Alex Byrne @byrne_a Twitter profile

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Alex Byrne

9 months

Trouble with Gender finally arrives in the US! “Arguably the most elegant polemic ever written on the subject” (The Australian).

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Last Seen Profiles

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

At last I am speaking directly to my people, Middle England, through their official newspaper, the Daily Mail.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

A striking phrase from the New York Times: “men, women and gender nonconforming people”. To remain a man or woman one must conform to gender stereotypes?

‘There’s Not Just One Type of Porn’: Erika Lust’s Alternative Vision (Published 2022)

The Swedish moviemaker thinks pornography can create a society that sees sexuality as myriad and joyful, and where women’s pleasure matters.

www.nytimes.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

I reviewed Judith Butler’s new book for @FairerSexFD . The many mistakes and misrepresentations were no surprise, but I was gobsmacked to discover plagiarism.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

“several students, mostly women, told me that they felt afraid to attend…not necessarily because they were frightened of violent protests. In a way it was worse than that. They were afraid of ostracism by their student peers, and even by academic staff”

The fear to speak freely stalks Cambridge

I shouldn’t have had to smuggle frightened students into a discussion on transgender issues

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

My trouble with “Trouble with Gender” is in the London Times.

Oxford dropped my book for challenging gender, says author

A British author has said that the “radioactive” issue of transgender identity is threatening to stifle debate after Oxford University Press dropped his book

www.thetimes.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 months

No surprise that a philosophy paper about gender identity forthcoming in a respected journal should fail to cite any of those awful “gender critical” philosophers who have written extensively on the topic. What’s refreshing is that the authors are explicit about their reasons.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

“During treatment, the teen’s bone density plummeted — as much as 15 percent in some bones — from average levels to the range of osteoporosis…“I was furious,” the mother recalled. “I’m thinking, ‘I worry we’ve done permanent damage.’””

They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost? (Published 2022)

Puberty blockers can ease transgender youths’ anguish and buy time to weigh options. But concerns are growing about long-term physical effects and other consequences.

www.nytimes.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 months

The publisher refused to publish the book with that chapter included. Just another day in sex/gender publishing! 🤷‍♀️ Fortunately you can read the chapter on Jensen’s website.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 months

This is, regrettably, representative of the current dismal state of philosophical work on sex and gender.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

“about 70 MIT faculty members signed a letter saying that the cancellation ‘casts a shadow on MIT’s commitment to free and open speech, to the diversity of viewpoints and to tolerance.’”

MIT to discuss academic freedom after canceling prestigious lecture over professor’s views - The...

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was set to hold a faculty forum on Wednesday in an effort to resolve an intense dispute over academic freedom after the cancellation of a speech by prominent...

www.bostonglobe.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

Everything you always wanted to know about sex and gender (but were afraid to ask). My new book, Trouble with Gender, coming in October ’23 (UK), January ’24 (US), brought to you by the brave souls at @politybooks . Pre-order on Amazon!

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

“the department chair at MIT called to tell me that they would be cancelling the Carlson lecture this year in order to avoid controversy.” The problem is that universities can’t function properly if they avoid controversy.

MIT Abandons Its Mission. And Me.

Let’s make sure my cancellation is the last. That begins by standing up and saying no to the mob.

www.thefp.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

“Let’s NOT Talk About Sex Baby.” American Anthropological Association cancels conference panel accepted months ago on the ground that the “ideas” would “cause harm.” The AAA wisely proposes to review its procedures for “vetting sessions” to crush thoughtcrime more effectively.

Kathleen Stock

@Docstockk

1 year

That thing that never happens in academia, happened again.. Presidents of @AMericanAnthro and @CASCATweet deplatform a conference panel on biological sex in anthropology, on grounds of "harm to Trans and LGBTQI". An open letter from those deplatformed follows in next tweet.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 months

“We have avoided citing other arguments here because we take them to be openly transphobic, and we resist giving them more uptake”

E. M. Hernandez & Rowan Bell, Much Ado About Nothing: Unmotivating "Gender Identity" - PhilPapers

philpapers.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

. @olivertraldi on peak woke: “Wokeness presented itself as revolutionary, but usually it was tedious, bureaucratic, punitive, and obtuse. Those very features will make it hard to dislodge institutionally, even as awareness of them becomes widespread.”

Peak Woke?

