(no subject)

 Turns out, gifs are pretty now!

In other news, tomorrow I leave for Venice. But first, I have to upload all the movies I worked on during the program... when they're up, they'll be here.

(no subject)

So, I was reading John Scalzi's blog, and he had a quote from the director who is currently working on Old Man's War. The director mentions his previous SF film, Enemy Mine, about which I knew nothing. The director says,

In Enemy Mine it was the strange relationship between these two guys. One was a hermaphrodite and one was a human being, so that’s wild.

My first resonse: eurgh. Hermaphrodites are not human beings, it seems! Well, ok, humans can't be true biological hermaphrodites, since that requires viable self-insemination, but I have encountered several people referring to intersexed folks as 'hermaphrodites,' including a grad student who was researching 'hermaphrodites' extensively, learning about specific intersex conditions, and yet failing to regard her 'subjects' as human. So I naturally translate 'hermaphrodite' as 'person who is intersex or trans, as described by an idiot.'

So naturally I do some research, to see if the character is trans or intersex, and also because sometimes I like to make myself miserable. The 'hermaphrodite' in question appears to be reptilian rather than humanoid, but, as my instincts suggested, still not a hermaphrodite - the Drac reproduce asexually. So, upside: the movie itself is probably totally fine.

But, now I have all these skeezy feelings, wondering who would look at reptilian aliens and say, "one's a hermaphrodite, one's a human being" rather than, oh, I don't know, "one's a lizard."

Why is asexual reproduction the first point of difference to spring to mind? And why did it stick in the director's memory as 'hermaphrodite'?