happy tdov my loves. don't let anyone else define your transness for you.
help trans women evacuate gaza
Everyone look at the cat blanket I made like .. 3 years ago
I’m starting to sound like a nutcase at work because upper management keeps trying to implement AI programs and AI assistants and Chat GPT and my middle-of-the-road, don’t-infodump, don’t-engage response has been “I don’t like AI”, “I prefer to remain in control of my own tasks”, “I’d rather make my own mistakes”, and “I don’t trust any machine smarter than a toaster”
^This definition is very limiting, and has little room for intersex perspectives. In fact, it also doesn't align with many perisex non-binary/genderqueer experiences (Example: Perisex multigender people who fully identify with their assigned gender, while simultaneously aligning with other genders.)
And sure, some intersex people have a consistent assigned gender, depending on their variation, and how it affects their body. But many intersex people have a COMPLICATED experience with how they were assigned and viewed growing up.
Intersex people can be given a coercively assigned gender at birth (CAGAB), which may not align with their future puberty, or how they are viewed socially. [Example: A person born with ambiguous genitalia, who is given unneeded non-consensual surgery to make the genitalia more "binary", and assigns a gender based on that non-consensual procedure.]
Intersex people can be given an assigned gender at birth, but a reassigned gender after birth (RGAB.) [Example: An AMAB intersex person, born with a penis/penis-like genitalia, however later they are discovered to have more "feminine" physically traits, and are reassigned female and raised female because because its "easier" or "more fitting"]
Intersex people can be given a socially imposed gender (SIG) [Example: A person who is "female" in every way, but during puberty is discovered to have hyperandrogenism, and develops a more masculine-associated body because of it - oftentimes, that person will be mistaken as a male by society, or treated as AMAB by those around them.] Some people even experience multiple SIGs at the same time, depending on the scenario [Example: being expected to behave as 'male' by some people, and 'female' by others, depending on how they are dressed or what events they attend.]
Are you going to tell someone who was given a CAGAB the opinion of the doctor who mutilated them is more important than theirs? That a person who was CAMAB, but originally had a vulva, that they cannot identify as transmasculine?
Are you going to tell someone who was AFAB, but RMAB that they can't identify as a trans-woman because of their "original assignment", which is no longer relevant to how they were raised?
Or, on the flip side - are you going to tell someone who was AMAB, but treated as 'female' from their SIG, that they can't identify as transfem, because even though they are AMAB, they weren't "treated as AMAB"?
And what about intersex trans people who were AXAB (assigned X at birth?) What about people who were UAB (unassigned at birth?) Are you going to deny or affirm their transness based on your view of them?
Transgender and cisgender aren't mutually exclusive terms.
Oh my god. I need to share another story of my new friend making today. So my friends husband says, very casually, as we’re about to leave for the ren faire, “Yeah, it’s like my story about fucking a chicken.”
And of the four people present I was the only one who was shocked. The others all nodded as if to say, yes yes, we know, the chicken fucking.
So he explained, when a progressive person is analyzing a behavior they will typically use the metric, Harm/No Harm. They may not like things in the No Harm category but they wouldn’t object.
Conversely, a more conservative mindset used something like eight metrics. Authority/No Authority Moral/Not Moral, things like that.
So, he posited if you want to sound out someone’s mindset (and you’re willing to live with the repercussions) you can ask: if a man buys a dead chicken from the store, cleans it thoroughly, then fucks it, and then eats it himself…?
I listened in dawning horror, both rapt and disgusted. But into the growing pause I whispered, “No harm…” because it really has no effect on me or anyone else if a man fucks a dead chicken. I don’t like it, I think he’s a weird dude, but like. That’s his dick. But a more conservative person will hear that and object on moral grounds despite not being harmed.
It’s been haunting me all day, so please enjoy.