by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism
In this two-part essay, there is both the gathering of different views and a discussion of evidence and, at the same time, an exploration of the claims that revolve around our identity, as men and women, and as boys and girls. In other words, while it is commonplace to see prominent members of science, sport or indeed many other kinds of expert, declaring that there is no scientific definition of being male or female, they have clearly overlooked both the classification of ages and, simultaneously, the incredible architecture of the human person, in particular the woman. In an essay on the harmful impact of various kinds of contraceptives on the woman’s body, it is clear that there is an immense difference between a few outward changes, advocated by some, and the immensely intricate and complex timing, psychological characteristics, and capacity for childbearing of the woman-in-reality[1]. None of which is possible in the man. In other words, to advance outward bodily changes in the vain attempt to physically right a psychological problem, is to draw such a caricature of the woman and, as it happens, of the man, that a person has to be educationally uninformed to believe it; and, if uninformed, then vulnerable to fear, manipulation and, unfortunately, the possibility of the mutilation of a healthy body.
Before, then, discussing the two forms of addressing our present concerns, there is a preamble about the integral reality of the woman and human conception.
By way, then, of a summary statement of the integral reality of being a woman, consider the following account.
Are you a biological realist? Given the identification of a creature by its characteristics, what do we find on considering the practical expression of a woman's motherhood? To begin with, the outward structures of the woman are not merely external - but external expressions of what is internal to the woman and indicative of a mothering relationship to a child. In other words, the relationship of mother to child is of person to person but "mediated" as it were, bodily. Granted, however, that not all women become actual mothers nevertheless, in reality, the potentially is biologically structured in the woman, beginning with the existence of the ovaries, producing eggs, which can ripen and pass into a Fallopian tube. Moreover, conceiving and bearing the received child, entails not just an inward awareness of the presence of a person but is an expression, as it were, of an epigenetic relationship between the child's gene expression and the mother. Thus there is an interaction between the embryonic child's gene expression and the mother, so that the mother has a maternal influence on the expression of her child’s embryonic genes. In other words, the possibility of "transferring" what is embodied in a woman's existence, expressed in a mother's response to her child, is so subtle as to be inconceivable.
Similarly, the intimately personal consciousness of the life within, being given as he or she grows, the subtle nutrients, the stellar processes under hormonal control, not to mention the possible connection between cravings and the growth of the child, raises not just a biological function but a relationship between mother and child. Moreover, the particular loosening or adaptation of the pelvis in the course of the growing child, not to mention the whole manifestation of the timing and the activity of giving birth, shows abundantly clearly that what is outward manifests the external expression of what is wholly internal.
In a word, changing the externality of a woman's body, does not make a body that was feminine masculine; rather, it robs what was feminine from what remains a woman.
Now consider the conception of a human being, as from conception and not from “birth”
But, note, it is not possible to be born in the wrong body, as if there is some kind of personal separation from bodily existence, prior to birth, that allows you to be born in the wrong body. There is no body, as it were, prior to personalization. In other words, from the very first instant of fertilization a process of active change, growth, and maturation, has begun and continues uninterrupted not only until birth - but until death! Not only is there an outward sign of conception, among other things, of the enclosure of what is now the human embryonic child in an embryonic wall, but there is the continuous process of "who" has come to exist being made manifest throughout the process[2]. Thus the natural autonomy of the child in the mother’s womb is an outward sign of the reality of the child’s personal, independent, but inter-relational existence.
Clearly, however, there can be many factors that influence the healthy, holistic growth of the girl or the boy into the woman and the man which is inner goal of the whole process, from start to finish. And, similarly, there are many harmful factors which introduce all kinds of impediments into what is otherwise a goal-determined process from conception. Thus we need to distinguish between what is medicine, what is the activity of aiding the natural process of human growth, and mutilation, which is the harm that is inflicted on an otherwise healthy process of growth and development. And, in the course of distinguishing health from harm, there needs to be a process of recognizing the psychological processes which, while variable, are yet intrinsic to the complete development of the girl or boy's identity.
