Another thought provoking post Heather! I do wonder what exactly is happening to mine and younger generations. I think it's an issue in which we assume that people should have things figured out, or that we don't want kids to suffer or have to deal with adversity so we try to remove barriers without knowing if those barriers are the proper ones to remove, or if they even exist (Chesterton's fence and all).
I've thought about writing a cultural piece asking about what happened to the "coming-of-age" films that were so pervasive in the 80s up to the early 2000s. Even when I was in my early 20s there was something about watching films even about high schoolers who couldn't figure out what they wanted in life but sort of understanding that it's ok to not have it all figured out and that's how life goes sometimes.
But now that doesn't appear to be the message we send kids. It's no longer OK to be confused or uncertain, which is a bit ironic given the fact that that's the argument us millennials tend to launch at the older generation who thinks we should know what we want in life.
Thank you for addressing the obvious. Why this has to be done is a reflection on the stupidity, ignorance and mindless adherence to a set of statements that are without any factual basis but are in fact a new cult or religion that is political.
I appreciate the intelligent discussion here on your Substack and at Darkhorse. My son turned me on to you and Bret and I have enjoyed your thoughtful, fact based and civil discussions.
I once didn't like Donald Trump but I freely admit I am now a PROUD MAGA Republican.
So, who are you and Bret going to vote for? Are you going to continue to vote for the Democrats who are destroying our country, our culture, and seeking to harm our children and grandchildren (in many different ways), or will you hold your nose and vote for Republicans? Just wondering.
I haven't called myself a Democrat for a while now--nor voted for one. The Dems choosing Biden out of a large pool of candidates--some of whom, but not all, were terrible--and then placing Kamala Harris as his running mate...there will be many who say it came late, but that was too much for me. I did not vote for Trump either, however. At the regional and local level, at least on the West coast, yes, it seems that Republicans are often making more sense now.
Long ago I was a Democrat. Then I had my daughter. The policies advocated by Democrats for low income children were, in my opinion, toxic. I started to pay closer attention. I changed parties to Republican. There are Republicans I can’t like, but the conservative values I adhere to are now found in the Republican Party.
Give your state a chance. Vote for Joe Kent if you can. If he's not in your district give him a contribution. We must send good, decent, principled people to Congress if this country has any future.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call SCIENCE! I will be sharing this with my young friend who is currently pregnant with her first child; it's a girl! From one woman to another, thank you Heather for all you do!
It really isn't - it's little more than Lysenkoism, the "deliberate distortion of scientific facts or theories for purposes that are deemed politically, religiously or socially desirable":
I am always open to listening to and/or reading another's view and proof, so I visited the links you provided; one to a Wikipedia page that discusses Lysenkoism, and two that lead to your Substack articles, Wikipedia's Lysenkoism and On Being Defrauded by Heather Heying.
And, while what I am about to say is not "science", nor is it "objective", it is based on my gut feeling, my intuition. The feeling I got soon after attempting to read your articles, was uncanny, as in the "uncanny valley" effect.
Your writing may be proof that GPT-3 has yet to perfect the precise ability to produce human-like text and has more deep learning to engage in.
Of course, I am considering that maybe I'm just a/an (insert label here that will shut down discourse).
Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts. Bit depressing that so few, including so few "biologists", these days are willing and able to deal with those with any degree of intellectual honesty.
If you actually want any "discourse" then you might try putting your rebuttal on the table.
I am not unwilling to deal with most anything, least of all intellectual honesty. I think my trouble currently is the inability to find clarity in what you're argument is exactly.
For us simpletons, language that is clear and concise and presented in a manner that is accessible to most is greatly appreciated and more importantly, understood.
From what I see, it looks like you disagree with the statement that sex is not assigned at birth; it's observed. As someone who has decades of lived experience as a biological/assigned or observed at birth, woman, and who has witnessed numerous ultrasounds on pregnant women, including myself, when a penis is detected especially, the obstetrician will share with the mother that their baby is a boy.
Again, simple I know, but up until these "modern" times, most of us see a vagina and think, female/girl/woman, and when we see a penis, most of us think, male/boy/man. If these physical characteristics have no meaning or purpose, then why the need to "reassign" sex by cutting off or cutting up anyone's genitalia when a male human believes they are a female and vice versa?
Thank you, Sandra, for your kind words, and for your attempts at wringing clarity from Steersman. I have engaged that account before, never to any avail--like you, I find something uncanny in both the texts, and the interactions. And the fact that incoherent comments have shown up on all manner of posts of mine that are irrelevant to this topic makes me wonder further. After trying repeatedly to engage a few months ago, I have now--again--blocked the account.
I was that kid/girl. I loved my black and orange tipped rubber boots. Girls got the white ones, and I wanted nothing to do with those. I spent hours in the woods, behind my parents' house in Northern Ontario. I loved my "dinky" toy cars, farm, and catching frogs and salamanders. I also liked Barbie's camping van and my Easy Bake. I'm no longer fond of reptiles (both those on the ground, and in power). I like math (unlike Barbie), and I like that my parents didn't drag me to counselling b/c I was a Tom-boy. I'm now a woman, a mother, and I still love the woods, but I still don't like spiders and snakes.
