Friday, March 5, 2021

What the Mule Doesn't Prove

Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy Radiolab.  It's an interesting podcast (though to be fair, I haven't listened much in years).  That being said, quite a few of their priors are in pretty direct opposition to my own.

For instance, there is a certain tendency--exhibited in a recent episode--in the modern mind to argue that borderline cases prove that it is impossible to really distinguish between the ends of spectra.  Thus, for instance, the existence of intersex conditions proves that legal or cultural distinctions between men and woman are meaningless, or unfair, or impractical, or some such thing.

Now there is no doubt that intersex conditions are special cases, requiring (it is quite likely) special legal treatment.  But they do not in and of themselves render irrelevant existing distinctions between men and women.  The existence of the mule does not prove that the distinction between the horse and the donkey is useless.  It only proves that if the tax on a donkey is two sous, and the tax on a horse is three, the legislator must come up with some different way of assessing the tax on the mule, rather than trying to pretend it is either a horse or a donkey.

Mutatis mutandis, as they say.

Blog linkup here: https://rosie-ablogformymom.blogspot.com/2021/03/just-because-volume-7.html

2 comments:

Rosie said...

I've also seen the reasoning that because there exist in nature certain species that exhibit intersex characteristics, we just therefore change our expectations regarding human gender norms. It's very odd, because you'd think that if we're expected to take our cues from nature, then most "gender stereotypes" would be reinforced (mother as primary caregiver, etc), but it's only the anomalies that are touted as examples.

TGWWS said...

That's a really good point!

The other thing that doesn't get mentioned is negative animal characteristics vis-a-vis gender and family roles. If chicken promiscuity is cited as a positive example for humans, you may be certain that the male-dominance hierarchies of that species (cf. "pecking order") are NOT given equal exemplary power.