Emma Hilton Profile picture
May 27, 2019 19 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Clownfish. Sequential hermaphrodites. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Anglerfish. Extreme dimorphism. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Seahorses. Female fucks around while male carries babies. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Birds. Non-XY genetic determination. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Crocodiles. Sex determined by environmental temperature during development. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Platypus. Five pairs of sex chromosomes. X1X1X2X2X3X3X4X4X5X5 (female) and X1Y1X2Y2.... (male), where X3 and X5 look more like a bird (non X) than a mammal. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Hyena. Females have pseudo-penis which she internalises during mating. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Lily. Hermaphrodites. How to recognise the female part: it makes large gametes.
Flatworms. Hermaphrodites. They penis fence to determine which takes the male role. Most of the time, no-one wins and they each, perhaps dejectedly, spaff (😉) over the other. How to recognise the female part: it makes large gametes.
Bees. Males are missing an entire genome copy. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Asparagus. No sense of sexed self and no plausible mechanism for social construction of gender. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.
Tuatara. Sex determination so extremely temperature sensitive that climate change is causing them to be all male. How to recognise the male: he makes small gametes. He can also be seen looking annoyed at enforced incel status.
I’m pinning this. Please add requests. Also, any examples you see touted as an argument against sex. What was the strawberry one?
Peafowl. Sexual selection gone mental. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes. And she’s not a massive freaking showoff, like this fella...
Mushrooms. Delicious. How to recognise the female: there are no females (‘there is only Zuul’). ‘Female’ and ‘male’ are predicated on two and only two differential gametes, and fungi don’t have them thingies, settling instead for equivalent gametes labelled +/-, or A/B, or yawn.
Fun fact (not really): the truly unique structure of the female hyena reproductive system, whereby she is sole arbiter of when to allow intercourse, suggests that female hyenas cannot be raped.
Straw-not technically a berry-berries. Delicious hermaphrodites. Genetic sex determination is polygenic and may reasonably be described as a (limited) spectrum. How to recognise the female part: it makes large gametes.
Head lice. Annoying buggers. The female transmits chromosomes she inherited from either her mum or dad; the male *only* transmits chromosomes he inherited from his mum. How to recognise the female: she makes large gametes.

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More from @FondOfBeetles

Jul 14
"My data has suggested that my power, strength, stamina, muscle mass, oxygen levels and lung capacity all fit within the c*sgender female range."

Let's look at why this is a red herring.

onmanorama.com/sports/cricket…
Several people argue that if the metrics of a trans-identified male fall "within female range", it is fair for that male to compete in female sport.

But we need to look at what's typical .v. what's exceptional.
Male traits often overlap with female traits. Height, muscle mass and so forth all generate normal distributions within sex (bell curves), where the lower end of the male range overlaps with the upper end of the female range.
Read 10 tweets
Jun 2
Let’s address what many consider an uncomfortable topic.

Here, Bunce argues that Khelif was “condemned on her looks”.

That’s not true.
People argued that Khelif appears to be male.

They may not have always been as polite as Bunce’s sensitivities required, but this is not “condemning” someone “on their looks”.

It’s noting that Khelif looks male/masculinised/(a man, if you prefer), and raising urgent alarms about what that means in boxing.Image
Sportswomen are no strangers to being called “men”. It’s an ugly, misogynistic way to attack gender-nonconforming women.

Tall women, lesbian women, women with short hair and no makeup.
Read 16 tweets
May 31
I don't think this is The Solution, but I'm generally in favour of weighing up proposals, so let's look at this one.

California high school sports have proposed to protect girls and accommodate trans-identified boys as follows:

If a male athlete gets a medal, the displaced female athlete also gets her medal.

Some thoughts to follow, chewing the fat for open discussion...
An example of finish places and medals under this scheme might look like this:

1st William-now-Lia 🥇
2nd Helen 🥇
3rd Sarah 🥈
4th Catherine 🥉

So on the face of it, the top three girls get their rightful medals. Presumably this is how CIF say they are protecting those girls.
That is, to rephrase the original proposal:

The top three girls are medalled in order, and any boy that is good enough to finish in this female competitive window gets a place-matched medal.

This rephrasing shows the flaws.
Read 10 tweets
Apr 25
This is a computer-generated series, transitioning between "hyper male" and "hyper female".

Where does your perception of the sex of the person shift?
Which face is the most ambiguous?

If you reply, please include your sex (the actual one). Image
OK, in the paper, the data was:

Faces 1-3: 100>97% scored "male"
Faces 5-7: 94>100% scored "female"
Face 4 was the transition face, with 68% scoring it "male".

FTR, I didn't hesitate on 4/male then 5/female.
Next set: same series, now skinned 🤣

I won't ask for responses. It is probably obvious that people were less able to detect any sharp transition from male>female, from face-on bone structure.

Note to archeologists: this doesn't mean you can't tell a male from female face, so stop pretending you can't.Image
Read 7 tweets
Apr 4
This is the menstrual cycle.

Trans-identified males do not have one. Image
This is the uterus, from which we bleed.

Trans-identified males do not have one. Image
During a period, prostaglandins trigger uterine contractions, causing cramps.

Trans-identified males do not have them. Image
Read 8 tweets
Mar 27
People with 5ARD are male, not female

In defence of Semenya et al, many argue:
1. athletes with 5ARD are female;
2. features associated with 5ARD are normal female variation;
3. these athletes should be included in female sports.

The first claim is incoherent.Image
To understand 5ARD, let's look at healthy reproductive development.

Both male and female development are well-understood. Image
Male development
1. Y chromosome carrying functional SRY that directs testes development
2. testes produce hormones, notably testosterone (T)
3. T first drives male internal genitalia development
4. T>DHT conversion drives male external genital development
Read 20 tweets

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