today. . >> when did johnson when he became president he said the matter outbid the majority who have one year before they start thinking about themselves and january of your second year all members are thinking of their midterm election and they are cautious about taking any risks to help you get your mandates and agenda through

. >> good afternoon welcome to the heritage foundation for those joining us on line those under joining us on a future occasion and c-span book t we. check that your mobile devices have been silenced as a courtesy you are welcome anytime to send questions comments to heritage and we will post those on the heritage homepage as soon as today is over for your future reference.

our guest is dr. anderson our senior research fellow from public policy also the founder and editor of public discourse from the of witherspoon institute the author of truth overruled and co-author the book what is marriage he had earned his bachelor's degree from princeton university in doctoral degree in political philosophy from motor dame -- no dames. [applause] >> thanks for coming. you are in for a treat people tried to deny the obvious they're equal but not the same ashley mcguire

has written a timely book as a senior fellow she writes and speaks lively and of freedom and has appeared on cnn and fox and the bbc and has appeared in "the new york times" will street journal "washington post" and "time" magazine. her new book "sex scandal" she explores debates of women in the military and the work force. she explores gender neutral parenting and homemaking too, with a trigger warning but the basic thesis to

protect women's equality and dignity when we stop trying to make them the same. please join me to welcome ashley mcguire. [applause] >> thanks to the heritage foundation of like to open with a quotation with the internet world of fake news the times said these when old and younger top the falsehood in school to be called a lunatic and a fool. i suspect your year-to-date be tissue interested of the realities of the diaspora '02 speak the truth about sex not what most people think of but two of the most

obvious and sold of the the reality is. that is of matter of national scandal in just a few short weeks callous examples make headline news to confirm our society has found itself the week my book was released the boy scouts will allow either sex to participate may realize looking at the birth gender is not sufficient. book grows scouts had already announced biological boys could already purchased a plane to if they identified as a girl. there are guidelines for of

boyars to suggest the phrase expected mother was not inclusive enough instead the phrase pregnant people. [laughter] that people use the phrase chest beating instead of breast feeding. this may seem laughable but yet it comes that a berthing individual into their lexicon. with a receiving greed pullback -- below back one lamented that some have the audacity to assume that only women have the ability to give birth and that is what they should celebrate about themselves. a few days later american girl came out with a first

effort doll that is a boy. one company praised the company with the greater strides towards inclusive because the girls have a corner of the tollway industry all to themselves still the unfolding scandal of those marines the pentagon is investigating the the past 24 hours both cbs has reported that other branches of the military were involved. on-line bulletin boards reduced to share for look at photos and videos and one of the sites confirmed that. in each example winning get the short end of the gender

neutral stick to put the men close quarters in certainly in case of the boy scouts with men. pregnant women but company called american girl is not inclusive and women in our forces are systematically degraded with a major upheaval putting all combat roles to women baking boot camp coed. in my book i argue with then have the most to lose but contrary to popular opinion that almost always has the effect to disempower women that we're almost always doomed to fail. sort i'd like to talk about

the language kin then give period the most powerful examples and speak briefly e. howard is rethought to this place if thought perhaps language and language can corrupt law. one that had a huge corrosive effect is the word gender i am often asked about the difference i have nailed down that sex means something the definition the confined in any medical textbook to mean male and female by the chromosome the definition of gender of the other hand has struggled to pin down which facebook was

moving away from the choices of male or female that offered 70 selections to include transgendered facebook was not expected to get raked over the coals for rather than praise it had endless criticism winding up with the simple phillip leblanc with other. how do you even put in boundaries? he wrote the problem with the gender is be currently recognize only two of them the obvious question is how many do we have to ask not to be oppressive? how many are there?

