The words ‘male’ and ‘female’ cannot mean both biology and identity. And setting aside the thorny question of what it might mean to feel male or female, why would such a feeling matter, if being male or female does not? It is impossible to frame arguments against gender self-identification using such language, since the necessary words are lacking – which is presumably part of the point. The accusation of Orwellianism is often made too lightly, but this time it is justified. ‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak [the language of the totalitarian superstate Oceania] is to narrow the
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