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Line 154: {{See also\|Social construction of gender}} In 1998, in a book review published in ''[[Nature (journal)\|''Nature'']]'', Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the [[Sokal affair]]: ''[[Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science]]'' by [[Paul R. Gross]] and [[Norman Levitt]] and ''[[Fashionable Nonsense\|Intellectual Impostures]]'' by [[Alan Sokal]] and [[Jean Bricmont]]. These books ~~are famous for their criticism of~~critiqued [[postmodernism]] in U.S. universities ~~(namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies)~~.<ref name="postmodernism">{{cite journal\|last=Dawkins\|first=Richard\|date=9 July 1998\|title=Postmodernism Disrobed\|journal=[[Nature (journal)\|Nature]]\|volume=394\|issue=6689\|pages=141–143\|bibcode=1998Natur.394..141D\|doi=10.1038/28089\|s2cid=40887987\|doi-access=free}} For article with math symbols see [http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/dawkins.html this link] {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417132936/http://physics.nyu.edu/sokal/dawkins.html \|date=17 April 2016 }}.</ref> Echoing many other critics, Dawkins describes postmodernism as using [[obscurantism\|obscurantist]] language to hide its lack of meaningful content.<ref name="postmodernism" /> In 2024, Dawkins co-authored an op-ed in ''[[The Boston Globe\|]]''~~The~~ ~~Boston~~with ~~Globe'']] with~~mathematician Sokal criticizing the use of the terminology "~~[[Sex assignment\|~~sex assigned at birth]]" instead of "[[sex]]" by the [[American Medical Association]], the [[American Psychological Association]], the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], and the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]. Dawkins and Sokal ~~wrote that~~describe sex isas an "objective biological reality" that "is determined at conception and is then ''observed'' at birth," rather than assigned by a medical professional. Calling this "[[social constructionism]] gone amok," Dawkins and Sokal argued that "distort[ing] the scientific facts in the service of a social cause" risks undermining trust in medical institutions.<ref>{{cite news \|last1=Sokal \|first1=Alan \|last2=Dawkins \|first2=Richard \|date=April 8, 2024 \|title=Sex and gender: The medical establishment's reluctance to speak honestly about biological reality \|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/08/opinion/sex-gender-medical-terms/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240408223633/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/08/opinion/sex-gender-medical-terms/ \|archive-date=April 8, 2024 \|access-date=April 8, 2024 \|work=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref>▼ Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses [[obscurantism\|obscurantist]] language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst [[Félix Guattari]]: "We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis." This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or [[Jacques Lacan\|Lacan]], according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career: "Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."<ref name="postmodernism" /> ▲In 2024, Dawkins co-authored an op-ed in [[The Boston Globe\|''The Boston Globe'']] with Sokal criticizing the use of the terminology "[[Sex assignment\|sex assigned at birth]]" instead of "[[sex]]" by the [[American Medical Association]], the [[American Psychological Association]], the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], and the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]. Dawkins and Sokal wrote that sex is an "objective biological reality" that "is determined at conception and is then ''observed'' at birth," rather than assigned by a medical professional. Calling this "[[social constructionism]] gone amok," Dawkins and Sokal argued that "distort[ing] the scientific facts in the service of a social cause" risks undermining trust in medical institutions.<ref>{{cite news \|last1=Sokal \|first1=Alan \|last2=Dawkins \|first2=Richard \|date=April 8, 2024 \|title=Sex and gender: The medical establishment's reluctance to speak honestly about biological reality \|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/08/opinion/sex-gender-medical-terms/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240408223633/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/08/opinion/sex-gender-medical-terms/ \|archive-date=April 8, 2024 \|access-date=April 8, 2024 \|work=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref> === Other fields ===