474. Common Sense in the Discourse on Sex and Gender feat. Doriane Lambelet Coleman

With sex and gender becoming such politicized and polarizing issues recently, what’s a common sense approach to sorting through all the information to better understand the issues at hand? How have different struggles for equal rights throughout history shaped and informed these common-sense positions?

Doriane Lambelet Coleman is a professor at Duke Law School, specializing in scholarship on women, sports, children and law. She is also the author of On Sex and Gender: A Commonsense Approach and Fixing Columbine: The Challenge to American Liberalism.

Greg and Doriane discuss the evolving landscape of sex and gender, highlighting the shift from traditional binary definitions to more inclusive yet controversial perspectives. Doriane advocates for a balanced, evidence-based approach that recognizes both biological differences and the rights of transgender individuals. The conversation also touches on the legal implications of defining sex and gender and the socio-political dynamics that shape current debates. 

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

• Fourteenth Amendment
• The Equality Act
• Women's rights
• Civil rights movement
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Equal Protection Clause
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Pauli Murray
• Thurgood Marshall
• Amateur Sports Act of 1978
• United States v. Virginia
• Judith Butler

Guest Profile:

• DorianeColeman.com
• Faculty Profile at Duke Law School
• Wikipedia Profile

Her Work:

• Amazon Author Page
• On Sex and Gender: A Commonsense Approach
• Fixing Columbine: The Challenge to American Liberalism

Episode Quotes:

Balancing trans rights while acknowledging the reality of sex

46:59: Trans people, including trans women, of course, have every right to the same dignity and respect as anyone else, and certainly, equal protection should attach to everyone, including trans people. I don't think we can resolve the impasses without recognizing the difference between sex and gender. I think that we can have trans rights, but not by way of denying sex. In other words, the strategy that requires sex blindness in order to achieve rights for trans people is not going to work for a lot of females. And so, leaving the political right aside that d