13 June 2019, The Tablet
Gender and identity: The Vatican has gone astray
A reminder of Pope Francis’ maxim
that “reality is greater than theory” would have been a useful starting
point for the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education’s study of
sex and gender. Instead its document, Male and Female He Created Them,
makes the classic mistake of arguing the other way round. The result,
intended to be helpful to teachers and educationalists, is unlikely to
be much use to them – except in one important respect. It asks for a
respectful dialogue between those who disagree. The call has never been
more necessary.
The document addresses an alleged crisis in the sexual formation of the young caused by “gender theory” or “gender ideology”. This theory proposes, the text claims, that gender is a social construct, which human beings, whatever their biological sex, are at liberty to deconstruct. The Vatican Congregation prefers to think that gender is entirely a matter of nature rather than nurture, and cites the phrase in Genesis which forms the title of the document, “Male and female he created them”, as somewhat tenuous proof that this is the unalloyed message of Scripture.
There is undoubtedly an objective reality behind sex and gender, but it is more mysterious and multifaceted than reductionist arguments allow. The denunciation of so-called “gender theory” offers little practical help or insight to parents and teachers faced with an adolescent boy or girl who insists, with profound and settled conviction, that they are “in the wrong body”. Whatever their biological sex, they are deeply unhappy with it. This unhappiness often shows itself in self-harm, depression, and even suicide.
When gender reassignment has taken place – usually a combination of psychotherapy, hormone treatment and surgery – the evidence suggests that those individuals usually grow into mature and well-balanced human beings. That is the “reality” that the “theory” has to adjust to and that the Congregation appears to ignore. Instead the authors rely on somewhat outdated and shallow arguments about the “complementarity” of the sexes, even daring to offer, in paragraph 18, a definition of femininity. “Women have a unique understanding of reality. They possess a capacity to endure adversity and to keep life going even in extreme situations, and hold on tenaciously to the future,” they confidently declare.
Gender theory, as they describe it is, however, rebutted much more effectively by the experience of transgender young people themselves. Most do not want the self-determining gender fluidity that so-called gender theory purports to offer them. They have a clear idea of the sexual identity they believe is their natural one, and which their biology has somehow contradicted. This is not a mental illness or a delusion; its technical name is dysphoria. Educationalists need to be able to recognise it.
The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has welcomed the document while implicitly distancing itself from it. “We recognise that there are people who do not accept their biological sex …” they said. “Through listening to them we seek to understand their experience more deeply and want to accompany them with compassion.” That is where the Vatican Education Congregation should have started from.
The document addresses an alleged crisis in the sexual formation of the young caused by “gender theory” or “gender ideology”. This theory proposes, the text claims, that gender is a social construct, which human beings, whatever their biological sex, are at liberty to deconstruct. The Vatican Congregation prefers to think that gender is entirely a matter of nature rather than nurture, and cites the phrase in Genesis which forms the title of the document, “Male and female he created them”, as somewhat tenuous proof that this is the unalloyed message of Scripture.
There is undoubtedly an objective reality behind sex and gender, but it is more mysterious and multifaceted than reductionist arguments allow. The denunciation of so-called “gender theory” offers little practical help or insight to parents and teachers faced with an adolescent boy or girl who insists, with profound and settled conviction, that they are “in the wrong body”. Whatever their biological sex, they are deeply unhappy with it. This unhappiness often shows itself in self-harm, depression, and even suicide.
When gender reassignment has taken place – usually a combination of psychotherapy, hormone treatment and surgery – the evidence suggests that those individuals usually grow into mature and well-balanced human beings. That is the “reality” that the “theory” has to adjust to and that the Congregation appears to ignore. Instead the authors rely on somewhat outdated and shallow arguments about the “complementarity” of the sexes, even daring to offer, in paragraph 18, a definition of femininity. “Women have a unique understanding of reality. They possess a capacity to endure adversity and to keep life going even in extreme situations, and hold on tenaciously to the future,” they confidently declare.
Gender theory, as they describe it is, however, rebutted much more effectively by the experience of transgender young people themselves. Most do not want the self-determining gender fluidity that so-called gender theory purports to offer them. They have a clear idea of the sexual identity they believe is their natural one, and which their biology has somehow contradicted. This is not a mental illness or a delusion; its technical name is dysphoria. Educationalists need to be able to recognise it.
The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has welcomed the document while implicitly distancing itself from it. “We recognise that there are people who do not accept their biological sex …” they said. “Through listening to them we seek to understand their experience more deeply and want to accompany them with compassion.” That is where the Vatican Education Congregation should have started from.
No comments:
Post a Comment