In her May 1 Opinions essay, “To understand biological sex, look at the brain, not the body,” Jennifer Finney Boylan wrote that the science around transgender people is evolving. One study showed that transgender people’s brains are different from others. “What the research has found is that the brains of trans people are unique: neither female nor male, exactly, but something distinct,” she wrote. And maybe that means that we need to think about gender in a different light.
More than 7,000 readers commented on Boylan’s essay. Here’s a sampling of what they had to say. (Comments have been edited for brevity, clarity and style.)
farmer dean: Specific to the transgender issue, some people identify as something other than their genitalia suggests. That seems like established fact, not something made up by liberals. The question then is: How should society accommodate people who are in these gender gray zones?
One side, the liberal side, mostly says live and let live. Let people be themselves so long as it doesn’t harm others. The other side says no, you can’t do that, because of women’s sports or bathrooms. Well, okay, we do need to set some rules so that people feel protected from unfair competition or, I suppose, sharing a bathroom with someone with male (it’s always the male issue) parts.
But can’t we manage this without going to war over it? Don’t we have larger problems that need our attention?
Chris Wienke: Human societies have long recognized gender categories that are neither man nor woman, but something in between the gender binary or outside of it. Many Native American societies had a place for gender-variant people, a group who are now referred to as “two-spirit people,” either natal males or natal females who dressed like, performed the duties of and behaved like members of the other gender. Two-spirit people have been observed in as many as 150 societies.
Two-spirit people rapidly declined by end of the 19th century as a result of pressure from the dominant European culture in North America, which opposed the idea of more than two genders.
Other cultures have similar gender identities as the two-spirit person. In Oman, there is a class of males called the xanith (also called khanith). They are exempt from strict Islamic rules that restrict men’s interaction with unmarried women because they are not considered men (or women). Another example is the hijra of India. The hijra are males who see themselves as women or as neither men or women. Some have intersex conditions. And some undergo ritual castration in which all or part of their genitals are removed. They dress as women, although they do not really pass as women.
In Thailand and Cambodia, there is a group called the kathoey, who are very similar to Oman’s xanith. Also, the mahu of Tahiti and the faʻafafine of Samoa are people who identify themselves as having a third gender or as nonbinary.
In these societies, it is believed that it is neither obvious nor natural for only two genders.
Frustrated Independent: Live and let live. Trans women should not compete in women’s sports. But other than that, I don’t care one bit.
The White Rose Society: The only objection I have of trans women using the designated “ladies” room is that the line outside gets even longer.
BijiBasi: Biological sex is about chromosomes, and as the author points out, there are many sexes. We are not genetically just male or female. There are lots of other biological states. However, gender is not at all about chromosomes. It is a much more complex issue that involves genetics, epigenetics, sociology and more. What we need to do right now is educate the MAGA lawmakers on what sex is, as they are obviously lost in a binary desert.
Sunday in the Park: Completely agree on the binary desert metaphor. Which is why we must move beyond “trans women are women and trans men are men.” We need a more useful vocabulary to discuss, let alone legislate on, these matters.
SirGawain: Just what we need, an English professor nattering on about X and Y chromosomes and various combinations thereof. No, the “brain” does not determine biological sex. It is still chromosomes that determine biological sex. That some very rare combinations can muddy the water does not change that fact.
Todd MacDonald: I feel nothing but empathy with people on their own unique and perhaps difficult journeys. From a civil rights perspective, I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any and all gender fluid people. The evolving complexities and challenges of nonbinary people in civil society are all manageable if we open our hearts and our minds to our fellow citizens and humans.
Shelby15: My child is trans. I’m extremely disturbed by the number of adults who are obsessed with what is in my child’s pants. It’s creepy that adults are focused on my child’s genitals to the near exclusion of everything else.
CoreyinSavannah: As another parent of a trans teen, I’m also shocked and appalled by the creepiness of the (largely male) posters.
CascadeJoe: How about this hypothesis? We consist of hardware (body parts such as kidneys, etc.), firmware (how our DNA is twisted, how our brain is wired) and software (culture, what we are taught is proper, etc.). Because intersex people exist, we can reasonably expect the firmware to exist in that state also. Some hardware-firmware combinations are rare — e.g., the ability to throw a football 40 yards downfield into the waiting arms of a speeding receiver. Some firmware is rare — e.g., the ability of a concert pianist to play Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 from memory. Software is much more amenable. That’s why we have hundreds of Protestant denominations and sects and cafeteria Catholics. Chill out, okay. We are all normal. It is just a question of how many standard deviations you are from average.
OldUncleTom: It was not very long ago, in historical terms, that people born left-handed were viewed with suspicion and derision and were even perceived to be possessed by demons. In Latin, the word “sinister” only means “left,” a definition nearly lost in the modern lexicon’s muddy perception as “evil.”
This may seem a trivial comparison, but it illustrates how the societal mind works in the presence of “difference.” This was once a big deal, and now it really isn’t in most places.
From personal experience, I can attest that being left-handed is non-threatening, not contagious and not any cause for persecution. Happily, people generally seem to get that nowadays and even value lefties in some sports. We have always been “special,” in our own way, even if we write funny.
Jehannum76: Did left-handed people insist that they were right-handed?
OldUncleTom: No, but most right-handed people around them did but just needed “correction” for their “abnormality.”
Moby49: Fifty years ago, when I was in college, you would hear the same comments you hear today about this article. The only difference would be that the word “homosexual” would replace the word “transgender.” Discrimination then, discrimination now.
alungerperrort: This is the best, most persuasive, most completely understandable and heartwarming statement I have ever read regarding the nexus of gender and selfhood. Thank you.
riskythinker: I consider myself open and accepting, but reading this opinion piece I saw a new way of viewing transgender reality. Thank you, Jennifer Finney Boylan.