Description
The notion of a “sexual blank slate”—the idea that sex differences in behavior, psychology, and preferences are entirely (or nearly entirely) the product of culture and socialization—remains deeply entrenched in parts of academia and the broader culture. Within academia and especially on the political left, to contradict or even question this view is often seen not just as wrong, but immoral.
Over the past decade, this ideology has become even less scientifically defensible and, at the same time, more hostile to dissent. In its current form, sexual blank-slatism often explicitly excludes the foundational biological reality that there are two, and only two sexes, and that sex in humans is immutable.
This talk will explore the emergence of this new, more rigid form of sexual blank-slatism, how it has contributed to the rise of phenomena like “MAGA masculinity,” and how it has fueled growing distrust in science, academia, and the political left. It argues that social progress depends on our ability to engage with biological truths in good faith, and that distorting science to serve ideological ends ultimately harms everyone.