Lady Hale "no such thing as biological sex"

[BinBadger]

"The 80-year-old, who is a member of the House of Lords, also questioned what was meant by “biological sex”.
“I was with some doctors last week who said there is no such thing as biological sex,” she said. "

In the Grain today

Apparently her daughter said,

“The idea that the trigger for all of this case was whether trans women should represent women in the representation of women on boards, I find heartbreaking.”

She said she would love to have “a talented trans woman sitting on a board of mine”.

Just, why?!

XXY and XYY are both male.

Or IS it Lord Hale?!

• In that 0.02 percent of births, the baby is said to have a “DSD”, a disorder or difference of sex development. There are around 40 DSDs, some of them extremely rare.
• DSDs are sex-specific: each affects only people of one sex or the other. People with DSDs do not belong to a third sex, or both sexes.

sex-matters.org/glossary/disorders-of-sex-development-dsds/#accordion-3-item-2

“The idea that the trigger for all of this case was whether trans women should represent women in the representation of women on boards, I find heartbreaking.”

She said she would love to have “a talented trans woman sitting on a board of mine”.

She sounds rather confused.

The Supreme Court ruling does not say anywhere that trans women should not sit on boards.

No one is trying to ban trans women from sitting on boards.

The question is whether trans women on boards should be counted as female.

An easier way to look at it is this.

Imagine you have a board which is 100% male and your diversity statistics are in the toilet. Then 50% of your board members get a gender recognition certificate saying they are female.

The composition of your board has not changed. The same people are still on it.

Is your board now 50% female? If not, why not?

If I was Lardy Hale's neighbour I'd be getting myself a nice big flock of laying cockerels so I could offer her freshly laid eggs for her very early breakfasts.

Indeed

However, the board can still be 50% female and 50% male and compiled entirely of trans people following the SC ruling, which is as it should be.

Lady Hale is welcome to believe what she likes, it doesn't make it correct. I'm more concerned about her quote:

“I was with some doctors last week who said there is no such thing as biological sex,” she said.

I can only hope she's referring to PhD doctors rather than medical doctors because no one (not even Lady Hale) wants to be treated by a Dr who doesn't know the difference between the male and female sex and how that difference impacts care, medication, disease diagnosis and treatment outcome.

How has scientific illiteracy somehow become a badge of honour? It's so depressing.

The universities have so much culpability here. Disciplines like social sciences have their place, but we need to start facing up to how much total bilge is being taught in the name of 'gender studies' .

And the hard sciences need to start standing up for themselves. Their reputation will be in tatters soon also if they don't man up.

@ItsFineReally

Relying on XX vs XY chromosomes immediately presents a challenge as to how those with chromosomal anomalies

The definition of sex doesn't rely on chromosomes, so there is no challenge to accommodate combinations other than xx or xy.

"Chromosomal sex", so beloved of TRAs, aren't different types of sex, they are chromosomal profiles typically associated with one or the other sex.

Are these actually doctors of medicine?

If so, I wish she would name them, so that anybody wanting good basic healthcare of a reliable standard can be certain to avoid them in favour of competent, intelligent, properly trained doctors instead.

X-posted with Jasmine.

@Ingenieur
The definition of sex doesn't rely on chromosomes, so there is no challenge to accommodate combinations other than xx or xy.

So what is the definition of sex?

Are these actually doctors of medicine?
If so, I wish she would name them

I'd take a punt at Beth.

I bloody love your username @IfYouPutASausageInItItsNotAViennetta 😆

I know the ruling does discuss sex as on the birth certificate. But I guess that's a slightly separate conversation on doctors talking more generally about biological sex.

My day old son knew what a biological woman was when he latched on to my breast to feed rather than his dad’s chest.

How a so called intelligent woman sitting in the House of Lords struggles with the most basic concept on the planet is beyond me. Perhaps she needs to see a mental health professional.

I think you are confused. Biological sex is 100% defined in science and it relates to gamete production. It is why we say that a Clown Fish can change sex and a male seahorse carries its young.

A tiny number of people have differences of sexual development which mean that their sex is more difficult to define.

That does not mean that sex is less relevant or more difficult to define for the rest of the population.

You might as well argue that we should scrap age limits because some refugees don't have birth certificates.

@Merrymouse It's not my argument. I'm saying I'm surprised people haven't come across it. But I haven't articulated well as I am talking across a number of points so I take that on board.

I also agree that difficulties in a small minority of cases shouldn't override any overall rule.

Sorry if I misunderstood - but I still don't understand why a doctor would make that argument.

So what is the definition of sex?

The reproductive role of an organism.

Are you getting confused between definitions and determination?

I guess a lot of this stuff does hinge on getting confused between definition and determination.

Even above - "That does not mean that sex is less relevant or more difficult to define for the rest of the population."

No, that should have been "difficult to determine."

To say "biological sex does not exist" is to say "there are no reproductive roles", which is spectacularly wrong. Because clearly there are 2 roles.

And then how do you determine which sex someone is? If fertile, no problem. If infertile, figure out what sort of fertility treatment you'd give them. Easy.

Is she on glue?

I mean, seriously, this kind of statement is just embarrassing.

Thanks! It's the title of a Modern Life Is Goodish episode - taken from one of Dave Gorman's found poems

Yes, after I posted I wanted to go back and edit. Your follow up post is spot on.

Apparently a lot of smart people are very stupid.

I also wonder if some very elderly people like Lady Hale are so keen to appear still relevant or cool to their younger family members that they put that desire above the truth?