Zachary Elliot founded the Paradox Institute in 2020 with a simple mission: to address the gap in sex education which the Left had hitherto been all too happy to fill. The organization has published books, videos, and pamphlets that promise a science-based alternative to families on issues like sexuality, “gender identity,” and Disorders of Sexual Development (DSDs).
Cynthia Breheny, Paradox Institute’s president, said in an interview with IW Features that it is not enough for conservatives to simply oppose the tools the Left uses to push its agenda on impressionable children. Conservatives must also provide scientific, age-appropriate alternatives to the Left’s version of sex education—which is exactly what Paradox Institute aims to do.
“We want to make biology simple and approachable for kids, and replace what’s out there now, which is confusing about your identity and your biology … with a strong foundation in biology and reality to make sure that kids can go forward confidently, knowing what the science is,” she said.
The Paradox Institute aims to “reinforce scientific reality” through videos, books, and pamphlets. Breheny herself is an author of several children’s books, including one titled “It All Begins with Two,” which explains how life begins by a sperm fertilizing an egg. The book emphasizes that women and men have distinct roles in conception without dwelling on sensationalized details of sex.
“A sperm and an egg have a lot to impart,” the book reads. “These small, special cells join to create life. Their roles, specialized like a spoon or a knife.”
Breheny’s simple, honest approach to sex education stands in stark contrast to the way public schools teach about sex, the purpose of which, she said, is “just … to obfuscate and confuse.”
“Everything that’s out there right now is setting us back and replacing biology with kink,” she said.
For example, resources like the “Gender Unicorn” are often used in public schools to explain transgenderism to children as young as 5-years-old. The “Gender Unicorn” website says the goal of the graphic is to “recognize genders outside of the western gender binary.”
In response, the Paradox Institute created “The Self Cloud” to help children and adults understand that biological sex is firm regardless of personal expression. The graph has users write down their expression, their sex, and their interests in a way that Breheny says “allows for people with DSDs to be incorporated without being othered, without getting overly detailed or singling them out.”
“I believe there was one public school, maybe two that used our ‘self-cloud’ in some classrooms. We created the ‘self cloud’ like four years ago to combat the gender unicorn,” she added.
While Paradox Institute’s materials are mostly focused on pedagogical explanations of sex and biology for children, Breheny says that grown adults have told her that her materials have solidified and augmented their understanding of the sex binary.
“I mean, I don’t think there’s a demographic that doesn’t really benefit from it. I’ve even had people who are reality-based conservatives who fight in this movement with us, who come up and say, ‘You know, I knew it already, but I didn’t know it as well as I thought I did, because of your work showing me like that there were gaps in my understanding, and now I can communicate it more effectively,’”Breheny said.
Paradox Institute’s materials have also been used by lawmakers and public officials fighting against gender ideology in the public square.
“We’ve been able to educate other policymakers, we’ve helped biologists to be able to communicate this stuff,” Breheny said. “There are biologists who use our graphics that we’ve made to communicate the stuff to the public. We’ve had them use our materials during their lectures, even at these gender conferences.”
But Paradox Institute’s educational content is largely aimed at young people, with digestible short-form videos on TikTok, illustrated children’s books, and YouTube videos with engaging graphics. The organization has amassed more than 10,000 subscribers on YouTube with videos responding to common arguments students may encounter in the world, such as whether sex is binary, and the supposed difference between sex and “gender.” On TikTok, where the average user is in their 20s, Paradox Institute produces short form videos explaining the basics of biology and the sex binary.
With founder Zachary Elliot’s background in scientific research and education and Breheny’s background as an artist and author, Paradox Institute is uniquely set up to offer a significant alternative to the myriad of leftist content that maintains that there exists no meaningful physical distinctions between the sexes.
For Breheny, this fight is personal. Her own past experience with gender dysphoria made her realize how important it was for young people who felt alienated in their own bodies to be presented with the loving truth, rather than unscientific lies.
“I had someone ask me, ‘Wouldn’t it have been better if you had been allowed to be with the boys, and someone affirmed you?’” Breheny said. “And I said, ‘No, absolutely not.’ What I needed was somebody to tell me that it was OK to be an atypical girl, and that I belonged just as much as any other girl. That’s what I needed.”
