The following is commentary intended for discussion. Add your comments.
If you’re confused about the controversies, policies, and insistences surrounding gender– I think it’s with good reason.
Let me start by saying that I personally advocate for fair, kind and equal treatment for all (excluding, of course, evil, hateful, criminal behavior, etc.). As I’ve traveled the world, I’ve discovered America is better at this than most any other place I know.
To step back for a minute, when I grew up decades ago, I was the generation that knew women could do and be most anything! We were already doctors, prime ministers and other world leaders, astronauts, pop stars, engineers, math champs, you name it. (Well, there was one thing we couldn’t be, at the time: a man.)
So it surprised me and left me a bit confused when I began hearing many women, in the past decade or so, talk about all the discrimination that supposedly exists against women today. I began hearing women telling their daughters how the world is holding them back. I watch and listen to young women who record videos today and talk about wanting to ‘prove to their daughters that they can do anything, even be a doctor!’
Weird, because we knew that 50 years ago.
What, or who, is making women today feel as though none of that ever happened? What or who is teaching them that things are like they were before they became like they became in the 70s?
Here’s another confusing thing. Part of the stated goal by some (way-back-when) was for women to be seen as the same as men, for the purposes of capabilities. In other words: don’t ‘see’ her gender.
There was even an academic school of thought that the only difference between girls and boys is the way we raise them. If we raised them the same, went the theory, there would basically be no behavioral or capability differences. In other words, give toy trucks to girls and dolls to boys and you can make a girl just like a boy or a boy just like a girl. It’s all in the environment, we were told.
But at the same time, some of the same people also advocated celebrating women solely for their gender… the ‘first woman’ this, or the ‘first women’ that.
Which is it? Are we to be blind to a person’s gender, or are we to be keenly aware of, and make decisions based on, her gender?
Adding to the confusion are transgender trends. We are to accept people for whomever they are (which I agree with, to the extent we’re not talking about killers, criminals, self-harming, etc.); but some of the people we are to accept are unaccepting of themselves– seeking to make radical life changes to align their biological sex with what they think they ought to be. They are males who believe they feel like what they imagine a woman must feel like, or women who believe they feel what they imagine a man must feel like. But weren’t we told there was no real difference between the genders, beyond social construct?
And I’m not advocating for this but asking the question: if a male believes he feels like a woman, why isn’t he simply a male with certain feelings within a range of feelings… rather than someone who feels so compelled to have others think of him as a woman that he will have radical elective surgery and medical treatments that, until not long ago, were considered mutilation and possibly abuse?
Also, some activists have long insisted people stay out of each other’s bedrooms (i.e. not care about who they sleep with). Today, there seems to be pretty widespread agreement on that point. But now, some, instead, want to invite everyone into their bedrooms and be celebrated for their sexual behavior– but only if it’s not the behavior of the majority. The majority are not to speak of being proud of the way they are. That would be hateful.
Which is it? Are we to not care about people’s bedroom lives, or are we to celebrate certain sexual behavior? Isn’t that, in a way, singling out people rather than accepting them as ‘the same’?
Is gender utterly unimportant… or so important that, today, ‘misgendering’ a man who feels like a woman or vice versa is a crime punishable by banishment from some social media, friendships and jobs?
Lastly, the discussion has grown so loud and, at times, heated, are we failing to ask important big questions? If so many people are truly confused about their gender, or mismatched to their birth gender, what has caused this trend inside of a generation? Scientists teach us that such quick shifts are not due to genetic causes, but something in the environment (i.e. air, water, food, medicine, pollutants, radiation, pesticides, poisons…) So what thing or combination of things are we doing that could be causing this?
Are some of the forces that are pushing people to changes their biological sex, and bullying those who differ on the approach, part of industries that could be responsible for some of the exposures causing the unusual trends? Could the vitriol and division be stoked by these interests as a diversion so we dare not ask the hard questions about causation?
What do you think?
it’s an ugly, violent off-shoot of what once began as PC, combined with giving up merit as requirement for a job application. very good of you to bring this up honestly and unbiased!
Thank you, Sharyl. I couldn’t agree more! I recently spoke to a friend who’d suggested that young girls needed to be motivated toward “STEM” programs because they needed to be told that they could be anything they wanted to be. I said, “we knew that growing up. That’s 50 year-old news!” But at the same time, we’re telling our children there is no difference between men and women and whatever you “think” you are makes it so. Crazy! We’re harming our children: emotionally, psychologically, and physically.
Those that harm children in these ways should go to prison.
