Diana Fleischman

Diana Santos Fleischman is an evolutionary psychologist, eugenicist, pro-natalist, anti-vegan and utilitarian who promotes "genetic enhancement" (a euphemism for eugenics). She is a transphobe and supporter of polyamory/polygamy and human biodiversity (HBD). Fleischman was a speaker at the far-right pro-natalist Natal Conference in 2023.Natal Conference. natalism.org. She has written for Quillette and is the current podcast host for the far-right Aporia Magazine.Diana Fleischman. Quillette.About. Aporia Magazine.Aporia Magazine is known for promoting racism, see this article in The Guardian.
==Background==
Fleischman has German-Jewish ancestry on her father's side and was born in Brazil."We can't understand humans without recognising that we're animals" - Dr. Diana Fleischman - New Sentientist Conversation (Mar 5, 2021) Sentientism. She obtained a PhD in evolutionary psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and did postdoctoral research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of North Carolina Medical School at Chapel Hill.Diana Fleischman. battleofideas.org.uk. She was formerly (2011-2020) a lecturer in psychology at the University of Portsmouth, England.
She is currently a Research Assistant Professor of Psychology at University of New Mexico.Diana Fleischman. psych.unm.edu. In 2023, Fleischman on social media commented, "I left academia so I can say whatever I like here now".Diana Fleischman. twitter.com. Fleischman describes herself as "unabashedly utilitarian. "It comes from my experience with pleasure and pain, and then just extending that out with rationality and computation."Diana Fleischman and Geoffrey Miller – Interview. putanumonit.com.
Fleischman has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles on evolutionary psychology, animal ethics, eugenics and sex differences.https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ytlll-UAAAAJ&hl=en
==Views==
===Polygamory===
Dubbed the "Polyamorous Professors", Fleischman and her husband Geoffrey Miller are an openly polyamorous couple meaning they have romantic and/or sexual relationships with multiple partners at the same time.Tom, Ough. Psychologist Diana Fleischman on how to Train your Boyfriend. Prospect Magazine. July 19, 2023.https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/30-film-content/men-and-women-after-metoo/551-the-polyamorous-professors-diana-fleischman-geoffrey-miller Fleischman and Miller have discussed polyamory in numerous interviews and on podcasts.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRC6JYSbgsEhttps://convergingdialogues.substack.com/p/257-polyamory-and-eugenics-a-dialoguehttps://putanumonit.com/2019/07/08/diana-fleischman-and-geoffrey-miller-interview/https://breakupmonologues.wordpress.com/2019/04/05/the-breakup-monologues-season-2-episode-8-with-diana-fleischman-and-geoffrey-miller/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4D_Pr4xvuA 
An article on Fleischman in the Prospect Magazine (2023) notes:
===Polygamy===
Fleischman has defended polygamy (the practice of having more than one wife or husband at the same time).@sentientist: "absolutely, polygamy would make everyone so much more productive." Twitter (X). May 16, 2012.
===Eugenics===
Fleischman is a staunch proponent of eugenics.You're probably a eugenicist. dissentient.substack.com.Polyamory and Eugenics: A Dialogue with Diana Fleischman. convergingdialogues.substack.com. In 2021, Fleischman coauthored a paper, "Can ‘Eugenics’ be Defended?" with Jonathan Anomaly, Peter Singer and three other academics.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8321981/ In 2023, she authored a pro-eugenics article on her blog which was widely promoted on social media, "You're Probably a Eugenicist".You’re Probably a Eugenicist. realityslaststand.com. The article was republished by Colin Wright (a transphobehttps://www.transgendermap.com/politics/biology/colin-wright/ affiliated to the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine and Manhattan Institute). Flesichman's article was also crossposted on the Effective Altruism Forum.https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/PTCw5CJT7cE6Kx9ZR/most-people-endorse-some-form-of-eugenics She presented a talk on eugenics at an invite-only event named Hereticon in 2022. https://x.com/thecollegehill/status/1770897168884265384
She has discussed her views on eugenics and sex on Razib Khan's podcast.Diana Fleischman: evolution, sex and eugenics. player.fm. She is a self-described pro-natalist and consultant for an embryo-selection start-up and has been quoted as saying she only encourages "smart and conscientious people" to reproduce.‘Polyamorous’ scholar only encourages ‘smart and conscientious’ people to reproduce. thecollegefix.com.Meet the ‘elite’ couples breeding to save mankind. telegraph.co.uk.
