Gender Ideology: “What is a Woman?”
Situation: the rise of trans people, especially among children (e.g., adolescent girls)
In 2007, there was only one pediatric gender clinic in the US; now, there are 300+ gender clinics (plus some services, like Planned Parenthood, dispense testosterone, depending on state laws, to minors without parental permission or a therapist note). Britain has seen a 4400%+ rise in incidences of gender dysphoria among adolescent girls (mostly teens) since 2014. This is called “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” (ROGD, teen girls with no prior history of gender dysphoria).
Gender Dysphoria: Severe discomfort with one’s biological sex.
- Classic/Typical Dysphoria: appears in 1 in 10,000 (0.01%), overwhelmingly in males, begins in early childhood (2-4 years), persistent insistence on possessing the “wrong body,” and most experience same-(birth)-sex orientation. Typically, 75% become comfortable with their sex (most identify as Gay), while others transition to their desired sex (socially and/or medically).
- Social Contagion: “Trans Kids” (recently, they are mostly adolescent girls who have a long history of sharing their pain through self-harm, eating disorders, and anxiety about their bodies that is exacerbated by affirmation from authorities and social media influencers). In 2018, 2% of High Schoolers identified as transgender. Transition follows this form (not all fully complete it): (a) Self-identification and social transition (changing names, pronouns, gender expressions); (b) Puberty Blockers (when they have not yet gone through puberty); (c) Cross-Sex Hormones (androgens/antiestorgens; estrogens/antiandrogens); (d) Medical Transition (top surgeries; bottom surgeries).
- Activists: reshapes culture through the lens of gender ideology so that trans people are not only legally protected from harm but culturally affirmed and given space to flourish (e.g. sports, etc.).
Recommended Printed Resources
Abigail Favale (Roman Catholic), The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory.
Helen Joyce (atheist), Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights.
Abigail Shrier (Jewish), Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.
Mark Yarhouse (evangelical), Understanding Gender Dysphoria.
Debra Soh (atheist), The End of Gender: Debunking Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society.
Preston Sprinkle (evangelical), Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has To Say
Recommended YouTube Lectures/Podcasts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWbxIFC0Q2o Abigail Shrier lecture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSKQfATa-1I Abigail Shrier and Jordan Peterson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xUrtNW6Fzo Helen Joyce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqZmx265N80 Helen Joyce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WejfXjzFaMI Helen Joyce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UubVmdppBY Helen Joyce and Abigail Favale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-al2JOnxCM&t=3275s Abigale Favale and Preston Sprinkle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkas5PkJzMs Abigale Favale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-_b9eqrFZQ&t=342s Abigale Favale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB6mgJkhBEU Mark Yarhouse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzDrJT_X2M8 Lisa Littman (Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu8amCC4_wk Debra Soh
Question: What is “gender”? How is it related to biological sex?
- a social construct that varies from culture to culture;
therefore, gender is a fluid state without objective boundaries.
- a matter of self-identification based on a sense of self;
therefore, gender is grounded in a subjective sense of self (even “innate”).
- a fixed biological reality;
therefore, gender is grounded in and tethered to one’s biological sex.
Gender Definition
Gender is a comprehensive word that includes (a) social elements (which are culturally fluid in so many ways) and (b) struggles to identify (as some wrestle with their discomfort with their bodies and their self-image), but (c) ought to include biology as its objective ground and basis.
Much of current discussion excludes the body from such grounding or collapses the body into social construction or self-identity (e.g., male brain in a female body). Yet, binary biology is part of the ground of gender, and social constructs mimic this to one degree or another across cultures.
Lovingly, we may care for and accompany adolescents who are caught up in this “social contagion” (just like female adolescents have been caught in other contagions exacerbated by social media, like cutting [self-harm] and eating disorders) in ways that compassionately and sympathetically address gender dysphoria. While there are genuine experiences of gender dysphoria (the classic cases), there is also such a thing as “social contagion” that rests on social constructions for gender fluidity and encourages adolescents who are uncomfortable with their bodies to reject their body’s sex and identity as another gender (nonbinary, trans, etc.).
We can lovingly process this dysphoria with people while, at the same time, affirming the biological grounding of gender in their embodied sex. It is a difficult decision to reject the reality of one’s body; I cannot imagine that struggle. I know it is terrifying for those who experience this struggle, and they want some peace about how to relate to their bodies. As people of peace, we listen, dialogue, and offer a vision of the gospel that heals wounds rather than creating them.
Theological Claim: There are only two sexes (“male” and “female” per Genesis 1:27).
Biologically, male and female are binary because a body either has one type of gamete or another (sperm or egg). No known human being has ever produced fertility through both. This biological reality is affirmed in the Genesis identification of human beings as “male or female” as well as in the biology of creation itself. All mammals are either male or female. Intersexed persons (0.02% of the population) are not a third sex but variations within male and female sexes. There is no third sex. Some people (0.002%) are born with both ovaries and testicles, few are functional and never both.
Without biological grounding, “gender” (and even sex itself for some) becomes an internal sense that is expressed through social conventions or expressions. Consequently, not only gender but sex itself becomes a fluid category. As a result, there is no definition of male/female except one’s own internal sense of identification. Biological sex, then, is folded into gender such that “sex” is “assigned” at birth rather than a given, a gift from God.
People who transition, whether driven by classic dysphoria or by social contagion, sometimes detransition. Some who transition regret their decision; others happily embrace it. Whatever the case, the church may pursue a welcoming and healing strategy rather than exclusion, derision, and hate. The church must prepare for how it will help trans people and nurture them in the faith.