Hi Sharyl,
I think where there is a problem is that you are operating under the assumption that people believe in things such as standards and objective truths, but that is where the real disconnect is. This notion of objective underlying truth is increasingly becoming dismissed outright. Without this common bond, I do not know how any kind of conversation moves forward.
During her supreme court confirmation hearings, justice Ketanji Brown was asked to define a “woman“. In the process of refusing to do that she said that she knew she was a woman and Senator Blackburn is a woman. The obvious follow up question is, “How do you know that you and Senator Blackburn are women?”. Had she answered that question honestly, THAT would have made news. The effort to placate a very small but vocal section of our populace is to deny the obvious and needed roles that men and especially women play in society. If we start with the fact that they are both needed to perpetuate our very existence and we have the courage to say we believe in their obvious and necessary roles, we can acknowledge that the gender fluidity argument, like the emperor, has no clothes. If the proponents of that argument actually open up their eyes and we refuse to close ours we will move further from the insanity born of denying the obvious.
Sharyl, your analysis is thought-provoking and probably puts into words the feelings and questions many people are having on this topic. It reminds me of what Condoleezza Rice said on The View once when she had some disagreement with what she saw as the victim mentality in some Black Lives Matter supporters. She said that she knows racism exists but that she grew up with her parents telling her that she could become anything she wanted to be if she worked hard for it, and that this was a more positive, empowering message. And this is similar to Bob Woodson’s views – to emphasize personal responsibility for outcomes, to work hard, to be inspired by success stories, etc. Unfortunately, views such as these, which seemed to be mainstream years ago, are now politicized and even here, you will find mostly agreement because your readers skew mainly in one direction. I happen to agree with all of it but just to test my opinions, I’d like to hear the answers and explanations from someone who disagrees. I might guess that they might say that we may have equality down on paper, but in reality, people who are not in the gender mainstream experience a lot of negative feedback, lack of opportunity and even violence. So they have to speak loudly for the ones who don’t have power or a voice. Personally, I think we shouldn’t concentrate on our differences and we should emphasize unity and understanding for other people. If we constantly set up us vs. them scenarios, it keeps it adversarial, whereas if we look at problems in a broader sense, such as discrimination in general, poverty, depression, struggles….without naming an endless slew of divisive indentifiers……then the problems become something that anyone can relate to. And if we all can relate to it and feel it’s part of the human experience, maybe we can be more accepting of each other.
I think you have encapsulated everything so well! Thank you!!! Never let the trolls and/or the gov’t spies keep you quiet!
I am over 50 and as girls we knew we could do whatever we wanted to. My parents believed in education. We did not have money, as my father died when I was in high school, but we absolutely went to college. Borrowed money but survived. Worked part-time. Did not whine about eating Ramen or the school’s food & complain it should be free.
The zeitgeist today both belligerent & terribly sad.
The truth is their pronouns are: I/Me/MINE
Considering the last three years and the historic global lockdowns(unnecessary) and faux pandemic that was promoted 24/7 by the PharMedia, gender distinctions and the deliberate “trans” con-fusion indicate that we had better identify the sources of evil ASAP. Trannys and drag queens have been around for ages–just not in our faces. The politicization of “gender” definitions are being used to create further divisions within society. I’m more considered by the emergence of the ‘Philanthropaths’ who are directing the world’s future course.
Very well written.
I stop at allowing doctors to mutilate children whether parents agree to their gender dysphoria or not. Those running things push for permanent changes to children done in the name of “acceptance”, should be punished. I will NEVER accept the medical establishment role in this disturbing permanent mutilzation. USA has no moral or ethical high ground. We used to oppose genital mutilaxation for Muslim religious rrquirements. Now we educate pur children they can be whatever they desire at age 5. It is a another crime against humanity involving our medical establishment.
Thank you, Sharyl for writing on this topic. I have asked many of the same questions.
There are so many hormone/endocrine disrupters in our foods, water, soil and air. Soy is a listed ingredient in many products and is not only an endocrine disrupter but one of the most chemically sprayed products on the market. Soy-based baby formula is popular. Beware and read labels.
Yes, there have always been homosexuals and lesbians, many who I call friends but for heavens sake pick a side. Don’t ask me to agree to pronoun changes. You are a he or a she and if confused its simple, look at your genitals for the answer. Penis for men, vagina for women. Please use the genital appropriate restroom.
Then there is the political agenda to divide and label us as racist if we disagree. The agenda encourages “fly your flag” showing your sexual preference to those driving by. Why do “they” have such an insatiable need to be noticed and given special privilege? Who cares what your gender or sexual preference may be as long as you are not harming anyone, especially children? I do not need to know about your preference. Take it back to the bedroom where it belongs folks, in private. Btw, do heterosexuals have a flag?
