Article Rise & fall of journals + Is male/female divide a social construct? (Richard Dawkins)

[C C]

In the DSM, gender dysphoria is a psychiatric condition. While we probably should feel compassion for them, there's no need for everyone to believe that their delusions are reality.

https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/...report.pdf

But even without the May 2025 publication date, it would be obvious that this is not a Biden-era product...

"While sex-role nonconformity itself is not pathological and does not require treatment, the use of pharmacological and surgical interventions as treatments for pediatric gender dysphoria has been called 'medically necessary' and even 'lifesaving'.'"

... because the usual veneration toward the above “gender-affirming" model approach to GD is missing. Previously, the following doubts or cautions would not have been cast on such. It was full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes (long-term consequences).

For instance, unlike this document, there would have been little significance attached to many GD children having other "psychiatric or neurodevelopmental conditions" (like autism).

And no heavy mention of the diagnosis being "based entirely on subjective self-reports and behavioral observations, without any objective physical, imaging, or laboratory markers". Especially no concern over that diagnosis "centering on attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that are known to fluctuate during adolescence."

And the following acknowledgements would have been especially treasonous during that former era:

The 'gender-affirming' model of care, as practiced in U.S. clinics, is characterized by a child-led process in which comprehensive mental health assessments are often minimized or omitted, and the patient’s 'embodiment goals' serve as the primary guide for treatment decisions. In some of the nation’s leading pediatric gender clinics, assessments are conducted in a single session lasting two hours.

And good gosh, there certainly wouldn't be reference to GD dissipating in some children over time, or that carrying any importance. Because back then, the experts went by the great wisdom of the child that their preference was a life-long desire that would never abate or be regretted years later.

"Additionally, the natural history of pediatric gender dysphoria is poorly understood, though existing research suggests it will remit without intervention in most cases. Medical professionals have no way to know which patients may continue to experience gender dysphoria and which will come to terms with their bodies."

Due to the remission of GD not being 100% with every patient, they can't abandon the gender-affirming approach. But again, what's glaring here is the lack of devout reverence (ilike n the past) for gender-affirming treatment being the #1 route or sole option.

[Railko]

I think the hatred for "transracial" but support for "transgender" stems from transracial claims being very similar to the minstrel shows people used to put on to make fun of black people. So someone claiming a transracial identity automatically drags up those images, whereas transgender has no such history. (Well, men used to dress up as women for comedic effect, but it isn't seen as egregious as doing so for black people.) But it has been done - there was a black girl (Sarah Rector) who was declared legally white because people at the time could not imagine a black person having so much money.

That being said, I think the hand flailing about "trans women are women" is misunderstanding the point of the saying. Trans women are women is supposed to mean they're a type of woman, not that they're a cis biological woman (and their biology is made clear with the "trans" prefix). Like how a blue wire and a red wire are both wires, even though they have differences, and you probably would only cut one but not the other to diffuse a contraption. And we have "female" to describe a biological woman as well. A woman (cis or trans) could be defined as anybody who identifies with the sex characteristics or social behavior (since Dawkins did identify a host of behaviors associated with having large isogametes) associated with being female.

[Syne]

There is no "type of woman" that allows a man to use women-only spaces (invading their privacy) or compete in women's sports (endangering them and depriving them of opportunities).

[Magical Realist]

There is no "type of woman" that allows a man to use women-only spaces

Transgender women are now using women's restrooms and dressing rooms and have been for years without the slightest repercussion. The question is, Why are Republicans making a big deal out of it now? Are they running out of minorities to scapegoat since they had to accept gay marriage? Answer: You bet your ass!

[Syne]

There is no "type of woman" that allows a man to use women-only spaces

Transgender women are now using women's restrooms and dressing rooms and have been for years without the slightest repercussion. The question is, Why are Republicans making a big deal out of it now? Are they running out of minorities to scapegoat since they had to accept gay marriage? Answer: You bet your ass!

Actual women have been making an issue of it all along. Men exposing themselves to young girls in locker rooms, men robbing women of sports scholarships, titles, and records, etc..
I know you're gay, but try to temper your indifference to women.

