MIT, Harvard Professors Condemn Use of 'Sex Assigned at Birth'

[Michie]

Professors from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University recently condemned the use of the phrase “sex assigned at birth” in an op-ed published in the New York Times.



“Sex is a fundamental biological feature with significant consequences for our species, so there are costs to misconceptions about it,” MIT professor of philosophy Alex Byrne and Harvard University psychology professor Carole Hooven said in the Times op-ed tilted “The Problem With Saying ‘Sex Assigned at Birth.’”

According to The Christian Post, the professors noted how the phrase “sex assigned at birth” became more prominent in the last decade as “‘sex’ is now often seen as a biased or insensitive word because it may fail to reflect how people identify themselves.” According to Byrne and Hooven, “One reason for the adoption of ‘assigned sex,’ therefore, is that it supplies respectful euphemisms, softening to what some nonbinary and transgender people, among others, can feel like a harsh biological reality.”

“Sex assigned at birth” is an example of “an increasing emphasis in society on emotional comfort and insulation from offense — what some have called ‘safetyism,’” Byrne and Hooven said, adding that, “saying that someone was ‘assigned female at birth’ is taken to be an indirect and more polite way of communicating that a person is biologically female.”

The professors also pointed out that “this terminology can also function to signal solidarity with trans and nonbinary people.”
“The shift to ‘sex assigned at birth’ may be well intentioned, but it is not progress,” they insisted. “We are not against politeness or expressions of solidarity, but ‘sex assigned at birth’ can confuse people and creates doubt about a biological fact when there shouldn’t be any. Nor is the phrase called for because our traditional understanding of sex needs correcting — it doesn’t. This matters because sex matters.”

Continued below.

MIT, Harvard Professors Condemn Use of 'Sex Assigned at Birth'

Professors from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University recently condemned the use of the phrase “sex assigned at birth” in an op-ed published in the New York Times.

www.christianheadlines.com

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Professors from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University recently condemned the use of the phrase “sex assigned at birth” in an op-ed published in the New York Times.



“Sex is a fundamental biological feature with significant consequences for our species, so there are costs to misconceptions about it,” MIT professor of philosophy Alex Byrne and Harvard University psychology professor Carole Hooven said in the Times op-ed tilted “The Problem With Saying ‘Sex Assigned at Birth.’”

According to The Christian Post, the professors noted how the phrase “sex assigned at birth” became more prominent in the last decade as “‘sex’ is now often seen as a biased or insensitive word because it may fail to reflect how people identify themselves.” According to Byrne and Hooven, “One reason for the adoption of ‘assigned sex,’ therefore, is that it supplies respectful euphemisms, softening to what some nonbinary and transgender people, among others, can feel like a harsh biological reality.”

“Sex assigned at birth” is an example of “an increasing emphasis in society on emotional comfort and insulation from offense — what some have called ‘safetyism,’” Byrne and Hooven said, adding that, “saying that someone was ‘assigned female at birth’ is taken to be an indirect and more polite way of communicating that a person is biologically female.”

The professors also pointed out that “this terminology can also function to signal solidarity with trans and nonbinary people.”
“The shift to ‘sex assigned at birth’ may be well intentioned, but it is not progress,” they insisted. “We are not against politeness or expressions of solidarity, but ‘sex assigned at birth’ can confuse people and creates doubt about a biological fact when there shouldn’t be any. Nor is the phrase called for because our traditional understanding of sex needs correcting — it doesn’t. This matters because sex matters.”

Continued below.

MIT, Harvard Professors Condemn Use of 'Sex Assigned at Birth'

Professors from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University recently condemned the use of the phrase “sex assigned at birth” in an op-ed published in the New York Times.

www.christianheadlines.com

This article would probably mean more if the professors weren't a philosopher or psychologist but rather than a biologist. Maybe quote something recent on this kind of topic from someone like biologist, Richard Dawkins. That'd be much more interesting, Michie.

 

[Michie]

This article would probably mean more if the professors weren't a philosopher or psychologist but rather than a biologist. Maybe quote something recent on this kind of topic from someone like biologist, Richard Dawkins. That'd be much more interesting, Michie.

What you see is what you get!

 

[2PhiloVoid]

What you see is what you get!

I appreciate your candor, but I was attempting to imply that I don't think we have to take too seriously what philosophers or psychologists say when they attempt to talk authoritatively outside of their own fields. It's the usual thing about epistemic trespassing that comes up all too often these days.

As far as I know----and I only speak as a more or less amateur philosopher-----there are only two sexes among all mammalian species in the world (that is, when things come out genetically "normal"). But maybe these MIT folks know something I don't?

 

[Michie]

I appreciate your candor, but I was attempting to imply that I don't think we have to take too seriously what philosophers or psychologists say when they attempt to talk authoritatively outside of their own fields. It's the usual thing about epistemic trespassing that comes up all too often these days.

As far as I know----and I only speak as a more or less amateur philosopher-----there are only two sexes among all mammalian species in the world (that is, when things come out genetically "normal"). But maybe these MIT folks know something I don't?

It was the first article I came across on the topic. I’m sure you could find another more suitable to your tastes you could add on the thread. But my reply to you about getting what you see, it’s Christian Headlines after all. We are not going to get a Richard Dawkins or anyone of his caliber there.