Part I: Woman
In contrast to the uncertainty to be discussed, the vision of Pope St. John Paul II, seeing what was going on in the world of culture and thought wrote extensively on the human person, establishing before all else the centrality of the person-as-gift[3]. This illuminating discernment of the person, drawing as it does on the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, each of whom makes a “gift” of themselves to the “Other” and thus reveals that, made as we are in the image of the divine “We”, we are made to be, to each other, a person-gift. Whether we are a person-gift in marriage, the religious life or in friendship, this is the language of being-in-relationship.
On the one hand, John Paul II wrote about the reciprocal gift of marital love, taking account of the reality-difference in the sexuality of the woman and the man; and, on the other hand, he searched out the orientation of the man-person to truth and the woman-person to the “other”. And, therefore, our whole being informs our understanding of who we are and how to relate to each other as, even what arises within us, arises out of our whole identity as man and woman and not just from a “part” of it. Thus it becomes clear that in losing the language of human reality, we lose the “reference” in our humanity to the God who created us (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 14). As we survey the problem of defining “woman” let us remember, then, that the wisdom of God prepared us to think through our relationship to reality: a reality not reduced to “use” but opening upon the mystery of the love that is God.
These foundational documents of the Catholic Church reflect, as I say, an early perception of the development of thought that disassociated person and nature, making the body an instrument of manipulation and a “raw material” of the will. Thus advancing the view that freedom is unrestricted and unrelated to the compass of truth; and, therefore, in and of themselves, these ideas contradict any claim to being scientific and indeed express a denial of a relationship to reality as other than subjectively asserted[4]: what exists is what “I” want to exist.
‘Townhall has covered time and time again how so-called “transgender” women [who are men] have taken away awards and opportunities for females. This has occurred in sports, beauty pageants, and brand partnerships’[5].
In an age where “woman” has become an uncertain term and even a document designed to signal the health gap between men and women, reporting on the detrimental effect of this gap on women, leads to the authors saying: that ‘not all people who identify as women are born biologically female’[6]. In other words, while it is perfectly legitimate to recognize the health needs of those men who have self-identified as women, it is clearly confusing to call self-identifying men, women. These are actually men in healthcare and, as such, they could, potentially, obscure the facts of the report, as is happening in sport. In the end, if there is no clarity about who is a “woman” even if, then women do not benefit from a report on women. In this case, however, it looks as if this report does in fact focus on women who are women from conception.
The evidence for considering that the report specifies women from conception is the type of conditions referred to, many of which pertain to the menstrual and giving birth related conditions[7]; and, more generally, the claim that ‘Questions about sex-based differences were rarely investigated or recorded, with the assumption – now known to be false – that there are few important differences in the functioning of organs and systems in men and women beyond reproduction’[8]. In other words, there is an understandable call for research that is questioning the ‘traditional understanding of disease [which] is focused primarily on the male body’[9]; and, likewise, there is a move to differentiate seat-belts for women from those designed for men[10]. Indeed, if proposing ‘sex as a biological variable’[11] means collecting sex specific data, for either men or women, then it is obviously going to be helpful; however, unless it is more carefully worded we are back to a confusion of information because it is not clear “who” it is collected from. But if, as the report goes on to say, it is clearer that sex-specific research is intended: ‘healthcare professionals of all specialties must be equipped with accurate and updated knowledge of biological differences, including sex-specific manifestations of symptoms’[12].
However, this same report “masks” problems that arise from inappropriate care for women where health care problems arise precisely from contraceptives, abortions, whether surgical or by pill and, at the same time, neglecting to point out the many benefits of the comparatively “cost-free” natural family planning health care[13]. On the one hand, there is the death of a child or, in rare cases, the child’s surviving an abortion. On the other hand, perhaps because of an insistent presence of the facts, the evidence of harm to women when it comes to both surgical and pill abortions, not to mention the overwhelming number of pregnant women who are presenting with psychiatric problems, may be part of the background where even the “idol” of abortion is beginning to fall from its pedestal as a call to monitor and report on complications is going through the UK House of Lords[14].
In the United Kingdom alone the unrestricted access to social media’s content of violent pornography and derogatory portrayals of women, making billions out of accessible vice, is fuelling actual assaults on real people. ‘Between 2019 and 2022, it suggested a 40% increase in reports of sexual assaults and rapes where both the alleged victim and perpetrator were under 18. There was a 33% increase in rape reports and a 26% increase in reports where the allegation was against a child aged under 10’[15].
