CNN is being ridiculed online for insisting there is “no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth” — with critics telling the network to “look just below the waist” for insight.
The left-leaning network’s statement was quickly shared online after it appeared in a news story Wednesday about South Dakota banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.
“It’s not possible to know a person’s gender identity at birth, and there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth,” CNN’s Devan Cole wrote.
Critics quickly ripped the outlet for reporting it as straight fact, rather than attributing it to others and noting differing views.
“I’ve gotten used to a lot of woke craziness. Never thought I’d see biological sex in scare quotes,” a Twitter-user named Holden wrote.
“CNN isn’t a news organization. They are straight up activists,” online media critic Lee Sobotka wrote, while conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said only an “idiot” would believe the network’s claim.
Others suggested a simple solution. “I’m not a doctor, @CNN but if you look just below the waist you may get some insight,” Craig Seymour wrote.
@RoninResearch wrote, “My wife delivered babies for 23 years and she could tell real easy what the gender was…Oddly enough so could the parents…”
“Just… no words. I’m pretty sure there’s been “consensus criteria” for innumerable generations. But now we’re woke so we have no idea about these things,” someone calling themselves Princess Buttercup wrote.
Following the backlash, with many tagging the network in tweets, CNN later altered the wording “to provide additional explanation as to the distinctions between gender and sex” — but in a way far from appeasing critics.
The offending section now reads, “It’s not possible to know a person’s gender identity at birth, and for some people, the sex listed on their original birth certificate is a misleading way of describing the body they have.”
