Description

What if the biological categories of male and female were replaced with socially defined identities? The answer is, wherever biological sex is a critical aspect of life and is replaced by subjective perception, ignorance and injustice would follow. Here's 9 reasons why sex is important.

Sources

[1] Lehtonen, J., Parker, G. (2014). Gamete competition, gamete limitation, and the evolution of two sexes. Molecular Human Reproduction, 20(12). 1161.

[2] Ibid, 1162.

[3] Geary, D., et al. (2004). Evolution of human mate choice. The Journal of Sex Research, 41(1), 27.

[4] Miller, G. (2001). The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature. Anchor.

[5] McGregor, A., et al. (2017). Sex as a biological variable in emergency medicine research and clinical practice. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 18(6).

[6] Berenbaum, S., Beltz, A. (2011). Sexual differentiation of human behavior: Effects of prenatal and pubertal organizational hormones. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 32. 194.

[7] Pankevich, DE., et al. (2011). Sex differences and implications for translational neuroscience research. Institute of Medicine.

[8] Gershoni, M., et al. (2017). The landscape of sex-differential transcriptome and its consequent action in human adults. BMC Biology, 15(7).

[9] Hilton, E., Lundberg, T. (2020). Transgender women in the female category of sport: Perspectives on testosterone suppression and performance advantage. Sports Medicine.

[10] FPFW. (2017). Biological sex differences: bones & muscles. Fair Play For Women.

[11] Hilton, E., Lundberg, T. (2020).

[12] FBI. (2011). Table 66, arrests in suburban areas by sex. Crime in the United States, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

[13] Gilligan, A. (2018). Unisex changing rooms put women in danger. The Sunday Times.

[14] Halley, A. (2019). Male-bodied rapists are being imprisoned with women. Why do so few people care? Quillette.

[15] Hymas, C. (2019). One in 50 prisoners identifies as transgender. The Telegraph.

[16] WHO. (2020). Female genital mutilation (FGM). Sexual and reproductive health, World Health Organization.

Transcript

Imagine, for a moment, if we as a society replaced the biological categories of male and female with socially defined identities. In this world, no person, system, or institution would differentiate between male and female. Instead, each individual defines themselves according to their own internal subjective perception. It may sound progressive or inclusive, but what would happen?

Here’s nine reasons why biological sex (male and female) must be defended.

#1. Truth

Science matters, and reality matters. The famous theoretical physicist Richard Feynman once said, "It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong." We progress by testing our assumptions against reality. If reality doesn’t agree, we must adjust our assumptions. Holding onto incorrect theories in the face of nature leads to nature roaring back with a vengeance.

#2. Reproduction

1.2 billion years old, sexual reproduction is fundamental to life. In humans, as in most animals and plants, reproduction occurs through anisogamy, the fusion of two gametes which differ in size and form. Males develop a reproductive system organized around small gametes (sperm), and females develop a reproductive system organized around large gametes (ova).[1] Without this system, Homo sapiens, and most other animals, would not exist. As two evolutionary biologists write in their paper, Gamete competition, gamete limitation, and the evolution of the two sexes, "The question of the origin of the two sexes is equal to the question of why do gametes come in two different sizes."[2]

#3. Evolution

The existence of two sexes shaped our physical and cognitive evolution as a species.[3] Sexual selection pressures produced the dimorphism of male and female bodies, led to the evolution of our brains, and built entire societies. The development of culture, art, and technology are, in part, the result of sexual selection on creativity and intelligence. In his book, The Mating Mind, evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller writes, "The human mind’s most impressive abilities are like the peacock’s tail: they are courtship tools, evolved to attract and entertain sexual partners."[4] Thus, to understand ourselves as a species requires us to understand the evolution of the two sexes.