About a decade ago, something began building steam in America’s elite cultural and intellectual institutions—universities, national newspapers and magazines, museum boards, award committees. Callout...

www.city-journal.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 months

Emeritus journalism professor @jensenrobertw has an interesting book coming out in August, “a robust defense of freedom of expression,” which (according to the Simon & Schuster website) wades into “contentious debates,” including “transgenderism.” BUT 🧶

It's Debatable

It's Debatable: Authentic Discussions about Tricky Topics offers a path toward a deeper, richer public conversation than might seem possible in tod...

www.simonandschuster.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

1922: “thought is not free if all the arguments on one side of a controversy are perpetually presented as attractively as possible, while the arguments on the other side can only be discovered by diligent search.” (Bertrand Russell, Trinity College, Cambridge) 1/2

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

“Many philosophers try to write in…perfectly true sentences. A perfectly true sentence already contains all the qualifications it would need to make it perfectly true. It is unassailable. But it is often therefore unintelligible.” (Korsgaard, 2022 Dewey Lecture)

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

Released today on TERF Island! Special thanks to @aytchellesse , @profjmb , @Docstockk , @BlanchardPhD , @TomasBogardus , @hoovlet , and to @ninapaley for the cover.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

A recent philosophy paper: ‘In what follows, some of the claims I will be critically discussing may offend some readers. Unfortunately, it is impossible to argue against these potentially offensive claims without mentioning them. I regret that we are faced with this challenge.’

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

28 days

Is childhood-onset gender dysphoria that persists into early puberty highly persistent in adolescence and adulthood if untreated? In the opinion of many experts, yes. But—as far as I can see—this is not supported by the evidence.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

I recounted @aytchellesse ’s and my adventures in publishing on the philosophy of sex and gender for @Quillette .

Philosophy’s No-Go Zone

An MIT professor describes the outraged reaction from fellow philosophers when he argued that a woman is an adult human female.

quillette.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 years

Any academic discipline needs to encourage skepticism and dissent, or it risks lapsing into an ivory tower priesthood where dogma replaces knowledge, heretics are shamed, and good faith disagreement with the pieties of the moment is seen as a sign of moral corruption. 5/6

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

Apparently Feminist Criminology has removed @callie_h_burt from its editorial board for alleged witchcraft. Here’s an article we wrote together, in which (I now see) Satan’s influence is palpable.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 months

A sign that critics don’t have much is a fixation on nitpicky trivialities. E.g.. the Cass Review’s use of 'exponential'. Lydia Polgreen in the NYT today: 'The report....bizarrely for a science-based document, confuses the definition of exponential growth.'🧵

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

Baffling @sciam article. ‘The answer to the question of how many sexes exist differs depending on the context…One perfectly accurate response is: “To a first approximation, zero”,’ because the vast majority of organisms (bacteria, etc.) are sexless. 1/2

To Understand Sex, We Need to Ask the Right Questions

The answer to the question of how many sexes exist differs depending on the context

www.scientificamerican.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 months

Turning to p. 99, Chapter 5 (or what’s left of it) begins: “This is where, in the original manuscript of this book, readers would have found Chapter 5, ‘Defining Sex/Gender: Beyond Trans Ideology.’ Here’s the story of why it’s not here.”

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

It took a while, and (of course!) we had to do it our way, but the MIT faculty have just voted to adopt a statement on free expression. @TheFireorg , @AFA_Alliance , @AAUP .

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

“I’d like to see 1984 restored as mandatory reading for Harvard students” (Harry Lewis, former Dean of Harvard College)

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

Remarkable story from @SnoozyWeiss about MIT’s molecular biologist David Sabatini, now well and truly banished.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

5 months

“Intersex pretenders appear to account for a substantial…portion of online content about intersex. Uncritical acceptance of false claims may lead to inaccurate perceptions…that are ultimately detrimental to authentic intersexed persons’ well-being.”

Intersex Pretenders

Archives of Sexual Behavior - False claims of having an intersex condition have been observed in print, video, Internet media, and in live presentations. Claims of being intersexed in publicly...

link.springer.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

This article by the Princeton anthropologist Agustín Fuentes starts with the usual parade of cases—sex-switching anemone fish, oversexed female bonobos, aggressive female hyenas—before leaping like a mountain goat to a series of strange claims. 1/3

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

“philosophers would do well to trust their instinct that something has gone badly wrong in the philosophy of sex and gender.” An anonymous Oxford philosopher writes about the kerfuffle in the profession over my @Quillette article.