7 billion. give forte there are as many possible gender identities as humans on the planet it could be the son or darkness or jupiter or peats up. -- pizza but where we have the same legal status so i will read briefly from the opening of my chapter on the military which i think highlights what happens. secretary defense robert gates announced lifting the longstanding ban on females they were permitted to serve over a decade but prevented a unique challenge with cramped quarters no privacy and tours out long as three months at sea. them mocking of men and

women in a metal tube underwater for a goal that less than ideal things can happen with the first submarines to bring women sailors onboard was one of the first to to become a submarine officer dozens more women followed suit in the navy said integration was smooth sailing but the rumor began the word was that women were being filmed a formal investigation was confirmed sailors were collaborating for more than a year to film than in the showers to share them with the fellowship meant it wasn't just a one time break a calculated in collaborative effort implicating dozens of men while they would use

electronic devices on 13 month patrol every single woman was films make it every single time she took a shower. issued have been the shocking wake-up call with been systematically violated for months on end because of the policy agenda to tear down longstanding barriers but instead they gave them a slap on the rest looking at nuclear-powered for all the listed ranks of the submarines even then negative carter announced those forces were not excluded then secretary

kerner claim to example of previous excess failing to mention the shower spying. because they had spent time and tens and millions of dollars in these combat units and was devastating mixed gender units performed worse than all male ones by significant margin by all metrics overall males performed better that the marines consider those metrics for combat readiness of squadrons were faster in every single tactical movement. those that were noticeably more accurate to engage targets more quickly than

mixed gender the even found those had no formal rifle trading had better accuracy than women who had received formal training. the study would beyond measuring speed and accuracy of placing women into the combat role alongside men. that was equally devastating suffering injuries as six times the rate of their counterparts there were low more likely to develop an injury also slower together getting injured marine off of the battlefield. one female said the risk no female athletes in the nfl miller questions why women competing against women and men compete against men. she says there are great sports in our world a few

moves lower one day you get bumped off the standard and somebody else killed the only possible outcome is more dead marines. so now given an equal opportunity to fight they have been an equal chance to survive without injury. did most recent college campus label as well the most dangerous places for women in america that this has something to do with how dozing that is coed in most campuses. increasingly many by rooms going toward the coed dorm

rooms published by the on federal government found in 201474% of all reported rapes, 82 percent were on campus and it happened in student housing. another study conducted found 81 percent to a place in the dorm which is 9 percent of houses or apartments or 4% of fraternities. i am pressing forward even the most private pled the spaces harvard university with the aftermath of the former president and dared to propose their are seven aspects that is not a social contract with the gender

equity campaign addressing the campus rape issue but david b. participated fade -- punished if they ran the single-sex clubs. but students herein these clubs are ineligible for scholarships and the school was not prepared for the response which included hundreds of female students many victims of sexual assault matching through campus claiming they won their say space saying the assault is not our fault the school issue of public statement to say changes difficult and met with opposition that is certainly true with gender barriers at harvard but we're here today

to reverse those decisions we continue to believe gender erred discretion has no place on campus so webinars sexist even when they have banned assault or as one columnist said harvard all the women to learn where the rapes are. it implicates title line to demonstrate under the mantra of the quality to call the legislation that she helped to draft the most important step since giving women the right to vote to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender for opportunities for millions of women and girls with the

1,000 percent increase of whitman bridges abating in sports. multiple generations have since grown up experiencing leadership skills in friendship and a path of scholarships and professional opportunities. designed to correct for those under opportunities for women were schools had to prove they're making a good-faith effort for both girls and boys sports under the gender theory regime it is coopted to have boys play on the girls' teams also it went mostly unnoticed when one male high-school senior was at the meat in massachusetts he broke the record with the time that

would not have even qualified him to compete in the boys' division the lead paragraph covering of controversy said the governing body that regulates high school athletics is taking a closer look at the controversy surrounding mixed gender swimming and will talk about boys breaking girls' swimming records they competed on different teams and several qualified at this stage level of political officials are limited what they can do with the interscholastic athletic association because state law mandates they have support for both genders if you once to swim the he can swim with the girls.

