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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

How to respond: been asked what sex I was assigned at birth

294 replies

Needapadlockonmyfridge · 24/01/2024 17:53

I recently signed up to have blood tests privately (vitamin levels etc).

On the health questionnaire, one of the questions asked what sex I was assigned at birth.

Scientific company should surely do better than this. Not sure it is worth flagging up with them. I suppose, at least they didn't ask gender, but still.... Disappointing.

OP posts:
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FlirtsWithRhinos · 09/01/2026 11:29

LaughingCat · 24/01/2024 19:36

Sorry, I don’t understand the question. Why are you upset? I work in healthcare communications so here’s the background.

  1. Lots of people, when asked their sex, give the gender they identify as instead
  2. Blood test results can have different ranges applicable to those born either male or female
  3. That confusion between what gender someone has told them and the sex-specific results can lead clinicians to give incorrect advice or make the wrong treatment decisions.

So…why? Why are you upset they want to know? It’s not about you…it’s about making sure that someone with a cervix who identifies as male doesn’t get ruled out for cervical cancer because they haven’t flipping told the doctor they have one.

What am I missing here?

You are missing that the plain and obvious question should be "Sex? (M/F)"

That it is not is the direct fault of some very stupid activists thinking we can all have our own personal definition of Man and Woman based on whatever bundle of stupid sexist ideas we happen to have and persuading companies and publuc bodies and health providers that they need to treat these individual personal self images as if they are actually meaningful, as if they are more relevant than actual sex.

And so the language has been debased and corrupted to the point this medical form literally has no way request information they actually need, "What is your sex?", and know it has been clearly understood and accurately answered.

Instead, they have to ask what sex your were "assigned" at birth, something that in reality never actually happened, and expect everyone to know they are supposed to pretend they were "assigned" a sex that they actually always were and always would have been even if no one had been present at their birth to "assign" (or in real language, notice the fact of) anything at all.

It's offensive, it's assinine, it's extremely damaging to women's rights in particular and I am utterly sick of pandering to it.

Go back to simple, sex based language, stop paying lip service to stupidity like "assigned at birth", and if someone wants to define themselves by sexist stereoypes to the degree they put their own healthcare at risk because they don't like admitting the language of sex applies to them too, that's their choice and we should respect that and let them live with the consequences instead of driving everyone round the houses in the genderist language clown car just to save a handful of people from the consequences of their own rejection of reality.

MyNeatUmberPoster · 09/01/2026 11:01

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Needapadlockonmyfridge · 24/03/2025 21:35

Thanks @loveyouradvice . I honestly didn't expect to get anywhere! They definitely have my loyalty now .

OP posts:
loveyouradvice · 24/03/2025 19:33

Congrats @Needapadlockonmyfridge ... your email meant they made the change - and thought about it!!

A fab achievement...

Goannaforanna · 24/03/2025 14:09

There is a discussion of this terminology and why it is a bad idea in this paper

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10805-025-09605-3

"Terminology rooted in a gender identity framework may foster lack of trust in scientists and scientific institutions. For example, The Lancet has recently informed authors that they should use the term ‘sex assigned at birth’ in papers submitted to the journal (The Lancet, 2024). This phraseology can be reasonably recognised as absurd and unscientific, particularly by women who have had the sex of their infants identified by ultrasound well before their birth. We also suggest it is offensive to use this term which on its face claims that a choice is made to condemn half of newborns to the sexism imposed on girls and women within societies, including infanticide in India or exclusion from education in Afghanistan as examples. The use of ‘sex assigned at birth’ in research may well result in potential study participants declining participation and decrease researcher and journal credibility."

An alternative that addresses the concerns of @LaughingCat would be "sex as recorded at birth" or "sex as registered at birth"

Sex and Gender Identity: Data Collection and Language Considerations for Human Research Ethics Committees and Researchers - Journal of Academic Ethics

Including women in research and collecting and disaggregating data on sex is an ethical imperative. However, increasingly gender identity is being prioritised over sex in data collection and language which has ethical implications. In this paper, the a...

