective without the word ‘women’? Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/05/pregnant-people-womens-rights-roe/

McArdle, Megan (March 23, 2022). The key question raised by Lia Thomas’s swimming success: What is the purpose of women’s sports? Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/23/lia-thomas-trans-swimmer-ncaas-fairness-inclusion/

McArdle, Megan (February 24, 2022 ). Opinion: Don’t forget the other women swimming against Lia Thomas. [alt title: Don’t forget the other women in the pool]. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/24/lia-thomas-ivy-league-swimming-championships/

McArdle, Megan (February 10, 2022). The Joe Rogan case is the latest example of how ‘deplatforming’ doesn’t work. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/10/joe-rogan-case-is-latest-example-how-deplatforming-doesnt-work/

McArdle, Megan (February 3, 2022). What the outrage machine costs us all. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/03/georgetown-law-twitter-controversy-consequences/

McArdle, Megan (January 13, 2022). Opinion: We need to be able to talk about trans athletes and women’s sports. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/13/trans-women-sports-uncomfortable-questions/

McArdle, Megan (December 10, 2021). The debate over ‘Latinx’ highlights a broader problem for Democrats. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/10/debate-over-latinx-highlights-broader-problem-democrats/

McArdle, Megan (November 12, 2021). The University of Austin founders’ challenge: Creating a college from another time. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/12/university-austin-founders-challenge-creating-college-another-time/

McArdle, Megan (April 28, 2021). Substack wants to disrupt reading habits. Will its newsletters upend newspapers? Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/substack-wants-to-disrupt-reading-habits-will-its-newsletters-upend-newspapers/2021/04/27/1d1a20ea-a797-11eb-8d25-7b30e74923ea_story.html

McArdle, Megan (January 12, 2021). Why we should be frightened by tech companies’ censoring of conservatives. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-we-should-be-frightened-by-tech-companies-censoring-of-conservatives/2021/01/12/e9da7ce2-5512-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html

McArdle, Megan (July 10, 2020). Opinion: The real problem with ‘cancel culture.’ Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/10/real-problem-with-cancel-culture/

McArdle, Megan (January 7, 2020). Ricky Gervais teaches Hollywood what speaking truth to power really means. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ricky-gervais-teaches-hollywood-what-speaking-truth-to-power-really-means/2020/01/07/be97df72-3185-11ea-91fd-82d4e04a3fac_story.html

McArdle, Megan (January 3, 2020). Our online rage is making us worse human beings. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/03/our-online-rage-is-making-us-worse-human-beings/

McArdle, Megan (December 31, 2019). Has J.K. Rowling figured out a way to break our cancel culture? Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/has-jk-rowling-figured-out-a-way-to-break-our-cancel-culture/2019/12/31/10798748-2bf3-11ea-bcb3-ac6482c4a92f_story.html

McArdle, Megan (September 10, 2019). Why conservatives feel threatened by the illiberal left. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-conservatives-feel-threatened-by-the-illiberal-left/2019/09/10/8b41edc6-d40a-11e9-86ac-0f250cc91758_story.html

McArdle, Megan (July 24, 2018). People are getting fired for old bad tweets. Here’s how to fix it. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-need-a-statute-of-limitations-on-bad-tweets/2018/07/24/a84e335c-8f7d-11e8-b769-e3fff17f0689_story.html

McArdle, Megan (June 26, 2018). The ACLU’s divided heart. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/06/26/the-aclus-divided-heart/

McArdle, Megan (June 19, 2018). Opinion: Who should we listen to on gender dysphoric children? Everyone. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/who-should-we-listen-to-on-gender-dysphoric-children-everyone/2018/06/19/a62f8882-73fd-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html

McArdle, Megan (May 10, 2018). What is the greatest threat to free speech on campus? Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/05/10/what-is-the-greatest-threat-to-free-speech-on-campus/