News and Events => Opinions & Editorials => Topic started by: Jessica_Rose on October 28, 2025, 08:01:14 PM Return to Full Version
Title: Gender is not an ideology...
Post by: Jessica_Rose on October 28, 2025, 08:01:14 PM
Post by: Jessica_Rose on October 28, 2025, 08:01:14 PM
Conservative campaigns against so-called "gender ideology" are accelerating from K–12 into universities, using censorship bills, course restrictions, and program eliminations to narrow what students can learn.
Sociologists Victoria Pitts-Taylor and Elizabeth Anne Wood explain that "gender" is a legitimate, multi-disciplinary field—not an ideology—and that both sex and gender are more complex than rigid binaries.
They trace today's anti-gender politics to Vatican and evangelical mobilizations in the 1990s and show how the rhetoric now underpins broader efforts to roll back abortion, LGBTQ+, and civil rights.
The authors argue that suppressing inquiry about gender is ultimately about power: constraining thought, chilling dissent, and eroding democratic norms.
You can read the complete article below, or at the original link: The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/gender-is-not-an-ideology-but-conservative-groups-know-learning-about-it-empowers-people-to-think-for-themselves-265549).
Gender is not an ideology – but conservative groups know learning about it empowers people to think for themselves
By Victoria Pitts-Taylor (Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Sociology; Science and Technology Studies, Wesleyan University) and Elizabeth Anne Wood (Professor of Sociology, Nassau Community College)
Published: October 21, 2025
Disclosure statement: Victoria Pitts-Taylor is a member of the American Association of University Professors and the National Women's Studies Association. Elizabeth Anne Wood is a senior strategist with the Woodhull Freedom Foundation. This is a volunteer position.
Partners: Wesleyan University — Wesleyan University provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.h9emqfsnx
Political attacks on teaching about gender in colleges and universities are about more than just gender: They are part of a grander project of eroding civil and human rights, limiting personal freedoms and undermining democracy in the name of "traditional" values.
On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring there are two sexes determined solely by the kind of reproductive cells the body makes, and that the federal government would recognize nothing else. The order claims to protect the "freedom to express the binary nature of sex" and bans the use of federal funds to "promote gender ideology." Legal experts have criticized the directive as unconstitutional and are challenging it in the courts.
Yet the order has provided fuel for conservatives, right-wing politicians and activists trying to remove so-called gender ideology from many places in American society, including classrooms. Right-wing activists are pushing for censorship of educational curricula in K-12 schools and in colleges and universities, and they have succeeded in Texas, Florida and other red states.
Why are conservative politicians so determined to control how Americans define sex and understand gender?
As sociologists who research and teach about gender, we know that gender across disciplines is understood to be a complex topic of study, not an ideology. The study of gender represents the kind of free inquiry that allows people to decide for themselves how to live, free of coercion or government control.
What is 'gender ideology'?
"Gender ideology" is a catch-all term conservative Catholics initially promoted in the 1990s in response to the United Nations' promotion of women's equality.
In 2004, pushing back on the global women's and gay rights movements, the Vatican declared in a letter to bishops that men and women are different by nature "not only on the physical level, but also on the psychological and spiritual." The letter stated that the idea of gender "inspired ideologies" that sanction alternatives to the traditional two-parent family headed by men and treated homosexuality on par with heterosexuality.
Over the following decades, evangelical groups and far-right parties across the globe – from Hungary and Russia to Peru, Brazil and Ghana – have used the language of combating "gender ideology" to counter a host of social policies, including sex education in schools, the legalization of gay marriage and same-sex adoption, reproductive rights and transgender rights.
The anti-gender movement is no longer fringe but rather well funded, organized and transnational. For example, 40 countries have signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration, an international pact proposed by the first Trump administration and supported by anti-gender campaigners as a way to deny abortion rights internationally.
In the U.S., where the majority of Americans support gay marriage and abortion rights, targeting trans rights has become one of the conservative movement's galvanizing issues. A flood of state bills not only ban books and discussions of gender, sexuality and race in schools but also criminalize abortion, ban gender-affirming health care and legalize discrimination in housing and employment on religious grounds.
