{"id":138748,"date":"2023-12-11T00:08:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T05:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=138748"},"modified":"2023-12-10T12:12:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T17:12:21","slug":"evolutionary-biology-themed-institute-works-to-debunk-gender-spectrum-nonsense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/evolutionary-biology-themed-institute-works-to-debunk-gender-spectrum-nonsense\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolutionary biology-themed institute works to debunk gender spectrum \u2018nonsense\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A team of self-styled science communicators are taking a stand against what they view as outright science denial through their new organization, The Paradox Institute, which works to inoculate young people against falling for gender spectra ideology myths and falsehoods.<\/p>\n<p>The institute produces educational materials on the biology of sex that young people find easy to digest, aesthetically pleasing, and \u201cbacked up by science,\u201d said founder Zachary Elliott in a telephone interview with <em>The College Fix.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The materials include written and audio essays, pamphlets, short animated videos, and podcasts on topics like the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparadoxinstitute.com\/watch\/the-denial-of-biological-sex\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Denial of Biological Sex<\/a>,\u201d \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparadoxinstitute.com\/watch\/why-sex-is-binary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why Sex is Binary<\/a>,\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparadoxinstitute.com\/watch\/defining-sex-vs-determining-sex\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Defining Sex vs Determining Sex<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe denial of the two sexes is one of the fundamental issues of our time,\u201d the institute\u2019s website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparadoxinstitute.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">states<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As the cultural landscape remains saturated with casual rejections of the basic science of sex by young people, educators and policymakers, Elliott said he hopes The Paradox Institute will continue to grow from its roots in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>In the offing are plans to develop a publishing wing to work with authors looking to put out books on topics related to sex and gender, he said.<\/p>\n<p>The standard age-range for the site\u2019s audience is late teens through late twenties, he said, adding it\u2019s vital the upcoming generation is \u201ceducated in the biology of sex and sex differences, so we\u2019re really happy that we\u2019re reaching that audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re also reaching parents who have kids with gender dysphoria, providing them with good information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/X_qwOnj1teU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The institute has consulted with evolutionary biologists such as Colin Wright to ensure the organization\u2019s content is consistent with the current scientific literature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;d definitely recommend it to anyone seeking scientifically accurate information on the biology of sex,\u201d Wright told <em>The College Fix<\/em> via email.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, University of Chicago evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne similarly <a href=\"https:\/\/whyevolutionistrue.com\/2022\/12\/04\/getting-straight-about-sex-a-bunch-of-useful-videos-on-sex-and-sex-differences-and-some-mishigas-by-a-couple-of-scientists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">praised<\/a> The Paradox Institute as \u201ca site that looks to be a gold mine of information on human sex, how sex evolved, why there are only two sexes, and on the various disorders of sex development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-138751 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ParadoxMyths.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"271\" height=\"509\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ParadoxMyths.jpg 389w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ParadoxMyths-160x300.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ParadoxMyths-213x400.jpg 213w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ParadoxMyths-59x110.jpg 59w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 271px) 100vw, 271px\" \/>One effort by the institute that Elliott said he is particularly proud of is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparadoxinstitute.com\/print\/pamphlets\/myths-of-gender-affirming-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pamphlet campaign<\/a> to help combat myths related to so-called gender affirming care.<\/p>\n<p>Asked why he believes so many young people are embracing gender ideology regarding sex and gender spectra and experimenting with different identities, Elliott said there\u2019s a component of \u201ca genetic-slash-environment thing and how somebody was raised and their predisposition towards things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut there\u2019s also a big portion of it right now where it\u2019s definitely more of a social contagion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many young people, he said, are experiencing feelings of anxiety, isolation, and alienation, as well as dissatisfaction with how they look. The gender industry, he said, gives them something to latch on to in the hope that it will solve their problems. When peers start talking about changing their gender to solve their problems, this reinforces the appeal, he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, it\u2019s not just troubled teenagers who are embracing the larger ideology, Elliott noted: \u201cIt\u2019s people across the board from every demographic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople latch onto ideas that they see as fashionable and they\u2019re people who are very pulled by the culture and the times of the culture. And that\u2019s happened throughout history,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n<p>Elliott\u2019s \u201cfascination with the biology of sex and desire to learn and educate led him to create the Paradox Institute in January 2020,\u201d the website states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a term I like called \u2018fashionable nonsense,\u2019 and I believe it was coined by Alan Sokal, a physicist who wrote some fake papers that actually got accepted into elite journals, to show the nonsense at the core of the growing postmodernist ideology at the time in the 90s,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n<p>He likened gender spectrum ideology to \u201cfashionable nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe there are some half-truths in it,\u201d he added, \u201clike, for example, the sex spectrum idea tells you that there\u2019s this spectrum in diversity between male and female. Well, there\u2019s diversity within male and female, but it\u2019s within males and within females.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey try to pull on these half-truths and then they extrapolate out these major conclusions that are just complete nonsense,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a very appealing notion, but when you actually evaluate the claims in detail and understand the scientific literature and the evidence, it\u2019s all on a foundation of sand. It\u2019s not based in reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other members of The Paradox Institute team include graphic designer Cynthia Breheny, neuroscience PhD student Sammy Stagg, and Talia Nava, who is described on the institute website as having an educational background in cognitive psychology and medical anthropology.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/author-of-transgender-craze-seducing-our-daughters-offers-parents-advice-on-how-to-protect-their-girls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Author of \u2018Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters\u2019 offers parents advice<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IMAGES: The Paradox Institute<\/p>\n            <div class=\"article-truncate-control\">\n                <button class=\"show-complete-article\">\n                    Read More                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;The denial of the two sexes is one of the fundamental issues of our time.&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1189,"featured_media":138753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085,1077],"tags":[37562,21454,6136,52182,31028],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ParadoxInstituteMain.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-A5S","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138748"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138757,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138748\/revisions\/138757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}