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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Biological sex is apparently - ambiguous.

58 replies

andyoldlabour · 01/04/2021 18:39

Yes, you read that correctly. How anyone can make a statement like that is beyond me. But the person in the following video states it quite confidently.
Words fail me.

OP posts:
Justhadathought · 01/04/2021 21:02

if your obsession with trans people really was borne out of concern for the children, you would not tolerate remarks like this in your community. you always manage to tell on yourselves don't you

The 'obsession" you talk of is actually about two things, primarily:

  1. Protecting and defending women's right to the dignity and privacy of their sex - as an integral reality

  2. To protecting young non conforming or vulnerable children and adults from gender ideology

Fromage · 01/04/2021 21:01

"Biological sex is an ambiguous word...."

That's two words, love.

I can't take you seriously if you can't count to two.

Which is the number of actual sexes there are. The irony.

Scepticaltank · 01/04/2021 20:55

@outedbyfaircop

This person's voice indicates quite clearly what sex they were observed at birth.

That is clearly a biological voice.

And yet the sex of that person is easy to tell 🤔🤔

Having a deep voice indicates that this person transitioned in adulthood, after puberty, which I thought this board was passionately in favour of. snide comments about how well she does or does not pass is unlikely to encourage other trans youth to wait until adulthood before starting to transition. if your obsession with trans people really was borne out of concern for the children, you would not tolerate remarks like this in your community. you always manage to tell on yourselves don't you?

I think you missed the point. The speaker was explaining "biology" as some indeterminate thing, and yet the different speaking voices of males and female is entirely a function of "biology".

If "biology" is to be framed as "ambiguous" with absolute certainty then surely stating the biological obvious is neither here nor there, and why would you be so upset by it? Shouldn't you be telling us that voices are on a spectrum and no one knows? These are your rules, I think you must play by them.

HeirloomTomato · 01/04/2021 20:55

Having a deep voice indicates that this person transitioned in adulthood, after puberty, which I thought this board was passionately in favour of.

My comment wasn't aimed at the speaker. I don't care how well an individual person passes. My point was that if biological sex doesn't exist, then how can I can hear a voice and read it immediately as male or female within seconds? That would be impossible if biological sex was really 'ambiguous' as the speaker claims.

quixote9 · 01/04/2021 20:49

@outed "if your ["]obsession["] with trans people really was [born] out of concern for the children"

If transwomen's (you don't hear from transmen much at all) obsession with validation was really born out of a concern for the recognition of their human and civil rights, they would recognize that women have those rights too.

Biscuitsanddoombar · 01/04/2021 20:45

I’m not in favour of anyone feeling they have to ‘transition’ to feel accepted. I’d much rather we got rid of ridículos gender stereotypes so that people born male could wear dresses and have long hair and still be proudly male rather than feeling they must somehow be a woman

Sex is not ambiguous - There are only 2 sexes, everyone is one or the other. people with DSD are not a mysterious third sex

ListeningQuietly · 01/04/2021 20:37

Having a deep voice indicates that this person transitioned in adulthood, after puberty, which I thought this board was passionately in favour of
Define transition

I have a real life friend who had full surgery before they were 20
they do NOT sound like that speaker.

People who have had surgery and the chemicals do not sound like that

(a good case study is Lynette Nusbacher who appeared on episodes of Abandoned Engineering right the way through their transition - you can see and hear Aryeh turn into Lynette over the series)

outedbyfaircop · 01/04/2021 20:31

This person's voice indicates quite clearly what sex they were observed at birth.

That is clearly a biological voice.

And yet the sex of that person is easy to tell 🤔🤔

Having a deep voice indicates that this person transitioned in adulthood, after puberty, which I thought this board was passionately in favour of. snide comments about how well she does or does not pass is unlikely to encourage other trans youth to wait until adulthood before starting to transition. if your obsession with trans people really was borne out of concern for the children, you would not tolerate remarks like this in your community. you always manage to tell on yourselves don't you?

