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As a follow up to the conversation about Lysenkoism the other day here, I found this interesting Substack article from a Soviet refugee and wanted to share because he talks about the current state of "gender dysphoria" in US medicine.

https://sensiblemed.substack.com/p/american-medical-lysenkoism

I am a Soviet refugee, and this fact affects my worldview.

Science in the Soviet Union was controlled by political ideology. The most infamous example was Lysenkoism. Championed by Trofim Lysenko, Lysenkoism was an ideological school of thought that rejected Mendelian genetics and natural selection as bourgeois science in favor of a theory congruent with Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Ignoring the foundational tenets of science -- such as rationality, observation and empiric thought -- the implementation of Lysenkoism to agriculture resulted in disastrous famine, all the while, the Soviet media celebrated Lysenko’s successes. In the face of reality and obvious calamity, real scientists, opponents to the further implementation of the ideology, were publicly humiliated, tried in sham public trials, sentenced to hard labor and executed.

Unfortunately, tenets of medical Lysenkoism are becoming pervasive in American medical science.

He covers other medical Lysenkoism topics as well, and even if you don't agree with his take on those, the article is worth it for his overall perspective on gender dysphoria.

As a follow up to the conversation about Lysenkoism the other day here, I found this interesting Substack article from a Soviet refugee and wanted to share because he talks about the current state of "gender dysphoria" in US medicine. https://sensiblemed.substack.com/p/american-medical-lysenkoism >I am a Soviet refugee, and this fact affects my worldview. >Science in the Soviet Union was controlled by political ideology. The most infamous example was Lysenkoism. Championed by Trofim Lysenko, Lysenkoism was an ideological school of thought that rejected Mendelian genetics and natural selection as bourgeois science in favor of a theory congruent with Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Ignoring the foundational tenets of science -- such as rationality, observation and empiric thought -- the implementation of Lysenkoism to agriculture resulted in disastrous famine, all the while, the Soviet media celebrated Lysenko’s successes. In the face of reality and obvious calamity, real scientists, opponents to the further implementation of the ideology, were publicly humiliated, tried in sham public trials, sentenced to hard labor and executed. >Unfortunately, tenets of medical Lysenkoism are becoming pervasive in American medical science. He covers other medical Lysenkoism topics as well, and even if you don't agree with his take on those, the article is worth it for his overall perspective on gender dysphoria.

12 comments

[–] VestalVirgin 8 points

I looked up Lysenkoism on Wikipedia, and wow, the parallels are really extreme.

The attempt to turn one species of wheat into another by planting them when the other species would be planted is almost as stupid as trying to turn men into women and vice versa. Almost, but not quite. (People who are not geneticists could be forgiven for not understanding why it cannot work.)

The way it was implemented despite all warnings is also a parallel.
[–] RawSienna 5 points Edited

Yes, it is Lysenkoism. That’s what we should be calling it instead of gender ideology, because in this case it has a thin veneer of (fake) medical legitimacy. Gender Lysenkoism more accurately describes what it is.

[–] VirginiaWolfberry 2 points

The Lysenkoism article on Wikipedia is constantly patrolled by Putinistas and gender ideologists alike. It is best to read about it offline or in this context.
[–] momjeans [OP] 0 points Edited

I didn't know that. I read the Talk page. Is this sort of the driving factor behind the edit war?:

This burgeoning edit war strikes me as being a revival of the intense debate over "Cultural Marxism" some years back, and IMO it should not be. The paragraph is relevant to the discussion of Lysenko's theories and legacy as someone whose name has become synonymous with the politicized suppression of science. It is not a conspiracy theory i.e. the Great Replacement. It would be quite ironic if those who wish to exclude this section because they personally deem it politically inconvenient to their own perspectives on what is or is not "pseudoscience" are engaging in Lysenkoism... on the page dedicated to Lysenkoism.

If that's what's going on (people'ideological affiliations getting in the way of intellectual honesty about historical people/events), maybe they should examine all the history & tenets of their ideological affiliations, rather than try to conceal or deny history.

But I'm new to all of this stuff. There are a lot of landmines of the variety: "if you question xyz, then you're a conspiracy theorist or right-winger". I'm finding new ones all the time in learning history & then trying to discuss it. Very confusing.

[–] Chronicity 5 points

I didn’t learn about lysenkoism until a couple years ago. This bit of history is very neglected and yet is so important, because it’s an example of how easily quackery can masquerade as science when a regime needs the public to believe a certain narrative to maintain power.

[–] spacykate 1 points

Unfortunately most people have no idea what lysenkoism even is. I wish this history was better known, most people have no idea how backwards Soviet bioscience and agriculture was.
[–] VirginiaWolfberry 1 points

The Wikipedia article is constantly re-edited to avoid comparisons with gender ideology.
[–] VestalVirgin 0 points

I should have known. Wikipedia cannot be trusted, but I'm still often too lazy to look for other sources. :(
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