How Does FCPS Justify Using the Term “Assigned at Birth” To Describe Someone’s Biological Sex?
One answer can be gleaned from the new FCPS video the Family Life Advisory Committee (FLAC) proposes for use in Middle and High Schools.
The video opens with the following statement:
“Traditionally, one’s assigned sex at birth is their biological sex…however, it’s not that simple.” The video explains, “a person could be missing certain genes that encode for specific characteristics, so even though they are chromosomally male, they appear as what is stereotypically described as a female.” It goes on to describe that genes produce varying levels of estrogen and testosterone which engage with hormonal receptors and that this doesn’t always happen in line with standard male and female biology and “in many cases, these people are intersex individuals whose bodies do not fit into the standard definition of male or female.”
What the video fails to mention, at any point, is how rare these instances of biological anomalies are. The video leaves the student with the impression that sex must be “assigned” at birth or forced on someone because people are born with all types of variations that result in a broad “spectrum” of biological types. The actual instance of such cases, according to the National Institute of Health, is .018%, and putting aside the fact that FCPS is providing a series of videos on this topic, the omission of the reality of the rarity of occurrence is a clear example of a school system with an ideological agenda.
There is no problem with explaining the biology that determines if a human is male or female, but there is a substantial problem if a school is not teaching all of the facts and context necessary for students to understand that biological sex is determined by science 99.98% of the time. The truth about these anomalies should be a 15-minute chapter/lesson, not a series of one-sided videos.
Parents should be aware of what gender videos FLAC recommends showing their children. Here is the one we referenced. There are many more.