What Is a Woman? Many Philosophers Know, But Aren’t Allowed to Say

An April 17 Quillette article about sex and gender by MIT scholar Alex Byrne prompted yet another round of debate and denunciation among his contemporaries.

quillette.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

More evidence that citations often don’t support the claims made. According to this paper, “‘sex’ is not a biologically coherent concept”, citing Roughgarden 2013 (Evolution’s Rainbow), which of course says the exact opposite.

Agustín Fuentes

@Anthrofuentes

1 year

"The scientific community widely recognizes that “sex” is a complex category composed of multiple physiologies. Yet in practice, basic scientific research often treats “sex” as a single, internally consistent, and often binary variable. " excellent.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 years

Judith Butler vs. Laci Green

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

Judith Butler’s new book has now been reviewed by @aytchellesse , @Nina_Compact , @Docstockk , and me. (All philosophers.) Unless I missed it, none of these reviews has featured on @DailyNousEditor ’s website. Can we look forward to some links?

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

10 months

1/. Why has Harvard’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging website been memory-holed? November 2023, went to:

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

Mayo Clinic severly punished Joyner for these comments: “There are social aspects to sport, but physiology and biology underpin it,” Dr. Joyner noted. “Testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla.”

Academic Freedom Alliance

@AFA_Alliance

1 year

We sent a letter to the Mayo Clinic today denouncing its treatment of Dr. Michael J. Joyner, a distinguished doctor and professor, over his comments to the NYT regarding transgender athletes. His comments were directly related to his scholarly expertise.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

Plenty for sex enthusiasts ( @FondOfBeetles ) to disagree with in this of-the-moment law review paper. E.g. “‘Biological sex’ is not binary, stable, or uniform”, supported with a citation to that internet favorite from 2015, “Sex Redefined” in Nature.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

Should I put pronouns in my bio? Nonbinary “they” a good idea? Sex-neutral pronouns? Probably not. New paper on pronounmania 👇🏼. 🙏🏼 @Docstockk , @elegationvain , @heterodorx , @ninapaley , @TomasBogardus & others; cc. @SwipeWright .

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

5 years

Dry as dust philosophy paper which might be of broader interest. Thanks to @BlanchardPhD , @TomasBogardus , @Docstockk , @hoovlet , @DebbieHayton , among others.

Alex Byrne, Are women adult human females? - PhilPapers

philpapers.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

Campaign to urge MIT to adopt the Chicago Principles on free expression launches! @AFA_Alliance @TheFIREorg

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

In the NPR report, clinical psychologist Jennifer Evans “cites research showing that medical transition has clear benefits. ‘Depression rates go down. Along with that, suicidal ideation and attempts go down,’ she says.” What is that research? (1/n)

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

Sex is “established by various cultural and social means, and today we refer more generally to the sex ‘assigned at birth’ rather than to what is natural” (Judith Butler, Who’s Afraid of Gender?). @hoovlet and I had something to say about that.

Opinion | The Problem With Saying ‘Sex Assigned at Birth’

The term creates doubt about a biological fact when there shouldn’t be any.

www.nytimes.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

“The cancellation of this panel sends a chilling message to all social scientists that scholarly debate on complex issues of sex and gender is no longer free.”

FIRE

@TheFIREorg

1 year

FIRE and faculty from across the country are calling on @AmericanAnthro and @CASCATweet to reconsider their decision to cancel a panel on biological sex at their upcoming annual meeting over subjective concerns that the panelists’ views would cause “harm.”

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

11 days

. @GorinMoti and I discuss the failure of philosophy and bioethics to address the issues raised by gender-affirming healthcare.

Alex Byrne & Moti Gorin, A deafening silence: bioethics and gender-affirming healthcare - PhilPapers

philpapers.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

I must admit to never having heard of the “penis versus labia model of sex determination.” Anyway, the article is a classic of the clownfish-to-justice genre.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

But that’s like saying that a perfectly accurate answer to ‘How many types of Tesla exist?’ is ‘To a first approximation, zero’, because the vast majority of cars are not Teslas. The correct answer is 5, not zero (even to a ‘first approximation’). 2/2

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

Philosophers still have the opportunity to contribute to this political/ethical debate, but so far they have failed to take it, probably for fear of the consequences. ( @runthinkwrite , @Docstockk and a few others are the exceptions that show those fears are not unfounded.)

