Ranger from the North

In the Wall Street Journal earlier this month, biologists Colin M. Wright and Emma N. Hilton discussed the results from what is perhaps the longest running experiment in human history, namely, determining the number of sexes/genders. Spoiler alert: there are two.

Key takeaway:

The time for politeness on this issue has passed. Biologists and medical professionals need to stand up for the empirical reality of biological sex. When authoritative scientific institutions ignore or deny empirical fact in the name of social accommodation, it is an egregious betrayal to the scientific community they represent. It undermines public trust in science, and it is dangerously harmful to those most vulnerable.

Via Jazz Shaw.

Tyler O'Neil:

Men and women have important biological differences. Duke Law School Professor Doriane Lambelet Coleman testified that biological males have an inherent athletic advantage over biological females due to the chemical makeup of their bodies. Segregating sports on the basis of biological sex provides "extraordinary value" by inspiring young girls that they can measure up to the records set by their fellow biological women.

Americans and others should sympathize with people who suffer with gender dysphoria (the persistent identification with the gender opposite their biological sex), but that does not mean everyone has to agree that socially-accepted transgender identity is the solution to these struggles. In fact, encouraging transgender identity, hormones, and surgery for this struggle is akin to encouraging a weight loss regimen for teen girls with anorexia. The transgender movement may do more harm than good.

When biological men claiming to identify as women compete in these sports, they destroy fair competition. They break records that biological women worked hard to set, and set new records that will be harder for biological women to break. Mary Gregory's weightlifting is impressive, but he is still a man and should not be allowed to set world records in women's sports.

All of this should be obvious to any thinking person.

Jazz Shaw:

Once states start drinking this particular Koolaid it's hard to kick the habit. But unless we're just going to throw out the science books entirely, it's at least worth the effort to try. Personally, I don't care what any adult wants to call themselves, but at least for purposes of law enforcement, we should have accurate public records, particularly when it comes to identification documents. Until someone can come up with a verifiable medical test to tell us if someone is transgender without asking them or to identify more than two, binary genders, this is all smoke and mirrors. And sooner or later we're going to run into serious reasons to regret it.

Jazz Shaw:

Twitter has apparently determined that even asking questions about the non-scientific idea that men can be women (and vice versa) based on nothing more than their feelings is hate speech. Even if we leave aside the problematic issue of defining anyone's opinions as hate speech and suppressing them, this really speaks to the hollowness of arguments in support of transgender activism. The entire purpose of science is to ask questions, conduct research, generate conclusions and have those conclusions challenged by one's peers.

When you have no answers to the challenges and instead respond by shutting down the ability of others to ask questions, that's basically the opposite of science. And the activists in question are not satisfied with simply getting Twitter to enforce their new "rules." They want the government to do so as well. So if you don’t see me on Twitter much in the near future, you can probably look for me on Gab or some other platform.

Jazz Shaw:

Unfortunately, whether we're talking about politics or the educational system, this is a repeating theme. Any discussions of transgender issues, down to the language people use to talk about it, is shielded from any scientific analysis or questions. Bringing up basic medical science is considered bigoted and people raising such questions are labeled "transphobic."  But if's the [sic] not the people asking the questions who are the ones paying the price. It’s the patients who are egged on by the media and social justice warriors.

Also from Mr. Shaw:

This trend of blithely accepting men who identify as women to compete in women's sporting events is bad for actual women and undercuts their work and achievements. But it's also bad for society as a whole, as it undermines basic science while ignoring the issues of people who are very likely in need of serious emotional and mental health support.

John Hinderaker:

I got excited when I heard that all across the country, activists would be "marching for science" today. Promoting, no doubt, information about X and Y chromosomes and the fact that–scientifically speaking–there are only two genders.

Just kidding.

Jazz Shaw:

These shouldn't be complicated questions if we simply stick to basic and well established medical science. With the exception of a tiny fraction of the population who are born with particular genetic anomalies, there are two genders. They are determined pretty much at conception. It's also true that the state of mental health care in our country is far from ideal and a lot more could be done to treat and hopefully cure people suffering from gender dysphoria. But under the SJW redefinition of gender, the medical profession is being dragged down some dark and very unscientific pathways. 

Dr. Paul McHugh:

What is needed now is public clamor for coherent science – biological and therapeutic science – examining the real effects of these efforts to "support" transgendering.  Although much is made of a rare "intersex" individual, no evidence supports the claim that people such as Bruce Jenner have a biological source for their transgender assumptions.  Plenty of evidence demonstrates that with him and most others, transgendering is a psychological rather than a biological matter.

In fact, gender dysphoria – the official psychiatric term for feeling oneself to be of the opposite sex – belongs in the family of similarly disordered assumptions about the body, such as anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder.  Its treatment should not be directed at the body as with surgery and hormones any more than one treats obesity-fearing anorexic patients with liposuction.  The treatment should strive to correct the false, problematic nature of the assumption and to resolve the psychosocial conflicts provoking it.  With youngsters, this is best done in family therapy.

The larger issue is the meme itself.  The idea that one's sex is fluid and a matter open to choice runs unquestioned through our culture and is reflected everywhere in the media, the theater, the classroom, and in many medical clinics.  It has taken on cult-like features: its own special lingo, internet chat rooms providing slick answers to new recruits, and clubs for easy access to dresses and styles supporting the sex change.  It is doing much damage to families, adolescents, and children and should be confronted as an opinion without biological foundation wherever it emerges.

But gird your loins if you would confront this matter.  Hell hath no fury like a vested interest masquerading as a moral principle.

Hat tip to Jazz Shaw.

Steven Hayward has a small sample of images and tweets from last weekend's "March for Science" here.  A few examples from the science appropriators...


No, they're not.  Of course, these people believe that "gender studies" is an actual science, so bulls#%t like this isn't surprising.


No, it's not.  Questions for the "science" marchers: How many human genders are there?  What determines human gender?

Jazz Shaw:

Just this morning I was watching a report on CNN which included an interview with the mother of a four-year-old "transgender boy" who was complaining loudly about the new White House policy. In case you missed that, allow me to repeat. A four year old child. Who in their right mind thinks that a four-year-old is in a position to make that sort of decision? This is a liberal activist mother who is setting up her daughter for a lifetime of confusion and very likely an extended and expensive stint on a psychiatrist’s couch.

And David French:

Not long ago, if school policies purposefully exposed girls to male genitals, they’d be subject to a backbreaking sexual harassment lawsuit. Suddenly, however, "tolerance" looks a lot like indecent exposure, and indecent exposure is what freedom looks like. This is beyond strange. I’m certain Cuomo would still object to a member of the football team walking straight into a girl’s locker room and disrobing, but he not only doesn’t object to the exact same anatomical features if they’re attached to a trans "girl," he condems [sic] those who feel uncomfortable.