Gonosimulism - An alternative to 'hermaphrodite' in biology

Nature Talk
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I found this proposal by an intersex person for a new term to replace the H word in terms of biology, because of its use as a slur against intersex people, both historically, and today.

thought I’d share it so more people will see it.

Edit October 5: Okay, since most people aren’t clicking the link to actually read the proposal, I’ll copy and paste it here:

This page is also linkable under the URL https://gonosimulism.ju.mp

Gonosimulism - An alternative to ‘hermaphrodite’ in biology

Gonosimulistic - referring a sexually reproducing species in which all individuals produce both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female (with intersex variation) are gonochoric, also spelled gonochoristic, which is the opposite of gonosimulistic.

Etymology

This term was derived from its antonym gonochoristic, or gonochoric, which has a meaning derived from Greek; (gone, (gono) meaning generation) + (chorizein (chori), meaning to separate)
Gonosimulistic has similar etymology; derived from both Greek and Latin; (gone, (gono) meaning generation) + (simul, meaning to combine, or at the same time).

Reasoning

Many terms in the scientific community are changed if they become derogatory to a group of people, example ‘mental retardation’ used to be an officially recognized medical term but has since been changed due to its use as a slur for the mentally disabled. In a perfect world, we would do the same with the word hermaphrodite. The intent of this change would be to separate intersex as a phenomenon occurring in gonochoristic species from the existence of animals with both male and female sexual organs; for the benefit of the intersex community.Intersex refers to any individual of a gonochoristic species whose sex characteristics fall outside of what is considered phenotypically or genotypically male, or female.Hermaphrodite refers species where all individuals have both male and female reproductive ability; and it has been used for intersex individuals in the form of the archaic ‘true hermaphrodite’ and ‘pseudohermaphrodite’ diagnoses. The word itself stems from mythology, and has been used to imply intersex people are ‘monstrous’ or ‘inhuman’ for decades.From Intersex Society North America (ISNA); "The word “hermaphrodite” implies that a person is born with
two sets of genitals – one male and one female – and this is something
that cannot occur"Needless to say, hermaphrodite is not synonymous, or even related, to intersex when used by its correct definition. The word hermaphrodite is no longer used for intersex people in a diagnostic context; however, the damage remains, and intersexuality is still widely conflated with hermaphroditism. This term is widely considered to be a slur among the intersex community, and is linked to stereotypes, misinformation, fetishization, and bigotry. This term is commonly used to this day to refer to intersex people, regardless of whether or not it is considered to be scientifically accurate, even in a medical context albeit not officially. Many intersex people report their doctors referring to them using this word, or seeing it in their medical history due to how recently it was changed.Hermaphrodite is a derogatory term used to describe intersex individuals, regardless of whether or not this is a definitionally accurate use of the word is irrelevant. It is generally not considered bigoted to use the term in reference to legitimately hermaphroditic animals, however many intersex people do believe a better term is needed due to the history of the word hermaphrodite.

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Interesting. I don’t know how it could quickly become widespread and popular, though. Still, worth a shot, and thank you for sharing!

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many intersex people do believe a better term is needed due to the history of the word hermaphrodite

The history of the word “hermaphrodite” is a lot more ancient and meaningful than whatever use or misuse anglos have been making of it in the past centuries, it’s a term that carries the religious and mythological heritage of the ancient greeks. Reducing it to a mere slur is myopic and anglocentric.

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Is there a reason why “gonosimulism” would be preferred over more widely used terms like “intersex” or “gynandromorph” in naturalist discussions?

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In botany, hermaphroditic is a synonym for perfect; that is, a “perfect” flower means one that has both male and female reproductive structures. What if we applied the same terminology to animals?

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How would this work?

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I thought the term was already used to refer to many animals with both male and female reproductive organs, eg. snails and starfish.

