Though I wonder if you ever got around to confirming whether her tweet -- the one that started this topic -- is still there or not.
Do you just not read other people's posts? I confirmed that it's still there, I even commented as such with the additional information that you need to log in to be able to see it.
But the question is STILL what are the DEFINITIONS for the sexes, what are the "necessary and sufficient conditions" to qualify as male and female. Which you seem reluctant or unable to specify. But Emma "thinks" it's just "gonads of past, present, or future functionality" -- a spectrum of three one might add -- but more reputable biologists say "functional gonads".
This is tedious. You've been given colloquially useful definitions as well as evolutionary definitions on multiple occasions. That you refuse to accept or even entertain those definitions does not equate to any of us being "reluctant" to provide you with definitions. We've done so repeatedly.
A female is the member of an anisogamous species that has the reproductive system that has evolved within that species to support the production of large gametes. A male is the member of an anisogamous species that has the reproductive system that has evolved within that species to support the production of small gametes.
You will note that this definition does not require that actual gamete production occur - it's based on the observable fact that anisogamous species develop along one of two -
and only two - distinct pathways.
Production of gametes is a
sufficient condition for identification of sex, but is not
necessary.
Look at it this way: IF a specimen produces sperm, THEN that specimen is male. This is of the form "IF A THEN B". I assume that you recall that this does not in any way imply that IF ~A THEN ~B - therefore, If a specimen does not produce sperm, that does not imply that the specimen is not male.
The key here is that only two reproductive pathways exist in anisogamous species - there is no
third pathway - and that a specimen that does not develop a pathway is not viable and will miscarry. Literally - if an embryo of any anisogamous species doesn't develop a reproductive system at all, they are not viable and will fail to continue development.
The necessary condition then is the reproductive pathway that the embryo follows. If it follows the egg-production-apparatus pathway, then it is female, regardless of whether any eggs are actually developed in gestation, and regardless of whether any of those eggs are fertile. If it follows the sperm-production-apparatus pathway, then it is male, regardless of whether it ever actually produces sperm, and regardless of whether those sperm are fertile.
To reiterate: The necessary condition is the type of reproductive system that develops, and there are only two of those. Production of gametes is a sufficient condition, but is not necessary.