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'Dismissal of basic biology': Outrage after new WHO guidance declares sex is NOT LIMITED to male or female

The international authority announced that it was 'going beyond' the use of binary terms to 'recognize gender and sexual diversity'

The World Health Organization (WHO) faced quite the backlash after declaring in new guidance that sex is "not limited" to being male or female.

The international authority on all health-related issues announced that it was "going beyond" the use of binary terms to "recognize gender and sexual diversity." However, experts called the move a "dismissal of basic biology" that could lead to medical advice being unnecessarily complicated and de-sexed. The change will be incorporated into gender guidance originally published in 2011, which is currently followed by public health officials.

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While it's unclear what the new advice will exactly state, the agency has explained on its website the supposed rationale for the change. According to WHO, the new guidance is meant to go "beyond non-binary approaches to gender and health to recognize gender and sexual diversity or the concepts that gender identity exists on a continuum and that sex is not limited to male or female."

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Professor Jenny Gamble, a midwifery expert from Coventry University, described the WHO's change as "problematic." She said, "It is a dismissal of basic biology — and mistake. Biology is a key determinant of health and illness. Not being clear about basic biology opens the door to a range of problems, including very poor health communication but also distorted data."

Meanwhile, Dr Karleen Gribble, an expert in nursing and midwifery from Western Sydney University, told the newspaper that the announcement was unscientific. "The wording regarding there being more than male and female sexes is concerning," she said. "The website says that the handbook is being updated 'in light of new scientific evidence and conceptual progress on gender, health, and development.' However, there is no new scientific evidence suggesting there are more than two sexes. Rather, the idea that there are more than two sexes, is a postmodern, unscientific understanding that should not be supported by the WHO."

Dr. Gribble said she's also concerned about the agency's focus on gender identity rather than the health inequalities suffered by women and girls across the globe. "If this occurs, this will almost certainly dilute the focus on the severe health disadvantage that women and girls face in many countries because they are female which can only be a bad thing," she lamented. "Many of us who work internationally in maternal and child health are very concerned about the push to desex language spilling over into UN organizations like WHO and United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund."

Social media was also inundated with criticisms of WHO after the news emerged.

"I can’t figure out why people don’t trust the WHO? Oh, that’s right, because science has proven that there are TWO GENDERS. Not a biologist, just saying," Andrew Giuliani, son of former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, tweeted.

"And if it wasn't already gone after these past 2 years, there goes any ounce of credibility the WHO had left," one Twitter user wrote.

"Injecting subjective leftist gender ideology into a powerful globalist institution. Oh dear," another added.

"So what new groundbreaking research has come out to back up this new phenomenon?" someone else wondered.

"Glad to know this organization is focused on health & not cultural Marxism," another chimed in.

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It's worth noting that the WHO's guidance is for public health managers. The body is currently in a feedback collection stage and the official version is expected to be rolled out sometime next month.