Scientists: Sex Chromosomes are a "belief system"

submitted by GuacLettuceBacon from self.GenderCritical

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[–]slushpilot 13 insightful - 4 fun13 insightful - 3 fun14 insightful - 4 fun -  (2 children)

We're really just making this harder than it needs to be, aren't we? We know what biology is for men and women in 99.99% of cases, so we could just keep doing that, maybe?

I'd be totally fine with special consideration to those with a verified genetic or developmental condition—sure, let them legally identify themselves. There may be situations where that gets challenged, like Caster Semenya, but hey, the world is messy and we can deal with it as it comes up.

There's no sense arguing about such a tiny proportion of people. Whatever the conclusion of this scientific article is—it's just derailing the topic and is completely irrelevant to the "trans rights" issue that everyone is actually talking about for the vast majority of those who want to self-identify.

I see it like,

"I believe men shouldn't be admitted into women's prisons & shelters & sports."

— "But the scientific truth says! XXY! klinefelter! bimodal! seahorses!" —

"Sir, this is a Wendy's."

[–]MarkTwainiac 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Agreed, in all but a teensy tiny number of human beings, the sex is clear at birth and can be determined by the appearance of the external genitals, which usually conforms to sex chromosomes. In the rare cases where the external genitalia look ambiguous at birth, nowadays the sex of the child can be determined with accuracy by a full medical workup involving genetic testing, scans and a physical exam.

And BTW, Caster Semenya's sex is clear too: as the IAAF/WA successfully argued in court, Semenya is a healthy male whose external genitalia didn't develop properly in utero, so it looked atypical at birth. But Semenya's male gonads - testes - function just fine, like any other healthy guys testes to; what's more, Semenya is androgen responsive as other healthy males are, so Semenya was/is able to utilize the T Semenya's testes pump out to develop a masculinized physique and all the physical advantages that males have over females in sport.

[–]slushpilot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My only point about Semenya was that this is a pretty unique example of someone who was raised as a girl, but was only found to be male as an adult. It's a messy situation, and we need to allow for it & have some sympathy. It's so rare that such a person is not going to turn society upside down or be a threat to women—unlike opening the gates to self-id. I believe such a person should be allowed to live the life they've always known—although the new information is very relevant to issues like international sport where sex, not gender, still apply. It has to be evaluated on a case by case basis, and never over-generalized.