Fleischman's and her coauthors ideas about eugenics have been criticised by academic Robert A. Wilson in his paper "Eugenics Offended".https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40592-021-00145-1https://philarchive.org/archive/WILEO-4v1
For her pro-eugenics writings — Fleischman has attracted a fan-base of neo-Nazis and white nationalists including Anatoly Karlin.https://archive.is/70PnK
===HBD===
Fleischman has supported human biodiversity (HBD) calling it "biologically sound" and argues for genetic racial differences.Diana S. Fleischman. podcastaddict.com. She supports the pseudoscientific racialist research of white nationalist Bo Winegard. Fleischman was flirting with HBD and positively referencing Winegard's writings on race as early as 2017.https://archive.is/tyeHb Her viewpoint on race and intelligence is harder to pin down, although she has retweeted race and IQ blog posts by hereditarians like Noah Carl.https://archive.is/P2mjY
===Pro-natalism===
Fleischman is a former anti-natalist who once believed human procreation is unethical but did a 180 degrees turn after changing her view on human overpopulation.https://archive.is/srpOdhttps://archive.is/keBwi She went from arguing there are too many humans to too few and she now believes the world is underpopulated. Her view changed sometime before July 2016 after watching a lecture by https://archive.is/5dTXH 
Flesichman has two daughters.https://archive.is/s06tP She has appeared on Simone and Malcolm Collins podcast "Based Camp" to discuss embryo selection and prenatal screening.The World is Falling Off the Rails (with Diana Fleischman). youtube.com.
She attended and spoke at the far-right Natal Conference in Austin, Texas with the Collinses, Jonathan Anomaly and many other controversial figures from the far-right including "Raw Egg Nationalist".
===Transphobia=== 
Fleischman has made unambiguously transphobic comments on social media and in interviews.https://www.transgendermap.com/politics/psychology/diana-fleischman/ One such example is her criticism and misrepresentation of being "pro-trans":
She claims that being transgender is "terrible for wellbeing".
===Immigration===
An immigrant to the US, Fleischman has described herself as "fairly pro-immigration".https://archive.is/1U4Qu Her support for immigration seems to be tied to her pro-natalism and the fact she encourages countries with low fertility rates to increase net-migration.https://archive.is/ZIloR Fleischman has made comments sympathetic to "open borders".https://archive.is/SZoZChttps://archive.is/cNYcN
===Pedophilia===
Based on 's writings, Fleischman has sympathy for pedophiles who do not engage in sex with children.https://archive.is/EK7FZhttps://archive.is/cgLPO
Fleischman has defended Milo Yiannopoulos from pedophilia accusations:
This is doubtful to say the least considering what Yiannopoulos actually said.https://web.archive.org/web/20170221011019/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/cpac-milo-yiannopoulos-pedophilia.html
==From ostrovegan to critic of veganism==
===Ostroveganism===
Fleischman experimented with flexitarianism before allegedly becoming a vegan at 27, having read Peter Singer's book in May 2008.https://web.archive.org/web/20130731050224/http://theveganoption.org/2011/09/18/about-diana/ However, her definition of veganism was controversial as she was eating bivalves.https://archive.is/0Drem This type of veganism has been termed ostroveganism.From the Latin word ostrea meaning oyster. An ostrovegan or bivalvegan is someone who abstains from eating all animal foods except bivalves (oysters, mussels, clams and scallops).
In 2013, Fleischman wrote a two part article on her blog titled "The Ethical Case for Eating Oysters and Mussels".https://web.archive.org/web/20130825082927/http://sentientist.org/2013/05/20/the-ethical-case-for-eating-oysters-and-mussels/https://web.archive.org/web/20130827105131/http://sentientist.org/2013/06/15/oystersmusselspt2/ Fleischman said she was eating mussels and oysters so identified as an ostrovegan.https://dianaverse.com/2020/04/07/bivalveganpart2/ Her main argument that it is ethical to eat oysters and mussels is based on her claim that bivalves do not feel pain and are therefore non-sentient:
Although Fleischman repeats this claim on her main website,https://www.dianafleischman.com/media it has been disputed. The moral philosopher Josh Milburn has categorized oysters as plausibly sentient non-human animals (NHAs) and has suggested that a precautionary principle is appropriate regarding their consumption.Milburn, Josh. "Not Only Humans Eat Meat: Companions, Sentience, and Vegan Politics." Journal of Social Philosophy 46, no. 4 (2016): 449-462 (PDF).