At the same time, there is an ‘81% rise in reported incidents that took place on school property. One leading expert said the problem had reached “alarming levels”’[16]. What has happened to limiting the power of making money out of what is destroying human relationships? And, therefore, if the availability of these images is going to exponentially increase, owing to ‘sextortion’ and artificial intelligence – God help this generation because it is already beyond the help of self-help and statutory willingness to stop money-making out of human carnage.
By contrast, Pope Francis says: ‘All these women [I would like to mention them by name: Josephine Bakhita, Magdeleine de Jesus, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Mary MacKillop, Laura Montoya, Kateri Tekakwitha, Teresa of Calcutta, Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès, Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi and Daphrose Mukasanga], at different times and in different cultures, each in her own distinct way, gave proof through initiatives of charity, education and prayer, of how the “feminine genius” can uniquely reflect God’s holiness in the midst of our world. Indeed, precisely at times in history when women were largely excluded from social and ecclesial life, the “Holy Spirit raised up saints whose attractiveness produced new spiritual vigour and important reforms in the Church”. Here too, “I think of all those unknown or forgotten women who, each in her own way, sustained and transformed families and communities by the power of their witness” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 12). The Church needs to keep this in mind, because the Church is herself a woman: a daughter, a bride and a mother. And who better than women can reveal her face? Let us help one another, putting aside any aggressive and divisive attitudes, and exercising careful discernment, to discover, in docility to the voice of the Spirit and in faithful communion, fitting ways for the grandeur and the place of women to be increasingly valued in the People of God.’
‘That is why it is important to make the saints better known, especially women saints, in all the depth and reality of their humanity. In this way, education will be increasingly capable of touching each person in his or her wholeness and uniqueness’[17].
Where, then, there is a certain cultural ignorance, denial or rejection of the value and contribution of women to society, whether in the society of the Church or the world, it is important to emphasize the reality of the women who have contributed and, by implication, all those who remain unnamed or cannot be named for the time being.
But whether we are talking about the violent outbreaks of the rejection of women’s rights and education, as if she is less than human, or the number of men who are in prison because of offences to women, we are talking about a society of men who have lost their way, thinking that the suppression of women is an answer to their own sinful tendencies. At the same time, prudence in dress is a good thing and, equally, let us not suppose that women are without sin any more than men – but this introduction is not about citing the sins of women; rather, it is about recognizing that there needs to be a re-education of men in the light of reason, evidence and faith, about the reality of being a woman and that ‘The Church needs to keep this in mind, because the Church is herself a woman: a daughter, a bride and a mother. And who better than women can reveal her face?’[18] (and[19]).
Thus, again, Christianity is neither about blaming woman for sin, as if man has not sinned from the beginning, nor about exalting women, unless God reveals the exceptional nature of a woman, in particular, Mary, the Mother of God – who made full and generous use of the gift of being the Immaculate Conception: the one conceived without sin and, in that, like her Son, but unlike her Son, not God. So Christianity, whatever its historical and actual imperfections, is about trumpeting the equality in dignity of men and women, made in the image and likeness of God.
Part II: Women in Sport
‘The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males. According to information received, by 30 March 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports’[20].
What kind of evidence is offered to justify this: that “men who self-identify as women are women”?
‘The [Irish] Government’s new Science Advisor believes that biological males “are women” if they identify as transgender women.’
“I am a biologist, and I’m pretty sure that whatever you can think of, there exists both an example and a counter-example somewhere in nature,” McLysaght said in a 2020 social media post’[21]. Similarly, according to current Olympic guidelines, athletes only need to have a “female” sex marker on their legal documents in order to be permitted to compete in the women’s category’. The now retiring President of the Olympic Committee, ‘Thomas Bach … [he said] that there was no scientific method to determine who is a man and who is a woman’[22]. According to a law firm, testing a man’s DNA is a ‘scientific test that can provide conclusive’ evidence of paternity [23] how, then, can an Olympic official claim that there is no ‘scientific method to determine who is a man and who is a woman’? How is it that an Olympic official cam make such a contradictory claim – as it is precisely scientists who have demonstrated that an XY and an XX set of chromosomes express the sex of the person as male or female? So how do we know that the XX chromosomes come from both father and mother, whereas the X chromosome comes from the mother and the Y chromosome from the father – if not those whose science it is to share this knowledge with us?
