When I signed up for Professor Michael Whitehawk’s sociology class at Texas State University, I hoped it would challenge me to look at society in new ways, and think critically.
But after hearing his lectures and seeing his slides, it was obvious that we were there to accept his one sided political view, not explore ideas or facts.
That’s especially concerning at a public university. For the 2024-25 school year alone, lawmakers approved $275 million in public funding for the Texas State University System.
And for next year, the legislature approved a $70 million increase — making it all the more fair to ask whether that money is going toward real education, or just reinforcing political agendas in the classroom.
In class, Whitehawk told us flat-out that biological sex itself is a social construct.
“First, we assign the sex category?” he told us. “The sex, male or female, is also assigned at birth. I think that’s a little bit of a hump for some of us to get over, to see that we’re not born with a sex. Sex is also socially constructed.”
One girl raised her hand and asked him, “So you’re saying biological sex and gender are separate?”
Whitehawk replied: “Yeah, and the simple explanation is that sex is biological and gender is social. And I’m sort of suggesting they’re both social. Even the concept of sex is social and a human convention. Because we understand that that binary isn’t even how biology works, it’s more of a continuum.”
Hellbound and Down 