vullo asked:Hermaphrodite = used for animals/plants Intersex = used for humans Why is this so hard to get
forbiddenflora answered:I don’t know
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“intersex” refers to an individual who expresses (physiologically) some middle ground between the species’s sexual characteristics
“hermaphrodite” refers to an individual who expresses both of the species’s primary sexual characteristics — independently and fully-functional
they aren’t the same thing!
“hermaphrodite” doesn’t refer to humans because it cannot happen in humans. all our sexual characteristics develop from the same tissue — e.g. penis/testes are made from the same babystuff as clitoris/ovaries. but that tissue can also develop into something partway between the sexes, which is how you get intersex individuals.
afaik, hermaphroditism only really exists for species that reproduce that way — earthworms, for example, all produce both sperm and eggs.
:science:
anyway the reason this is an awkward problem in porn is that medical science used to use “hermaphrodite” to describe both conditions, and now there are a nontrivial number of people who think intersex humans are true hermaphrodites
so the word is technically correct but it’s gotten all muddied with historical context
dear everyone, stop ruining words? tia
eta: rofl mel said exactly all this while i was still typing it, goddammit