In recent years, many celebrities have come out as “nonbinary,” receiving much celebration and adulation from media outlets, gay and transgender advocacy organizations, and fans.
Identifying as nonbinary means a person identifies as either both male and female or neither. The person will prefer gender-neutral pronouns such as “they/them,” a mix of binary and nonbinary pronouns such as “he/they,” or nonsensical ones like “zie/zir,” “ze/hir,” or “fae/faer.”
From a scientific perspective, however, there are only two genders. Biological sex is determined by gametes (that is, eggs or sperm). This is the case for intersex people, who produce one type of gamete or the other and typically prefer to live as female or male, not somewhere in between.
Regarding gender, more than 99% of people identify as their birth sex. Roughly 1% is transgender (and/or intersex) and identifies as the opposite sex. Therefore, both sex and gender are binary.
Scientifically speaking, gender identity (how masculine or feminine a person feels) and gender expression (how people outwardly express their gender identity through clothing and hairstyle, etc.) are correlated — that is, most men are masculine in appearance, and most women are feminine.
According to the nonbinary movement, however, gender identity is completely distinct from gender expression. This lack of logic explains why people who identify as nonbinary frequently look no different from those of us who don’t. For example, someone who was born female but identifies as a third gender will, in many cases, look stereotypically feminine, no different from the average woman who identifies as female.
This is because, in their mind, people can feel nonbinary while expressing themselves in a gender-conforming way. What this does, in effect, is make it harder for anyone to take this movement seriously.
Experimentation with self-identification is a hallmark of youth. Coming out as nonbinary is a way to gain attention and relevance or to signal one’s extreme-left politics.
In other cases, it is a cry for help, a desire to distance oneself from a history of sexual trauma or discrimination due to being female or gay. For those who are born male, identifying as nonbinary allows them to partake in stereotypically feminine activities, such as wearing makeup or taking ballet lessons, without dealing with the stigma that men face for doing so.
It’s important to have empathy for those who are struggling, but unfailingly praising these proclamations impedes our ability to help anybody who truly needs it. Jumping on the nonbinary bandwagon because it’s trendy also does a disservice to transgender adults who have transitioned to live with binary sexes because it commodifies and trivializes the hardships they face.
Yet this ideology is now appearing in scientific and medical policy. Young people are undergoing double mastectomies and hormonal treatment without talking about the true reasons for their feelings of discomfort and self-contempt.
In a few years, when this movement has passed and those publicly identifying as nonbinary have quietly returned to living as male or female, who will console those led astray?
Dr. Debra Soh is a sex neuroscientist, the author of The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society, and the host of The Dr. Debra Soh Podcast.
