7 Comments
User's avatar
Barney's avatar

Humans are animals who reproduce sexually i.e. two of them are required to reproduce, one with organs determined by XX chromosomes (female), the other with organs determined by XY chromosomes. Choosing one's chromosomes is not an option, anymore than choosing whether or not to be human. Sexuality is about one´s personal behaviour not about male or female organs.

A female cannot choose to have a penis and testicles and produce sperm on demand. A male cannot choose to have a vagina and uterus and produce eggs every month. And other gubbins !

Expand full comment
Peter Boghossian's avatar

Stay tuned for a conversation about this with biologist Colin Wright.

Expand full comment
Ute Heggen's avatar

Peter--I dare you to do a "Street Epistomology" where a trans widow or a surviving sister, who both realized dude masturbated in my panties, tell our stories, and then your students decide which line they stand on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsdtoDHlXUM&t=1s

Expand full comment
Peter Boghossian's avatar

???

Expand full comment
Kyle Kissinger (no relation)'s avatar

You always have the best guests, Peter. Discovered Helen through your program, she's fantastic.

Expand full comment
Peter Boghossian's avatar

Thank you!

Expand full comment
Steersman's avatar

What a bunch of blathering and barking up the wrong trees.

Y'all might actually try "steelmanning" the concept of "gender identity". The most reasonable possibility seems analogous to "personal identity" -- paraphrasing the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [SEP] on the latter, we might say:

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

Doesn't seem all that much of a stretch, particularly since Joyce -- Herself -- apparently recognizes some merit in the concept of gender.

If you don't define your terms at the outset then you're just chasing your tails -- amusing but not terribly productive. As philosopher Will Durant put it in discussing a quote of Voltaire's:

Durant: 'If you wish to converse with me,' said Voltaire, 'define your terms.' How many a debate would have been deflated into a paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms! This is the alpha and omega of logic, the heart and soul of it, that every important term in serious discourse shall be subjected to strictest scrutiny and definition. It is difficult, and ruthlessly tests the mind; but once done it is half of any task."

https://quotefancy.com/quote/3001527/Will-Durant-If-you-wish-to-converse-with-me-said-Voltaire-define-your-terms-How-many-a

Expand full comment