It’s not often I’m startled but we use almost identically the same language to ridicule gender, point to Money’s career, and help people remember what a delusion is. I’ll have to use “humans are not words”. Brilliant clear writings.
I think i responded to someone about a high school textbook with the following. Your post is much better.
A textbook should cite that 'gender' is a working linguistic term which, when inappropriately applied to human sexuality, has no basis in empirical physical, medical, or any other scientific reality. There is zero evidence that the ‘innate sense of sexual self' of gender exists independent of simply the sex of a human in their consciousness. There is however substantial evidence of the existence of sexual attractions towards members of the same or opposite sex (not gender), evidence of distress related to persecution for behaviors deemed inconsistent with expected sex-stereotypes (nor gender), evidence of distress related to presence of secondary sexual characteristics the mind identifies incorrectly as foreign to the body (not gender), and evidence of a behavioral drive to achieve sexual gratification by appearing as the opposite of one's own sex to the opposite sex (not gender).
Use of the term gender as a fixed meaning is in reality (and ironically) in the process of being logically rejected by a growing group of young people, as unable to be used to accurately identify a complex multidimensional range of self-perceived identities into single meaningful categories. Sex is real, and invariant, while gender is a fiction which cannot have assigned meaning useful in biology, law, medicine, and science, and as such should be deprecated in use. The appalling history of the term gender should also be considered when avoiding its usage.
The term was invented in the 1950's in an effort to legitimize genital mutilation surgery on intersex infants, to force them into a sex assigned at birth, and then psychologically condition them socially to adopt grossly sex-stereotyped behaviors believed consistent with the assignment - the history of the discredited Johns Hopkins "Gender Identity Clinic" and the founder, the (non-medical Dr.) Dr. John Money in a capsule. A biology textbook should present this information, and compare it to other grossly unethical medical experimentation with invented terms. For instance, the term "psychosurgery" was invented by (non-surgeon) Dr. António Egas Moniz in the late 1930's, an originator, promoter, and Nobel Prize-winner for prefrontal lobotomy, which would be refined at George Washington University into "Ice-Pick Lobotomy" by (not surgeon) Dr. Walter Freeman and (surgeon) James M Watts. Lobotomy was essentially a 'therapy' that consisted of 'precision' surgery which meant essentially driving an ice pick into the socket of the eyes of the patient, most commonly a woman, who was depressed, agitated, or had other deemed mental diseases such as homosexuality (most commonly men), and vigorously crushing or slicing through the nerves of the front of the brain (prefrontal) to destroy it. Before being banned, the practice was performed on tens of thousands of people in Canada in the US, to tragic result. Europe, as with 'child gender affirmation' preceded the US in forbidding the use of a catastrophically damaging 'therapy'.
I'd also suggest a textbook also, in the spirit of inclusiveness, highlight another invented euphemism of 'bad blood' instead of Syphilis, and the history of a terrible, discredited unethical medical experiment, the Tuskegee Study. Promoted by Taliaferro Clark, and with the institution support of the US Public Health Service and Tuskegee Institute, Black Men were intentionally misinformed about their Syphilis - they had as 'bad blood'. As with intersex and 'stereotype dysphoric' children (children who are persecuted for behaviors deemed inconsistent with their sex), and as with many Ice Pick Lobotomy patients, through misinformation they were not allowed to provide informed consent for the procedure which simply allowed men with syphilis to progress untreated to understand how the disease evolved. As with 'gender affirming care', the experiment actively withheld 'standard of care' treatment with antibiotics once they were introduced, and in World War II some men were prevented from from being treated by the military once inducted, and Syphilis was detected by military doctors. At the conclusion of the grotesque experiment in 1972, a number of men died from Syphilis, went blind, had organ damage, disfigurement, and mental illness. Many wives also contracted syphilis, and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis.
The pattern is clear - made-up term: gender; psychosurgery; bad blood. Institutional support: Johns Hopkins; George Washington University; Tuskegee Institute. A drive for a key man, or men to make a name: Dr. Money. Dr Moniz, Dr Freeman, Dr Watts, Clark. Experimentation on human subjects: Infants and Children; Mentally Ill, and those deemed so; Black Men. Withholding actual beneficial treatment: watchful waiting, psychological support; effective psychiatric therapy; penicillin. Surprise and Ban on yet another unethical experimental 'treatment' for a nonexistent, induced, mis-diagnosed, or non-treatment.
