Project:Policies specific to sex

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Please note: This information is in the process of being adapted from a previous version of lgbtDB, meaning individual links and references may be incorrect or out-of-date.

Introduction

Sex of Organisms

A number of properties related to sex can only be applied to biological taxa or non-human organisms in lgbtDB. These properties can roughly be laid out as:

Sexual organisms can typically be split into classes which are usually called "sexes" in anisogamous organisms or "mating types" in isogamous organisms.

Chromosome Count

Two types of chromosome count are provided, to only be used in relationship to biological taxa. It is important to note that (1) numbers of chromosomes different than a count for a taxon occur all the time, so the number is not "canonical" or "normal" per se; rather, the values represent the number of chromosomes that typical in a given species. Such counts should only be applied to taxa and not individual organisms, and should especially never be applied to individual people. This removes the count from the intended representation for a biological taxon.

Fertilization Type

Fertilization type describes the location fertilization takes place, relative to a parent organism's physical body. Therefore, the two basic classes of fertilization types are internal and external. These can be split as follows:

  • internal fertilization
    • copulatory fertilization
      • traumatic copulatory fertilization
      • non-traumatic copulatory fertilization
    • cloacal fertilization
    • spermatophoric fertilization
  • external fertilization

Gamete System

A gamete system describes the way in which gametes unify through sexual reproduction. The process by which specifically two gametes fuse to form a zygote is called syngamy (Q145840). Multiple types of gamete system exist, including:

  • isogamy
    • isogamy of motile gametes
    • isogamy of nonmotile gametes
    • sexual conjugation
  • anisogamy
    • anisogamy of motile gametes
    • anisogamy in which one gamete is motile and the other is not (oogamy)
    • anisogamy of nonmotile gametes

Mating System

A mating system is a general pattern in which a group or groups of organisms are structured in relationship to sexual behavior. Mating systems include:

  • animal mating system
    • non-monogamy
      • agamy
      • polygamy
        • polyandry
          • classical polyandry
          • convenience polyandry
          • cooperative polyandry
          • fraternal polyandry
          • genetic polyandry
        • polygyny
          • lek polygyny
          • resource defense polygyny
        • polygynandry
      • promiscuity
    • monogamy
      • genetic monogamy
      • serial monogamy
      • sexual monogamy
      • social monogamy
        • sociogenetic monogamy
        • sociosexual monogamy
  • plant mating system

Mating-Type-Determination System

Reproductive Mode

A reproductive mode is a reproductive strategy which specifies how exactly the process of parturition takes place, i.e. how the offspring is ultimately expelled from the parent organism's body. Reproductive modes include:

Reproductive Type

Two main subclasses of reproductive types exist: asexual and sexual reproduction. Various individual forms can be classed into these two categories:

  • asexual reproduction
    • agamogenetic reproduction
      • parthenogenetic reproduction
        • diploid parthenogenesis
        • facultative parthenogenesis
        • haploid parthenogensis
        • obligate parthenogenesis
      • apomictic reproduction
        • nucellar embryony
    • fissive reproduction
      • binary fission
        • irregular binary fission
        • longitudinal binary fission
        • transverse binary fission
        • oblique binary fission
      • multiple fission
    • budding reproduction
    • vegetative reproduction
    • fragmentation reproduction
    • sporogenetic reproduction
  • sexual reproduction
    • gamogenetic reproduction
      • androgynogenetic reproduction
      • androgenetic reproduction
      • gynogenetic reproduction

Sex-Determination System

A sex-determination system is a system that determines an individual organism's sex (or sexual characteristics) in a given species, equivalent to how a mating-type-determination system determines an individual's mating type. There are a number of sex-determination systems, such as:

  • environmental sex-determination systems
    • location-dependent sex-determination system
    • temperature-dependent sex-determination system
  • genotypic sex-determination systems
    • chromosomal sex-determination systems
      • UV sex-determination system
      • X0 sex-determination system
      • XY sex-determination system
        • X-centered sex-determination system
        • Y-centered sex-determination system
      • Z0 sex-determination system
      • ZW sex-determination system
    • haplodiploid sex-determination system

Sexual Morphism

Sexual morphism describes the number of common morphs or forms related to sex that a given species has. This number does not imply that other morphs are not possible, simply that they are unlikely. For instance, sexual dimorphism in humans (meaning two common sex-related forms exist) does not posit that other forms are not possible, as a gender binary would. Some sexual morphisms that exist include:

  • sexual monomorphism
  • sexual dimorphism
  • sexual trimorphism

When assigning a sexual morphism to a given biological taxon, we use the adjectival forms as follows:

  • sexually monomorphic
  • sexually dimorphic
  • sexually trimorphic

Sexual System

A sexual system describes the number of sex-based classes commonly observed in a given species. There are three main types of sexual systems:

Despite these names, a sexual system which is dimorphic does not necessarily imply a sexual morphism which is dimorphic, or vice versa.

Type of Hermaphroditism

Hermaphroditism, possession of two or more different sets of functional reproductive apparatuses, is present in a number of non-human organism species. Types of hermaphroditism can be described as follows:

  • sequential hermaphroditism
    • protandrous hermaphroditism
    • protogynous hermaphroditism
    • serial hermaphroditism (or bidirectional hermaphroditism)
  • simultaneous hermaphroditism
    • protandric simultaneous hermaphroditism
    • protogynous simultaneous hermaphroditism

A number of species exhibit hermaphroditism, but humans do not. It is therefore not only inappropriate and stigmatizing to label intersex persons as "hermaphrodites", but it is also pseudoscientific to do so.

Note that gynandromorphism is not the same as hermaphroditism. Gynandromorphism is a specific type of genetic mosaicism in which part of the body has one more common canonical sex chromosome combination, while the rest of the body has a different canonical sex chromosome combination.

Sex Dyadicity

Sex dyadicity is a neologism created as a grouping term for intersex and non-intersex (endosex, perisex, etc.) in the same manner that gender modality was created as a grouping term for transgender and non-transgender (cisgender). As such, it can only be applied to individual people, and is the only sex-related term which can be applied as such in lgbtDB.

Creating a Sex Dyadicity

For the time being, no new sex dyadicities should be created. Because the term is emergent, its definition and types are likely to shift. For this reason, creating other sex dyadicity terms should be considered extremely tentative and should be led by resources for and by intersex persons.

Assigning a Sex Dyadicity

Notes

  1. ↑ Note that "hermaphrodite" is considered a slur when used in reference to people; only use in reference to non-human organisms.
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