1/ Many well-meaning people try to strike a nuanced compromise between the "sex is a spectrum" & "sex is binary" people by claiming "sex is bimodal." This simply isn't true. A bimodal distribution requires a continuous X axis. Male & female are not continuous variables. 
2/ The implications of the "sex is bimodal" position is that some males are more male than others, and some females are more female than others.
For instance, is male A "more male" than male B? Is female D "more female" than female C?
What the hell is on the X axis here?
For instance, is male A "more male" than male B? Is female D "more female" than female C?
What the hell is on the X axis here?
3/ Is a male with a thicker beard, deeper voice, and larger penis more male than males with light beards, higher voices, and smaller penises? No, but these are the troubled waters one finds themselves in, knowingly or unknowingly, when advancing the "sex is bimodal" position.
4/ As usual, the "sex is bimodal" argument confuses traits *influenced* by one's sex with biological sex itself. Sex-related phenotypes like facial hair, voice depth, height, strength, etc. ARE bimodal (see figure below).
Sex itself, however, is NOT.
Sex itself, however, is NOT.
5/ The fact is that sex is strictly categorical for the overwhelmingly vast majority (>99.98%) of people. Males with light beards are every bit as much male as males with thick beards, and females with small breasts are every bit as much female as females with large breasts.
6/ While *some* intersex individuals may not be readily classifiable as either male or female, this doesn't mean that sex is not categorical. It just means some people may not fit either category, and that's totally OK!
7/ Exactly. The "sex is bimodal" position IS a "sex is a spectrum" position!
8/ Correction: replace "continuous" with "quantitative" in the first tweet. An exception could also perhaps be made for intrinsically ordered qualitative data.
None of this changes the truth of this thread as it relates to biological sex.
None of this changes the truth of this thread as it relates to biological sex.
