Sex and Gender Identity in Skiing

The International Ski Federation (FIS) has decided to test the gender of women participating in competitions. According to its president, Johan Eliasch, “this policy is the cornerstone of our commitment to protect women’s sport, and we are convinced that there is only one fair and transparent way to do that: by relying on science and biological facts.”

I’m eagerly waiting to see whether this statement sparks protests among so-called woke people, who are often heard claiming that humans have a vast number of different genders. Eliasch’s comment, however, seems to rest on the assumption that there are only two: male and female, determined by genes.

On the other hand—in my understanding—the overwhelming majority of people do recognize that while there may be numerous gender identities experienced by individuals, sex is ultimately a fact tied to reproduction. Those who are capable of fathering children are men, and those who are capable of giving birth are women. Everyone else represents exceptions to this rule, not distinct sexes.

As for the issue itself, it should simply be said that the FIS decision is exactly right for women’s sports, since hardly any reasonable spectator would want to see the same kind of farce on the ski tracks as was witnessed in the boxing rings at the Paris Olympics, where male violence against women was legalized and broadcast live on TV.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Feminists, Woke, and DEI People Justify Violence Against Women
UK Supreme Court Distinguishes Between the Rights of Women and Trans Women
Finnish Trans Woman Speaks Out on Transgender Rights in Sports

Society, Genetics, and the Impact of Consanguineous Marriages: At the Intersection of Education and Heredity

Many immigrant groups in Europe are known for having a high occurrence of consanguineous marriages, or incestuous unions. The issue with this can be summarized as follows: children born to closely related parents have a lower degree of heterozygosity because a significant portion of their genes comes from the same individual—for example, from a grandparent in the case of cousins. In other words, these individuals inherit identical gene variants more frequently than others.

As a result, genes that usually appear in humans as a single copy without affecting their outward characteristics, or phenotype, become visible. Among these genes, there are often many defective variants in one way or another.

The rarity of these recessive genetic defects is due to natural selection, which works against them. It operates in such a way that individuals with an observable genetic defect tend to have fewer offspring than others. Consequently, their genes do not pass on to future generations as effectively as those of other individuals.

It’s important to note that recessive genetic defects are not always clearly visible diseases. Often, they are only mildly harmful and thus primarily affect an individual’s vitality—for example, by impairing physical or mental performance—and are not considered outright diseases.

Since recessive gene variants only affect people when inherited from both parents, children born from consanguineous marriages are more likely to have disabilities. Even the seemingly healthy offspring of such unions tend to have, on average, fewer abilities than other people.

This is likely one of the most significant reasons why certain immigrant groups have struggled to succeed in Western societies, and it strongly influences the poor learning abilities observed in their children.

For this reason, consanguineous marriages should not be a taboo or off-limits topic in an increasingly diverse society but, rather, the opposite. And because this is a growing issue, the public—especially those from cultures that favor consanguinity—must be educated on the negative consequences of this tradition.

In other words, incestuous unions and their harmful societal effects must be openly discussed!

This should also be addressed—especially in schools—even if some students are themselves the offspring of cousin marriages. It is essential for them to understand this issue, break the harmful tradition of their culture, and choose spouses from outside their family.

It’s worth emphasizing that the hereditary harms caused by consanguineous marriage disappear entirely within a single generation. Therefore, even the descendants of the most inbred members of the most incestuous cultures are not doomed to the bottom of society—provided they understand the importance of not procreating with a relative.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Finnish Society Adopts Medieval Characteristics
Freudian slip, 9-year-old girl and cultural appropriation
Cousin is not just a delicacy, but also a hindrance to social success

Games and Midsummer games

Young mammals are often playful, as anyone who has interacted with a kitten or puppy knows. This is no coincidence, as play teaches them skills needed later in life, such as hunting or intra-species confrontations for defending territories or during mating season.

A recent study analyzed the behavior of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Western Australia. Observations were available from as early as 1982, making it possible to compare the events of their adult lives with their childhood.

Researchers found that young male dolphins engaged in play resembling adult reproductive behavior, such as forming alliances with other males to herd females and producing specific vocalizations in the presence of the opposite sex.

Paternity data from eleven male dolphins, on the other hand, showed that their later reproductive success was quite well predicted by the time they spent as young dolphins participating in social play that resembled adult male sexual behavior. In other words, they demonstrated the benefits of play in the development of sexual behavior in wild animal populations.

