I’m not sure if this is a woooooosh, troll or just pure idiocy.

Has he declared his pronouns anywhere or have we all just rudely assumed them and he’s been too shy/nervous to correct us?

You don’t define the norm with characteristics of edge cases

Good thing I didn’t do that.

The X and Y chromosome groups define biological sex

This is the whole point, no, they don’t. Biologists do not define sex in terms of chromosomes because there are multiple different chromosomal systems in use to achieve the function of sex cell differentiation.

Some people are born with vestigial tails, does that mean that humans may or may not have tails? No, a few hundred people have been born with a vestigial tail in recorded history.

Some people are born with a cleft pallette, does that mean humans can be born with or without a cleft pallette? No, 1 in 1,600 people are born with a cleft pallette.

I just…fucking wow. Reread what you wrote here.

The issue is that you claim that a causes b. So at a, we can know that b will follow. Therefore we can identify b when we see a.

They say, a don’t cause b for certain. So at a, we can’t know that b will follow. Therefore we can’t identify b when we see a, as we could misidentify.

That is not defining the norm at all. That is pointing out that it is logically invalid to identify b at a.

Think about it like this, most people who are born will be 23yo at some point but not all. So while it is a fair assumption to assume that a child will be 23yo, it would be wrong to claim that it will be 23yo. So when the child is born, there is no way to determine whether or not a child will be 23yo. it probably will but it might not. The norm is still that the child will be 23yo, but that doesn’t change the reality that some won’t.

You don’t define the norm with characteristics of edge cases.

Exactly. So what are you made of, hydrogen or helium?

Hormones are the thing that defines development, more or less. There’s lots of things that effect hormones, and everyone has verying degrees of testosterone and estrogen, and other hormones. Chromosomes are associated with hormones, but do not totally define what hormones are in the body when and where. That’s even ignoring the fact we can control what hormones are in the body now manually, which directly changes how the body develops.

Some people being born with a vestigial tail and most being born without, does mean people are born with or without a vestigial tail. I don’t know how to respond to this, what part aren’t you understanding exactly?

If you ever get the chance, I recommend the book A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities: A Compendium of the Odd, the Bizarre, and the Unexpected by Jan Bondeson Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body by Armand Marie Leroi (2003). Please read the reviews.

The book talks at length about medical conditions, including the human tail, the cleft pallet and also covers intersex. It talks about XY female androgen insensitivity, SRY gene transposition/deletions, the güevedoce males from Dominican Republic who are indistinguishable from females until about the age of 12 when their testes drop, and the prevalence of more subtle forms of intersex that go under-diagnosed. It also touches on fetal development and general genetics including the inversion of sexual chromosomes in birds and reptiles.

It’s a great dive into the complexity of biology and particularly sexual development. I suspect you won’t be so sure of what you think is normal after exploring its barrage of edge cases that deeply contemplate the nature of genetic sex that creates these deviations under a basic tenet: Nothing in biology is set and it’s all subject to change.

98.5% of those have a gender identity that conforms with their biological sex.

There are many more people today who have incorporated a hybrid gender precisely because they don’t fit into neat categories. People call them femboys and tomboys because everything about their gender expression is mixed. You can’t tell me with a straight face they’re just pretending. The whole category is called “gender non-conforming”.

E: Sorry, I got the wrong book off my reading list somehow!

Yup. A huge amount of people grow up to adulthood not knowing they’re intersex until they get tested. Talking percentages ain’t shit when your population is an entire dominant species!

Except that interpretation ends up being circular in a way. They don’t have the characteristic, but one day they will belong to a sex that is associated with producing them, even if they personally never do. The wording is very weird because they think they are sidestepping chromosomal and hormonal anomalies, but end up in either taking them literally at their word (no one is any gender) or applying some looser interpretation that becomes flexible since “belonging to a sex” is then not tethered to any objective fact since the timeframe is then up for grabs.

For example, they could have said “if the sperm contributed a y chromosome, then male, else female”. But they probably were thinking of things like Morris, Kleinfelter, and Swyer and wanted to have wording flexible enough to account for those. But it results in enough ambiguity to allow for things.

It doesn’t speculate at all about the timing of the production of the reproductive cells, merely that the individual belongs to a a sex that does produce them

It literally specifies “at the time of conception”. At which point nobody has developed any sexual characteristics.

Competent lawmakers write bills and executive orders VERY carefully in order to cause the least confusion and unintended conclusions possible.

Trump has once again proven to be the polar opposite of competence.

I would assume that there are different ‘reasons’ that cause the broader feel of asexuality. Mine is a complete apathy for the want or need of it. I can enjoy making others feel good, such as giving them a massage in a normal way. I can feel that my work towards helping them feel good is rewarding in and of itself.

I figured out my side of things when after being with my partner for many years I was getting increasingly frustrated that while they were able to enjoy the experience for what seemed perpetual, my side of things remained the same, regardless of whatever was done. To feel the same for oral or penetrative felt like something was wrong to me so I started looking around at other types of options. I did whatever appealed to me but in the end none of it changed anything for me.

For other people, they may have a different kind of situation where the act in any form is uncomfortable which can be a personality quirk or in some a complete lack of empathy. Something that is blocking them from experiencing what is in effect a ‘really intense massage’ that some people crave. I’m not going to try and list all the various societal/personal/learned behaviors people have about sex across the globe which may play a part in their enjoyment/need/desire for sex.

Edit: cleaned up a small section I wasn’t happy with and I was hurrying at the end of my lunch break to try and get all the words out. And Also:

Anecdotally, I’ve been very lucky to have moved many places and seen many things, met many people on a close enough level that knowing how often they sought sexual activity. I know some people who are obsessed with getting some, some who are relatively indifferent, and others who equate it to a smooth drink at the end of a good night. All over the place in terms of how much they focus on it.

After realizing that I may very well be ace in my own right, other little puzzle pieces started to fit together. I was in a long distance relationship with my high-school sweetheart after high-school for about 5 years. I had no issues with lacking any kind of intimate touch, my partner needed it and despite all that cheating stigma, went ahead and found some anyways. It was important enough to them that waiting for someone to appear once every 6ish months wasn’t an option for them. I didn’t understand it then… because again, I had no issues waiting that long or longer. I would talk to them almost everyday and that was more than enough for me.

I wouldn’t call my self aromantic by definition. It.more just bitterness from my past. I would like to have a “soulmate” but the pain involved in finding one isn’t worth it to me. So in practice I’m aromantic but there is a desire for companionship. Just not enough of a desire.