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10805-025-09605-3?error=cookies_not_supported&code=0cbaf03c-cc1d-4f33-9a64-7b6261ef4fc9

MarieDeGournay · 24/03/2025 12:26

I looked out the window this morning and assigned the day 'sunny'. Until I did that, the weather didn't know what to do.Grin

edited to add 'Well done OP!'

HootyMcBoobys · 24/03/2025 10:51

"Trans women can and do use toilets based on their gender identity, and I don't want to stop that based on your selective nutpicking, and more than I want non-trans women to stop being nurses because of Lucy Letby."

What the fuck are "non-Trans" women? The very fact that you chose to use this nonsensical description says everything about how you feel about women.
There ARE no "non-trans" women, it's a meaningless phrase. There are only "women". Why are you framing actual women in terms of what relationship they have to "trans women"?

Am I also a "non-cat", "non-dog", "non male", "non table" woman?

What a fucking pile of steaming bollocks.

HumanBurrito · 24/03/2025 09:58

Being a communications expert with no seeming awareness of audience needs or the importance of plain language (as promoted by the NHS communications department) is not much better TBH 😬

NameChangedOfc · 24/03/2025 09:32

StephanieSuperpowers · 24/01/2024 20:11

I work in healthcare communications so here’s the background.

You work in healthcare communications and you think babies acquire a sex when born? You're just messing with us, aren't you?

To be fair, she works at communications so hopefully she didn't spend nearly a decade of medical formation while believing this 😅

Audhdmum · 24/03/2025 08:41

NotMyFirstChoiceofName · 24/03/2025 07:55

In the Uk, the baby’s sex is noted on the documents that you are given when you and your baby are discharged from hospital. That is the sex that was observed at birth and determined at conception.

The parent doesn't tell the registrar, they copy it from the documents to ensure it is accurate.

No one chooses the baby’s sex. Not the parent, not the midwife , not the registrars, not the baby and not the adult it will become.

When I registered my children the only documents the registrar looked at were parental ID. This was some years ago, admittedly.

ArabellaScott · 24/03/2025 08:22

HumanBurrito · 23/03/2025 20:22

Surely someone who works in health comms knows that 20% of the population is functionally illiterate and the average reading age is preteen, so it is crucially important to use non-obfuscatory language in health settings so that people of low educational attainment or woth differences of learning development are not disadvanaged by language they cannot understand

Plus many people do not have English as a first language. This was suggested as the possible reason some areas of the census had such high numbers of people recorded as 'trans'.

NotMyFirstChoiceofName · 24/03/2025 07:55

Audhdmum · 24/03/2025 06:22

’Medical professionals’ present at birth don’t ’decide’ a baby’s sex and the sex noted on a birth certificate doesn’t ‘appear’ because of a medical professional’s ’decision’.you (the mother or father) tell the registrar your baby’s sex when you pop along to register the birth.

In the Uk, the baby’s sex is noted on the documents that you are given when you and your baby are discharged from hospital. That is the sex that was observed at birth and determined at conception.

The parent doesn't tell the registrar, they copy it from the documents to ensure it is accurate.

No one chooses the baby’s sex. Not the parent, not the midwife , not the registrars, not the baby and not the adult it will become.

WarriorN · 24/03/2025 07:50

LaughingCat · 24/01/2024 20:19

Actually, a significant proportion of that population does give their gender, when asked for their sex. Even crazier, when someone transitions, they get a new health record. A health record with their new gender, so they never get reminders for prostate exams etc. Health outcomes are statistically worse for that population.

You are irritated by the wording. That wording could save people’s lives. Irritation vs someone’s life. Go with the greater good there.

And ‘assigned‘ has an interesting linguistic etymology. It’s widely used scientifically, in the context of genetics, along with ‘associated’.

However, for decades when it comes to sex, it was historically used in clinical settings for those born with the genitalia of one sex but the genetic code of the other, as well as the one picked for intersex babies at birth.