What we talk about when we talk about gender
How gender is researched and taught in universities has become a key target of anti-gender campaigns across the globe, in part because the study of gender raises questions about the universality of traditional social roles and the inequalities that can result from them.
Gender is a focus of inquiry not only in gender studies classes but in literature, sociology, law, government, history, anthropology and cultural geography, among many other fields.
Anti-gender campaigners argue there is nothing to understand about it because gender is given by nature or God. For them, gender is equivalent to sex, which is taken to be straightforward and without exception male or female.
Scientific evidence suggests, however, that sex is not always binary. In biology, sex refers to genes, reproductive organs, hormone systems and observable physical characteristics; different combinations of these lead to variations in sex. Far from straightforward, then, sex is complicated.
And a person's assigned sex at birth does not always align with their deeply held sense of self – their gender identity.
Gender is both a feature of individual people and a mode of organizing social life. At the individual level, people have a subjective sense of and embody their gender by dressing and behaving in ways that encourage other people to see them as they want to be seen. A man might wear a tie at the office to convey masculinity.
People will interact differently with a woman when she is wearing high heels and makeup than when she goes barefaced or dons a swimsuit. Someone who is gender fluid may appear more masculine or feminine at different times and experience prejudice and discrimination.
Gender shapes societies through norms and rules on everything from what you wear to how families operate, whom you are allowed to partner with and what jobs you are likely to hold. Whether in the spheres of culture, family, economic or civic life, gender roles and norms intersect with class, race and other social differences and shift across cultures and historical eras. Indigenous societies across the globe have long recognized more than two gender categories, and historical and contemporary examples of gender diversity abound.
A ban on learning about gender would sweep aside all this variation in favor of a homogeneous worldview that deliberately ignores biology, history and lived experience. Denying the diversity of gender makes it easier to impose a conservative worldview and roll back rights.
Education as a political target
Anti-gender campaigners view education as a major battleground in the fight over societal values. In the U.S., conservative efforts to ban the study of gender and sexuality initially centered on K-12 education, exemplified in bills such as Florida's 2022 "Don't Say Gay" law. But the movement has also affected colleges and universities.
Texas A&M's president fired a professor in September 2025 after a student recorded her confrontation with her for discussing gender diversity in a literature course. The student alleged the course was "not legal" because it contradicted "our president's laws" and her own religious beliefs. The university president also later resigned under pressure.
The same month, the chancellor of the Texas Tech University system, citing Trump's executive order on "gender ideology," banned all faculty members across its five universities from recognizing "more than two sexes" in any course or classroom.
As the Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors reminds its members, faculty have a constitutional right to teach and discuss "all matters related to the subject matter of a class" without interference from administrators, politicians or government officials.
Despite this, states led by conservative lawmakers have used a range of tactics to eliminate gender studies programs or curriculum from colleges.
These attacks on universities are attempts to control thought, subdue social movements advocating for change and promote an orthodoxy that upholds those in power.
Restricting rights, eroding democracy
These attacks on education are not only academic matters. They disempower women and marginalized groups that have achieved some legal protection or rights in recent decades. And they contribute to the erosion of democracy.
Authoritarian approaches to governing rely on scapegoating people, policing thought and speech, and punishing dissent. This is true whether it's Viktor Orban's Hungary, Vladimir Putin's Russia or Donald Trump's United States. By prohibiting questions and challenges, autocrats gain the power to limit how people think and control their bodies.
Note: Minor formatting changes (paragraph breaks) were made to improve readability; wording is unchanged.
Republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/gender-is-not-an-ideology-but-conservative-groups-know-learning-about-it-empowers-people-to-think-for-themselves-265549
Sociologists Victoria Pitts-Taylor and Elizabeth Anne Wood explain that "gender" is a legitimate, multi-disciplinary field—not an ideology—and that both sex and gender are more complex than rigid binaries.
They trace today's anti-gender politics to Vatican and evangelical mobilizations in the 1990s and show how the rhetoric now underpins broader efforts to roll back abortion, LGBTQ+, and civil rights.
The authors argue that suppressing inquiry about gender is ultimately about power: constraining thought, chilling dissent, and eroding democratic norms.
You can read the complete article below, or at the original link: The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/gender-is-not-an-ideology-but-conservative-groups-know-learning-about-it-empowers-people-to-think-for-themselves-265549).