I believe Sharyl has hit on the problem. What is the causation of “trans” individuals? Why now, not 50 years ago? A woman at birth is a woman. A man at birth is a man, but if a person feels differently about themselves, and distinctly feels like different sex than their birth sex, what is causing this to burst upon the scene in the last few years. Chemicals in the air, water, or food are a possibility. Or is it a figment created by a particular group and posted on all social media to confuse and disrupt the maturation of our young?
I feel that people should be allowed to express themselves peacefully if they give me the same latitude in expression.
I totally agree!
The whole world is upside down. 80-85% of us are afraid to “offend’ the other 15-20%.
They are laughing at us as THEY set the agenda and want to be perceived as trendy and woke.
Too bad they don’t have anything real to worry about like how to earn a living…
Sharyl, keep up the good work.
Generations have been groomed with the communist goal of tearing apart the family and making people dependent on government. Getting women into the workplace was a key component of that goal. Wrapping it as a women’s rights issue made everyone not question the goal.
The sexual exploitation of children is a goal in that it creates obedient comrades. Children no longer see right from wrong. As it is said, if they can make you believe absurdities then they can make you do atrocities. Homosexuality is an easy sell as the primary feature of it is acceptance. Homosexuals accept anyone, and who better to groom than children looking to be accepted.
It is all about control: Control of women and children. The history of the Mensheviks vs Bolsheviks should be a required study on this subject.
Thank you Sheryl for for writing on this timely post. Causation needs to be discussed. Could there be a spiritual side as the world becomes more amoral and confused and then anything is acceptable. We have not tackled or figured out the roots of mass shooters of children, another mind boggling tragedy, hard to understand.
I agree with Sharyl completely!
This recent controversy about gender and the rest is nonsense, and it does seem to have a certain malignant quality to it.
The man-hating victimology of second, third, and fourth wave feminism has implanted in American women’s minds that they are irredeemable victims for half a century. They are taught in women’s studies courses in universities across the country that all of human history is the story of a vast conspiracy by evil, patriarchal males plotting to oppress women and deny them opportunities. This dangerously reductive view of history is the natural consequence of college and graduate students reading pretentious pseudo-intellectuals like Foucault rather than legitimate historians and anthropologists like Jane Harrison and Sir James George Frazer, or brilliant, learned philosophers like Freud, Jung, and Russell. I personally identify with the spirit of first wave feminism, that glorious movement beginning with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, peaking with the passage of the 19th Amendment granting American women suffrage in 1920, and the 1920s and 1930s during which brilliant women like Amelia Earhart, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Dorothy Parker, women who admired men and simply wanted a chance to compete and achieve on an equal playing field with them, held themselves to the same standards of excellence as men and achieved supremacy in their respective fields. That, to me, is real feminism.
For elucidation of the transgender mania, read “Cynical Theories” (2020) by James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose. Read “Foucault” (1985) by Jose Guilherme Merquior. The transgender hysteria is rooted in the postmodernist denial of science and any objective, cognizable truth about human nature or life. In practice, I find everything about transgender theories in praxis to be misogynistic and homophobic because the effect of its real-life application is the erasure of women, gay men and lesbians.
Gay men and lesbians do not want people invited into their bedrooms — that’s absurd. Nor do they want to be celebrated for their private sexual behaviors. These pride parades and other events are tedious exercises in countering homophobia. When gay men and lesbians say they are proud of being gay, that’s code for “I won’t tolerate homophobia.”
I wanted to add that the practical application of feminist principles in society are, imo, directly to blame. Philosophically, there are bad principles and teachers just as there are good ones, but in the application there is a lot of collateral damage that hasn’t been examined or whose study or publication hasn’t been permitted.
Well said! Those are many of the same questions I’ve also pondered, but the way you’ve expressed them in a concise and cohesive argument that makes the questions so obviously simple. They’re such honest and sincere questions, yet asking them is forbidden–lest becoming a “hater”. It’s so sad that we’ve lost the ability for healthy debate where we can learn from one another and find common ground.
Praying for this upcoming generation. Puberty is a confusing time and kids will be far more confused.
Thanks for all you do!
Totally agree. I read some articles that state certain chemicals can cause this. Homosexuals and lesbians have always been, but these ‘trans’ are a very recent fenomenon. I hope those that want to undergo the surgery read the message from one man who did, and left his comments. They were not nice. He described the surgery, which was not as presented, and he wished he had known ahead, he would not have done it. Thank you for your honest report.
Great