"Scientific" gender diversity
I had a conversation with a couple of scientists a few months ago that I still cannot get over. They are both biologists by training. She left the field of scientific research decades ago, but he is a world renown geneticist, head of a research lab. They are both, also, left-liberals. The subject was transgender. I expressed my concern about the denial of reality it represents and about pushing the idea to children at an ever younger and more impressionable age. They both jumped on me. You don’t understand! Gender is a wide spectrum. There are sixteen genders on a scale where male and female are just the two end-points. What are they? I asked. Well, you know about hermaphrodites, don’t you? Yes, I said, and I also know about Siamese twins and people who think that they are Napoleon. The conversation never got better. I was hammered with the radical leftist gender-bender propaganda. No evidence, just the usual leftists appeal to generally accepted knowledge. The “everybody knows that” (therefore you should accept it without critical comments) line. I was shocked. These were not just scientists, whom I could expect to have some critical thinking faculties, but biologists whom I could reasonably expect to be able to tell the difference between a biological and a psychological condition. We left our disagreements unresolved, but I was determined to look into it, especially into the number. Why sixteen? What are those sixteen genders? What is the biological criteria to identify them? Who came up with it? Where is the literature on it? Why didn’t I hear about it before? If it is real, it must be a revolutionary discovery. I could not find ANY reference for the quoted sixteen genders. I found 58 on Facebook and I found 63 on a ‘pagan wisdom’ page. The best page I found on the subject (trying to understand and describe the subculture) goes into great lengths explaining the conflicting theories and ideologies. The only thing that is worthy of noticing about it, however, is that the writer is a sociologist. Not a medical doctor or a psychiatrist. Sex is biological, gender is psychological, social and political. Sex is in your genes (and there is only two of them) gender is in your mind and when it comes to your mind, anything goes. How many genders are there? As many as you can bullshit into existence. The foundation of transgender theories is conjured reality. It has nothing to do with the real world, but hey, anything goes if you can get away with it. Just look at the lists linked above. Then I came across this highly recommended presentation on the subject giving me the final push to write this post. I urge you to watch it and consider the evidence. I don’t think that it is too difficult to understand. I expressed similar opinions in my own posts (Let’s be careful what we wish for and Why it matters) coming to the same conclusion based on simple common sense. I don’t want to repeat the arguments here; neither mine nor Black Pigeon’s, as my concern (and the point of this post) is not the issue, but the mindset of my friends. Still, to address the point, I need to sum up the results of my admittedly limited research.
There are only two biological sexes. This biological reality cannot be changed as it is coded into every cell in our body.
The only science behind ‘transgenderism’ is psychiatry, which identifies it as a treatable mental illness called Gender Dysphoria.
Occasional successes of gender reassignment surgery non-withstanding, entertaining and encouraging this mental condition is generally harmful.
Encouraging gender dysphoria instead of treating it is irresponsible.
Doing it to children is even more so.
The only reason we are talking about it is politics, most particularly the politics of the left looking for new frontiers to conquer, new ‘rights’ to fight for, new constituents to represent, new subjects for their benevolent condescension. Framing it as another human rights struggle, the left is using this subject to further advance post-modernist cultural relativism; the idea that politics can (and should) define reality. I would expect my biologist friends to understand that, but apparently they don’t. This makes me wonder what prevents them from using a little common sense or the sort of critical thinking one would expect from scientists? The only answer I can suggest is POLITICS. The need to fit in. The comfort of going with the intellectual zeitgeist. Not to stick out. To conform. To show their loyalties. The question then would become how far would they be willing to go supporting some nonsense in their effort to stay faithful to their politics. How much difference does it make how close the object of the political fashion is to their field of expertise? Would that make their support for the idea stronger or weaker? How much integrity is there in science? Considering the science of climate change, the prospect of the virtuous answer is not very promising. The scientific opinion in that field is also divided more or less along political lines. The scientist of the field of gender dysphoria are also divided. On the one hand, you have people like Dr. Paul R. McHugh who said that: “....... sex changes were “biologically impossible” and that those doctors who “promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder. [....] that transgender surgery is not the solution for people who suffer a “disorder of ‘assumption’” [....] In support of his opinion, he pointed to a recent study which showed that the suicide rate among “transgendered” people who had reassignment surgery is 20 times higher than the suicide rate among normal people.” On the other hand, there are organization such as the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (recently renamed to WPATH) which is creating guidelines for “The Standards Of Care For Gender Identity Disorders” The division is clearly political. One side recognizes the problem and tries to treat the mental disorder, while the other is trying to change reality to match the delusion. A very communist attitude. The quote on Marx’s grave is:
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.”
Ever since Marx, and especially since the spread of postmodernist cultural relativism, the leftist attitude is “Damn reality! We will make it what we want it to be. Whatever the harm, whatever the costs, whatever the consequences may be.” The consequences in this case, as is the case with most leftist causes, are generally harmful, but ideology trumps reality. When it comes to my friends, I have two options. I can either believe that they don’t understand what they are talking about or that they don’t care. I chose to believe the later. I don’t think that they are stupid, I think that they are corrupt. Not any more than a typical leftist, but that is bad enough. I understand that one needs to fit in to survive in any environment, but at some point you must face the questions: How far are you willing to go? How many compromises are you willing to make? How much harm are you willing to tolerate before it matters more than the moral swamp of your conformity? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ As for you, you also have two choices. You may waste your time with reading the following to come to the conclusions above, or you may be just very grateful that I did the time wasting on your behalf.
References:
Article in the New Observer about Transgender as a mental illness Transgender Surgery Isn't the Solution Why Caitlyn Jenner represents a new type of American hero The successful treatment of a gender dysphoric patient with pimozide Another alarming study: PLOS ONE- Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery- Cohort Study in Sweden Gender Ideology Harms Children Sex change regrets, a site with heartbreaking stories Gender ideology harms children. Paul R. McHugh Research from the US and Holland suggests that up to a fifth (20%) of patients regret changing sex. WPATH – World Professional Association for Transgender Health How Many Sexes- How Many Genders- When Two Are Not Enough Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Assoication, Inc- Here's a List of 58 Gender Options for Facebook Users - ABC News A series of articles in Marie Clair magazine Transgender Issues in 2015 - Transitioning Info and FAQs - Marie Claire This is part of the above series: Facts and Statistics About Transgender People – Transitioning Numbers 8 critical facts about the state of transgender America- - The Washington Post Microsoft Word - Trans PULSE- Statistics Relevant for Human Rights Policy June 2015.docx 5 Shocking Facts About Transgender Suicide And Violence That You Need To Know - Bustle The Queer Community Has to Stop Being Transphobic- Realizing My Cisgender Privilege My own posts on the subject: Let’s be careful what we wish for Why it matters Gender(less) politics There are further links in the Black Pigeon Speaks video. This is the link to the references in the video