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Recognizing that men cannot be women should be par for the course

Men and women each have unique traits, unique abilities, and unique roles to play in life. Let us embrace them rather than turn our nation into one big androgynous swamp.

(Image: Christoph Keil/Unsplash.com)

Yet another man has beaten women in a woman’s sport.

The story has gotten quite old, and it’s categorically unfair to women.

The Women’s Professional Golf Association recently tweeted: “Showing nerves of steel, Breanna Gill triumphed in a playoff for her first professional win at the #AusWomensClassic!”

Breanna Gill is a male who now lives as a female. And he is playing competitive golf against females. If this doesn’t outrage you, it really should. In fact, it outraged so many people on Twitter that the LPGA turned off replies to this tweet. They apparently don’t want to hear the truth.

You see, barring some extremely rare chromosomal abnormality, people are either male or female. And that reality has to do with more than just the external genitalia. Our sex traits are in all parts of our bodies, and they affect how we think, how we act, how we look, and even how susceptible we are to different diseases.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has studied the human body. Yet today, out of fear of being called a hater or a bigot, more and more people are afraid to tell the truth that we can easily find in science.

For instance, a 2017 article in The Conversation addresses the fact that “throughout our bodies, thousands of genes act differently in men and women.”

A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information explored the cellular differences between the two sexes and found that “males and females have partially different genomes.” It further found that “there are multiple, ubiquitous differences in the basic cellular biochemistry of males and females that can affect an individual’s health.”

Regarding the differences in bone structure between male and female, the National Museum of Natural History stated that “males tend to have larger, more robust bones and joint surfaces, and more bone development at muscle attachment sites. However, the pelvis is the best sex-related skeletal indicator, because of distinct features adapted for childbearing. The skull also has features that can indicate sex, though slightly less reliably.”

As biologist Colin Wright states in a recent Wall Street Journal essay, when biologists say sex is binary, “we mean something straightforward: There are only two sexes. …  An organism’s sex is defined by the type of gamete (sperm or ova) it has the function of producing. Males have the function of producing sperm, or small gametes; females, ova, or large ones. Because there is no third gamete type, there are only two sexes. Sex is binary.”

And, as Wright goes on to further explain, the existence of intersex people does not in any way “undermine the sex binary.”

When we hear of someone who is female who now wants to become a male, or vice versa, we must realize that it simply is not biologically possible. Sure, a male can live as a female, and a female can live as a male, but even with hormone therapy and a “sex-change” operation, they cannot become the opposite sex. Believing they can do so hurts both men and women. And we see the ramifications of this not just in sports, but everywhere.

Our society has worked so diligently to right the wrongs against women in the past that it skipped right over the proper way to do this.

We have gone from a culture where women were beholden to their spouses or fathers and couldn’t own property to a culture that wants to make women more like men by saying they should be the same.

But we must remember that being treated fairly and equally does not mean that men and women are the same. There are differences, and these differences are beautiful!

Feminism has become a heavily charged word, but authentic feminism more closely aligns with the Merriam Webster definition, which states that it is a “belief in and advocacy of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes expressed especially through organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”

Is it in the best interest of women to compete against biological males in golf or any other sport? Of course not.

Is it in the best interest of women to be denied their femininity by telling them that anyone who claims to be a female can just say so? Of course not.

Is it in the best interest of pregnant women to advise them to kill their babies so they can get back to work?

No. These things serve only to benefit men. These things show that the world does not cherish women; it uses and denigrates them.

True feminism not only ensures that women are treated the same as men but embraces the difference between the two sexes and holds the unique gifts of each in high regard.

This is something we have forgotten lately, as we find ourselves drowning in a culture that wants men and women to be the same not just be treated the same. There’s a big difference.

As a country, we need to wake up to reality. A male living as a female does not mean he is a female. A female living as a male does not mean she is a male.

