kavukamari asked:

Just curious, Is it still wrong to call the art-side representation of a furry or human with multiple functional sexual parts a Hermaphrodite? I don't really see them as intersex, because the parts are fully functional usually. Is it more appropriate for furries but not for humans? I had always thought that the meaning of intersex was tied in with trans* to mean in transition, so I didn't want to use it for the other purpose, but is it more appropriate/correct than hermaphrodite?

iiiii don’t know.

“intersex” isn’t really right because that’s just not what the word means.  (it doesn’t imply transition either — intersex people can identify as whatever gender, or not, just like anyone else.)

any form of “trans” is clearly wrong

i only see “futa” used to describe japan’s usual interpretation of the idea which is a giant dick where the clit goes??  which isn’t even hermaphroditism?  also i have heard that it has not-great connotations in japan?  ???  i don’t know anything

i can’t think of any words offhand that actually mean the same thing

if we can just figure out how to pronounce “⚥”

vullo asked:

Hermaphrodite = used for animals/plants Intersex = used for humans Why is this so hard to get

forbiddenflora answered:

I don’t know

“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