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Gender: A Wider Lens

Why Aren't More Philosophers Delving Into Gender-Affirming Care?

Gender: A Wider Lens

Sasha Ayad and Stella O'Malley

Health & Fitness, Society & Culture, Mental Health

4.6961 Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2024

⏱️ 4 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.widerlenspod.com

Masculinity and femininity are not purely socially constructed concepts but are grounded in evolutionary origins. Key distinctions between males and females from an evolutionary psychology perspective emphasize behavioral differences, including males' propensity for risk-taking, socio-sexuality, and aggression. These traits are deeply rooted in the evolutionary pressures faced by our ancestors.

Second-wave feminism questioned traditional gender roles, yet debates persist about inherent biological differences between men and women. The competitive and hierarchical behaviors observed among men contrast with the social dynamics and cooperative tendencies often found among women, a distinction frequently explored within feminist philosophy.

As discussions around gender identity, ‘trans rights’, and the medicalization of minors intensify, scrutiny of academic philosophy and bioethics is becoming more important regarding gender-affirming care and trans-related issues, particularly due to the frequent sidelining of alternative perspectives in these debates.

In this bonus episode for premium subscribers, Alex reflects on the fundamental distinctions between masculinity and femininity, emphasizing the role of evolutionary psychology in shaping gendered behaviors. He critiques the challenges within feminist philosophy, particularly its resistance to critical perspectives, and expresses concern over the lack of philosophical inquiry into gender-affirming care, highlighting an absence of diverse viewpoints in the field.

Watch our full length episode with Alex Byrne: https://www.widerlenspod.com/p/episode-182

For instructions on setting up a private feed to listen to our premium content in your favorite podcast app, visit https://www.widerlenspod.com/p/how-to-listen-to-our-full-premium.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi Widerlens Podcast listener. What you're about to hear is a preview of one of our bonus

0:05.9

episodes for premium subscribers.

0:08.2

If you'd like to hear the rest, head over to widerLens pod.com and sign up for any of our paid membership options.

0:14.8

Paid subscriptions allow us to continue to create high quality content for our

0:18.7

listeners all around the world. Now here's the preview of this week's exclusive content.

0:26.0

I just wrote a paper with the philosopher Moti Gorin who

0:29.0

teachers of Colorado State.

0:31.0

Yeah, he's great.

0:32.0

About the failure of philosophy and bioethics to address issues about gender affirming care.

0:39.5

So it's right, right up your...

0:41.5

Oh, we'd love to read that. Yeah I mean I can send you a copy.

0:47.3

And of course exactly the same thing happened in that field as happened elsewhere in

1:00.4

in feminist philosophy. So you know people who pushed back against the idea that

1:06.1

that that trans women were women were ostracized and similarly people who raised and in fact Kathleen was also

1:19.6

raised concerns about gender affirming care and issues at the Tabistock, and she was vilified for those

1:26.8

too. And in the paper, Motie and I point out that it was that climate of intimidation that very plausibly prevented philosophers

1:36.7

and bioethicists from delving into the exciting world of gender affirming care.

1:44.4

I mean, there was one example,

1:46.5

that's one example that we gave in the paper,

1:49.9

which I actually mentioned briefly in the book.

1:52.4

So in 2019 2019 a philosopher wrote a paper about

1:55.9

puberty blockers in some journal of some leading journal of medical ethics and she argued that kids should receive puberty

...

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