Gender is not an ideology – but conservative groups know learning about it empowers people to think for themselves
By Victoria Pitts-Taylor (Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Sociology; Science and Technology Studies, Wesleyan University) and Elizabeth Anne Wood (Professor of Sociology, Nassau Community College)
Published: October 21, 2025
Disclosure statement: Victoria Pitts-Taylor is a member of the American Association of University Professors and the National Women's Studies Association. Elizabeth Anne Wood is a senior strategist with the Woodhull Freedom Foundation. This is a volunteer position.
Partners: Wesleyan University — Wesleyan University provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.h9emqfsnx
Political attacks on teaching about gender in colleges and universities are about more than just gender: They are part of a grander project of eroding civil and human rights, limiting personal freedoms and undermining democracy in the name of "traditional" values.
On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring there are two sexes determined solely by the kind of reproductive cells the body makes, and that the federal government would recognize nothing else. The order claims to protect the "freedom to express the binary nature of sex" and bans the use of federal funds to "promote gender ideology." Legal experts have criticized the directive as unconstitutional and are challenging it in the courts.
Yet the order has provided fuel for conservatives, right-wing politicians and activists trying to remove so-called gender ideology from many places in American society, including classrooms. Right-wing activists are pushing for censorship of educational curricula in K-12 schools and in colleges and universities, and they have succeeded in Texas, Florida and other red states.
Why are conservative politicians so determined to control how Americans define sex and understand gender?
As sociologists who research and teach about gender, we know that gender across disciplines is understood to be a complex topic of study, not an ideology. The study of gender represents the kind of free inquiry that allows people to decide for themselves how to live, free of coercion or government control.
What is 'gender ideology'?
"Gender ideology" is a catch-all term conservative Catholics initially promoted in the 1990s in response to the United Nations' promotion of women's equality.
In 2004, pushing back on the global women's and gay rights movements, the Vatican declared in a letter to bishops that men and women are different by nature "not only on the physical level, but also on the psychological and spiritual." The letter stated that the idea of gender "inspired ideologies" that sanction alternatives to the traditional two-parent family headed by men and treated homosexuality on par with heterosexuality.
Over the following decades, evangelical groups and far-right parties across the globe – from Hungary and Russia to Peru, Brazil and Ghana – have used the language of combating "gender ideology" to counter a host of social policies, including sex education in schools, the legalization of gay marriage and same-sex adoption, reproductive rights and transgender rights.
The anti-gender movement is no longer fringe but rather well funded, organized and transnational. For example, 40 countries have signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration, an international pact proposed by the first Trump administration and supported by anti-gender campaigners as a way to deny abortion rights internationally.
In the U.S., where the majority of Americans support gay marriage and abortion rights, targeting trans rights has become one of the conservative movement's galvanizing issues. A flood of state bills not only ban books and discussions of gender, sexuality and race in schools but also criminalize abortion, ban gender-affirming health care and legalize discrimination in housing and employment on religious grounds.
What we talk about when we talk about gender
How gender is researched and taught in universities has become a key target of anti-gender campaigns across the globe, in part because the study of gender raises questions about the universality of traditional social roles and the inequalities that can result from them.
Gender is a focus of inquiry not only in gender studies classes but in literature, sociology, law, government, history, anthropology and cultural geography, among many other fields.
Anti-gender campaigners argue there is nothing to understand about it because gender is given by nature or God. For them, gender is equivalent to sex, which is taken to be straightforward and without exception male or female.
Scientific evidence suggests, however, that sex is not always binary. In biology, sex refers to genes, reproductive organs, hormone systems and observable physical characteristics; different combinations of these lead to variations in sex. Far from straightforward, then, sex is complicated.
And a person's assigned sex at birth does not always align with their deeply held sense of self – their gender identity.
Gender is both a feature of individual people and a mode of organizing social life. At the individual level, people have a subjective sense of and embody their gender by dressing and behaving in ways that encourage other people to see them as they want to be seen. A man might wear a tie at the office to convey masculinity.
People will interact differently with a woman when she is wearing high heels and makeup than when she goes barefaced or dons a swimsuit. Someone who is gender fluid may appear more masculine or feminine at different times and experience prejudice and discrimination.