Carole Hooven

@hoovlet

2 years

“Testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla.” @DrMJoyner has the best quote, but I've also got one in this excellent piece from @powellnyt , along with @Scienceofsport , @Martina , @Docstockk , & Doriane Coleman.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

7 months

“My students have incoherent views about X, hence X itself is incoherent.” The worst-argument-in-the-world prize goes to @beansvelocci , writing in the prestigious journal @CellCellPress .

Jerry Coyne

@Evolutionistrue

7 months

Yet ANOTHER wrongheaded, tendentious, and ideologically based argument that sex isn't binary. In fact, the author thinks that the whole concept of "sex" should be ditched. It's in Cell, for crying out loud, and shame on that journal.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

@kittypurrzog RD is right that XXY and XO were included, but wrong that this hugely inflated F-S’s estimate. That was due to Late-Onset Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, which accounts for almost 90% of the 1.7%. RD conclusion is still right, since LOCAH not an intersex condition by any stretch.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 months

LAST POINT: Funnily enough, there *was* an exponential increase (in the math sense) in referrals from 2009-2016. Plot from @justdad7

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

5 months

Astounding anti-intellectualism from some philosophers at Cornell. Sad to see.

Kathleen Stock

@Docstockk

6 months

This event will be recorded. Not least, we need to make sure that those in the Cornell Philosophy Department who organised a counterevent, to take place at the exactly same time (thus forcing audiences to choose which to attend), get to see what was actually said.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

Very disappointed that “I do not support the publication of Trouble with Gender by Alex Byrne” will never appear in an Oxford UP email signature.

Tomas Bogardus

@TomasBogardus

1 year

This is the email signature from an editorial assistant at Oxford University Press. "I do not support the publication of Sex Matters by Holly Lawford-Smith." Does your academic press suffer from HLS Derangement Syndrome? Know the signs. @aytchellesse

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 months

POINT 2: if Cass has made a ‘serious error’, so has WPATH: 'WPATH officials said that this was owed to exponential growth in adolescent referral rates.'

WPATH Removes Age Limits From Transgender Treatment Guidelines

Depending on interpretation, the latest version of the WPATH standards of care (SOC) 8 for transgender youth could be seen to have abandoned age limits on treatment or to have watered them down.

www.medscape.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

Childish authoritarian idiots are trying to intimidate @Docstockk again. Ritualistic denunciations from within the philosophy profession have not helped matters.

University of Sussex

@SussexUni

3 years

In response to issues on our campus, our VC Adam Tickell has said: We are investigating activity on our campus which appears to have been designed to attack Professor Kathleen Stock for exercising her academic freedoms. [1/3]

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

🧶 Florence Ashley’s ( @ButNotTheCity ) ‘What is it like to have a gender identity?’ is the most remarkable paper in Mind since Russell’s ‘On denoting’ in 1905. @TomasBogardus and I have some criticisms. Ours is the only philosophy paper to end: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ashley on Gender Identity1

‘Gender identity’ was clearly defined sixty years ago, but the dominant conceptions of gender identity today are deeply obscure. Florence Ashley’s 2023 theory of gender identity is one of the latest...

journalofcontroversialideas.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 months

I reviewed @jack_turban ’s new book, Free to Be: Understanding Kids & Gender Identity, for @FairerSexFD .

The New Free to Be Might Make You Long for the Seventies - Fairer Disputations

Free to Be…You and Me is a wildly successful 1972 album, with a 1974 companion book and TV special, conceived by the actress Marlo Thomas. The book, Thomas wrote in the Foreword, has “stories and...

fairerdisputations.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 years

Issues about sex and gender are important to many beyond the academy, and philosophers have something to contribute. Stifling uncomfortable debate helps no one. 6/6

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 years

Here’s the reply to Dembroff that Stew Cohen invited me to write for Phil. Studies. TLDR: Dembroff’s criticisms fail without exception. Thanks to (among others) @TomasBogardus , @Docstockk , @BlanchardPhD . 1/6

Alex Byrne, Gender muddle: reply to Dembroff - PhilPapers

philpapers.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

11 months

Trouble in @Waterstones Manchester; @politybooks .

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

I wrote something about the origin of “gender identity.”

The Origin of “Gender Identity”

Archives of Sexual Behavior -

link.springer.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

9 months

@benryanwriter Historical note: these seven ‘elements’ (‘layers’, ‘variables’) derive, with slight modification, from John Money and John and Joan Hampson (1955).

