It is most weird how some people get worked up over a simple, non-judgmental descriptor. There is no opprobrium attached to being cis — in fact, it’s a social advantage. So what has got these people irate?

Maybe it’s the implicit acknowledgment that if cis people exist, then trans people do, too.

👆

"Imagine that you’ve got a budget that can’t cover the cost of four tires on your car, so you decide to maintain three, but the fourth one…well, we’ll just let it wear out, go bald, go flat, maybe shred itself to pieces as you drive down the freeway... It’s the same with a university."

By: Colin Wright

Published: Feb 18, 2024

There was a time when biologist PZ Myers was relevant. This period spanned the late 2000s and early 2010s, coinciding with the rise of “New Atheism” (as some called it). In 2006, Myers’ blog Pharyngula was celebrated in Nature as the world’s most popular science blog and was deemed the top atheist blog by Hemant Mehta in 2009. In 2008, Myers was part of a memorable incident where he and Richard Dawkins were planning to attend a screening of Ben Stein’s pro-Intelligent Design propaganda film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Despite Myers being interviewed and featured in the film, he was barred from entering by a security guard on orders from the producer, Mark Mathis—but Dawkins was allowed in!

In 2010, I invited Myers to give a talk about Intelligent Design at Sierra Community College in Rocklin, CA, where I was studying before transferring to UC Davis for my bachelor’s degree. I picked up Myers from the Sacramento train station, and we enjoyed a stimulating conversation about evolution en route. Before his talk, I gave him a tour of the school’s esteemed natural history museum. After his talk, we all went out with Myers for food and drinks and had a great time. I share this to show that my starting attitude toward Myers was nothing short of admiration.

However, as gender ideology gained a foothold within the atheist movement, the brains of many prominent and once-rational figures began to melt. Philosopher Peter Boghossian has poignantly characterized this shift among Left-wing intellectuals from being quick to point out the limits of their knowledge to a tendency to pretend to not know what is undeniably known.

This trend is exemplified by Myers, as I will illustrate.

Recently, Richard Dawkins shared on 𝕏 the lecture I delivered at the Genspect conference in Denver, CO, last year, titled “The Sex Binary: What It Is and Why It Matters.” Dawkins praised my talk as “superbly clear & totally correct,” and reaffirmed the reality of the binary nature of sex. Following this, gender activists bombarded Dawkins with absurd articles challenging the binary concept of sex, including a particularly misleading piece in Scientific American titled “Stop Using Phony Science to Justify Transphobia,” which asserts that “Actual research shows that sex is anything but binary.”

In response to this onslaught of dubious science, Dawkins countered the article directly: “This ridiculous article…ignorantly misunderstands the nature of the sex binary.” He went on to underscore the important distinction between how sex is “determined” versus how it’s “defined” in biology that I outlined in my talk.

In turn, Myers, seemingly desperate to regain some of his previous prominence, criticized Dawkins in a blog post. Myers’ misunderstanding of the biology of sex, especially given his background in developmental biology, is on embarrassing display in his post.

Myers begins his criticism by suggested that Dawkins’ expertise in ethology (the study of animal behavior) means he lacks the sufficient expertise that would give him better insight into the biology of sex.

Did you know that Richard Dawkins began his career as an ethologist? He got his Ph.D. studying animal behavior under Niko Tinbergen. If you’re an ethologist, you might study things like courtship behavior and parental investment and feeding strategies etc., etc., etc. Dawkins studied how animals make choices.

This argument is a common strategy used by gender activists to undermine those who present biological facts that contradict gender ideology’s central dogma. I receive this criticism incessantly because I am also an ethologist. I studied the collective behavior of spiders and social insects, and this often gets me dismissed as some “bug guy” out of his depth commenting on issues well outside my academic wheelhouse. This portrayal, however, is couldn’t be further from the truth, and it is often medical doctors and biologists who study a narrow group of taxa who are most likely to form misguided views about the biology of sex.