I'd like those in the textbook. I with there was a few million dollars to circulate information parents through direct mail exactly the source and misguided science of this experimentation that is embedded in this textbook, sit back, and what the explosion.
From your comment: "A textbook should cite that 'gender' is a working linguistic term which, when inappropriately applied to human sexuality, has no basis in empirical physical, medical, or any other scientific reality."
This is perfectly stated, exactly. It's amazing how the issue becomes clear once we understand this.
Well done, Kat! I have been struggling to articulate all this from the first time I noticed that the word was no longer being used to refer to a concept within linguistics. You have nailed it!
That is the key to this whole thing, in my view. The word itself is the problem. Just stop using it. It is amazing how the whole issue comes into focus once you do that.
There's always a more accurate word, so just use that. Then the absurdity of the whole situation becomes clear, and the problem can be solved. It is that simple.
I agree with you 100%! As a former biology/ chemistry teacher , I am appalled by the sheer ignorance of those that go along with the gender insanity. How many genders are there now ? 40? 50? 100. And then there are the “ gender fluid” that dance between those many . Do they change their fluid on a regular basis? Or whenever they feel like it?
The ideology has taken over like a metastasizing cancer ! And more dangerous in that so many have succumbed to it or are forced to . It is authoritarianism on hormones! Notice the language changes that this ideology has pushed on us! That’s the first thing any authoritarian does, and they’ve managed to get their fake words into the mainstream: “ transphobia “ “TERF”, “ cisgender” , “ non-binary” and other nonsense language ..It’s enough to make any sane person scream! Fortunately, though this was all done in secrecy , now more people are aware of this cult, and hopefully, this will be the beginning of the end...though it will take some time ..realizing how profitable this is for many.
Lol there are zero genders for humans--we only have two sexes, male and female. Genders are for words only.
I use TERF on purpose because it makes men in particular mad, so it must be worthwhile, although I know they mean it as a slur. I don't care. I use tranny too, so who cares
I guess I don’t like to use TERF, because it’s made up language by the trans cult. I don’t use any of their language ...They make up language to get power ...just like all authoritarians do. So none of it is valid “cis” in relation to people ; “transphobic” , as if we fear them;
They’re an angry lot no matter what you say! They’re so self obsessed that anything can set them off! But I guess it’s good to just make fun of them and I maybe it good to make them even angrier.
When I signed in to UPMC ( University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, they asked for my “ gender”. The choices were, male, female, bisexual, non- binary ( I think) , prefer not to answer, and other! The medical industrial Complex has for the most part climbed on this wagon of insanity. I did leave a note on another occasion, telling them it’s silly to have such categories, since there are only two sexes, male and female.
Right? Long before this gender nonsense really got going, people were using the term “gender” as essentially a euphemism for “sex,” to appease those who thought the latter word wasn’t suitable for polite company. But till recently, the options for “gender” were still just M and F, and everyone (?) understood that what was really meant was sex.
The trouble now is that most such forms are in some kind of online format where one can’t cross out “gender” and write in “sex,” much as one may want to. I did recently face a demographic survey (put out by a professional organization that really should know better) where the options for “gender” were something like “man,” “woman,” “decline to state,” and “other.” There was a place to comment so I said something about not having a “gender,” but being a woman on account of my sex being female.
And this notion of “feeling like” the other sex drives me nuts. None of us can actually know what it feels like to be anyone else — not even an identical twin! What’s more, I am quite confident that I have a lot more in common with many men than I do with many women, so it’s quite possible that I “feel” more like a man (or, certain men) in some ways than like certain women. But how I (or anyone else) “feel” is immaterial to the biological fact that is my sex.
The only letter in the new alphabet soup I can perhaps get behind is A for “agender” — I too do not feel I have a gender. (Because, when it comes to humans, the term “gender” is meaningless, as set out so clearly in the original post!)