I decided to publish this text on the morning of Midsummer Day, as I assumed some of my esteemed readers might have participated in Midsummer's traditional rituals, which are believed to have magical effects on one's romantic life. Not because I think they somehow correspond to the adult-mimicking play of young dolphins, but because both are related to the most important task in an individual's life for the survival of the species: reproduction.

And perhaps something has happened on this Midsummer night that will be reflected in national statistics nine months from now?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
The amazing adventures of the German cockroach
World oceans are filled with previously unknown viruses
Seeing sex developed novel cultures

Prediction: Sharia law in force in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and France by the year 2044.

This day felt cold after getting used to summer temperatures around May Day. But it's not cold only here.

I came to this conclusion after browsing through the social media account Visegrád 24. There was, for instance, a video where Anjem Chaudary, an Islamic "scholar" based in Britain, said that democracy will likely be replaced by Islamic Sharia law in the UK, Belgium, and France within 15-20 years. That is, by the year 2044.

In another video shared by Visegrád, a Canadian Muslim man boasted that Muslims will be the world's largest religious group by 2060. And he asked, will the interviewer oppose Sharia then?

The man justified his view by saying that Muslims have families and they have children unlike Canadians of European descent. Thus, Muslims in Canada may one day become the majority.

It's difficult to deny the viewpoints I've noted above - at least not entirely - as long as the demographic facts regarding the reproduction of these groups correspond to reality. And even less so when we consider that despite this, European countries allow - and even support - immigration from Islamic countries by maintaining incentives such as social security for asylum seekers.

No wonder, then, that a whopping 60 percent of Germans don't want more refugees in their country. And that 78 percent of them believe the country can no longer afford the costs of immigration. Additionally, almost as many fear conflicts between immigrants and ethnic Germans.

However, the majority of Finns still live in a rose-tinted world, and a clear majority support so-called humanitarian immigration. Though a narrow majority would like to restrict the social benefits offered to asylum seekers, and most would also like to be able to choose the country of origin for those coming here.

I feel there's no need to comment further on what I've written above. But I'll still add the comment from the President of Argentina that I found on social media regarding the actions of the Spanish Prime Minister: "Sánchez endangers women by allowing illegal immigration".

Yes, those lovely women. And why not men too?

They're setting up for themselves an interesting old age. This is because a whopping fifteen percent of Finnish men and women aged 20-45 stated in the 2022 family barometer that their ideal number of children is a round zero. This surely pleases "scholars" like the one quoted in the first video and implements the views of the Canadian Muslim in the second video also for Finland.

Previous thoughts on the same topic: A caliphate was demanded in Germany Immigration is an asset in the USA, but in Europe, it's just a burden 175 happy winners

Cousin is a cultural delicacy

We Europeans are well aware that among many developing nations, it is common to marry relatives. So the idea is, "the cousinier, the juicier."

What remains unclear, however, is whether this has been the original behavior of humanity or a later cultural development, despite some indications suggesting an increase in consanguineous marriages among humans in recent times.

To get an answer, one must of course examine human groups that lived long ago. And it was precisely such a research report that I recently came across.

The study I read analyzed the last hunter-gatherers inhabiting Western Europe, who soon became displaced by the farming newcomers spreading from the southeast of the continent - or merged with them. The examined individuals had inhabited southern Brittany in France approximately seven or eight thousand years ago.

The analysis of ten individuals from three different locations revealed that spouses were not sought from within their own groups but from among different groups residing in different locations. As a result, consanguineous marriages were avoided, despite the very small population of each group - and consequently, also of the hunter-gatherers living in the area.

Somewhat surprisingly, researchers also found that the hunter-gatherers did not seek spouses from farming communities, even though such communities existed in the vicinity. Thus, the hunter-gatherer communities of the time remained quite separate for a long time, even though there was migration from them to the farming communities.

Returning to the question of cousin marriages that initiated this blogpost, based on the study I've discussed, it can be concluded that the original inhabitants of Europe did not practice such marriages.

In other words, they had an excellent understanding that marrying cousins was not sensible. This seems to be not clear to all contemporary human groups, those who, for one reason or another, have adopted consanguineous reproduction in their culture.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Violent demographic changes in Denmark
History of Finland I: How did Finland become culturally part of the West?
Long distance trade