this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
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Science Memes

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OnLy tWo eLemEnTs (gregtech.eu)
submitted 1 month ago by lena@gregtech.eu to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[โ€“] pebbles@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

That article seems to counter your above points about using secondary characteristics pretty directly.

As well:

However, the existence of such conditions does not undermine the binary nature of sex, because the sex binary does not entail that every individual can be unambiguously categorized as male or female.

The article counters the claim that everyone can be placed into the binary.

It seems that "sex is a binary" but we have to exclude folks that don't fit into it. Looks like the meme we're commenting on is still pretty applicable lol.

So now to me it looks like sex is a binary nested in the larger binary of unambiguous and ambiguous sex. Giving folks 3 places they could end up, one of those places (ambiguous sex) being a spectrum. But thats only if we are going to be super technical. I probably wouldn't correct someone for seeing that disjointed spectrum as a regular spectrum.

I do love a pedant though. I'm not even joking. For example: the comedian David Mitchell.

It's been fun taking the time to learn all of this. Thanks for all the links.

[โ€“] powerstruggle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Posted another link elsewhere that explains the ambiguous terminology a bit:

https://projectnettie.wordpress.com/

Although rare, some individuals have disorders of sex development (also referred to as intersex conditions). Most of these disorders are male or female specific and do not cause ambiguous biological sex. Some individuals have reproductive anatomies with both male and female features; here, biological sex classification is a complex process with input from medical professionals and parents. Not one of these individuals represents an additional sex class.

I think the answer you're looking for is that ambiguous is being used in the sense of "not immediately obvious, requires further investigation", not "impossible to know in principle"

Either way, thanks for the conversation (and pedantry!)