Biological Gender and Cultural Gender

There is so much anger over the issue of gender. Much of it is the result of the failure to appreciate that there is a difference between biological gender and cultural gender.

Pete Hegseth, the current Secretary of Defense, is on a mission to drive all transgender persons out of the military. He is misguided and misinformed.

His mistake is that he believes that men are men and women are women, that this is God's plan and that no-one should fiddle with it. This is not true.

Biological gender is physically fixed. One can erase certain characteristics of biological gender but one cannot change one's biological gender, in the sense of assuming the genetic character and biological functions of the opposite sex.

Cultural gender, in contrast, is utterly fluid. One can fairly easily assume the dress and physical appearance of the opposite sex. With some effort one can change one's voice, one's demeanor, one's interests and goals to assume the cultural role traditionally held by a member of the opposite sex. One can display and act as a member of the opposite sex. This does not make a person any less competent, any less valuable, any less complete.

Throughout history women have sought equality and gay persons have sought acceptance. A century ago the people of American awarded women the right to vote. Sixty years ago Congress outlawed gender discrimination in employment. Twenty years ago the Supreme Court struck down laws that made it illegal to be gay. Ten years ago the Supreme Court granted each and every one of us the right to marry someone of the same sex. Until recently this country was making progress accepting transgender persons as equal - respecting the right to dress as they please and to be addressed as they choose.

Cultural gender is a myth. We now know that women are just as good as men in any occupation or profession. 

When I was a boy "lady driver" was an insult delivered with a sneer. Can you imagine? Women were barred from the professions, and even when a few were given the opportunity they were referred to as a "lady doctor" or a "woman lawyer." Most women who sought to enter law school or medical school were denied because, it was thought, even if the woman was competent she would never practice medicine or law but would quit to have babies. It never crossed these men's minds that her husband could raise children.

The college I entered did not admit women. Its excuse? "Our class size is 1000, and we graduate 1000 leaders a year. We cannot accomplish that if some of our graduates are women." When the college finally began to admit women my sophomore year 55 years ago they expanded the size of the class so they could still graduate "1000 leaders a year."

We have yet to elect a female president, even when they are clearly the superior candidate. Why is that? 

One of the few remaining functions in modern society where biological gender makes a difference is competitive sports. This is why those who oppose tolerance and equality in all of daily life make such a fuss over transgender athletes. In this one limited context they have a point. They are correct that it isn't fair to have persons of different genders competing against other. This isn't a new problem. There are persons, including athletes, whose biological gender is ambiguous; these are hard cases. There are women who naturally have high levels of testosterone; the consensus is that they may compete as women. Many athletes artificially inflate their hormone levels; they can be banned from any sport. The point is that each of these situations must be dealt with separately, balancing fairness with respect for the athlete as an individual.

The psychology of competitive sports in our socity contributes to the angst that traditionalists feel when they consider this issue. It is considered normal in our society for people to care about which professional team wins a game or a tournament. This is in fact entirely arbitrary. One might just as well care about characters in a soap opera (which was indeed common when I was a child). Professional athletes are not the same as the children you went to school with who played on a school team. You do not know them and they do not know you. Professional sports are simply entertainment, and the players and teams should evoke no more emotion than the contestants on a game show. And yet look at the billions of dollars and millions of viewers and the endless chatter about professional sports.

And there is yet more. Not only do people identify with teams and athletes, but for men especially professional sports represents the last field of endeavor where masculinity matters. At the extreme, there is professional fighting. Boxing and MMA glorify violence and dominance. As a young man I thought that boxing would soon be banned because it was too violent, but it has persisted precisely because it is one of the few areas in modern life where traditional notions of masculinity matter. And consider professional wrestling. It isn't even a sport! The whole point is a glorified display of toxic masculinity! The screaming, the boasting, the threats, the brawling - all sprinkled with the appearance of scantily clad females. 

Do we really need this? Can't we just enjoy competitive sports for the effort and spirit and beauty of the athletes, and leave behind the anger and brutality? Does it have to be about reinforcing traditional notions of masculinity and femininity? Can't we stop pretending that "we" have won if the team we are cheering for has won?

More broadly, can't we just enjoy each other, love each other, and take care of each other?

Hegseth and others fail to appreciate the difference between biological gender and cultural gender. The truth is that transgender persons are just persons. Just as women can be just as good soldiers as men, transgender persons can be just as good soldiers as cisgender persons.

Science and Social Progress

There is now a sharp divide between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. That divide was not as evident in the 1950s when I was a little boy. My father was a Republican and my mother was a Democrat, but they were both liberals. They both supported civil rights and together they ran programs that brought foreign students to America and to our community. They both voted for Adlai Stevenson twice and they both enthusiastically supported Nelson Rockefeller. They had some conservative views, too. They both supported the Vietnam War until the bombing of Hanoi on Christmas day, 1972.

