FA+
Shop
Hermaphrodites
11 years ago
I’m usually all for not using words considered as offensive if I can avoid them, but now I just witnessed political correctness gone crazy. Apparently, “hermaphrodite” is now offensive and people should stop using it because it’s an insult to trans people and/or intersex people.
Nope, it’s NOT. It might have been once, some people might still use it as such, but it hasn’t been widely used as an insult on a long while, and you should not encourage its return as an insult by taking offense to it.
— Trans people were born with only one set of genitals, that doesn’t match the gender they grow up into. They might or might not take steps to correct that discrepancy later in life. Key term: one set of genitals.
— Intersex people were born with only one set of genitals, even though said genitals can’t be clearly defined as male or female. They might even look male while they’re actually female, or the opposite (nature is a cruel prankster…), but the fact remains: they’re still only one set of genitals.
— Hermaphrodites, by definition, have one clearly male set of genitals and one clearly female set, regardless of their perceived gender (or lack of). I don’t know if actual human hermaphrodites exist/have existed, but actual hermaphroditic animals exist: for example, snails. Key word: two (or more? imagination!) sets of genitals, generally well-defined.
The point is: “Hermaphrodite” is not an insult, and it should never be. People who use it as an insult are utterly wrong, but keep in mind that people who perceive it as an insult are just as wrong. Please don’t be part of that latter category, lest we encourage ignorant people to become part of the former.
Nope, it’s NOT. It might have been once, some people might still use it as such, but it hasn’t been widely used as an insult on a long while, and you should not encourage its return as an insult by taking offense to it.
— Trans people were born with only one set of genitals, that doesn’t match the gender they grow up into. They might or might not take steps to correct that discrepancy later in life. Key term: one set of genitals.
— Intersex people were born with only one set of genitals, even though said genitals can’t be clearly defined as male or female. They might even look male while they’re actually female, or the opposite (nature is a cruel prankster…), but the fact remains: they’re still only one set of genitals.
— Hermaphrodites, by definition, have one clearly male set of genitals and one clearly female set, regardless of their perceived gender (or lack of). I don’t know if actual human hermaphrodites exist/have existed, but actual hermaphroditic animals exist: for example, snails. Key word: two (or more? imagination!) sets of genitals, generally well-defined.
The point is: “Hermaphrodite” is not an insult, and it should never be. People who use it as an insult are utterly wrong, but keep in mind that people who perceive it as an insult are just as wrong. Please don’t be part of that latter category, lest we encourage ignorant people to become part of the former.
That said, I'm still wondering how people can take offense from a term that is supposed to mean and refer to something else entirely...
For the others who are still reading my comment and would like a random fact: Hermaphrodite comes from Greek mythology as a reference to the relationship between Hermes and Aphrodites(sp?). Anyway, more trivia for you that will probably never be important.
I can see "Cuntboy/Dickgirl" or "shemale" because those are pretty blunt and fixated on genitalia, but "hermaphrodite?" I guess maybe in the distant past it might have had those connotations but not in any recent time that I know of.