The Case Against the Sexual Revolution

The Case Against the Sexual Revolution by Louise Perry

This is a good book about the pitfalls of feminism that will probably alienate all of the potential audience. That is a shame. Conservatives will be turned off from the feminist stance. Liberals will be offended by the break from orthodoxy. It takes as a given that men and women are different. Men have a sex drive. Rape has been seen in the wild and with humanity as a way to propagate genes.

One of the challenges with any "touchy" topic is that orthodoxy sets in. Science cannot look at things with an open mind without being castigated by one side or another. Results will appear to "confirm" what is already thought. This could lead to multiple levels of confirmation of something with minimal base in reality. 

It is a great challenge to overcome this orthodoxy even with proof. We may celebrate someone like Galileo that is now deemed to be on the right side of history. Meanwhile, we scoff at others that were on the "wrong side" of history. Society assumes that it is advancing forward and that today is the best up until now. However, history goes through ups and downs. More understanding and knowledge can lead us to change what was previously thought.

The author argues that feminism and the sexual revolution has primarily benefited men. Males typically have a stronger sex drive. Women are typically looking for a longer term relationship. This is genetically logical. Men can spread their genes far and wide with minimal commitment. Woman need to make at least a nine month commitment for a single child.  A woman "acting like a man" ends up acting in the interest of men.

Sex work and pornography has commonly been viewed as "empowerment" by feminists. However, many end up in the work against their will. Even famous adult entertainment actresses often come back to express the horrors of their experiences. The best way to support women is to just steer clear of it all. 

The author has spent significant time working with rape survivors. Her experiences have helped drive her towards looking at the trade offs that have been made by "liberated" women. Alas, it does not look good.

The Left Hand of Darkness

A bad audiobook narrator can destroy what would otherwise be a good book. I can't pinpoint it exactly, but I have great difficulty with anything narrated by George Guidall. As for the book, it explores a person that is trying to convince a planet to join his group of civilizations. The people don't really see the point. They also live in a world where most everyone frequently changes gender. They view those that stick to the same gender as deviants. 

Sporting Gender: The History, Science, and Stories of Transgender and Intersex Athletes

The title pretty much tells it all. This book is an exploration of transgender and intersex athletics by a transgender author. She has a very intimate knowledge of the topic and fills the books with many details and personal experiences. Alas, it often gets bogged down with too much detail and lacks a strong narrative.

One of the key points boils down to the question of why we segregate sport by gender. The author has some strong views that make a lot of sense. At younger ages and lower levels, it makes sense to let athletes compete with whatever group they identify. Prepubescents are fairly similar in ability. Older athletes may have some masculine advantage, but it likely is not significant enough to impact women's participation. At higher levels, the concept of "athletic gender" comes in to place. Testosterone levels are often a good way to judge appropriate "athletic gender". Many intersex athletes identify as female, yet have male testosterone levels and competitive ability. Allowing them to compete as female limits the ability of other females to compete. For transgender females, hormone therapy that brings them in to the female range is often accompanied by female levels of competitiveness.

The author has spent some time studying running times of athletes that had transitioned. She found that trans females typically see their times drop after transition. This drop often leaves their times in the same female age-based percentile as their previous male age-based percentile. Other sports may have different impacts. Trans females retain height advantages they had. They do typically lose muscle mass, but still may maintain some small advantages in strength-based sports.

While people are primarily concerned with transgender females competing as women, there are also transgender males that compete in sports. They have greater challenges to overcome, but have competed at some levels. The high school level has had some interesting cases. In Texas, transgender athletes are required to complete as their birth gender. This resulted in the case of a transgender male dominating the girls in wrestling. Connecticut had controversy from the opposite side as transgender females competed without going through hormonal transition and won. 

It is among the intersex that greatest controversy arises at the elite levels. In many cases, intersex athletes are at an athletic disadvantage. However, in some cases, they have both male and female features. They may be identified as female since birth, yet produce male levels of testosterone. There have been many attempts to ensure that they don't have an advantage. Visual tests, chromosome tests, required surgery and analysis of testosterone levels have all been used. The current state admits that this does discriminate, but that this allows others to compete. Those that have elevated hormones may compete as men.  

We are probably have some time to go before we have a balanced field where everybody is happy. There is a balance needed on allowing everybody to fairly compete. Testosterone levels seem like a good indicator. But what about other biological advantages? And what will happen if a trans female does succeed at the highest levels of sport?