Comment on OnLy tWo eLemEnTs

• powerstruggle@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Sorry, you’re down in the list of comments in my inbox. They’d look for structures like these for diagnosis:

  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramesonephric_duct

  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonephric_duct

  There aren’t people born with bodies that just have “no concept” of how to produce a gamete, and that’s what I mean our bodies aren’t blank slates. Even if someone doesn’t actually produce gametes, the rest of their body is still structured in a sexed way, because we’re a sexually dimorphic species.

  source

  • pebbles@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I see what you’re saying. Something like “there are two sets of characteristics and most folks grab from the majority of one or the other. Therefore we can place everyone into one sex or the other.”

    I feel like when I first read your comments I took issue with how black and white your words seemed. I still kinda feel that.

    Is there some structure that’s presense or lack there of definitely defines sex for every person? If so I think its fair to call sex a binary.

    I feel like I’d only be convinced if I could understand what makes the options only 0 or 1 yk? It doesn’t seem to be chromosomes, which is what I was taught growing up. X/Y Chromosomes have more that two ways of existing in humans.

    I’ll read through those wiki articles a bit. To me it seems like your saying that there is some kind of structure that has no middle ground in humans. It always only goes one way or the other. No variation. It’s hard for me to picture life doing that. If ya have any more info to point to I’d be down to look at it.

    source

    • davidagain@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Powerstruggle just trolls trans supportive posts for hours on end, judging by post history.

      You’re trying to reason with a bigot.

      source

      • pebbles@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Damn that post history do paint a pretty consistent picture. Seems there is only one thing for powerstruggle to talk about lol. Same talking point too with the “organized around producing certain gametes.”

        Thanks for pointing that out.

        source

        • -> View More Comments
    • powerstruggle@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      The structures that unambiguously always define male or female are the structures that produce functional gametes. I interpreted “how folks that were never going to produce either fit into that definition” as asking “If we don’t look at the gonads, what would we use to determine sex”. Those ducts are a very good indicator, but are secondary structures around the gonads. If you wanted to determine sex without looking at gonads, those are one of the primary structures for doing so.

      Ovotestes are interesting, but probably not what you’re thinking. They’re not just normal testes and ovaries as one might be lead to believe from the name. They’re exceedingly rare, so have to be examined individually and general statements can’t really be made. You’ll probably find a (semi-)functional gonad from which their sex would be determined, with a sampling of non-functioning tissue from the other sex. You’ll also likely find that the surrounding structures and rest of their body is unambiguously male or female, though again you’d have to look at a specific case.

      To bring it around to near the start of this thread, even then, the body isn’t organized around producing no gametes. It’s organized around producing gametes and failing to do so.

      source

      • pebbles@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        So it seems like there isn’t a universal test that can be used on everyone? Especially since there is a whole category (though extremely rare) of folks who are literally made by male and female fertilized eggs combing.

        the body isn’t organized around producing no gametes.

        After looking some case reports it looks like a lot of folks with ovesterticular disorder have both sets of genetalia and neither can produce gametes. These folks tend to choose a gender (usually the one they grew up as pre-puberty) and get hormone therapy and such to affirm it.

        Since “sex is a binary” is a universal claim, it only takes one existential example to disprove it. I was pretty convinced by the case reports I read that the sex binary can’t include every person.

        I’d be convinced if ya presented a definition that could be used on everyone.

        But at this point I think we are splitting hairs. It seems obvious to me that there is a range of ways sex can exist in humans. At this point a definition for the binary would have to be pretty complex and people close to the boundary would likely be very similar despite getting opposite labels. It’d be like saying there is a binary of black and white and the line is at 127,127,127. I mean sure, but we both know we are just drawing a line in a spectrum.

        source

        • -> View More Comments