J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues

[KLAMarine]

sundin13 said:

KLAMarine said:

Apologies. I was afraid you were going to tell me biology is make-believe. So far, nothing terribly controversial...

As for assessing sex, yes. Every day. I see someone who looks like a man or a woman, I assess their sex superficially. Of course there's chance I am wrong about my assessment but that's okay: I'm not putting money down on people's sex.

Quite the opposite. Biology is very much real, and as a Biologist, I should hope so. It is those who assert biology ends at the genitals who are doing a disservice to Biology and that is what I was calling out.

And I find your statement about assessing sex interesting. If genitals at birth are the convenient way to determine sex, why don't you use this information when making these assessments? And if you are making assessments about sex in the absence of this information, is it truly sex that you are making an assessment about, or is it gender expression?

I'm using gender expression which is usually very much aligned with sex. Someone born a woman is most likely gonna have long hair or will be missing facial hair when they're older. They're going to have rounder hips and breasts too during/after puberty. Someone born a man is likely going to have broader shoulders and likely have facial hair too during/after puberty along with more muscle development.

Of course looks can be deceiving but the sex of strangers walking about in public is of little concern to me so I will assess sex superficially and not really care if I'm right or wrong.