Where, however, is there a self-identification in nature equivalent to a man saying he is a woman and others believing him? Therefore, let us take the following, unusual example: a male sea horse has a pouch into which the female deposits her eggs and then the male fertilizes them and, after a couple of weeks, the baby sea horses leave the pouch and swim off. This, however, is not a creature in nature self-identifying as a female[24]; it is, rather, a very unique type of reproduction, whereby the male is still a male producing sperm and the female is still an egg producing female – but instead of the male depositing the seed in the female, the female deposits the unfertilized egg in the male’s own sac. Therefore, the principle of reproduction remains, that the female produced the egg and the male fertilizes it. Therefore, and according to an atheist biologist, even in the case of a male sea horse there are two types of ‘reproductive cells’ that define biological sex as male and female[25]. While, therefore, I may disagree with what an author says on other subjects, it is good to see biologists objecting to the falsehood that denying two sexes is scientific[26]. In other words, if evidence and reason can lead to this truth maybe it can open up other fields for investigation too.
Furthermore, it has already been evidenced that where a chemical fertilizer interferes with natural development of a male frog, the frog remains male even if it is “feminized”. The effect, then, of ‘Atrazine’ on a frog is to feminize it while it remains a male frog; and, as regards men ‘atrazine exposure is highly correlated (P < 0.009) with low sperm count, poor semen quality, and impaired fertility in humans’[27]. In other words, even in terms of the effects of a chemical on the male species of a frog and a human being, the chemical fertilizer modifies a male and does not “create a female”. Therefore the basic identity, even when influenced by chemicals, remains male. Thus there is no case for arguing that a human being can be made to change sex, even in a biological sense, by chemical means; for, the reality of the organism remains male, whether a frog or a man. And, what is more, a human being is a psychosomatic whole, which is a different kind of entity to that of a frog; and, as such, it is even more the case that altering the body does not alter the whole, which is either a male person or a female person[28].
In the case of a man who tried to become a woman at 42, he discovered that there were traumas that drove that desire to change; and, eventually, he realized that surgery was no answer to the psychological problems that he needed help with. Although, then, he could not undo the harm of the surgery he underwent, amazingly, he went on to be reconciled to being a man: ‘Instead of encouraging them to undergo unnecessary and destructive surgery, let’s affirm and love our young people just the way they are'[29].
What evidence is offered to identify and classify the multifaceted injustice to women in sport?
In what follows there is a stunning statement for its clarity and objectivity, not only stating the obvious science but drawing attention to what is binding in international law. ‘Alsaleem [the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, in her latest report to the General Assembly,] insisted that it is factually correct to refer to these individuals as “men who self-identify as women.” She said, “Human rights language and principles must continue to be consistent with science and facts, including biological ones.” Thus, recently, it has been evidenced that a male martial artist, claiming to be a woman, ‘kneed a female boxer in the stomach with so much force that she had to immediately quit the match’[30].
However, there is a possibility of a new “Bill” being passed in America which is designed to recognize biological sex and is otherwise called ‘Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Acts of 2025’[31].
In contrast to recognizing Alsaleem’s evidence, she was accused of “online harassment, abuse, and gender disinformation”. In other words, another instance of name calling to discredit the speaker rather than to examine what Alsaleem has to say. What, then, is the vested interest that results in Alsaleem’s document so quickly maligned and blighted? Have those who criticized it read it or just “reacted” to a script not their own?
As Alsaleem goes on to say, “Sex must be understood in its ordinary meaning to mean biological sex,” Alsaleem said, quoting the landmark 1995 UN women’s agreement at the Beijing conference. She went even further, suggesting that while the category of “sex” based on biology was established in international human rights law, the category of “gender” was not and that the two categories must not be confused.
“Nondiscrimination based on sex is recognized in all major international human rights agreements,” she said whereas, “conflating sex and gender identity through the creation of a legal sex category (gender as distinct from sex) has been confusing and problematic”[32]. In a recent judgment from ‘A federal district court in Kentucky issued a decision … in State of Tennessee v. Cardona that blocks’ Biden’s government from trying to substitute ‘gender identity’ for ‘sex’; thus ensuring the very point of ‘Title IX’, which was to protect women in sport and their spaces from men claiming to be women[33].
