There’s nothing like a reality check.
With the COVID-19 pandemic now retreating, a period of reflection begins. Can we learn anything from what happened? Among the lessons that this Chinese virus leaves us, there is one that will cause much discussion: Whatever the LGBT lobby says, men and women are not the same at all.
The essence of LGBT ideology is, in fact, the concept of “gender fluidity.” I was not born with a sex determined by my nature, and therefore invariable, but can be whatever I fancy being. So, from two natural sexes, we now go to dozens, if not hundreds, of possible “genders.” Imagination, as you know, is very fertile.
Every now and then, however, Mother Nature (that is, God, the Creator of nature) takes its revenge.
The current pandemic has made clear something that had been observed already during the previous SARS-1 outbreaks in 2003 and MERS in 2016: men and women react differently, and for a very simple reason: their immune systems are not the same.
“Stronger but also more fragile – writes Elena Meli in the Corriere della Salute – women are not equal to men when it comes to defending themselves from infections. In fact, they have a super-efficient immune system. … However, if such fierce defenses go out of control, they can become a serious problem. Thus, women have a greater risk of falling ill with autoimmune diseases, those in which the immune system ‘goes crazy.’ … The system that defends us from germs has an edge in the female sex.”[1] In fact, 80% of patients with autoimmune diseases are female.
The current pandemic has revealed this difference between the sexes: “The two sexes suffer differently, and COVID-19 is no exception,” – says Prof. Carlo Selmi, head of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology of the Humanitas hospital in Milan. “Indeed, it is yet another case of infectious disease in which men have worse outcomes than women. … It seems possible that men and women respond differently to SARS-Cov-2, as had already happened in the case of SARS-1.”[2] Professor Selmi has just published a book dedicated to the female immune system, titled Fortissime per natura [“Very Strong by Nature”] (Piemme, 2020).
One had observed everywhere, from the beginning of the pandemic, that deaths of men are more than double those of women. “I see it as an interaction of all of these factors: genes, hormones, the immune system, or behavior … and it isn’t unique to the SARS-Cov-2 virus – the different response of men and women is typical of many diseases in many mammals,” explains Prof. Jenny Graves, professor of Genetics at La Trobe University, Melbourne. “Men and women are biologically different in their chromosomes and genes. … It is hormones, produced from different genetic backgrounds, that control the many and obvious differences between men and women … also influencing their respective behaviors.” The Australian professor concludes: “Sex differences in the frequency, severity and treatment efficacy for many diseases were pointed out long ago. … This isn’t just humans – it is true of most mammals.”[3]
A study of 5,700 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in New York hospitals showed that 61% were male. And the male mortality rate was almost double that of the female one.[4]
“The novel coronavirus tends to affect men more severely than it does women. Though nobody can yet explain the oddity, researchers are hot on the case. It’s possible that the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone play a role, according to previous research on respiratory illnesses. Or perhaps it’s because the X chromosome (which women have two of, but men have only one) has a larger number of immune-related genes, giving women a more robust immune system to fight off the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Or, maybe the virus is hiding in the testes, which has abundant expression of ACE2 receptors, the portal that allows SARS-CoV-2 into cells.”[5]
The same phenomenon had already been observed on the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) epidemic, a SARS that hit the Middle East in 2016, killing far more men than women. So much so that the Arabs jokingly called it “the male influenza.”[6]
A large number of examples can be drawn from academic publications.
Still, governments have responded by issuing equal health protocols for men and women. This is enraging feminist and LGBT activists, who complain of “a lack of gender perspective” in government responses to the pandemic.
“To address all the needs of women during the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to develop our vision of gender and understand the gender roles and inequities that women and girls face on a daily basis. … We must incorporate this vision of gender into our response to epidemics,” writes Spanish feminist Elena Marbán.[7] She, therefore, proposes “gender inequality in the response to the new coronavirus” perhaps without realizing this destroys the roots of feminist and LGBT ideology, founded precisely on gender equality.
There’s nothing like a reality check!
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[1] Elena Meli, “Donne fragili perché forti,” Corriere della Salute, 20 May 2020.
[2] Cit. in id.
[3] Jenny Graves, “Why do More Men Die from Coronavirus than Women?,” The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/why-do-more-men-die-from-coronavirus-than-women-136038
[4] Safiya Richardson et al., “Presenting Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 in the New York City Area,” JAMA, 22 April 2020.
[5] Laura Geggel, Why are more men dying from COVID-19?, LifeScience, https://www.livescience.com/why-covid-19-more-severe-men.html
[6] Matsuyama et al., “Clinical Determinants of the Severity of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS): a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” BMC Public Health, 16, 2016.
[7] Ele Marbán, “Gender Inequality in Response to the New Coronavirus,” ISGlobal, https://www.isglobal.org/en/healthisglobal/-/custom-blog-portlet/la-inequidad-de-genero-en-respuesta-al-nuevo-coronavirus/5573964/0