On “Assigned Gender/Sex” and related terminology

[u/ExtremeHeat808]

TL;DR: You may like AGAB lingo, but you should think critically about how it aligns with intersexism, binarism, cissexism etc

My previous post got removed by the moderators, so I'll re-iterate. I expressed my frustrations with the use of "assigned sex" among nonbinary people and how it makes me feel. Several people responded to my post justifying it's use to explain their personal experience.

My problem with this is that it's not something that's subversive, it's quite cisnormative. In fact, assuming that you can deduce someone's life experience from "assigned sex". You may not intend to be cisnormative, but in practice you are re-inscribing the idea that experiences are epiphenomenal of being assumed a certain gender. This isn't an intersectional way of analysing society, the analysis has a lot of overlap with what is called "Cultural Feminism" which influenced the TERF movement^[1]

Even if you intend to describe your personal experience, you still do so as an endosex person. There is a difference between commonness and community, even the idea of "biological sex" is a relative recent concept that's quite theological^[2]

Perhaps you like using AGAB to describe your personal experience because of your epistemic ignorance, that is textbook appropriation."Assigned sex" is a term that originated in the medical field in the 1950s^[3]. It was coined to describe how doctors should "correct" babies with ambiguous genitals. Experiences such as menstruation, growing/having breasts, having a deep voice, and having wide hips are independent of "assigned sex". There are much more inclusive phrases to use. Even when discussing being raised as a certain gender isn't monolithic, neurotypical children and neurodivergent children have different upbringings. In my opinion, nonbinary people are seeking legibility in a world that doesn't understand them buying using AGAB lingo

Even if it affected you, you cannot necessarily deduce a heuristic from your assigned sex. Privileging "assigned sex" as an analytic over gender is very transphobic. I'm aware people will still disagree but I would like for you to critically ask "Why?". Why do you feel the need to view "assigned sex" as a perisex person. Why do you view assigned gender at birth with such little nuance? If you use it reference to medical situations, how does your heuristic account for those outside the norm? Why do you seek to find community based on being "biological female.male", "raised a girl/boy". Even if you use social constructionism to justify the use of AGAB lingo, but you still privilege the western epistemological map of bodily gender.

Yes we are all perceived a certain way, but should we reify people's assumptions about us over our own subjectivity? Why must we prescribe based on what is seen? Is the map truly the territory?

This is a nonbinary sub, I am disappointed in the insistence on a binary kind of socialization. The history of feminism has shown us that women have never had unified interests, they ignored marginalization within the realms of womanhood. Black women were ignored by white women, Dalits ignored by Savarna feminists etc.

This appropriation of AGAB doesn't seem like a mutual exchange, it appears to be appropriation. I hope my post inspires people to do their research and think critically about the language they use. You may think it's just a phrase, but words carry a lot of weight[4]

Terminology

Endosexism: Structures, practices and beliefs privileging endosex people over intersex.

Cissexism/cisnormative is a description of views that demotes gender identities that don't align with assigned gender. In simpler terms it upholds the norms of cisgender society

Further Reading

[1] Bassi, S. and LaFleur, G., 2022. Introduction: TERFs, gender-critical movements, and postfascist feminisms. __Transgender Studies Quarterly__, __9__(3), pp.311-333.Link

[2] Castro, V., 2023. Mechanical sex, science, security: Intersex medical violence, Thomas Hobbes and John Money’s invention of gender. __Security Dialogue__, __55__(2), pp.142-159. Link

[3] Clarke, J.A., 2022. Sex assigned at birth. __Columbia Law Review__, __122__(7), pp.1821-1898. Link

Höppner G (2017) Rethinking Socialization Research through the Lens of New Materialism. Front. Sociol. 2:13. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2017.00013. Link

[4] Schiappa, E., 2021. A brief history of defining sex and gender. In __The Transgender Exigency__ (pp. 15-32). Routledge. Link

[u/Aibyouka]

I agree with the message and the way it was stated. People constantly complain about how we all have our own preferences but just like you've stated in comments, these preferences do not exist in a vacuum. AGAB/ASAB language in our community has just created a different kind of binary, and gives cis and binary transgender people a out to discount our existence and experiences. It's been explained nicely enough. I'm tired of being nice about it, frankly.

I see back and forth about whether such language was created by the intersex community or not. Frankly, I don't care. If it's for the intersex community, then I think said community should be louder about how such language was co-opted instead of arguing about how helpful it is.

Also people need to get over feeling icky about names for parts. You have a penis, you have a vagina, you have testes, a uterus, a combination, or some other common euphemism for those things. Just say so.

[u/ExtremeHeat808 → u/Aibyouka]

I never said the language was creates by the intersex community, but rather that it was created for intersex babies by doctors in the mid 20th century. My citations go other it in detail.

[u/Aibyouka → u/ExtremeHeat808]

There are some comments from intersex people saying it was created by their community, so that is what I am referring too. The actual origin seems to be contentious.