Men have long been confused about women, but this always related to the latter’s personalities. “Transgender” activists have taken this to a new level, however, claiming they can’t even define what a woman is (hence the feminist complaint that they’re “erasing women”).
A good example occurred on a recent Dr. Phil episode that featured Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh debating MUSS (Made-up Sexual Status, a.k.a. “transgender”) activists. Walsh asked two of the individuals one of his typical questions, “What is a woman?” and they readily admitted they had no answer. They were firm on something else, though:
That Walsh’s push-back caused them “anxiety,” “depression,” and “nightmares,” as one of them later wrote on social media.
The Blaze reported on the story Thursday, writing, “‘There are a growing number of people who say they do not identify with gender binaries of ‘man’ or ‘woman’ and therefore prefer to use other pronouns such as ‘they,’ the description of the episode that aired on Wednesday titled ‘The Gender Pronoun Debate’ states.”
“Ethan — an LGBTQ+ advocate who prefers the pronouns ‘he’ and ‘they’ — believes that discussing pronouns and gender expression is important, ‘It creates dialogue and invites conversations to learn about other people,’” the site also informed.
“Ethan is married [sic] to Addison — another LGBTQ+ activist who claims to be non-binary and uses the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them,’” the Blaze continued.
The debate touched on several matters, such as the MUSS agenda’s impact on young children and the “personal pronoun” phenomenon. But when Walsh broached the topic of defining the term “woman,” the exchange started to sound just a smidgen like Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” routine. As Town Hall related yesterday:
“Can you tell me what a woman is?” Walsh asked.
Ethan responded, “No, I can’t. Because it’s not for me to say. Womanhood looks different for everybody.”
Referencing comments Addison made alleging that “transgender women are women,” Walsh pressed Addison on the issue, saying, “You stood up here and said, ‘Trans women are women.’ What is a woman?”
“Womanhood is … something that I cannot define,” Addison said.
“But you used the word,” Walsh responded. “So what did you mean when you said, ‘Trans women are women?'”
Addison then said, “I do not define what a woman is because I do not identify as a woman. Womanhood is something that is an umbrella term.”
“That describes what?” Walsh asked, continuing to push for a direct answer.
“People who identify as a woman,” Addison replied.
Walsh asked again, “Identify as what?”
“A woman,” Addison said before Walsh continued to ask for a definition of the term.
“To each their own,” Addison said, adding that everyone is “going to have a different relation with their own gender identity and define it differently. So, trans women are women.”
Walsh then clapped back, “You won’t even tell me what the word means though, so that’s the problem.”
Obviously, if a word can mean anything, it means nothing — except “any thing” — and we already have a word meaning that: “anything.” (Though, presumably, the MUSS activists do believe a “woman” is a human, so there is some specificity.)
Unfortunately, however, the MUSS activists could’ve been seen as scoring a point when Addison mounted a certain argument. After he pressed Walsh on what a woman was and then what a “female” was, the commentator responded that it was a person with “female reproductive organs.” Addison then asked: What about someone who is female and identifies as a woman, but doesn’t have reproductive organs (video below)?
Walsh brushed this off (video below), and this is a shame. For it’s common sexual devolutionary sophistry and can easily be addressed.
Addison likely believed he’d made a “gotcha’” point, but the refutation is simple and is taught in good philosophy (rarely studied today): There’s a difference between something being true in principle — and being true in the particular.
For example, if extraterrestrials studied our planet and returned home to report on what humans are, part of their description would be that man is a being with two arms and two legs. Of course, though, not all humans fit this description; the occasional person might have only one arm or no legs.
But this doesn’t change what man is in principle. It only means that in particular cases certain individuals depart from the norm.
The same is true, of course, when conceptualizing the half of man known as woman. It’s also true with respect to male and female genotypes (XY and XX) and phenotypes. MUSS activists will claim that deviations from these norms — e.g., chromosomal anomalies such as Turner syndrome (X0) and Klinefelter syndrome (XYY); and hermaphroditism — prove that “sex” is non-binary, a continuum. But these conditions are abnormalities — “exceptions that prove the rule.”
As for rules, Ethan and Addison are conforming to one as well: the norm that MUSS activists wilt when challenged. After claiming the Dr. Phil show deceived them — leading them to believe they could espouse their beliefs on air unchallenged — they wrote on Instagram about this “trauma’s” psychological effects.
“‘Since the taping, Ethan and I have been experiencing a heightened level of anxiety to the point that we’ve had numerous nightmares and depression spirals over the last month,’” the two males wrote, “adding that ‘this week has been the worse [sic],’” related Daily Wire. Walsh responded with the following scathing but also insightful short video.
And below is a segment in which Walsh discussed MUSS identity myths and “personal pronouns.”
At the end of the day, it’s very dangerous indulging the solipsistic fancy that our feelings can determine reality. For we can’t break or even bend reality, except in our minds. But it can sure break us.
