Attend the latest MIT Debate: Is Sex Binary, co-sponsored by Heterodox Academy.

With the support of the MIT Free Speech Alliance, on April 17, the Adam Smith Society is hosting an Oxford Union-style debate on the following proposition: “Resolved, that sex is biological and binary, and gender identity is no substitute for sex in social policy.”

Alex Byrne, Professor of Philosophy at MIT and author of Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions, and Holly Lawford-Smith, Associate Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Melbourne and author of Gender-Critical Feminism, are arguing in favor of the proposition. Alice Dreger, historian and author of Galileo’s Middle Finger, and Aaron Kimberly, Executive Director of the Gender Dysphoria Alliance and co-host of the Transparency podcast, are arguing against the proposition. Nadine Strossen, professor emerita at New York Law School and former president of the ACLU, is serving as moderator. The debate begins at 7:00 pm ET in Wong Auditorium (E51-115) and will last an hour and a half. Light refreshments will be served beginning at 6:00 pm in the adjoining foyer.

For those unable to attend in person, the debate will be livestreamed on the MIT Free Speech Alliance's YouTube channel. Please do not register to attend the event if you plan on watching the livestream.

Neither the Adam Smith Society nor the MIT Free Speech Alliance takes an official position on the debate proposition. Rather, our goal is to provide a model of vigorous yet civil discussion for both the MIT community and the wider public. We hope that you will join us in this endeavor.