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ANALYSIS: No increase in women’s privacy, safety concerns since ‘legal recognition’ of trans-women, says prof

A women’s and gender studies professor says Donald Trump is “promoting a radical and unscientific theory” about sex and gender in order to combat far-left ideology on the subject.

Contrary to what the president has said (and done), Ina Seethaler of Coastal Carolina University writes in The Conversation that she knows “what science really says about gender and sex.”

Seethaler brings up many of the narratives scholars in her and associated fields have spouted for years — that sex and gender actually are two different concepts. That is, the former refers to biological attributes while the latter is made up of a particular culture’s “norms, roles, behaviors and expectations.”

“In other words,” Seethaler says, “gender does not follow biology. Instead, people have what’s called a ‘gender identity’ – an internal sense of themselves as masculine, feminine or somewhere in-between.”

The researcher of “gender, migration, and life writing,” “feminist pedagogy,” and “gender and popular culture” says Trump himself believes in a gender ideology, that of “biological determinism.” This posits “there are only two genders” and “the sex assigned at birth permanently determines one’s role in society.”

Seethaler claims research shows “privacy and safety concerns” have not increased since the “legal recognition” of transgender folk, and that there’s “no evidence” biological women “should fear violence” from transgender women (aka biological men).

So … society has been acting unscientifically all these decades? And gender wasn’t used merely “as a polite way to talk about someone’s sex as an adjective without misleading someone to think they were talking about sex as a noun”?

MORE: Disabled, queer ‘Chicanx’ ethnic studies scholar: Trump EO on sex/gender is ‘fascism’

From the article:

[S]ocieties rooted in biological determinism tend to be patriarchal. They are designed by men for the benefit of men, and men hold most positions of authority.

Patriarchal countries, including the U.S., tend to value masculinity over femininity. Political and religious leaders, the media and social norms suggest women are weaker than men, more emotional and better suited for care work. …

As the Trump administration reverts to a simplistic interpretation of sex and gender, public debate on these basic social and political rights is reemerging.

There is legislation at the state and federal level banning transgender women athletes from participating in sports, bills that would make it a crime to identify as transgender and challenges to women serving in combat roles in the U.S. military.

To be clear, the vast majority of state and federal legislation pertains to men participating in women’s sports, not sports in general. And people who offer logical alternatives — like a separate category for transgender athletes — can find themselves ostracized (especially in blue states).

Regarding making it a crime to identify as transgender, Seethaler (pictured) cites one piece of legislation from one state (Texas) that even NBC News.com conceded was “unlikely to pass.”

As for “challenges” to women in military combat roles, new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initially said he did not want women in those positions, but later changed his view — as long as women meet the same standards as men (especially in on-the-ground operations).

According to ResearchGate, Seethaler’s academic articles include “Women and Allies in Action: College Students as ‘Diversity Workers’ in the Activism Classroom,” “Nerds, Maids, and Criminals: An Analysis of Immigrants on US Television,” and “From Roseanne Barr to Amy Poehler: Comediennes, Memoirs, and Feminism.”

MORE: Professor of ‘tasta-eeyinew’ ‘gender’ slams Trump for saying only 2 sexes

IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: President Trump laughs at something silly; Can We Take a Joke/YouTube. INTERIOR IMAGE: Coastal Carolina U.

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