Weaponised Compassion

 

I had a conversation once with someone who is pro-abortion, that had a middle that went something like this:

Pro-abortion person: But what about in cases where the pregnant women has been raped by her father, should she be compelled to keep it?

Me: Ah, but are you actually just advocating for abortion under conditions where the pregnant women has been raped by her father?

Pro-abortion person: No, I believe the right number of abortions should be 1 for every woman that wants one.

Me: I thought as much - so the whole ‘cases where the pregnant woman has been raped by her father’ angle was just a Trojan horse, wasn’t it? A plea meant to mask an outright push for abortion under any circumstances.

While the topic was different, the conversation above brings to mind a similar issue that’s going on in the so-called trans debate. If the push was simply the call for more compassion and understanding for the relatively few Intersex people who are born with ambiguous genitalia (especially Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome and Ovotesticular DSD), and clearly have to contend with a lot of suffering and identity issues, then I think all but the most insensitive people would be on board.

But as expected, that is not what has happened. If anything, the Intersex people – the real victims in this - have had their sufferings hijacked by a combination of bad-faith actors trying to push a far broader and ideologically driven agenda around so-called gender identity to serve their own ends, and advocates who have been swept up in support without being mindful enough of the harm.

For years, few have been willing to speak up against this – just as too few women have been brave enough to speak out against biological males using their toilets, entering their sports and occupying their prisons (and for complex reason which I won’t go into here, it really has to be primarily women taking the biggest stand against this). Consequently, the public has been ideologically nudged into accepting sweeping, harmful claims, that only now (thankfully) seem to be being resisted with a bit more rigour.

All this follows a familiar story. When compassion is weaponised into false, enforced ideological conformity, everyone suffers. The only way to fight back and speak up for those who need defending is to speak the truth, and hope enough people join you.

Further reading on this: See all the articles in my Sex and Gender tab Here