Old ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ Episode Censored To Accommodate New Views On Gender

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2017/05/04/old-bill-nye-the-science-guy-episode-censored-to-accommodate-new-views-on-gender/

Bill Nye is apparently fine with Netflix editing a 1996 episode of his popular Bill Nye the Science Guy children’s show to remove a portion in which he explains the role chromosomes play in determining sex.

In the since-deleted segment known as “Consider the Following,” a teenage girl explains how “chromosomes determine whether we become a boy or a girl.”

The mysterious omission was uploaded to YouTube by the Washington Free Beacon and first reported by the Federalist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNpac2TYX5Y

“See, there are only two possibilities — ‘x-x,’ a girl, or, ‘x-y,’ a boy,” the teen explains, referring to the biological components that determine sex. “The chance of becoming either a boy or a girl is always one-in-two.

“It’s like flipping a coin.”

The version of the episode available on Netflix  omits the entire segment. In Nye’s new Netflix series, Bill Nye Saves The World, he contradicts the message from his old show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rayxew89NyE

“There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye,” Nye tells the audience. “Female or male, gay or straight, pink or blue — we were taught to see these as binary.

“Now we’re realizing it’s more like a kaleidoscope.”

Referring to the two sexes, Nye says, “we used to take it pretty straightforward — an ‘x’ and a ‘y’ chromosome for males, two ‘x’s’ for females.”

“But we see more combinations than that in real life,” Nye explains. “What makes someone male or female isn’t so clear cut.”

The Federalist notes that the edit of the 1996 episode exploring the role chromosomes play in determining a person’s sex is never addressed by Netflix.

In his more recent segment, Nye notes that “by three or four, most kids identify with a gender.”

“And it doesn’t always match the sex they were assigned at birth.”