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Growing number of academic papers ‘ignore biology entirely in favor of ideology,’ nurse responds

Yale University and one of its Ph.D. candidates are facing criticism for an article that argues pregnancy should be redefined to include transgender individuals.

Pregnancy should not “be defined by biological phenomena,” the author, Carlo Sariego, wrote. Instead, the definition of pregnancy should be based on “a genre of political, aesthetic, and affective experience and expectation.”

Sariego (pictured) is a doctoral candidate in sociology and women, gender, and sexuality studies at the Ivy League university, according to a bio page on the Yale website. The graduate student uses “they/them” pronouns.

Sariego’s article, “Transfeminist pregnancy: reproductive speculation, genre, and desire,” appeared in Sage Journals at the end of April.

“We need a more all-encompassing notion of pregnancy, which is nourished by the capacious social world of conception and giving new life. Such a definition of pregnancy supports the goal of feminists, who resist the reduction of womanhood to reproductive function,” the Yale student wrote.

Manhattan Institute fellow and scientist Colin Wright was the first to draw attention to the paper online. In a harsh critique, he began by noting that even the first sentence is a “flat lie.”

The first sentence of the paper is a flat lie, claiming that Texas HB 2690 defined a “woman” as “an individual with a uterus, regardless of any gender identity.”

In reality, it defines “woman” as “an individual whose biological sex is female,” and provides additional details. pic.twitter.com/hImadReZHf

— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) May 13, 2025

One of Sariego’s arguments is that transgender people who “transition” go through similar experiences as pregnant females.

“… both involve a subversion of hormones, radical changes to the body, and a new self,” the Yale student wrote.

Wright observed:

As evidence, [Sariego] provides a case study of a man who identifies as a woman who had to go off estrogen to produce enough sperm to then store in a sperm bank.

Because this process involved a hormonal shift, wearing baggy clothes (underwear), and taking vitamins, and because pregnant women ALSO undergo hormonal shifts, wear baggy clothes, and take vitamins… he concludes “I’m pregnant.”

The author says: “To be pregnant as a trans woman is to perform these routine tasks that help her gestate the needed sperm.”

All right, you probably thought things couldn’t get more insane. But you’d be very, very wrong.

The last argument for why men can get pregnant cites a science fiction short story called “Bloodchild” where a young boy named Gan is living in an alien colony “run by insect-like… pic.twitter.com/M0ttwtvF9l

— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) May 13, 2025

Meanwhile, Jennifer Lahl, founder of the Center for Bioethics and Culture, criticized Yale – one of the most prestigious universities in the world – for allowing “fringe” ideas to pass as scholarship.

“I work in reproductive technology, so I read a lot of research on fertility and pregnancy. Most of it is scientific and straightforward. But lately, I’ve been seeing more and more papers that ignore biology entirely in favor of ideology,” Lahl wrote in a column at Reality’s Last Stand.

A nurse, Lahl expressed concerns about the future of medicine if such thinking remains unchecked.

“It may sound bizarre—and it is—but this kind of thinking is becoming more common in academic circles. And because these ideas are starting to affect real-world medicine and policy, they need to be taken seriously—and challenged,” she wrote.

Sariego did not respond to an email from The College Fix asking about the criticism.

In addition to graduate school, Sariego also is “a fiber artist and doll maker,” according to the Yale website bio. Photos of the dolls (one pictured) appeared on Sariego’s personal website but seem to have been removed since The Fix visited it last week.

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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Yale University graduate student Carlo Sariego published a controversial paper about pregnancy in Sage Journals. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sage Journals, Carlo Sariego

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