In reality, ethologists (now usually referred to as behavioral ecologists) are uniquely well-situated to address questions pertaining to the fundamental and universal meaning of male and female. That’s because the most profound behavioral differences to be found in nature within a species are those of males and females. It turns out that the evolved reproductive strategies of producing either fewer large gametes (ova) or many small gametes (sperm) results in divergent selection on many behavioral traits between males and females. Moreover, understanding that the universal defining feature of males and females is rooted in gametes allows us to account for instances where behavioral sex roles are reversed, as is seen in some birds and other animals. In fact, such role reversals would be indiscernible without identifying the males and females based on the gametes they produce, underscoring the relevance of ethology in discussions about biological sex.

For instance, how do we know that male seahorses are the ones that gestate young and give birth? Or that in northern jacanas (J. spinosa), it is the females who are larger, more ornate, territorial, and exhibit less parental care than males? This knowledge stems from understanding that male and female are categories that exist independent of mere morphology and behavior.

Myers makes an uninformed argument:

Somehow, an awful lot of biologists study sexual behavior — like lekking, or sexual displays, or fidelity, and on and on — that don’t necessarily involve sperm collection or measuring ovulation or that kind of thing. It is absurd to insist that only gametes define sex. I recognize spider sexes by the morphology of their palps, and by their differences in behavior, not gametes. I see the birds flying outside my window, and I discriminate sexes by color, primarily.

Myers could not be any more confused here. How does he recognize that it is typically males who form leks, or that males often display more elaborate mating behaviors and exhibit less sexual fidelity? This knowledge comes from studying these species and correlating these behaviors with the type of gametes an individual produces. Once we discover that males of the Vogelkop superb bird-of-paradise (Lophorina niedda) possess highly decorative plumage and engage in elaborate sexual displays, we no longer need to continuously verify this. We know it’s the males because we learned that only those with decorative plumage and elaborate sexual displays in this species produce sperm.

However, Myers insists that defining an individual’s sex based solely on gametes represents an “extreme reductionist” approach, and suggests we should consider “all the other valid signals they openly display.”

Dawkins is just being an extreme reductionist to the point he’s making himself and his position look silly. Go ahead, all you reactionary biologists, rant about how there can be only two true sexes because people have some cells that are almost never seen in public, in defiance of all the other valid signals they openly display. Better biologists will go on recognizing all the factors that define sex without your self-imposed, narrow-minded blinders.

The core and critical flaw in Myers’ argument for using other traits to determine the sex of an individual is that these traits are only reliable indicators of sex in species where we already know which individuals are males and females, based on their gametes. In humans, we associate breasts with females and facial hair with males because adult human females typically develop breasts and adult human males tend to grow facial hair. But how would Myers propose to identify males and females in a newly discovered species without any prior knowledge of their secondary sexual characteristics?

Consider a hypothetical new mammal species with some individuals small and blue and others large and brown. Since we know mammals are anisogamous (i.e., reproduce via fusion of a sperm and an egg), we can be as certain as possible that this species also exhibits males and females. But how do we determine which is which? Should we assume the blue ones are males and the brown ones females, as is the case with blue groper fish? But in blue gropers the males are large and the females are small. Should we therefore consider the blue individuals of our new mammal species female because they are small? But in spiders the males are smaller than the females, suggesting perhaps the small individuals should be considered males?

Do you see the absurdity of the approach? We know human males tend to be hairier, male blue gropers are blue, and male spiders are usually smaller, because being male is a trait independent of hair, color, or size. What unites these males is the type of gamete they have the function to produce. That is what makes them male.

Thus, the only way we can know which individuals of our new species are the males and which are the females is to find out which individuals produce sperm and which produce eggs. The. End.

Myers has to understand this, but he is too afraid to tell the truth.

==

The people who say, "but, but clownfish!" conveniently leave out the part where they explain how we know a clownfish has changed sex. Does it like mimosas and shopping, or is there some other indicator compared to before?

