Is Sex Binary?

Ivy League professor claims its 'bad science' to believe biological sex is binary: 'False' picture of biology

Story by Hannah Grossman • May 2, 2023

A Princeton University anthropology professor claimed that it is "bad science" to believe biological sex is binary – only male and female – by basing it on reproductive cells. 

Agustín Fuentes is an American primatologist
 and biological anthropologist
 at Princeton University 

The Ivy League professor, Agustín Fuentes, has specialized knowledge in "racism," "sex/gender," and "chasing monkeys," according to his biography page. He argued in the "Scientific American" Monday that biological reproductive cells (gametes) – such as sperm and egg cells – does not delineate whether someone is male or female. 

"Here’s Why Human Sex Is Not Binary," the headline states. 

Fuentes then blasted Republicans for questioning Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings last year. Biden's SCOTUS pick could not, or would not, provide a definition on what the term "woman" meant. 

"Can I provide a definition? No, I can't… Not in this context, I'm not a biologist," Jackson responded. 

"That human sex rests on a biological binary of making either sperm or ova underlies all these claims," Fuentes wrote. "This is bad science."

The professor explained that the production of sex cells in animals "does not sufficiently describe sex biology in animals, nor is it the definition of a woman or a man…. While sperm and ova matter, they are not the entirety of biology and don’t tell us all we need to know about sex, especially human sex."

He went on to state that sex was "cultural" and not only biological and enmeshed in "social processes."

The professor later elaborated on his point of view, stating he meant it was that reproductive cells – sperm and ova – are not the entirety of sex biology in humans (and other animals)."

"Thus the ‘bad science’ I am calling out is when one uses only gametes as the basis of legal decisions about human rights," he told Fox News Digital. 

To believe in the binary nature of sex is to
promote discrimination, he added.

"So when someone states that ‘An organism’s sex is defined by the type of gamete (sperm or ova) it has the function of producing’ and argues that legal and social policy should be 'rooted in properties of bodies,' they are not really talking about gametes and sex biology. They are arguing for a specific political, and discriminatory, definition of what is 'natural' and ‘right’ for humans based on a false representation of biology."

The professor teaches an introductory class to anthropology at Princeton. 

He has also argued that sex and gender are separate, and claimed there is scientific evidence to support it. 

"‘Sex’ and ‘Gender’ are not the same thing… We are born with a sex, but acquire gender," he said. "There is an extensive body of literature demonstrating this, but many researchers interested only in definitive distinctions between men and women choose to disregard it."