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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

what's the politics of virilized clitoris =/= penis? eg Mrkhtake2

29 replies

quixote9 · 18/11/2018 21:25

Mrkhtake2's threads on intersex conditions are very helpful, so I've been reading her a good bit lately. I've gathered from her tweets that it's a no-no to call an enlarged clitoris a penis, which raises questions for me. I'm not on twitter (I just read the publicly available sites in my browser) so I can't ask her directly, and I'm hoping someone here can explain it to me.

I'm a biologist, taught zoology for years, had the usual embryology classes, etc., etc. Developmentally, clitoris and penis are derived from the same tissue. They wind up in different shapes, the head and shaft are both homologous, the clitoris does not wrap around the urethra. A virilized clitoris doesn't include the urethra either, since that can only happen in the embryo. So, yes, they're different, but they're not unrelated.

So why is it unacceptable to discuss them as similar (not equivalent) organs? I don't, for my sanity, read TRAs. Do they make a big deal out of these are identical and that proves they're right about no such thing as biological sex?

Anyway, I'd be grateful for some education here.

OP posts:
Bowlofbabelfish · 18/11/2018 21:58

For the same reason melanocytes are not glia
For the same reason your jaw is not a gill.
For the same reason your inner ear bones (forgive me I can’t remember which specific one) arent your hyoid.

Ontogeny is not phylogeny, as it was no doubt drummed into you during your training

KatVonGulag · 18/11/2018 21:42

I doubt we can educate! Feels daft that word in this context.

To me TRAs grab anything with similarities eg penis and clit and times them to make 1000...conveniently ignoring the differences.
It's the same with polycystic ovary syndrome. I've seen trans activists leach onto that as... oh we suffer from hairy faces it's our pcos flaring up.

what's the politics of virilized clitoris =/= penis? eg Mrkhtake2
VickyEadie · 18/11/2018 21:27

Pee not see!

VickyEadie · 18/11/2018 21:27

You can't see out of a clitoris nor ejaculate seminal fluid. A penis is not a 'bigger clitoris.

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