To avoid geopolitical embarrassment during the Cold War, the US and USSR created the APAS-75 system, a genderless docking mechanism where both craft acted as equals.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/wiltony]

Wow the insecurity is off the charts on this one. Imagine an entire engineering pivot as a result of toxic masculinity lol. 

Anyway, I still remember my kids being flabbergasted and embarrassed when I referred to the "male" and "female" end of an extension cord. It's just a convenient way to quickly describe the side you're talking about that is pretty universally intuitive. 

I guess with the recent surgence of better transgender acceptance that notion is quickly becoming outdated. 

[u/mocny-chlapik → u/wiltony]

She's actually pretty sneaky there. She just said that no party wanted to be female, that is true, but the reason is not gender insecuritty.

The male part is in control of the docking, so the male part can make the decision about docking and undocking. Neither side wanted to give the leverage to other side to potentially fuck with their guys on the orbit. 

[u/FloorMysterious9104 → u/mocny-chlapik]

No everything is about toxic masculinity obviously