Call me crazy, but sex is real

We are at a fraught turning point. In less than two decades we have morphed from a society that largely opposed same-sex marriage to a society that denies opposite sexes even exist. This is madness.

The powers-that-be, from craven politicians to empty talking heads to anonymous internet trolls, have somehow framed the gender debate to present us with a false choice: Conform to gender activists’ demands, no matter how extreme, or you’re a “hater.”

Some demands, however, are so anti-scientific, illogical and unreasonable that people of goodwill and common sense must act. Modern society is already in tatters. It won’t survive if its biological foundation is destroyed.

And that biological foundation will be destroyed if it cannot be discussed — in the public square, doctors’ offices and everyday life — in honest, clear language.

When a medical school professor preemptively apologizes to students for “imply[ing] that only a woman can get pregnant,” we have entered the no-truth zone.

For me, this is the last straw. I believe it is time to summon the courage to stand our ground and to adopt the very civilized practice of calm, kind insistence on scientific fact. Why can’t scientists, of all people, do this?

Seattle-based journalist Katie Herzog, co-host of the Blocked & Reported podcast, is doing groundbreaking work on how radical ideology is replacing fact-based practices and teaching in the field of medicine. Her articles appear on Substack. via Pittsburgh native Bari Weiss, whose July 2020 resignation from The New York Times over its capitulation to ideology was national news.

Ms. Herzog first experienced radicals’ wrath four years ago when she wrote, for an alternative Seattle weekly, an article on people who “detransitioned” — who were transgender but changed back to their birth sex. She was “wildly reviled,” suddenly “unwelcome at lesbian bars,” unfriended by many as a “transphobe.” She felt so unsafe that she moved.

In her investigation of how new racial and gender ideologies are impacting medicine, she shares stories of scientists afraid to criticize studies despite obvious flaws, of studies with politically incorrect outcomes being retracted, of professors apologizing for things like using the term “breastfeed” instead of “chestfeed.”

Forcing people to deny plain truth is how tyrants break their minds and spirits. That scientists would deny the truth voluntarily should really frighten us.

Scientists are humans, though; while some may have truly embraced the new ideology, many more may be afraid for their jobs, reputations and safety. Perhaps if they knew most of us would stand by them when they speak the truth, they’d resume doing so.

The basic facts of human anatomy and reproduction are clear and have been thus from the beginning of human history. Differentiating gender from sex is a fairly recent evolution in human thinking; it has been both helpful and destructive.

While gender — the set of social and cultural roles associated with each sex — is a social construct, it is not arbitrary. Many “gender norms” flow fairly logically from the biological realities of our sex-determinative chromosomes and hormones.

But some “gender norms” are not logical. Historically they have served, in particular, to constrain women’s ability to live, learn and work with the same freedom men enjoyed.

Even gender roles that are logical do not fit neatly with every individual’s anatomy or psyche. In 0.1% of live births, a baby’s genitals are considered “ambiguous,” requiring medical intervention. Currently, 1% of Americans identify as transgender or nonbinary. While these tiny percentages don’t match the avalanche of media attention, they represent many difficult lives worthy of love and respect.

In societies constructed largely by and for men, people who don’t fit a mold that wasn’t of their own making or choosing have suffered discrimination and despair. We can examine and correct these injustices without denying the biological facts that underlie and, in part, caused them.

Does that require overthrowing language and science? No.

There is a middle way. We must insist unfailingly on scientific fact even as we address injustice. Essential to this task is kindness. Even more essential, given the alarming trends, is courage.