Clarity on What “Man” and “Woman” Mean

Are we waking up from a bad dream?

Photo by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash

There are times when it feels like we are coming out of a fever dream that lasted four years. In that dream nobody could tell you what a woman was. Men were dressing up as women, reading to children while dancing like strippers and exposing themselves. We were told that “Drag Queen Story Hour” was a “blessing of liberty.” Men who could not hold a candle to other men in some sport decided to identify as female, dress in their lockers, and take their trophies. Even world-wide retailers thought it would be a good idea to allow men in women’s dressing rooms and sell children “tucking” clothes.

A fever dream indeed. But, to the forever shame of many, very real.

But there are adults back in important places of authority right now, and sanity is returning to some of the halls of influence and power. President Trump has signed three relevant Executive Orders: EO 14187 protecting children from chemical and medical sterilization, EO 1468 “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and EO 14201 that keeps men out of women’s sport. It is stunning that we reached a point where all of these topics needed to be addressed legally, but that only goes to highlight the depth of moral darkness of the Left over the last several years.

Alongside these Executive Orders, the HHS has issued new guidance on gender and sex. It is worth citing three paragraphs:

There are only two sexes, female and male, because there are only two types of gametes. An individual human is either female or male based on whether the person is of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova) or sperm.

The sex of a human, female or male, is determined genetically at conception (fertilization), and is observable before birth. Having the biological function to produce eggs or sperm does not require that eggs or sperm are ever produced. Some females or males may not or may no longer produce eggs or sperm due to factors such as age, congenital disorders or other developmental conditions, injury, or medical conditions that cause infertility.

A person's sex is unchangeable and determined by objective biology. The use of hormones or surgical interventions do not change a person's sex because such actions do not change the type of gamete that the person's reproductive system has the biological function to produce. Rare disorders of sexual development do not constitute a third sex because these disorders do not lead to the production of a third gamete. That is, the reproductive system of a person with such a disorder does not produce gametes other than eggs or sperm.

There are several significant points of interest here for the Christian, or even just the person interested in common sense and science. There are only two gametes, male and female. Sex is determined at “conception (fertilization).” Notice that the identity of male and female human persons is set at conception, not implantation or some other stage of pregnancy. This is a body-blow to the anti-science of the pro-choice movement.

And sex is unchangeable. No amount of hormones, chemicals, or surgical intervention can change a person’s chromosomes. Men cannot become women, and women cannot become men. Literally.

This protects both categories. Instead of arguing over whether “trans women” can play in women’s sports, we have clear guidance on the fact that “trans women” are men, not women.

Though this is buried in a pile of Executive Orders and the guidance on an HHS website where very few people will read it, this is very important for culture. Law is a moral guide – it is a teacher. And it is good when the law of the land reflects the natural law hardwired into creation by its Creator.

The movement to sow confusion about sex and gender, then use that confusion to create odd theories about what men and women are and begin the erasure of women, is fundamentally a fight against reality. And reality will always win.