One member of the audience asked for elaboration on the archaic suggestion that different types of humans are associated with various plants and animals. This was in reference to Linnaeus’ eighteenth-century work, Systema Naturae, wherein the author taxonomized all aspects of nature, including humans by varieties. Specifically, the question evoked thoughts about Linnaeus’ sexual system of botany, which categorized plants by the visibility of their sexual organs, among other things. This is a good example depicting that even when considering and studying plants, humanity still often prescribes to a fixed dichotomy between male and female, and shoehorns that application onto species and things where it may not fit. Continue reading “Categorizing the Fear of Difference”