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

Mistreatment of Women at the Olympics?

The world seems to have gone completely crazy. I mean, in women's boxing at the Paris Olympics, there are two men: Imane Khelif and Lin Tu-Ting.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) held the World Championships of the sport in New Delhi, India, in March 2023. During the competition, Algerian Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting were disqualified based on gender tests, but they are once again participating in the mistreatment of women.

Behind this, of course, is the international DEI movement, which has sought to blur the differences between biological sexes and mistakenly believed that hormone treatments for men would make them equal to women in sports like boxing. This is not the case, as boys' bodies develop in adolescence in ways that do not disappear even with hormone treatments.

Hopefully, Khelif and Yu-Ting will be sidelined from the Olympics or moved to the proper category, the men's division. This would by no means be chauvinism or against equality, but rather the protection of women and the defense of equality among people.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Impact of Diversity in Films
Women full of testosterone

Discrimination against women?

Finns Feel Sympathy for Ukrainians Because They Share a Similar Experience

Most Finns feel compassion towards Ukrainians who have been forced into war against Russia. This is largely because Finland found itself in a similar situation in 1939 when Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union agreed on a sphere of influence division in Eastern Europe with Hitler's Germany. The Winter War broke out, which united the entire Finnish nation just 21 years after the end of the civil war.

Therefore, it was interesting that according to a recent opinion poll, as many as one in four Finns would like Finland and other Western countries to send armed troops to Ukraine. This is a surprisingly high figure even though the number of opponents is higher, about 40 percent.

One in three men supported sending troops, but only one in six women. In addition to women, people over sixty also viewed the idea unfavorably.

When viewed from a political perspective, the supporters of the political right, that is, the National Coalition Party and the Finns Party, were the most in favor of sending troops. The greatest number of opponents were among the supporters of the Social Democrats and the Centre Party.

However, the fact is that official Finland will not send even a single soldier to fight in Ukraine, even though it has provided fairly generous material aid. Instead, voluntary Finnish soldiers are already fighting in Zelenskyy's army against the "old enemy."

In practice, Ukraine's future will largely be determined by who wins the U.S. presidential election and what the winner thinks about the matter.

If the winner wants to withdraw American support from Zelenskyy's army, the Ukrainians will find themselves in a difficult situation. European arms aid is unlikely to be enough to win the war, and the country will be forced to make an unpleasant peace with Russia.

Such a situation would also unite Finns and Ukrainians, as this happened after the Winter War. A large part of Finland was cut off and made part of Russia, largely because the Western powers—mainly Britain and France—did not come to help despite their promises. 

This decision by the Western powers had unfortunate consequences, as Finland, disappointed by the Western countries, joined Hitler´s Germany when it attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. Finland only disengaged after stopping Stalin's army's major offensive in Southeastern Finland in the summer of 1944.

It is to be hoped that history does not repeat itself in this matter, and that Ukraine can rely on Western aid long enough for the aggressor to be subdued. Then, the Ukrainians can peacefully build their own future as they wish and are able to do.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Stalemate in Ukraine
Ukraine can and will stop Putin
A woman's logic, Putin's test, and the Netherlands' change

Discrimination against women?

As my esteemed reader is aware, gender-related issues are currently a prominent subject of discussion. In light of this, it was delightful to come across a recent study that provided fresh and surprising insights on the matter.

Traditionally, gender discrimination has been widely regarded as a significant contributor to women's disadvantages in the labor market. However, previous studies have produced mixed results due to variations in research designs, making it challenging to compare discrimination estimates across countries.

To address this challenge, the researchers conducted a comparative field experiment on gender discrimination in hiring across six countries. By directly comparing employers' responses to fictional male and female applicants, they were able to draw intriguing conclusions.

Despite variations in crucial institutional, economic, and cultural aspects among the participating countries, the researchers found no evidence of discrimination against women. However, they did observe discrimination against men in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK, while no discrimination against men was found in Norway and the United States.

Even within diverse institutional contexts, employers tended to perceive female applicants as more suitable for roles in female-dominated occupations, all other factors being equal. However, the researchers found no evidence to support the claim that employers prefer male applicants in any location.

Hence, the researchers concluded that the well-known differences in salary between genders likely stem from women and men choosing different types of jobs rather than employers discriminating against women, as sometimes alleged.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
The change in the demographic structure of Helsinki
Afghanistan now and in the future
Sexual harassment and bullying in working life

Sexual harassment and bullying in working life

Bullying and sexual harassment have become major issues in working life including scientific realm. Therefore it was interesting to read fresh reports of recent developments on these issues.

In the first case archaeologist Nicole Boivin was removed from a director position in the famous Max Planck Institute. She was already removed from her position in October 2021 due to evidence of bullying and scientific misconduct, but a court reinstated her due to violated procedures. However, after a confidential report supporting the allegations justified her removal. She remains, however, a researcher at the institute. 

This case has drawn a lot of attention because recent demotions at Mat Planck Institute have disproportionately affected women. Also Boivin was accused of creating an abusive work environment that harmed young women scholars. Whatsoever, this case shows that - in working life - not only males are quilty of bullying, but also women may behave incorrectly.

In the second case it was reported that a high-profile biologist David Sabatini was forced out of the Whitehead Institute in 2021 after he had violated its sexual harassment policies. And now he has also resigned from his professorship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after three senior officials recommended revoking his tenure. Sabatini had violated intitute´s policy by having a consensual sexual relationship with a person, on whose career he could have been able to influence. 

