Reminder that if you think people can’t become intersex/perisex through medical transition you believe to the TERF/GC conception of sex as an immutable thing and/or that you are defined by your natal characteristics and not by your present material characteristics (again a GC/TERF thing) you basically align yourself with their beliefs.
It’s important to note that believing Intersex is immuable, knowing that intersex is relative to male and female also imply male and female are immutable things.
Sex & intersex aren’t static, unchangables but rather things that can be modified with our consent or not. Refering to medically transitioned trans ppl who were born perisex as perisex is materially false and sex-statism (GC/TERF belief) and imply for a trans woman that she is still a male and for a trans man that he still a female.
Medically transitioned trans ppl no loger have their perisex privilege since they no longer have sexual characteristics that corresponds to typical binary definitions of male or female.
It occoures to me that I’ve medically transitioned to the point where my biological sex can not easily described anymore.
My body can no longer be described as conventionally male, nor is it capable of ever returning to such a state.
It also can’t be described as having a female sex, and I have no intention of taking my body in that direction.
Although perisex accuratly described me at birth, my body isn’t “near” male or female anymore.
And intersex is (usefully) tied to sex at birth.
So when I meet with my doctors I’m left with very little words that can articulate my queer body, short of describing my entire medical transition (which I don’t want to do needlessly)
Tumblr, is there a word for trans bodies that can no longer fit in a biological binary I’m not aware of?
Day 1: Gender, Sex, and the Spectrums They Live On
Part 1: Gender
Nowgender is, in professional terms, a fucky-wucky thing.
It’snot…real, nor quantifiable. To layer over that, there is the issue of gender identity versus gender expression(howyoufeelaboutyourgenderversushowyouexpressthosefeelings).
However, I have found a graph which is, at least to me, useful in conceptualizing gender.
In this color analogy (if you’ll pardon the stereotyping) redstandsforfeminine,blueformasculine,white for genderless, and yellowforandrogynous.
Almostnobodyisperfectlyinone corner; even cis people tend to feel a mix of their agab (assigned gender at birth) and some degree of another one.
And get this - where you feel onthespectrumcanchangeday to day, even if youdon’tidentifyasgenderfluid.
How does this apply to labels?
Well, the most obvious spots would be the redandbluecorners; they would be labeledaswomanandman, respectively.
Someone in the purplesection around D3 and C4 would be labeled as bigender.
Someone in the teal section would be labeled as a demiboy, and someone in the orangesection would be labeled as a demigirl.
Anyone who isn’tstrictlyintheblue or red areas would be labeled as non-binary or genderqueer, depending on which label they prefer, and dependingonhow gendered they feel they would be closer to the yelloworwhitebox.
Someone who consistentlyanddramaticallymovesaroundthespectrum would be labeled as gender-fluid or gender-flux.
Someoneoff the spectrum entirely would fall into either the agender label, or could identify with a neogender.
There are tons of more specific labels I could describe, but I think you get the gist.
In conclusion: gender isstrange,andthisis just my interpretation of it,butI findthisa nice way to explain gender in asimpleand concise way.
Part 2: Sex
Disclaimer: I, the author of this post, am perisex. I have done what I consider enough research, but should I have something wrong I would be more than happy to be corrected.
Before we start: some definitions.
Sex characteristic:Somethingwhichwe use todividedifferent members of the same species into separate sexes
Primary sex characteristic: The sex characteristics someone is born with; external and internal genitalia
Secondary sex characteristic: The sex characteristics someonedevelops during puberty; body/pubic hair, breasts, hormones like testosterone (t) and estrogen (est), etc.
AGAB: Assigned Gender At Birth
AFAB: Assigned Female At Birth
AMAB: Assigned Male At Birth
Intersex:Someonewhosesex characteristics clash/do not align; often but not always the characteristics in question are genitalia or hormones
Perisex:Someonewho is not intersex
And now, the post.
Mostof us have heard of thegender spectrum, have heard the multitude of labels used for people who don’t stick to the male/female binary.
Butwhat about those whose sex characteristics don’talign? What about AMAB people whose bodies cannot process testosterone and so they develop breasts? What about AFAB people with internal testes? Well, those people are called intersex.
By most definitions, approximately 1.7% of the populationfits within the categories of intersex(although you may see people claiming that the number is much smaller than that - their data that only considers intersex people who have irregular combinations of genitalia and not everyone else on the spectrum).
Butjustascis people stillexiston the muddy bits of the gender spectrum,perisex people stillexist on thesex spectrum.
Are you AFABwithfacial hair? That’s clashing sex characteristics, you’re onthespectrum. Are you AMABwithlow levels oftestosterone? That’s onthespectrum.
Sexas a binaryisliterallyasocial construct -ifweconsider all thecharacteristics we’ve decided attributetoone sex category or another, more often than notyou’renotgoing to have all thecharacteristics.
(Remember, however, that any existence as aperisexperson with certain clashing sex characteristics is not and cannot be equivalentto the experienceof an intersex person, just like the experience of someone who is a tomboy and therefore doesn’t fit perfectly with the label of woman as we’ve defined it but is still cis is not and cannot be equivalent to the experience of a trans person.)
In conclusion:sexis also very strangeand it’s laughablethatwestillconsiderit a binary, considering our very own definitions of it.
intersex bodies are just as natural and regular as perisex bodies, the only difference is that perisex bodies are more common. being intersex is not a birth defect in the same way being a perisex woman is not a birth defect. nothing broke, nothing is “wrong” with us, we are just less common.
being a perisex woman or a perisex man isn’t a medical condition and neither is being intersex. when our intersex conditions cause other health complications it is not because we are intersex, it is because of a medical condition associated with being intersex.
a person with a uterus who has endometriosis isn’t experiencing a symptom of having a uterus they are experiencing endometriosis.
intersex bodies are heavily medicalized. they are treated as problems that need to be solved, but being intersex isn’t a medical condition. we don’t need to be diagnosed and forced through “treatment” to make us as close to perisex as possible, we need support, awareness, and acceptance.
tldr; intersex bodies are just as natural as perisex bodies. intersex existence needs to stop being medicalized