Gender shapes societies through norms and rules on everything from what you wear to how families operate, whom you are allowed to partner with and what jobs you are likely to hold. Whether in the spheres of culture, family, economic or civic life, gender roles and norms intersect with class, race and other social differences and shift across cultures and historical eras. Indigenous societies across the globe have long recognized more than two gender categories, and historical and contemporary examples of gender diversity abound.
A ban on learning about gender would sweep aside all this variation in favor of a homogeneous worldview that deliberately ignores biology, history and lived experience. Denying the diversity of gender makes it easier to impose a conservative worldview and roll back rights.
Education as a political target
Anti-gender campaigners view education as a major battleground in the fight over societal values. In the U.S., conservative efforts to ban the study of gender and sexuality initially centered on K-12 education, exemplified in bills such as Florida's 2022 "Don't Say Gay" law. But the movement has also affected colleges and universities.
Texas A&M's president fired a professor in September 2025 after a student recorded her confrontation with her for discussing gender diversity in a literature course. The student alleged the course was "not legal" because it contradicted "our president's laws" and her own religious beliefs. The university president also later resigned under pressure.
The same month, the chancellor of the Texas Tech University system, citing Trump's executive order on "gender ideology," banned all faculty members across its five universities from recognizing "more than two sexes" in any course or classroom.
As the Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors reminds its members, faculty have a constitutional right to teach and discuss "all matters related to the subject matter of a class" without interference from administrators, politicians or government officials.
Despite this, states led by conservative lawmakers have used a range of tactics to eliminate gender studies programs or curriculum from colleges.
These attacks on universities are attempts to control thought, subdue social movements advocating for change and promote an orthodoxy that upholds those in power.
Restricting rights, eroding democracy
These attacks on education are not only academic matters. They disempower women and marginalized groups that have achieved some legal protection or rights in recent decades. And they contribute to the erosion of democracy.
Authoritarian approaches to governing rely on scapegoating people, policing thought and speech, and punishing dissent. This is true whether it's Viktor Orban's Hungary, Vladimir Putin's Russia or Donald Trump's United States. By prohibiting questions and challenges, autocrats gain the power to limit how people think and control their bodies.
Note: Minor formatting changes (paragraph breaks) were made to improve readability; wording is unchanged.
Republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/gender-is-not-an-ideology-but-conservative-groups-know-learning-about-it-empowers-people-to-think-for-themselves-265549
Title: Re: Gender is not an ideology...
Post by: Allie Jayne on October 29, 2025, 05:52:21 PM
Post by: Allie Jayne on October 29, 2025, 05:52:21 PM
What even is 'Gender'?
I doubt many people have an idea. I was taught, many years ago, that Sex refers to reproductive aspect, while Gender was how we saw ourselves in a social context (the saying was 'Sex is between your legs, while Gender is between your ears'.) Now, I constantly hear the argument that gender is an ideology because there are only 2 sexes? In my mind, one is very different to the other, but I have realised that in the majority of society, the terms are now totally interchangeable.
I see a 'Gender Reveal Party' and wonder how the parents worked out how their foetus saw itself? Of course, the parents are working on an Ultrasound (Sonogram) image, and the term they should be using is 'Sex Reveal'. I was in a hardware recently, and the electrical fittings were classified by 'Gender', determined by whether they penetrated or were to be penetrated. Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Parents, and even Trans people constantly conflate the terms to the point where, at least the term 'Gender' is at best useless, and likely is a major contributor to the global trend against Trans people.
If we can't find a term which only means how we see ourselves, how on earth can we expect people who have little interest to understand us?
Hugs,
Allie
I doubt many people have an idea. I was taught, many years ago, that Sex refers to reproductive aspect, while Gender was how we saw ourselves in a social context (the saying was 'Sex is between your legs, while Gender is between your ears'.) Now, I constantly hear the argument that gender is an ideology because there are only 2 sexes? In my mind, one is very different to the other, but I have realised that in the majority of society, the terms are now totally interchangeable.