the same issue came up in pennsylvania one survey conducted found approximately 30 percent of schools that had boys and girls bernstein then this date dug-in heels with a position that gender equity means blindness to sexual differences. pennsylvania attorney general said athletic equity is required by the equal rights amendment the era would not allow rule to stop the boys from participating or playing on the girls' sports team like they would not allow girls from playing on the boys' teams win equal treatment as unfair competition does the trump

of fairness? without limitation does there remain any legitimacy to be classified by gender? if not should they be merged or considered pro ed? such an approach would likely devastate at the high-school level i have not even gotten to the question of those males who so identify as females or the issue of the biological female who would take male hormones of mail enhancing drugs but is obvious in every single scenario so how did we get to this new area

where lido's are banned for gender equity reasons were for being on inclusive and to consider making daughters register for the selective service board to bar biological mails from entering not everyone has a gender motivated hate crime or one who sued her former boss for his authority over her to sexually assault her. this is one of the most common questions that i get. i argued this has been unfolding for decades a trace the origins of laid-back to the sexual revolution and feminists were arguing the socialize constructs the differences between the two are from social inequity.

if we could eradicate than we would have social equality this davis contraception and abortion to name a few viet from the get-go that there's something inherently flawed about women in the ideal of which all things should be measured in i have argued it has the effect to empower men that objectify women if you don't believe we offer a quotation from hugh hefner in the interview with "esquire" he said women are the major beneficiary of the sexual revolution that is where feminism should have been all along unfortunately there is that prohibitionist element it is the antidote to puritanism outlying birth

control so i started the court cases to challenge that the same time i hope those lower court cases i was a feminist before there was such a thing that is part of the history berger now we live out those logical extremes that all perceptible differences between the sexes are arbitrary and socialized we're on the final frontier or as pled in a recent article the ultimate goal is to demolish the entire heterosexual of the world this is the real struggle in my book i conclude either with society on the one hand is trying so hard to

institute it is recognizing sexual differences today more than ever for. scientists and doctors and researchers are realizing only the tip of the iceberg how unimportant sex is pharmaceutical companies have learned to include men and women in the drug trials. as they can react differently to the same drug also expecting parents to make us big deal on social media about the sex of their child the most visited parenting website experienced manager% increase on gender reveal parties and 16 month stretch the receive a larger increase of the video that was uploaded sexual

education is making up comeback there were single sex public schools of america now the number has exploded the does not include private parochial schools even some toys get a gender makeover with lego seized it geared towards girls know they close the lego gender gap. the cassell said or the deaths star for girls a step toward gender equality the set that would make a girl screaming uncontrollably on christmas morning. in many cases women are drivers for more single-sex bases and even recreational opportunities.

sociologists our understanding how with the engage in the society for the good of all to attribute his decision in a piece for the new york times entitled why many women documenting got positive ways my personal favorite that they were paid less on average but more is the first board is a girl the reality of the most complex celebrities that we equally important they complement each other any essential ways and to be present but to the contrary when so many are seeking would o levy found by

recognizing and celebrating what makes us different. [applause] >> clearly we do take it for granted there are natural differences between men and women but house adieu argue someone on the other side because it seems it is just engineered by society how do you respond? >> a lot of the research is finding the difference is

not entirely socialize. with sex verses gender the word gender describes a certain aspect to be socialized so men don't wear skirts but in others they do another example that is socialized but does not get to the court to be a man or woman i give an example right before my book went to press of a study conducted at university of this city center that found babies as young as nine months old you put the truck the boy went for the gendered foray so the scientist who had no skin in the game even said it shows very clearly there are certain aspects that sex

is not socialized. i would encourage people to read the speech the got larry summers fired. he talks about the research is specially with boys and girls that yes the are certain aspects talking about women at the cool level because of those in the differences so those that spent time with their kids so with male and female at the end of the day is obvious to those biological differences anybody in the medical field will tell you that the phrase that is coming across that they are

with you from the of moment of conception to death with the hormone old reproductive reality. >> how can we protect the unique contributions of civil society. >> the began this is where they make important contributions and others like him who are finding the effects on children but society is starting to celebrate the 80th of single mothers.

