Gender Matters. So Does Science

On the first day of the new administration, January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order: "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," which did the opposite. The order denied decades of science about sex and gender, and began a policy of diminishing the rights of anyone who rejects conformity to gender stereotypes. This order targets transgender and nonbinary Americans, but it does much more than that: It also targets feminists, women, and men who refuse to be constrained by gendered social norms.

Let me explain. As a social scientist who has studied gender for four decades, I can assure everyone that no one has ever denied the biological reality of sex, despite the executive order's claims. Scientists who study gender have not, as the order reads, tried to replace the "immutable biological reality of sex with an internal fluid and subjective sense of self." Scientists know, as does everyone else, that sexual dimorphism exists: Some people have penises and produce sperms, others have breasts and wombs, produce eggs, and sometimes birth babies. To proclaim that scientists have declared sex to have been replaced by a sense of self "unmoored from biological facts" is hogwash.

As a social scientist, in my own research, I have found strong evidence that gender identity also exists, and that it is not always consistent with biological sex. Gender identity is one's subjective sense of oneself as a man or a woman. Most people who have bodies that are sexed female also identify as women. Most people who have bodies that are sexed male also identify as men. But not all. Some people do not identify as women or men. And then there are people whose biological sex is not clear, who are intersex and may identify as men, women, or nonbinary.

Scientists do not offer "gender ideology" as the executive order suggests that we do. We offer evidence-based research. We know from research, not from politics, that there are more than two genders, and actually more than two sexes (as there are people born intersex) and this has nothing to do with ideology. Federal funds are now forbidden to promote gender ideology, but given that science has never promoted such ideology, there should be no practical implications of this order.

Now, the executive order requires the federal government to only use "sex" when enforcing distinctions between women and men, and in all applicable federal policies and documents. That is within the right of the federal government, but the consequences are harmful for anyone who doesn't follow stereotypical gender norms, whatever their sex or gender identity. For example, a female-sexed person, who identifies as a woman but dresses in suits and ties and enjoys a masculine style can be accosted in a bathroom, or by the TSA. Transgender women—who have lived as women for decades, with female passports, and look more feminine than many female-sexed persons—can now be issued passports with a male designation, and so will be far more likely to be stopped and searched than when their passport correctly matched their gender.

The executive order also requires the state to stop collecting data on gender. But why? If, as the order implies, gender identity does not really exist, isn't the best way to prove that with empirical evidence? Why not collect data and show that very few, if any, Americans have a gender identity that is not consistent with their biological sex? Only an administration afraid of scientific evidence would forbid scientific data collection. But then again, there are many other scientific topics being forbidden by the current administration, from research on climate change to the existence of health disparities by race, gender, and ethnicity.

Beyond disallowing research, the executive order also forbids expenditures that ease the lives of transgender Americans, whether in the military or prison. For example, it denies funding for "any medical procedure, treatment or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate's appearance to that of the opposite sex" which leaves transgender inmates without the medical care they need to remain healthy, both physically and mentally. We know from much research that transgender people are far less likely to be suicidal if they have appropriate gender-affirming medicines. Trump is also trying to expel transgender people from the armed services, although that is being challenged in court.

The major scientific confusion that threads all throughout this executive order is the confusion of sex and gender. Sex matters, and no scientist who has studied the evidence would suggest otherwise. But gender matters as well, and no scientist who has studied the evidence would suggest otherwise. It is past time for the scientific community to come together and insist that scientific research matters, and that our policies reflect evidence. Listen to them. We all need good science, and we need good science to guide our public policies so that they will not be driven by anti-gender ideology.