What is it about a clownfish changing sex that tells us it has changed sex?

🤔

from Pinterest via freethoughtblogs dot com slash pharyngula

Meta Recs for friends

https://fahbee.tumblr.com/post/184854254757/st-eve-barnes-in-a#notes

https://fahbee.tumblr.com/post/184878213392/i-feel-like-the-russo-brothers-watched-into-the

https://monardammm.tumblr.com/post/184909347601/i-feel-like-the-russo-brothers-watched-into-the

https://www.thefandomentals.com/avengers-endgame-barely-qualifies-as-a-movie/

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2019/04/27/the-avengers-endgame-is-peak-genre-no-spoilers-relax/

http://cinemalogue.com/2019/11/18/the-marvel-juggernaut-with-great-power-comes-zero-responsibility/

http://cinemalogue.com/2018/06/01/steve-rogers-americas-underdog-importance-representation/

https://whatthefoucault.tumblr.com/post/185365593138/the-problem-with-old-man-steve-isnt-that-hes-old

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tony-stark-is-the-true-villain-of-the-marvel-cinematic_b_59647d10e4b0deab7c646b76

https://fahbee.tumblr.com/post/184931792092/perhaps-it-was-in-poor-taste-given-the-current

https://fahbee.tumblr.com/post/184924730492/im-tryna-understand-the-whole-steves-ending

In my journal or mine:

https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/185120211968/tony-stark-ends-my-mcu-in-endgame#notes

https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/190556944693/go-off?is_related_post=1#notes

https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/628917664412303360/elenajones23-mrd-k3-steve-was-on-ice-12-years?is_related_post=1#notes

https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/190483797328/peter-in-the-soul-stone-after-sam-and-bucky#notes

https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/669847233614725121/ive-seen-a-lot-of-people-saying-civil-war-wasnt#notes

https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/669073364394164224/one-of-my-followers-reminded-me-of-yet-another

Ooo I forgot that one on Peggy and the compass. I really like my rant here lol.

https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/668568200139718656/hey-anon-from-the-buckyisaiah-ask-here-first-of

I don’t think stopping manufacturing/selling weapons, except for America, just by saying so, is undoing a legacy. Tony lip-serviced. Tony actually didn’t notice Stane and the board behind his back until they very literally stole the company and tried to kill him. Stane twice. Tony hands off the company to Pepper without a follow-up and the suit to Rhodey, aka the government, in Iron Man 2. He instead gets drunk, gets donuts, gets in a race car. Tony is not stopping world governments or the US from recreating Iron Man, he hubristically believes it’s impossible. We watch him watch soldiers break their back or die in Hammertech. He’s not blocking or fighting him though. And Extremis, aka Killian, was in US operation without a hitch. It’s US soldiers he’s testing on before Pepper. The Mandarin is a smoke-screen of foreign is scary. Extremis is interesting tech open for others, aka US others, when it’s just Mia in the flashback, when it’s just businessman Killian to Pepper at Stark Industries. Nope, only when it hurts him or Pepper and Happy does it become bad. He even adopts it for personal use after.

Tony does zip to change or stop the military industrial weapons complex Howard created or participated in. He just self brands it.

I said this about Tony in one of my talks with @cosmicmechanism and I stand by it so hard. This is my Anti Tony response to people implying his arc was anti weapon.

 https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/668209111037509632/why-the-winter-soldier-is-less-an-embodiment-of

https://pigtailedgirl.tumblr.com/post/190024552153/very-well-written-summation-of-the-arc-they-gave

Herschel Walker personifies all those good ol’ Republican ideals: stupidity, ignorance, greed, and dishonesty.