At the time there were liberal and conservative Republicans and liberal and conservative Democrats. Many people criticized this situation, taking the position that the political parties "did not stand for anything." Gradually, however, the two major politcal parties realigned. Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats walked out of the Democratic Convention in 1948, while Hubert Humphrey at the podium yelled, "Let them go!" Conservative Democrats who opposed the Civil Rights laws of 1964, 1965, and 1968 voted for Goldwater and Reagan and switched to the Republican Party while liberals and African-Americans left the Party of Lincoln and joined the party of Lyndon Johnson and Bobby Kennedy. Both parties became more ideologically fixed in their positions.

There is another shift that has occurred as well. It used to be that Republicans, on average, were more educated than Democrats. That was partly because Republicans were wealthier than Democrats. But that gradually began to change, and by the year 2000 the educational attainment of Republicans and Democrats was equal. Today there is a yawning gap, and college-educated persons are far more likely to vote Democratic. See CNN, Why Education Level Has Become the Best Predictor of How People Will Vote; Pew, Party Affiliation of US Voters by Race, Ethnicity, Education.

The shift in educational attainment as the parties became more ideolocially aligned is not a coincidence, because there is a deeper phenomenon that drives the ideological divide between liberals and conservatives. It is how we tell reality from myth, truth from lies.

Do you tend to believe anything that supports your point of view? Or do you demand that there be reliable evidence for your political beliefs? Can you tell the difference between fake science and real science, or fake history and real history? Do you understand statistics and the basic laws of economics? Do you know what to look for in evaluating the reliability of medical research or sociological studies? 

Were you taught to fact check? Were you taught to carefully cite reliable sources for your own work?

Here is a quick checklist for you to tell whether you believe in science or myth.

Are vaccines safe and effective?

Yes! Vaccinate your children! Get the COVID vaccine! Make sure that all of your vaccines are up-to-date! Don't believe the conspiracy theorists or snake oil salesmen who prey on your fears and who put you at risk! WHO, Vaccines and Immunization: Vaccine Safety

Is climate change real? 

Yes! Environmental scientists confirm that climate change is real, and it is getting worse. Anybody my age should know that first-hand - we shovel less snow, we plant earlier, and the robins and daffodils appear sooner than ever! NOAA, Climate Change: Global Temperature.

Are undocumented immigrants more likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes?

No! By every statistical measurement, not only are immigrants less likely to commit crimes, they are far more law-abiding than the average native-born American. Anyone trying to make you afraid of immigrants is spreading racist lies, just like the Nazis did against the Jews. Migration Policy Institute, Immigrants and Crime in the United States.

Do tariffs on imports help the economy?

No! Tariffs hurt the economy; they raise prices and reduce GDP. The laws of supply and demand prove that free trade is far more economically efficient than tariffs. Let every country work hard to produce something other people want and we will all be wealthier. The Budget Lab, The Fiscal, Economic and Distributive Effects of 20% Tariffs on China and 25% Tarrifs on Canada and Mexico.

Are gay and lesbian parents as good at raising children as opposite-sex couples? 

Yes! Dozens of studies on children's psychological development and educational achievement confirm that same-sex couples are just as good as opposite-sex couples at parenting. The only consistent difference is that the children of same-sex couples are, on average, more tolerant. Cornell University, What Does the Scholarly Research Say About the Well-Being of Children with Gay or Lesbian Parents?

Why is liberalism associated with higher education and belief in science? It is because increasing knowledge always calls the existing society into question. Liberals seek to change and improve society, while conservatives seek to preserve the existing society. 

In America before the Civil War slavery was justified by myth; abolitionism was supported by fact. Slavery is highly inefficient. Free labor releases people from the shackles of "ownership" and makes it possible for every person to reach their highest potential.    

After the Civil War the Progressive Era in America was fueled by scientific advances in Statistics, Sociology, Psychology, and Economics As a result we reformed our prisons, stopped demonizing and torturing the mentally ill, and empowered women. 

Just so in the present time liberal views are driven by further advances in those same fields as well as in Medicine and Environmental Science. We can now accurately predict what the consequences will be if we move towards a more inclusive society with freedom and equality on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation and gender identity. Science and math inform us that we should become a more caring society and embrace universal health care, universal education, and free trade in commerce. 

If compassion is not enough to convince you that no child in America should go hungry, then economics should. A nation whose children are hungry is far weaker than one who takes care of their children.

Stop relying on myth and tradition to support your political views. Instead embrace math and science, and consider what policies will lead to a better world.

Message to Our Legislators on Protecting Persons with Disabilities

                 Right now, families of children with special needs are under attack in multiple ways. Will you protect the most vulnerable people in our society? Or are you determined to withdraw the support that is necessary for persons with disabilities to survive and for their families to keep their heads above water?

