Hey Era,
I've been thinking about this for a while, and wanted to put my thoughts down here. Let me know any ways I'm wrong or oversimplifying or if I could make my argument stronger. Constructive criticism welcome!
Human Chimerism is a very interesting phenomenon where a multiple fetuses or zygotes fuse together in the womb. It can even happen with multiple fertilized eggs or multiple sperm fertilizing the same egg.
Genetic Chimerism:
the resulting fetus can widely vary and can be made of so many combinations it's mind boggling. This can lead to babies that have different DNA in different tissues. It can result in wildly diverse arrays of phenotypes and forms of expression.
I'm a biology enthusiast, but not a scientist. But I have read some research on this and I think it's fascinating. After learning this much about it, I am confident that sufficient education in this topic will dispel many key tenets of conservative ideology.
1. Twin Chimerism and identity
*Taylor Muhl, singer-songwriter and example of human chimerism.
This type of chimerism is when two fetuses, fraternal or identical, are fused in the womb. It can occur if one fetus dies or it can occur at an earlier stage with two live fetuses/embryos/zygotes.The resulting human expressions can be wildly diverse.
it serves to undercut the conservative concepts of genetic heritage and racist myths that consider human value as tied to genetic ancestry. Some of us are more homogenous than others, but some individuals are very heterogenous and we call that chimerism.
these heterogenous people are often living normal lives with no one the wiser. This goes to show that our concept of "individuals" as being strictly defined by DNA + a soul is not even close to the whole picture. Some examples of chimerism are too clearly demarcated to deny that the biological definition of an individual is not necessarily clear. People develop on a spectrum and that development continues after birth and ultimately until death. People are fluid and shouldn't have to conform to any particular classification regardless of which tissues exhibit which DNA or some level of sex hormones.
In some cases, intersex individuals can be examples of chimerism or mosaicism. In fact, everyone should have a bit of mosaicism in the sense that we all carry a bit of our maternal DNA from the placenta and umbilical cords back in the womb. But many cases of "Differences of sexual Development" (DSD) or ambiguous genitalia can be results of twin chimerism. It's important to point out that this is not likely the case with the majority of intersex individuals or people that go on to become trans or go through gender reassignment. But a few of these cases result in men and women with entirely separate sets of gonads. Women with testicles in their abdomen, men with ova. All sorts of combinations have been observed. People with multiple penises or vaginas, people with mixed genetalia, any combination you could envision really. Which I will show dispels conservative myths about binaries in sex and gender.
Vestigial Twin Chimerism
this can also result in the "vestigial twin" phenomena. If two fetuses merge late enough, there can be a clearly dominant twin and a still attached vestigial twin. This is not for those with a weak stomach and I suggest you steel yourself before googling this as the image I used was one of the few that isn't slightly disturbing. Sometimes this is completely unseen and undetectable from anyone else's perspective. The mere existence of humans with these conditions or phenotypes goes to the heart of fundamental conservative misunderstandings of the way humans are and the reality around us.
2. The Soul and Bodily Autonomy
*disclaimer: I am not looking for a theological debate, just talking in terms of evidence and practicality. *
The Soul and concepts like it predate most religions and come from ancient philosophies of human dualism. But modern conservatives often push the idea that a soul is imbued at the moment of conception. Not only is this notion flawed, but it's actually inconsistent with much theology that conservatives often appeal to as an authority.
The idea that life begins at first breath is more recent, but not as recent as you think. In the Bible, there are verses that speak of life beginning at breath, not conception. Which is what most modern conservative anti-abortion rhetoric is based on. But the existence of chimerism and the overall facts shown by research into developmental biology should quickly dispel any conservative case against bodily autonomy rights.
*diagram of the 23 Carnegie stages of developmental biology
Just ask a conservative when life "begins". Many times they will insist that a zygote or embryo carries a soul and that aborting at any stage after would be paramount to murder, ect.
