Everybody in America is Female!

[thewayne]

Sorry, Kyleri, but the weird old felon in the White House said so!

He signed an executive order in his first day or so back to polluting that rather important office that said that everyone in the country must identify by their gender at conception. The problem is, at that moment we're either female or genderless. Seems that whoever the clever boffin is that wrote that isn't too up on biology, genetics, or reproduction. Which is not in the least bit surprising.

This is a classic from Mitch Benn, whom I loved listening to on BBC Radio 4's The Now Show.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[gingeriana]

this is what happens when people who were smoking in school toilets while skipping Science classes take over the gov.

"gender at conception"! whoever came up with this deserves an Ignoble Prize immediately

[thewayne]

Agreed!

[spiralsheep]

Even more startling to learn that identical twins are legally one person in US law now.*

* Note: executive orders don't actually change legal precedent afaik (but Mitch Benn is still funny).

[thewayne]

An EO, especially in the hands of the weird old felon, is little more than a wish.  It frequently requires legislation behind it to make it reality, and legislation isn't going to reorder biology. :-)

[spiralsheep]

Someone should write a short story in which one identical twin is murdered but the murder can't be prosecuted as a crime because identical twins are legally only one person and precisely one person is still alive.

[thewayne]

Oh, that would be interesting!

[disneydream06]

That is a riot. :)
Hugs, Jon

[garote]

I miss The Now Show already… Is Mitch doing anything cool these days?

[thewayne]

Mitch's Wikipedia page says he stopped performing with The Now Show in '16.  According to his web page, he's touring quite regularly.  So I guess he's doing well.

[warriorsavant]

I didn't notice that about "conception." That's as (darkly) funny as anything else he's done.

[thewayne]

Yep.  I guess his 'genius'ness doesn't cover reproductive genetics.

[silveradept]

Yep. More than a few people noticed this, although not as many of them have set it to music in such a way. The tune certainly carries a lot of the sentiments that the people who campaigned against that person have in mind and still are more than willing to speak aloud when given the opportunity to do so.

Of course, the person who wrote this for him to sign probably also believes that at conception, you received your soul, and therefore you had a gender because you were ensouled with the gender that the deity gave you.

(Which was slightly different than historical theories of when an embryo actually gained their soul, which was not at conception, but some significant time after, the quickening. If that theory had prevailed, we might have had much less fighting about when an abortion is appropriate to have.)

[thewayne]

It wouldn't surprise me if it's buried in Project 2025's book somewhere.

[silveradept]

It is. The bit about people only being their assigned gender at birth definitely is. Probably not that it's assigned gender at conception, but there definitely are parts in there about defining life as beginning at conception and other such things. Most likely it's a malapropism and until someone makes them defend it in court, they'll pretend it says what they meant instead of what it says.

[kellan_the_tabby]

I first heard about this delighfulness from my therapist, who is also trans, & we had a pretty good laugh over it (interspersed with some screeching, of course). I stand proud with my sisters of all genders! Or something.

[thewayne]

"...sisters of all genders! Or something."  ROFLMAO!