By JOHN RICHARD SCHROCK
It is quite obvious that the earth is flat. Just look out your land see it. Flat! That is the current logic that anti-trans folks—and many political advertisements—are currently asserting in their protests that “biological males” are competing in women’s sports.
The earth is not flat. That was recognized over 2000 years ago by Eratosthenes in Alexandria, Egypt. He noticed that a flagpole left no shadow in Syene but did leave a shadow in Alexandria. He measured the shadow angle and calculated the circumference of a round earth. He came very close!
Those who claim that anatomy alone determines “biological males” are making the same mistake as those who point out the earth is obviously flat. There are many factors involved. And while anatomy is one factor, there are cases where, upon a baby’s birth, the obstetrician cannot declare “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl” but must say “I’ll get back to you on this” because the anatomy is ambiguous.
XX or XY chromosomes are another factor. The Y-chromosome carries the genes that direct development to become a male. Without the Y-chromosome SRY region, a female develops. But there are also exceptions including XO (only the X-chromosome), XXY, XYY, etc.
The amount of male testosterone and female estrogen hormones—and their proportions—also vary greatly. Testosterone promotes facial hair, broad shoulders, muscle growth, aggression, etc. It is produced in small quantities in the adrenal glands of both men and women, but in 20 times larger quantity in testes after puberty. Estrogens are produced in female ovaries and in the fat tissue in both males and females. Just look around at the men and women in the population and you will see that there has always been a wide variation among people due to normal variations in hormone balance.
Heavier boys who go through puberty have more fat and therefore more estrogen and some may never develop a low pitch voice. Some girls with broader shoulders and more athletic build may have higher testosterone levels, and be more aggressive in sports. This variation has always been there. But “tomboy” girls and effeminate boys have often suffered in our simple-minded society.
John Money was a pioneer researcher at the Psychohormonal Research Unit at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. With his medical team, he was able to document and treat many cases where chromosomes, hormones and anatomy varied from "normal.” But he also had cases where very young children were distressed with their assignment—they felt their parents and doctors had made a mistake. They “felt” female when their anatomy was male, or the opposite. In 1955, John Money borrowed the term “gender” for this feeling of being masculine or feminine that was unrelated to who they would be attracted to later after puberty. This feeling of gender was expressed by age six and was permanent; it did not change day-to-day. However, Money did not know if gender identity formed in the brain before or after birth.
This question would be answered by Dr. Dick Swaab and his research team in the Netherlands. They followed up on research by Roger Gorski at U.C.L.A. who had injected testosterone into pregnant rats and discovered the female offspring acted male. Gorski then located a region in rat brains that was different between normal male and female rats, but the female rats who had received the testosterone as a late stage fetus had developed a male brain region. Swaab’s team examined brain bank donations from deceased individuals who were both “normal” and transgender and discovered a similar difference.
Today we know that if transgender children receive the surgery and hormone replacement early, they will develop the muscle anatomy, etc. that conforms with their brain gender and can live a normal life, including fair sports participation. But it is very important that such young candidates be carefully screened to separate out other psychological factors unrelated to gender identity.
But long before this science of biological differentiation was discovered, ranchers already knew there was a fairly wide range of bulls and cows. When it was time to pick another bull to breed the next season, it was obvious that not all of the potential young bulls were equally masculine. And there were some cows that rejected their calves, and others that had more masculine physical traits and behaviors.
It takes time for doctors and biology teachers to update their training, and for biology books to carry this newer science. But it has been 2000 years since we learned the earth is not flat, and many politicians apparently need that longer time to get their message right.
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John Richard Schrock has trained biology teachers for more than 30 years in Kansas. He also has lectured at 27 universities during 20 trips to China. He holds the distinction of “Faculty Emeritus” at Emporia State University.