Tom Gilson’s excellent analysis of Dylan Mulvaney’s recent cringe trans ad on The Stream is critical to understanding the radical transformation of culture.
Gilson identifies two central points that create the transgender ideology: Gender social construct that develops independently of biology, and personal emotions play a central role in defining gender preferences. These hold the key to a greater understanding of this troubling ideology’s impact on society. But I disagree with Gilson that “transgenderism is itself ridiculous and not worth taking seriously.” We should be very concerned about the harm the movement causes society.
Most Christians dismiss the transgender ideology and hope it will pass. Gilson’s insights help us identify this as a significant problem.
He recognizes the ideology’s central points that cause havoc in culture: Progressives claim gender arises from a social phenomenon, and emotions and preferences determine reality. They are part of a radical theory of human development that fundamentally alters how our culture disconnects human identity from Biblical reality.
Gilson quotes Berkeley professor Judith Butler, “Gender is performance.” No one is born male or female; they perform their “gender role.” so let’s look at how they justify their performance art.
Butler’s poetic language is touching, but gender performance is a product of blank-slate social conditioning. It’s become the Marxist Left’s paradigm to explain human development. They claim biology does not influence personality traits—gender and race through society’s influence, not biology. Blank slate social conditioning defines gender as a social construct, a concept each society creates from unique perspectives. People learn these concepts as they live in society and choose the construct that best fits their preferences. Gender becomes any concept society creates, and people affirm based on their feelings and desires.
This is an important distinction because the theory completely transforms how we understand human identity. Social conditioning claims every human characteristic, from race to disability, is a social construct, which means the trans movement isn’t limited to gender; the trans-racial, trans-abled, and furry movements are performance art of their own with tremendous consequences for society.
People are choosing race and disability status based on preference. White males identify as trans-racial members of the black community, expecting complete accommodation. The trans-abled are asking the medical community to create disabilities within their healthy bodies. If human identity is socially conditioned, why shouldn’t trans-abled bodies align with their feelings and constructs? The furries believe they are a form of life trapped in human bodies to claim their place at the table. Litterboxes in bathrooms are essentially a myth, but their push for acceptance is confirmed. Everything is fair game in the world of social conditioning.
Progressives expect us to accommodate all of these once social conditioning becomes established as the paradigm for human development.
How has this gotten out of hand?
Gilson nails it when he asks, “Does he feel like a woman? How?”
Feelings determine reality in a socially conditioned world. This is called post-truth, where feelings and emotions have more influence than facts and critical thinking to establish what is real. Post-truth is a consequence of the postmodern movement, which quietly destroyed confidence that facts, science, and critical thinking accurately describe reality. Post-truth is an essential component of the transgender movement.
Emotions are the new “facts” that confirm Mulvaney’s gender. Mulvaney’s feelings aren’t scientific proof of actual gender; scientific realism is irrelevant to gender bullies. They are his truth that identifies his chosen gender construct as right for him. Social constructs reflect society’s desires at any moment; they don’t have to correspond to reality. Mulvaney is simply adopting an artificial concept of gender that appeals to him.
Does Mulvaney know what it feels like to be a real woman? This is irrelevant to the transgender movement. A female gender construct is not defined by whether a person’s feelings and experiences correspond to the objective reality of biological women. Female gender constructs can be anything society chooses; Mulvaney’s feelings only need to resonate with the concept society creates.
This distinction is critical because social conditioning disconnects our uniquely created identity from objective reality. People choose race, disability, and inclusion in the animal kingdom based on social conditioning. Feelings only need to align with arbitrary concepts instead of truth, creating chaos across every area of society.
Our institutions were developed to preserve our unique identity as God’s creations. Gender and race have inherent qualities that require definition and protection. Social conditioning debases humanity’s unique creation to ultimately destroy Western society. Any culture that surgically alters gender chemically castrates its children, disregards race, and accommodates its people acting as animals will collapse; it is simply a matter of time.
Christians don’t often recognize the underlying cause of cultural trends and their broader implications. Tom Gilson’s analysis identifies that there is more to the transgender movement than a temporary perversion. The transgender movement is part of an emerging post-Christian society that relies on anti-Christian theories and beliefs to rewrite our understanding of gender, race, and sexuality. Dramatic transformations are happening to our nation’s foundations.
The theory has broken from the ivory towers of universities to remove healthy limbs and celebrate the Dylan Mulvaney’s of the world. As Gilson points out, the world is increasingly sympathetic as the legal system, corporations, police, and academia are forcing transgender reality to become ours. There are increasing penalties for those who refuse to conform. It must be taken seriously.