In the report itself, which is well worth reading, there is a tragic account of a kind of self-enclosed world of sport, with very little external regulation of justice to women and girls, which is a travesty in these modern times and cries out for attention and redress. In other words, if the UN takes itself seriously as a guarantor of human rights, this is a document to act on and to recover the truth expressed in its binding laws[34].
By contrast, Idaho has published legislation that takes out the confusion caused by using the term “gender identity” and restores the original meaning of male and female, not only banning men from women’s spaces, but also preventing them from competing as “women” and taking the scholarships which were intended for women[35]. Similarly, another law mandates teachers ‘to use pronouns that align with a student’s biological sex, as listed on their birth certificate, rather than their “gender identity”’ [36]. And, more generally, one wonders at the extent to which the law has been dominated by these kinds of disputes, necessary to restore justice – but unnecessary if biological sex had not been disputed.
The wider context of women in sport and the increasing recognition of design requirements that reflect women’s needs
\here are many commonsense reasons why women’s sports need to be a protected category when it comes to men claiming to be women and thus they object to be left out of women’s sports. In other words, the legal muscle that is used to bully women’s sports into accepting men into women’s competitions is clearly the injustice; not, by contrast, women seeking to keep women’s sports for women. The fact that this is lost sight of because of gender ideology which says, in effect, I am whatever I call myself, means that justice is undone; and, if we read the evidence where is, literally, the equal footing between men and women? Where is the claim for evidence-based definitions of sporting justice?
Historically, ‘Women were excluded from some sports until very recently: the FA banned women’s football between 1921 and 1971. Women were only allowed to run in the Olympic marathon since 1984 and to participate in pole vault at the Olympics from 2000 and women were not allowed to compete in all sports on the Olympic programme until London 2012. Even now in 2023, 22% fewer girls than boys in England are playing team sport. That’s 860,000 girls missing out, the equivalent to the capacity of every Premier League stadium’[37].
What is also very significant is that if sport can be a vehicle for women training to be leaders, especially in countries where their participation is undervalued[38], then, to change the focus to men competing in women’s sports is to lose the personal and social impact of these initiatives. However, in another sense, all those women who are standing up for a woman’s right to a woman’s sport[39], are implicitly manifesting a willingness to take the lead in reasserting the reality of human rights and, simultaneously, demonstrating their political maturity[40]. The good, therefore, that they are doing goes beyond sport in that it is a part of recovering the real meaning of human rights based on a real grasp of human nature.
Moreover, this preoccupation with men in women’s sports completely overlooks the question of why a man wants to play in a woman’s team; and, therefore, the question of his general education about the needs and rights of women, which is separate to the right of women to their own sports. In one case, it seems, the timed performance of a man matched women’s qualifying times but not that of the man’s category; and, therefore, he won in a woman’s race but would not have qualified in a man’s race[41]. Is it, as some say, a sign of ‘prioritizing the feelings of trans-identifying males over the rights of female athletes’[42], in which case, what about women’s feelings which reasonably express their right to separate, sex-specific events, when otherwise an injustice prevails? In another case, a woman volleyball player was hit in the head by a ball from a man on a woman’s team and suffered a head injury and its consequences ever since. But, significantly, not only was there no apology but the attitude of the man showed a significant poverty in either appreciating what he had done or realizing, as a consequence, that he was in the wrong team for the sport[43]. Why were there no repercussions for him or those who were responsible for this unwarranted interference in a woman’s match? What about those who determine the regulations for these sports; for, after all, was there not a reason why men and women’s sports developed according to the requirements of each sex?[44]
Having said that, there are cases where justice is preserved in mixed sports between men and women, as in mixed doubles in tennis, horse racing, or any sport where that combination of non-contact and skill, makes cooperation not just possible but equitable[45]. Having said that, the British Lawn Tennis Association has just banned men from entering women’s categories, using scientific evidence of sex-based differences that persist even after lower ‘testosterone levels or surgical procedures’[46] that mask being of the male-sex-at-conception; and, therefore, women’s singles would be for women. In other words, justice needs a concrete expression.