[Railko]

There is no "type of woman" that allows a man to use women-only spaces (invading their privacy) or compete in women's sports (endangering them and depriving them of opportunities).

How does it invade privacy? As long as they're not doing anything indecent, I would think they would be fine there. 

Women's sports is a bit more nebulous, but the evidence seems to show that transwomen (when transitioned for three-five years or more) seem to lack special advantages, except maybe height. They're akin to a cis woman in strength without testosterone (which makes sense since doping is just giving yourself artificial testosterone) so assuming there was a woman of similar height and build, they'd be equally matched, I figure?

But also after the controversy with that athlete at last year's Olympics, I don't trust that some claims of being disadvantaged in sports aren't just coming from bad athletes. IIRC, that Albanian athlete won against her opponent and people started saying she was trans when she was a regular cis woman. Whenever a woman is "too good" they have to ponder whether she's trans, as if she can't be good naturally. Cis women will need to be embraced fully in the sport before people can even think of calling it unfair for a transwomen to be there.

[Syne]

There's been plenty of reports of men exposing themselves to women and young girls in locker rooms. Many women are uncomfortable with strange men being able to watch them change clothes.
Even using drugs to reduce testosterone, any man will still have way more testosterone, muscle mass, bone density, etc. than a woman. Women have been permanently injured competing against these men in sports. So it's even a safety issue.

Testosterone drives much of the enhanced athletic performance of males through in utero, early life, and adult exposure. Many anatomical sex differences driven by testosterone are not reversible. Hemoglobin levels and muscle mass are sensitive to adult life testosterone levels, with hemoglobin being the most responsive. Studies in transgender women, and androgen-deprivation treated cancer patients, show muscle mass is retained for many months, even years, and that co-comittant exercise mitigates muscle loss. Given that sports are currently segregated into male and female divisions because of superior male athletic performance, and that estrogen therapy will not reverse most athletic performance parameters, it follows that transgender women will enter the female division with an inherent advantage because of their prior male physiology.
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9331831/

Khelif had intended to return to international competition at the Eindhoven Box Cup in June 2025. However, following World Boxing's announcement of mandatory sex testing, tournament officials reported that Khelif had not registered for the event. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imane_Khelif

A cis woman wouldn't have any trouble submitting to sex testing.

[Magical Realist]

There's been plenty of reports of men exposing themselves to women and young girls in locker rooms.

What reports? Men or transgender women?

[Syne]

In March, four 14-year-old freshman girls in the district were showering in the girls’ locker room when they were exposed to the genitalia of an 18-year-old senior who is transitioning from male to female, according to the conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. - https://www.wpr.org/education/sun-prairi...ls-parents

Lia Thomas exposed 'male genitalia' in women's locker room at swim meet, ex-swimmer says - https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/l...immer-says

On June 24, 2021, a woman posted a video to Instagram in which she had confronted staff at Wi Spa, a Korean spa in Los Angeles, about the presence of a nude individual with a penis, most commonly believed to be a trans woman, in the women's changing area of the spa. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi_Spa_controversy


The decision to allow a transgender 45-year-old college student who identifies as a woman but has male genitalia to use the women's locker room has raised a fracas among parents and faith-based organizations, who say children as young as 6 years old use the locker room.

The locker room at Evergreen College in Olympia, Wash., is shared with the Capital High School swim club and a children's swim academy, along with the students at Evergreen.
- https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2...ses-uproar


My own locker room – the place where I strip off my swimsuit, relax in the hot shower, towel dry, apply lotion, then shimmy into yoga pants and sweatshirts – made headlines1 this week, three months after a registered sex offender who identifies as transgender waltzed in, sat naked on a bench, and watched my female neighbors undress. - https://strongerwomen.substack.com/p/tra...himself-in

Women who are now former members of several Ohio-based YMCAs are speaking out after a trans-identifying woman exposed his genitalia in the woman's locker room. - https://cbn.com/news/us/ohio-women-and-g...ocker-room

[Magical Realist]

I expose my genitalia every time I use a public restroom or a locker room. Should I be arrested too? Should we post genitalia inspectors at the entrance of female locker rooms and public restrooms to weed out all these perverted transgender women?