id but women are doing to be providers for their families so for some it was a celebratory movement because they saw women replacing men but in reality you don't how-to look far to see that documented research of women raising children without a father especially girls but if you start to read the news men who are raising families so to rely on the

huge body of research budget to celebrate instinctual impossible the post-modern world with any number of arrangements to have a stay at home dad or mom and to be threatened by that whiff those different scenarios at the end of the day the contribution they are making in their home. >> on a serious note, from

restatements of the opposition of the constructs of gender identity would your opinion of those changed if there was more specificity? of a student has a note from their best advisory opinions from a counselor or a doctor's note that says a recognized medical condition would that change opinion? >> probably not adult dispute of unreality of gender dysphoria i think it is a real medical condition and don't dispute that is a

real thing but as somebody who's spent the better part of my adolescence wishing i was of boy because i did not identify with what i perceived of the social constructs a wanted to be in the politics club with the guys but i really glad no psychologist your psychologist pushed me in the direction i'm hearing stories from parents that children have wound up in psychology and now psychologist are not even allowed to therapeutically treat the situation if a seven year-old says i m of boy they have to run with that so i am aware how they can get hijacked the end things that i think the medical doctor is not okay

like plastic surgery on young girls who do not even have a gender dysphoria but there is a real need to be charitable in our approach of people going through that to recognize it is a very hard and difficult thing to go through especially with children i get very uncomfortable. childhood one hallmark the child is confusion that is natural and normal we will not help them buy a encouraging that confusion especially with the stamp of the of medical community. >> since you are involved in

this movement if president trump pled issued the executive order for whenever people believe i am offended that my money goes towards somebody who is confused. if that person was to do them more power to them but the dollars should not be used for that purpose do you think donald trump could issue an executive order? >> it is conceivable there is one thing he has made clear he is trying to you eliminate wasteful spending and i see that falling into that category. >> i'm a trained special forces operator and a combat

veteran as well. we have real concerns about it is open for women to attend but that problem is the backpack ways in excess of 100 pounds i weighed 190 air looking at composite of 320 pounds but the woman sitting next if you put me in the fire care then the other physical things that go with that without operational straight and the rest of the military it is extremely high stress so

where is the insanity? widely have to force this down our throats how does that rate combat effectiveness? and feeding the military will stop the nonsense fairly soon? >> banks where question and for your service. did think it is plausible and your raise the issues i was sword of shocked as to how many active members were speaking out against a was happening which i think is an uncommon for a the military which a big part is to stay in mind but it is clear there's a lot of uneasiness going non and the military is a good example many people in the military vp argument women cannot rise unless they have combat

experience of this holds them back. so rather than trying to force women to do things surly there are women that are exception even the study of the marines the women that they chose horse elected with the average range of performance with the top 1 percent even those women still they spoke out who said the study will as rigged and bill will bin said i am standout will did. everybody thought it was ripped but i was interested because i did it look just at the military but

firefighters and police they have a similar issue that basically the of quality you need is physical strength with the ability to carry somebody wounded off the field or fire the weapon with extreme accuracy in by pushing with bin in to the rolls their bodies cannot even sustain carrying around the pack but then going through the trading favor of going for disability because of a so hard on their bodies but contrast to other types of first responders such as police as an issue give the may done day are on equal footing but policing is the escalating scale where women bring something to the table

and men don't belote of people say maybe the solution to police brutality is getting more women they noted is me against 250-pound man he will beat me so i have to use my wits to talk to down i think general mattis was very outspoken but i certainly think is reservation about what was happening was shared and a photo scandal is getting the attention even the left-wing media maybe we are celebrating too fast but it is not fair to women to say you are not in equal soldier, as you can perform the most of extreme rigorous rules that even the military not all men could

qualify to do for kelso we've told them to the highest standard which sets the above to fail and more likely to be injured and more likely to die lower in the military readiness. i think it is certainly plausible this administration will take a closer look at the rapid changes that happened under the last. >> do you have a recommendation for the athletes involved of that female school wrestler the

was taking drugs was given the unfired vantage to say they have to compete as a female? unravel it's getting unfair vantage with steroids what is your evaluation of that correct. >> i do think there should be a hard and fast rule with the sexes competing with each other have a whole section in the book but even left-wing feminists agree especially those who pioneered athletics because the argument for having women's sports dissolves fast if you say it isn't about a category but to separate them in terms of

