The cluelessness of Neil deGrasse Tyson - "There is a particular kind of American science populariser or (to use Tyson’s preferred term) ‘educator’ that seems particularly prone to fall into this trap. They can often be identified by a waistcoat, or a quirky bow tie. A few years ago, it was Bill Nye the Science Guy. His Netflix series, Bill Nye Saves the World, featured a cringe segment about the gender ‘spectrum’, in which he insisted that sex is not binary (it really is). Even worse was the rap it included about ‘sex junk’ that precipitated a spike in eye-bleach sales that could be seen from the moon. Prior to the Triggernometry episode, Tyson had previously suggested that gender is largely a matter of how you feel when you wake up in the morning. Tomorrow, he suggested, he might feel ‘80 per cent male’. It’s also about how you choose to express that feeling to the world, such as through long hair and make-up, or by wearing a ‘muscle shirt’. I certainly know how confusing I find it when my wife wears one of those. This is all fine of course. One can disagree, but it’s simply a question of re-defining the word ‘gender’ to refer to cultural semiotics rather than biological reality. It’s wordplay. The issue is whether this meaning of gender – as essentially signifying an inner feeling and mode of expression – should be regarded as the decisive one when using words like ‘woman’. This then determines who has access to certain spaces, events, dressing rooms, shortlists or sporting world records that relate to that category. My sense is that, as always, Britain was for many years operating a perfectly workable fudge on the trans issue, which was as invisible on a day-to-day basis, as was appropriate given the tiny number of individuals to whom it applied. A polite fiction was observed and, in return, no one pushed their luck. There would be the occasional person in a ladies’ lavatory with unusually large hands, but no one was getting hurt. The trouble started when someone decided to break cover and dash for the goal line, hoping to decisively touch down the idea that ‘transwomen are women’ once and for all... He then gave his answer to the ‘bathroom’ conundrum, which involved removing the issue of gender altogether and for all bathrooms to become omni-gender. Ta-ra! Efficient, certainly. And I am sure this would work every bit as well as the ongoing project to eliminate shoplifting in many American cities by decriminalising it. (Another US innovation we seem keen to roll out in the UK.) It was Tyson’s reaction to biological men competing in women’s sporting events that I thought most inventive, and which drew the most online attention. Here, he went the other way entirely. His solution was again to remove separation by gender, but instead ‘slice the athletic universe’ into any number of other intersectional categories. These might be based on hormone ratios, weight, age… shoe size, etc – almost anything but the one proven, easily identified and workable binary distinction between adults that has served us so well until now... you might very quickly salami-slice ‘the athletic universe’ into a discontinuous arrangement of individual events, winking in and out of existence, from which no sense of an actual sport would be discernible at all. One could have a series of swimming events, like boxing matches, substituting ‘wingspan’ for weight. Cyclists could be arranged into categories depending on the size of their hearts and their tolerance for pain. Rowers by just how boring they are in what remains of their social life. And so on. The truth is we have perfectly good ways of categorising elite sports already. By sex, age and, when appropriate, weight. But that’s pretty much all we need. It’s the minimum number of slices that could be applied to sport to make competition meaningful, and to minimise fractures and concussions."
Biological sex is far from binary − this college course examines the science of sex diversity in people, fungi and across the animal kingdom - "I am a behavioral neurobiologist who has been teaching human physiology since 1998. Over the past several years, I have focused my reading and writing on the biology of sex. It struck me that many of my students had misguided assumptions about sex characteristics, including that all people are physically either 100% male or 100% female."
Weird. Some people still claim no biologists - or even scientists - are saying sex isn't binary
Zachary Elliott on X - "The biological sciences overwhelmingly support the claim that there are precisely two sexes (no more, no less) in almost all complex multicellular life. Here are 40 peer-reviewed journal articles from biologists on the evolution of sex and why there are only two sexes."
The Du Boisian Biologist on X - "Hi, I’m a transgender biologist, specifically an evolutionary geneticist who studies humans. In humans there are 6 common sex karyotypes: XX, XY, XXY, XXXY, & XYYY. & there are 4 rare sex karyotypes: XO, XO/XX mosaicism, XY/XXY mosacism, XXY/XXXY/XXXXY mosaicism."
