what defines male and female ?

    I second that motion ff. Its a good point, and something that would merit some extensive research, but its a very abstract theory.

    ---- Call me Arania Humans Fear what they do not understand. And i doubt you understand me. Never say `Eat Me` to a giant snake. Bad idea, believe me...

    *BANG!!* Aw crap. There goes my head. Anybody have a mop? The question of male/female is more than just a question of how we look. It is (as you said) about hormones and anatomical differences as well. It is true that, generally speaking, the males of a species are the more extravagant-looking of the genders but there are other factors as well. Males are the ones that (generally) fight over females, males impregante the females and females give birth (again, all generally). Ultimatetly it´s just a queston of arbitrary definitions though. The English language just happens to have picked one word for one gender and another word for the other. Edit: To actually answer the question, though, I´ll refer you to <A href=´http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=male´ Target=_Blank>Dictionary.com</a> and their definition of &quot;male&quot;. Essentially it´s the gender that produces sperm. @ SylverFysh (below) - The way I see it you´ve elucidated the exact reason why males are <b>not </b> females. (Or maybe that was your point all along.) Edited by - Codename on 11/19/2004 9:27:46 AM

    Edit: Removed sig. Edited by - Stinger on on 12/30/2004 3:43:05 PM

    Actually kimk you´re on the right track,in a way we men <b>should </b> be girls <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>. Lemme explain *Puts on professor hat* If you guys know your biology we know that females have XX chromosomes and males have the XY chromosomes. Simple stuff. Then, if you get more technical you look at how after conception males and females develope. In females X chromosomes creates the Mullerian system, which ends up to later on to become female internal sex organs (Gonads) In males, the Y chromosome carries the SRY gene. This gene activates the anti-Mullerian hormone. This inhibits the development of the Mullerian system, and gives way to the male system called the Wolffian system. Since males need to have the SRY gene and anti-Mullerian hormone to develop, whereas females, put simply, do not need any outside hormones or genes, females are known as the &quot;Default race.&quot; This is also why birth defects such as babies without the second chromosome (another X or a Y) end up looking female only without internal sex organs. A bit longwinded I know, but I´m a biology/psych major so all of this stuff is overflowing in my brain <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Edited by - Sylverfysh on 11/19/2004 9:18:34 AM @Codename(above) - Yeah, i was pretty much giving a biology lesson, but also to point out how much more work is involved in creating a male. Nature by default wants to create females. Which I coincidentally wouldn´t mind having more of in the world. Go Nature! Woot! <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Edited by - Sylverfysh on 11/19/2004 9:32:57 AM

    not adding any scientific observations here....but i know more PRISSY men than i do women....Some of the peopel i have hung out with (men) take 30-45 minutes to get ready to go out some where (club, concert , mall..etc...etc...). NOw 80% of the women i know take 5 minutes (like my wife) hell hers and my COMBINED dress up time is less than most of those...´metrosexual´ males. But i agree with kimk on this one (to an extent) not all men are women just the pretty boys lol &quot;To live is to die....but living is to die slowly..why waste time on trivial things just play as hard as you can&quot;

    "To live is to die....but living is to die slowly..why waste time on trivial things just play as hard as you can"

    <font size=1 face="trebuchet ms"><BLOCKQUOTE><hr size=1 noshade>i want to see loc post in here <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> <hr size=1 noshade></BLOCKQUOTE></font><font face=´trebuchet ms, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica´ size=2>Your wish is my command... Basicly what Sylverfish says, is correct, only I didn´t know it was done in those terms. What I basicly know is that by definition everyone starts out as female, Penis and Testes, excuse the lingua here, only develop at a later stage, its the same as why men have nipples, tis the same cause, only with men, nipples are redundant &quot;organs&quot; so they don´t develop as much as with women, also, the male breed misses the organs for synthesizing &quot;Maternal milk&quot; out of bodical fluids, the men have them alright, but theyve shriveled by the time we reach age five or so, as is with all Organs that have outlived their function, only some organs don´t shrivel as fast as other, the human Tailbone, a non-gender specific organ, will take a few more thousand years to fade away, the organ has reached redundancy a few million years ago, with the introducion of Homo Erectus iirc, but I think I am happily strolling away from the point here. Basically what defines male and Female are XX and XY, as already stated before XX for women, and XY for men. Or in common playground talk, A Penis and a Vagina (again, sorry for the explicitives) well thats my drivel for the day, ill leave it up to the pro´s to consider if its not total hogwash, and as always, if not correct, please feel free to correct the incorrectives.

