What is a woman?

 

During the last confirmation hearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, when asked to define "what is a woman" by Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, Judge Ketanji Jackson replied, "I can't… I'm not a biologist". This might seem like a simple question. Still, recently, it has become susceptible and politically damaging, where people are ready to jump on you from both sides on whatever answer you give. The non-answer she gave might be the most correct thing she has done in this situation. There is a documentary out by Matt Walsh captioned "What is a woman". Matt Walsh is a right-wing political commentator, writer, and speaker who has a podcast and is often seen on Fox News. He is married with 4 children and said he did not attend university. I had to watch it at the insistence of my sons, who wanted to get my view on it. Matt believed things were complicated now, even for those in the know. Hence his first interview was with Gert Comfrey, a Gender Affirming Therapist. Even she had difficulty answering what Mr Walsh thought was a simple question. Dr Marci Lee Bowers, who is transgender herself and has performed more than 2,000 births and more than 2,000 vaginoplasties on men transitioning to women. Another person interviewed was  Professor Michelle M Forcier, a paediatrics professor. With Dr Patrick R. Grzanka, Professor of women, gender and sexuality studies, University of Tennesse. They came up with the definition that Sex depends on biological parameters, such as DNA, chromosomes, sexual organs and genitalia. Gender is a social construct or category which can be fluid and non-specific and can change. It is subjective and a perception. Although Gender and Sex are not equal are deeply intertwined with each other. This caused some of the respondents to become very uncomfortable and give what Matt described as "a circular definition" that a woman "is someone who identifies as a woman". Also, this definition falls on its face when applied to other parameters, like being black. Unless you are Ms Rachel Dolezal, who was born white but managed to act and get people to believe she was a black woman and rose in the  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) local chapter to its branch President.

Within the issue of the definition of who a woman is, the issue of transgenders in sports is a big issue, especially in female sports. Transgender women seem to be winning college medals, preventing "biological women" from ever entering the sports and getting sponsorship. Representative Mark Takano wants to amend the 1964 civil rights act to include sexuality and gender. Throughout the documentary, he continuously asks people, "what is a woman?". The people he asked this question ranged from intellectuals he interviewed, and ordinary people on the street, to those on the Woman's March. In Africa, he went to Kenya, who seemed surprised that he did not know what a woman was and laughed at him for asking such an obvious question.  

Matt seems to understand that we knew what males and females were for most of human history. But believed that gender fluidity was a recent phenomenon. He traced it to Dr Alfred Kinsey, who was said to base his views on research on sex offenders and child molesters in prison. It goes deeper than this and is more sicklying. As he reported having molested children in his research. Dr John Money was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author of his research into sexual identity and the biology of gender. He believed that babies are gender-neutral at birth and that gender is determined by the environment.  

One reason a paradigm shift is due to the involvement of Big Pharm is that a sex change surgery costs $70,000, and "medical transitions "cost maybe $1.3 million yearly. Chemical castration is in the region of $876 million per year, and then there are unproven puberty blockers and hormonal therapy. It has also been found that 67% have complications. Mammoplasty has been recommended for 15 years olds, and 14-year-olds have been diagnosed with osteoporosis due to steroid therapy. In Canada, a law states doctors can administer hormone-changing drugs to a child without parental consent or informing their parents. A father spoke out about a particular case and was arrested and fined $30,000 for misgendering his 13-year-old daughter.

Dr Miriam Grossman Adolescent Psychiatrist believes that gender dysphoria occurs in only 1 in 30,000. A concept designated in the DSM-5-TR as clinically significant distress or impairment related to gender incongruence may include a desire to change primary and/or secondary sex characteristics. The ICD definition is "a disorder, usually first manifest during early childhood (and always well before puberty), characterized by a persistent and intense distress about assigned sex, together with a desire to be (or insistence that one is) of the other sex". She believes that many doctors have been pushed by society and liberal-minded individuals. There are problems associated with gender identity, especially during teens and puberty, and putting children on puberty blockers makes it worst and causes irreversible damage. Dr Debra Soh wrote a book captioned "The end of gender", She uses a science-based approach to debulk many myths that have been going around. 

The issue has been framed as a right-conservative vs left-liberal issue, with the left being non-specific and emotional about the definition of a woman and the right being specific. Finally, towards the end of the program, he ended up asking his wife, who provided him with an answer that seemed to satisfy his curiosity, that a woman is a "human adult female". I think the program is politicized, and most left-liberal cases were portrayed as being confused, like Naia Okami, a transgender activist who identified as a Wolftherian. Hollywood has been able to influence a lot of our modern thinking. Coming from a medical background, there are cases of Testicular feminization syndrome or Androgen insensitivity syndrome. These are genetic males with beautiful female bodies, no uterus or ovaries, and the testis are where the ovaries were supposed to be. They will have to remove the testis later, or it will become cancerous. These are extremely rare. I believe there must be an equivalent mental term to these that many people do not understand. I also believe that there are social pressures. As the documentary suggests, if there were no surgery and hormonal replacement therapy, transgender cases might not be as prevalent as it is. Maybe they might be treated by a psychiatrist and just seen as delusional. However, we realize the pain and the extent that some of these individuals go through. But, as a famous comedian said, the pain and hurt must be severe if anyone can cut off their penis and undergo years of therapy. I believe we need to ask ourselves whether we are treating the right thing or just treating the symptoms and not the disease, as there are serious complications that we do not know about down the line.