#4. Medicine

Understanding sex differences is critical for the application and development of safe and effective medical practices. For instance, emergency medicine must identify the sex of the patient for appropriate drug dosages and blood transfusions [5]; sex-specific diseases such as prostate cancer in males and endometriosis in females require knowledge of the reproductive tract; and sex-related diseases and psychiatric illnesses, such as depression, anxiety disorders and personality disorders, manifest differently in males and females.[6] Thus, sex differences in gene expression, hormone levels, and the reproductive system influence the effectiveness of medical treatments, pharmaceutical drugs, and psychiatric practices.[7] Without understanding the genetic, hormonal, and psychological differences within and between males and females, medical research fails to function.[8]

#5. Sports

Competitive sports are divided on the basis of sex for a reason. Compared to the average female, the average male has 33% more lower body muscle mass, 40% more upper body muscle mass, and 57% more grip strength.[9] Plot a graph of grip strength data points, and you’ll find that the strongest 10% of females can only beat the bottom 10% of males.[10] Overall, the male performance advantage compared to females is 10-50% depending on the sport.[11] Elimination of biological sex as a criterion for sports marks the end of the female sports category.

#6. Crime

Informed public policy requires an accurate understanding of crime statistics, including sex differences in crime rates. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of violent crime, including aggravated assault, robbery, murder, and rape, is committed by males. In the United States, men commit 77% of aggravated assaults, 87% of robberies, 87% of murders, and 98% of rapes.[12] Without tracking crime statistics by sex, policies such as single-sex spaces, designed to protect women and girls from predatory males, would have no statistical foundation.

#7. Safety and Privacy

Separating males and females into single-sex public bathrooms, changing rooms, and prisons, where people undress and are vulnerable, increases the safety of females from actions of predatory males, and it retains the privacy and dignity of both sexes. Where such distinctions between male and female spaces are violated, injustice follows. For example, in UK swimming pool and sports-center changing rooms, from 2017-2018, 90% of reported sexual assaults, harassment, and voyeurism happened in unisex facilities.[13] Only 10% occurred in single-sex changing rooms. This pattern continues when males are sent to female prisons. In Wakefield, England, in 2017, a male rapist was admitted into a female prison. Why? Because he identified as a woman. While there, he sexually assaulted two female inmates.[14] In 2019, 1 in 50 male prisoners in the UK claimed to be women.[15] What would happen if those male inmates were also sent to female only prisons? Without single-sex spaces, the safety and privacy for women and girls would be lost.

#8. Fighting Injustice

Females across the world are subjected to sex-specific injustices. Practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), sex-selective abortions, and sex slavery are still common throughout the world. Take female genital mutilation. Concentrated in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, it is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have experienced FGM. Many countries have rates over 70%. For example, in the east African country of Somalia, 98% of girls and women aged 15 to 49 have undergone FGM. In Ethiopia, 74%. In Sudan, 88%. And in Egypt, 91%.[16] These girls and women are not targeted because they identify as female, but because they are female. Without differentiating between male and female, we cannot fight sex-specific injustices.

And finally, #9. Equality

Sex-based legal protections, laws, and policies are all informed by differentiating between male and female. We cannot make informed policies if we do not recognize the different reproductive functions of men and women and how such functions impact life choices. For example, only females can become pregnant and carry a child, which heavily impacts life and work choices. Therefore, social policy must consider such sex differences to provide men and women with equal opportunities and equality under the law. Without recognizing male and female as biological categories, sex-based equality cannot be achieved.

So, with that, reconsider the initial proposition: What if the biological categories of male and female were replaced with socially defined identities? The answer is, wherever biological sex is a critical aspect of life and is replaced by subjective perception, ignorance and injustice would follow. We’d witness the elimination of equality under the law, the inability to combat sex-based injustice, the erosion of safety and privacy for women and girls, and the inability to record accurate crime statistics. We’d witness the end of the female sports category, the collapse of evidence-based medicine, the ignorance of our evolution, and the abandonment of truth. Biological sex matters. It’s time to defend it.

© 2020 Zachary A. Elliott, All Rights Reserved.