What? Cervical exams for men who identify as women?

By Michael Brown, Op-ed Contributor Saturday, January 12, 2019

Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 25 books and hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire.

One of my colleagues has been confronting LGBT activism for more than 20 years, and they have been thankless, difficult, sacrificial years. I asked him once on my radio show, “Why don’t you stop?” He replied, “I’ll stop when they stop.”

Exactly so. We did not start this ideological battle. We are simply responding to it.

And that’s why I can’t (and won’t) stop addressing the rising tide of transanity in our society. As long as the social madness continues, I’ll keep addressing it.

By now, we’ve heard about boys competing in girls’ sporting events (and winning handily). And we’ve heard about men competing in women’s sporting events (and winning handily).

We’ve heard about teachers telling 8-year-olds that “boys get periods too.” And we’ve heard about tampons being put in men’s bathrooms on campuses because “men menstruate too.”

We’ve heard about all-female colleges now accepting men who identify as women (although a woman who identifies as a man will not be accepted at some of these same campuses).

We’ve heard about websites selling genital prosthetics for prepubescent, trans-identifying children (so, a 9-year-old girl who identifies as a boy can wear this to look more boy-like).

We’ve heard about “Rapid Onset Gender Disorder,” through which an increasing number of young people are suddenly concluding they are trans, based primarily on social influences.

We’ve even heard about a biological male and female conceiving a child, but it’s newsworthy because the man identifies as gay and his partner is a woman who identifies as a man (this is becoming increasingly common). So, in their minds, it’s a same-sex relationship (male and male), but in reality, it’s a man and a woman, which is why they can conceive a child.

But perhaps the craziest thing yet is this report from the UK’s The Sun: “Men who identify as women are being invited for cervical smear tests even though they don’t have a cervix. However, women who identify as male are not being offered crucial routine breast screenings or cervical cancer checks.” (The report is actually one-year old but it just came to my attention this week.)

According to the article, “Women who identify as male are not being offered vital routine breast screenings and cervical cancer checks in case it offends them.”

Forget about health concerns. Forget about screening out cancer. Forget about protecting the lives of these women. We don’t want to hurt their feelings! Let them get breast cancer or cervical cancer. Just don’t make them feel bad.

What kind of madness is this?

The guidelines come “from a 24-page booklet published by Public Health England called ‘Information for trans people’.”

The simple upshot of the booklet is this: Your biological sex doesn’t matter (even though the issue is with health, which correlates directly with biology). What matters is how you identify.

Thus, “If a transman, born female, registers as male he won’t be invited for routine breast screenings at 50, or cervical screening. However, if a transwoman registers as female they will be routinely invited for cervical screening.”

Put another way, if you’re a biological male who identifies as a female, you’ll be treated as if you were a female, including be invited for cervical screening.

The fact that you have no cervix is not the issue.

The fact that you cannot get cervical cancer (again, because you have no cervix) is not important.

What’s important is that you identify as a female and therefore you will be treated as such.

This is madness, not sensitivity.

It’s like screening women who identify as men for testicular cancer or men who identify as women for ovarian cancer.

Or like asking males who identify as females to conceive children or females who identify as males to father children.

Or like asking a biological male who identifies as a female to breastfeed or suggesting that he has a hysterectomy to relieve his health problems (even though he doesn’t have a uterus).

To repeat: This is madness.

Isn’t trying to save someone’s life more important than worrying about potentially offending them?

This is not a question of “misgendering” someone. This is a matter of medical science. Of common sense. Of care. Of love.

But no. All of that – true love, true care, common sense, and medical science – must be trashed in the name of political correctness.

And that’s why I won’t stop speaking out.

To stop is to collaborate with madness. To stop is to fail to care.

And I hope you won’t stop speaking out and speaking up either. If we do stop, what kind of world will our kids or grandkids or great-grandkids grow up in?

Who can even imagine?

As always, I will restate my commitment to help those struggling with their gender identity to find wholeness from the inside out. I am not calling them mad, nor am I disparaging their painful struggles.

But I’m calling these societal trends madness, in this case a madness that could well cost people their lives.

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Donald Trump Is Not My Savior: An Evangelical Leader Speaks His Mind About the Man He Supports As President. Connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.