    Men are becoming extinct, the signs are already showing. Look at David Beckham<img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Seriously, we are becoming extinct. Sooner or later evolution will destroy man and we will be all female.

    <font size=1 face="trebuchet ms"><BLOCKQUOTE><hr size=1 noshade>(Gonads) <hr size=1 noshade></BLOCKQUOTE></font><font face=´trebuchet ms, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica´ size=2> Hehe...Gonads <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

    How to tell a girl from a boy: Step one: Select the individual you suspect to be a girl. Step two: Have your attorney hire a private investigator to find out who &quot;her&quot; attorney is. Step Three: If your attorney reports to you that &quot;her&quot; attorney can write a more valid pre nuputal agreement that he can and &quot;her&quot; attorney can get more out of you during a divorce proceeding than your attorney can get out of her, then you are a boy and she is a girl. If your attorney feels that he can do better than hers then you are a girl and &quot;she&quot; is a boy and you need to have your attorney put you in touch with his psychiatrist. Glock36 &quot;Are you sure you want to say that? Is you life insurance paid up&quot;?

    <font size=1 face="trebuchet ms"><BLOCKQUOTE><hr size=1 noshade>Seriously, we are becoming extinct. Sooner or later evolution will destroy man and we will be all female. <hr size=1 noshade></BLOCKQUOTE></font><font face=´trebuchet ms, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica´ size=2> Definately scary, I´d personally rather Hitlers 1000 year Reich than that. At least it would be a more placid existence.

    why exactly do you think the worlds men will die out and the women will be the ones left? isnt it infinitely more possible that the other will occur, that men will forsee their own demise and therefore come up with contingency plans to keep the whole gender alive, and probably remove rights for women so they could never challenge us again? lets face it, there are no women in power to stop the men

    i dont think that any gender will outlive the other, longer than 100 years anyway. think about it, were all equally dumb, at the end of it all, there will just bee a few ladies/men and bam, its all over, we cant have children without the other!

    If somehow women happened to become the only gender on Earth by natural means, I would assume that by then we would just become an asexual race instead of dying out. That´d be weird wouldn´t it? You´re enjoying your lunch in the park when your best bud suddenly splits in two. &quot;So I was telling my teac - Whoa!...hey Sally..eh..and Sally....&quot; <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

    Check out P.D.James´ book; The children Of Men (1993) It is set in the year 2021, and women, for some reason can no longer become pregnant. The story takes place in England ( James being an English author) and takes a very good look at male/female roles in society, and what truly defines them. aj I just did a quick google search of the book and it looks like they are now making a movie based on her book. Edited by - aj on 11/22/2004 8:53:29 PM

    I´m not scientifically gifted, so i´ll put it in my terms. SHould be able to understand this. *pulls up chair* Early caveman had 52 testosterone thingys. Over the years, this has got smaller and smaller and man himself is becoming less manly. Something like that. Evolution is making a certain hormone or something else that makes us male. My biology is terrible. Research was carried out one of our research centers.

    *blink blink* As long as I dont magically turn into a girl, I think I can live with how ever man <font size=1 face="trebuchet ms"><BLOCKQUOTE><hr size=1 noshade>testerone thingys <hr size=1 noshade></BLOCKQUOTE></font><font face=´trebuchet ms, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica´ size=2> that i have. :p