So-called ostroveganism is rejected by the majority in the vegan community as bivalves are classified as animals that possess ganglia.https://plantbasednews.org/culture/ethics/are-oysters-vegan/https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/animal-emotions/201006/vegans-and-oysters-if-you-eat-oysters-youre-not-vegan-so-why-thehttps://veganfta.com/2023/02/25/why-vegans-dont-eat-molluscs/ Only a minority have defended ostroveganism.https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/sep/27/are-oysters-vegan-kitchen-aide
Fleischman was banned from the vegetarian forum veggieviews in 2014 for promoting consumption of mussels.https://archive.is/9fGVa She has also supported insect farming, commenting "I think farmed insects might have a good life".https://archive.is/KZav6https://archive.is/C45ix
===Critic of veganism and vegetarianism===
Fleischman changed her diet and gave up ostroveganism in the late 2010s. She holds a utilitarian view on meat eating, she is not concerned with individual experience but the overall suffering footprint.Utilitarianism, sentientism, and reducing your suffering footprint with guest-host Diana FleischmanPractical Veganism- FAQs. dianaverse.com. "I’m a utilitarian – what I tried to do in the article was to figure out easier ways that people could minimize the suffering they cause with their demand than going vegan." In 2020, she wrote an article arguing that people could reduce their "suffering footprint" rather than going vegan by eating red meat and avoiding fish, eggs, and chicken:
 
Fleischman currently advocates an omnivorous diet and eats red meat and dairy herself,https://archive.is/EgBoxDiana Fleischman on veganism. nitter.net. now describing veganism as being "difficult" and vegans as being "very intolerant and purist".https://archive.is/AWVqF In another article critical of veganism, Fleischman goes on to bash vegans as "food purists" and says she became disillusioned with veganism because of their "black and white thinking".https://animalpeopleforum.org/2021/04/29/have-humans-evolved-to-harm-animals-an-interview-with-dr-diana-fleischman/
Fleischman does not tell people to stop eating meat but eat animals that have a less suffering footprint:
She has argued that eating beef is more ethical than eating chicken because it kills fewer animals per gram of meat.A new way of thinking about animal welfare She has commented that "animals don’t care whether we label ourselves vegetarian. I can help reduce suffering much more by convincing five people to give up chicken and fish than I can by convincing one person to become vegetarian."
Fleischman has described vegetarians as being "more neurotic, anxious and depressed than nonvegetarians".https://archive.is/bqjlQ
In a 2021 video, Fleischman and white nationalist Bo Winegard criticized vegans as virtue signallers and described vegans as the most hated group of people on the planet with drug addicts.Utilitarianism, sentientism, and reducing your suffering footprint with guest-host Diana Fleischman. youtube.com.
===In-vitro meat===
By the 2020s, Fleischman and co-author Jonathan Anomaly were supporting in vitro meat.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37656382/
Misleadingly, Anomaly and Fleishman in their article(s) do not mention the use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) in the production of in vitro meat.https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/03/lab-meat-fetal-bovine-serum-blood-slaughter-cultured/ The production of in vitro meat requires a growth agent to support cell growth which is usually foetal bovine serum obtained from the fetus of slaughtered pregnant cows.https://slate.com/technology/2017/07/the-gruesome-truth-about-lab-grown-meat.html
==Links to the far-right==
Despite her Jewish ancestry and pro-immigration outlook — Fleischman is connected to far-right and anti-immigration activists through her support for eugenics and pro-natalism. She has defended white nationalists and immigration-restrictionists attending the Natal Conference that she spoke at including defending white nationalist coverage of the conference by American Renaissance.https://archive.is/pHnCzhttps://archive.is/qEWSj
Fleischman is associated with the Aporia Magazine and hosts their podcast.https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/make-behaviourism-great-again-diana Aporia is edited by racialist Noah Carl (a self-described conservative) and white nationalist Bo Winegard. Winegard promotes on Aporia what he calls "white identity politics".https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/should-whites-embrace-white-identity She is a mutual follower on X of numerous far-right accounts including Richard Hanania and Emil Kirkegaard, as well as transphobes including Kathleen Stock.
==Wikipedia==
In September 2024, Fleischman complained after an anonymous editor added she "espouses eugenics" on her Wikipedia article.https://archive.is/HZCuY Despite being factual and sourced to her own statements, Fleischman's followers went on to remove this from her article.https://archive.is/Ggkzyhttps://archive.is/TlXnu
Fleischman has called herself as a eugenicist, co-wrote a paper defending eugenics with Jonathan Anomaly and spends much of her time defending it on YouTube podcasts and in blog posts.You're probably a eugenicist. dissentient.substack.com.Can ‘eugenics’ be defended?. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.Diana Fleischman: evolution, sex and eugenics. youtube.com. Polyamory and Eugenics: A Dialogue with Diana Fleischman. podcasts.apple.com.
==External links==
*Diana Fleischman vs. transgender people
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Aporia Magazine
Category:Living people
Category:Eugenics supporters
Category:Psychologists
Category:Quillette
Category:Transphobes