The Misappropriation of “Biological Sex”

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Let's get one thing straight: Political and social activist groups have misappropriated the term "biological sex." They're misusing it. I'm sick of it. And I don't understand why everyone isn't. A long thread...🧵 thehill.com/news/house/3495975-gop-resolution-defines-woman-on-basis-of-biological-sex/

This has zero to do with protecting women's rights. This has to do with groups seeking to erase trans people because our existence runs counter to their bigoted belief systems.

Just because you're not trans, though, doesn't mean you're safe from them. We're just low-hanging fruit. They're coming for you next. That's because these agendas are predicated on excluding everyone who doesn't look and live like their proponents.

These people love to play the game "Define Women" and say things like, “Women have two X chromosomes and are born with a uterus and ovaries.” Or, "Females are the sex that have the capacity to bear children." This reduces women to baby-making machines.

If you can't bear a child, you're not a woman. Please! The 1950s called and they want their gender stereotypes back. How many *cis* women did you just kick out of your women-only club with that definition?

Here's a definition for you: "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." Simon de Beauvoir decoupled gender roles from biological determinism. I can't imagine what she would think to witness this giant step backward.

This is why anti-trans movements are misogynistic at their core. Everyone should reject these movements because they are anti-women. Women don't need you to protect us. We can protect ourselves. What we need to do is figure out how to protect ourselves *from* you!

"Sex" isn't a biological variable. It's an umbrella term for a set of biological variables. Sex categorization or "sex assigned at birth," which anti-trans proponents incorrectly call "biological sex," is a social construct.

Sex categorization certainly isn't "immutable." How could it be when virtually all the variables are mutable? It's not binary – binary systems don't have exceptions.

For a more precise treatment of "sex," see this @cellrepmed Commentary from authors @genderscilab that provides a better alternative to "sex as a biological variable." @MarinaRDiMarco @marionb_8 cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(22)00056-8

Mine is just a useless Twitter voice. Most of my few followers are likely here bc they thought they would get tweets about exciting translational and clinical research instead of this. I have many brilliant colleagues who offer that. Me, I feel like there is a target on my back.

And I don't know what else to do but to yell into the void. It's a deeply personal target bc it comes after my womanhood which I, like a lot of trans women, have cherished yet struggled to have externally validated despite nurturing it since I was five.

I might not have a voice, but you know who does? Scientific publishers have a powerful voice.

Scientific editors and biomedical journals are, in part, responsible for all of this. By allowing authors to use, and in turn using, terms like "biological sex" "sex" and "gender" however one feels like, they have enabled the weaponization of these terms.

Here's what I dream about: that scientific publishers would say, "Hey, stop misusing science to further your transmisogynistic goals. What you're saying is scientifically inaccurate and you're using it to violate people's human rights and we're not going to tolerate it."

What are scientific publishers waiting for? For another record-breaking year of anti-trans violence? For the trans suicide rate to climb even higher? For the networks to dedicate a full hour total next year to covering anti-trans violence? mediamatters.org/justice-civil-liberties/despite-surge-brutality-broadcast-and-cable-tv-news-spent-just-43-minutes

A publisher's raison d'être might be to publish articles. But I think editors serve as guardians of the scientific literature first and foremost. If we're not going to protect it from misuse and misinformation, who is?

If DEI is important to scientific publishers, then maybe they should consider that when they remain silent in the face of hateful external agendas that impact their employees and members of the communities they serve, they tacitly condone exclusion.

As @marcus_phd & @phdgprotein86 note in their @cellrepmed commentary: People want to feel that they belong. "A lack of sense of belonging ultimately may signify a lack of equity and inclusion." This stresses those who are excluded. cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(22)00136-7#%20

Here's a binary: Either you believe #TransRightsAreHumanRights or you don't. And if you do, then say something, do something already.

Because, honestly, this isn't going to stop because trans people like me or even those with far larger platforms speak out. It's only going to stop if the cistem stands up against the empowered minority and says: STOP.

What I would like to hear from my cisters is that #TransWomenAreWomen. Because damn straight we are. Together, we're stronger. And I want to hear that from cis het men too – call out the male fragility that leads to the assault and murder of trans women.

Trans women overcome staggering stigmatization, trauma, violence and mental health challenges just to be able to live our lives. We have earned the right to call ourselves women. And anyone who says otherwise can go jump in a lake. #TransIsBeautiful 🏳️‍⚧️

If none of this moves you, think of trans kids – I mean, how much more vulnerable of a population do these bigots need to bully? We should all #ProtectTransKids. They need love, support and validation, not to be told they don't exist!

And, finally, with all the professionalism I can muster and speaking solely for myself – a female editor who happens to be a woman with a trans experience – I want to say to the @GOP and anyone else who believes in this odious nonsense: You can go [censor] yourselves.