Dear Reader,
Here’s a new article I just did for WEX.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/virginias-gender-error
Pax,
Michael
Dear Reader,
Here’s a new article I just did for WEX.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/virginias-gender-error
Pax,
Michael
No posts
Thanks for some useful insights into the differences between analytic and synthetic definitions. 👍🙂
However, I think that you and far too many others are starting off on the wrong foot by being "reluctant" to consider that "gender" and "gender identity" have some philosophical and logical justifications as something entirely different from "sex". For example, you might consider some cogent insights and an illuminating analogy from the late Justice Scalia:
Scalia: "The word 'gender' has acquired the new and useful connotation of cultural or attitudinal characteristics (as opposed to physical characteristics) distinctive to the sexes. That is to say, gender is to sex as feminine is to female and masculine is to male.”
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep511/usrep511127/usrep511127.pdf
And many others, including some more or less rational feminists, argue that "gender" is just a synonym for sexually dimorphic personalities and personality types. From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [SEP]:
SEP: "2.2 Gender as feminine and masculine personality ... Instead, she holds that gender is a matter of having feminine and masculine personalities that develop in early infancy as responses to prevalent parenting practices."
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/feminism-gender/#GenFemMasPer
In which case and from that perspective, Virginia's DOE has some cause to talk about students whose "gender differs from his or her sex." Of course they "differ" -- personalities versus reproductive abilities: the difference between night and day; psychology versus biology. But the point, the crux of the matter is that just because some dick-swinging dude has some feminine personality traits -- those more typical of females -- doesn't mean that he thereby has any right whatsoever to use the lady's loos or change rooms, or play in women's sports -- facilities more or less designated for the exclusive use of human females, nominally speaking at least.
As for "gender identity", you might want to consider that it is just a rough analog to "personal identity" which, according to SEP again, has some philosophical merit and justification. Paraphrasing them:
SEP (paraphrased): "Outside of philosophy, [gender identity’] usually refers to [sexually dimorphic personality traits] to which we feel a special sense of attachment or ownership. Someone’s [gender identity] in this sense consists of those [feminine and masculine personality traits] she takes to 'define her as a person' or 'make her the person she is', and which distinguish her from others."
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/#ProPerIde
Whole concept of gender and gender-identity is something of a dog's breakfast, largely a pile of rather incoherent and quite unscientific claptrap, a decidedly toxic witches' brew. But defining them as personalities, as personality types, and as factors in our personal identities seems one way off the horns of a very serious and quite problematic social dilemma.
For some elaborations on those themes, you might have some interest in my latest post on the topic:
"Is Nothing Sacred? Looking into the abyss?"
https://humanuseofhumanbeings.substack.com/p/is-nothing-sacred-looking-into-the