Lewisburg, Pa. – Amid all the controversy over Hasbro changing "Mr. Potato Head" and "Mrs. Potato Head" to just "Potato Head," nobody bothered to ask a potato about the change. Better yet, ask a botanist like Bucknell University Professor Chris Martine, biology, who does research on sex expression in the Nightshade Family – the same group that potatoes belong to.
The truth is, according to Martine, that every potato flower has both male and female parts.
"So if we’re really following the science, every Potato Head is simultaneously a 'Mr.' and a 'Mrs.' But the other, more generalizable, concept to embrace is that plants, including potato plants, don’t even have genders," says Martine, Bucknell's David Burpee Professor in Plant Genetics & Research. "'Gender' is something that only exists for organisms with a conscious self-identity. And that's only humans… and certainly not potatoes.”
Do botanists sometimes use “gender” when talking about male/female expression in plants? Yes, Martine says they do.
"But, just like calling a potato only one sex, this is technically just not correct," he adds.
In other words, the science actually backs up Hasbro's non-binary rebrand of the potato. Potato Head has been both male and female all along.
Bucknell biology professor Chris Martine
March 21, 2021 at 09:00PM
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Bucknell botanist weighs in on 'Potato Head' controversy - NorthcentralPa.com
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