What’s in a word? In 2023, a lot.
John Armstrong is a professor at King’s College London. And recently, he set out to research transgenderism in sports. His quest: to determine athletes’ views on males competing against females.
John presented his plan with the school’s Research Ethics Office and was subsequently denied; his presentation’s particulars were problematic.
In an article for The Critic, the academic explains:
I submitted a proposal…which stated that the aim of the research was “to find the views of athletes and volunteers on the question of when males should be allowed to compete in the female category in athletics.” The ethics committee rejected the proposal, on the grounds that using the terms “male” and “female” in this sentence constituted “misgendering.”
John says the review form had asked him to use “easily-understandable language.” Furthermore, the submitted text wasn’t even part of his intended poll.
Nonetheless, he was directed toward the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team for coaching on his “presentation of the research” and “wording of the survey.”
Given our rapid transformation, it isn’t surprising. Terms related to sex have aggressively evolved. Not long ago, “gender” — a grammatical term — began to find prominence in place of “sex.” From there, we were told that gender was different than sex, being that it denoted identity rather than biology; therefore, someone could be a man and identify as a woman. Afterward, it was declared that “man” was a designation of gender, whereas “male” regarded sex.
Evidently, we’ve moved to a new phase: “Male” denotes gender, too.
Our wheel of progress has spun a colorful array:
University Renames Its Women’s Clinic Because ‘Women’ Was Medically Inaccurate
Nearly One in Four Democrats Say Men Can Get Pregnant
University Schools Midwifery Students on the Handling of the Birthing Penis
Report: Naked 80-Year-Old Protests a Biological Male in Her YMCA Shower, Gets Banned for Bigotry
Male Identifying as a Lesbian Files a Human Rights Complaint for Being Refused a Gynecological Exam
Back to Professor John, he’s unimpressed by the effect of politics on data collection:
It is impossible to write a clear question on trans inclusion in sports without using the words “male” and “female.” … By preventing me from using the word “male,” the ethics review was in effect preventing me from using the concept of sex at all.
“Activist interference in what can be researched erodes the integrity of science,” he writes.
John points to a past failure:
The 2021 Census was the first census to ask about trans identities but, after consultation with activist groups, selected the confusing wording, “Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?” An analysis of anomalies in responses to this question suggests that a significant number of respondents may have simply failed to understand the question…and simply guessed “No”. As a result, despite the expense of a census, we still don’t have an accurate figure for the proportion of the population who are trans.
It’s also happening in medicine:
Medics are coming under increasing pressure to monitor “gender” rather than sex in their research, despite the obvious medical importance of sex. There have been a number of cases reported of ethics committees seeking to prevent data collection on sex.
Perhaps information-gathering is no longer the goal. These days, every science seems to be a fusion of itself and the science of wokeness.
-ALEX
See more content from me:
University Has Students Confess They’re a ‘Product of a Heterosexist and Transphobic Culture’
‘She Persisted’: New Children’s Book Chronicles the Feminist Feats of Dr. Rachel Levine
‘Keep Trying’ — Naval Sea Systems Command Tells Americans to Advance Transgenderism
Find all my RedState work here.
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