{"id":62499,"date":"2021-03-25T10:52:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T14:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=62499"},"modified":"2021-03-25T11:52:48","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T15:52:48","slug":"understanding-sex-and-genderpart-four-when-science-becomes-non-binary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/understanding-sex-and-genderpart-four-when-science-becomes-non-binary","title":{"rendered":"\u201cUnderstanding sex and gender\u201d\u2014part four: when science becomes non-binary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[This is the fourth installment in a five-part essay exploring the history of the concept of \u201cgender\u201d in its origins and stages of development. Part one can be found here<\/a>, part two here<\/a>, and part three here<\/a>.<\/em>\u2014Ed.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus far in this series, we’ve looked at the history of “gender theory” up to the present day, having lately arrived at the recent innovation by which “gender” and “sex” have been collapsed into a unitary, vague and imprecise concept. Now it is time to look more deeply at the present state of affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The swiftness of the turnaround in gender theory and its colonization of the realm of biology has been staggering, and with it the \u201chermeneutics of confusion\u201d has expanded so much that it\u2019s nearly impossible to speak cogently about these issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quite recent example of the current confusion is from January of this year. An article<\/a> at Psychology Today,<\/em> reviewing Abigail Shrier\u2019s book Irreversible Damage<\/em><\/a>, states dogmatically and assuredly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evidence is pretty clear to me that, contrary to the slogan \u201cgender is a social construct\u201d (endorsed by Shrier in large part), neurobiological evidence [sic.] has found that gender identity resides in the hypothalamus and, as such, is largely immutable. Put rather simply, it is literally true that trans individuals have the body of one sex, yet the brain of another<\/em><\/strong> [emphasis added].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of course, this is quite intimidating to the layman.  And it’s intended to be. I came across this article because a friend received it in a text message from a family member with whom he was disputing over the “Equality Act.” The message intended by that family member by sending the article couldn’t be clearer. It is this: “Gender identities at variance with sex are simply biological facts; the evidence for this biological grounding is indisputable. Critics of transgender ideology and policy are bigots and science deniers, and should simply vacate the field in ignominious defeat!”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\u2026 there’s more than one side to this story. And here I’m not referring to people like Abigail Shrier and other famous critics of gender ideology.  I’m referring to other pro-transgender advocates.<\/em> You see, while some<\/em> \u201cgender affirming\u201d scientists and doctors drive confidently ahead with their new slogan about people \u201cliterally having the body of one sex and the brain of another,\u201d<\/strong> a whole other set of scientists and doctors\u2014no less \u201cgender affirming” in their principles and goals\u2014have their own<\/em> slogan which sits somewhat awkwardly (to say the least) alongside this first one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That other trans-activist slogan? Wait for it\u2026 \u201cthere is no such thing as \u2018the male brain\u2019 or \u2018the female brain.\u2019\u201d <\/em><\/strong>This is not a paraphrase; it is a quotation from author \u201cSim\u00f3n(e) D Sun\u201d at Scientific American, <\/em>in that author’s piece entitled, \u201cStop Using Phony Science to Justify Transphobia: Actual research shows that sex is anything but binary.<\/a>\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the fact is, \u201cSim\u00f3n(e)\u201d isn’t alone. According to prominent neuroscientist Gina Rippon<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s not physically possible to say there is a male or female brain.\u201d Rippon even acknowledges that, \u201cCertain members of the transgender community are made very angry by [this claim],\u201d but supports it with ample data. And still other scientists<\/a> back Rippon up. According to one researcher<\/a> with the European Network for the Investigation of Gender Incongruence (ENIGI), Dr. Baudewijntje Kreukels of Amsterdam University Medical Center: \u201cI don\u2019t think there is something like a male or female brain, but it\u2019s more a continuum.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, then, is where the honest inquirer after truth will find himself in attempting to \u201cfollow the science,\u201d if he varies his sources even just a little among pro-transgender doctors and researchers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) It is \u201cliterally true that trans individuals have the body of one sex, yet the brain of another\u201d<\/em><\/strong>…;<\/em><\/p>

2) And \u201cthere is no such thing as \u2018the male brain\u2019 or \u2018the female brain\u2019,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> but rather \u201cit\u2019s more of a continuum.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Confused? It’s no wonder. What is more, one might be forgiven the suspicion that such confusion is part of the point<\/em>. This is how “the hermeneutics of confusion” works. <\/strong>This is how gender theorists have been able to have it all their own way in the public discourse, and trample any opposition. For the critic of trans-activism and gender theory who would appeal to biology, it’s a “heads, I lose; tails, you win” proposition.<\/strong> The gender activists can simply cherry pick which “scientific consensus” they will appeal to in arguing against the critic. They can use the sexually dimorphic brain to support their claims if it suits the needs of the moment; or, if it is more convenient, they can deny that the sexually dimorphic brain is a valid concept at all! If the stakes weren’t so high, the situation would be almost comical. After all, there’s a sort of poetic fittingness and situational irony in the way the body of research and science to which gender ideologues appeal is so difficult to pin down, malleable and shape-shifting. At least as regards the “neurobiological substrate” of “gender identity,” the supposed “consensus” the activist community has welcomed will no doubt be right at home: it’s non-binary and fluid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the thing really isn’t a laughing matter in the end. If it were only ourselves and our own perplexity we had to worry about, the “hermeneutics of confusion” would have a sting weaker than that of the least nagging fly. But there are others for whom this confusion bears terrible consequences indeed, and for whom the sting comes in the form of the surgical scalpel lopping and laming them in pursuit of “affirmation.” It is for those individuals whom we must worry, they who suffer from a deep confusion about their own sex and their place in the world, who will be put from an early age on a conveyor belt of treatments beginning with puberty blockers, ultimately to undergo mastectomies, hysterectomies, and chemical and surgical castrations\u2014all the while being reassured by references to a scientific “consensus” that simply does not exist<\/em><\/strong>. It is to their plight, the real flesh-and-blood victims of “gender theory”\u2014which we may now assuredly call gender ideology<\/em>\u2014that we will turn in our fifth and final installment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the critic of gender theory who would appeal to biology, it’s a “heads, I lose; tails, you win” proposition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":62501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"For the critic of gender theory who would appeal to biology, it's a \"heads, I lose; tails, you win\" proposition.","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":"","sponsored_post_label":"","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"514"},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[805,695,514],"tags":[9123,6981,9325,4322,4861,7186,836,2889],"class_list":["post-62499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreground","category-opinion","category-science","tag-understanding-sex-and-gender","tag-biological-sex","tag-biology","tag-gender-identity","tag-gender-ideology","tag-lgbt-ideology","tag-science","tag-sexual-revolution"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cUnderstanding sex and gender\u201d\u2014part four: when science becomes non-binary - 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He also served as Director of Communications for the National Organization for Marriage. Joseph has a B.A. in Philosophy from Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook and M.A. in English from Marquette University.\u00a0 Joe has appeared as an expert on traditional marriage and family in local and nationwide media, including\u00a0The New York Times,\u00a0The Washington Post,\u00a0The Boston Globe,\u00a0Breitbart, and elsewhere. Joe\u2019s writings on traditional marriage and family, as well as on Catholic Social Teaching and the writings of G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, have appeared in\u00a0The Stream,\u00a0Gilbert\u00a0Magazine,\u00a0Ethika Politika, and\u00a0The Distributist Review, and he has spoken at several national conferences on the place of G.K. 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