- HHS secretary RFK Jr. issued new sex-based definitions that experts say go against science.
- The move aligns with the Trump administration’s ongoing initiatives to recognize only two sexes: male and female.
- The new binary definitions exclude references to gender, erase the identities of gender-diverse and intersex individuals, and may lead to physical and mental health harm.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued new federal guidance on sex less than one week after being confirmed as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The February 19 guidelines state that the United States government will recognize only two sexes: male and female. Experts say this defies broader terms used by medical professionals and rejects science.
Kennedy’s new sex-based definitions, which disregard gender identity, align with an executive order on “gender ideology extremism” signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in the Oval Office on January 20.
HHS will expand on the executive order by promoting policies asserting that “women are biologically female and men are biologically male,” the agency states.
HHS will also implement policies aligned with other executive orders issued by Trump, such as “protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation” and “keeping men out of women’s sports.” The Office on Women’s Health (OWH) has already launched a new webpage with resources to reflect the new guidelines.
“This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government, Kennedy said in a news release. “The prior administration’s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.”
These moves, critics say, go against science and deny the identities of transgender, nonbinary, gender-diverse, and intersex individuals.
“The claim that sex is an ‘immutable biological classification’ goes against scientific understanding of sex,” said Ray Haider, MD, a psychiatrist with Mindpath Health. “The psychological toll of this new executive order which seeks to erase transgender people and enforce a gender binary, cannot be overstated,” Haider told Healthline.
New HHS sex-based definitions omit gender
The Trump administration’s efforts to erase gender-based identities reverse Biden-era efforts to foster inclusivity in public health policies and scientific research.
In another executive order issued on day one, the president required federal health agencies like the HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to scrub any references to gender inclusivity from webpages, prompting lawsuits by medical organizations.
After a federal judge ordered health agencies to restore the deleted information, certain pages on the CDC’s website now include a disclaimer stating that “any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female.”
According to the HHS, the new guidelines for sex could improve treatment outcomes for people with certain health conditions that may vary based on a person’s sex assigned at birth.
“In health care, sex distinctions can influence disease presentation, diagnosis, and treatment differently in females and males,” Dorothy Fink, MD, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women’s Health, said in the news release. “HHS recognizes that biological differences between females and males require sex-specific practices in medicine and research to ensure optimal health outcomes.”
However, HHS’ new guidelines do not account for variations in sex traits exhibited by gender-diverse and intersex people, who may have vastly different treatment needs than cisgender individuals.
The HHS’ new sex-based definitions are as follows:
- Sex: A person’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.
- Female: is a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova).
- Male: is a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm.
- Woman: an adult human female.
- Girl: a minor human female.
- Man: an adult human male.
- Boy: a minor human male.
- Mother: a female parent.
- Father: a male parent.
HHS excludes variations in sex characteristics
The new definitions discriminate against gender-diverse individuals and do not consider intersex individuals, who are born with variations in sex characteristics.
Haider explained that sex can be determined according to different biological categories, such as:
- chromosomal sex (XX and XY are the most common chromosomes)
- other combinations of sex chromosomes (i.e., XXX, XXY, XXXY, single X chromosome)
- gonadal sex
- external genitalia
- secondary sex characteristics
“While a person with XY chromosomes is likely to have testes and a penis and be classified as ‘male,’ XY individuals with conditions such as androgen insensitivity syndrome (an intersex condition) can develop external sex characteristics typical of females,” Haider said.
“The [White House] statement that sex is determined at conception is false. There is a single cell at conception (the zygote), which develops sex characteristics based on genetic and hormonal influences,” they noted.
Anne-Marie Amies Oelschlager, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Chair of the Clinical Consensus Gynecology Committee at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, cares for children and teens who fall on the intersex spectrum.
Amies Oelschlager called the HHS’ guidelines “a vast oversimplification of a very complex process” that “doesn’t reflect the science or reality of biological sex.”
People with variations in sex characteristics and chromosomal differences cannot “fit neatly into the oversimplified version of male and female as set forth by HHS,” she told Healthline.
Amies Oelschlager explained that genetic sex is established when a sperm fertilizes an egg, but then hundreds of genes guide the differentiation of the gonad and subsequent hormones to guide the differentiation of internal and external genitalia.
“There’s a lot of people who have ovaries but don’t produce eggs, and there are people with testes who don’t produce sperm,” she said.
Examples may include a person with ovotestes, which means their gonad has both ovarian and testicular tissue present, or a person with genetic gonads who cannot develop an ovary or testes due to genetic variations in XXY chromosomes or other sex chromosome differences.
Amies Oelschalger described variations in sex characteristics as a “natural phenomenon” that isn’t as rare as many people might think. Experts have estimated that around 1.7% of the population is born with intersex traits.
“People don’t talk about it publicly because they’re afraid of discrimination. And this is just an example of why people are afraid,” she said.
How ‘gender binary’ could harm communities
Trump’s executive order includes a directive to rescind guidance documents focusing on transgender equality, LGBTQI+ youth and families, and intersex people, Haider said, which is detrimental to the mental health of these groups.
The repercussions of new policies set forth by the Trump administration and the HHS have already taken effect.
For instance, the trans actress and model Hunter Schaffer was issued a new passport that changed her gender from “X” to “Male,” reversing a passport policy from the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, a growing number of states have joined the ban on gender affirming care for minors, and schools and colleges across the country have already barred trans women from competing in sports.
“Transgender and gender-diverse individuals already face numerous challenges in their daily lives, but previously had the opportunity to exist as their authentic selves,” Haider noted.
“In my clinical practice, I routinely encounter patients who rely on essential medical treatments, recommended by WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health), such as hormone therapy or surgeries, to alleviate gender dysphoria and maintain their physical health,” Haider continued.
“They are directly affected by this executive order; it has cultivated an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, and hopelessness in this population,” they noted. “Access to gender affirming care is lifesaving care.”
Untreated gender dysphoria may lead to debilitating depression and suicidal ideation and attempts, Haider said.
The sudden disruption of access to hormonal therapy, especially in those who do not have their original gonads, could lead to significant health concerns, Haider said, such as an increased risk of:
- osteoporosis
- cardiovascular disease
- cognitive decline.
Amies Oelschalger shared a similar sentiment. “The youth I’m caring for, whether they identify as transgender, nonbinary, or cisgender, are feeling extreme sadness and fear,” she explained.
“Parents are very upset about this; they know how vulnerable their children are, they already face so much discrimination. This type of language negates the fact that they exist and is othering. It’s deeply sad to me,” she said.
Takeaway
RFK Jr., the newly appointed secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has issued new sex-based definitions to align with recent Trump administration executive orders.
The federal government states it will recognize only two sexes, male and female, an opinion that defies science.
The new definitions eliminate references to gender, thus erasing the identities of gender-diverse and intersex individuals, which could cause significant physical and mental health harm.
HHS' New Definitions of ‘Sex,’ ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’ Defy Science, Experts Say
Source: Pinoy Lang Sakalam
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