Though we absolutely must have compassion for those who feel uncomfortable in their own bodies, we must respect them as human beings, and we must never be cruel, we must not allow their confusion to confuse or silence us or to obfuscate biological truths.

Nor must we allow the president or other politicians to dictate science, change the English language, and promulgate falsehoods.

When we hear nonsense from people of authority—especially our president—we must speak out. In a recent proclamation, President Biden said, “A wave of discriminatory state laws is targeting transgender youth, terrifying families and hurting kids who are not hurting anyone.”

Mr. President, politicians who pass these laws care about those children and their families. They care because surgeries and hormone treatments are harmful to the kids. This is not hate, but love. We don’t allow children to take Advil to school. We don’t allow them to get their ears pierced without a parent’s permission. Why on earth would it be in their best interest to allow them to take hormones or have surgery that maims?

Now is not the time to remain silent. We must voice our concern, teach the truth, and protect not only our children but all human beings. Telling the truth does not make us hateful. Staying silent and allowing people to harm themselves does.

As Edith Stein, who became St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, stated, “The world doesn’t need what women have, it needs what women are.”

I would go a step further. Our world not only needs what women are, but it needs what men are. Men and women each have unique traits, unique abilities, and unique roles to play in life. Let us embrace them rather than turn our nation into one big androgynous swamp.


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About Susan Ciancio 46 Articles
Susan Ciancio is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has worked as a writer and editor for nearly 19 years; 13 of those years have been in the pro-life sector. Currently, she is the editor of American Life League’s Celebrate Life Magazine—the nation’s premier Catholic pro-life magazine. She is also the executive editor of ALL’s Culture of Life Studies Program—a pre-K-12 Catholic pro-life education organization.

19 Comments

  1. We need to stop shouting “It’s not fair!” when what it really is is wrong.
    .
    “It isn’t fair” how much money, time, and effort I’ve spent on perfecting my game (as an adult. I was not allowed to do sports as a child), only to be trounced by a woman with inferior skills and technique–but also happens to be several years my junior and a natural athlete who has participated in sports since she was child. (Really, she’s amazing and a lot of fun on court. Can’t wait to match wits with her in a couple of weeks.)
    .
    There are women’s sports. There are men’s sports. Sometimes there are mixed sports (mixed double tennis, co-ed kickball, co-ed softball, etc).
    .
    Calling a man a woman, allowing him to participate in a woman’s tournament as a woman, and calling the tournament a Women’s Tournament, is not “not fair.” It is fraud.

    • The author didn’t stomp her foot like a two year old and say it’s not fair. Read the text. What people are doing to women is wrong! And it is unfair. Life is not fair and that’s ok but that doesn’t seem to be the underlying meaning here.

      • I did read the article, and it is right there are the beginning: “[I]t’s categorically unfair to women.”
        .
        But, as you noted (correctly in my view),”life is not fair.”

      • I think Mrs H is referring to, in general, it’s not a ‘level playing field’ out there, if a large boned male is playing women’s sports. (this is what you regularly hear via media or in conversations)

        A person should do the best they can/strive for that etc… and accept that – otherwise you’ll never be happy.

  2. Occasionally I order gifts from an historic apothecary company & they in turn send me loads of email advertisements. The latest one describes how their products respect the integrity of Nature. Or something to that effect.
    Would that our culture did the same.

  3. Catholics are the biggest impediment to the successful implementation of a narrative that seeks to erase a binary sex complimentarity and replace it with a chameleon-like gender spectrum. We Catholics are the people of transubstantiation. We distinguish between “accidents” and “substance”. We can sense bread and wine; but, know that under these “accidents” that the real SUBSTANCE of the consecrated Host has changed. Now, imagine this in inverse and you have a complete grasp of the current gender-bending theories. Gender confused people have only a set of external accidents that undergo change. The substance remains the same. Therefore, any and every Catholic who holds in the real presence of Our Lord in the eucharistic sacrifice embodies a mind-set and a perspective that seeks understanding of realities based on their inherent substance. Men who present (in their appearance) as women, no matter how feminine are still men in their essense, their substance. Women who present (in their appearance, their “accidents”) as mascculine are still ESSENTIALLY women. Substance calls forth the inherent identity, the definition, the reality. We cannot base our fundamental understanding of reality on surface conditions. They are not dependable, nor speak to the enduring Truth of any particular thing we encounter in reality. Every Catholic is equipped to understand how woefully short any narrative might be that attempts to give accidents the qualities meant for inherent substance. That’s why I have always forwarded the thought that the current gender-bending fascination is an attack on the Doctrine of Transubstantiation.

