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Define ‘Woman’

The new ‘gotcha’ phrase by transphobes — and a full answer

A few days ago there was an odd moment in the hearings to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as a Supreme Justice. She was asked to define “Woman.” It was a clearly rehearsed, strategic question to elicit a bad outcome for the Judge. It was meant to hit the media as a sound clip: These crazy libtards can’t even define “woman.” Predictably, Tucker Carlson did a whole number with this.

Here’s the clip:

I think the strategy worked. The way Marsha Blackburn framed it was insidiously clever. While the Judge responded with a reasoned, accurate answer, this moment delivered the ingredients which people like Tucker Carlson could then cook up into the following premise:
“The Right asks a basic, simple question — ‘what is a woman.’ The Left can’t even provide a simple answer.”

It works.
And also, it’s a fallacy.

Fallacies are disingenuous arguments meant to bias a debate. The question is a “gotcha” question — it creates a framework that predisposes a good outcome for your side, and puts the opposing side in a position where ANY…