So, there’s some late breaking sex news that I can’t not talk about, but I have to preface it by saying that some of the information that is coming out has not yet been independently verified by legitimate news sources (though every news outlet from Fox News to the New York Times has mentioned it in some way). New details may emerge and some reports may have to be corrected. Pictures of Kristi Noem’s husband wearing enormous fake boobs and pink hot pants have leaked along with rumors that he likes really big boobs and has paid similarly endowed sex workers at least $25,000 for online services. Kristi—who’s been busy schtupping someone else on government-owned planes during the last few months before she got fired—has not denied this but has asked for privacy and “thoughts and prayers” during this time. I haven’t really had time to organize my thoughts on this one, so I’m just going to give them to you as bullet points, and we can discuss it more next week if something else comes to light.
This isn’t actually the only late-breaking story, SCOTUS struck down a ban on conversion therapy for minors yesterday. We definitely have to talk about that, but I need more time to process an 8-1 decision. More Mifepristone AttacksI made my own Muck Rack Alert on Monday which always makes me feel special. The clipping service as I still call it (because I’m old enough to have paid for someone to cut articles out of local newspapers and mail them to me) caught my most recent article for Rewire News Group. It was actually an expanded version of the piece I wrote for you guys last week about the anti-mifepristone bill that is being sold as environmental legislation. I added more information about how impractical and gross the execution of the law would be and talked even more about the blatant hypocrisy of a GOP Congresswoman pretending to care about our clean water or air. Read more me here.
Of course, Senate Republicans are also attacking mifepristone without any of the pretense. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)—the MAGA Republican who is still best known for running away from his own people on January 6th—has proposed a bill that would revoke the FDA’s approval of Mifepristone. Hawley and his co-sponsors are once again claiming that the drug is dangerous for women, but we know that’s not what this is about (we also know it’s not true).
This is about access. Republicans argued that states should decide whether abortion was legal. SCOTUS agreed. States like Missouri made super strict laws. Mifepristone became a way to get around those super strict laws. So now Republicans are arguing that the federal government needs to get involved and ban it. Way to stick to those states’ rights principles, guys. In what seems like another betrayal of core Republican values, Hawley told The Hill that capitalism was pissing him off “… the drug makers, particularly Danco, are just making profits like you wouldn’t believe, and they’re sitting in the Cayman Islands not accountable to anybody.” Is this the moment that the GOP decides to regulate the pharmaceutical industry’s profits or change the tax code to get rid of offshore loopholes? Will they start by taking a look at Trump’s shady Cayman Island accounts? In addition to Hawley’s bill, a group of GOP Senators led by Bill Cassidy (R-LA)—best known for believing RFK, Jr.’s promise not to mess with vaccine recommendations—has sent letters to three mifepristone manufacturers and the FDA. They want to probe the companies’ compliance records and force the FDA to put in stricter rules for prescribing the drug.
Most Republicans in Congress, however, do not want to talk about abortion this close to an explosive midterm season. They know it’s a losing message. Hawley doesn’t care. He told the publication NOTUS, “Not talking about abortion, they may think that’s a feature. I think that’s a bug. I’m pro-life. I want to do what I can to advance the pro-life cause.” But when NOTUS asked a bunch of Josh’s colleagues about the bill, they hid behind some version of “Oh, I haven’t read it yet.” Go ahead and keep it that way. Don’t read it, and definitely don’t vote for it. (Though if the Big Beautiful Bill taught us anything, it’s that GOP members were perfectly happy to vote for Trump’s bill without ever reading it.) Bans on Gender-Affirming Care Impact Some Cisgender Children as WellAs I was doomscrolling this morning, I got pulled into clickbait article on People.com with the not-at-all-alarmist headline “Mom ‘Terrified’ After Results from Prenatal Testing Reveal Son Has XXY Chromosome: ‘My Entire World Shattered.’” Shockingly, the headline was wrong. Stephanie Niklow wasn’t terrified by the diagnosis, but she is worried that her son won’t be able to get the hormone therapy he’ll need after puberty. People born with XXY chromosomes have something called Klinefelter syndrome. Think back to high school biology. Most cells reproduce through mitosis which creates two carbon copies of the original. Sperm and egg cells reproduce through meiosis which is ultimately supposed to result in four copies that each have half of the DNA of the parent cell. Ova (eggs) are supposed to have one X cell each. Sperm cells are supposed to have either an X or a Y. If meiosis goes awry, however, you can end up with an egg that carries two X chromosomes or an XY sperm. Either of these issues can cause an embryo/fetus to develop with Klinefelter. Kids with Klinefelter often show mild symptoms before puberty. They may have slow motor and speech development and start walking or talking later than other kids. They may have some learning delays and some emotional issues as well, but all of these could be mistaken for symptoms of other developmental issues. Physically, kids with XXY will appear male though they may have a smaller than average penis and smaller testicles. They are also often taller than average with very long legs, a shorter torso, and broader hips than other kids assigned male at birth. Much of this is not noticeable until they reach the age of puberty. Some puberty changes will be delayed, and others might not happen at all. Teens with Klinefelter often have less muscle mass and less body/facial hair than peers. They also usually have a lower sex drive and produce little to no sperm. In fact, many men don’t find out they have this syndrome until they try to get a partner pregnant. Niklow, however, had genetic testing done during pregnancy so she knew that her son was going to be born with this condition. That meant she was able to anticipate developmental delays and seek out early interventions. She says that her son Theo, who is now two, is a typical toddler and has met most of his milestones, though he does have some speech delays for which he is getting speech therapy. Niklow also explained that she’s worried about what will happen when he reaches puberty. In a TikTok video that has over 1.6 million views, the mom noted that although he is not transgender or intersex, he will need testosterone replacement therapy when he reaches puberty, and this is considered gender-affirming care. Currently 27 states have bans on gender affirming care for minors because the Republican war on the transgender community trumps their parental rights campaigns. While the right of one parent who doesn’t want their kid to learn that gay people exist is enough to ban books and censor sex education for all kids in a school district, parents of trans kids are being told that they can’t choose their child’s medical care. Way to stick to those parents’ rights principles, guys. The cruelty of denying trans kids the medical care they need is, of course, part of the point of these laws, but Niklow also wants people to understand that the laws will have ripple effects for other kids. She said, “He will need testosterone replacement therapy when he goes through puberty. That is gender-affirming care. I am scared that gender-affirming care will be banned on a federal level.” It’s a reasonable fear given the many ways in which the Trump administration is trying to do just that. The House passed bills to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors and ban Medicaid coverage, though the Senate hasn’t done so yet. HHS under RFK, Jr. and Dr. Oz has also acted. It passed one rule saying Medicaid won’t cover gender-affirming care for anyone under 18 and a second rule that says any hospital that receives Medicaid or Medicare funding for any service cannot provide pediatric gender-affirming care. (Spoiler alert: that’s basically all hospitals). A judge has ruled this an overreach, but the court cases are still ongoing. Too often, when one group is clearly being targeted, the conversation shifts to how it might affect other “innocent” people. I hate that—it feels like a distraction from the real point. I’d rather jump up and down and say stop bullying trans kids who are just trying to survive. But if this random mom of a two-year old can help move the needle by reminding People Magazine readers and TikTok scrollers we’re messing with kids’ lives, I guess we’ll take the help. Sex on Wednesday is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Sex on Wednesday that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
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