Tag: damn

aparticularlygoodfinder:

sometimestheresgodsoquickly:

iwillrestructureyourface:

As the kid of a doctor and a biologist, let me tell you something that just miiight go over some people’s (*cough cough terfs*) heads:

– XX and XY (or any other combinations – there are others) chromosomes are a thing and are medically important

– genitals are a thing and are medically important

– horomones are a thing and are medically important

– the idea of a “biological sex” is still completely unnecessary. If you have XX chromosomes, you can tell your doctor that. If you have a penis, you can tell your doctor that. If you have high levels of both estrogen/testosterone, your doctor should probably know that already but I guess if you go to a new one you can tell them that. There is no situation in which one has to say “I am biologically male/female”

^say it a little louder for the transphobic educators who tried to tell students otherwise

I teach intro biology labs at the college level, and I try really hard to get all of this through my students’ heads at the earliest possible opportunity. The biological definition of a sex is  l i t e r a l l y just:  

Does this organism produce: many tiny energetically cheap gametes, or few large energetically expensive gametes? 

That’s literally it. There’s no other qualifiers, there’s no other anatomical characteristics involved in that definition, and even that scientific distinction exists on a spectrum! No species of animal ever 100% across-the-board conforms to this sexually dimorphic biological system! There will always be individuals of any largely gametically-dimorphic species that exist somewhere in-between, and there are a number species where the sexes all produce gametes of similar sizes!

IN NO WAY EVER does even that gamete size distinction ever confer gender upon anyone. Chromosomes and genitals and hormones ARE medically important, but these characteristics NEVER dictate gender, and they’re NEVER anyone’s business but your own unless you choose to involve another person in discussions of your strictly physical health. 

There is no such thing as being “biologically [gender]”. The idea is a toxic social construct, and don’t let anyone try to shoehorn you into believing otherwise.