I see a 'Gender Reveal Party' and wonder how the parents worked out how their foetus saw itself? Of course, the parents are working on an Ultrasound (Sonogram) image, and the term they should be using is 'Sex Reveal'. I was in a hardware recently, and the electrical fittings were classified by 'Gender', determined by whether they penetrated or were to be penetrated. Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Parents, and even Trans people constantly conflate the terms to the point where, at least the term 'Gender' is at best useless, and likely is a major contributor to the global trend against Trans people.
If we can't find a term which only means how we see ourselves, how on earth can we expect people who have little interest to understand us?
Hugs,
Allie
Title: Re: Gender is not an ideology...
Post by: Pema on October 29, 2025, 08:20:11 PM
Post by: Pema on October 29, 2025, 08:20:11 PM
@Allie Jayne, I wish I could like your post 10 times.
Title: Re: Gender is not an ideology...
Post by: Lori Dee on October 29, 2025, 09:16:50 PM
Post by: Lori Dee on October 29, 2025, 09:16:50 PM
Quote from: Allie Jayne on Yesterday at 05:52:21 PMI was taught, many years ago, that Sex refers to reproductive aspect, while Gender was how we saw ourselves in a social context (the saying was 'Sex is between your legs, while Gender is between your ears'.)
This was my understanding, too. Then my Endocrinologist offered to write a letter that I needed for a legal name change. In South Dakota, you need a letter from a physician who knows you and has treated you as a patient. The letter must certify that you have "undergone the necessary clinical treatments for a change of gender" from male to female. When I pointed out what was wrong with this letter that she signed under penalty of perjury, she said it is a standard form letter that the government uses.
OK, whatever. My "clinical treatments" did not change my sex or gender. Pills and therapy can't do that. The letter intentionally avoids giving away too much information by not specifying what treatments, such as surgery. So the ill-informed may decide what that means... in court.
😕
Title: Re: Gender is not an ideology...
Post by: Allie Jayne on October 29, 2025, 09:29:27 PM
Post by: Allie Jayne on October 29, 2025, 09:29:27 PM
Quote from: Lori Dee on Yesterday at 09:16:50 PMSo the ill-informed may decide what that means... in court.
😕
And here is the crux of our problems!
The ill-informed have made decisions in court from all the confusion created by having no specific language to convey our situation. And it will continue until we can make our situations clear. There is better understanding of the mythical Klingon nation than the hundreds of millions of Trans people on our planet! We need to recognise this and start change with terms which accurately represent us!
Hugs,
Allie
Title: Re: Gender is not an ideology...
Post by: Sarah B on October 29, 2025, 11:51:15 PM
Post by: Sarah B on October 29, 2025, 11:51:15 PM
Hi Everyone
I am presenting this report to lay out my reasoning in regards to "Gender Ideology". So you can understand where I am coming from. This will allow you to judge the material on its merits.
Introduction
"Gender ideology" is widely used as a political label to discredit gender diversity, women's rights and LGBTQ+ rights [1]. Or to put it bluntly, "To put down LGBTQ+ people. Scholars trace the phrase to Catholic and allied conservative networks in the 1990s then document its spread across Europe and the Americas [1]. Recent Vatican texts describe "gender theory" as dangerous or contrary to human dignity which shows how major faith institutions frame the term in public debates [2][3][4].
What is "Gender Ideology"?
Researchers describe "gender ideology" as an umbrella accusation used by anti-gender movements to mobilise supporters, reclaim cultural authority and oppose policies on equality, education, health and legal recognition [1][5]. International human-rights bodies and policy studies characterise this rhetoric as a coordinated backlash that cuts across regions [5][9]. The term "gender ideology" is frequently used pejoratively or derogatory to delegitimise gender diversity and equality policies [1][5][9].
Typical uses include references in Church documents that warn against "gender theory," for example the 2019 education document and the 2024 declaration on human dignity [2][3][4].
Political campaigns have invoked "gender ideology" to rally voters against reforms, such as the Colombian peace-agreement debate where anti-gender frames were central to the "No" campaign [8].
Rights groups (for example Human Rights Watch) document how this rhetoric links to concrete restrictions, including laws that censor classroom discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation and efforts to ban gender and sexuality education [6][7].
Advocacy Groups Using "Gender Ideology"
* Not to be confused with the American Academy of Pediatrics which supports an affirming evidence informed approach to care for transgender and gender diverse youth [15][16].
