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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · 22d

Revisions of paper this week!

Findings:
⭕Youth's life satisfaction declined during #COVID school closures
⭕Conflict with parents➡️steeper decline
⭕Warmth from #parents was protective, especially for youth with migration background & (pre)vocationally educated parents

#psy #science #devpsy #socpsy

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · 28d

🌈The Tweede Kamer voted for a ban on #ConversionTherapy

✔️There is no #science support and it causes major #psych damage, particularly among youth

⚠️However: People can still undergo it 'voluntarily' and the ban still allows to push for 'caution' or 'reflection' ➡️ it can secretly continue

#lgbt

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Sep 8

🤹Meet my personalities during one week of conference in Vilnius

Council member:
⏩Two meetings working on #diversity and inclusion in #devpsy
⏩Two presentations

Communication officer:
⏩Manage social media of #EADP

Scientist:
⏩Two symposium talks on #nonbinary youth

Friend:
⏩The one I failed😢❤️

Reposted by Dr. Jessie Hillekens

Yasin Koc @spyasin.bsky.social · Sep 4

While academic associations are supposed to represent us, they fail to do so and keep showing hypocrisy. Here is a petition to ISPP demanding recognition of the genocide and ending scholasticide and complicity in Palestine. Hold them accountable. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Petition: Demanding recognition of the genocide and ending scholasticide and complicity in Palestine

Esteemed colleagues, We, the undersigned academics and scholars — including current and former members of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) as well as colleagues working in poli...

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Dr. Jessie Hillekens

Samenleving & Politiek @sampolmaandblad.bsky.social · Sep 5

Hoe kan een partij die zelf de grootste regeringspartner was, verantwoordelijkheid droeg voor het gevoerde beleid én de val, en zelfs de minister van Asiel en Migratie leverde, zich nu weer presenteren als de redder in nood?

@lcjacobs89.bsky.social zoekt het uit 👇
www.sampol.be/2025/09/de-e...

De electorale immuniteit van Wilders

Hoe kan een partij die zelf de grootste regeringspartner was, medeverantwoordelijkheid droeg voor het gevoerde beleid én de val, en nota bene zelfs de minister van Asiel en Migratie leverde, zich nu w...

www.sampol.be

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Aug 21

In Potsdam, Germany this week for the #CDME2025 conference, presenting our newest research! Key findings🔽

#Nonbinary youth:
1️⃣ not “woke” or elitist
2️⃣ face more exclusion from teachers & peers, undermining mental health.

Next stop: #ECDP2025 in Vilnius!

#psych #devpsy #enby

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Aug 11

Wilders' image is harmful as it dehumanizes Muslims.

Dehumanization strips away individuality and #empathy, so that harm & violence feel justified - a tactic used in #propaganda throughout history.

What to do?
💡Build empathy
💡Inclusive 'us' instead of 'them'
💡Reject hateful imagery

#psy #science

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Jun 20

What a day! From introducing kids who normally have little contact with the university to #science and breaking some #stereotypes of who can be a researcher with them 🧒 to my first TV interview on academic freedom & pressure on #diversity research 🎥 Watch on the news of Omroep Brabant tonight!

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 10

📢Evidence vs. Ego (30/30)

❌ “This cabinet is not racist.”

#Science:

#Racism = systemic harm based on ethnicity, such as #exclusion, unequal chances, and hate.

📌 Much like their policy….
A PM ruling for a man convicted of racism? Not convincing.

#psych #equality #HumanRights

Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 9

📢Evidence vs. Ego (29/30)
❌“Why does #diversity have to be in my face all the time?”

#science:
Well, it’s not. #Black and #LGBTQIA+ characters in movies get less screen time, and even then they’re often stereotypes.
📊 Real #representation is still rare

Visibility ≠ #equality

#LGBT #BLM #psych

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 8

📢Evidence vs. Ego (28/30)
❌“Transwomen shouldn't play women’s sports”

#science
📊No advantage after 1-2 years of gender-affirming hormone therapy
📉Trans athletes are underrepresented
⚠️It's about controlling women’s bodies - #trans and cis - and part of a broader anti-trans lobby
#TransRights #LGBT

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 7

📢Evidence vs. Ego (27/30)
❌“ #Muslims are anti- #LGBTQIA+”

#science:
📌 Religiosity matters more than religion
📌 #Inclusion promotes progressive attitudes

So spreading hate fuels the very conservatism they claim to oppose
Hypocrisy, especially when also aligning with anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric
#lgbt

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 6

📢Evidence vs. Ego (26/30)
❌“The #immigration policies of minister Faber already work”

Immigration #science:
- Push factor: why people leave
- Pull factor: why people come

📉Push factors play a role in 74% of cases
📌Fewer asylum applications? The dictatorial regime in #syria fell (=push)

#psych

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Reposted by Dr. Jessie Hillekens

moin syed @syeducation.bsky.social · May 5

Recently did the annual walk through of our totally normal publishing system for my undergraduate research methods students. Never fails to boggle their minds.

a slide showing the ridiculous process of publishing a journal article, highlighting how universities both pay for the work to be done and then pay to access the work.

