Well there's an almighty who-ha going on at the moment on social media, the twitter SJW mob in particular is hurling abuse at J. K. Rowing for tweeting the following,
What has ensued is a classic battle between the forces of reason and the forces of cultural politics.
On the side of reason we have Biology and the scientific definition of "sex", here the picture is clear. We have people that produce small gametes (male) and people that produce large gametes (female) and this is binary. Now, there are a very small number of people (about 0.02 percent) who are intersex, meaning they have reproductive anatomy that is ambiguous, however this still does not mean sex is a "spectrum" (or even worse, arbitrary). The best analogy for this is a coin toss, it's either heads or tails and one excludes the other, however the coin could (in a vanishingly small number of throws) land on it's side, this is analogous to intersex but still does not mean that there's a spectrum between heads and tails, we never see a throw that results in a small degree of heads and a small degree of tails.
On the other side of the argument we have the cultural relativists, the people who argue that everyone has the right to determine their own sex (by virtue of what they say they prefer to be) or none. There seems to be much confusion (between sex and gender) among this community and little consensus, other than, a strong emotional response to the thought that trans people (intersex or otherwise) might be discriminated against or questioned in any way. The position does seem to vary wildly though, with a spectrum of opinions varying from complete nonacceptance of any debate on the topic whatsoever and even violence through to arguments based purely on agreeableness and a desire to be inclusive; lack of rigorous definitions is possibly part of the problem.
Many people would argue that the definitions don't really matter and that what's important are the feelings of the people involved and the social handicaps of being trans-gender or intersex. Whilst this is certainly true to some extent and seems compelling, it's worth reflecting that the definition of male and female matters greatly in certain areas of our lives. Most sports for example where male's have physiological advantages that would make a mockery of fairness within female categories should biological males be allowed to compete in them. Also in areas of social care (rape crisis centres) and public female spaces, changing rooms for example or toilets where individual isolation is not possible. Also, there may be disastrous consequences looming for many people who feel it appropriate to surgically intervene in the lives of small children who display intersex characteristics, even to the extent that effeminate boys or butch girls are having "corrective" surgeries when fact they may simply be gay or lesbian. The whole area is complex and a potential future minefield, my view is that reasonable debate (a rare thing on Twitter) is probably the last thing that should be thrown under the bus by anyone at this critical point.
So, it seems to me that J. K. Rowling is factually correct, sex (as defined Biologically) does exist, cannot be changed and is vital to the identities of the vast majority of people. Of course facts tend not to matter to those engaged in ideological crusades or that are willfully (or otherwise) ignorant. However I believe that this represents the minority viewpoint and that more caution and debate is required. History shows us that whenever reality is distorted in an attempt to achieve perceived equality and justice; inequality and injustice are never eliminated, just relocated for a little while and usually at great Human expense.
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