In addition, the realization that the shape of men and women has a bearing on the design of seat-belts, police clothing and other items, means that it is increasingly noted that the default pattern of design was almost always for men; and, therefore, that it is realistic to reconsider designs which are both specific to women, such as women’s protective clothing, or where there are two settings, one for women and one for men – perhaps especially with reference to women drivers and those with particular safety belt needs like pregnant women[47]. In other words, there is a growing sensitivity to sex-based differences which are critical for the everyday comfort and well-being of both women and men in the workplace.
These same sex-based differences feature in fairness in sport and, more widely, in the field of women’s safety in situations in which women are vulnerable, as in shared locker rooms and other no longer protected spaces.
‘When it comes to key factors that affect many different sports, men have:
10-12% faster times for most linear swimming and running events;
20% better results in jumping events;
35% greater weightlifting ability in weight-matched males and females;
50% greater weightlifting ability based on NHS average sizes for males and females’[48].
According to a football coach turned American Senator, if there are no restrictions on men competing in women’s sports, then together with limited funding for women, ‘there will be no women’s sports left in five years’[49].
In general, then, there has been a remarkable blindness to the everyday effects of self-proclaiming sex-identities; and, if it were not for the misuse of the law, many of these would have died on the lips of those who suggested them. As regards our children growing up, do not many of them see that if an arbitrary claim can override reason and evidence, then what threshold is not beyond reach? In other words, if the evidence from physiological studies, characteristics of the effects of training on men and women, and that engineers and clothes manufacturers are becoming increasingly sensitive to male and female differences, why are some clinicians, bureaucrats and sports officials unable to recognize irreversible and substantial differences in men and women?
In what follows, then, there is a reflection on the deepest roots of human identity, male and female; and, in view of this, the possibility that people will begin to reconsider the widespread fallacy of claiming that there is no difference between men and women.
In conclusion
The more the claim to be in the “wrong body” is examined, the more the reality of being a woman is appreciated, the more we grasp the utter word of the Creator which is “written” through the whole being of the person, like a grain of wood or the gravitational structure of the universe, the clearer it is that those who make or allow these claims have not, actually, investigated reality. Thus we come to the conclusion that if people are not educated into the “real”, of what exists, then they are utterly vulnerable to the modern “think it up” mentality which proceeds from all kinds of causes, but not that of an engagement with reality.
I hope, then, that this relatively brief discussion of the human reality of what exists, as woman and as controversies about human identity impacts women’s sport, is a helpful introduction to these subjects.
This essay draws on extracts from the forthcoming book, by Francis Etheredge, “Transgenderism: A Question of Identity”, from En Route Books and Media:
[1] Lived Experience and the Search for Truth: Revisiting Catholic Sexual Morality, edited by Deborah Savage and Robert Fastiggi, Saint Louis, MO: En Route Books and Media, 2024, Chapter 21: Angela Lanfranchi, MD, FACS, “Hormonal Contraception and the Physiology of Human Sexuality”, as I said, mainly on the subject of the harmful impact on the woman.[2] Cf. Etheredge, Conception: An Icon of the Beginning, En Route Books and Media, including expert testimony from two Spanish physicians in Chapter 5: Part II: https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/conception/.[3] Pope St. John Paul II, wrote: The Way to Christ: Spiritual Exercises, published in English in 1994 but from his time as Bishop, Love and Responsibility, published in Polish in 1960 and in English in 1981, Person and Act, 1969 in Polish and 2020 in English, Male and Female He Created Them, 1979-1984, The Dignity of Woman 1988, Letter to Families, 1994, Letter to Women, 1995, etc. etc.