Published December 13, 2024
There have been many ideas throughout history that have led otherwise intelligent people to say very silly things, but transgenderism is surely among one of the contenders for the top spot. Take Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, for example. She is a highly accomplished legal mind who serves on the highest court in the land. Yet at her Senate confirmation hearing, she avoided having to define “woman” by declaring that she was not a biologist.
Taken in isolation, the thinking behind that statement is sound. Biology does play a key role in defining what a woman is. A woman is a human being whose body is normatively tailored toward gestation. Yet in the context of the hearing, the claim was practically incoherent.
It is reasonable to interpret Jackson’s answer as motivated by her not wanting to be outed as progressive on the issue. It is amusing that she inadvertently offered a very conservative response, because, by making biology the decisive factor, she placed herself close to the thinking of those of us who do indeed believe that physical reality is decisive in this matter. What the answer revealed was her incompetence in the area of sex and gender theory that underlies the current confusion regarding the transgender question.
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Carl R. Trueman is a fellow in EPPC’s Evangelicals in Civic Life Program, where his work focuses on helping civic leaders and policy makers better understand the deep roots of our current cultural malaise. In addition to his scholarship on the intellectual foundations of expressive individualism and the sexual revolution, Trueman is also interested in the origins, rise, and current use of critical theory by progressives. He serves as a professor at Grove City College.
