What the hell does this mean?

[PJPanther]

More of a WWYD than AIBU.

Completing manadatory government sign in online and instead of sex the question asked is gender (give me strength) BUT the options available are as follows;
Male
Female
Prefer not to say
Prefer to Self-Describe

They are in that order with that exact weirdness of capitalisation/punctuation.

I am leaning towards Self-Describe except it is all tick box and there is no place to write one's description.

AIBU to want somewhere to write how I describe myself in the absence of an actual definitive sex tick box?

[oooompa]

LochJess male and female are not examples of gender, they are examples of sex.

[slashlover]

I get this with sexuality boxes.

Heterosexual
Homosexual
Bisexual
Prefer not to say


Even from places I've worked which shout about how inclusive they are.

[Goatinthegarden]

@Clymene

What's the point in the question then?

I imagine they are doing some sort of data collection. I actually have no idea why they want to know what your gender is, or indeed whether or not you believe in the concept of gender. Would there be any more point in them enquiring what you were born with between your legs either...?

A huge chunk of the demographic seem very concerned with being identified by biological sex and another huge chunk wish to be identified by their preferred gender. I personally couldn’t care less either way.

I certainly can’t see why one would get offended by the question given that there is an option to ‘not say’.

[FlamingoAndJohn]

Don’t be that person
Do you identify as
Male
Female
Non binary /gender fluid
Or would you prefer not to say.

It’s really not that difficult.

I agree with you there, but that’s not what it says.

[Musereader]

I just did an equality questionnaire for UC and the question for sexual orientation was along the same lines, when i ticked the other box a box popped up for me to state what other was, (asexual) so i think if it was government it would have done similar and popped up with a freetext box for you to self describe in

[jellyfrizz]

Would there be any more point in them enquiring what you were born with between your legs either...?

Yes. Public organisations have a duty to ask about sex for equality purposes.

[Goatinthegarden]

jellyfrizz
You can legally change the sex on your birth certificate though, so what you were born with is not necessarily what you would declare when asked, ‘what is your sex?’

[jellyfrizz]

You can legally change the sex on your birth certificate though, so what you were born with is not necessarily what you would declare when asked, ‘what is your sex?’

For e.g. health purposes biological sex is what would be useful. Knowing gender identity serves no purpose.

[jellyfrizz]

Asking for gender identity would be contrary to GDPR principles as far as I can see:

"You must ensure the personal data you are processing is:

adequate – sufficient to properly fulfil your stated purpose;

relevant – has a rational link to that purpose; and

limited to what is necessary – you do not hold more than you need for that purpose."

ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/principles/data-minimisation/

Report them to the ICO OP.

[ViciousJackdaw]

All the things this government is screwing up and you choose to get aeriated about this...

[Hottubbinhenrietta]

🙄 Don't be dickish about it. If you're female tick female. If you're male tick male - if you feel you identify as the opposite sex and recognise your gender differently from your native sex either tick prefer not to say or self describe. It's really not that hard. It's such a small minority of people that identify differently to male or female. Just leave them alone. Life must be isolating and challenging enough for this constantly bashed minority. Its always frequenting the feminism boards and to be honest its tiring boring and comes across as bullying

[PJPanther]

Not just a one off survey thing. An actual important and unavoidable citizen thing.

signin.mygovscot.org/home/?sp=register/CAS

The confusion waffle is on the first page to be completed when you click on register. There does not appear to be a text box to complete for "Self-Describe" sadly.

This is for the government account you now need in Scotland to pay council tax and that sort of thing, it should certainly be collecting statistical population data of the sort that is factual as well as relevant. I am pretty sure the old one just asked Sex? with M/F options. This one doesn't even look like it was ever proof read.

[Clymene]

No one is bullying anyone @Hottubbinhenrietta

It's a perfectly legitimate question about why a government organisation is collecting data and what purpose it serves.

[slashlover]

I'm in Scotland and have never even heard of this, is it a new thing?

[PJPanther]

Seems to be, out with the old council systems and in with a centralised government system. I don't recall the last system being so complicated to use either.

[Warpdrive]

Surely self-describe covers the male and female options too?
You would be 'self-describing' whether you are male or female.
Otherwise, who else is describing your gender?
Or, would that be your biology determines your gender???

[StillWeRise]

I thought this was about tracking covid and was going to say put M or F and save the speech on sex vs gender for another time
but if it's a bit of standard LA bureaucracy, I'd go for self describe, there must be a free text box that comes up if you choose it surely
then you can inform them of your SEX

[EugenesAxe]

I'd have thought the number of self-describers would be minimal in comparison to the others, so the need for further analysis isn't that important.

[slashlover]

Just checked and my council is one of the inactive ones.

They probably don't put a box in because of things like a PP I usually tick the 'prefer not to say' and then find the free-type comments box to have a rant about sex v. gender.

There's a chance that the figures for the write in genders make the figures too small to chart as some people can use different terms for the same gender and it's incredibly nuanced. I get how you feel a little considering how happy is makes me when 'other' is an option for sexuality.

[chocolatemademefat]

Just tick a box and move on. We’ve bigger things to stress over.

[OldGranvilleHouse]

Report them to the ICO OP. Seriously?

I think it’s ill-defined with clumsy options. Maybe drop them an email and point this out - you never know, they might welcome the feedback and make appropriate changes.

[packetandtripe]

Literally no one gives a fuck. It's just data for data's sake. Tick all four

yes all scanned and computer read anyway/

[Jux]

I would Self-Describe as a penguin. Perhaps a Rock Hopper. Or you could be a duck, one of those tall skinny one which run about? You'd have to write it beside the tick box.

[Hottubbinhenrietta]

Some of these answers honestly. When you use that sodding box to have a 'rant' about sex v gender they'll just be chewing their ham sandwich at their desk scratching their balls looking at the clock on the wall that's gathering dust wondering when 5pm is going to come

[jellyfrizz]

Some of these answers honestly. When you use that sodding box to have a 'rant' about sex v gender they'll just be chewing their ham sandwich at their desk scratching their balls looking at the clock on the wall that's gathering dust wondering when 5pm is going to come

Yeah, so probably best to go to the ICO with it instead if it is something important to you.