He has been caught:

—Lying about owning a nonexistent company —Lying about even graduating from college —Lying about graduating in the top 1% —Lying about being HS valedictorian —Lying about being a policeman —Lying about being in the FBI —Lying about his secret kids

Doesn’t matter, the deader the brain and the more corrupt the morals, the better the Republican candidate. - - Pharyngula/Freethought Blogs

A common problem with cyberpunk

As i was reading this post on Pharyngula I got to thinking about the depiction of the heads of mega corps in cyberpunk. In real life CEOs are pretty much guaranteed to have some really ridiculous beliefs and be barely functional people. This is because after a certain point a corp is really self sustaining.

But in Cyberpunk the people in charge are usually depicted as hypercompetent. Oh sure, they're evil and often just super into causing harm in an almost cartoonish fashion, but they're just really competent at all they do. Which is buying into the real world narratives about rich people.

So i want to propose someone put together a random 'Rich Asshole Bullshit Beliefs' table. And i mean wierd beliefs here. it doesn't have to be eugenics or misogyny or such. 

Here, try this for example:

The CEO of Farsight Technologies believes kale is super important for intelligence. He drinks so many kale smoothies in a day he had special cyber installed into his digestive syatem to filter out the overaccumulation of minerals that comes from it.

It would liven up the NPC for the players and aid in their coming up with fun plans.

And, of course, it would not buy into the false belief that society and class is an evil meritocracy. It's not. It's just evil.

Paul Zachary Myers (d.1957) Pharyngula bilim blogunu kuran ve yazan Amerikalı bir biyologdur. Gelişim biyolojisi alanında çalıştığı Minnesota Üniversitesi'nde biyoloji doçentidir. Akıllı tasarımın, yaratılışçı hareketin ve diğer sözde bilimsel kavramların eleştirmenidir. Wikipedia

PZ Myers Sözleri: İnsanoğlu hala balıktır. PZ Myers Sağduyu - o kadar nadir ki, kahrolası bir süper güç. PZ Myers Nedensizce iğrenç olmamalıyız, bilerek iğrenç olmalıyız. PZ Myers Dünyada olup bitenlerin çoğu, doğal, evrensel yasaların bir sonucudur. PZ Myers Bir insan olarak kozmik açıdan önemli olduğunu düşündüğünüz her şey bir tesadüftür. PZ Myers Biz dünyanın prensleri değiliz, solucanların torunlarıyız ve her türlü asalet kazanılmalıdır. PZ Myers Bilim, doğruluğunun ve öneminin somut kanıtlarını sağlar. Din, aynı şeyin yokluğuna bahaneler üretir. PZ Myers Doğaüstü ve/veya yüce bir varlığın hipotezi belirsizdir, temelsizdir ve hiçbir pratik şekilde uygulanamaz. PZ Myers Hayatımızı, öldükten sonraki ödüller ve tatminle ilgili yanılsamalar için değil, hayatımızın iyiliği için yaşarız. PZ Myers Çok zeki insanlar genellikle çılgınca inançlara yönelik rasyonelleştirmeler yaratma konusunda çok akıllıdırlar. PZ Myers Hastalık sefaletin nedeni olduğu gibi, din de kadın düşmanlığının nedenidir; tek neden değil ama önemli bir etkendir. PZ Myers Bilim yanılmaz değildir ancak dinde eksik olan bir şeye sahiptir: iddiaları gerçek dünya gözlemleriyle test etme süreci. PZ Myers Sessizlik statükonun lehine bir argümandır. Bir eşitsizliği gidermeyi reddetmek, bu eşitsizliği sürdürmeye yönelik bir stratejidir. PZ Myers Biz tanrısızlar bu kesinlikten yoksunuz ve dünyanın uzlaşma gerektiren ve ahlaki bir güç tarafından yönetilmeyen karmaşık bir yer olduğunu biliyoruz. PZ Myers Din, akla karşı bir fitne eylemidir. Hangi din en baştan çıkarıcıysa ve mağdurları şüpheciliklerinden vazgeçmeye ikna etme olasılığı en yüksek olanıdır. PZ Myers Eğer doğal dünyaya ilişkin gözlemler karşısında sönen bir dini inancınız varsa, inançlarınızı yeniden düşünmelisiniz; dünyayı yeniden düşünmek bir seçenek değildir. PZ Myers Din, göğsümüzün üzerinde duran barbar bir obsidyen bıçağıdır, onu bir dolaba koyun ve bir sanat eseri olarak hayranlıkla izleyin, ama o lanet şeyi bir daha asla kullanmayın. PZ Myers Din savunucuları, ister yamyamlık ritüeli olsun, ister ruhlara dua etmek olsun, ister kadınlara menkul kıymet muamelesi olsun. Ve bunu her zaman sahte öncüllerden oluşan korkunç, sallantılı bir temel üzerine inşa ediyorlar. PZ Myers Sıradanlık ilkesi basitçe özel olmadığınızı belirtir. Evren senin etrafında dönmüyor; bu gezegen hiçbir şekilde ayrıcalıklı değil; ülkeniz yönlendirilmiş, kasıtlı kaderin mükemmel bir ürünü değil; ve öğle yemeğinde yediğin ton balıklı sandviç sana hazımsızlık yaşatmak için plan yapmıyordu. PZ Myers İNANÇ. Hiçbir kelime, dinin mutlak en kötü ve en kötü özelliklerini bundan daha iyi temsil edemez. İnanç zihni çürütür. Eleştirel düşünceyi yok eden, kanıtları baltalayan ve insanları saçmalıklara adanmış hayatlara yönlendiren zehirdir. Bir erdem sayılan bir parazittir. Ateizmin bilimsel kanadının bir temsilcisi olarak konuşuyorum: Bu kesinlikle taviz veremeyeceğimiz bir şeydir. İnanç yanlıştır. PZ Myers https://i.ibb.co/HHLmQQz/PZ-Myers-S-zleri.gif