                My wife and I have experienced this firsthand. Our oldest child was born in 1980 with Tuberous Sclerosis. The most terrifying aspect of the disease is brain tumors. As a baby he suffered multiple grand mal seizures per day. Our physicians, who were wonderful, predicted that he would not live, and that if he did he would never walk or talk. We both persevered. My wife quit medical school for a year, and I, a licensed lawyer, took less demanding work so I could stay with him.

                Multiple studies show a direct connection between family income and the presence of a child with disabilities. This is the result of a number of interrelated factors:

·         The average household income of a family with a disabled child is only two-thirds the household income of a family with healthy children;

·         Parents of a child with disabilities spend more money on their disabled children, and spend more time and effort on those children, than on their healthy children;

·         Parents of a child with disabilities are 30% more likely to get divorced.

Our oldest is 44 years old now, and we are 75. He is developmentally disabled, but he volunteers in programs to help other people who are more disabled than himself. We didn’t divorce, we had three more amazing children, and we live a comfortable life, but we absolutely earned far less over our careers than if we had not dedicated ourselves to his well-being.

For decades my wife and I conducted adaptive recreation programming in our community, serving dozens of children and adults with developmental disabilities. We grew to know those families intimately. As we age many of those families are experiencing unbearable levels of financial and emotional stress.

What is the response of the present administration to this crisis? 

• Cut Medicaid, which not only pays for housing, daily care, and medical care for persons with disabilities, but which also pays for medical insurance for so many of our families living in poverty;
• Cut special education, which depends entirely on the federal Department of Education for funding that the states do not provide and for regulations that the states would now be free to ignore;
• Cut NIH grants and research, which seek treatment or a cure for so many of the conditions that cause disability.
• Cut Social Security, including programs such as SSI, SSDI, and DAC that directly serve persons with disabilities.

Are you going to stand with persons with disabilities and their families? Or will you vote to abandon us?

“A civilization is measured by how it cares for its helpless members.” As one of our leaders, that is how you, too, will be measured.

Fascism

The essence of fascism is narcissism. It is the opposite of caring and compassion towards others. Every manifestation of fascism involves the elevation of self and the exercise of selfishness. The most obvious aspect of fascism is

NATIONALISM

Not patriotism - not love of country and the willingness to sacrifice for the common good of the nation. Instead the starting point of fascism is nationalism - the belief that one's own country is better than all the others, and because it is superior therefore it is more deserving than other nations. America First! This justifies

AGGRESSIVE WAR

Fascists see nothing wrong with starting wars to steal the land and resources of other countries. Sometimes they offer weak excuses for invading other countries. "Iraq is building weapons of mass destruction." "Vietnam attacked us in the Gulf of Tonkin." But among themselves fascists need no excuse. They simply want to enrich themselves. Give us Greenland! Emotionally, their greed is accompanied by 

FEAR AND HATRED

Fascists' belief in their own superiority masks their essential cowardice - their fear of and hatred for "the other." Racism - sexism - homophobia - hatred of transgender persons - hatred of jews or muslims - hatred of immigrants - all are symptomatic of fascism. Fascists love to lie about and scapegoat helpless segments of our society. Jews will not replace us! Do you hate muslims? Have you been taught that there is something wrong with gays and lesbians and transgender persons? Do you despise "wokeness" because it supports the essential equality of all persons? Do you think it's funny when Donald Trump mocks a reporter with a congenital disorder? Do you believe the blatant lie that undocumented residents commit more crimes than native-born citizens? If so, you may wish to revisit your beliefs because you are on the road to fascism. As fascists ramp up the fear of others, they promote 

FORCE AND VIOLENCE

Fascists use force not only outwardly against other countries. They also use force against anyone they perceive as an enemy. They torture prisoners of war. They engage in political violence. When an opponent wins an election they do not celebrate democracy and support the will of the people. No, they riot, and they do not attend the inauguration of their opponent. January 6, 2021! All of these aspects of fascism are fed by a sense of 

HYPER-MASCULINITY

People who think that men are natural leaders and who refuse to vote for a woman. People who relish dominance displays as if they were proof of being better or smarter. People who debate by yelling and insulting others instead of weighing the facts and considering the consequences of their policies. Men who have numerous children by different women but who do nothing to raise those children! People who insist on strict gender roles, who think that "gay" is an insult, who oppose same-sex marriage and no-fault divorce, who want control over women's bodies, by law, by force, or by barring women from the professions. These people too are prone to fascism as a way of achieving dominance.

Fascism is on the march in America. What shall we do? How do we stop it? The answer is simple to say but hard to do. The answer is love. We counter hate with love. We act lovingly, but also openly, fiercely and steadfastly. We must speak, we must write, we must march, we must organize. We must stand up for equality and non-violence and democracy.