A scientific report posted on FB as a comment to a transphobe.

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I have simply cut and pasted, The following is taken from an FB post ...

I just commented this on a transphobic post that was all like: "In a sexual species, females have two X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y, I'm not a bigot; it's just science."

I'm a science teacher so I responded with this:
First of all, in a sexual species, you can have females be XX and males be X (insects), you can have females be ZW and males be ZZ (birds), you can have females be females because they developed in a warm environment and males be males because they developed in a cool environment (reptiles), you can have females be females because they lost a penis sword fighting contest (some flatworms), you can have males be males because they were born female, but changed sexes because the only male in their group died (parrotfish and clownfish), you can have males look and act like females because they are trying to get close enough to actual females to mate with them (cuttlefish, bluegills, others), or you can be one of thousands of sexes (slime mold, some mushrooms.)
Oh, did you mean humans?
Oh ok then.
You can be male because you were born female, but you have 5-alphareductase deficiency and so you grew a penis at age 12.
You can be female because you have an X and a Y chromosome but you are insensitive to androgens, and so you have a female body.
You can be female because you have an X and a Y chromosome but your Y is missing the SRY gene, and so you have a female body.
You can be male because you have two X chromosomes, but one of your X's HAS an SRY gene, and so you have a male body.
You can be male because you have two X chromosomes- but also a Y.
You can be female because you have only one X chromosome at all.
And you can be male because you have two X chromosomes, but your heart and brain are male.
And vice - effing - versa.
Don't use science to justify your bigotry. The world is way too weird for that shit.

Comments

*snerk*

Alecia Snowfall's picture

*snerk* I like it.

quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall

Science reveals truth

Science is a powerful tool. That is, science accepts very little as being absolutely true. Instead, it treats the world as a huge 'maybe' that needs to be explored.
When we do, we generally find that there are few absolutes. The speed of light in a vacuum appears to be one of those few. However, when it comes to biology, science discovers a spectrum of modifications and behaviors that astound us all. To suggest that the happenstance of X or Y chromosomes is an absolute determinant of anything other than their existence is absurd.
Thank you for pointing out just some of the variations on the theme of human sexuality.

Red MacDonald

Posted it back to FB

I liked the post so much, that I put it back on FB on my Timeline. :)

Gwen

same here

Alecia Snowfall's picture

Same here. didn't think of that until you mentioned it.

quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall

With your permission

I will be delivering a lecture on trans and intersex history at the end of the month, so I will nick this!

LOVE THIS

Teresa L.'s picture

Can i borrow this for the next neanderthal i come across?? please, pretty please???

Teresa L.

You could also add

Angharad's picture

You are male or female if you've also applied to the various law systems in order to have your status declared legally so.

Angharad

While it's true

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

While it's true that XX can be used to define female, and XY can be used to define male in human anatomy I have to ask... What does that have to do with being feminine or masculine? Or with what gender the of soul or spirit is? Anatomy is not the be all, end all of human experience or expression.

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt

(shrug)

OP, from the looks of it, didn't think to ask that. All he mentioned was female/male.

Just ignore the facts!

Hypatia Littlewings's picture

Don't you just love it when someone makes a Scientific Argument, without any actual science in it.

lol

>i<

But.....

Hypatia Littlewings's picture

They left out the Elephants and the Turtle!

>i<

Nope

They dismissed the idea of turtles and elephants as being "too silly"...

There are also cases of XY

Brooke Erickson's picture

There are also cases of XY females who have born children. natural insemination and birth.

I forget *what* genetic anomaly is responsible for that one, but it does happen (very rarely).

There's also XXXY and a bunch of others.

And "physical sex" isn't remotely male/female. It's a spectrum and has occasional branches. It's just that doctors, for the last century or so have taken it upon themselves to "correct" intersex babies, often without telling the parents. So people aren't aware of just how common intersex conditions are.

And for that matter several different cultures have the same *five* genders:

male-bodied, male role
male-bodied, female role
"two-spirited"
female bodied, male role
female-bodied, female role

Hopefully, we'll eventually get back to that. At least several countries, several US states and Canadian provinces are allowing people to have a "O" gender marker on their IDs and passports.

Sexual orientation is yet another can of worms.

The world isn't binary.

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks

In simple terms

Intersex is one of my specialities in my professional life. I was actually giving a presentation on the subject to a conference on Friday. So... simplified, hugely:

Chromosomes are collections of genes that define how we develop. Certain genes appear on particular chromosomes, and typically the X carries female developmental triggers, the Y male. There are a number of conditions that can affect that, as already stated, but one group is where the triggering genes are transposed into the 'wrong' chromosome. Thus, a phenotype female (XX) with a penis, etc.