Maschile, Feminile...e poi?

In school today, my teacher took a small rabbit trail to write a list of the gender of some words. She explained that words are just like people. There are 4 types:

1. Male

2. Female

3. Homosexual

4. Bisexual

In the same way, there are masculine and feminine words, but also words that are bisexual. For example, the word "ginocchio" means knee and it is masculine in the singular form and feminine in the plural form. ("il ginocchio" and "le ginocchie.") Also, "le lenzuola," which means sheets, is "il lenzuolo" in the singular form. 

Therefore, she says, it is perfectly natural for humanity to be in these 4 categories and thinks it is beautiful how the language portrays all of these equally good options. 

Then she took another rabbit trail and explained how the Catholic Church tries to make people believe there is really only 2 categories (male and female) and how they just control people. She used the examples of birth control and abortion. 

I didn't even want to tackle this one...I had my head steeped in conditional verbs and just let it be. Plus, I knew this one wouldn't be an easy "1 sentence" response in a classroom setting and required a discussion. Nonetheless, it's amazing what you learn in school!