……………………………………….. ╚►Tumblr: https://olumsuzsozler.tumblr.com/search/PZ%20Myers ╚►Twitter: https://twitter.com/pusula1sozler ╚►Pinterest: https://tr.pinterest.com/szler/pz-myers-s%C3%B6zleri/ ╚►Site arşiv: https://pusulasozler.tr.gg/ ╚►Sözler Gif: https://i.ibb.co/HHLmQQz/PZ-Myers-S-zleri.gif ……………………………………….#PeterAtkinsSözleri #ÖlümsüzSözler

This is a good summary of the present state of affairs with respect to the schism in movement atheism. For those not familiar with Elevatorgate, it provides a very brief summary of the event that sparked the schism.

The Republicans willingly hitched their wagon to the star of weird pronatalists and freaky tradwives and fundamentalist Catholics and evangelicals. That’s who you’re voting for when you vote for Republicans.

𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐍𝐠𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐰𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧. 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐍𝐠𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Vol.1 List of all articles, videos, and posts about andy ngo that i could find that exposes his lies and fascist grift. Andy Ngo is no jouranlist and he knows it. 

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/andy-ngo-right-wing-antifa-protest-portland-bigotry

https://www.thedailybeast.com/andy-ngo-who-became-a-right-wing-star-leaves-quillette-after-incriminating-video-appears

https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3apyv/super-awkward-for-right-wing-blogger-andy-ngo-to-make-a-cameo-in-video-of-plot-against-antifa

https://jewishcurrents.org/the-making-of-andy-ngo/

https://communemag.com/were-being-played/

https://abovethelaw.com/2019/09/andy-ngo-is-journalisms-problem/?rf=1

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/media-presented-far-right-grifter-andy-ngo-credible-journalist-reporting-left-wing

https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/08/26/27039560/undercover-in-patriot-prayer-insights-from-a-vancouver-democrat-whos-been-working-against-the-far-right-group-from-the-inside

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/alt-right-antifa-death-threats-doxxing-quillette-a8966176.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/antifa-nazi-andy-ngo-quilette-portland-fascism-antifascism-far-right-gofundme-a8984256.html

http://idavox.com/index.php/2019/11/09/couldnt-he-at-least-not-source-an-anti-semite-andy-ngos-st-show-comes-to-dc/

https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2019/08/28/right-wing-brawlers-discussed-a-hammer-fight-while-being-filmed/