Milton Friedman apparently coined "There is no such thing as a free lunch."
Everything has a cost, including freedom. Let's assume that at a bare minimum, you and I are sane, centered, loving, compassionate, competent, parents. Because we know what's right, we'll see that others around us make mistakes.
Then what? The tyrants, in all their love and certainty will want to regulate with the power of the state including deadly force that which they are so certain of. After all,, freedom isn't good unless I approve of how you use it.
There are others who realize that freedom comes with space to make mistakes that can hurt people.
This isn't new. This social diseases - that is causing so many of our youth to believe being a different sex will solve their problems- is one of many that ebbed and flowed as the years go by. It won't be the last.
But what is to be done?
I don't believe most of the people getting sucked into stupid ideas are all that reason based, so I doubt the utility of taking sense with them - valiant as your attempt here may be. I suspect mock and ridicule are better tools, even it they feel below us.
Laws could be passed. Regulators enthroned. But there is a pretty high probability of capture.
We do have civil courts. Perhaps some day courts and juries may make this folly too expensive.
Hi Heather, I have been listening to your Darkhorse podcast and love it. Totally agree that kids should not be given sex hormones til they are adults and here is why. This is not widely known or acknowledged.
When a person starts taking sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, or testoterone it teaches the body to stop producing it's own hormones.
I found this out only after I was prescribed these hormones by a naturopath when I lost my libido during menopause. I took all three of those hormones plus DHEA. While not all were excessively low at the start of the hormone treatments when I stopped they were all extremely low to none existent and would not come back naturally. Lesson learned the hard way.
I have to assume that giving these hormones to children will be devastating for a very long time and that nobody is warning the children or their parents of the potential damages.
Being old-fashioned, as well as old, I'm not a fan of "gender-reveal" parties. But they at least show a better grip on reality than much of what goes on these days. I can't figure out how to put an image in a comment (I did say "old"), but here is my pithy assessment of the situation: https://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/archives/2023/07/27/wecome-to-the-monkey-house
Heather, This is the pithiest yet generally complete writeup on this subject I have seen. A fine piece of writing and thinking. Many thanks.
Another thought provoking post Heather! I do wonder what exactly is happening to mine and younger generations. I think it's an issue in which we assume that people should have things figured out, or that we don't want kids to suffer or have to deal with adversity so we try to remove barriers without knowing if those barriers are the proper ones to remove, or if they even exist (Chesterton's fence and all).
I've thought about writing a cultural piece asking about what happened to the "coming-of-age" films that were so pervasive in the 80s up to the early 2000s. Even when I was in my early 20s there was something about watching films even about high schoolers who couldn't figure out what they wanted in life but sort of understanding that it's ok to not have it all figured out and that's how life goes sometimes.
But now that doesn't appear to be the message we send kids. It's no longer OK to be confused or uncertain, which is a bit ironic given the fact that that's the argument us millennials tend to launch at the older generation who thinks we should know what we want in life.
Thank you for addressing the obvious. Why this has to be done is a reflection on the stupidity, ignorance and mindless adherence to a set of statements that are without any factual basis but are in fact a new cult or religion that is political.
I appreciate the intelligent discussion here on your Substack and at Darkhorse. My son turned me on to you and Bret and I have enjoyed your thoughtful, fact based and civil discussions.
I once didn't like Donald Trump but I freely admit I am now a PROUD MAGA Republican.
So, who are you and Bret going to vote for? Are you going to continue to vote for the Democrats who are destroying our country, our culture, and seeking to harm our children and grandchildren (in many different ways), or will you hold your nose and vote for Republicans? Just wondering.
I haven't called myself a Democrat for a while now--nor voted for one. The Dems choosing Biden out of a large pool of candidates--some of whom, but not all, were terrible--and then placing Kamala Harris as his running mate...there will be many who say it came late, but that was too much for me. I did not vote for Trump either, however. At the regional and local level, at least on the West coast, yes, it seems that Republicans are often making more sense now.
Long ago I was a Democrat. Then I had my daughter. The policies advocated by Democrats for low income children were, in my opinion, toxic. I started to pay closer attention. I changed parties to Republican. There are Republicans I can’t like, but the conservative values I adhere to are now found in the Republican Party.
Lifelong Dem, progessive, feminist now Independent here in Oregon. Hubby is wondering if I am now Qanon too. Haha.
Give your state a chance. Vote for Joe Kent if you can. If he's not in your district give him a contribution. We must send good, decent, principled people to Congress if this country has any future.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call SCIENCE! I will be sharing this with my young friend who is currently pregnant with her first child; it's a girl! From one woman to another, thank you Heather for all you do!