If you actually sit down and look at these stages of development, I think most conservatives would either say "conception" or be hard pressed to pick the point at which a soul becomes imbued into the fetus/zygote/embryo/blastocyst . And the existence of human chimeras completely neuters any attempt at conservative soul-mongering. Human chimerism can occur at or indeed before many of these developmental stages.
if conservatives believe a soul is imbued at conception, then what about genetic chimeras formed from separate sets of fertilized eggs? does the resulting chimera have two souls? If not, the are vestigial twins contain two souls in one body or is the other twin not alive? These questions underline a flaw in the conservative dualistic interpretation of reproduction.
3. Difference of Sexual Development
Human Chimerism and mosaicism shows us that an individual can have a biological sex that is not binary, but exists on a spectrum. You don't actually need genetics to tell us this, but many hardline anti gay, anti trans, and conservative people spout scientific sounding notions of there being only two sexes genetically. But we know this is wrong.
not only can there be karyotypes other than XY and XX, (such as XXY, XXX, XYY) but there can be differences in phenotype due to other genetic disorders. And of course, not all people who experience gender dysphoria have an underlying genetic disorder or specific karyotypes, but this is all in service of a point. We all know this if we've cracked open a college biology book, But conservatives like to couch the discussion in the frame of "disorders". The general pushback I've seen from the "skeptical right" is that we shouldn't consider genetic disorders or syndromes from having extra chromosomal karyotypes as other distinct sexes on a continuum.
But if we point out Chimeras, which are undeniable and documented, we can show them that in fact, some people are fundamentally composed of multiple distinctly homogenous parts that will never fit into their suffocating binary boxes. If human chimerism resulting in people with heterogenous sets of gonads, then we cannot continue to believe the binary paradigm they keep pushing. Gender isn't binary either, but most of conservative anti trans thinking has been based around his notion that they can "fall back" to biological sex as some binary refuge. This contradicts and refutes that idea.
For more information about how sex is not binary, please see the video below
I've been thinking about this for a while, and wanted to put my thoughts down here. Let me know any ways I'm wrong or oversimplifying or if I could make my argument stronger. Constructive criticism welcome!
Human Chimerism is a very interesting phenomenon where a multiple fetuses or zygotes fuse together in the womb. It can even happen with multiple fertilized eggs or multiple sperm fertilizing the same egg.
Genetic Chimerism:
the resulting fetus can widely vary and can be made of so many combinations it's mind boggling. This can lead to babies that have different DNA in different tissues. It can result in wildly diverse arrays of phenotypes and forms of expression.
I'm a biology enthusiast, but not a scientist. But I have read some research on this and I think it's fascinating. After learning this much about it, I am confident that sufficient education in this topic will dispel many key tenets of conservative ideology.
1. Twin Chimerism and identity
*Taylor Muhl, singer-songwriter and example of human chimerism.
This type of chimerism is when two fetuses, fraternal or identical, are fused in the womb. It can occur if one fetus dies or it can occur at an earlier stage with two live fetuses/embryos/zygotes.The resulting human expressions can be wildly diverse.
it serves to undercut the conservative concepts of genetic heritage and racist myths that consider human value as tied to genetic ancestry. Some of us are more homogenous than others, but some individuals are very heterogenous and we call that chimerism.
these heterogenous people are often living normal lives with no one the wiser. This goes to show that our concept of "individuals" as being strictly defined by DNA + a soul is not even close to the whole picture. Some examples of chimerism are too clearly demarcated to deny that the biological definition of an individual is not necessarily clear. People develop on a spectrum and that development continues after birth and ultimately until death. People are fluid and shouldn't have to conform to any particular classification regardless of which tissues exhibit which DNA or some level of sex hormones.
