Can human beings change sex?*

No.

And people might think it's not worth saying, but very many children, and it would appear some adults, think you can. Think it's actually possible.

80-90% of transwomen retain their penis.

A neovagina is not a vagina and can't function as one. So no sex change is possible.

About 1% of of transpeople have a gender recognition certificate. So even the legal fiction is a minuscule number.

No of course they can't change sex. Legal recognition of a chosen gender should not allow access to the spaces, places and opportunities aimed at a single sex.

No, but they can alter their bodies to resemble their gender more closely.

No of course not. "Sex" is shorthand for "reproductive sex".

So really the question is "can humans change their reproductive sex?"

No they cannot.

(And they can't change their gender either cos gender is a society imposed sex class/status. It is not an individual identity but a social construction fabricated in order to socialize human beings into sex roles according to the sociopolitical ideology of male supremacism.)

No.

And what Bloodmagic and Bowlof said.

Puresummer in the same vain, nobody would claim that an adopted child was biologically the child of their adoptive parents. Or that it wouldn't be relevant to mention being adopted if a family medical history were needed at the doctors.

For most children the biological parent and the legal parent (who raises the child etc) are the same thing. When it isn't we know exactly what we mean.

No, not in the literal biological sense.

Puresummer. But I'm never in a position where the parents of a person will compromise my safety, dignity and opportunities.

However, I notice that some here are against the legal fiction of Transpeople with a GRC.

So? It's not illegal to disagree with poor legislation.

@auntiebasil - I don't disagree. However, I notice that some here are against the legal fiction of Transpeople with a GRC.

I'm not even talking about self-ID in my example tbh.

It's the Gender Recognition Act not the Sex Recognition Act.

Adoptive parents are legally an adopted child's parents. Of course no one would be so crass as to exclude them from parents' events.
If someone has a gender recognition certificate, they, at present get this after therapy and hormone treatment. The change to self -ID makes it very different. It would be like me rocking up to one of DD's pals who has a troubled home life to say "well, I'm legally your mum now ". Surely no one would agree to that.

Not biologically completely, I agree. Yes though legally.

As for those who point out the "Legal fiction" - it's much like adoption is a "legal fiction" (it's the example most commonly used of one). However, we wouldn't have the audacity to point out that an adopted child's parents weren't their "real" parents, and we wouldn't refuse to acknowledge an adopted mother as the child's mother. Well, maybe some people would, but I assume most wouldn't. Nor would we ban adopted parents from parents' groups on the grounds that they weren't "really" biological parents.

No. You cannot change sex.

Anyone should be free to dress, present etc however they want. Transpeople should have protections they already have in law, and society needs to be smashing restrictive gender stereotypes so that everyone can live how they like as long as it doesn’t infringe others rights.

A few other points.

1. co opting people with DSDs and intersex conditions into this argument is extremely an distasteful ploy. An XO female is suffering from Turner syndrome. She cannot change sex. The existence of DSD suffering people (who can all be placed into Male or female) or intersex people does not prove that humans are not either Male or female, any more than a child born with extreme holoprocencephaly proves we are cyclopic

1. Have there actually been any cases of trans people causing issues in women’s refuges? unfortunately yes. There are a few ongoing cases in Canada where activists are trying to get women’s refugees closed or bankrupted in vexatious lawsuits because they remain female only.

1. The question is ‘can humans change sex?’ Not ‘do people exist with non XY or XX genotypes.

If anyone thinks a human being can change sex, I would be very interested to hear the biological mechanism by which this happens. How for example paperwork physically changes sex - at what point? The signing? How does this affect the physical body?

I have asked this question many many times. And nobody has EVER said an unqualified yes. They have waffled about gender and feelings and paperwork but nobody has ever said they believe a human can physically change sex.

And it’s important because this entire argument is predicated on the belief people can - and we are being silenced if we disagree.

Absolutely not.

Maybe harms is the wrong word. Hurts

No

Actually you only have limited control over your gender. Gender develops socially and psychologically. You can change the clothes you wear, the way you talk, walk, activities you take part in to those stereotypically associated with the other sex but you actual identity is affected by your internal narratives and thought processes since birth, AND ALSO the way others see you, talk to you, understand you. That is why being gender critical actually harms trans people and being a gender ideoleologist (as many TRAs are) actually harms women and girls.

@hideandgo
And you can change what sex you present as. In my opinion that’s all people need to know, the sex you present as. Beyond that is nobody’s business and should make no more difference than presenting as the sex you were born as.

In many situations this is the case. When buying a loaf of bread, when riding on a bus etc. However, in some contexts our sexed bodies are hugely significant!

You can’t change sex but you can change gender. And you can change what sex you present as. In my opinion that’s all people need to know, the sex you present as. Beyond that is nobody’s business and should make no more difference than presenting as the sex you were born as.

No

No. I naively assumed the GRA had been brought in because there'd been some scientific breakthrough that proved people could be born with the wrong body. I've since had children, learnt a lot about gender and brain science and realise I'd made a ridiculous assumption. And now I just find it deceitful.

Nit should be not!

It wouldn't surprise me if at some point in the future gene therapy allowed for sex change at a genetic level.

Nit at present though.

Here are lots of different genders people can pick and choose between and I think they're all great. Be a male presenting female it's fab. Be a female presenting male that's brill.

But I so deeply wish people would be honest about it all. You can't change sex. You can change gender. Your gender does not and cannot ever override your sex.