“Open an oyster, and it’s like a secret world in there.” - Tipping the Velvet

Read enough books and you’re sure to find some things oddly interesting. I’ve always been fascinated about nature, and how a close examination of it reminds us that not everything is as rigid as black and white, or male and female. Here’s an excerpt from “The Book of Lists 2″ by Irving Wallace, et al:

This tender bivalve enjoys the best of both sexual worlds. It alternates sex roles, functioning first as a male, then as a female. It can do this because it has both male and female organs, and the process is known as rhythmical consecutive hermaphroditism. In waters around Great Britain, its sex roles change in alternate years, but in warmer Mediterranean waters, it can perform both roles within one season. As an example of hard-shelled romanticism, the European oyster is hard to beat. For reasons that have more to do with spring tides rather than with spring fever, it mates only after a full or new moon.

I wonder what would happen if we humans followed the same biological pattern during our lifetimes. It should make for a lot of funny stories. Plus, that should end gender inequality once and for all, with rules being impartial to both sexes (the males would be afraid of being the underdog once they turn female, and vice versa). The only parts I don’t like is waking up one day and finding myself having a weaner down there, and too much body hair… OK, I can’t even paint my face now.

But here’s the first things I’ll do if I suddenly become a man:

1. Marry my girlfriend (assuming it could all be legal).
2. Go on adventures to remote places I’d otherwise think twice of going to if I were a woman (no more fears of getting raped, the worst that could happen is getting beat up or robbed, which isn’t as bad in my view).
3. Sasabit sa jeep [translation: hang on for dear life to the outside railings of a public vehicle popularly known here in the Philippines as the jeepney, an activity that has always been considered taboo for women).

How about you? If you could change sex every year, would you? What’s the first thing you’d do as a man/woman?