In some cases, intersex individuals can be examples of chimerism or mosaicism. In fact, everyone should have a bit of mosaicism in the sense that we all carry a bit of our maternal DNA from the placenta and umbilical cords back in the womb. But many cases of "Differences of sexual Development" (DSD) or ambiguous genitalia can be results of twin chimerism. It's important to point out that this is not likely the case with the majority of intersex individuals or people that go on to become trans or go through gender reassignment. But a few of these cases result in men and women with entirely separate sets of gonads. Women with testicles in their abdomen, men with ova. All sorts of combinations have been observed. People with multiple penises or vaginas, people with mixed genetalia, any combination you could envision really. Which I will show dispels conservative myths about binaries in sex and gender.
Vestigial Twin Chimerism
this can also result in the "vestigial twin" phenomena. If two fetuses merge late enough, there can be a clearly dominant twin and a still attached vestigial twin. This is not for those with a weak stomach and I suggest you steel yourself before googling this as the image I used was one of the few that isn't slightly disturbing. Sometimes this is completely unseen and undetectable from anyone else's perspective. The mere existence of humans with these conditions or phenotypes goes to the heart of fundamental conservative misunderstandings of the way humans are and the reality around us.
2. The Soul and Bodily Autonomy
*disclaimer: I am not looking for a theological debate, just talking in terms of evidence and practicality. *
The Soul and concepts like it predate most religions and come from ancient philosophies of human dualism. But modern conservatives often push the idea that a soul is imbued at the moment of conception. Not only is this notion flawed, but it's actually inconsistent with much theology that conservatives often appeal to as an authority.
The idea that life begins at first breath is more recent, but not as recent as you think. In the Bible, there are verses that speak of life beginning at breath, not conception. Which is what most modern conservative anti-abortion rhetoric is based on. But the existence of chimerism and the overall facts shown by research into developmental biology should quickly dispel any conservative case against bodily autonomy rights.
*diagram of the 23 Carnegie stages of developmental biology
Just ask a conservative when life "begins". Many times they will insist that a zygote or embryo carries a soul and that aborting at any stage after would be paramount to murder, ect.
If you actually sit down and look at these stages of development, I think most conservatives would either say "conception" or be hard pressed to pick the point at which a soul becomes imbued into the fetus/zygote/embryo/blastocyst . And the existence of human chimeras completely neuters any attempt at conservative soul-mongering. Human chimerism can occur at or indeed before many of these developmental stages.
if conservatives believe a soul is imbued at conception, then what about genetic chimeras formed from separate sets of fertilized eggs? does the resulting chimera have two souls? If not, the are vestigial twins contain two souls in one body or is the other twin not alive? These questions underline a flaw in the conservative dualistic interpretation of reproduction.
3. Difference of Sexual Development
Human Chimerism and mosaicism shows us that an individual can have a biological sex that is not binary, but exists on a spectrum. You don't actually need genetics to tell us this, but many hardline anti gay, anti trans, and conservative people spout scientific sounding notions of there being only two sexes genetically. But we know this is wrong.
not only can there be karyotypes other than XY and XX, (such as XXY, XXX, XYY) but there can be differences in phenotype due to other genetic disorders. And of course, not all people who experience gender dysphoria have an underlying genetic disorder or specific karyotypes, but this is all in service of a point. We all know this if we've cracked open a college biology book, But conservatives like to couch the discussion in the frame of "disorders". The general pushback I've seen from the "skeptical right" is that we shouldn't consider genetic disorders or syndromes from having extra chromosomal karyotypes as other distinct sexes on a continuum.
But if we point out Chimeras, which are undeniable and documented, we can show them that in fact, some people are fundamentally composed of multiple distinctly homogenous parts that will never fit into their suffocating binary boxes. If human chimerism resulting in people with heterogenous sets of gonads, then we cannot continue to believe the binary paradigm they keep pushing. Gender isn't binary either, but most of conservative anti trans thinking has been based around his notion that they can "fall back" to biological sex as some binary refuge. This contradicts and refutes that idea.
For more information about how sex is not binary, please see the video below
Last edited:
