Mycologists Complicate the Two Sexes Debate

TERFs: "There are only two sexes" Biologists: "Genetics is more complex than that" Anthropologists: "Culture is more complex than that" Mycologists: Perhaps the most mesmerising, the Schizophyllum commune (Splitgill Commune). They have 23,328 biological sexes (distinct mating types) -- individuals of any mating type are compatible for mating with most other mating types. They remind me of ballgowns and fractals.

A screenshot of a Twitter joke contrasts TERFs’ claim that there are only two sexes with increasingly nuanced responses from biologists and anthropologists. The punchline is a photograph of Schizophyllum commune mushrooms, whose thousands of mating types make the debate seem even more complicated, with their frilly shapes compared to ballgowns and fractals. EN: A screenshot of a Twitter joke contrasts TERFs’ claim that there are only two sexes with increasingly nuanced responses from biologists and anthropologists. The punchline is a photograph of Schizophyllum commune mushrooms, whose thousands of mating types make the debate seem even more complicated, with their frilly shapes compared to ballgowns and fractals.

• @rzeczyzabawne / 12345 2023-09-26