The biologist commented that the situation is "out of all proportion to the actual, underlying facts. I look forward to setting the record straight and standing up for my integrity." 

A female emeritus professor of biology, however called his resignation "a milestone", because "a young woman had the courage to demand that the rules be enforced. And she was heard." 

Hopefully the decision was correct provided that - at least in my home country - women sometimes use untruthful accusations in cases where intimate relations have failed, and the former pair is fighting for sharing their property or child custody. Thus, I hope the recommendation on Sabatini was well based and the possibility of false accusations excluded. 

In the last case reported in Mexico, a government office dismissed allegations of sexual harassment against a plant geneticist Jean-Philippe Vielle Calzada. Four female scientists, three of them his students, had claimed accusations on him for touching without consent, pressing for a romantic relationship and professional retaliation after rejection.

The Internal Control Organ had previously noted "serious" misconduct by Caldeza, but later dismissed two of the complaints, one of them due to a procedural issue. That is in line with a previous Mexican practice highlighted by the fact that only 1% of the last 399 cases of sexual harassment reported in federal institutions have led to sanctions. Thus, although I am not in a position to evaluate the correctness of this very decision, it looks like a serious difficulty in punishing working life misbehavior continues in Mexico. 

Overall, these three cases highlight problems in creating and keeping decent working life culture even among the most highly educated humans, who also have - in addition to career-related ambitions - sexual and other emotions, that affect daily behavior. I have also seen such cases during my career, and can assure that there is often one word against another and the cases raise strong feelings even among outsiders, who eagerly choose their side. And therefore decision making is extremely difficult - and obviously prone to errors. 

Therefore I am afraid that two kinds of mistakes do happen. Either innocent people will be sanctioned or victims are left without justice. In both cases, the efficacy of the working community suffers considerably - including universities and research institutes. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
A set of immigration-derived sexual crimes in a Finnish town

Seeing sex developed novel cultures

In Sweden the local culture is breaking down as the number of immigrants from other cultures increases, but in Finland even a main media journalist Annamari Sipilä has noticed that all cultures may not be equally good. That turned clear to her, when a rapist recently asked the court to reduce his punishment by pleading to his cultural legacy. 

I have also noted other cultural oddities - at least to us westerns - during the last years. Women were forced to sex work by threatening with their cultural specialties including voodoo. In Iran 4200 girls under 14 years of age got married in year 2010, 716 of them under 10 years of age. And in India eight men raped a pregant goat. 

Thus, there are differences between the cultures. And that is why the scientific and technological revolution that changed the world took place in Europe instead of e.g. China, Near East or Africa. 

But how did the cultures appear? Are they typical only to people and perhaps most intelligent animals? Or could cultures develop even among insects?

This question was addressed in the research conducted by Etienne Danchin and colleagues. They analysed the effects of seeing sex on the common fruit flies´ sexual behavior and their offspring. In their report, Danchin et al. define cultures as a traditions, which have their roots in earlier generations and are inherited via social learning.

The research was also based on the knowledge that we tend to conform our behavior to that surrounding us. One extreme of this are children, who say that black is white when several robots claim that. Fortunately we adults are more clever, and only conform our behavior according to real people surrounding us.

But then to the research report itself.

In their first experiment Danchin and colleagues gave three days old virgin flies to watch a young female selecting a partner between two males colored either pink or green. After seeing the copulation, the virgin fly was allowed itself to make a choice between a pink and a green fruit fly. As a result, their selection was the same color as what they had just seen being selected by another female. In control, where the virgin had not seen any copulation, the colors did not make a difference.

In the second experiment the researchers made a similar experiment, but now the virgin was allowed to follow an elder female to select between pink and green colored males. And the result was the same as in the first experiment. That it, they selected a male with the same color as they had just seen being selected by the elder female. So the virgins learned equally well from elder flies and their peers.

In the third experiment the virgin flies followed five times a selection of the same colored fly, and were again allowed to make their own selection, but only after 24 hours. That is, after about three per cent of their lifetime. The same rule worked again, so the flies remembered what they had once seen.

In the fourth experiment, mutant flies - normally avoided in pairings - were offered to virgins as painted according to their favorite color. And the males were again selected according to the color instead of genetically determined outlook.

In the fifth experiment the researchers manipulated the ratio of colors shown to be selected by other virgin flies in their sphere of vision. Again when there was only one color selected in front of their eyes, they tended to make the same selection themselves. However, it was a big surprise that this rule held all the way to a frequency of 60 vs. 40 percent. 

And finally, the researchers made an experiment to determine whether the mode of behavior - that flies had learned as virgins - was also transmitted to their offspring. The answer was yes, and even over several generations. Therefore fruit flies developed a learned tradition somehow taught over several generations, and can thus be added to the list of animals with cultural behavior, where populations learn habits from previous generations. 

Taken together, the study by Danchin and others showed that as simple animals as fruit flies may have cultures that differ from each other. Therefore, also the roots of our own cultural behavior probably extends to our evolutionary prehistory; perhaps even to the time we had not yet climbed from ancient seas to the dry land.

Because this blog is considered a political one, it is also important to think what the above described research contributes to the question of equal value of all human cultures. However, as the purpose of this blog is not to provide prefabricated views, but to provoke its readers to think themselves, I am not going to give answers myself, but leave the question to be figured out by all my highly valued readers. 

The original thought published in Finnish:
Seksin katsominen synnytti uuden kulttuurin