Gender debate over skeletons is in la-la-land
I couldn’t stop laughing at the absurdity of the article in last week’s Mail on Sunday about gender activists wanting scientists to stop categorising ancient human remains as either male or female. These people need to spend more time in the outside world and less time in their attic.
Martin Elms, Great Maplestead, Essex
Surely the woke warriors have reached the limit of absurdity. To suggest that skeletons should not be identified as male or female, because they could not be sure how the deceased identified themselves when they were alive and this contributes to white supremacy, is entering woke la-la-land. When is this nonsense going to end?
T. Palmer, Bramley, Hampshire
The Navajo Indians have always had four genders – feminine woman, masculine woman, feminine man, masculine man – so this concept isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.
N. Alvah, Sheffield
I would imagine that almost all humans throughout history’s civilisations and cultures would think of themselves as being men or women. Ancient history is now being forced to toe the line, like everything else in this strange world we live in. I am comfortable
in my life if someone wants to be different, but please can somebody knock some sense into this gender war.
Helen Regan, Cardiff
I am completely perplexed by what these ‘woke warriors’ want from life. And I take offence at them being called warriors – our ancestral warriors fought real battles with risk to life and limb.
Name and address supplied
I do understand why gender activists would want scientists to stop gendering remains they find. We don’t know what these fallen people identified as. We shouldn’t
assume just because they were biologically male or female that this is what they identified as.
You can find several people in history, such as Joan of Arc, who identified as a different gender.
Dominic Flint, Nottingham
Surely we need to identify skeletons in two ways. Firstly, record the physical identity of the human remains to tell us whether they were biologically male or female, and then identify any indicators of social identity with items that were buried around them. This would make the most sense in today’s world.
B. Dora, Bristol