#biological identity

[infrequentartfromnickie]

Bruce's therapist told him that he should let his kids know how much he valued them, and write it down if talking was too hard.

Bruce is getting an A in therapy.

[maingh0st]

not to be morbid but I'm thinking about Madoc soaking his cap in the blood of the murdered Duarte parents and like. I'm not a scientist, but wouldn't that make things absolutely wack from a forensics standpoint? imagine that you're investigating a double-murder triple-kidnapping (the kind of case that goes down in true crime history), and you're running every test you can possibly think of because the trail has gone cold as ice, and—what's that? there's traces of.... a bunch of other people's blood?? in the murder victims' blood???

again I am neither scientist nor detective but soaking a cap crusted with the blood of all your past enemies into a pool of fresh blood has to leave a trace, right?????

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Colin Wright

Published: May 3, 2023

The transgender movement has left many intelligent Americans confused about sex. Asked to define the word “woman” during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings last year, Ketanji Brown Jackson demurred, saying “I’m not a biologist.” I am a biologist, and I’m here to help.

Are sex categories in humans empirically real, immutable and binary, or are they mere “social constructs”? The question has public-policy implications related to sex-based legal protections and medicine, including whether males should be allowed in female sports, prisons and other spaces that have historically been segregated by sex for reasons of fairness and safety.

Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union frequently claims that the binary concept of sex is a recent invention “exclusively for the purposes of excluding trans people from legal protections.” Scottish politician Maggie Chapman asserted in December that her rejection of the “binary and immutable” nature of sex was her motivation for pursuing “comprehensive gender recognition for nonbinary people in Scotland.” (“Nonbinary” people are those who “identify” as neither male nor female.)

When biologists claim that sex is binary, we mean something straightforward: There are only two sexes. This is true throughout the plant and animal kingdoms. An organism’s sex is defined by the type of gamete (sperm or ova) it has the function of producing. Males have the function of producing sperm, or small gametes; females, ova, or large ones. Because there is no third gamete type, there are only two sexes. Sex is binary.

Intersex people, whose genitalia appear ambiguous or mixed, don’t undermine the sex binary. Many gender ideologues, however, falsely claim the existence of intersex conditions renders the categories “male” and “female” arbitrary and meaningless. In “Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex” (1998), the historian of science Alice Dreger writes: “Hermaphroditism causes a great deal of confusion, more than one might at first appreciate, because—as we will see again and again—the discovery of a ‘hermaphroditic’ body raises doubts not just about the particular body in question, but about all bodies. The questioned body forces us to ask what exactly it is—if anything—that makes the rest of us unquestionable.”

In reality, the existence of borderline cases no more raises questions about everyone else’s sex than the existence of dawn and dusk casts doubt on day and night. For the vast majority of people, their sex is obvious. And our society isn’t experiencing a sudden dramatic surge in people born with ambiguous genitalia. We are experiencing a surge in people who are unambiguously one sex claiming to “identify” as the opposite sex or as something other than male or female.

Gender ideology seeks to portray sex as so incomprehensibly complex and multivariable that our traditional practice of classifying people as simply either male or female is grossly outdated and should be abandoned for a revolutionary concept of “gender identity.” This entails that males wouldn’t be barred from female sports, women’s prisons or any other space previously segregated according to our supposedly antiquated notions of “biological sex,” so long as they “identify” as female.

But “intersex” and “transgender” mean entirely different things. Intersex people have rare developmental conditions that result in apparent sex ambiguity. Most transgender people aren’t sexually ambiguous at all but merely “identify” as something other than their biological sex.

Once you’re conscious of this distinction, you will begin to notice gender ideologues attempting to steer discussions away from whether men who identify as women should be allowed to compete in female sports toward prominent intersex athletes like South African runner Caster Semenya. Why? Because so long as they’ve got you on your heels making difficult judgment calls on a slew of complex intersex conditions, they’ve succeeded in drawing your attention away from easy calls on unquestionably male athletes like 2022 NCAA Division I women’s swimming and diving champion Lia Thomas. They shift the focus to intersex to distract from transgender.

Acknowledging the existence of rare difficult cases doesn’t weaken the position or arguments against allowing males in female sports, prisons, restrooms and other female-only spaces. In fact, it’s a much stronger approach because it makes a crucial distinction that the ideologues are at pains to obscure.

Crafting policy to exclude males who identify as women, or “trans women,” from female sports, prisons and other female-only spaces isn’t complicated. Trans women are unambiguously male, so the chances that a doctor incorrectly recorded their sex at birth is zero. Any “transgender policy” designed to protect female spaces need only specify that participants must have been recorded (or “assigned,” in the current jargon) female at birth.

Crafting effective intersex policies is more complicated, but the problem of intersex athletes in female sports is less pressing than that of males in female sports, and there seem to be no current concerns arising from intersex people using female spaces. It should be up to individual organizations to decide which criteria or cut-offs should be used to keep female spaces safe and, in the context of sports, safe and fair. It is imperative, however, that such policies be rooted in properties of bodies, not “identity.” Identity alone is irrelevant to issues of fairness and safety.

