During the confirmation hearing for one of the Trump administration’s cabinet secretaries, the nominee testified that “there are two genders.”

Sexes, not genders, would have been the right word.

As you may have learned in, say, a seventh-grade life-sciences class, organisms that reproduce sexually–as opposed to asexually — have two sexes: Male and female. Males are he; females are she.

Gender is different from sex. Early in a foreign-language class, one learns that gender is a construct of language.

In Romance languages, nouns have two genders. Each noun is either masculine or feminine. A masculine noun is he, while a feminine noun is she.

Meanwhile, Germanic languages, including English, have three genders, not two. Each noun is either masculine, feminine, or neuter. A masculine noun is he, a feminine noun is she, and a neuter noun is it.

Walk into a church in a German-speaking country, and you’ll find that

– the church is she,

– the Bible is she,

– the altar is it,

– the cross is he,

– the communion is she,

– the bread is it,

– the wine is he,

– the order of service is she,

– the organ is she,

– the piano is it,

– the hymn is she,

– the pew is she,

– the window is it,

– the door is she,

– the floor is he,

– the ceiling is she, and

– the roof is it.

In English, by contrast, inanimate objects are mostly it, with some exceptions. Consider, for example, “God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her … .” In this sense, America is she, not it.

As the saying goes, this ain’t rocket science.

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Using incorrect words can have the effect of muddying thought and thereby ideas while making the ideas more palatable.

You, faithful reader of this column, will recall that “illegal immigrant” and “undocumented immigrant” are oxymorons. Why? Because an immigrant is someone who enters a country legally. Immigration is a legal process. Legal processes produce documents.

Thus, there’s no such thing as an “illegal immigrant” or an “undocumented immigrant.” Such terms are a misuse of language, which leads to confusion.

You’ll also recall that the same goes for saying “gun safety” when one means “gun control.”

The same goes for confounding sex and gender.

During the Biden administration, a nominee testifying at a Senate confirmation hearing was asked to define what a woman is.

The response could have been as simple and straightforward as saying that a woman is an adult, female homo sapien.

Instead, the bottom line in the response–for whatever reason–was, “I’m not a biologist.”

Well, one doesn’t have to be a biologist to know the difference between a man and a woman, any more than one has to be a biologist to know the difference between a bull and a cow. Or that a red cardinal is male, while a brown cardinal is female.

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In his inaugural address, on Jan. 20, the 47th president of the United States declared that “America’s decline is over.”

Since then, he has proceeded at a breakneck pace to undo this decline, including with respect to Title IX.

To his credit, on Feb. 5–understanding that men and women are physically different, as are boys and girls–declared that “the war on women’s sports is over.”

This has nothing to do with gender. It has everything to do with sex, particularly the significant physical differences that XX and XY chromosomes impart.

The president’s action won’t directly end all wars on women’s sports. It won’t directly affect, for example, the Olympics. Do you recall the female boxer pummeled badly by an opponent during the 2024 summer games in Paris? It was so bad that she had to stop. This should have enraged those who are often the first to stand up for women yet who, for whatever reason, remained silent.

The president’s action will, however, directly affect schools, colleges, and universities that receive money from the federal government.

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Yet why do many who are often the first to stand up for women remain silent?

Let’s pick up where we left off on July 19, 2024: They’re afraid.

No wonder.

They’re afraid of those promoting “diversity” of many kinds yet not diversity of thought.

Dare to disagree with them, and you’ll have a fight–of one form or another–on your hands. Your choices may be to fight or keep quiet.

Not everyone is willing to fight this fight. That’s understandable, particularly when it’s against those acting like bullies, perhaps because they are bullies.

Yet let’s remember this. Bullies are often bullies, not because they’re strong, secure, and superior but because they’re weak, insecure, or inferior. Backing down to bullies, rather than standing up to them, rarely works.

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Randy Elf salutes and joins those who on many occasions have stood up to bullies.

COPYRIGHT (c) 2025 BY RANDY ELF