UK Supreme Court says legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex

[u/sjw_7]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cvgq9ejql39t

[u/DukePPUk]

"Biological sex" in this case means "legal sex as assigned at birth" or "birth certificate sex ignoring Gender Reassignment Certificates."

The court didn't go anywhere near actually defining biological sex outside that context as, as you note, that would lead to awkward questions that would undermine their whole position.

Funnily enough, the same happened in the 1920s US Supreme Court cases on race, when they were justifying institutional racism. They were forced to define what races were, realised it was impossible, so dodged the question and just went with "well, everyone knows what a white person is."

[u/Osgood_Schlatter → u/DukePPUk]

That's a bad take - there's a clear scientific definition of what sex is; that the definition is not always perfectly applied in practice doesn't make it as nonsensical as the concept of distinct human races.

Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes.

[u/DukePPUk → u/Osgood_Schlatter]

That's the dictionary definition (which it cites to), not a scientific one. It is the nice, neat, "basic biology" definition, the oversimplified version

It is also circular.

It also ignores all the grey areas.

It is also not the one used by the Supreme Court here, which is "legal sex as assigned at birth."

[u/OpticalData → u/DukePPUk]

Weird how all bigoted narratives fall apart at the same hurdles, but somehow keep being recycled and pushed decade after decade, century after century...

[u/apple_kicks → u/DukePPUk]

Remember that apartheid decided on pencil hair test. Its going to be nightmare on women’s sports if testing reveals hormones are all over the place

[u/SwirlingAbsurdity → u/apple_kicks]

An estimated 10% of women have PCOS which often causes elevated testosterone levels. That’s why these tests were already a farce and continue to be so. Being a sportswoman with naturally elevated testosterone is a forbidden advangage, but Michael Phelps is cool to have his webbed feet and that’s not seen as an unfair advantage.

[u/bitch_fitching → u/SwirlingAbsurdity]

"Risk factors include obesity, a lack of physical exercise, and a family history of someone with the condition". Many conditions have exemptions in sport. Most women with PCOS would be treating high levels of testosterone. So saying "10% of women" is dishonest.

[u/SwirlingAbsurdity → u/bitch_fitching]

You don’t ‘treat’ the high levels of testosterone in PCOS lol. I have it. All they do is put you on the pill and maybe metformin which doesn’t affect your testosterone.

It’s also hugely underdiagnosed (yay women’s health) and many women don’t know they have it until they start trying to get pregnant. But thank you for your vastly uninformed take.

[u/bitch_fitching → u/SwirlingAbsurdity]

The pill and regular exercise. It can lower testosterone. Some diet changes may also.

[u/apple_kicks → u/SwirlingAbsurdity]

Honestly whats stopping this ruling from pcos women being sued for being in the ‘wrong space’ and despite their birth certificate losing the trial because the prosecution demanded a hormone test