    • While I might quibble with one or two minor points, I think you do an excellent job developing this analogy. I’d love to hear a close variant of this during a homily. That will probably take quite a while.

    • Mark Tabish, you have presented an absolute Truth! Just like all of Protestantism is a denial and an attack on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, all of this Woke-Communist-Falsely-Enlightened-Dementia is coming against the absolute reality of the Transubstantiation.

      Wow! All these demonic super organized attacks highlight the glory and absolute Truth of the Holy Eucharist that Satan and his followers fear and hate so much!! As Jesus himself said, we have real eternal life only and exclusively when we receive him with real faith in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist (John 6:53-54)! Viva Cristo Rey! Praise be to Christ The King!

  4. I know that this will never make the cut, but a few years ago I saw a video of a ‘person’ in a store raising a ruckus about a coffee cup being sold by the proprietor of the store. On the cup was the statement – “If you’ve got a d..k you’re not a chick”.

    The ‘person’ raising the ruckus was, obviously, beside himself, but – it’s true.

  5. No real man would want to be a woman anyway. In my day, they were called sissies.

    In the Olympics, the East Germans were guilty of doping young developing females with steroids to “mannify” them, whilst competing against other females. This is hardly different today, by “sissifying” men. But of course, we are “sensitive,” and “enlightened.” No, we are Marxist and experimenting by playing God.

  6. The “transgender” competition in sports exposes the fatal flaw of feminism, the notion that women and do anything that men can do. This error forms the basis of prohibiting sex discrimination in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In effect, it wants the public to believe that sex does not matter, that sex differences do not really exist and are simply a result of “social construction.” The consequence of this is allowing women in male-oriented occupations such as police, military, fire-fighting and others, which necessitated scraping standards so that women could take such jobs. So, will feminists now admit that they cannot do what men can do? Will the elites in power admit it and return to the practice of discriminating in favor of men in such occupations? I doubt it. Believeing in lies is too comfortable and too profitable.

    • Well, women serving in combat or in police squad cars can be problematic, I think. We’re just different from men physically & in a number of other ways that can put us at a disadvantage & possible endanger those we serve with.
      But women in military intelligence, criminal forensic labs, or detective work makes sense.

  7. I have a son, now an adult, who showed athletic ability from the time he was 5 years old. He played on multiple teams in high school and won an athletic scholarship to college. He has no doubts about his masculinity. But at 6 feet 4 inches tall and a muscular 220 pounds, he would wipe the floor with any female opponent in any sport. Hence it would be unfair for him to engage in such competition.

    I do believe that the early feminists made a tactical error in trying to push the concept that men and women are “the same”. In fact its pretty clear that in some occupations, particularly the military, police and fire departments, that physical standards were REDUCED to legally accommodate women in those roles. In a word, they could not compete on an even playing field with men. NOW, women are being asked to compete against REAL men in real life. It isnt working out so great. You reap what you sow.

  8. I am simply appalled that since my childhood I have gone from almost no ability to participate in any sports as a female, since there was no level playing field for females to even HAVE sports until Title 9 came along, to almost any after Title 9, and now regressing back to almost none, with an erasure of any ability to go into any sport knowing that there was at least a level playing field genetically. Denying the science of biology seems to be the only way for many of modern ideas to grow.

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