I was kind of surprised how many people can’t settle on a specific gender
You could cut the gordian knot by borrowing Randall Munroe and
Relsqui’s solution for the xkcd color survey,
which was to ask about chromosomal
sex:
Do you have a Y chromosome?
[Don’t Know] [Yes] [No]
If unsure, select “Yes” if you are physically male and “No” if you are
physically female. If you have had SRS, please respond for your sex at
birth. This question is relevant to the genetics of colorblindness.
Technically, isn’t it the number of X chromosomes that matters to colorblindness? It’s just that people with Y chromosomes almost always have one X chromosome, and people without them almost always have two.
You’re correct; we asked for Y chromosomes rather than X chromosomes because it’s way easier to have an extra X and not know it than to have a Y and not know it. So if we ask about Y, we can rough-sort into “probably XY” and “probably XX” groups and then look at the statistics for chromosomal deviations within those groups.
I thought I did. Now that I’ve followed your link, I realize that even if it were less common, it would probably only be marginally so, so I withdraw my comment above.
Most people don’t actually know their karyotype, and are often surprised to learn that it’s not always what you assume. You can’t necessarily infer chromosomes from external appearance and self-identification reliably; you have to look at the actual chromosomes to be sure.
If I’m not mistaken, you don’t need a DNA test for this. A cell sample under a strong microscope will show the barr bodies for XX (this won’t distinguish XXY, but that’s pretty rare).
Looking at the barr bodies is not a karyotype test. A test that can’t detect whether or not someone is not XX/XY sufficient to actually tell you the information you need to know your chromosome type.
Yes, in terms of strict probability most people will be one of those. The test of the method is how well it handles edge cases (not at all); this is of considerably greater importance when you’re talking about those edge cases.
Also, rereading that explanation, I’m annoyed at how I worded it. It’s okay, but my trans*-inclusive vocabulary has improved since then and I could do better. Hell, just “if unsure, select ‘yes’ if you were born with a penis” would have been sufficient.
Fair point. I’m not sure either; I think I’m relying on a given individual who is e.g. intersex either a) knowing that, and being able to make a better-educated guess about their chromosomes than any heuristic I offer, or b) not knowing that, which I’m willing to assume correlates well to having genitals that either do look like a penis or don’t.
You could cut the gordian knot by borrowing Randall Munroe and Relsqui’s solution for the xkcd color survey, which was to ask about chromosomal sex:
Technically, isn’t it the number of X chromosomes that matters to colorblindness? It’s just that people with Y chromosomes almost always have one X chromosome, and people without them almost always have two.
You’re correct; we asked for Y chromosomes rather than X chromosomes because it’s way easier to have an extra X and not know it than to have a Y and not know it. So if we ask about Y, we can rough-sort into “probably XY” and “probably XX” groups and then look at the statistics for chromosomal deviations within those groups.
… especially if they’re responding to xkcd polls.
You have some reason to believe that Klinefelte’s syndrome (XXY) is less common among xkcd readers than among the general population?
I thought I did. Now that I’ve followed your link, I realize that even if it were less common, it would probably only be marginally so, so I withdraw my comment above.
Most people don’t actually know their karyotype, and are often surprised to learn that it’s not always what you assume. You can’t necessarily infer chromosomes from external appearance and self-identification reliably; you have to look at the actual chromosomes to be sure.
If I’m not mistaken, you don’t need a DNA test for this. A cell sample under a strong microscope will show the barr bodies for XX (this won’t distinguish XXY, but that’s pretty rare).
Looking at the barr bodies is not a karyotype test. A test that can’t detect whether or not someone is not XX/XY sufficient to actually tell you the information you need to know your chromosome type.
Yes, in terms of strict probability most people will be one of those. The test of the method is how well it handles edge cases (not at all); this is of considerably greater importance when you’re talking about those edge cases.
Also, rereading that explanation, I’m annoyed at how I worded it. It’s okay, but my trans*-inclusive vocabulary has improved since then and I could do better. Hell, just “if unsure, select ‘yes’ if you were born with a penis” would have been sufficient.
I’m not sure how any of these wordings of questions handle people with ambiguous genitalia.
Fair point. I’m not sure either; I think I’m relying on a given individual who is e.g. intersex either a) knowing that, and being able to make a better-educated guess about their chromosomes than any heuristic I offer, or b) not knowing that, which I’m willing to assume correlates well to having genitals that either do look like a penis or don’t.