This is your regular reminder that I am not an entomologist and I do not study beetles.
My handle is derived from a quote about creationism and I research human genetics and genetic disorders, including one that kills males.
Here is a motor neuron I grew in a dish.
I do not study cool things like…
Jewel beetles. Studies of their iridescence (like liquid crystals) has helped paint chemists. It’s also surprisingly good camo (expt: attach bright or dull wings to mealworms and see which get eaten by birds…).
Dung beetles. They roll crap around all day. Their immune systems are a source of some interest.
Whirligig beetles. They have a tight turning circle for an inflexible body. Boat people are intrigued. London cabbies look smugly on.
Bombardier beetles. Toxic explosions of liquid from their tummy. Apparently, they might inform the design of fire extinguishers and nebulisers, but we’re all thinking jet packs, right?
Namibian desert beetles. How we might harvest water from thin air. Note: not by licking them. I don’t think.
Spanish fly. Beetlejuice. Juice for men, if you get my meaning.
And a key gene in beetle sex determination is called doublesex.
Males have a long form and females have a short form of doublesex.
The short, female form is made by the action of a protein called transformer.
Or TRA for short.
That is, TRA can convert male>female.
And a final beetle sex fact.
A male flour beetle will ‘mate’ with another. Maybe so when this second male mates with a female, he actually contributes the first male’s sperm. Or the first male is clearing out the old before he finds his own female.
Anyway, here you go.
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I blocked Dope because he could not entertain a discussion that wasn’t on his terms within his framework.
I don’t accept his framework. And because he wouldn’t discuss a single thing within mine, it was pointless.
Because he wouldn’t discuss anything outside of his own narrow ideology, I am left with no idea whether he even understands that my framework is different to his.
His repeated questions indicate he seems to think they were natural progressions of my framework.
They were not.
I and others have discussed - at length, ad nauseum - about how reducing sex to a composite tally of characteristics is ideological.
It is an abuse of the system in use to describe the sometimes incongruent reproductive biology of those with DSDs.
Clownfish. Some dominant males can change their biological sex to female. We know they have switched sex because they change their gonad tissue, stop making sperm and start making eggs.
Two sexes? Yes.
Sex change? Yes.
Trans Nemo? He’s way down the pecking order of “dominant male”. Doubtful clownfish have gender identities.
Ruff. Males have three different body types/behaviours, one is mimicking females (males pretending to be females is not exactly unique). We know it is a male pretending to be female because he makes sperm.
Two sexes? Yes.
Sex change? No.
Tranimal? Maybe, if transgenderism is based on gendered stereotypes, and we keep getting told it definitely isn’t ever based on stereotypes, so no.
1. We disagree with the assertion that the IOC framework [fairness, inclusion, and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations] is consistent with existing scientific/medical evidence and question its recommendations for implementation.
2. Testosterone exposure in male development:
--> physical differences between male and female bodies
--> male athletic advantage in muscle mass, strength and power, and endurance and aerobic capacity.
The IOC's “no presumption of advantage” principle disregards this reality.
3. Studies show that transgender women (male-born individuals who identify as women) with suppressed testosterone retain muscle mass, strength, and other physical advantages compared to females.
Male performance advantage cannot be eliminated with testosterone suppression.
What does “feeling 80% female” actually feel like?
Is it only 80% of your clitoris being sliced off in childhood? Maybe 80% probability of being kidnapped to warlords? You bleed through your knickers 4/5 periods? Only 80% of men try to control your fertility?
Female people - women - are real human beings, my friend.
We aren’t a feeling, whether 100%, 80% or 0.01% of the time.
We are not 80% of a skirt, or 80% nurturing, or 80% good at fucking handwriting.
Do you have any concept - any? - of how it feels to be female and see a man talk about our material reality as if it’s something you can wake up to and feel about four fifths of?
Here @SkyNews repeat one of the most pervasive lies in sport, and one that has held back honest (and admittedly often uncomfortable) discussion about male bodies with male advantage in female sport.
@SkyNews I say precisely nothing about Semenya’s legal and social status.
I say this very precisely: Semenya is male with a DSD. That DSD does not affect male development that is relevant for sports performance. Males with this DSD should not be eligible for female categories.