‘Hominids’ Were Gender Binary
Political activists will have more trouble arguing for gender fluidity, now that binary sex roles go way back.
Nobody ever heard of gender fluidity before LGBT activists decided it was possible to divorce gender from biological sex. Now that scientists at the University of Seville have found evidence of “gender inequality” as far back as the Stone Age (Phys.org), will the activists find themselves fighting evolutionists in their claim that we humans should be different? If evolution made people look and act in two ways based on biological sex, and if people have behaved as such for thousands of years, on what basis can activists introduce a new concept like gender fluidity?
None of the following should be misconstrued to support mistreatment of one sex by the other. The thing to look for is whether people have always behaved in a gender binary manner, and thought of themselves only in those terms. People can be equal in value, even if they play different roles in the culture.
The Neolithic precedents of gender inequality (University of Seville via Phys.org). Examining ‘bioarchaeology and funerary archaeology,’ the researchers found evidence for gender differences in the Neolithic age (Stone Age), 7,000 years ago. They claim this “meant male domination in later periods of history.” The authors go beyond what the evidence itself suggests.
It is precisely this last aspect that is most evident in this study. The arrow wounds on male bodies, the depositing of projectiles in their tombs or the pictorial representations (cave paintings) of men hunting and fighting have no equivalent parallel in women. Therefore, the authors point to the birth of an ideology that connected men with the exercise of force. In this sense, they highlight that the creation of different roles according to gender and other forms of gender inequality played a fundamental role in the growth of social complexity, a factor that has not always been well understood in previous research projects.
The conclusions, though, do not follow from the evidence. Arrow wounds, hunting and other signs could be interpreted as indicators of the high value those cultures placed on women. Cultures might have rewarded men who would sacrifice their own safety to provide for and protect their women and children. Certainly (on average) males are endowed with an extra measure of strength to fulfill those roles.
Even if that interpretation is doubted, evolutionists would have to admit that whatever is, is right. What are today’s activists going to do—build a time machine and tell the men of that period to stop acting macho? Nowhere in the study is there evidence for a third, fourth, or 72nd gender. Everybody was male or female. Men had roles that were different than those for women, but if that is what evolution produced (according to materialist philosophy), so be it.
The editors of Live Science claim that “Inequality Existed Since the Stone Age.” Once again, though, inequality does not necessarily follow from sexual dimorphism, any more (in evolutionary thinking) than it does for peacocks or gorillas. Whatever strategy evolution comes up with to pass on the genes of a population cannot be considered “wrong” by today’s attitudes. Otherwise, LGBT activists will be found fighting against evolutionists. That would be a contest to watch.
Other News on Sex and Gender
Positive Aspects of Masculinity Helps Improve Boys’ Attitudes Toward Relationship Violence (Rutgers University). This article runs counter to the PC talk about “toxic masculinity” and the need for boys to deny their natures. In a pilot program for middle school boys that affirmed masculinity, researchers found positive results. Contrary to expectations, boys learned to become gentlemen in dating and less violent when they were allowed to be boys, while learning also to question unhealthy assumptions from peers. A workshop was developed by “Maine Boys to Men,” a nonprofit.
It includes four, one-hour sessions that explore the normalization, pervasiveness, and harmful nature of gender role assumptions. The boys involved in the program learn about empathy, healthy relationships, gender-based violence and receive bystander intervention training through physical activity, peer-to-peer dialogue, storytelling, role play, multimedia and group discussions.
“By focusing on positive expressions of masculinity, such as the ability to be respectful in relationships, this program helps boys find positive ways to prevent violence and to cope with violence to which they may already have been exposed,” Banyard said.
By aiming boys to be men (good men, gentlemen, respectful men), they were clearly not saying to the boys, “You can be any gender you want to be, even imaginary ones.”
Mustaches are more than just manly, they guard against sun’s rays (Medical Xpress). Well, OK. Take this claim advisedly. The study looked at 200 men for signs of skin cancer and found that a mustache afforded some protection.
“Obviously, there are a lot of variables, including the baseline skin type of the individual, how thick and big the mustache is, your genetic make-up and your family history of skin cancer,” Wang said.
“But, interestingly, I have previously looked at how good hair is in terms of protecting the scalp,” said Wang, who is also chair of the Skin Cancer Foundation’s photobiology committee. “And it turns out when someone has a lot of hair, it’s a perfect shield. It actually works very well. So when it comes to covering [the] lip, this isn’t too much of a surprise.”
The question naturally arises, if a mustache’s role is to prevent skin cancer, why didn’t women evolve them, too? And why did they evolve to give protection just on the upper lip and not all over the face? At best, it might indicate that men are made to spend more time in the sun working and hunting. Perhaps more so, it is another strong symbol that men and women are different, with different endowments of hair to go along with their different roles.
Why do women live longer than men? (The Conversation). Melinda Martin-Khan explores this long-noticed difference. In short, there is no clear answer.
While women may always live longer than men, by a year or two, men can try to make some lifestyle changes to reduce this gap. That being said, women should work towards these goals for a long and healthy life, too.
But if a man wants to transition to a women, it’s probably not going to add years to his life.
Attitudes to gender and sexual diversity: changing global trends (The Conversation). In this piece, Michael Sean Pepper, a specialist in molecular medicine from the University of Pretoria tries to separate gender identity from biological sex. He mentions cases of disorders of sexual development, but fails to indicate how rare they are. The UN, as usual, follows PC trends:
Identifying as transgender has previously been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “gender identity disorder”. On May 25 of this year, in the most recent International Classification of Diseases manual, the WHO reclassified transgenderism as “gender incongruence” rather than as a mental health disorder. Gender incongruence has now been moved to a new chapter dedicated to sexual health, which it is believed will reduce stigma while ensuring access to healthcare.
Bowing to the LGBT agenda, Pepper says, “Embracing human gender and sexual diversity requires acceptance of the fact that alignment between physical sex, gender identity and sexual orientation does not necessarily adhere to heteronormative rules.” But who makes the rules? Pepper fails to acknowledge that all cultures have been binary since the Stone Age! Why should anyone believe that elitists and advocates since 2008 suddenly became enlightened? Stepping outside of science entirely and acting as a self-appointed ethical judge, he says, “Self-expression is a fundamental human right” and indicates that no one has a right to judge or impose their beliefs on others. Does that apply to individuals who refuse to go along with the current pop psych? Does it apply to individuals wishing to debate with Sgt Pepper?
Real scientific research ignores LGBT. Scientists, like everyone else, deal with reality, not with politically-correct trends driven by advocacy groups. One exception is psychology, which never finds a PC trend it doesn’t embrace and reward with the crown of science. There’s a long train of mental illnesses that dropped from that category once they became PC: homosexuality, sexual addiction, and now gender dysphoria. Anybody who trusts secular psychologists should get his head examined… by a pastor.