During a Senate hearing on the effect of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley's line of questions was declared transphobic by the law professor he was questioning. The questions that generated this admonition were in reaction to the professor's use of the words "people with the capacity for pregnancy" in lieu of women, indicating that both men and women are capable of becoming pregnant. During the subsequent argument, the professor inquired if he thought males could get pregnant, to which he replied no. She then retorted, “So, you are denying that trans people exist.”

Such a bizarre comment from a law professor - someone who is meant to be well-versed in the art of logic and argumentation, and who, given that the Senate is calling her as a witness, would be expected to be exceptionally well-versed in them.

This idea that denying men's capacity to get pregnant simultaneously implies a lack of belief in the existence of trans persons is absurd. What even does "denying" someone's "existence" mean anyway? They obviously exist, but they cannot get pregnant, they are not mutually exclusive.

Transgenderism has to do with personal identification and societal norms, not biology. Even the most ardent proponent of transgenderism cannot claim that being transgender is biological - and they don't. Consequently, if a person is able to give birth, regardless of whether they identify as a male, they are engaged in a process that is restricted to a person with certain biological characteristics - in that case, a woman.

Transgender people exist - obviously - but the mixing of social and biological identities is objectionable and, in the case of the professor, disingenuous and irrational.

In 100 years, when we're all dead and forgotten, it won't matter what we named ourselves or what we placed on our tombstones; the DNA findings will indicate that we were either "women" or "men" - as we are known as today.You are free to choose whatever identity you like, but you cannot expect others to take you seriously if you blend identity and biology.