Ideologues are wrong to insist that the biology of sex is so complex as to defy all categorization. They’re also wrong to represent the sex binary in an overly simplistic way. The biology of sex isn’t quite as simple as common sense, but common sense will get you a long way in understanding it.

[neuropoppins]

Neurotype Dysphoria & Gender Dysphoria

Compare the two and Ask yourself... What if ?

Would you treat both these types of dysphoria the same way?

Would you affirm that ppl are not their neurology/biology?

What do you think the repurcussions would be?

[eliounora]

it's so pleasing to see people who are related looking similar. like when you see a parent and their child is a tiny version of them. or when a group of cousins have the same nose. or when someone looks the same as their grandparent did when they were young. genetics. wondrous

[iamnmbr3]

not enough crossdressing in harry potter

-- Draco in 6th year about to put Crabbe & Goyle into the crossdressing au they never asked for.

[loveerran]

There are LDS folks who believe a) all Spirit Children of our Heavenly Parents are binary male or female, and b) everyone's assigned sex at birth matches their Spirit's eternal gender. Since LDS theology holds that our underlying Spirit is part of an eternal existence that has no beginning or end, the binary gender view is particularly significant.

However, consider that there are times sex at birth is assigned incorrectly or cannot be determined:

Perhaps 100 billion humans have lived. If only .02% have had ambiguous/divergent genital/chromosomal presentation, we're discussing 20 million individuals, up to 2 million of whom are alive today. At broader definitions of intersex, that number is more than 100 million persons alive today - about the same percentage as people born with red hair.

Use whatever criteria you want to determine whether a body is male or female, somewhere there will be an individual who rides the line between male and female such that you cannot determine which side of the line they fall on. No matter who defines the criteria, or what those criteria are, there comes a point where we just can't tell.

Which Spirit does God put in that body? What if, under given criteria, the body is 60% male/40% female outside and 60% female/40% male inside? What Spirit is sent to the body then?

We don't have to go far to find cases that raise questions. Castor Semenya was born, raised and competed as a woman her entire life, until it was discovered she was XY (and she still competed as a woman some after that). Other cases, like a 33 yr old man with a uterus, ovaries and XX chromosomes internally, but full outward male genitalia, or an XY woman who never got her period, are mentioned relatively frequently in medical literature and the news. Development factors, natural and artificial, further complicate gender and sex identity. We're still learning about neurological differences outside of typically identified intersex characteristics.

If someone who is reproductively female spends their entire life as a man, what Spirit did God send to that body? Because somewhere, somewhen, this has happened and it may be more often than you think.

Since we cannot make a blanket statement about the gender of Spirits matching assigned sex at birth, let's be more careful about what we say. The truth is we don't always know. The gospel is about ministering to the one, and somewhere that one is listening to you. Be kind to them. Tell them the truth, even if that truth is 'we don't know all the answers for everyone' (LDS Handbook 38.7.7). There is goodness and power in admitting to not knowing everything and in pleading with the Lord for further light and knowledge. Such honesty may give us less to repent of later.

[downs1de]

I need to sleep but I can’t stop thinking about how devastating it will be for Sam to find out he’s part demon….

[darth-grips]

This might be my toxic trait as a Star Wars fan but I really have no interest in exploring Leia’s relationship with Vader, and to a lesser extent Padmé. Leia had parents who loved her and influenced her infinitely more than some biological bonds to people she either a) DESPISED or b) admired but never knew because they were dead. Leia never recognized Vader as her father, despite wholeheartedly accepting Luke as her brother. Meanwhile, while Luke grew up with guardians who wanted and loved him, he always knew they weren’t his parents. He loved his father before he ever met him and loved him when he died. To me that is MUCH more compelling than exploring a relationship with Vader that Leia neither wanted nor needed.

[lover-of-mine]

I just realized that all of Buck's relationships not only were initiated by the other person but also started in a crisis.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Ella Pickover

Published: Apr 30, 2024

The term “woman” should not be “eradicated from our language in order to be inclusive and welcoming”, the Health Secretary has said as she announced plans to overhaul the NHS constitution to “ensure that biological sex is respected”.

Victoria Atkins said changes to the NHS Constitution will ensure language used in the health service is “clear” so that pregnant women are not referred to as “service users” to bolster inclusivity.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it is “defining sex as biological sex” with the new document, which underpins NHS care.

Proposed changes will also ensure hospital patients in England have the right to request to be treated on single-sex wards, with transgender people placed in rooms on their own.

But the British Medical Association warned the proposed changes could mean transgender and non-binary patients “potentially find their access to vital NHS services limited” while the Royal College of Nursing said changes to health policy should be done with patients “not unto them”.

Officials said that the update “is about putting patients first” and includes plans to accommodate requests for same-sex intimate care.

Ms Atkins told Sky News: “We have said in the consultation that we would like language to be clear.

“We know that in some parts of the NHS some language is used which is meant with the best of intentions to include, be inclusive, but it can, I think, also actually exclude people.”

She added: “For example, I visited a wonderful maternity unit recently full of warmth and joy and happiness with wonderful members of staff, but they were talking about ‘service users’ and I realised after a while they meant women or mums-to-be or mothers – the language that we would use in conversation when talking about someone having a baby.

