The tyranny of political correctness, or: Vox Populi, Vox Dei

Some who have recently followed the news may have come across a little kerfuffle between J.K. Rowling and a vocal group who took offence at Ms Rowling taking offence with the term 'people who menstruate' as a redefinition of simply 'women'. Somehow this escalated into Ms Rowling being called a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF), trans-phobic and many more colourful terms.

Reading through Ms Rowling's recent open letter on the topic [1], I do not see the writings of a TERF, or a trans-phobic person. Instead it is a balanced post, that raises a lot of important questions and concerns. It, along with the rest of this topic, hits close to home for me.


As an intersex person I, too, have been called a TERF, trans-phobic, etc. simply for not following the 'pro-trans' script.

As an intersex person I have suffered immensely and am still being denied proper medical treatment [2] because the trans dialogue has made it impossible to be intersex in today’s society. Doctors and psychologists have done their best for over a decade to try and make me believe that I had to be transgender. [3]

As an intersex person I am legally able to refer to myself as ’male’ and ’female’, on account of being a hermaphrodite. This characteristic of my body has forced me to consider what it means to be male/female, and what this ’woman’ and ’man’ thing are.

This made me realise that gender isn’t real. It’s just what we used to call ’societal role’, as based on one’s biological sex [5]. Recent scientific studies have made it clear that the human brain is not dimorphic, and shows no sex-based differences. [6]

This also fits my experiences as someone who was forced to live in a male role and now has shifted into a female role for convenience.

What does it mean to be a woman? It’s something that those who were born with a body that followed a female trajectory during development (including XXY and XY intersex women) can truly understand. It’s not about the societal role, but it’s about the sex-based aspect, of having these specific reproductive organs, a hormone system that colours one life from puberty onward.

As a hermaphrodite I can see Ms Rowling’s point, and I find no issue with it. She does not want to buy into the trans agenda, and follow the PC option of surrendering everything to appease extremist transgender folk and their allies. What’s even the point of wanting to be called a ’woman’? Why usurp a label when all one wants is to essentially act in a particular way in society? Why do situations like these feel like a decision has been taken, a ruling rendered and the execution scheduled?


There are some points where one has to admit that the Vox populi, the voice of the people, is not the vox Dei, as they wish to be heard. As Alcuin of York wrote in 798: "And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness". [7]

The reasonable voice is easily drowned out by the chanting of the crowd. No manner of eloquence can prevent a lynching. Before the Vox populi deems itself to be the vox Dei, it owes it to itself and its enduring legacy to consider its course and reasoning before committing to anything irreversible.


Maya


[1] https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/
[2] https://mayaposch.blogspot.com/2020/02/so-i-got-denied-medical-care-because-of.html
[3] https://mayaposch.blogspot.com/2020/01/erasure-of-intersex-identity-through.html
[5] https://mayaposch.blogspot.com/2019/12/gender-is-social-contract-not-part-of.html
[6] https://mayaposch.blogspot.com/2019/12/your-brain-doesnt-care-what-genitals.html
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_populi