It’s not often I’m startled but we use almost identically the same language to ridicule gender, point to Money’s career, and help people remember what a delusion is. I’ll have to use “humans are not words”. Brilliant clear writings.
I think i responded to someone about a high school textbook with the following. Your post is much better.
A textbook should cite that 'gender' is a working linguistic term which, when inappropriately applied to human sexuality, has no basis in empirical physical, medical, or any other scientific reality. There is zero evidence that the ‘innate sense of sexual self' of gender exists independent of simply the sex of a human in their consciousness. There is however substantial evidence of the existence of sexual attractions towards members of the same or opposite sex (not gender), evidence of distress related to persecution for behaviors deemed inconsistent with expected sex-stereotypes (nor gender), evidence of distress related to presence of secondary sexual characteristics the mind identifies incorrectly as foreign to the body (not gender), and evidence of a behavioral drive to achieve sexual gratification by appearing as the opposite of one's own sex to the opposite sex (not gender).
Use of the term gender as a fixed meaning is in reality (and ironically) in the process of being logically rejected by a growing group of young people, as unable to be used to accurately identify a complex multidimensional range of self-perceived identities into single meaningful categories. Sex is real, and invariant, while gender is a fiction which cannot have assigned meaning useful in biology, law, medicine, and science, and as such should be deprecated in use. The appalling history of the term gender should also be considered when avoiding its usage.
The term was invented in the 1950's in an effort to legitimize genital mutilation surgery on intersex infants, to force them into a sex assigned at birth, and then psychologically condition them socially to adopt grossly sex-stereotyped behaviors believed consistent with the assignment - the history of the discredited Johns Hopkins "Gender Identity Clinic" and the founder, the (non-medical Dr.) Dr. John Money in a capsule. A biology textbook should present this information, and compare it to other grossly unethical medical experimentation with invented terms. For instance, the term "psychosurgery" was invented by (non-surgeon) Dr. António Egas Moniz in the late 1930's, an originator, promoter, and Nobel Prize-winner for prefrontal lobotomy, which would be refined at George Washington University into "Ice-Pick Lobotomy" by (not surgeon) Dr. Walter Freeman and (surgeon) James M Watts. Lobotomy was essentially a 'therapy' that consisted of 'precision' surgery which meant essentially driving an ice pick into the socket of the eyes of the patient, most commonly a woman, who was depressed, agitated, or had other deemed mental diseases such as homosexuality (most commonly men), and vigorously crushing or slicing through the nerves of the front of the brain (prefrontal) to destroy it. Before being banned, the practice was performed on tens of thousands of people in Canada in the US, to tragic result. Europe, as with 'child gender affirmation' preceded the US in forbidding the use of a catastrophically damaging 'therapy'.
I'd also suggest a textbook also, in the spirit of inclusiveness, highlight another invented euphemism of 'bad blood' instead of Syphilis, and the history of a terrible, discredited unethical medical experiment, the Tuskegee Study. Promoted by Taliaferro Clark, and with the institution support of the US Public Health Service and Tuskegee Institute, Black Men were intentionally misinformed about their Syphilis - they had as 'bad blood'. As with intersex and 'stereotype dysphoric' children (children who are persecuted for behaviors deemed inconsistent with their sex), and as with many Ice Pick Lobotomy patients, through misinformation they were not allowed to provide informed consent for the procedure which simply allowed men with syphilis to progress untreated to understand how the disease evolved. As with 'gender affirming care', the experiment actively withheld 'standard of care' treatment with antibiotics once they were introduced, and in World War II some men were prevented from from being treated by the military once inducted, and Syphilis was detected by military doctors. At the conclusion of the grotesque experiment in 1972, a number of men died from Syphilis, went blind, had organ damage, disfigurement, and mental illness. Many wives also contracted syphilis, and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis.
The pattern is clear - made-up term: gender; psychosurgery; bad blood. Institutional support: Johns Hopkins; George Washington University; Tuskegee Institute. A drive for a key man, or men to make a name: Dr. Money. Dr Moniz, Dr Freeman, Dr Watts, Clark. Experimentation on human subjects: Infants and Children; Mentally Ill, and those deemed so; Black Men. Withholding actual beneficial treatment: watchful waiting, psychological support; effective psychiatric therapy; penicillin. Surprise and Ban on yet another unethical experimental 'treatment' for a nonexistent, induced, mis-diagnosed, or non-treatment.
