The Weekly Mindfuck: Bill Nye – and Ice Cream – Save the World

Millennials near and far rejoiced when Bill Nye Saves the World hit Netflix, thanks to the man's immensely popular 90s show. Sadly, his latest installment, meant for the exact same Millennials in their adulthood, sort of... bombed. It's been met with much criticism thanks to its political leanings and wackier-than-usual humor, and perhaps no episode has taken as much flack as the sexuality one. 

In it, two controversial segments are aired: "Ice Cream Sexuality," which serves as a metaphor for the diverse gender and sexuality spectrums and Rachel Bloom's out-of-tune "Sex Junk," which I have posted for your enjoyment below. And yes, both are perhaps a little odd in the context of a Bill Nye show, but I think the message Bill sent was well worth the watch - and apparently, missed by many. 

He opens the show talking about sex chromosomes in humans: 

"These are human chromosomes. They contain all the genes you need to make a human person. This one is called an X chromosome and this one down there, that’s a Y chromosome. They are sex chromosomes. Females usually have two Xs and males usually have an X and a Y. But it turns out, about 1 in every 400 pregnancies have a different number of sex chromosomes. Some people only have one sex chromosome, some people have 3, 4 or even 5. For me, I usually feel like I have a lot."

Nice even-scientists-get-horny joke there, Bill. Anyways, a fake meme went  viral shortly after the episode aired of Bill Nye saying in his original show that there were only two chromosomes - and though that's been corrected since, Bill goes on to make another perhaps even more important point: 

“If you’re like me, and I know I am, you’re still learning about this field of science. We used to think that there were just two settings: Male and female. But it’s actually a lot sexier than that.”

Because here's the thing: What we know about science - particular sexual science - is always changing, because humans are not perfect and we're learning so much as we go. That can be really confusing for some; you change their whole paradigm when you say, "Actually, no, it's like this." But it's important for all of us to allow ourselves to be flexible, and to have the courage to assimilate new information as we learn it, even if it creates a massive shift in the way we see the world. 

Like the episode or not, Bill Nye is very on point: Sexuality isn't so simple. The science says so.