I have little doubt that we have all heard the line that transphobes use, that your gender is what you're born with, you can't change it, etc, and needless to say this is stupid, almost as stupid as the time I saw someone on reddit trying to convince someone diagnosed with NPD they didn't actually have it (the stigma surrounding that condition is absurd). But while I'm assured most of us know that this is wrong, I still think it's important to know why, and what better way to do this than by using the very same 'basic biology' these people try to uphold?
To begin with, it's quite easy to see that the very concepts of 'male' and 'female are vague when you get into the specifics. As I have mentioned several times in the past, 'maleness' as we usually think of it is not in fact determined by the entire y chromosome, but by only a segment of it. If that segment is lost, as it sometimes is, the person in question develops as female but is chromosomally 'male', by the definitions of transphobes. So are they actually male or not? Either way, their criteria are completely broken down. And this problem isn't just limited to the Y chromosome; what about XXY men? They bear some female secondary sexual characteristics, but they are undoubtedly recognizably developmentally male. And X, XXX, and XXX+ women do exist. What about them? Should XYY men be banned from sports as well due to their supposed heightened testosterone?
To make matters more complicated, development of sexual characteristics is more complicated than just one gene. If anything downstream malfunctions, someone can end up with both male and female reproductive structures, also known as intersex people. What about them? Are they supposed to play male sports half the time and female sports the other half?
Even ignoring all this, the very conclusion that the existence of trans people is 'unscientific' is false. The consensus in the scientific community is that sex and gender are indeed separate, and can be misaligned for an individual. If they're willing to deny what actual scientists are saying for their own ideology, they're free to do that, but they have no excuse to pretend to uphold science. How do I know what scientists agree on? My anatomy and physiology textbook. From 2006.
An entire decade before the whole wokemongering bullshit started. It's not as if the authors are particularly progressive either; several other textbooks I own from the early 2000s to a few years back agree on this.
I think it's quite clear that anything transphobes say isn't based in fact, but only their own delusions. They can't deny that they don't give a shit about biology at all, which is perfectly fine to me. However, they shouldn't go around masquerading as triumphant 'experts' when they don't understand what they're trying to use as a cudgel. The sad thing is, many uninformed people will see their rhetoric online and fall for their bad faith arguments, and I think it's the responsibility of those who know better to not only tell them not only that they are wrong, but also why they are wrong.
I apologize for the terrible structure and awkward phrasing.
Mammals do have 2 sexes, there is not a single species that has more than 2, I think that you're mixing mammals with invertebrates, amphibians and other species which have more than 2. It's very easy to classify even in animals, let alone humans, unless someone changed it and it isn't immediately recognizable, but there's still 2. Intersex people are people who are born with genitals, chromosomes or reproductive organs that don't fit into an exclusively male or exclusively female sex binary, they do not fit in notions of male or female bodies.
That's the case of ambiguous genitalia, just as my brother mentioned, it's a rare condition which is either a mix of both male and female anatomical traits or the genitalia is outright beyond recognition, which doesn't make it a third sex.
Please either engage with the arguments in my first comment in this thread or stop commenting. Repeating some variation of "there are two sexes and everyone who can't be easily classified as one or the other is deformed and should be ignored" is just not good enough. And that seems to be all you and your brother are capable of doing.
I've read it, my brother already responded about that. Rare condition which causes the deformity of genitalia or infertility isn't doesn't make the third separate gender, it's a condition or just the inability to have kids. Conditions shouldn't be ignored, quite the opposite, they should be treated and it's unfortunate that some people are born with them, same stands about every other condition such as conjoined twins, additional limbs, deformed limbs etc. My brother for example had a heart condition at birth which had to be treated when he was just 3 months old, so I already know about birth conditions.
You're conflating sex and gender, you seem to be confusing gender and sexuality, and you're comparing being intersex to having a heart condition. If you (or your brother -- whoever is reading this) want this account to remain unbanned and have its posts restored, you need to recognize that you're not currently equipped to talk about this; no investigation, no right to speak. It's perfectly fine to not understand something, you just have to be willing to listen to those who are better informed.
Yeah, I already know you and your brother think intersex people are deformed and should be forced to undergo (entirely unnecessary, usually very invasive) "treatments" to better conform to your ideals. I'm saying that's a fucking bigoted point of view and you and your brother should change your opinions of intersex people.