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/3/20677645/antifa-portland-andy-ngo-proud-boys

https://newrepublic.com/article/154205/quillettes-antifa-journalists-list-couldve-gotten-killed

https://twitter.com/RespectableLaw/status/1163895246213779458

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1163517014998167554

https://twitter.com/VicBergerIV/status/1276995097297432577

https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1311347390041878528

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1191565054048522240.html

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-criminalizing-dissent-antifa-ted-cruz-1450285

https://angrywhitemen.org/2019/06/16/right-wing-outlets-keep-relying-on-a-racist-troll-posing-as-a-researcher/

https://angrywhitemen.org/2020/03/31/andy-ngo-is-promoting-the-work-of-a-white-supremacist-cartoonist/

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/andy-ngo-fake-articles/

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/quillette-antifa-journalist-smear-campaign.php

https://www.mockingbirdpaper.com/content/dayton-shooter-was-not-anti-fascist-activist-and-andy-ngo-serial-liar

https://itsgoingdown.org/andy-ngo-wrong-trans-murder-crisis/

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/08/BUSTED-anti-antifascist-andy-ngo-conspired-proud-boys

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Andy_Ngo

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2019/08/17/andy-ngo-is-a-fraud-and-a-right-wing-provocateur/

https://medium.com/@BJ_Murphy/no-andy-ngo-wasnt-pelted-with-concrete-milkshakes-by-antifa-87a24ce4012a

https://www.reddit.com/r/AntifascistsofReddit/comments/cs7us2/fascist_propagandist_andy_ngo_currently_pushing/

https://fabiusmaximus.com/2020/07/21/propaganda-rules-america/

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/09/wildfires-antifa-russian-state-media-right-wing-reddit-facebook-conspiracy/

Here's list of everything transphobic in this essay. I'm not saying the author is a bigot - this could be unintentional, but he definitely has some unlearning to do.

Big global stories — for example, a high court case in Britain that found that minors under 16 are not developmentally capable of making the decision to take puberty blockers — are routinely ignored.

You seem to also ignore that this court case result is routinely addressed as bigoted, and not actually based in any specialist opinion. This case was mostly pioneered by the Christian right and extreme radical feminists that you mentioned previously.

Equally, however, I have some reservations. I trust biology on the core binary sexual reproductive strategy of our species, without which we would not exist, and which does not cease to exist because of a few variations on the theme (I’m one of those variations myself).

Substack link is not a scientific opinion. Actual sex biologists tend to agree that sex is a spectrum, or not clearly defined into a binary.

https://cadehildreth.com/gender-spectrum/

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/02/18/the-idea-of-two-sexes-is-simplistic-biologists-now-think-there-is-a-wider-spectrum-than-that/

https://www.nature.com/news/sex-redefined-1.16943

What you think is 'common sense' betrays more about your subconcious biases than reality.

. I wish this were a caricature of their views, but it isn’t.

It literally is. You're literally pulling an actual strawman here.

Defend the rights of both women and trans women.

Fuck you, dude. For real. You do this several times and THIS is why this essay is transphobic and you keep getting blasted for it - trans women are women. There is no compromise for that. The word is 'cis women'. If you're afraid that will get shouted on by terfs and christian right for it - here's the thing - I'm trans. I will get shouted on by regardless, all the time. If you can't even take the flimsiest fucking stand and say 'cis' you DON'T support trans rights, you support some kind of caricature of it you invented in your head. If you're okay with the idea that trans people are some fake invented version of their gender, you don't support trans people. If you can't take a stand on this, you're a fucking coward, plain and simple.

...women should not have to be imprisoned alongside trans women, for the same reason. We’re not talking about regular trans people here; we’re talking about criminals, some sex offenders.