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 5

📢Evidence vs. Ego (25/30)
❌“It is democratic because we were elected.”

🕊️ #LiberationDay special: Being elected ≠ act democratically.

#Democracy isn’t just majority vote, but freedom, #equality & protecting minority rights

Criticizing exclusion isn’t anti-democracy. It’s defending it.
#HumanRights

Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 4

📢Evidence vs. Ego (24/30)
❌ “ #Education should be politically neutral.”

📚 Often code for ignoring #diversity.

But these approaches backfire.

📉 They worsen #inequality by ignoring structural barriers.

🔁 What works? Inclusive and equal education that values diversity.

#psych #science

Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 3

📢Evidence vs. Ego (23/30)
❌ “Nonbinary identities are a phase.”

#science:
📊 They aren’t. Once #nonbinary youth learn it’s an option, they recognize themselves and don’t “go back” to binary option anymore.

Being #trans or #nonbinary is not a phase.

#enby #TransRights #psych #LGBT #LGBTQIA+

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 2

📢Evidence vs. Ego (22/30)
❌ “You can’t say anything anymore.”

Well, you can. But freedom of speech isn’t a free pass to say harmful things without consequence.

It protects your right to speak, but also others’ right to call it out.

#FreedomOfSpeech #Inequality #Democracy #discrimination #psych

Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · May 1

📢Evidence vs. Ego (21/30)
❌ “Inclusive sex education is bad for kids.”

📚 Inclusive sex ed causes panic on the far-right. “Let kids be kids!”, Wilders claims.

#science:
1️ You can’t “make kids #queer”
2️ It improves mental health for #LGBTQIA+ youth
3️ It fosters #inclusion by peers

#psych #LGBT

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Reposted by Dr. Jessie Hillekens

Dominique Maciejewski 🟥 @domimaciejewski.bsky.social · Apr 30

Please help to protect Dutch academia! The universities threaten to cut international psychology programs which would be devastating not only in the Netherlands but worldwide!

#supportdutchpsychology

openletter.earth/against-lang...

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Apr 30

📢Evidence vs. Ego (20/30)
❌“Nonbinary identities are woke and elitist”

🌈Nope, exactly the opposite

📊Our study across 3 datasets, 2 countries (!) found #nonbinary youth were more likely to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds & have a migration background

#science #enby #LGBTQIA+ #TransRights

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Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Apr 29

📢Evidence vs. Ego (19/30)
❌“The people want this”

🔍A classic far-right line, but who are “the people"?And who aren't?

📌 #Populism paints one group with one opinion

⚠️Often used to pit “the people” against “the elite” to silence other opinions and target #Muslims or #LGBTQIA+ folks

#psych #science

Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Apr 28

📢Evidence vs. Ego (18/30)
❌ “Muslims undermine #womensrights”

🔍 #science:
🧠 Views on gender roles are similar to other Dutch people, except around sexual norms (linked to religiosity, not religion)

⚠️ While far-right politicians blame #Muslims, they push more conservative norms

#immigration #psych

Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Apr 27

📢Evidence vs. Ego (17/30)

❌ “Students should speak only Dutch in school.”

Nationalist policies in Dutch #education to ‘boost performance’:
📌 Headscarf bans
📌 Dutch-only

#Science:
📚 #Multilingualism helps learning.
🚫 These policies undermine learning.
🧩 Want success? Embrace #diversity.

#psych

Dr. Jessie Hillekens @jessiehillekens.bsky.social · Apr 26

📢Evidence vs. Ego (16/30)
❌ “ #LGBTQIA+ people can be cured”

#Science:
🧠 #Queer identities are formed in the womb
📉 No science supports “curing.”
💔 Stigma causes harm.

⚠️ Yet, 3 of 4 Dutch ruling parties voted against a ban on #ConversionTherapy to ‘cure’ LGBTQIA+ people

#TransRights #psych #LGBT

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