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 months

And so has Jack Turban, one of the authors of the McNamara paper: 'There has also been an exponential increase in research on pediatric gender identity over the past several years.' (Not exp. in the math sense — the numbers even declined from 2014-16.)

Research Review: Gender identity in youth: treatment paradigms and controversies - PubMed

The field of pediatric gender identity has evolved dramatically. Emerging data suggest that these patients' high rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidality appear to be improved with affirmative...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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@byrne_a

1 year

@simonjedge @BernsSociety I see that a Wikipedia editor has a sense of humour. “In a parliamentary debate in 2023 she came out as trans, stating, ‘I have no idea what my chromosomes are. I have an assumption that they are probably XY’”

Kirsty Blackman - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

May 1, 7pm ET. Watch online, or turn up in Hanover, NH. Hosted by @theDPUnion .

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

“When in doubt, go to the library” (JK Rowling). Er, except Calderdale libraries.

Helen Joyce

@HJoyceGender

1 year

Sick and tired of this open bigotry against GC authors. Calderdale libraries literally said the only book it had previously treated as badly as mine, @Docstockk 's etc. was Mein Kampf. 🤦‍♂️

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@byrne_a

9 months

@benryanwriter

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

Rejected by Philosophical Studies, “Gender Muddle” is out in the first issue of the Journal of Controversial Ideas. Thanks again to @TomasBogardus , @Docstockk , @BlanchardPhD , and others. (1/3)

Gender Muddle: Reply to Dembroff

Robin Dembroff’s “Escaping the natural attitude about gender” replies to my “Are women adult human females?”. This paper responds to Dembroff’s many criticisms of my arguments, as well as to the...

journalofcontroversialideas.org

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

5 months

As @aytchellesse points out, ‘social construction’ has no settled meaning. And the term is confusing anyway, no matter what it’s supposed to mean. Commit it to the flames.

What Does It Mean for Something to Be Socially Constructed?

There are at least three things that people might mean by ‘socially constructed’: that something is social, rather than natural; contextual, rather than universal; or that its importance has been...

quillette.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

@Oliver_S_Curry @FairerSexFD A complete head-scratcher — I couldn’t work out what Butler was thinking.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

The way the discipline is going, @JConIdeas will need to start a sister publication, the Journal of Offensive Ideas.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

Phew! @hoovlet and I just squeaked in ahead of @RichardDawkins and Alan Sokal, who have their own “sex assigned at birth” op-ed in @GlobeOpinion . 1/2

Sex and gender: The medical establishment’s reluctance to speak honestly about biological reality -...

It is never justified to distort the facts in the service of a social or political cause, no matter how just.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

Not a sign of civilizational collapse, but nonetheless an interesting case study of how cultural trends can seep into authoritative textbooks. I learned about these textbook changes from @NickJMatzke . 1/2

Colin Wright

@SwipeWright

1 year

MIT philosopher @byrne_a describes how @pearson 's Campbell Biology, a leading intro biology textbook, has been slowly incorporating gender pseudoscience over the last decade. "It’s hard to stop in advance and, once it’s there, even harder to remove."

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

Sex/gender panel discussion at the Dartmouth Political Union on Wednesday May 1, livestreamed at 7pm ET. Topics include: explanations of sex differences, causes of gender dysphoria, and pediatric gender affirming care, with @ginarippon1 and @jack_turban .

War on Gender: An Expert Panel on Sex and Gender

Join The Dartmouth Political Union (DPU) as it welcomes psychiatrist Jack Turban, neurobiologist Gina Rippon, and philosopher Alex Byrne for an expert panel ...

www.youtube.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

“Philosophers are not invulnerable to the zeitgeist, which their cleverness makes them especially good at rationalizing…So, when the world shifts in an authoritarian direction, some of them shift that way too.”

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

10 months

. @RColesworthy , senior acquisitions editor at SUNY press, retreats into bubble after misunderstanding correction from @TomasBogardus .

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 months

POINT 1: 'exponential' has 2 senses: 'rapid increase' or 'increase with rate proportional to the current value' (the technical math sense). Cass is writing for a general audience, and does not explain what 'exponential' means. Charitable interpretation: 'rapid increase'.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 months

“Accredited US healthcare educator” Erin Reed showered with praise from Ivan Hsaio at @HarvardChanSPH event. “Closed-door” Q&A. Number of mentions of Cass Review, 0.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 months

To increase my popularity yet further, I wrote something for @Quillette in defense of the psychologist John Money, criticizing the improbable trio of Judith Butler, @Miriam_Grossman , and Andrea James.

