Fausto-Sterling’s treatment of sex differences in throwing reveals how modern Blank Slate thinking survives by acknowledging biology in principle while dismissing it in practice.
Great piece. I've worked in youth sports for years and there are real differences. In knowing those differences, we can help boys and girls improve in their respective sex-based sports programs. For instance, the women's game in basketball is different than the men's game in basketball--often played below the rim vs above the rim. Sure there are similar elements to the game, like getting the ball through the hoop but the biological differences impact how the game is played.
Caitlin Clark is arguably the best shooter in the WNBA, a professional basketball player who has not been compromised in any way by a type of cultural bias. She has received elite training since she was a young child. There is no way she could compete in the NBA or Men's NCAA. It has everything to do with biological determinism in a country that recognizes the marriage of nature and nurture to help a person like Caitlin Clark thrive.
By not accounting for the large influence of biological realities, one does more harm than good. Fausto-Sterling insists on a utopian purge of inconvenient realities because it does not fit an ideological worldview. And biological determinism is the reason there are no women pitching in the MLB, not cultural bias.
Thanks for this great piece so we can truly explore the best ways to nurture the nature of our sons and daughters and help them thrive. Sean Kullman, Co-author, Boys, A Rescue Plan
What I've noticed about Caitlin Clark is her fast paced dribbling, in which she puts the ball between her legs and behind her, to prevent steals. She can change direction on a dime, keep track of teammates' locations for the opportune pass and she's able to rush towards the hoop and shoot with accuracy. The WNBA has got to cultivate better referee calling, as there are too many flagrant fouls made against this stunning player. Sophie Cunningham deserves mention, as she also shoots on a dime, she defends her teammates and courageously speaks against men in women's/girls' sports. Did anyone else catch that she mentioned the "BG issue?" Meaning Brittney Griner, whose movements and skeletal proportions strike me as falling into the 5-ARD DSD category. I surmise she (that is I mean he) is one reason the WNBA is refusing to do what the women's tennis association has announced, which is do initiate cheek swab sex testing for female players.
The level of adherence to logic in this piece was pleasant. I may have seen a minor logical flaw, in some non-crucial sentence, but if so, it does not change that this piece is well thought out, reasoned, and written. One of the most so (if not the most so) in Reality's last stand, and also higher than the vast majority of academic articles. In logic, I would classify this as at the level of the top 1% of academic articles.
We've got to stop using the term "intersex" and call it out every time it appears in print, as an obsolete and misleading term. Men who ideate a female persona, especially in the boomer generation (this encapsulates and describes my ex husband) use the intersex term to describe their "brains." The proper term is Disorder of Sexual Development, DSD. Some researchers co-opt this term with the word "difference," as in "Differences of Sexual Development," but this is also misleading. Normal sexual development in XY chromosomal males results in non-ambiguous genitalia, identifiable at birth and often detectable during the time in utero. A disorder such as the one Imane Khelif has, 5-ARD, can result in ambiguously appearing genitalia and a misidentification of the child as female. We must be specific and use the most accurate language in discussing sex and "gender." It's the only way forward.
Thank you for this outstanding piece on sex differences. It is engaging, comprehensive, rigorous and hits all the right points. If this doesn't do it, nothing can. You have carefully dissected the deceptive/sloppy techniques that some researchers use, apparently quite effectively, to give the impression biology is only a minor player in even large and consistent sex differences. And throwing is the perfect example. I do worry that the urge to buy into this particular brand of feminist ideology remains too stubborn to make room for logic, evidence and reason. But there is nothing to be gained and much to be lost from downplaying the importance of biology in explaining who we are why we are different. So again, thank you. Keep going!
Great piece. I've worked in youth sports for years and there are real differences. In knowing those differences, we can help boys and girls improve in their respective sex-based sports programs. For instance, the women's game in basketball is different than the men's game in basketball--often played below the rim vs above the rim. Sure there are similar elements to the game, like getting the ball through the hoop but the biological differences impact how the game is played.
Caitlin Clark is arguably the best shooter in the WNBA, a professional basketball player who has not been compromised in any way by a type of cultural bias. She has received elite training since she was a young child. There is no way she could compete in the NBA or Men's NCAA. It has everything to do with biological determinism in a country that recognizes the marriage of nature and nurture to help a person like Caitlin Clark thrive.
By not accounting for the large influence of biological realities, one does more harm than good. Fausto-Sterling insists on a utopian purge of inconvenient realities because it does not fit an ideological worldview. And biological determinism is the reason there are no women pitching in the MLB, not cultural bias.
Thanks for this great piece so we can truly explore the best ways to nurture the nature of our sons and daughters and help them thrive. Sean Kullman, Co-author, Boys, A Rescue Plan
What I've noticed about Caitlin Clark is her fast paced dribbling, in which she puts the ball between her legs and behind her, to prevent steals. She can change direction on a dime, keep track of teammates' locations for the opportune pass and she's able to rush towards the hoop and shoot with accuracy. The WNBA has got to cultivate better referee calling, as there are too many flagrant fouls made against this stunning player. Sophie Cunningham deserves mention, as she also shoots on a dime, she defends her teammates and courageously speaks against men in women's/girls' sports. Did anyone else catch that she mentioned the "BG issue?" Meaning Brittney Griner, whose movements and skeletal proportions strike me as falling into the 5-ARD DSD category. I surmise she (that is I mean he) is one reason the WNBA is refusing to do what the women's tennis association has announced, which is do initiate cheek swab sex testing for female players.
The level of adherence to logic in this piece was pleasant. I may have seen a minor logical flaw, in some non-crucial sentence, but if so, it does not change that this piece is well thought out, reasoned, and written. One of the most so (if not the most so) in Reality's last stand, and also higher than the vast majority of academic articles. In logic, I would classify this as at the level of the top 1% of academic articles.
We've got to stop using the term "intersex" and call it out every time it appears in print, as an obsolete and misleading term. Men who ideate a female persona, especially in the boomer generation (this encapsulates and describes my ex husband) use the intersex term to describe their "brains." The proper term is Disorder of Sexual Development, DSD. Some researchers co-opt this term with the word "difference," as in "Differences of Sexual Development," but this is also misleading. Normal sexual development in XY chromosomal males results in non-ambiguous genitalia, identifiable at birth and often detectable during the time in utero. A disorder such as the one Imane Khelif has, 5-ARD, can result in ambiguously appearing genitalia and a misidentification of the child as female. We must be specific and use the most accurate language in discussing sex and "gender." It's the only way forward.
Thank you for this outstanding piece on sex differences. It is engaging, comprehensive, rigorous and hits all the right points. If this doesn't do it, nothing can. You have carefully dissected the deceptive/sloppy techniques that some researchers use, apparently quite effectively, to give the impression biology is only a minor player in even large and consistent sex differences. And throwing is the perfect example. I do worry that the urge to buy into this particular brand of feminist ideology remains too stubborn to make room for logic, evidence and reason. But there is nothing to be gained and much to be lost from downplaying the importance of biology in explaining who we are why we are different. So again, thank you. Keep going!