I'd like those in the textbook. I with there was a few million dollars to circulate information parents through direct mail exactly the source and misguided science of this experimentation that is embedded in this textbook, sit back, and what the explosion.
From your comment: "A textbook should cite that 'gender' is a working linguistic term which, when inappropriately applied to human sexuality, has no basis in empirical physical, medical, or any other scientific reality."
This is perfectly stated, exactly. It's amazing how the issue becomes clear once we understand this.
Thank you for your clarity! Excellent.
Well done, Kat! I have been struggling to articulate all this from the first time I noticed that the word was no longer being used to refer to a concept within linguistics. You have nailed it!
Hey, thanks!
That is the key to this whole thing, in my view. The word itself is the problem. Just stop using it. It is amazing how the whole issue comes into focus once you do that.
There's always a more accurate word, so just use that. Then the absurdity of the whole situation becomes clear, and the problem can be solved. It is that simple.
I agree with you 100%! As a former biology/ chemistry teacher , I am appalled by the sheer ignorance of those that go along with the gender insanity. How many genders are there now ? 40? 50? 100. And then there are the “ gender fluid” that dance between those many . Do they change their fluid on a regular basis? Or whenever they feel like it?
The ideology has taken over like a metastasizing cancer ! And more dangerous in that so many have succumbed to it or are forced to . It is authoritarianism on hormones! Notice the language changes that this ideology has pushed on us! That’s the first thing any authoritarian does, and they’ve managed to get their fake words into the mainstream: “ transphobia “ “TERF”, “ cisgender” , “ non-binary” and other nonsense language ..It’s enough to make any sane person scream! Fortunately, though this was all done in secrecy , now more people are aware of this cult, and hopefully, this will be the beginning of the end...though it will take some time ..realizing how profitable this is for many.
Lol there are zero genders for humans--we only have two sexes, male and female. Genders are for words only.
I use TERF on purpose because it makes men in particular mad, so it must be worthwhile, although I know they mean it as a slur. I don't care. I use tranny too, so who cares
I guess I don’t like to use TERF, because it’s made up language by the trans cult. I don’t use any of their language ...They make up language to get power ...just like all authoritarians do. So none of it is valid “cis” in relation to people ; “transphobic” , as if we fear them;
I understand where you're coming from.
But it seems like the term TERF makes them angry, so I like it for that reason. Though I understand why some women avoid it.
They’re an angry lot no matter what you say! They’re so self obsessed that anything can set them off! But I guess it’s good to just make fun of them and I maybe it good to make them even angrier.
When I signed in to UPMC ( University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, they asked for my “ gender”. The choices were, male, female, bisexual, non- binary ( I think) , prefer not to answer, and other! The medical industrial Complex has for the most part climbed on this wagon of insanity. I did leave a note on another occasion, telling them it’s silly to have such categories, since there are only two sexes, male and female.
Right? Long before this gender nonsense really got going, people were using the term “gender” as essentially a euphemism for “sex,” to appease those who thought the latter word wasn’t suitable for polite company. But till recently, the options for “gender” were still just M and F, and everyone (?) understood that what was really meant was sex.
The trouble now is that most such forms are in some kind of online format where one can’t cross out “gender” and write in “sex,” much as one may want to. I did recently face a demographic survey (put out by a professional organization that really should know better) where the options for “gender” were something like “man,” “woman,” “decline to state,” and “other.” There was a place to comment so I said something about not having a “gender,” but being a woman on account of my sex being female.
And this notion of “feeling like” the other sex drives me nuts. None of us can actually know what it feels like to be anyone else — not even an identical twin! What’s more, I am quite confident that I have a lot more in common with many men than I do with many women, so it’s quite possible that I “feel” more like a man (or, certain men) in some ways than like certain women. But how I (or anyone else) “feel” is immaterial to the biological fact that is my sex.
The only letter in the new alphabet soup I can perhaps get behind is A for “agender” — I too do not feel I have a gender. (Because, when it comes to humans, the term “gender” is meaningless, as set out so clearly in the original post!)