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intersex and gynandromorph are still the appropriate words for those individuals that are intersex (gynandromorphism is a form of intersex variation within animals!), gonosimulism would be for whole species like snails who, as part of the whole species, have both reproductive organs.

gonosimulism = whole species’ mode of reproduction, (Edit for clarity, this is where the H word is usually used right now, which causes a lot of trouble for intersex people, because perisex (which means “not intersex”) people assume it means they all have both reproductive organs, the way snails do)

intersex / gynandromorph = individual variation

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I think that could work too!

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Cool! I think this may apply to earthworms, too.

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I didn’t know that word was a slur, I actually used that word myself when referring to gynandromorphs. Now that I know that is is used unkindly, I will certainly stop using it. Thank you for posting this @nonbinary-naturalist, I also like your explaination here:

I will definetely use these terms from now on instead, thanks again for this post!

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Just as it sounds like: animals with both male and female reproductive structures would be referred to as perfect. I didn’t think there was any ambiguity in my phrasing?

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No, I just didn’t know such animals existed.

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I also have heard, and personally use, the term bisexual for these flowers as they have both sexual parts present.

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Edited the original post to add the whole propsal copy and pasted since most people are not actually clicking the link to read it :/

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I think there is an inherent flaw to the wording of the proposal…gonosimulism cannot be an alternative for hermaphrodite, and here is why:

gonosimulism refers to a SPECIES where ALL individuals have both sets of reproductive organs

hermaphrodite currently refers to INDIVIDUALS that have both parts whether as expected or due to an abnormality

Therefore, it makes sense to instead use them in this way…both terms need to be present and usable, as for species which are expected to have both (gonosimulistic), and for individuals with an abnormality (hermaphrodite).

Gonosimulism, by the definition of this proposal, should be an addition that helps distinguish naturally occuring and expected presence of both reproductive organs, versus that which is the result of an abnormality.

I should attempt to make a biology joke where the two words must be sympatric, but I digress lol

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Also Sequential Hermaphroditism … there are many species which are protoandrous or protogynous, and a few in which individuals can flip back and forth under various conditions. And there’s at least as much of a spectrum in the specifics of these expected transitions as there is in species where this is generally (and perhaps even wrongly as we learn more about what is actually ‘Normal’?) considered an anomaly.

I’m sympathetic to people who have been branded with labels by people who intended them to be hurtful - but I think this one is going to fall into the Hard To Censor category, along with many other words like Monkey, and Dog, and Sophisticated, where a line between offensive and inoffensive use exists, but we’re never realistically going to replace the word with something else for its inoffensive use cases. It’s not the same as words which grew out of their original meanings to become almost entirely and solely a slur in some circles of common usage. At best we’ll outgrow the casually and mindlessly offensive uses of it to dehumanise others. Maybe sometime shortly after we stop dropping bombs on each other, clearing wild forest, pillaging the oceans, eradicating Troublesome Species, and vilifying the underprivileged … maybe.

Like Ani says, every tool is a weapon if you hold it right.

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yeah, I didn’t even consider the ability of some species to flip-flop like that! Complicated subject matter to say the least. When I used the term “abnormality,” it was meant in a situation where presence of both sets of organs was not expected and was the result of some kind of mutation or birth defect.

I also agree about your thoughts on the usage of the word, in hindsight it seems a bit unnecessary to censor a word on a platform that is using it in “good faith,” as in appropirately and without offense…what happens if people start using gonosimulism (or some derivative) as a slur? what’s the next word we jump to? Our proper use of a word should not be censored because other people are misusing it. It doesn’t matter how many synonyms we have for something, people can misuse it. Like a child substituting a curse word with another word like “crap” so they don’t get in trouble, even though the intent is clear.

Now that I think about it more, context matters more than the word itself. This word is not being used on this platform as a slur, or in any sense negatively, it is a descriptor in the realm of iNat. I agree that it will be hard to censor, especially considering the long standing history of the word…thousands of years of usage, and only in the last decade is it used as a slur so now we must censor it?

I’d rather see a more accurate delineation of the presence and status of reproduction organs based on science instead of the misuse of people that have nothing to do with the iNat community.

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I disagree with the proposal.

Leave biological terms as they are and deal with slurs under the slander laws.

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