What is a Woman? Sex, Gender, Identity, and the Logic behind the Gender Ideology Movement

Transgenderism, Gender Identity Disorder, or gender dysphoria is a feeling that a person’s biological sex does not match the gender they identify with and/or perceive themselves to be. Individuals who identify as transgender often describe themselves as feeling “trapped” in a body that does not match who they feel they are in the inside.

The transgender movement rises and falls upon the idea that gender and sex are two completely different constructs that might deeply intertwined with one another, but are altogether separate. Sex is a biological construct (unchanging and based on chromosomes).  Gender is a social construct or category (a perception, a feeling, or way of identifying, which is subjective and really more of an experience). Gender has now emerged as a continuum or spectrum where one can identify themselves as any gender identity. For millennia, human civilization has understood gender as binary- there are men, and there are women. But now, some say there are as few as 72 genders, while others say there are an infinite number of genders.

But is any of this true? Can a man just decide he’s a woman, and that makes him a woman? Can a woman just decide to be a man, and she’s magically a man? Are gender and sex two completely different things? What does the Bible have to say about these ideas? And how can we actually have coherent conversations about these ideas without resorting to name-calling, mud-slinging, or storming out of the room?