Samuel Johnson’s “Dictionary of the English Language,” first published in 1755, defines the word “woman” as “the female of the human race.” And until October 2022, the word “woman” was still defined as “an adult female human being” in the Cambridge Dictionary. What transpired on the topic during the intervening 267 years? Not much. Science confirmed what men and women have known since Adam and Eve began talking past each other — not only do the sexes have immutable physiological differences, down to their genetic matter, but they observe, act and think differently as well.
Yet Cambridge now says the definition of a woman is “an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth” (and the definition of a man is someone who “identifies as male though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”) How does one use “woman” in a sentence? One of Cambridge’s examples is, “Mary is a woman who was assigned male at birth.” Who assigned Mary’s sex? Her parents? God? Evolution? The SRY gene? And what other human characteristics does Cambridge believe can be altered according to one’s feelings? Lexicographers have a responsibility to offer clarity and accuracy — which is, of course, impossible in this case.
When asked about the change, Sophie White, a spokeswoman from Cambridge University Press, told The Washington Post that the editors had “carefully studied usage patterns of the word woman and concluded that this definition is one that learners of English should be aware of to support their understanding of how the language is used.” This is tautological gibberish. Though, in fairness to White, “Wokeish” is a relatively new language.
The Post, for instance, claims Cambridge updated its definitions for “woman” and “man” “to include transgender people.” (Incredulous italics mine.) This also makes zero sense. If Cambridge changed the definition of “black” or “Caucasian” to incorporate “Asian people,” it would not be including a new group; it would be altering the fundamental facts of what makes someone black or white or Asian. “Woman” is not a neologism. Our understanding of “woman” hasn’t been altered by new scientific discoveries. Nothing has changed.
At first, these liturgic declarations of one’s “pronouns” seemed relatively harmless to me. And, not that it matters much, but I’ve been perfectly willing to refer to adults in whatever manner they desire. It’s a free country. Pursue your happiness. It’s not like gender-bending is some new idea. In my real-world experience, I find that most people try to be courteous.
It’s one thing to be considerate and another to be bullied into an alternative reality. But that’s where we are right now. Placating the mob has led to the rise in dangerous euphemisms like “gender-affirming care,” a phrase that means the exact opposite of what it claims. In today’s world, “gender-affirming therapy” means telling a girl she can be transformed into a boy, but “conversion therapy” means telling a girl she’s a girl. The corruption of reality has led to the rise of a pseudoscientific cult that performs irreparable mutilation on kids, with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and life-altering surgeries.
And in their never-ending campaign to smear political opponents, Democrats have latched onto this idea as if it were a universal truth. If a person contends that gender is an unalterable feature of human life these days — a belief shared by all of civilization until about five minutes ago — they might as well be Bull Connor holding a firehose. Only this week, after signing the same-sex marriage bill, our octogenarian president claimed that Republicans had passed “hundreds of callous and cynical laws introduced in the states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors who give children the care they need.”
Speaking of cynical. Does the president really believe these troubled teenagers “need” mastectomies, facial surgery and genital removal to feel loved? Or would it be more prudent to let them wait for adulthood to make life-altering surgical decisions? Has anyone ever asked him? Joe Biden is, of course, right that Americans should be free from threats of violence. That includes kids who are now subjected to abuse at the hands of people who have adopted this trendy quackery.
I simply refuse to accept that most Americans, or even more than a small percentage, believe children should be empowered to choose their sex. Rather, in their well-intentioned effort to embrace inclusivity — and avoid being called bigots — they’ve allowed extremists to, among many other things, circumvent debate by corroding fundamental truths about the world. And that’s what these dictionaries — once a place we collectively went for definitions and etymologies — have shamefully helped them do.
“It’s one thing to be considerate and another to be bullied into an alternative reality.”
It might seem considerate to use preferred pronouns, but it is unloving.
Compassions requires speaking the truth in love.
The current worldview is now thoroughly engrossed in postmodernism. There is no longer any absolute truth, because all truth is relative, and what might be relatively true is determined linguistically, not logically.
Postmodernists can no longer navigate in a world of rational thought.
leaving some professionals in a conundrum. If they speak the truth they can be punished and cannot serve in their professional role. Leaving only the liars.
I studied sociology at two different universities in two countries for many years. One of the most popular books was a short one about the social construction of society. It is often assigned reading in introductory courses. I worked for some years for a sociolinguist who used the term endlessly to explain why people talk and think the way they do. And that included women and how they differ from men. My boss did not address what the term means and whether there is anything that is not socially constructed. I read articles that even said that chemistry is socially constructed truth. I once read a book on what it means. I still do not understand.
But it seems to me that women and men can be defined biologically, chemically and psychologically. Even common sense provides an intuitive awareness of the differences. To simply resort to sophistical hair splitting and deny that one can define what a woman or a man is pointless. Candidates for judgeships and public offices who claim they do not know the difference are just trying to avoid admitting they will work for far left causes once in office. They know full well what they are doing. The real differences are not just social constructions, they are given by the nature of the real world. It is not like the dispute between Einstein and the quantum theorists over entanglement. We can know the difference already with no deep scientific studies.
Our latest addition to the highest court in the land, during Her-His-Them confirmation hearing could not provide the definition of a “Woman.”
It’s a shame that Senator JoJo Cabbage Brain Biden told GW Bush he would filibuster the nomination of the first black woman to the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown. I agree with his ho’ Kamala “Heels Up” Harris that JoJo is a racist AND a rapist.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/01/biden-black-woman-janice-rogers-brown/
How will they train future pathologists? When remains are found, will they be allowed to determine if the remains are that of a man or a woman, or will they have to wait until they determine the feelings and self-identity of the remains?
We now live in a World where the children are telling the Adults what they should do, like wee Greta screaming the Sky falling, or humans as young as 8 are being asked do you want to be a boy just because you have a Penis, or do you want to be girl and not have that ”thing” dangling around your Pants?..
Women are now defending men that think they are a woman so they can compete in a sports event for females only.
Madness has taken over and Im blaming the Soy and other crap in our Food supply for decades.
In the 7th paragraph, same-sex marriage was used as a legitimate term. It is an oxymoron and the proper way to indicate that is with quote marks as follows:
same-sex “marriage”
Or you can say:
same-sex so-called marriage
Be aware that judges do not have the authority to change the definition of words which is exactly what the US Supreme Court did in their 2015 ruling on gay “marriage”