city-journal.org
2024-02-15
Biology is under siege from activists trying to undermine our long-established, universal understanding of what constitutes male and female organisms. These are not merely cloistered academic debates; this ideologically motivated pseudoscience is having a profound impact on society. It affects the existence of female-only spaces such as bathrooms, dressing rooms, rape shelters, and jails/prisons, as well as the safety and fairness of female-only sports leagues and events. It also shapes the debate over "gender-affirming care," which seeks to alter the bodies of sex-nonconforming children so that their physical features align with their self-proclaimed "gender identity."
Biological science, however, is firmly on the side of the sex realists. The setbacks this side has experienced in recent years owe not to the weakness of its arguments but to the climate of fear pervading academia, which silences dissent. Those who challenge gender ideology's prevailing narrative--namely, that biological sex is a social construct or exists on a spectrum--are often targeted, harassed, and publicly branded as "transphobic" bigots. Proponents of gender ideology understand that the biggest threat to their movement is open and honest debate. This is why, for the past five years, I have dedicated myself to educating the public on this topic, and openly engaging with gender ideologues whenever possible.
Last month, such an opportunity presented itself. Ian Copeland, who describes himself as a "Ph.D.-level geneticist," though he has not published any peer-reviewed scientific work, announced that he would host an event on X Spaces to defend the view that "sex is not binary."