Trans Women Are NOT “Biological Males”, et.al.
The weaponization of such terminology is not scientifically grounded.
“Calling transgender women biological males is not only insensitive, but it’s actually scientifically inaccurate.” — Miriam Miyagi, a Harvard grad student studying organismic and evolutionary biology
All the science tells us, in the end, is that a biological male — or female — is not any one thing, but a collection of possibilities.
Not really news to most (or all) people who read the little I have published on Medium… Nonetheless, I felt the need to shout out and provide links to a letter to the journal Science and a related article published in the Harvard Gazette that succinctly make the scientific case that binary trans girls and women and nonbinary transfemminine people are not “biological males” and that binary trans boys and men and nonbinary transmasculine people are not “biological females”. It is precisely this and similar terminology that has been unscientifically arrogated and weaponized against trans binary and non-binary people by scientifically illiterate and willfully ignorant politicians and those who support them.
Without further ado:
From the Harvard Gazette:
Letter published by Miriam Miyagi (Harvard grad student), Eartha Mae Guthman (Princeton scientist), and Simon(e) Dow-Kuang Sun (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientist) in the journal Science:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn3759
I am concerned that the ignorance- and prejudice-fueled backlash against trans people seems to show no sign of abating. I hope, in some small way, even if that means changing only one mind or softening only one heart, that I contribute constructively to the conversations around trans inclusion on the part of the larger society. I earnestly hope that saner minds and the truth prevail. However, even if I am only one of a few raindrops of truth in a hurricane of ignorance and lies, I feel I must be resolute, must be true to myself, must speak truth to mob-incited power. What I most fear is not standing up to bullies who twist the truth or outright lie in the service of trying to oppress trans people — or to oppress any people for that matter.
