Biologists seem pretty clear that sex (which applies much more widely than just humans) is defined in terms of gamete type. So male and female refer to the two distinct body plans, built around the production of either the small gamete or the large gamete.
Male, though they may be infertile males. The SRY triggers the development of the male phenotype (noting that the above “body plan” definition doesn’t require the body to be fully functional).
OK, so what about those with partial androgen insensitivity, who have intermediate sexual organs? Male again? Those with complete insensitivity? Female or male? There's no exact way to classify one of these edge cases with a single rule I think. But it doesn't matter for practicability.
They're commonly regarded as male, but in the small handful of disorders that cover 99% of intersex or dsd people it's obvious that they're a malformed male or female. This stuff always goes into big brained "but is a horse a chair" left wing sophism
This works as long as most people are acting reasonably in good faith. Unfortunately, thanks to the wokeness memetic virus, many people are not hence the need for hard rules.
If this speculation on bird evolution has made you interested in flightless birds in general ... there is a whole family of flightless ducks -- the Steamer ducks -- native to the southern most part of South America. Scientific arguments about them -- did they have a common flightless ancestor, and then the one species that can fly re-develop it again? That would be really, really, rare -- or did each species independently lose the ability to fly? If so there must be some fantastic advantage to not flying in this environment, anybody found one? No? Then why don't they fly? And why haven't they all been eaten? (possible answer -- they are just that nasty and aggressive) are quite entertaining if this is the sort of thing that interests you.
Biologists seem pretty clear that sex (which applies much more widely than just humans) is defined in terms of gamete type. So male and female refer to the two distinct body plans, built around the production of either the small gamete or the large gamete.
Sure, so which sex is a person with XX SRY positive?
Male, though they may be infertile males. The SRY triggers the development of the male phenotype (noting that the above “body plan” definition doesn’t require the body to be fully functional).
OK, so what about those with partial androgen insensitivity, who have intermediate sexual organs? Male again? Those with complete insensitivity? Female or male? There's no exact way to classify one of these edge cases with a single rule I think. But it doesn't matter for practicability.
They're commonly regarded as male, but in the small handful of disorders that cover 99% of intersex or dsd people it's obvious that they're a malformed male or female. This stuff always goes into big brained "but is a horse a chair" left wing sophism
It's irrelevant, because they will not reproduce. That should be the third sex, if you must have one: dead end.
> No philosophy is needed, just practicality.
This works as long as most people are acting reasonably in good faith. Unfortunately, thanks to the wokeness memetic virus, many people are not hence the need for hard rules.
If this speculation on bird evolution has made you interested in flightless birds in general ... there is a whole family of flightless ducks -- the Steamer ducks -- native to the southern most part of South America. Scientific arguments about them -- did they have a common flightless ancestor, and then the one species that can fly re-develop it again? That would be really, really, rare -- or did each species independently lose the ability to fly? If so there must be some fantastic advantage to not flying in this environment, anybody found one? No? Then why don't they fly? And why haven't they all been eaten? (possible answer -- they are just that nasty and aggressive) are quite entertaining if this is the sort of thing that interests you.