[4] This ongoing evaluation of transgenderism persists through from St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, to the pontificate of Pope Francis. Specific documents are referred to throughout this book and, following the articles or declarations, are a host of specific interventions on the subject and, indeed, a few by the Bishops of England and Wales.[5] Madeline Leesman | September 18, 2024, « A ‘Trans’ Actor Was Nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actress’”: A ‘Trans’ Actor Was Nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actress’.[6] Lucy Pérez and Shyam Bishen, January 2024, “Closing the Women’s Health Gap: A $1 Trillion Opportunity to Improve Lives and Economies”: Introduction and Chapter 2, pp. 5, 8 and 14 of this report: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Closing_the_Women%E2%80%99s_Health_Gap_2024.pdf.[7] Pérez, Bishen, January 2024, “Closing the Women’s Health Gap”, p. 11.[8] Pérez, Bishen, January 2024, “Closing the Women’s Health Gap”, p. 10.[9] Pérez, Bishen, January 2024, “Closing the Women’s Health Gap”, p. 31.[10] This is referred to later in the book, when discussing male and female differences in sport.[11] Pérez, Bishen, January 2024, “Closing the Women’s Health Gap”, p. 31.[12] Pérez, Bishen, January 2024, “Closing the Women’s Health Gap”, p. 32.[13] Pérez, Bishen, January 2024, “Closing the Women’s Health Gap”, p. 19; cf. also, Etheredge, Human Nature: Moral Norm, “Part V: The Word of Truth-in-Love and Conscience”, discussing the advantages of intensive, well understood care of women from Natural Family Practitioners.[14] December 13th, 2024, “British House of Lords Approves Bill to Compile Report on How Abortion Pills Hurt Women”: British House of Lords Approves Bill to Compile Report on How Abortion Pills Hurt Women - LifeNews.com.[15] Michael Savage, 17th February, 2024, “‘Toxic’ online culture fuelling rise in sexual assaults on children by other children, police warn”: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/17/toxic-online-culture-fuelling-rise-in-sexual-assualts-on-children-by-other-children-police-warn#:~:text=While%20forces%20differed%20in%20the,on%20school%20property%20in%202022.[16] Michael Savage, “’Toxic’ online culture fuelling rise in sexual assaults’.[17] Audience with participants in the International Interuniversity Conference “Women in the Church: Builders of humanity”, 07.03.2024: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2024/03/07/240307d.html.[18] Pope Francis (as above).[19] Not in any chronological order but think of all the work of St. John Paul II on the identity of woman: Redemptoris Mater, Letter to Women, Mulieris Dignitatem, and many exhortations at one time or another, beginning very early in his life with Spiritual Talks to Men and Women, including criticism of men’s relationship to women.[20] Reem Alsalem, in accordance with Assembly resolution 77/193, 27th August, 2024, “Violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences”, p. 5: https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/249/94/pdf/n2424994.pdf.[21] Ben Scallan, October 10th, 2024, “New Government science advisor: Trans males are women”: https://gript.ie/new-government-science-advisor-trans-males-are-women/?inf_contact_key=9765a2418163cc5e14171a7069cdb8d616358d5485884e2f31e6019a0d26c8b0.[22] Marielena Meder, October 23rd, 2024, “GERMANY: Transgender Martial Artist Who Kicked Female Opponent So Hard She Forfeited Match Aims To Compete As A Woman At The 2028 Olympics”: https://reduxx.info/germany-transgender-martial-artist-who-kicked-female-opponent-so-hard-she-forfeited-match-aims-to-compete-as-a-woman-at-the-2028-olympics/?inf_contact_key=73bcf1901d1ec2d15f89de49e4e456d71b0a3f0fd3ee5d9b43fb34c6613498d7.[23] “Establishing Paternity: A Comprehensive Guide”: https://www.nicolsonobriensolicitors.co.uk/establishing-paternity-comprehensive-guide/#:~:text=To%20initiate%20a%20paternity%20action,voluntary%20acknowledgment%20of%20paternity%20form. [24] “The Only Male Animals in the World That Get Pregnant and Give Birth”: https://blog.padi.com/the-only-male-animals-in-the-world-that-get-pregnant-and-give-birth/.[25] Conflating my own conclusion with of Professor ‘Coyne, an emeritus professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago’: see his piece “Biology is Not Bigotry”: Biology Is Not Bigotry - by Jerry Coyne.