It really isn't - it's little more than Lysenkoism, the "deliberate distortion of scientific facts or theories for purposes that are deemed politically, religiously or socially desirable":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
You may wish to consider my further elaborations on those themes:
https://humanuseofhumanbeings.substack.com/p/wikipedias-lysenkoism
https://humanuseofhumanbeings.substack.com/p/on-being-defrauded-by-heather-heying
I am always open to listening to and/or reading another's view and proof, so I visited the links you provided; one to a Wikipedia page that discusses Lysenkoism, and two that lead to your Substack articles, Wikipedia's Lysenkoism and On Being Defrauded by Heather Heying.
And, while what I am about to say is not "science", nor is it "objective", it is based on my gut feeling, my intuition. The feeling I got soon after attempting to read your articles, was uncanny, as in the "uncanny valley" effect.
Your writing may be proof that GPT-3 has yet to perfect the precise ability to produce human-like text and has more deep learning to engage in.
Of course, I am considering that maybe I'm just a/an (insert label here that will shut down discourse).
🙂 "I am not a robot." 😉
Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts. Bit depressing that so few, including so few "biologists", these days are willing and able to deal with those with any degree of intellectual honesty.
If you actually want any "discourse" then you might try putting your rebuttal on the table.
I am not unwilling to deal with most anything, least of all intellectual honesty. I think my trouble currently is the inability to find clarity in what you're argument is exactly.
For us simpletons, language that is clear and concise and presented in a manner that is accessible to most is greatly appreciated and more importantly, understood.
From what I see, it looks like you disagree with the statement that sex is not assigned at birth; it's observed. As someone who has decades of lived experience as a biological/assigned or observed at birth, woman, and who has witnessed numerous ultrasounds on pregnant women, including myself, when a penis is detected especially, the obstetrician will share with the mother that their baby is a boy.
Again, simple I know, but up until these "modern" times, most of us see a vagina and think, female/girl/woman, and when we see a penis, most of us think, male/boy/man. If these physical characteristics have no meaning or purpose, then why the need to "reassign" sex by cutting off or cutting up anyone's genitalia when a male human believes they are a female and vice versa?
Thank you, Sandra, for your kind words, and for your attempts at wringing clarity from Steersman. I have engaged that account before, never to any avail--like you, I find something uncanny in both the texts, and the interactions. And the fact that incoherent comments have shown up on all manner of posts of mine that are irrelevant to this topic makes me wonder further. After trying repeatedly to engage a few months ago, I have now--again--blocked the account.
I was that kid/girl. I loved my black and orange tipped rubber boots. Girls got the white ones, and I wanted nothing to do with those. I spent hours in the woods, behind my parents' house in Northern Ontario. I loved my "dinky" toy cars, farm, and catching frogs and salamanders. I also liked Barbie's camping van and my Easy Bake. I'm no longer fond of reptiles (both those on the ground, and in power). I like math (unlike Barbie), and I like that my parents didn't drag me to counselling b/c I was a Tom-boy. I'm now a woman, a mother, and I still love the woods, but I still don't like spiders and snakes.
Sincerely love this. Thank you.
Milton Friedman apparently coined "There is no such thing as a free lunch."
Everything has a cost, including freedom. Let's assume that at a bare minimum, you and I are sane, centered, loving, compassionate, competent, parents. Because we know what's right, we'll see that others around us make mistakes.
Then what? The tyrants, in all their love and certainty will want to regulate with the power of the state including deadly force that which they are so certain of. After all,, freedom isn't good unless I approve of how you use it.
There are others who realize that freedom comes with space to make mistakes that can hurt people.
This isn't new. This social diseases - that is causing so many of our youth to believe being a different sex will solve their problems- is one of many that ebbed and flowed as the years go by. It won't be the last.
But what is to be done?
I don't believe most of the people getting sucked into stupid ideas are all that reason based, so I doubt the utility of taking sense with them - valiant as your attempt here may be. I suspect mock and ridicule are better tools, even it they feel below us.
Laws could be passed. Regulators enthroned. But there is a pretty high probability of capture.
We do have civil courts. Perhaps some day courts and juries may make this folly too expensive.
I don't know there is a perfect solution.
There aint no free lunch.
Hi Heather, I have been listening to your Darkhorse podcast and love it. Totally agree that kids should not be given sex hormones til they are adults and here is why. This is not widely known or acknowledged.
When a person starts taking sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, or testoterone it teaches the body to stop producing it's own hormones.
I found this out only after I was prescribed these hormones by a naturopath when I lost my libido during menopause. I took all three of those hormones plus DHEA. While not all were excessively low at the start of the hormone treatments when I stopped they were all extremely low to none existent and would not come back naturally. Lesson learned the hard way.
I have to assume that giving these hormones to children will be devastating for a very long time and that nobody is warning the children or their parents of the potential damages.
Hoping you see this and look into it.
Being old-fashioned, as well as old, I'm not a fan of "gender-reveal" parties. But they at least show a better grip on reality than much of what goes on these days. I can't figure out how to put an image in a comment (I did say "old"), but here is my pithy assessment of the situation: https://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/archives/2023/07/27/wecome-to-the-monkey-house