Don’t Take Pride in Promoting Pseudoscience

The science is clear: biological sex is not a spectrum.

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Over the last decade, we have observed a striking shift in the politics of LGBT issues. There has been a move away from broadly supported principles based on equality toward the imposition of radical, pseudoscientific ideologies concerning biological sex. A growing genre of articles in high-profile news outlets, magazines, and scientific journals is signaling the end of a binary and immutable perspective on biological sex. The appeal of these pieces lies in the belief that rejecting the binary concept of sex provides society with a liberating opportunity for self-definition, unfettered by material constraints.

One might consider these debates too arcane to have any real significance. However, the pseudoscientific notion that biological sex is mutable and exists on a non-binary continuum serves as a key justification for allowing males who identify as women to compete in female sports and access female prisons, and for administering treatments such as puberty blockers and “gender-affirming” (i.e., body modifying) hormones and surgeries to adolescents and adults alike to fix a perceived misalignment between their sex and “gender identity.” The implications are serious, as these recommendations make women’s sex-based rights unenforceable and directly impact the healthy bodies and minds of children. It is of utmost importance that such actions are grounded in reliable science, not in fashionable political ideologies.

With Pride month kicking off, we can anticipate a veritable flood of articles heralding the end of the sex binary. Indeed, we didn’t have to wait very long.

On the first day of Pride month, the San Francisco Chronicle featured an article by ecologist Ash Zemenick titled, “Sex and gender are binaries? Sorry, that’s a scientific falsehood.” In the article, Zemenick wasted no time in proclaiming that the notion that “there are only two sexes available for humans to inhabit: male or female” is “false.” This stance stems from his argument that “Biological sex can be defined in many ways. And when it is accurately defined, it’s never binary.” He then goes down a list of candidate traits he claims are used to define sex with the aim of proving that none of them align with a binary view.

To the layperson unfamiliar with the science, Zemenick’s essay might seem like a compelling rebuttal of outdated, prejudiced notions of biology that have overstayed their bigoted welcome into the 21st century. However, this is far from the truth. Whether due to a lack of scientific understanding or a deliberate attempt to mislead, Zemenick's analysis falls short. To avoid being misled, it’s crucial to clarify several things: the difference between sex and gender, what sexes are, and what biologists mean when they refer to sex as “binary.” It’s vital to establish this foundation before demonstrating why Zemenick’s assertions lack credibility.