Conclusion
This brief research barely scratches the surface. The phrase "gender ideology" is commonly used to discredit multiple genders and is used as a weapon against gender diverse people to justify control over policy areas like schools, health care and legal status, according to scholars, human-rights bodies and case studies from Europe and Latin America [1][5][6][7][8][9].
Bibliography
[1] Paternotte, D., Kuhar, R., et al. (2018). Anti-gender campaigns in Europe. Politics and Governance, 6(3), 146-160. https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1557
[2] Congregation for Catholic Education. (2019). Male and female He created them: Towards a path of dialogue on the question of gender theory in education. Vatican. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20190202_maschio-e-femmina_en.pdf
[3] Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. (2024). Dignitas infinita: Declaration on human dignity. Vatican. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20240402_dignitas-infinita_en.html
[4] Pullella, P. (2024, April 08). Vatican says no to sex changes and gender theory in new document. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/vatican-says-no-sex-changes-gender-theory-new-document-2024-04-08/
[5] United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. (2023). The international anti-gender movement (Working Paper 2023-4). https://cdn.unrisd.org/assets/library/papers/pdf-files/2023/wp-2023-4-anti-gender-movement.pdf
[6] Human Rights Watch. (2024, June 19). "Why do they hate us so much?" Discriminatory censorship laws harm education in Florida. https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/06/19/why-do-they-hate-us-so-much/discriminatory-censorship-laws-harm-education-florida
[7] Human Rights Watch. (2022, May 12). "I became scared, this was their goal": Efforts to ban gender and sexuality education in Brazil. https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/05/12/i-became-scared-was-their-goal/efforts-ban-gender-and-sexuality-education-brazil
[8] Corredor, E. S. (2021). On the strategic uses of women's rights: Backlash, rights-based framing and anti-gender campaigns in Colombia's 2016 peace agreement. Latin American Politics and Society, 63(3), 106-129. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-politics-and-society/article/on-the-strategic-uses-of-womens-rights-backlash-rightsbased-framing-and-antigender-campaigns-in-colombias-2016-peace-agreement/6CDFA703DD46B92F411D022EEBCED7F1
[9] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2024, June 28). Gender backlash underscores urgency to achieve substantive equality for women and girls [Press release]. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/06/gender-backlash-underscores-urgency-achieve-substantive-equality-women-and
[10] Alliance Defending Freedom. (n.d.). Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. https://adflegal.org/case/masterpiece-cakeshop-v-colorado-civil-rights-commission
[11] Family Research Council. (n.d.). Sexuality. https://www.frc.org/sexuality
[12] Liberty Counsel. (2025). Reply in support of petition for writ of certiorari, Kim Davis v. Ermold [U.S. Supreme Court filing]. https://lc.org/PDFs/Attachments2PRsLAs/2025/251024aReplyforefiling.pdf
[13] International Organization for the Family. (2017). World Congress of Families XI [Event description]. https://profam.org/wcfxi/wcf-xi-description/
[14] American College of Pediatricians. (2024, February 7). Pediatricians release position statement reviewing over 60 studies on mental health in adolescents with gender dysphoria. https://acpeds.org/pediatricians-release-position-statement-reviewing-over-60-studies-on-mental-health-in-adolescents-with-gender-dysphoria
[15] Rafferty, J., Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Committee on Adolescence, Section on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health and Wellness. (2018). Ensuring comprehensive care and support for transgender and gender diverse children and adolescents. Pediatrics, 142(4), e20182162. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/4/e20182162/37381/Ensuring-Comprehensive-Care-and-Support-for
[16] American Academy of Pediatrics. (2023, August 4). AAP reaffirms gender affirming care policy, authorizes systematic review of evidence to guide update. AAP News. https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/25340/AAP-reaffirms-gender-affirming-care-policy
Take care everyone.
Best Wishes Always
Sarah B
Global Moderator
I am presenting this report to lay out my reasoning in regards to "Gender Ideology". So you can understand where I am coming from. This will allow you to judge the material on its merits.