In Defence of John Money

How did this famed sexologist become reviled at both ends of the culture-war horseshoe?

quillette.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

7 months

I prefer my cover @ninapaley .

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

Rebecca Tuvel: we need 'more productive actual conversation … between GC feminists and more trans-inclusive feminists.' Unfortunately @TheDissenterYT declined to post a recorded interview with @aytchellesse . Dissent only goes so far, it seems.

#841 Rebecca Tuvel: Feminism, Cultural Appropriation, Transracialism,...

------------------Support the channel------------Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenterPayPal: paypal.me/thedissenterPayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: ht...

www.youtube.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 months

And there certainly has been a 'rapid increase' in referrals, with a sharp uptick in 2014:

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

Amazingly, Prof. Fuentes is unconvinced by our compelling argument. @hoovlet and I actually had the textbook definition of sex in an earlier draft, but it wasn’t especially relevant so we took it out. Also the op-ed doesn’t use ‘gender’ (except in phrases like ‘gender identity’).

Agustín Fuentes

@Anthrofuentes

6 months

The OpEd ( @nytimes ) against the well defined, medically important term "sex assigned at birth" has no definition of sex beyond "a fundamental biological feature" & equates sex and gender--so, the AMA, APA, and so many scientists & scholars are just wrong. Ah, essentialism

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

According to some precocious legal minds at Duke Law, “It’s a bad article. It’s badly written. It’s badly argued. It’s embarrassing”. (Going nuclear is always the strategy.) Even worse, it has a “mere 70 footnotes”.

The Essay That Prompted an Editorial Revolt

Eight student editors resigned from a law journal at Duke rather than be associated with an essay by Kathleen Stock on sex and language.

www.chronicle.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

@joelpust @DrCarolHay I argued no such thing

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

@aytchellesse I am puzzled why the university doesn’t return “the unceded land” that it occupies to “the Traditional Owners”.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

3 years

Women are welcome in philosophy, provided that they have the correct opinions.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

As @jessesingal pointed out, the study protocol said that “suicidality” was one of the measured variables. But the published study does not report results for suicidality. (3/n)

On Scientific Transparency, Researcher Degrees Of Freedom, And That NEJM Study On Youth Gender...

There are a lot of unanswered questions here, which is unfortunate

jessesingal.substack.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

27 days

Read-only version:

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

4 years

@callie_h_burt and I wrote something for @AreoMagazine about the Bostock decision, sex, and the US Equality Act. Featuring: @BuckAngel , @jk_rowling , the work of @boodleoops and — via an APA Report — @ZUCKERKJ .

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

The three central questions of philosophy: Does God Exist? What is the Meaning of Life? What is a Woman? All these and more in Problems of Philosophy, starting November 17.

24 10x About Video

Free! Starts November 17https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+24.10x/

www.youtube.com

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

@GorinMoti @joelpust @DrCarolHay The graph is just a generic sex-diffs graphic. It doesn’t represent data (which was obvious to nearly everyone) and I never even mentioned it.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

“In humans, having two X chromosomes or an X and a Y chromosome does not create binary bodies.” “Biologically, there is no simple dichotomy between female and male.” “The data-driven bottom line is that ‘man/woman’…[aren’t] biological terms.” (2/3)

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

1 year

‘Gender critical philosophy’ is a thing, apparently. @aytchellesse and I had a chat about it for @AreoMagazine with John McLaughlin ( @flaming_ewoks ). John has 2 X-followers, me and @IonaItalia —a quality team, but do help him out.

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

6 months

Enjoying the sunshine at MIT: @aytchellesse and @Aaron_GDAC .

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

5 months

Remarkable article about Butler by @UOzkirimli . More errors in Who’s Afraid of Gender?, but that’s the least of it.

The Critic

@TheCriticMag

5 months

Judith Butler is too ideological to understand and accept different opinions, writes Umut Özkırımlı

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

2 years

The limits of AI

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Alex Byrne

@byrne_a

7 months

“Butler dedicates her new book to ‘the young people who still teach me.’ But one gets the feeling this is a peace offering, proffered in terror—she knows very well that if she puts a foot wrong, she will be eaten alive, like an inverted version of Goya’s Saturn Eating His Son.”

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