Article: Some Fish Can Change Sex/gender At Will

[Guest DisDwarf]

This article is quite interesting, it describes intersexuality and sex/gender changes in animals. Specifically its section on fish is a must-read. See it here: http://www.gender.org.uk/conf/1992/lyon.htm

Biological sex is the animal body's anatomy, and gender is the behaviour of an animal. Some animals change their gender behaviour but not their sex, and some even change their sex during their life. So a fish that was born male has the biological capability to transform itself to a female at any time! There are of course also intersex animals, for example birds that are half-female and half-male in anatomy or hormones.

The section on sex changes in fish has captured my interest... if some fish have the biological capability to change between male and female anatomy, then could this have anything to do with transsexualism in humans? Let my imagination roam free for a moment and brain-storm: apparently some fish have this biological sex-change capability, and they use it to become female if there aren't enough females in their region. To do this, they apparently have a biological mechanism that enables this capability (they use some enzymes to change the hormones their body produces!). They even change their colour to indicate their new gender, and they also change their gendered behaviour! (yes, male fish apparently behave differently than female fish). We humans apparently don't have this biological mechanism and we need surgery to change our anatomy. But what if an ancient ancestor of us, either a primate or even a more ancient lifeform such as a fish (!) had this capability? Maybe somehow parts of this biological mechanism have persisted... maybe it's a "transsexual gene" in DNA, maybe it's some part of the brain (BSTc?). Apparently in humans this mechanism has changed somewhat and makes us to be what we are from birth since we don't change gender but we just have HRT/SRS to make our body express our true gender. But I can't stop thinking that the biological mechanism that makes fish change sex might have somehow evolved in humans to cause us be born in the wrong body, but we have lost the full biological capability to alter our bodies so we use technology and surgery to correct our body. So, I wonder: could the biological phenomenon behind sex changes in fish be the same or similar behind transsexualism in humans? Perhaps transsexualism is an evolved/changed form of this phenomenon. But this thought also terrifies me, because if there is such a mechanism then maybe some biologist may find a way to reverse this phenomenon and make transsexual people forget their true gender identity, not allowing us to transition... so while I'm interested in the science behind these phenomena, I'm also a bit skeptical of how more scientific knowledge in this area would be used by people unfriendly towards us...

Wouldn't it be nice if we had the inherent capability to change sex just as some fish do? So, we could say "let me become a girl" and see our body be transformed immediately, with no pain, no HRT, no SRS, no money. Perhaps we could even go back as well in case we needed to (for example to keep a job)... maybe we could even become male for our job duties and then become girls for the rest of the day LOL. Why can some fish change sex/gender and we can't? Perhaps by studying these fish we could discover some biological mechanism that we could adjust to fit our bodies and give ourselves this capability as well. It sounds like science fiction, but to ancient peoples without technology I'm sure that HRT and SRS would sound like magic as well. And biology has made some pretty advanced discoveries lately, we start to know a lot about the DNA and stem cells... so who knows, maybe someday someone may come up with a more advanced transition technology, maybe a pill that will give our bodies the ability to transform more naturally without surgeries. Wishful thinking? I don't know, but these fish described in the article have captured my imagination...

I should have been born a fish. Then I could change sex more easily... but I should keep away from sharks and fishers LOL. So, I wonder what life would you prefer: a fish that can change sex at will, or a human who needs expensive surgery? Well, of course being human is more interesting (it must be boring to be a fish, even if you can change sex... I mean, you live all your life in water water water and there's nothing but water around you, but at least you don't have to use moisturizing cosmetics like we do LOL).

The article also refers to trees and plants that aren't fully female or male. It says there are some trees here in Europe that have some branches that are male and some other branches that are female. But it's even more complicated! Some branches stay male for a year and then the next year they transform into female branches! There are even some branches and flowers that are both female and male at the same time. It also says that many lifeforms (snails etc) are fully intersex (both female and male) by their nature. Some oysters start life as male, then become female, then again male, etc and alternate between the two sexes every season.

It also refers to some pretty strange reproductive strategies some animals use, for example some male fish link their bodies with the female fish and the two bodies merge completely or rather the female fish effectively incorporates the male fish into its body... until the male fish loses all its body... well, apparently being a fish isn't so fun after all LOL. Some intersex fish can even self-reproduce by themselves because they're both female and male, and in some species all fish are female and they live and reproduce without males (wow that's the fish version of lesbian utopia LOL!!).

[Guest praisedbeherhooves]

This is very interesting. However, I am worried that we will now have to endure demagougery from conservatives about how these fish are corrupting our children.

[Guest Kieri]

Sad as it is I read about this a year or two ago and had all sorts of wild thoughts. When I was going to sleep I would think as strongly as I could in a way to "force" my body to start changing. All I ever got out of it was a placebo effect, but at the time I kept trying to convince myself otherwise. If nothing else, articles like these are delicious food for thought

[Guest sarah f]

I wish it was that easy for us. Unfortunately we have to go the long route.

Love,

Sarah F

[Guest Nigh]

Yeah, clown fish do this.

I bet you won't be looking at Nemo the same ever again.

[Guest DisDwarf]

interesrting: this article speculates that gene switching could replace HRT, effectively allowing the body to make its own transition: http://transgroupblog.blogspot.com/2009/12...n-genetics.html