Sex Chromosome Variants Are Not Their Own Unique Sexes - "The list of bad arguments forwarded by activists designed to undermine the reality of there being two and only two sexes is very long and constantly growing... McLean, who prominently lists five degrees after his name and claims to be a human evolutionary geneticist, took issue with that claim and forwarded a very common—and very wrong—portrayal of biological sex: that different sex chromosome compositions beyond the standard XX and XY each represent their own unique sex. In fact, Dr. McLean appears to suggest in his tweet that there may be as many as 10 biological sexes! Such extreme misinformation would be concerning coming from anyone, but especially so coming from someone with a PhD in human evolutionary genetics who. The 4000+ retweets his tweet received demonstrate just how fast misinformation can spread. However, a glance at his Google Scholar reveals he has authored several papers on racism and only one paper that discusses some topics in genetics yet contains no actual genetic analyses whatsoever. His claim to being a geneticist (of any kind) is therefore dubious... The argument that individuals with sex chromosomes that deviate from the typical (46, XX and 46, XY) arrangements, such as those with Klinefelter syndrome (47, XXY) or Turner syndrome (45, X0), is common and usually used to argue that there are 6 sexes, though other numbers are frequently thrown around as well... This argument results from a fundamental misunderstanding about what distinguishes males and females biologically, which is the size of the gametes (sex cells) they produce. Males produce small gametes (sperm) and females produce large gametes (ova). But on an individual level (since not all individuals may be able to produce gametes) an organism’s sex corresponds to the type of primary sex organs (testes vs ovaries) and individual has developed... these different chromosomal compositions are not new sexes, but rather represent natural variation within males and females. To illustrate by way of analogy, a person with Klinefelter syndrome (47, XXY) isn't a new sex in the same way that a person with Down's syndrome (who have 3 instead of 2 copies of chromosome 21) isn't a new species."
So much for advanced biology telling us that there're more than two sexes, as that leftist meme goes
Addendum: Disorders of sexual development, chromosonal variants, are not new sexes, are not their own sex
Is there such a thing as “intersex genitalia”? - "Okay, let’s talk about “intersex genitalia”, or using its proper term, ambiguous genitalia and how sex is determined. First of all, it is not some doctor, rubbing their chin, doing a sharp intake of breath and writing down a question mark, or a “best guess”, with a shrug. This really minimises the experience that parents of intersex babies go through and the advances we have made in identifying and treating DSDs. Before we begin, let’s address what we mean by ambiguous genitalia. Many people think we mean genitalia that cannot be categorised as male or female at all. This is a common misconception. What we’re actually talking about is genitalia that cannot be easily classified as male or female upon initial observation... when a midwife sees ambiguous genitalia, a whole raft of experts become involved. This includes, but is not limited to, specialists from endocrinology (hormones), urology/gynaecology (kidneys, bladders, genitals) and psychology. Other team members may include nurses, geneticists, neonatologists, and people who work in the labs. Some smaller hospitals may not have these specialist teams, so the baby may need to be moved to a larger hospital that can offer the required services in one place. These specialists will carry out a number of investigations and tests. Doctors examine the baby and ask about their family’s medical history. They also check the baby’s chromosome pattern with a blood test. The chromosome pattern (aka karyotype) helps doctors understand the background to the child’s development and consider which direction to take the further tests. The initial karyotype result usually takes 2-3 working days to come back. That’s a long time for a new parent. Many babies are kept in hospital for the first few days so that salt levels in the blood can be monitored. Doctors will also measure hormone levels in the blood, and possibly in the urine, to see how the adrenal glands and gonads are working. Ultrasound tests and scans can sometimes show the internal sex organs (such as the womb/uterus). Again, these are best performed in specialist centres and can sometimes be difficult to interpret. Doctors take their time; they do not shrug and guess. Doctors might rarely look at the bladder and opening of the vagina with a special cystoscope and very rarely they might look at the gonads with a laparoscope and examine tissue samples (biopsies) from them. All of this may be part of the diagnostic process."
'the Last of Us': Bella Ramsey Wore Chest Binder While Filming
The health consequences will be due to discrimination and stigma
CAMPUS WATCH: University of Waterloo “Equity Committee” must be 50% non-male & non-white - "The Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW) says its “Equity Committee” must be at least 50% non-male and 50% non-white in order to have “gender and racial parity.”... “EDI initiatives and EDI ideology are fundamentally anti-academic. They don’t embody academic values and they don’t serve academic goals,” said Mercer in an interview with True North earlier this year. Mercer added “what we want as professors are the people who combine teaching and research to the highest degree. So by bringing in something irrelevant, such as ethnicity or race, the university is cutting itself off from potentially the best scholars.”"
Jonathan Kay on X - "“seeks applications from women, nonbinary, and trans folks in order to maintain gender parity” ???? but the best part is the last paragraph, where they rank their preferred races—with black and indigenous on top, white at the bottom, and misc. in the middle"
We are still told that quotas are about getting the best people for the job, because they correct discrimination
Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ on X - "Gender theorist Judith Butler claims that queer theory is not a totalitarian "cult" because "every women's studies class" is full of "debate" and "differences of point of view." This is false: faculty in gender/interdisciplinary studies are ~100:0 left vs. right—an echo chamber."
