I’m so sick of the gender war but I will probably write about gender a lot
(also, welcome to my Substack)
I’m tired of talking about gender. Eventually I’d love to never speak about, think about, or write about gender again.
I don’t even believe gender is real. Humans have a biological sex, and a personality. On a population level and driven in large part by biology, there are certain traits, behaviours, preferences, and abilities that are more common to either males or females, and together form the basis of a culture’s “gender” stereotypes. And from these stereotypes arises the concept of gender as a distinct entity, which is defined in infinite—and equally nonsensical—ways.
To some, gender is a performance. To others, it is a feeling. To the most fervent believers of gender ideology, gender is your essence—it is the very soul that determines who you are, inside and out. If your gender soul doesn’t match your physical body, then your body is wrong, not your mind. You don’t need therapy; your body needs to be changed. Children can be born into bodies that are wrong and require hormonal, and eventually surgical, intervention to become “right.”
I do not believe any of this. I repeat: We have a biological sex, and a personality. Our talents, preferences, and common behaviours comprise our personalities, not our gender. To me, gender is a made-up and useless concept. But here we are, mired in a nasty culture war between people who believe in gender souls and people who believe that biology trumps any concept of gender, whether they believe in gender or not.
As you likely know, since you are reading this, I’ve been entrenched in another gender war for more than two years: a battle to keep my nursing license after two activists offended by my words told my regulatory body that I am a danger to patients because I know that human beings cannot change their sex. My nineteen-day hearing—longer than some murder trials—resumes in October 2023.
I have no choice but to keep thinking, talking, and writing about gender. I must—to fight for my job and care for my sons, to preserve Canadians’ right to free expression (that’s Canadian for “free speech”), and to counter the harms that gender ideology inflicts upon women and children. That doesn’t mean I’m not bored to death of the concept.
How many more years will women have to insist that we are not a costume, or a performance, or a feeling that exists in the mind of males with autogynephilia? How many more women will be raped by males given free entry into women’s prisons and rape shelters? How many more children (usually gay and autistic children) will be sterilized and maimed by our medical system?
There are no new arguments to be made in the gender war. There are, however, minds to whom these arguments are new. And then there are the growing number of victims of gender ideology. It is for these people that we continue to shout “men are not women” until we are blue in the face. Canada, in particular, is lagging behind internationally; for instance, while we are passing laws that make it illegal—by threat of prison time—for healthcare professionals to question whether or not a toddler is transgender, Scandinavian countries are outlawing sex changes for minors. We have to keep fighting.
On that note, I am grateful you are here reading my Substack. I will likely write on gender quite often (not exclusively) and will do my best to refresh the same old arguments. Here’s to the day that I can focus on fluff pieces about puppies, gin cocktails, and the best places in town to buy croissants. (Please let me know if you know of any good croissant places.)
-Amy
Amy is a grifter.
This is one of the best introductions I've read, I'm looking forward to reading more. Keep fighting the good fight.