Talk:Sex

First sentence

Generally, I think that editors spend too much time thinking about the first sentence, so if y'all think I'm overthinking this, just tell me. But I had an idea.

The first sentence is currently:

Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes.

We could shorten it to say:

Sex is the trait that determines which type of gamete is produced by a sexually reproducing organism.

(The links to male and female could go where those words already exist in the third sentence of the first paragraph, i.e., "By convention, organisms that produce smaller, more mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm) are called male...".)

What do you think? Would this be an improvement at all? WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:39, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

I personally think the first sentence is fine as it right now.CycoMa1 (talk) 04:11, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

First reaction: no. Because it leaves open the impression that maybe there are other types; third gender gamete? Turner's gamete? CAIS gamete? Silliness, of course, because, we want to say amongst ourselves, duh, NO; but with all the misinformation and lack of knowledge around the whole topic and the sex/gender confusion lurking around the corner, do we want to open the door even a crack to more confusion? That said, I'm open to your reasoning; why do you think it would be an improvement? Mathglot (talk) 22:44, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

Agreed with Mathglot. I think the existing sentence is clearer, and from a purely stylistic perspective (which is admittedly pretty subjective) I don't see an advantage in changing it. Also, clarity in facts is more important anyway. Crossroads ^-talk- 22:48, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

I think what irritates me about this is that we could also, with equal accuracy, write that "Fertility is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes". Pedantically speaking, fertility is about whether; sex is about which. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:00, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

I agree with WhatamIdoing; the focus ought to be on what/which, rather than whether. Terrapinaz (talk) 11:16, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Adaptive function of sex

The text about "Adaptive function of sex" in "Evolution of sex" only talks about sexual reproduction, not sex specifically. Shouldn't it explain, why in many multicellular organisms we find differently sized gametes and what the evolutionary benefits are of that? Kugelfisch002 (talk) 14:12, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

I agree that the usually larger size of female gametes should be considered. Peter coxhead (talk) 18:15, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

Do we need an independent article about the conventional meaning of "sex"?

Defining sex sensu stricto according to gametes is definitely correct in biology. However, it obviously has a broader meaning in medicine and everyday language, comprising a lot of evolutionary and developmental unrelated or weakly related phenotypic characteristics. Some sociologists argue that they were organised according to cultural preference, thus being a social construct.

For example, according to the academic definition, the term intersex would be meaningless, because obviously there is not intermediate gametes. But I'm not an expert in medicine or sociology, and I'm not sure if there is enough reference to write it. ——🦝 The Interaccoonale ^{Will be the raccoon race} _{(talk・contribs)} 09:56, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

Does sex assignment or determination of sex cover some of what you're looking for? Plantdrew (talk) 16:18, 25 June 2025 (UTC)