Comments on: Gertie the Hen "Sex-Changes" into Bertie the Rooster http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2011/04/19/gertie-the-hen-sex-changes-into-bertie-the-rooster/ Sat, 11 May 2013 22:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Zora http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2011/04/19/gertie-the-hen-sex-changes-into-bertie-the-rooster/#comment-24879 Zora Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:55:09 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/?p=17195#comment-24879 Very interesting. I do have to say that I'm not sure about the use of "real" here ("real" sex change) - the way you word it, it sounds as if you are suggesting that anything but genetic change isn't actually a sex change. That is true only if you define sex purely on a genetic level, and it's also all too easy to make the leap from this to invalidating the sex-change processes that humans go through as part of gender reassignment. (Part of the issue is of course that we often say "sex" when we mean "gender," but we do also have multiple definitions of what "sex" means, depending on whether you're talking to a geneticist or a biologist, or even a plastic surgeon.) I don't think that you intend anyone to make that mental leap, but I also read this blog (and other science blogs) frequently. But for people who get here because someone else re-posted on Facebook, who may not be familiar with this blog but may be familiar with many attempts to deny the validity of transgender experiences, it could easily be misunderstood. (That denial is pretty common, after all.) Gods, I feel like the PC police over here and I don't mean to be. I'm just imagining myself in the shoes of friends who don't regularly read this blog, and I just want you and all my friends to get along! Very interesting. I do have to say that I’m not sure about the use of “real” here (“real” sex change) – the way you word it, it sounds as if you are suggesting that anything but genetic change isn’t actually a sex change. That is true only if you define sex purely on a genetic level, and it’s also all too easy to make the leap from this to invalidating the sex-change processes that humans go through as part of gender reassignment. (Part of the issue is of course that we often say “sex” when we mean “gender,” but we do also have multiple definitions of what “sex” means, depending on whether you’re talking to a geneticist or a biologist, or even a plastic surgeon.) I don’t think that you intend anyone to make that mental leap, but I also read this blog (and other science blogs) frequently. But for people who get here because someone else re-posted on Facebook, who may not be familiar with this blog but may be familiar with many attempts to deny the validity of transgender experiences, it could easily be misunderstood. (That denial is pretty common, after all.)

Gods, I feel like the PC police over here and I don’t mean to be. I’m just imagining myself in the shoes of friends who don’t regularly read this blog, and I just want you and all my friends to get along!

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