Only ONE girl gamer featured in esports 'Game Changer' competition promo for 'women' or 'marginalized genders' - "Featured in the video were biological males going by the gamer names "Shapeshift," "Shysept," and "Heloisia" from the team Serenity, "Rhyle" from the team Arcana, and "Billy Worth" from the team Astrocats. The only biological woman featured in the video was "Avril," from the team Astrocats."
Meme - WolfJLupus Z: "Since I'm trans-species, every human I've had sex with has engaged in interspecies sex. I guess they're all zoos. Also, if I were to have sex with another canid that's not zoo. If you disagree, then I guess you're transphobic? Sorry, I don't make the rules."
Michael Shermer on X - "Left-Wing authoritarianism: Talk by @eweissunburied "Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: Why biological sex remains a necessary analytic category in anthropology" for AAA & CASCA canceled. Why? Because it will "cause harm to members represented by the Trans and LGBTQI of the anthropological community" This is utterly absurd blank slate denial of human nature & sexuality in, of all places, the science that studies these subjects. Shameful."
Weird. We get told that sex and gender are different and that only ignorant people don't know that
'Jeopardy!' champ Amy Schneider becomes show's top female earner
Weird. I thought female was sex and woman was gender. Also I thought only incels use the term "female"
Independent Women's Forum on X - "📢 Say it with us: Bodies play sports, not identities‼️ Allowing biological men to compete in women's sports is not just unfair, but also unsafe. Join us in the fight to keep women's sports female 👇"
More Say Birth Gender Should Dictate Sports Participation - "A larger majority of Americans now (69%) than in 2021 (62%) say transgender athletes should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that conform with their birth gender"
Strange. I thought sex was "assigned" at birth, not gender. It's almost as if sex and gender are synonyms and everyone knew this (and most still know this) until the last 5 years when TRAs decided to gaslight everyone
If sex and gender are really different, why are transwomen allowed in female sports?
Meme - "can't change my gender huh. well excuse me while i change around some definitions. now you're wrong hahah sex is different than gender. go to college"
Most US voters in favour of introducing more LGBTQ+ protections
Some liberal posted this claiming that "anti lgbtq" people were anomalies. Too bad the poll was by "Data for Progress", the actual poll question was about protecting them "from discrimination and violence" and an even larger majority of Americans are TERFs who literally support genocide (as per the sports question above)
A/Prof Holly Lawford-Smith on X - "the victorian government is consulting about women's health, in a survey open to males that doesn't ask for demographic information about whether participants are male or female. healthcare for gender identities. h/t @gentledismiss"
Hundreds of trans teens under 18 have had breasts removed in Canada, new data show - "Hospitalizations and day surgery visits for bilateral mastectomies for gender reassignment surgery have risen sharply, from 536 in 2018-19, to 985 in fiscal 2022-23, according to data compiled for National Post by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Of the 4,071 visits in total involving gender-affirming mastectomies or breast reductions reported since 2018, 602 involved youth 18 and under. Of those, 303 involved teens 17 and younger. The youngest age was 14. The numbers tell only part of the story. The CIHI data exclude Quebec hospitals as well as surgeries performed in private clinics like the McLean Clinic in Mississauga, which describes its surgeons as “industry pioneers” for top surgery — mastectomies and breast reductions in those assigned female at birth, and breast augmentation for those born male transitioning to female. One specialist in transgender health issues said that, when applying for OHIP funding for people seeking top surgery, “50 to 70 per cent will go to McLean.”... Last week thousands gathered in cities across the country for duelling protests over gender policies in schools. Earlier this month delegates to the federal Conservative party’s policy convention voted 69 per cent in favour of prohibiting “life altering medicinal or surgical interventions” on minors under 18 to treat gender confusion or dysphoria. Sweden, the world’s first country to authorize legal gender transitions in 1972, last year began limiting mastectomies for teenage girls to research settings. “The uncertain state of knowledge calls for caution,” the head of Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare said... “The fact that you can’t get the numbers from private clinics…. It’s very cloak-and-dagger,” the doctor said. “They’re still billing OHIP. That’s tax dollars. That should be publicly accessible information. We need to see these numbers and ask questions,” the doctor said... “What we do know is that regret does take place, and it does take place later on in life,” said one trans medicine specialist, who also agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity for fear of being labelled “transphobic.”... For such a permanent decision as the removal of healthy breasts, “I’m always looking at the why, and because that hasn’t been answered yet, that’s what leads to my ambivalence,” the specialist said."
