The Genesis of Gender

According to Berry, the underlying malady of our culture is the inclination toward fragmentation. We disrupt the unity of creation by splitting spirit from body, culture from nature, sexuality from fertility. “It is not possible to devalue the body and value the soul”, he writes, and I want to adapt that statement, swapping “soul” for “self”.10 It

Accompaniment is a way of journeying with someone deeper into the heart of Christ. Contrary to the cliché, conversion is not a one-time zap; the Holy Spirit is not a fairy godmother who makes you insta-ready for the ball. Conversion is a steady pilgrimage, a long trek into the heart of God. There are detours and switchbacks along the way; none of u

What would it sound like for a therapist to affirm my perception of reality? ... The affirming doctors and therapists do not explore other causes or potential solutions but send the patient straight down the medical transition track.

When Grace went to a doctor for possible ADHD, the response was a “robust battery of tests” prior to diagnosis, and Grace was not put on medication until her eating disorder was in remission. With gender dysphoria, however, Grace was offered no robust assessment. She was not evaluated for any comorbid conditions prior to being diagnosed and prescri

These are not terms culled from random blogs and discussion forums. These are all taken, verbatim, from official websites of American and British universities. While it might be tempting to eye-roll and hand-wave away what those “crazy college kids” are doing, I would make this reply: official websites are run by administrators, not students, and w

As a Christian, I believe that the proper response to any human person is always love and respect, but this does not exempt our culture’s idea of human personhood from scrutiny. What is needed at this juncture is a hard look at, to borrow Chesterton’s phrase, “the idea of the idea” of gender in our time.

We must follow a path of contemplation that sees the various dimensions of personhood in order to receive the miracle of each person. This is a path that moves toward integration, from disorder to wholeness. The postmodern approach to sex and gender runs in the opposite direction, into fragmentation, a piecemeal self, where body and psyche and desi

Perhaps most importantly, this intrinsic sexed identity is not merely about external appearance but also intimately connected to procreative function, one’s generative potential as a male or female.

Human bodies are teleologically organized according to our distinct role in reproducing the species. The structure of our bodies is arranged to produce either large sex cells or small sex cells. These sex cells are called gametes. Large gametes are ova, and small gametes are sperm. A physiology arranged to produce ova is female, and a physiology ar