ListeningQuietly · 01/04/2021 20:27

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Justhadathought · 01/04/2021 20:21

And yet the sex of that person is easy to tell 🤔🤔

The supreme sense of self entitlement, amongst other aspects.

Justhadathought · 01/04/2021 20:20

Its a good exemplar of coercive-control pattern behaviour

Holding everyone hostage for the purposes of validating identity.

How precarious!

FreezerBird · 01/04/2021 20:09

I've said this before, but if biological sex is ambiguous, the human race has been extraordinarily lucky in terms of who's had sex with who to get us to the point of a world population of 7 billion.

R0wantrees · 01/04/2021 20:05

Its a good exemplar of coercive-control pattern behaviour.

Datun · 01/04/2021 20:01

@R0wantrees

transcript (extract) Eliana Turan "First I would like to quote from the medical literature regarding the term 'biologically male' in reference to transgender women is wrong. Biological sex is an ambiguous word that has no scale and no meaning besides that which is related to some sex characteristics, primarily the outward appearance of one's reproductive organs when their sex is assigned at birth. It says nothing about our sense of self nor our holistic physical characteristics throughout the course of our lifetimes. Most frequently the term is used in a transphobic and derogatory manner to undermine the legitimacy of trans women while relying on a pseudo-scientific facade. So I'd please ask everyone on the show and all Clevelanders and Ohioans to please refrain from using derogatory language and hate speech okay? I just wanted to set the set the ground rules here" Hmm

I've heard other TRAs (Joanna Harper?) use a very similar tactic in interviews about women's sports attempting to prevent women from having the language to describe sex based differences.

For those who have capitulated or colluded with the denial that men are adult human males it was always inevitable that TRAs would demand denial of all sex specific words.

Dear god.
R0wantrees · 01/04/2021 19:51

It was Joanna Harper.
At 15:35 Harper says that it is "extraordinary objectionable" that male athletes are described as male is a) offensive and b) inaccurate and asks if the moderator can intervene to prevent Linda Blade from using the accurate sex descriptor 'male'.

At 18:40 Linda Blade attempts to find language acceptable to Harper.

'Trans Athletes and Fairness
'Be it Resolved: Safety and fairness preclude participation of trans athletes in high level women's sport.'

GUESTS
Linda Blade
Joanna Harper
munkdebates.com/podcast/trans-athletes-and-fairness

AdaFuckingShelby · 01/04/2021 19:31

Ah, the old 'hate speech' argument. There are 2 sexes. Who knew that sentence would ever become Hate Speech? I feel like I've stumbled into a dystopian dream state, any moment now I'll wake up...

ErrolTheDragon · 01/04/2021 19:28

Do these idiots not know what biological sex evolved for and how it works?

I bet they know unambiguously what sex their parents are/were. And if they don't then frankly they're not worth listening to.

OhHolyJesus · 01/04/2021 19:25

I've heard other TRAs (Joanna Harper?) use a very similar tactic in interviews about

This made me think of Cyclepath (genuinely not sure what name is being used currently, I know it changed).

Biscuitsanddoombar · 01/04/2021 19:24

And yet the sex of that person is easy to tell 🤔🤔

allmywhat · 01/04/2021 19:22

Am I going to get deleted for calling that person a plonker? I honestly have no idea any more. It's just... for fuck's sake. Of course there's no scale for biological sex. That's what we've been saying.

HeirloomTomato · 01/04/2021 19:22

Odd, because the video started to play before I looked at it and immediately I heard this person's voice as male. Nothing ambiguous about that at all.

Thingybob · 01/04/2021 19:16

I'd like to know what "medical literature" they were quoting

allmywhat · 01/04/2021 19:16

Biological sex is an ambiguous word that has no scale

there's no scale because it's binary, you absolute plonker.

R0wantrees · 01/04/2021 19:15

Words fail me.

That is the intention.

ListeningQuietly · 01/04/2021 19:04

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

If only you could do a DNA test to find out these things...
Gosh, yes, it would be a shame if facts could get in the way of feelings labtestsonline.org/tests/chromosome-analysis-karyotyping or www.nhs.uk/conditions/genetic-and-genomic-testing/