yeerk 'genders'

[goom]

never understood why in the books they referred to certain yeerks as he's or she's, rather than just it's.
visser 3/1 was always a he, and aftran, for example, was always a she.

was it because of the gender of the host they inhibited? would aftran be considered male if she went in male host?

[Toc']

Ok it's another problem for French people...

I thought Aftran was a He!

Actually i thought they were all "he" cause in french they decided the word yeerk would be a masculine one^^

But yeah, that's not the answer you're looking for in your thread ^^
S'ry

[Damien]

That's what I always assumed, ether that or it is a really strange coincidence that the female yeerks always got female hosts and male yeerks always got male hosts...

[Chad32]

I always assumed that if the host was male, then the Yeerk was male. Same for females. Either because male and female Yeerks are paired with hosts according to gener, or because Yeerks don't really have a gender. Gender has to do with reproductive organs mostly, and because Yeerks reproduce by melding with two others and splitting off, then they may not be designed that way.

So Esplin was male, and Edriss and Aftran were females to me.

In Visser, edriss says she becomes male when infesting a male host. Which goes along with my previously statements.

[Toc']

Well...
I just read an extract of "the sickness" in English. Illim's host is a male, Cassie call the yeerk "it" though : "Its body was..."
So... weird

[dolphin4077]

I agree that Yeerk gender comes from the host.  Yeerks use their hosts to identify themselves in a lot of ways --ie assignment to a Taxxon is a demotion.  However, the Aftran situation brings up another point (or variation.)  Remember everything we know about Aftran is filtered through Cassie's perspective, and Cassie's initial impressions of Aftran are shaped by the fact that she only sees Karen.  And even though Karen is (was) a controller, it doesn't change the fact that she picked up a Dracon beam, etc.
Side note, it's kinda funny to think that if Visser 3 had been successful in infesting Aldrea, he would would have been a girl.

[Azguard]

hahah, that is funny.

well, there's a definition difference between gender and sex. Gender is more culturally produced, so gender is what the culture defines it to be.

 so gender wise, yeerks' genders are defined by the culture they live in. Whether that be Yeerk culture or their host culture, I'm not sure.

 now sex is a whole different story tho.

[Gafrash]

I always pondered about this, too. Does a Yeerk gender come from the host?
They call each others brothers and sisters, I think. So it implies two sexes. But there has been no mismix of a male Yeerk in the body of a female host, or vice versa, for us to confirm this. So in the end, it's kinda confusing, I agree.
Perhaps the Yeerks don't have sexes as we conceive, since they merge in threes and die in the process of reproduction.

[goom]

Perhaps the Yeerks don't have sexes as we conceive, since they merge in threes and die in the process of reproduction.

yeah, i figured that.
wonder how long a yeerk's lifespan would be if they didn't reproduce (and therefore die)?

[Gafrash]

Dry out their pool and it would be three days. 

[goom]

well, yeah, but doesn't it seem like esplin has lived an awful long time?
they must have really long lifespans.

[Gafrash]

Hmmm.... Good question. The aliens lifespans can be really confusing in comparison to one another.
It feels like they are hundreds years old, but when you do the maths, it's like they are only two or three decades old. Interesting.

[Phoenix004]

Yeerks themselves don't have conventional genders of male and female, as I believe three parent Yeerks are required in order for them to reproduce (where they parents die in the process of creating hundreds of Yeerk children).

However, as some of you have already pointed out, many Yeerks would adopt the gender of their host such as Visser 1, Visser 3, Aftran, etc.

[Dameg]

I also always supposed they didn't have gender, but sometimes act as female or male because of their host...
But... nobody think they also could be like snails, hermaphrodite, and change their sex. Or have 3 different genders we can't compare with Humans genders?

[Phoenix004]

Normally I'd agree that they could be hermaphrodites like snails are, but the fact that they require a third parent Yeerk makes me think that Yeerk reproduction and genders aren't like anything found on Earth.