Introduction
"Gender ideology" is widely used as a political label to discredit gender diversity, women's rights and LGBTQ+ rights [1]. Or to put it bluntly, "To put down LGBTQ+ people. Scholars trace the phrase to Catholic and allied conservative networks in the 1990s then document its spread across Europe and the Americas [1]. Recent Vatican texts describe "gender theory" as dangerous or contrary to human dignity which shows how major faith institutions frame the term in public debates [2][3][4].
What is "Gender Ideology"?
Researchers describe "gender ideology" as an umbrella accusation used by anti-gender movements to mobilise supporters, reclaim cultural authority and oppose policies on equality, education, health and legal recognition [1][5]. International human-rights bodies and policy studies characterise this rhetoric as a coordinated backlash that cuts across regions [5][9]. The term "gender ideology" is frequently used pejoratively or derogatory to delegitimise gender diversity and equality policies [1][5][9].
Typical uses include references in Church documents that warn against "gender theory," for example the 2019 education document and the 2024 declaration on human dignity [2][3][4].
Political campaigns have invoked "gender ideology" to rally voters against reforms, such as the Colombian peace-agreement debate where anti-gender frames were central to the "No" campaign [8].
Rights groups (for example Human Rights Watch) document how this rhetoric links to concrete restrictions, including laws that censor classroom discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation and efforts to ban gender and sexuality education [6][7].
Advocacy Groups Using "Gender Ideology"
| Group | Regions active | Main tactics | Notable cases or examples |
| Alliance Defending Freedom | United States then international [10] | Strategic litigation, model policies, media campaigns [10] | Masterpiece Cakeshop litigation for Jack Phillips [10] |
| Family Research Council | United States with international partnerships [11] | Policy advocacy, research briefs, lobbying [11] | Campaigns opposing marriage equality and school policies [11] |
| Liberty Counsel | United States with litigation that gains wide attention [12] | Impact litigation, legislative testimony, media [12] | Kim Davis marriage license cases and appeals [12] |
| World Congress of Families | Transnational network across Europe, Russia, Americas [13] | Conferences, coalition building, training [13] | Recurring world congresses including Budapest 2017, Verona 2019 [13] |
| American College of Pediatricians* | United States with international citation in debates [14] | Position statements, briefs to policymakers [14] | 2024 statement opposing gender affirming care standards [14] |
Conclusion
This brief research barely scratches the surface. The phrase "gender ideology" is commonly used to discredit multiple genders and is used as a weapon against gender diverse people to justify control over policy areas like schools, health care and legal status, according to scholars, human-rights bodies and case studies from Europe and Latin America [1][5][6][7][8][9].
Bibliography
[1] Paternotte, D., Kuhar, R., et al. (2018). Anti-gender campaigns in Europe. Politics and Governance, 6(3), 146-160. https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1557
[2] Congregation for Catholic Education. (2019). Male and female He created them: Towards a path of dialogue on the question of gender theory in education. Vatican. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20190202_maschio-e-femmina_en.pdf
[3] Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. (2024). Dignitas infinita: Declaration on human dignity. Vatican. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20240402_dignitas-infinita_en.html
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Take care everyone.
Best Wishes Always
Sarah B
Global Moderator
Title: Re: Gender is not an ideology...
Post by: Lori Dee on October 30, 2025, 10:22:41 AM
Post by: Lori Dee on October 30, 2025, 10:22:41 AM
In simple terms, an ideology is a set of beliefs, ideas, and principles that form a worldview and guide the actions of a person, group, or culture.
Opponents use the term gender ideology to imply that gender is not real; it is a belief or idea and has no basis in scientific or medical fact. From that standpoint, it is easy to dismiss gender and anything related to it, because it isn't real.
The hypocrisy that becomes evident is that all religions are, by definition, an ideology. Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, and Democracy are also ideologies. Throughout history, there have always been members of one ideology fighting against other ideologies. Wars have been waged in the name of one ideology versus another ideology.
Opponents use the term gender ideology to imply that gender is not real; it is a belief or idea and has no basis in scientific or medical fact. From that standpoint, it is easy to dismiss gender and anything related to it, because it isn't real.
The hypocrisy that becomes evident is that all religions are, by definition, an ideology. Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, and Democracy are also ideologies. Throughout history, there have always been members of one ideology fighting against other ideologies. Wars have been waged in the name of one ideology versus another ideology.