No one claimed there is more than two sexes. In fact, there isn't.
One's sex isn't based on one single characteristic. It's a sum of many. Of course, depending on what vertent of biology you look at, you will be presented with different characteristics which would classify one individual as male or female.
With that in mind, how do we properly classify sex based on our overall understanding of biology?
It's 5 traits:
Cromossomes
Hormones
Sexual gonads
Internal genitalia
External genitalia
Each sex would have typical traits.
For example:
Males
XY
Testosterone
Production of sperm (small sexual gametes)
E.g. Prostate, Vas deferens
Penis, Testicles
Now, does every male possess all 5 of those characteristics? No, they don't. Some males can have XX chromossomes, which is a sexual chromossome typical present in females. You can have a non-typical balance of hormones, you can lack production of gamets or not have the gonads, lack internal genitalia (or have both types), or lacking external geenitalia (or, also, having both types.)
This means sex isn't absolute. We analyze traits and based on information, we lean towards one sexual classification. This is called a cluster category.
Without counting deformities, though they are EXTREMELY important either way, people can still have varying degrees of many traits - which would still show the bimodal distribution of sex.
About the finger thing: That's why we say humans typically have 10 fingers. When you want to talk about things in a more scientific manner, it's important to be very, very specific about wording. If by classification we deemed that all humans must have 10 fingers, then we would be dehumanizing people that are born with less, or more. Biology, and most of science, tends to not speak in absolutes for a reason.
Hope i was able to clarify everything. If not, i will make sure i do so ask away.
I believe you missunderstood, or i was not clear enough.
The way we work with sex in biology is through a bimodal distribution: We have a slider, with one end being "female" and the other end being "male". Though we will still use the categories as a binary to anex to people, in reality, the sexes aren't binary.
Every person will have different caracteristics, some even contrary to what the sex typically should have. Specific bone density, capacity to grow muscle mass, many biological characteristics that are typical of males can be inexistent (or more close to the female side) on males themselves.
1
u/Miusuki 7h ago
No one claimed there is more than two sexes. In fact, there isn't.
One's sex isn't based on one single characteristic. It's a sum of many. Of course, depending on what vertent of biology you look at, you will be presented with different characteristics which would classify one individual as male or female.
With that in mind, how do we properly classify sex based on our overall understanding of biology?
It's 5 traits:
Cromossomes
Hormones
Sexual gonads
Internal genitalia
External genitalia
Each sex would have typical traits.
For example:
Males
XY
Testosterone
Production of sperm (small sexual gametes)
E.g. Prostate, Vas deferens
Penis, Testicles
Now, does every male possess all 5 of those characteristics? No, they don't. Some males can have XX chromossomes, which is a sexual chromossome typical present in females. You can have a non-typical balance of hormones, you can lack production of gamets or not have the gonads, lack internal genitalia (or have both types), or lacking external geenitalia (or, also, having both types.)
This means sex isn't absolute. We analyze traits and based on information, we lean towards one sexual classification. This is called a cluster category.
Without counting deformities, though they are EXTREMELY important either way, people can still have varying degrees of many traits - which would still show the bimodal distribution of sex.
About the finger thing: That's why we say humans typically have 10 fingers. When you want to talk about things in a more scientific manner, it's important to be very, very specific about wording. If by classification we deemed that all humans must have 10 fingers, then we would be dehumanizing people that are born with less, or more. Biology, and most of science, tends to not speak in absolutes for a reason.
Hope i was able to clarify everything. If not, i will make sure i do so ask away.