Science societies say a ‘consensus’ believes Trump is wrong about there being only ‘two sexes,’ But some scientists are pushing back.
Prominent scientists are sparring over President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring there are “two sexes, male and female,” with some pushing back on the claim that a “scientific consensus” disagrees with the president.
On one side are the leaders of three scientific organizations – the Society for the Study of Evolution, American Society of Naturalists, and Society of Systematic Biologists – who think Trump is wrong.
On the other are a group of approximately two dozen biology scholars, including noted University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Jerry Coyne. They say sex is binary and scholars who claim otherwise are “[d]istorting reality to comply with ideology,” according to Coyne’s blog “Why Evolution is True.”
Earlier this month, the presidents of the three scientific societies, Carol Boggs, Daniel Bolnick, and Jessica Ware wrote to Trump to state their disagreement with his order.
“Scientific consensus defines sex in humans as a biological construct that relies on a combination of chromosomes, hormonal balances, and the resulting expression of gonads, external genitalia and secondary sex characteristics,” they wrote in a Feb. 5 letter, published on the Society for the Study of Evolution website.
They said “extensive scientific evidence” contradicts Trump’s statement that “sex is determined at conception and is based on the size of the gamete that the resulting individual will produce.”
“Beyond the incorrect claim that science backs up a simple binary definition of sex, the lived experience of people clearly demonstrates that the genetic composition at conception does not define one’s identity. Rather, sex and gender result from the interplay of genetics and environment,” they wrote.
However, the letter angered some scientists who belong to the societies, including Coyne and Luana Maroja, a professor of biology at Williams College.
In a letter to the societies this week, published on Coyne’s blog, they said the leaders were wrong about the “scientific consensus”:
While we agree that Trump’s executive orders are misleading, we disagree with your statements about the sex binary and its definition. In animals and plants, binary sex is universally defined by gamete type, even though sexes vary in how they are developmentally determined and phenotypically identified across taxa. Thus, your letter misrepresents the scientific understanding of many members of the Tri-societies. …
If you and the signers of this letter do not agree on these points, then the Tri-societies were wrong to speak in our names and claim that there is a scientific consensus without even conducting a survey of society members to see if such a consensus exists. Distorting reality to comply with ideology and using a misleading claim of consensus to give a veneer of scientific authority to your statement does more harm than just misrepresenting our views: it also weakens public trust in science, which has declined rapidly in the last few years.
The letter included the signatures of 23 scientists, according to the blog.
Commenting on his blog, Coyne said he feels “ashamed” and embarrassed at the societies’ letter, especially as a former president of the Society for the Study of Evolution himself.
“… and they should be ashamed of themselves for truckling to the latest ideology,” he wrote.
MORE: Trump signs executive order banning men from women’s sports
IMAGE: Nat Ax/Shutterstock
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