Sex is not gender; the National Institutes of Health says so

It's not just gender-critical radical feminists saying that.

It's not just them plus me saying that.

(When I do say it, I use an analogy that leftists should understand and good ones should accept:

"Sex is not gender, like anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.")

Rather, that's the official statement of the National Institutes of Health. (I found that via this piece about sex (NOT gender) differences in COVID morbidity and severity.)

And, the full thing deserves quoting, and shall get it.

"Sex" refers to biological differences between females and males, including chromosomes, sex organs, and endogenous hormonal profiles. "Gender" refers to socially constructed and enacted roles and behaviors which occur in a historical and cultural context and vary across societies and over time. All individuals act in many ways that fulfill the gender expectations of their society. With continuous interaction between sex and gender, health is determined by both biology and the expression of gender.

That's all that needs to be said. That's all that CAN be said.

Anything further would gainsay that.

Well, no, nothing further about that definition could add to it.

But how it plays out? There's more to be said.

The bottom line of that "more" is simple.

"STFU, so-called trans activists." By this, I'm not referring to parents of children who may have sexual dysphoria. However, I do hope those parents know guidelines for when to use, or NOT use, puberty blockers, the risks that come with them and more.

I stand with the Mayo Clinic, which notes that puberty blocking medications should only be used for children who:

• Show a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria.
• Have gender dysphoria that began or worsened at the start of puberty.

Note that the first stipulation has an AND, not an OR. The dysphoria must be BOTH long-lasting and intense. Note also the second stipulation. Gender dysphoria that starts after puberty should NOT be treated with these medications. And these bullet points, plus two others, including one that says a child who is a candidate for such medications should at the same time be addressing any "psychological, medical or social problems" that could interfere with such treatment.

I also stand with the Mayo Clinic in that these medications, from what we already now, likely DO have some long-term effects. PBS's Frontline has more about possible long-term effects. Any major multiyear hormonal changes on a pre-adult, a child, are almost guaranteed to have some brain effects. Frontline also notes (as of the time of the piece) that use of puberty blockers for gender-dysphoric children is an off-label use.

More here.

“The bottom line is we don’t really know how sex hormones impact any adolescent’s brain development,” Dr. Lisa Simons, a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s, told FRONTLINE. “We know that there’s a lot of brain development between childhood and adulthood, but it’s not clear what’s behind that.” What’s lacking, she said, are specific studies that look at the neurocognitive effects of puberty blockers. The story also notes that there’s health risks behind transitioning hormones, and that these risks may vary based on the age at which they’re started.

Here's another piece about long-term effects for women who received Lupron for other reasons. (Leupron is the main trade name for leuproleptin, the only puberty blocker on the market.) Besides thinning bones, similar problems such as thinning tooth enamel and joint issues are listed.

Dealing with the needs of actual transsexuals has become difficult for people who accept their needs and don't reject them, because of the blatant selfishness of transgender people who think wearing a dress while you have male genitalia and have no plans for sexual transitioning, nor any desire for it, entitle you to special treatment.

Oh, and because sex is not gender, I do distinguish between "transsexual" and "transgender." I'm not a gender-critical radical feminist, but there are others like me, on the left hand of the political spectrum, who make the same distinction even though we're not GCRFs.

It IS called "science."

 

Oh, there's also quite likely multiple "varieties" of transsexualism.