teams but the case of the rustler was interesting they thought it was a biological males competing against other females but it was a biological field memo taking testosterone and these athletic institutions already have rules against performance enhancing drugs but i feel the rules are already in place and they throw them to the when to let everybody take performance-enhancing drugs and then say we will just observe the rules letter already in place and to me that is the simple solution to that. >> is this problem specific

to the united states or is it international? >> with legal as social policy i know you are seeing some issues in western countries by a ruptured is to the degree that b.c. here. so that medical association is falling prey to some of this talking about pregnant women i don't have the best answer to your question but it is certainly permeating much of the western world. . .

these requests for social equality being undercut by the gender neutrality. i will ge give to the example of ivanka trump and the paid maternity leave plan she got raked over the coals because it actually emphasized women. in fact the play and she proposed there was nothing in there for fathers and people

thought it was awful because it didn't offer equal leaves and she said look, what women go through is different than what men go through and just saying that was hugely controversial. almost all these women magazine and even npr, they went after her for that to the plane she was a little flustered like boy awhyam i even defending this reality. but what was interesting is not long before that a study came out that found in the university setting when you offer a male professors and female professors identical paid leave it actually hurts women which makes sense because eventually, all you are doing is. so it gives men a leg up because

they are giving time off but they are not breast-feeding or giving up as much as the women were struggling to walk around, things like that. i think actually a lot of these issues that are concerned fo for equality between men and women are not attainable especially the idea of not being able to discriminate for getting pregnant. if we can't even say pregnant woman how are women going to be able to make claims. this is where you are seeing them in agreement that we are all concerned about the status of women in the world. this is a crazy question that bt sort of not because the reason rape is considered such a heinous crime is because the one taking advantage of another in a

way that is particularly egregious. i gave an example in the book, i'm not sure what it meant that it gets to what we are are all concerned about is obviously there's cases of sexual assault, bubut ratebut reid is a one-wayt it's in a world that we are all the same in other words. to your point about saudi arab arabia, that is an example people get concerned about going back to the 1950s where we have these super gender roles and women are excluded in all these places. we have to understand of the things about us that are the same which is our intelligence and ability to make public a choice of to contribute to the

society and participate. we may do that in different ways but at the end of the day there's a certain baseline right has to be in place an order for us to equally contribute in those ways. so that is recognizing what is the same about us which there is a category of things that are the true same about us. but i would say that there is a much broader section of qualities about us that are quite different and requires the society to recognize that in order for men to not be able to oppress women. >> i want to make one other point about your question on socialization and gender because i do think it to talk about this ithisin the book i talk that the princess culture and how i think there's certain aspects of socialization people are

uncomfortable with for good reason but when i go back and forth in my mind is consumerism and corporatism. that is not exactly what you asked, but i don't want to say that it's totally unfair to be concerned about external pressures on boys and girls to be a certain way. for example it is kind of funny that my cover is a barbie because i don't like my daughter to play with barbies and i know they've tried to remake themselves and redo the bodies o that it's not a completely warped image. that isn't to say i would stop my daughter from playing with dolls but even the disney culture i think a lot of parents are vigilant about this and we are seeing this kind of social conservatives left wing feminism they might not like seeing the sexuality especially the way that females and disney are portrayed as damsels in distress

and you see the same thing on the left. but i never let my daughter see frozen and then somehow i don't understand somehow she knows the words, has a frozen ball of frozen dress, so it is sort of an innate inclination to celebrate their individuality and that tends to manifest into the princess culture but there is aspects that the princess culture is a multibillion dollar industry and it's hard to escape those parents. so this is just to say that raising questions about some of that doesn't mean it's should girls be allowed to dress like a princess or the other way around. that was another thought that i had. please join me in thanking ashlyn.

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of the value of discourse and compromise so the way i interact with people i don't agree with has completely changed. >> a special program to students attending the senate youth program where they shed their