The Pawpaw as Queerness in Nature
Queerness is not a human invention. It is biological, and it shows up throughout the natural world. The pawpaw plant is one more example.
The pawpaw tree produces flowers that are both male and female at once. Each flower carries both sets of reproductive organs. The flower also changes phase over time, functioning as female first and then shifting to male.
There is no single, fixed sexual identity built into this plant. It holds both, and it changes. That is not a deviation from nature. It is nature.