One you did it again, and I will say "fuck you coward" every time this comes up. And do you support cis women imprisoned for minor offenses getting housed separately from cis women who are sex offenders? Do you supposed cis men getting housed separately from cis male sex offenders, considering that prison rape is a big problem? If you don't, your argument is fucking bullshit. Literally a double standard that positions trans women as uniquely suited to rape, which is an old bigoted stereotype - that you perpetuate.

Rapes have already happened.

This article is disgustingly transphobic in the opening sample, and rest is behind a paywall. Cite an accessible and unbiased source next time or people will call bullshit.

At the same time, the use of off-label puberty blockers should not be portrayed, as it too often is, as an easily reversible pause in development while the child figures things out. These drugs have unknown long-term effects on healthy children, have no good studies behind them, affect bone density and mental and neurological development, and are, in fact, almost never reversed. They are an experiment.

Literally a lie. Puberty blockers have been around since 1990s, and they're routinely prescribed to cis children with hormone issues. You're literally repeating terf talking points here. Maybe stop spending so much time on Substack?

Also 'off label' simply means it's not officially approved for this pupose. Question - when it is offficially approved, will you just move the goalposts again?

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/145/2/e20191725

But when the consequences for a medical decision can last a lifetime, and the person is too young to vote, all the more reason to examine all the factors that could be a part of it.

Literally a terf talking point, puberty blockers are fully reversible. If you ban them, trans teenagers will just try to kill themselves, or get illicit access to hormone replacement therapy, which ISN'T easily replacable. Outlawing something doesn't make it disappear.

check out this rather moving essay by Keira Bell, who had absent, negligent parents, and far too little counseling and was fast-tracked into becoming a man by experts she was wrong to trust.

Permanent detransitioners are a tiny percentage of all trans people. The fact that you care about a small percentage of cis kids who detransition, over a much larger percentage of trans kids who end up depressed or trying to kill themselves is... not a good look.

much more thorough psych evaluations, permission from both parents, the child and a doctor — with a second opinion also mandatory.

Extremely many parents of trans children are violently transphobic. This proposal will, and I mean this dead seriously, kill children, primarily by suicide. In those who survive it will cause permanent psychological damage and trauma much bigger than any possible puberty blocker side effect ever could be.

And yet they are now pressured both ways: to conform to rigid gender stereotypes by reactionaries or to see their atypical behavior as a sign they were born in the wrong body by woke progressives.

Literally doesn't happen, literally a terf talking point, anti-trans children bill specifically targets gender non-conforming children and all trans people have been telling you all FOREVER that this will happen. You're not protecting GNC people, you're hurting them.

Also, again you care more about cis kids than trans kids. Telling.

Equally, the way in which trans ideology doesn’t only seek to protect trans kids, but to abolish the idea of biological sex altogether and to teach kids they have a choice over whether to be a boy or girl, should be kept out of the classroom. It takes the experience of less than one percent of humanity and tries to make it explain the 99 percent of their peers. It’s nuts; and it will confuse children, particularly gay kids.

If that's the scientific consensus, why should it be kept out of the classrooms? And what about trans children (because, once again, you completely ignore their welfare)? I learned about being trans literally from Silence of the Lambs and like, porn movies. (To terfs reading this, I really don't give a fuck about what you think about the latter, and fuck you hard.) Why shouldn't trans children learn about being trans?

Can we really be sure this isn’t a craze or a fad for many?

Are you stupid or concern trolling? Did you also think that a sudden rise of people identifying as gay since 80s until now is a 'fad'? Who in their right mind would want to be bullied, pushed into suicide, or disowned by their parents into becoming homeless? That's not a rational statement, that's pure emotions-based bullshit.

Again, I don't know if you're specifically a bigot - but your behavior and words sure are bigoted in this specific instance. Maybe you should take a deep look inside yourself and think about why you sympathize with terf talking points so much, and why you care about welfare of cis children so, so much more than welfare of trans children.

via Pharyngula