Thanks for reading my newsletter separating reality from bullshit in pop culture. Usually Mondays are free and Tuesdays and Thursday are for paid subscribers only, but the fact that this subject keeps being debated pisses me off so I made this one free too. Enjoy. And thanks, paid subscribers, it’s only because of you that this exists.
Woe be unto all of us when political parties attempt to redefine what’s a science question and what’s not.
The question of “How many genders are there?” is a really stupid question, and it’s a little embarrassing for our species that intelligent adults are debating it to score points with their political bases. You might as well ask how many colors of skin there are: Well, most of us may present as Black or white or Asian or (etc. etc. etc.) but then there are countless variations. I can point to a white dude and go “That guy’s white,” and most of the time I’ll be right — but I won’t always. Not only are there many examples of people born into families who really stretch the normal range of phenotypical variation within that family, but — and here’s the big “but” — what “race” someone is is not a genetics question with a quantitative answer; it’s a sociological gradation invented by humans that cannot be defined in empirical terms. Most people may clump nicely into what we usually think of as “racial groups,” but the edges of those groups are all fuzzy, representing a lot of us. See my Skeptoid episode “There’s no such thing as race… Or is there?” for my complete show on this.
So is gender really the same as race? Because you can, like, yank down someone’s shorts and go “Aha! You’re a boy!” can’t you? Can’t you?
Like racial identification, most of the time you’ll be right with that off-the-cuff gender identification. But you won’t always — to the teeth-gnashing, garment-rending dismay of those looking for all answers to be easy ones. And the reason you won’t always be right is that a lot of us live in the fuzzy edges of those two M/F groups — and that’s a provable physical fact.
The science of gender is very simple. The overwhelming majority of people have either XX or XY karyotypes and are born with the usual reproductive organs, but a small percentage are born with variations. There are four other common karyotypes: X, XXY, XYY, and XXXY, and then there are quite a few very different ones that are really rare, including different types of mosaicism where there are different sets of cells in a single person. Among all the people who exist, there are probably karyotypes out there that have not yet been catalogued. In addition, people are sometimes born with reproductive organs that don't match their karyotype, or who have both, or neither, representing every possible combination. And it continues to get more complicated. Some people have hormone levels different from most other people of their karyotype, and so on and so on. While most of us fit cleanly into the two most common groups, plenty of us don't. There are lots of possible humans. These are simply anatomical facts; they are physical reality, not a discussion or a debate.
The problems begin when people turn it into a discussion or a debate, and try to fit their own sets of labels onto all of these different possible humans. That's a process that is totally outside of science. Everyone has their own view of themselves, and lots of people apply their own labels to other people that may not match how those people see themselves.
So when I'm asked to define what those label sets should be, I respectfully decline. It's not for me to say, and it's also not for science to say. That's for every individual person to decide for themselves.
This is not complicated. There are lots of possible humans. Most of us are pretty cool.
Addendum: A lot of people emailed to say I did not properly discriminate between sex and gender. Sex is the biological difference involving chromosomes that’s complex; gender is the person’s identity, which is equally complex. The people arguing that everyone is either male or female, period, are not discriminating. People arguing that transgender people are “pretending to be the other sex” are not discriminating. People arguing that anyone who considers themselves anything other than their “gender assigned at birth” are mentally ill, are not discriminating. My attack here is on the idea that everyone is either male or female, period. It’s false. If my article above makes more sense to you to substitute “sex” for “gender” where appropriate, do so. But that’s a distinction that’s not relevant in the eyes of the readers for whom this was intended, and, for them, confuses the issue even more than they are already confused.
In grade school 75 years ago, we had discussed the issue.
When we walked down the hall, we could see doors labeled girls, boys and janitors, so we knew there were three
You refer to genders, which would make sense a few decades ago when we all knew it was synonymous with sex. But today, gender is ill defined, to the point of being a feeling or personality.
By referring to chromosomes, you are really referring to sex. People with XX, or X0 are female (women, girls), people with XY, XXY, XYY are male (men, boys).
Most DSDs are sex specific. People with very unusual DSDs do not disprove that humans come in only 2 evolved sexes. There is no third sex.
For many aspects of life, how a person defines themselves may in fact not be important. But there are times when it is very important.
A male who says that they are a woman, may feel that very strongly, but it doesn't change the fact that they are not a woman. This will affect women in areas where women expect privacy from men.
Or fairness, such as in sports which are separated by sex.
Or safety, such as states (including California) allowing males identifying as women into women's prison. (no surgeries or artificial hormones are required).
The easy road is to not talk about this issue, as it is a landmine. But it has real world ramifications.
From the rights of women to have some male free spaces, to noting the sudden growth in children and young people feeling they are in the wrong body, and making permanent changes to their bodies. This needs study, but any reputable organization that seeks to do so will face opposition.
No ideology must be above discussion or debate.