this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
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That's the point of differentiating between sex and gender. Sex is indeed binary, there are exactly two gamete sizes. Gender is what captures everything on top of that base.
XO, XX, XY, XXY, XYY, XXX, XXXX, XXXY, XXYY, and others have been recorded in humans. In addition there is Swyer syndrome, Chappell syndrome, and mosaicism in which the gonadal phenotype doesn't match the genotype. There are also events during fertilization which can cause an XX zygote to gain the SRY gene from the father. The SRY gene is what initiates male gonad development.
Sex is not binary just because there are two types of sex chromosomes. They can occur in multiple combinations and result in a spectrum of characteristics. Many of those combinations result in infertility, because they result in a loss of reproductive organs and/or indeterminate genitalia
Sex is binary, because there are two sizes of gametes. Sex is determined in humans by chromosomes (and is rather messy, as you note). Sex is defined by gamete size, because it's the only common factor across so many different species. Some animals have their sex determined by the temperature while they're developing instead of chromosomes, but we can still differentiate between males and females by gamete size.
I provided several examples of chromosome combinations that result in people who produce no gametes. You've said in several comments that no one is born with a body plan that doesnt produce gametes, and that is incorrect. I'm a biology major, and I'm in a developmental biology class right now There are several points in development that can cause a failure to develop a sexual phenotype.
I don't know why you're saying it's a hard line that biologists have drawn, when science is about being able to adjust our understanding of the world when we are presented with new information
Edit: The body plan that you are talking about is a result of several things ranging from transcription factors to hormones working together, not just chromosomes alone. A break at any point can result in a body that isn't "organized" (whatever you think you mean by that I don't know) to produce gametes. I feel like you're trying to play "gotcha!" throughout these comments and have no true understanding of biology. I recommend that you try going back to school
I didn't say that nobody is born with a body that doesn't produce gametes. I said nobody is born with a body organized around producing no gametes. Ask your professor about the difference.
So people who produce no gametes, their bodies are unorganized?
This is how I'm going to refer to myself from now on. "My name is FoxyFerengi. I have no pronouns because my body is unorganized."