Male and female are the only sexes; intersex is just a blanket term for various medical conditions that describe abnormal development of sex characteristics.

[–] Alice@beehaw.org 7 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

It's natural and harmless to have any combination of male and female sexual characteristics, even if it's uncommon. It's only considered medical condition because we decided it was.

My friend has a uterus and gonads. I have red hair and blue eyes. Both are super uncommon and neither has caused us any trouble, that's just how we're made.

I'd argue that male and female are just names for the ends of the spectrum.

[–] BumpingFuglies@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

Yep. Nothing wrong with it. Everybody's abnormal in some way. Doesn't mean we should redefine scientific terms or "other" someone just because their abnormality has to do with sex characteristics.

Personally, I go out of my way to not be normal, but most people want to fit in, and especially don't want to be seen as different or lesser because of something they can't control.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 4 points 5 hours ago

And some of them are not obviously male or female from birth, but are given surgeries to force them into one or the other. Sometimes they get it wrong.

[–] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 6 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

So you're saying if you call a sex abnormal, it doesn't exist?

[–] BumpingFuglies@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Nobody said that. Nobody would say that. Be reasonable.

If you're actually interested in understanding what I'm saying, this article does a good job of explaining it in lay-friendly terms.

[–] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 hour ago

So, if neither variation of sex characteristics nor personal identity defines the category of sex, then how can we define it? The answer is simple. The category of biological sex is defined through what developmental pathway you went down for the production of either sperm or eggs--the two, and only two, gamete types.

Nah, variation in sex characteristics is a way better measure than gamete development, because variation in sex characteristics actually relates to the person as they exist now. Grown adult human beings are not gametes.