Nobel Prize winner: ‘Changing sex is scientifically impossible’

A Nobel Prize winner has slammed the claim that a person can change sex as ‘scientifically impossible’.

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, who won the 1995 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine, criticised the German Federal Government’s recently appointed “Queer Commissioner” for claiming it is “unscientific” to believe there are only two sexes.

In an interview with the German language magazine EMMA, the Nobel laureate responded: “This is unscientific! Perhaps Herr Lehmann missed the basic course in biology.”

‘Inherently dangerous’

On the claim that men can become women, Nüsslein-Volhard said: “That’s nonsense! It’s wishful thinking. There are people who want to change their gender, but they can’t do it. You remain XY or XX.”

This is unscientific!

She said that the law can allow people to claim they are the opposite sex, but it cannot change biological reality, and that the same is true of taking cross-sex hormones, which are “inherently dangerous” as the body cannot handle them over time.

Nüsslein-Volhard also called Germany’s plans to allow 14-year-olds to change legal sex by self-identification “madness”, saying “many girls are unhappy in puberty” and need be supported in their biological sex.

14-year-olds

Under the German Government’s proposed Self-Determination Act, children as young as 14 will be allowed to change their legal sex through self-declaration.

Minors between the ages of 14 and 18 will require approval from parents or the ruling of a family court, while parents will need to apply on behalf of children younger than 14.

The Justice Minister Marco Buschmann expects the Cabinet to sign off on the law before the end of the year, after which it would still need to pass through Parliament, where there has been little opposition.

Scotland

Earlier this year, the Scottish Government tabled legislation to allow Scots as young as 16 years old to change their legal sex merely by self-declaration.

Its controversial plans will remove the need for medical evidence and reduce the two-year waiting period for registration to three months.

In 2021, a poll of over 1,000 Scottish adults found that 71 per cent believed people wishing to change legal sex should be assessed by a medical professional first, with only 29 per cent in favour of self-identification.

And a subsequent call for views by the Scottish Government on the change in law revealed that fewer than four in ten of the Scottish public support its radical gender reform plans.