> "What nonsense"? I'm not going to try to summarize closely researched
> and written historical scholarship in an e-mail post -- or even try to look
> up any of the minimal material. But note that the penis and the clitoris are
> the *same* organ, only differently developed. So on the basis of those
> two organs, there is only one sex. Same with breasts. Some of the other
> organs are completely different in the fetus from the beginning. So there
> are two sexes. Stephen Jay Gould who is not exactly biologically ignorant
> claims that on the basis of the *physiological* evidence the 2-sex and
> the 1-sex models are equally reasonable.
Carrol,
I didn't notice this yesterday amidst the torrent of other posts.
My answer to what you say here is, I'm afraid, the same one I gave in my original post. Which probably means we are talking past each, or, at least not joining points. So I will try to put my answer as directly in response to your contentions as I can.
Physiology is the study of the functions of living organisms, as well as their parts. In claiming equal reasonableness for a one sex model compared to one with two sexes, you have only referenced some parts of the human being, but not others. And you have left out entirely any discussion of function.
What I said originally, and now repeat, is that the distinction the between the sexes is that one "sex" (one group of bodies) produces sperm and the other produces eggs, and it is necessary to combine sperm and egg to produce offspring (the function of reproduction, without which the species could (continue to) exist), which can be either sex. Whether or not the penus and clitoris can, or should, be considered the same organ is an important question with implications, but it is not dispositive by itself of the question of how many sexes there are. Nor is it even necessarily relevant to the discussion of how many sexes, given the existence of sperms and eggs and the role of sperm producers and egg producers in reproduction. It is not the coupling of penus and vagina or clitoris that produces offspring, only the union of sperm and egg.
I suppose it is possibler to argue that sperm producers and egg producers are part of the same sex. Or even that one group is merely the appendage of another, though that would seem to be sexism without some clear physiological basis for so claiming (and I don't know of any).
But even if you could, what would be the point in purely physiological terms? What would be gained over the multiple sex model (2 or more), given that latter model is clearly consistent with the important facts of part and function?
You will note that I do not mention, and have not mentioned throughout this string, anything about the social uses to which sex differences have been put in service to capitalism and paternalism, uses which I abhor.
RO