Language, culture, and politics continually buffet one another. Sometimes their interaction produces an eruption of linguistic and political bilge. We are living in one of those times. I’ll elaborate, but first I need to go over a couple of elementary concepts. Please bear with me.
When we talk of sex as a biological classification, we refer to two categories, male and female, into which living things are divided according to anatomical characteristics. In humans, both males and females have primary and secondary sexual characteristics. Primary characteristics are apparent at birth; secondary characteristics, during puberty. Males have the primary characteristics of a penis, a scrotum, and the ability to produce sperm. Their secondary characteristics are facial hair, pubic hair, and often a noticeable Adam’s apple. Females have the primary characteristics of a uterus, vagina, fallopian tubes, clitoris, cervix, and the ability to bear a child. Their secondary characteristics are enlarged breasts, widened hips, and pubic hair.
When we talk of gender in its nongrammatical sense, we refer to the characteristics of human males and females that are socially determined. These are the norms, behaviors, and roles associated with being a male or female, as well as their relationships with each other. As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time.
Sex and gender were synonymous for centuries. Then, about 70 years ago, the words were differentiated as I’ve just explained.1 At the same time, the term gender identity was introduced. This neologism was needed when we recognized that a small percentage of males and females, due to a rare psychological anomaly, think they belong to the gender that is incompatible with their sex. Thus males in this minority “identify” themselves as females. Likewise, females in this minority “identify” themselves as males. This is an extremely stressful conflict that sometimes leads to suicide. Clinical professionals call it gender dysphoria.
At this point, medical terminology took a horrible turn. The people with gender dysphoria didn’t label themselves as gender dysphoric. Instead, they called themselves transgender, and the medical community indulged them in this nonsense. The term stuck, and today gender dysphoric people (GDPs) can choose to reject puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery and still say they are transgender males and females. Even though they aren’t trans-ing anywhere. What’s worse, the GDPs who do get these treatments also aren’t transitioning. To do that, their primary sexual characteristics would have to change to those of the opposite sex, a medical impossibility. The best that GDPs can do is copy the secondary sexual characteristics of the opposite sex. That isn’t a transition; that’s mimicry.
The linguistic bilge didn’t stop there. The package of treatments available to GDPs became known as gender-affirmimg care.2 If you saw this term for the first time out of context, you might think, So, that’s what they call it now when a woman gets her breasts enlarged. That’s a hell of a euphemism for plastic surgery! But no, the care isn’t for people whose gender matches their primary sexual characteristics. It’s for the gender that lacks those characteristics! At best the term is ambiguous. At worst it’s a case of doctors signaling their virtue. If we respected clear thinking, we would have replaced the term with something like gender dysphoria mitigation.
Until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association thought that both homosexuality and gender dysphoria were mental disorders. Then they decoupled them, leaving that stigma only on gender dysphoria. We might have expected this decoupling to weaken the decades-old gay-GD alliance, a coalition of the victims of hate, discrimination, and brutality. But nothing of the sort occurred. If anything, the alliance grew stronger, largely due to the invention of the LGBTQIA2S+ monstrosity. It’s an incoherent fusion of homosexual labels with gender dysphoric labels and “I,” which stands for “intersex.” This term has nothing to do with sexual preferences or gender dysphoria. It identifies a group of people who are born with male and female genitalia. Their difficulty lies not in their minds but in a manifest genetic error.
Despite its incoherence, LGBTQIA2S+ does project a message: You, the sexually conventional, have treated us cruelly, and even though we are sexually unconventional, we are proud, we have dignity, and we are entitled to happiness. This message has resounded in progressive and conservative households throughout America. The values of most progressive households are guided by compassion. They are receptive to the message and want to propagate it in elementary schools. The values of most conservative households are guided by tradition. They fear that departures from tradition are gateways to social chaos. They prefer the status quo ante of the last century, when gay marriage didn’t exist, “transgender” wasn’t a word, and sex-gender conflicts weren’t discussed in elementary schools.
In today’s politics, conservative talking points on global warming, abortion, and social welfare programs are unpersuasive. But conservative politicians struck gold in criticizing the changes to sex ed programs in elementary schools, and I can’t dismiss their complaints. I too am distressed about the effect a “transgender” discussion has on the innocent brains of 7-year-olds. Studies have shown there is already a clear uptick in the number of children showing signs of gender confusion. Is the increase genuine, or are we seeing an instance of mass psychogenic illness?3 In any case, I recently saw a Republican presidential candidate railing about “wokism, transgenderism, climatism, and COVIDism,” a signal we’re in for unprecedented levels of bilge in the next 16 months.
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1Some languages, French and German for example, use the same word to mean sex and gender. I have no idea how they make the distinctions we make in English.
2Gender-affirming care is accepted and practiced in America, but this isn’t always the case in other medically advanced countries. See this article in the British Medical Journal.
3Perhaps a misguided sex ed program could create enough anxiety in young children to make them question their gender. See this entry in Wikipedia to learn more.
The Scratching Post 
Bravo, Ken, for sorting out the “ LGBTQIA2S+” and other nonsense! This post should be required reading for all journalists and high school freshmen. And probably for many others too….
Today I learned that medical schools are using the term “gender-expansive.” The Diversity Style Guide says it describes a person who “challenges cultural expectations regarding gender roles, identities, expressions or norms. Some gender-expansive individuals identify as a man or a woman, some identify as neither, and others identify as a mix of both or on a spectrum between male and female. Some express their gender in ways that differ from stereotypical presentations. Sometimes gender-expansive people use gender-neutral pronouns. Gender-expansive individuals may further describe themselves as nonbinary, gender fluid, or genderqueer.” I’d like to propose yet another sexual adjective — “gender-ridiculous.”