“So that sort of language … we shouldn’t have to eradicate women from our language in order to be inclusive and welcoming.

“If somebody walks in and they want to have a specific phrase or term used, of course we respect that, but it’s also about ensuring that biological sex is respected.”

She told Times Radio: “There will be listeners who are worried about the fact that they see articles in the paper about ‘chestfeeding’ and language such as that.

“We want language to be clear and make sense to people.”

Under the planned revisions, transgender people could be placed in a room on their own if another patient requests to be in a single-sex ward.

This would be permitted under the Equality Act 2010 when appropriate, “such as respecting a patient’s wish to be in a single-sex ward”, Government officials said.

In October, former health secretary Steve Barclay said he would look into changing the constitution to address concerns about trans women using wards intended for biologically female patients.

Ms Atkins told Sky News: “We want to ensure that biological sex is respected and that if someone wants, for example, to have an intimate examination by a person of the same biological sex, then they can make that request and it is dealt with appropriately, and with respect and recognising that person’s right to privacy and dignity and safety.”

She said in a statement: “We have always been clear that sex matters and our services should respect that.

“By putting this in the NHS Constitution we’re highlighting the importance of balancing the rights and needs of all patients to make a healthcare system that is faster, simpler and fairer for all.”

Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters, a human rights charity that campaigns for clarity on sex in law, policy and language, said: “Victoria Atkins explicitly referring to biological sex is very significant.

“It will benefit anyone who needs same-sex intimate care in the NHS in England, or who may do so in the future.

“We can expect an outraged response from trans rights activists, but this is simply a return to common sense, and an overdue recognition that women’s wellbeing and safety matter.”

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said “rights on paper are worthless unless they are delivered in practice”.

He added: “The NHS Constitution already pledges that no patient will have to share an overnight ward with patients of the opposite sex, but that is not the case for too many patients.

“Labour supports single-sex wards and will provide the staff, investment and reform the NHS needs to make sure every patient can be cared for safely.”

Professor Nicola Ranger, chief nursing officer and deputy chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said: “Trans and non-binary patients are deserving of high-quality care like any other patient and changes to health policy should be done with them, not unto them.”

Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chairwoman of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, warned some changes “run the risk of causing more harm than good – with the potential to incite further discrimination, harassment and ostracisation of an already marginalised group”.

“If these proposed changes come into effect, transgender and non-binary patients will potentially find their access to vital NHS services limited,” she added.

The NHS Constitution outlines the rights of patients and staff and is updated every 10 years.

Other proposed changes, which are subject to an eight-week consultation, include committing to providing families with a second opinion when a patient’s condition is deteriorating.

The rollout of the escalation process, also known as Martha’s Rule, started earlier this month and follows the death of 13-year-old Martha Mills in 2021.

She developed sepsis after suffering a pancreatic injury following a fall from her bike.

Martha’s parents, Merope Mills and Paul Laity, raised concerns about their daughter’s health a number of times but these were brushed aside.

A coroner ruled she would most likely have survived if doctors had identified the warning signs of her rapidly deteriorating condition and transferred her to intensive care earlier.

The new constitution will also reinforce the health service’s commitment to unpaid carers and will aim to reduce inequalities in access among different groups.

==

A headline like this would have been unthinkable, or an element of some absurdist comedy, ten years ago. Now that's the world we live in.

That sex is actually real, and "sex" means "biological sex" (as if there's any other kind) is "HUGE news" shows how far society has fallen.

Trans and "nonbinary" people are still male or female. Their access is exactly the same as for any other male or female person. How you "identify" doesn't change the reality of your biology. Pretending otherwise is idiotic. (And don't we keep hearing that "gender" and sex are separate?)

[neuropoppins]

What if Neurotypical people could legally identify as Autistic and it became a protected characteristic in law? What do you think the ripple effects could be, and how far do you think it would reach across society?

Compare this scenario to today's politics of Sex v Gender & Women's Rights being eroded

Join the debate on my Facebook page @ Neuro Poppins

[vernalloy]

Jigsaw voice. Hello dyadic people in the intersex headcanon tag. Stop

[mobblespsycho100]

not my previous opinion on firefly coming to bite me in the ass JAHDJSHJD

[lmsr-lilitu-sephiroth]

Poll for fellow dissociative systems. I just want to figure out what are the more common experiences. It seems like I'm an oddball, with pretty decent parents that life got in the way of me being with.

[jingerpi]

the idea that GNC men need to be protected is ridiculous not just because they're not some fragile babies who might be "corrupted" by the trans agenda™ but also because why are we protecting men in the first place. like if you even vaguely claim to be feminist or anti patriarchal, isn't the whole point to abolish "manhood" as a protected class which benefits from the exploitation of women and nonmen? why are we trying to protect that? Sure, we should be positive about all bodies regardless of what gender they were assigned, but trying to equate that with protecting people's manhood (see: exploitative position in patriarchy) is ridiculous. We don't need to defend feminine manhood, we need to defend women and abolish patriarchy, not pink wash being a man ??