We hear more and more about gender identity confusion these days. Gender identity confusion is when a person thinks s/he is the gender opposite of their biology: a man who believes he is a female trapped in a man’s body, or a woman who believes she is a male trapped in a woman’s body. Rather than considering this as a mental disorder in need treatment, however, today’s proffered solution is to perform a sex-change operation so that one’s body will match their perceived gender. I am persuaded that this solution to the problem is wrong-headed.
Gender is not a social construct, nor a personal choice. A person’s gender is determined by their biology. If one believes that their gender is opposite their biology, s/he believes something to be true about himself or herself that is contrary to reality. The body clearly reveals their gender. Greg Koukl asks a pertinent question to illustrate this point: What would you say to someone who told you they were really a rabbit, but trapped in a human’s body? We would think this person is seriously confused, and in need of psychiatric treatment. Why? Because species is determined by one’s biology, not their mind. So why think gender is any different? Both cases involve someone thinking that they are someone other than what their biology indicates they are. The problem is mental, not physical. The individual suffering from gender identity disorder is incapable of seeing himself or herself according to what s/he is in biological reality.
When forced to decide between the objective and the subjective, we should go with the objective. Biology is objective, whereas one’s gender perception is subjective. When there is a conflict between the two, we should look to the objective to tell us what is real. Given the objectivity of physical reality, it strikes me as ludicrous to locate the problem with the body rather than the mind! Instead of chemically manipulating and surgically mutilating a perfectly good body to bring it into conformity with one’s mental perception of their gender, we should work on changing one’s mind to bring it into conformity with physical reality.
At least that’s the way I see it!
Thinking to Believe 
November 25, 2013 at 2:23 pm
What about the variety of non-binary sexualities (e.g. intersex, hermaphrodism, ambiguous genitalia, xx-male, xy-female, so on..)? If you tie gender to biology this closely, will you not need to accommodate gender to these additional possibilities (either adding more genders or recognizing the mixing of genders)?
If these are added or abridged in this way, what benefit is gained from the denial of genders social construction?
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November 25, 2013 at 2:48 pm
Jason, please see jleavittpearl’s post. Sometimes I think that you’re rushing to “simple, commonsense, black/white” conclusions simply because you’re not aware of the real-world complications that deeper-than-cursory looks immediately reveal. As charitably as I can, I’d like to encourage you to do diligent, thorough, and many-sourced investigations into issues like this before you form conclusions, let alone broadcast those conclusions to the world.
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November 25, 2013 at 6:11 pm
I know there are situations that are more complex than this. The fact that I don’t address every strange and complex sexual disorder does not mean I am not able to address some. The one I am addressing is the one where there is nothing wrong with the body, and yet the person thinks they are the gender opposite the one afforded them by nature. And in those cases, what needs to be fixed is the mind, not the body. For conditions that involve biological problems, the solution may be different.
Jason
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November 26, 2013 at 1:41 am
Jason, this is a silly post, with one clear misapprehension.
You say that you are “persuaded”, where really you have consulted your own thoughtless bigotry without bothering to think about the matter. Attempting psychotherapy to persuade a trans person that they should try to make a go of living in the gender assigned at birth does not work. Giving gender reassignment therapies improves outcomes. Go figure. What you say was refuted decades ago.
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November 26, 2013 at 1:51 am
Clare,
You throw out some good name-calling (silly, bigotry), and you say that my argument has been refuted. How so? Please tell me why we should change the objective features of reality to match the subjective features of reality, when the objective feature is working properly?
Jason
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November 26, 2013 at 2:59 am
Jason, you would be better to ask why should we change the objective features of reality shown by research into the brains of trans people, to match your silly, ignorant and false views?
“Silly” is not name-calling in this instance, it is an objective description.
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December 5, 2013 at 1:16 pm
Clare,
The brain is quite plastic, and research has shown how the way we think can alter our brains, and change our neural pathways. When it comes to what is “objective,” surely our sex organs are more objective than our brain patterns.
Jason
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November 6, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Your argument is circular. Sex and gender is absolutely NOT the same. Look, to the outside world, if I have long hair, wear as skirt and makeup then I am what? A cross dresser? A woman? A man?what are you asking? My sex is masle. I am sexually attracted to females. But I don’t have all the attributes of a believed to be male in THIS culture at THIS particular point in time. So what are you saying?
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June 4, 2015 at 5:44 pm
[…] See also “Gender is not a social construction” […]
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December 11, 2015 at 2:56 am
Historically there have been three sexes (yes sexes, genders are for mushrooms, humans don’t have gender) , male, female, and “neuter”, which means neitherl.
Most societies throughout history, tribal and civil alike, have had considerations for those who did not wish to fulfill the role expected of their born sex, allowing them to take on the role of the opposite sex, as long as they were committed to fulfilling the social responsibilities expected of them.
This, I believe, is the proper way to view sex today as well. There are males, females, and neithers, and people should be allowed to take on whichever role they are most comfortable with as long as they live up to their responsibilities.
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December 30, 2016 at 9:00 am
[…] is experiencing mental and emotional confusion (I’ve written some on gender issues here and here). They need therapy, not gender reassignment surgery. But what about a person who was born […]
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June 7, 2019 at 4:15 am
Spot on!
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