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Original poster

Can human beings change sex?*

260 replies

Terfulike · 15/06/2018 20:49

Serious answers only please.
*With acknowledgement to Bowl, who has raised this so often. Apologies if this is repeating a thread from the past (?): in any case, maybe it's time for another thread with this title.

Please, no wordy arguments about how sex can be changed by legal instrument around the world, just answer the question posed.

OP posts:
AngryAttackKittens · 15/06/2018 22:11

Yes, infertile women are still women, and infertile men are still men.*

No, you can't change sex.

*The only people suggesting that they might not be are trans activists attempting a rather offensive gotcha.

CertainHalfDesertedStreets · 15/06/2018 22:09

In law, yes according to the wording of the GRA 2004

Is that right? Thought that just conferred on you the right to be treated as the opposite sex? Not some actual legal transubstantiation.

ResistanceIsNecessary · 15/06/2018 22:09

Biologically - no.
According to UK law - yes.

I am female. I am also infertile. My infertility does not remove my biological sex. I have XY chromosomes, I have a vagina, uterus, cervix, ovaries and fallopian tubes. I have the sex organs in place associated with female fertility - whether they work or not is irrelevant.

Kettlepotblackagain · 15/06/2018 22:09

No

Singlenotsingle · 15/06/2018 22:08

Sorry, no!

Materialist · 15/06/2018 22:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PeakPants · 15/06/2018 22:06

Chromosomally, no. In law, yes according to the wording of the GRA 2004.
What does this add though? Don’t we already know the answers to both the biology and law aspects of this question?

starzig · 15/06/2018 22:01

XO is where you have 1 X chromosome and no second (x or y). It is called Turner's syndrome and sufferers are considered female but are infertile.

AllHailTheSunDog · 15/06/2018 22:00

No

Baroquehavoc · 15/06/2018 22:00

OP, why do you ask the question? And how is it relevant to FWR?

Why don't you send us a list of approved discussion topics?

No, humans can't change sex.

GaraMedouar · 15/06/2018 22:00

No

SarahAr · 15/06/2018 21:59

every cell is either xx if female or xy if male

Not every individual has xx or xy cells. Some are xxy etc.

Transgenderism is an ideology of the ignorant/wilfully ignorant (imo)

Going with the dictionary definition of transgenderism as A state or condition in which a person's identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional ideas of male or female gender then transgenderism is not an ideology.

SlowlyShrinking · 15/06/2018 21:59

‘Most people have never had their chromosomes tested’
Most people on here don’t need to, because we’ve given birth. The fathers of our children don’t need to either, for obvious reasons. So disingenuous to suggest that loads of people are walking around with dsd and don’t know about it. Most become aware at puberty if they do.

TufVoyaging · 15/06/2018 21:59

No, not biologically possible.

NaturalBlondeYeahRight · 15/06/2018 21:58

No and anyone who says otherwise is just fibbing to be kind.

SasBel · 15/06/2018 21:57

No.

PlatypusPie · 15/06/2018 21:57

No, obviously

PunkrockerGirl59 · 15/06/2018 21:57

No

paddleyourowncanoe · 15/06/2018 21:56

No

SlowlyShrinking · 15/06/2018 21:56

If you’re an infertile woman you’re of course still a woman, but you can’t become a man, can you? You can have a false penis made out of leg skin that you need to squeeze your false testicle in order to pump it up, but you’d be a woman with a false penis. You wouldn’t become able to produce sperm.

SupermatchGame · 15/06/2018 21:56

If their remains were found thousands of years later they would be identified as the sex that they were born as.

This is true. And no doubt completely irrelevant to most trans people.

How their skeleton would be identified thousands of years later isn't something that has to be changed to significantly reduce the dysphoria caused by a gender identity that conflicts with their physical sex. A change that is enough to support them to become mentally healthier and better functioning people.

ScienceIsTruth · 15/06/2018 21:56

Abso-fucking-lutely NOT.

They can embrace the societal gender stereotypes of the opposite sex, and they can chop things off, or have things implanted and they can take hormones to mimic the opposite sex, but their biological sex cannot be changed.

RJnomore1 · 15/06/2018 21:55

No

You can change the appearance of your body but you can't change the reality of it.

SarahAr · 15/06/2018 21:55

OP, why do you ask the question? And how is it relevant to FWR?

As you well know strictly speaking humans cannot change their chromosomes. But chromosomes are not particularly relevant to everyday life. You cannot tell someone's chromosomes just by looking at them. And most people have never had their chromosomes tested so do not what chromosomes they have.

However primary sex organs can be surgically modified. And this is known as a "sex change operation".

So in summary as an idiom of speech people can change sex, biologically their chromosomes remain the same, but who cares anyway what chromosomes someone has.

averylongtimeasspartacus · 15/06/2018 21:55

No.
It is impossible for humans to physically change from xx to xy or from xy to xx. Our chromosomes are fixed at conception in every cell of our body.

Of course it is possible with surgery and/or hormone treatment to change the outward appearance of our bodies, and to adopt the stereotypical appearance of the other sex. It is also possible in this country to get a Gender Recognition Certificate so that legally you are treated (in almost all circumstances) as the opposite sex.

But to physically change sex? No, not possible.