If there was a third gender what would it be? Also, don't just say nuetral or a mixture of the other two.

Answer 1

again, i love how you ask a question specificly stating not to answer it with hemaphrodite and still youve got 9 idiots who do anyhow.

interesting question. males and females are pretty much polar opposites. no room for an extra gender in there. but...maybe they would just be like a super strong gender which protects us, like Army ants. ...i dunno, i just wanted to comment on how annoying it is when people answer your question and ignore the parameters you set on it.

Answer 2

If you're talking biologically, there are lots of possibilities.

Right now a person has one gene from each parent. There's no particular reason why a hypothetical person might not have three copies of each gene instead of two. In that sense there would really be very little that would change.

Another possibility presents itself from the vast array of life we have on the planet - an enabling gender. This gender wouldn't contribute genetically, but would otherwise allow the process to take place.

Yet a third possiblity would involve three genders that can only reproduce in certain combinations. For example, gender A and B can have a child, but not A and C, even though B and C can. This gives you still two parents but the possibility of any number of genders that you may wish. Gender differences in this way could be enforced biologically (they can have sex, but are sterile), psychologically (they are all fertile, but they don't WANT to have sex), or physically (tab A just won't fit into slot B).

As far as the mechanics of fertilization, there's a variety of possibilities with three individuals involved:

- You might have two individuals seperately fertilize the third. In a way then you would have two different kinds of 'male' and one 'female'. Perhaps they all have to have intercourse at once. Perhaps one impants an egg and another impants a sperm. Or maybe the 'female' would be able to store germ cells for a while (like a bee) so that after having intercourse with male type A, the gametes would hang out and do nothing until having sex with a type B.

- It might work like passing a baton. One parent would fertilize the next, who would then pass a combined gamete on to the third.

- Who says a third gender even needs to involve sex? Some species of different and in many ways less pleasant ways of passing along genetic material. A third gender might pass on gametes like a disease, so that any physical contact would cause them to make their way to the appropriate location. Or perhaps the third gender just needs to sit in the room and emit hormones while the other two are having sex or fetilization won't be able to occur.

If you're asking about psychology or appearance, then I suspect any new genders will be largely indistinguishable from the existing ones for the simple reason that women are already largely indistinguishable from men. Many men develop female characteristics and vice versa. If you want to engage in a curious research project sometime, look into how the Olympics determines that female athletes are really female - it becomes obvious pretty quickly that even medical experts have some difficulty figuring out exactly where the line should be. To put another perspective on it... can you tell a female lizard from a male one? They feel the same way about us, I'm sure.

Much of this IS actually observed in biology. Plant gender can sometimes a confusing issue at best, and some varieties of life do have more than two genders, just as some varieties have only one. Hope that helps!

Answer 3

As to a name, I don't know. But as in charateristics, perhaps it would be set up with another fourth gender to make a pair, where only the first pair (male, female) can go together and the other would be (x,y), x and y being whatever names. Or maybe the third gender could go with both depending on what situations. Just some ideas of imagination!

Answer 4

The only reason for the existence of a third gender would be for a reproductive reason, therefore, the third gender would have to be one that played some part in the process, most likely haveing some enzyme or substance that is secreted that prepares the female to receive trhe male sperm and insures fertilization.

Answer 5

Casey, you are asking for a logical question yet with an unlogical answer. Science has only been able to discover four types of gender.
1. Male
2. Female
3. Unic
4. Bi sexual
I do not believe there could be any more.

Answer 6

There already IS a third gender. It's called a hermaphrodite. It's a some one who has a female's chest and a male's penis.

Answer 7

That almost hurts my head as much as trying to think of another Letter in the alphabet with out using a letter that doesn't exist...AHHH my head is spinning

Answer 8

Maybe it would be like those frogs that can change from male to female depending on the ratio in their environment!

Answer 9

There is a third gender, though rare: Hermaphrodites.

Answer 10

um.. i can't imagine with a third gender would be like...
there are no third genders in any species on earth.