More trans teens are seeking irreversible breast removal surgery - "plastic surgeons in Canada have performed “top surgery” on teenagers as young as 14... A Montreal surgeon at the the forefront of gender reassignment surgery and his colleagues acknowledge, in a paper published ahead of print, that data documenting the effects of gender-affirming mastectomies on minors are severely lacking, raising concerns over whether providers can truly fully inform youth about the risks and benefits of removing their breasts to better align their physical body with their gender identity... “It’s certainly a big experiment to be performing on 14-year-old children with no evidence behind it.” Delegates to last weekend’s federal Conservative party policy convention voted in favour of a future Conservative government prohibiting “life-altering medicinal or surgical interventions” to treat “gender confusion and dysphoria” in under 18s, a policy the Liberals swiftly attacked as “far right” American-style politics... Ontario requires that people seeking OHIP-covered chest surgery have one assessment from a qualified doctor or nurse practitioner confirming a diagnosis of “persistent” gender dysphoria. The province’s health ministry didn’t respond, however, when asked about minimum age requirements. Many clinics and surgeons the National Post reached out to also did not respond to questions about age cut-offs, or the proportion of top surgeries being performed in minors. Others said they had no one available to comment... Behind the controversy is a remarkable surge in the number of children and youth being referred for care, especially children born female. According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), adolescents assigned female at birth are initiating care 2.5 to seven times more frequently compared to teens born male. It’s not clear what’s driving the starkly uneven sex ratios, considered one of the most important developments in the field over the past 15 years... In Ottawa, CHEO, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, said that, like other pediatric hospitals, “surgical services may be arranged for 16-to-18-year-old patients following years of assessment and treatment.”... Buffone is concerned that mental health assessments are being phased out at many gender identity clinics. Some have called pre-treatment assessments and referral letters for those seeking publicly funded surgery stigmatizing and unjustified. “We’re moving to an informed consent model where the child sits in the decision-maker seat”... Buffone was contacted last year by a Saskatchewan family whose daughter socially transitioned at 15, went on hormones at 16 and then had her breasts removed at 19. “At 21 she realized, ‘this is not what I want, this is not who I am,’” Buffone said. The family has been unable to find a surgeon in Saskatchewan willing to do breast implant surgery."
Tons of people were claiming that children were not getting surgery and that only paranoid far right conspiracy theorists were claiming that. Someone who provided this evidence that it was happening got downvoted, of course
So many liberals were pretending that the 20 September protests were homophobic. Ironic, given that trans mania undermines gay rights
Thousands gather at rallies and counter-protests about gender identity policies in schools : canada - "New laws are being passed to erode their protections. When provinces can force a teacher to out a trans kid to their, potentially transphobic parents, then no, there isn't enough to deal with these sorts of things."
"Should we stop sending home report cards because a parent may be abusive? I knew kids whose parents would punish them for failing classes. How is this different?"
Crowd for protest going on at City Hall (posted 20 minutes ago) : barrie
Many people were mocking those who wanted to protect children for protesting during office hours because only losers can afford to do that. But of course, when it's a left wing cause, protesting during office hours is good
Meme - "1) Not being Islamophobic
2) Joining the Genderwang cult
Progressives need to choose *one*."
Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) @MACNational: "Statement by the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) on Statements by Canadian Leaders and School Boards on Recent Protests"
Statement by MAC on Statements by Canadian Leaders and School Boards on Recent Protests - "The Muslim Association of Canada strongly condemns remarks on recent protests made by certain politicians, including our Prime Minister, as well as statements from school boards, unions, and reports from some media outlets. By characterizing the peaceful protests of thousands of concerned parents as hateful, Canadian leaders and school boards are setting a dangerous precedent of using their position of influence to unjustly demonize families, and alienate countless students. On Wednesday September 20th, thousands of Muslims, joined by other faith-based groups, protested to raise their concerns, calling for their rights as parents in relation to their children’s education. Their intent was to be heard, not to sow division. Parents should have the absolute right to advocate for the wellbeing of their children. The statements from Canadian leaders and school boards increase the potential for Muslim children to face increased bullying and harassment in schools, both by educators and peers, a trend that’s already distressingly escalating. Civil rights organizations and Muslim organizations across the country have documented numerous validated accounts detailing situations where children have been coerced into activities that contradict their faith, or where parents teaching religious values to their offspring have been unfairly attacked. We call on politicians and school boards, beginning with Prime Minister Trudeau, to retract their deeply inflammatory and divisive comments and issue an apology to the thousands of Canadian parents hurt by these comments."