# Remember the aliens from star trek, black on one side, white the other? I got news. Link **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359 "2011-05-26T21:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/21 "2011-05-30T03:46:14Z")
How come almost all the pictures in the gallery were birds or butterflies? Does gynandropmorphism ever occur in, say, reptiles? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/22 "2011-05-30T05:09:14Z")
Now \*\*that \*\*is an angry bird! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/23 "2011-06-01T05:29:09Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > At first I thought you were being hypersensitive, **matt\_mcl** , but then I I saw a link at the bottom of the page to a gallery titled _Stunning She-Males of the Animal World_ on the same site. That _is_ blatantly offensive and eliminates any doubt they might otherwise have gotten the benefit of with regards to the main article. And another entry in the picture gallery is titled using the word “he-she” for good measure. :mad: There’s no context where that isn’t a slur. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/24 "2011-06-01T06:36:43Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > And another entry in the picture gallery is titled using the word “he-she” for good measure. :mad: There’s no context where that isn’t a slur. But…but…it was a picture of a _bee_, man! A bee! It rhymes! You can’t let minor peccadillos like human decency get in the way of journalism! Besides, they already changed that photoeditor’s caption for the photo of the B’nai B’rith bicycle marathon _and_ his text accompanying the chart for their article on gigantism in African Americans. They _had_ to give him _something_. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/25 "2011-06-01T06:52:45Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > And another entry in the picture gallery is titled using the word “he-she” for good measure. :mad: There’s no context where that isn’t a slur. There is: when you are describing animals that are literally half male, half female, and have no preferred nomenclature for themselves. The fact that it would be extremely offensive to apply such a term to human beings is beside the point. There is nothing wrong with calling a [cat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon) a name you ought not to call a human being, either. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/26 "2011-06-01T07:04:34Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > For once, rabid debate is nicely mixed with science. > > Cool. You just couldn’t resist playing the “rabies card” could you? I take great offense at such a blatantly hydrophobic slur! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/27 "2011-06-01T09:43:34Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > You just couldn’t resist playing the “rabies card” could you? I take great offense at such a blatantly hydrophobic slur! > > 😉 I **am not** blatanly hydrophobic!:mad: And it’s pronounced “sir”!;)😛 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/28 "2011-06-01T13:39:52Z")
It may be one color on one side and another colr on the other, but I’ll bet it can’t do a killer Richard Burton imitation! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/29 "2011-06-02T03:20:04Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > There is: when you are describing animals that are literally half male, half female, and have no preferred nomenclature for themselves. The fact that it would be extremely offensive to apply such a term to human beings is beside the point. There is nothing wrong with calling a [cat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon) a name you ought not to call a human being, either. Oh, that’s ridiculous. They’re using the word for the animals _because_ it’s a transphobic slur and for no other reason. There is ample vocabulary to describe such animals in a neutral fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/30 "2011-06-02T04:43:27Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Now \*\*that \*\*is an angry bird! Angry . . . or confused? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/31 "2011-06-02T07:59:46Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Oh, that’s ridiculous. They’re using the word for the animals _because_ it’s a transphobic slur and for no other reason. There is ample vocabulary to describe such animals in a neutral fashion. No other reason except maybe it’s literally a he… AND a she? What would this alleged ‘neutral vocabulary’ be that would satisfy your indignant and amusing outrage? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/32 "2011-06-02T18:37:30Z")
I think I’m gonna side with **matt\_mcl** on this one…although coming from a slightly different perspective. Animal activists frequently complain about the use of the pronoun “it” to describe animals…especially in cases where a _specific_ animal is the topic. In such cases, the sex of the animal is usually known, but some writers use “it” anyway, which the activists contend is the result of subconscious bias or even a conscious decision to objectify the animal, to distance ourselves from thinking of the animal as a living individual who might deserve consideration. The same goes for using “that” instead of “who.” A quick perusal of the livescience site’s “animals” page doesn’t show many articles in which specific animals are discussed, but the article on outdoor cats shows exactly this pattern (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > “ **That particular male cat** was not getting food from humans, to my knowledge, but somehow **it** survived out there amidst coyotes and foxes,” Jeff Horn, a former graduate student in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences who led the study, said in a press release. “ **It** crossed every street in the area where **it** was trapped. ( **It** navigated) stoplights, parking lots. We found **it** denning under a softball field during a game.” Note that although that’s a quoted passage, the editors supplied an additional parenthetical “(It navigated)” where they could have said “(He navigated)” or perhaps “(The cat navigated).” So it appears that the site has in the past used “it” to refer to specific animals of known or unspecified gender, but switched to “he-she” for the article **matt\_mcl** has questioned. I wasn’t aware “he-she” had such connotations, but I conclude the complaint is justified. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/33 "2011-06-02T22:48:57Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > And the Cardinal was from Texas. > 's cool.🆒 No. St. Louis or Phoenix You’re thinking of the Rangers or the Cowboys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359.md?page=1)