Those are relatively rare cases but it sets a precedent and that is how these things happen. No conspiracy, just chance and routine.

the sex record for under 18s has completely stopped thank god.

hopefully for adults too longer term as it’s unscientific

Audhdmum · 24/03/2025 06:22

DadJoke · 25/01/2024 14:23

"Sex assigned at birth" refers to the process whereby a medical professional looks at your baby and decides if it's male or female, then notes it, which then appears on the birth certificate. The "assigned" rather than "observed" is a nod to transgender people.

’Medical professionals’ present at birth don’t ’decide’ a baby’s sex and the sex noted on a birth certificate doesn’t ‘appear’ because of a medical professional’s ’decision’.you (the mother or father) tell the registrar your baby’s sex when you pop along to register the birth.

Pudmyboy · 24/03/2025 05:38

QueenOfThorns · 24/01/2024 20:10

Are you sure you work in healthcare communications?

Or healthcare miscommunication?

Codlingmoths · 24/03/2025 01:33

From little wins big wins come!

HumanBurrito · 23/03/2025 20:22

Surely someone who works in health comms knows that 20% of the population is functionally illiterate and the average reading age is preteen, so it is crucially important to use non-obfuscatory language in health settings so that people of low educational attainment or woth differences of learning development are not disadvanaged by language they cannot understand

search4youth · 23/03/2025 17:11

Are you serious. If you have a person that has a mental health issue about their sex then it is up to them to highlight it to professionals. Not to expect everyone else have to put up with ridiculous insulting questions.

ArabellaScott · 03/02/2024 09:30

Fab, OP!

Rightsraptor · 03/02/2024 09:27

Well done @SirChenjins and @Needapadlockonmyfridge.

These things make a difference.

SirChenjins · 03/02/2024 09:20

Excellent news - as you say, little wins.

I had a little win too yesterday at work when I pointed out that a male/female category they had called gender should be sex, and they agreed and said they would change it.

Needapadlockonmyfridge · 03/02/2024 08:36

Reporting back.

Following an email conversation, they have said they have investigated and will change the wording to "sex registered at birth" as they found this used by the NHS.

Not perfect, but I think that's a good improvement.

Little wins.....

OP posts:
SaffronSpice · 28/01/2024 16:52

I have not heard a coherent definition of sex which divides all people into male and female.

Male = small motile gametes
Female = large immobile gametes

This definition applies across all animal kingdoms and most plants (not eg bryophytes), not just humans.

but you absolutely can change many of your sexed charateristics, including your endocrine system

I imagine many trans individuals would be fascinated to hear how they could change their endocrine system rather than have to spend a lifetime taking artificial cross sex hormones. Or avoid extreme cosmetic surgery to construct a poor facsimile of opposite sex genitals or breasts.

ArabellaScott · 28/01/2024 16:31

I have not heard a coherent definition of sex which divides all people into male and female.

Humans are gonochoric mammals.

BreatheAndFocus · 28/01/2024 14:34

DadJoke · 26/01/2024 13:12

Chromosal sex and other sex-based characteristics are determined in the womb. Sex is legally assigned at birth.

Both these things are true. Yes, transgender people have a sex assigned at birth - if there wasn't a discrepancy between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity, they wouldn't be transgender. Transgender people are keenly aware of the reality of biology. So, no, I am not being remotely transphobic and your supposed concern for the feelings intersex people is simply that they mess up the simplified gender critical model of sex.

"Sex" and "gender" are terms which overlap in English. You can't, for example, change your chromosomes, but you absolutely can change many of your sexed charateristics, including your endocrine system. Gender critical people want to map legal sex to chromosomes to legislate specific transgender rights out of existence, and yet, I have not heard a coherent definition of sex which divides all people into male and female.

No, my concern for people with DSDs is because I have one very close to me. How dare you use my concern like that! They don’t mess up the definition of sex anymore than someone born with one leg messes up the definition of humans as bipedal 🙄

How can a person’s gender identity “not match” their sex? I have a sex (female). No-one has given me a list of stereotypes I need to fulfil to be female. Why? Because there isn’t one. Female refers to my biological sex not whether I like kittens, wear lipstick and have long hair. What you’re basically saying is that women have to be feminine and men have to be masculine. Can you not see how achingly old-fashioned and conservative that is?