[26] Thus I disagree with Jonathon Von Maren on this one, January 9th, 2025, “‘Anti-woke’ atheists who oppose gender ideology are not our allies: here’s why”: 'Anti-woke' atheists who oppose gender ideology are not our allies: here's why - LifeSite.[27] Tyrone B Hayes a,1, Vicky Khoury a,2, Anne Narayan a,2, Mariam Nazir a,2, Andrew Park a,2, Travis Brown a, Lillian Adame a, Elton Chan a, Daniel Buchholz b, Theresa Stueve a, Sherrie Gallipeau a“Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis)”:[28] Cf. Etheredge, examples of arguments in The Human Person: A Bioethical Word: https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/bioethicalword/; and examples of case histories in Mary and Bioethics: An Exploration:[29] Walt Heyer, April 1st 2015, “I Was a Transgender Woman”: https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/04/14688/.[30] Meder, October 23rd, 2024, “GERMANY: Transgender Martial Artist Who Kicked Female Opponent So Hard She Forfeited Match Aims To Compete As A Woman At The 2028 Olympics”.[32] By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | October 10, 2024, “UN Official Defends Women’s Sports Against Male Incursion”: https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/un-official-defends-womens-sports-against-male-incursion/.[33] Alliance Defending Freedom, January 10th, 2025, “Pro-family lawyer celebrates rejection of Biden’s pro-LGBT Title IX rules: ‘Colossal win’”: Pro-family lawyer celebrates rejection of Biden's pro-LGBT Title IX rules: 'Colossal win' - LifeSite.[34] Reem Alsalem, in accordance with Assembly resolution 77/193, 27th August, 2024, “Violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences”: https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/249/94/pdf/n2424994.pdf; indeed, this is so clearly articulated it is a human rights document in its own right.[35] Justine Brooke Murray | August 29, 2024, “Riley Gaines Celebrates Idaho As FIRST State to Block Men From Women's Spaces”: Idaho Bans Men From Women’s Sports, Locker Rooms to Uphold Fair Competition.[36] Morgonn McMichael, 09/01/2024, “MORGONN MCMICHAEL: Texas school district mandates teachers use pronouns aligning with students' biological sex”: MORGONN MCMICHAEL: Texas school district mandates teachers use pronouns aligning with students’ biological sex | Human Events | humanevents.com.[37] “Safe and Fair Sport Matters to Women and Girls on Every Level”: https://womeninsport.org/safe-and-fair-sport-for-women-and-girls/.[38] Cf. November 6th, 2024, “Faith and sports unite to empower women in Pakistan”: Faith and sports unite to empower women in Pakistan - Faith on View.[39] Cf. Valerie Richardson, October 15th, 2024, “Nevada governor backs volleyball players boycotting game over transgender rival”: Joe Lombardo backs volleyball players boycotting game over transgender rival - Washington Times.[40] Cf. Michael Reagan, November 8th, 2024, “Female Athletes Finally Stand Up to 'Men' Invaders”: Female Athletes Finally Stand Up to 'Men' Invaders | Newsmax.com.[41] Amy Hamm, December 29, 2024, “Trans-Identified Male Qualifies To Compete As “Female” In 2025 Boston Marathon, Sparking Outrage From Female Runners » : Trans-Identified Male Qualifies To Compete As "Female" In 2025 Boston Marathon, Sparking Outrage From Female Runners - Reduxx.[42] Calvin Freiburger, December 19th, 2024, “Republicans grill NCAA chief over men in women’s sports, locker rooms”: Republicans grill NCAA chief over men in women's sports, locker rooms - LifeSite.[43] December 18th, 2024, “Volleyball Player Speaks Out After Life-Altering Injury By Trans Opponent”: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/volleyball-player-shares-story-in-new-docu-after-life-changing-injury-by-trans-opponent-7274620.[44] Freiburger, December 19th, 2024, “Republicans grill NCAA chief over men in women’s sports, locker rooms”.[45] Cf. Nadira Faber, July 31, 2012, “Should Men and Women be segregated in professional Sports?”:[46] Warner Todd Huston, 15 Dec 2024, “British Lawn Tennis Association Bans Transgender Players in Women’s Event”: British Lawn Tennis Association Bans Transgender Players in Women's Event.[47] Caroline Criado Perez, 23rd February, 2019, “The deadly truth about a world built for men – from stab vests to car crashes”:[48] “Safe and Fair Sport Matters to Women and Girls on Every Level”: https://womeninsport.org/safe-and-fair-sport-for-women-and-girls/.[49] Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell | December 09, 2024, « Football Coach-Turned-Senator’s Playbook for Saving Women’s Sports”: A Former Football Coach's Playbook for Saving Women's Sports.