Genuinely like to know has anyone who has actually given birth think ' gender is assigned' at birth?

[Foxy333]

I am very confused about this whole issue. Of course anyone can live whatever life they want to live. But keep seeing this phrase everywhere. Is it only believed by those who've never had a child? I was very careful to bring my children up without sex stereotypes. Though not easy with toys and clothes available (!). I bought a big mix of stuff for my DSs and DDs. Told them they be whatever they want to be.
Interested to know others views..

So wide-eyed, OP. Of course you have no idea that most children have gender stereotypes imposed on them from birth. It's vanishingly rare, after all.

Of course it's not assigned, it's observed. Obviously. There may be very rare cases of difference of sexual development when it is observed incorrectly, but that's equivalent to a misdiagnosis; doesn't change the objective facts.

It is part of the Newspeak within some of the current dialogue around the rights of trans people to try to make it impossible to articulate objections to it. I'll use people's preferred pronouns but I won't accept that the doctors "assigned" a sex rather than looking to see which reproductive sex class you almost certainly clearly are.

Firstly

Of course anyone can live whatever life they want to live

Not if it has a continuing negative effect of someone else's life. Encouraging gender idealism and living by stereotypes is harmful. Very easy to say 'it's their life to live' until demands are made to recognise their personal beliefs as reality.

Secondly, only naive teens and thick attention-seeking celebrities think 'gender is assigned at birth'. Unfortunately they are getting far too much attention for their wrong information at the moment, all anyone can do is keep reminding the more intelligent among us that 'sex is noted at birth, gender is chosen later'. Gender isn't assigned, or handed out like a ticket, at any point in life.

Oh, I misread. You are talking about gender?

Not sure of your point then. I think most of us at least intend to let our kids be whoever they are, but sadly we can't control the avalanche of messages they will get from the world around them. I've never seen a girl on a toy gun packet or a boy on a baby doll box.

Sex is identified at birth.

Degree of gender conformity develops as part of growing up.

That is my experience for me, my siblings, my children.

I spent my life resisting gender stereotypes as soon as I recognised them: about 7 years old. I am not at all feminine. But I am very female.

I am fine and supportive of Trans people living in their chosen gender construct. It is entirely within my philosophy and politics.

You can be what gender you like, still doesn’t mean your sex isn’t your sex.

It’s the difference between sex and gender that puts the Trans inTrans, surely?

As for gender stereotypes though (I hate that phrase, gender is stereotypes, it doesn't need the qualification), sadly those are imposed on us all from the moment of birth. Without gender, there simply isn't stereotypes, but you see a million threads on here proving that it's not going away soon - 'AIBU to have gender disappointment? I wanted a little girl to dress up, so shopping with, have a mim/daughter relationship! Now I'm having a boy and can't do any of that'. Selling those stupid baby girl headbands in a shops so everyone knows your bald potato is a female one, not male. Pink and Blue, know your place before your even born.....

Sex is observed at birth. Gender is socially constructed over the years.

I don't think anything is 100% of anything. I have boy/girl twins - my daughter wanted a pram so I bought blue prams for both her and her brother. She put a baby doll in hers and he filled his with rocks and was fascinated with the wheels.
Humans are part of the animal kingdom - a certain amount of our make-up is predetermined for the survival of our species. But it doesn't mean people are all the same. And we also are more complex thinking individuals than most of the animal species so of course we all have different approaches and views on gender.

Selling those stupid baby girl headbands in a shops so everyone knows your bald potato is a female one, not male
Bald potato. 🥔

Back to the thread, sex is observed at birth. Gender is a range of stereotypes and conventions that are socially promoted.

I am very confused about this whole issue. Maybe because you are using sex and gender interchangeably.

Of course anyone can live whatever life they want to live. A very first world perspective

But keep seeing this phrase everywhere. Is it only believed by those who've never had a child? Which phrase?

1. Gender is assigned at birth
2. Sex is assigned at birth

I don't have kids and think both versions are utter bollocks. Sex is observed at birth. Some months before it usually! I know this, despite not having given birth, because I am not stupid, I know how babies are made and born.

I was very careful to bring my children up without sex stereotypes. Though not easy with toys and clothes available (!). Ah, now you say sex! If you really did bring them up without the trappings of gender ideology then it wouldn't have mattered what colour or shape their toys and clothing was. All kids clothing is clothing, all toys are toys!

I bought a big mix of stuff for my DSs and DDs. Told them they be whatever they want to be. Pirates, nurses, kids... And how did you identify the 'mix'? You have to have a good idea of the sex stereotypes to know you had a good mix.

Interested to know others view Gender is a patriarchal institution. It casues all sorts of issues, including sex discrimination and toxic masculinity. All boys, girls, men and women can be harmed by it.

HTH

Sex is observed at birth.

Gender is an invention imposed on us, usually as a result of the said observed sex.

I've had two DC.

Bit interesting (involves baby monkeys) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2755553/

I knew the sex of my baby at the 20 week scan, so blue things started being given before he was born, so no, gender was assigned, or as I’d rather put it, imposed, before his birth and as soon as his sex became known.

External sex characteristics are observed at birth - even that isn’t foolproof!

Sex is biological, cannot be changed and can be observed in utero. Gender is a lot of made up stereotypes which people inflict upon those sexed bodies.

My children have been brought up to understand the reality of what their biological sex has in store for them but not to be constrained by any gender roles forced upon them by our society.

Sex is observed at birth. How quickly the narrative of gender forms a part of your child's identity is between you, your child and the juggernaut society's expectations.

Sex is observed at birth - the bit where someone spots the genitals

Gender is assigned at birth too - the bit where they announce "it's a girl!" or "it's a boy!" and society as a whole (not just parents) raise that child as a girl / boy.

For most people, their sex and gender correspond, but for a minority of people their sex and gender they later identify with don't match up, which is where such terminology usually comes into play.

Like most, I was assigned female at birth and continue to identify as female.

Gender is a social construct. It's also an ideology so you can choose to go along with it or not. It's certainly not assigned.

Sex is observed at birth. It's there for all to see. It's fixed in utero.

Have given birth four times.

Sex is observed at birth, not gender. Gender has nothing to do with it. Gender is a social construct.

What's all this 'at birth' stuff? Most expectant mothers (in the UK at least) ask to find out the sex at the 20 week scan. Or you can get a blood test even earlier now.

The main question I got asked whilst being pregnant was 'is it a boy or a girl'?

"Gender" is a social construct and consists of stereotypes which many of us reject.

Sex is a biological fact and is observed at birth.

Far too many people confuse gender/sex or use them interchangeably and this is part of the reason that we are where we are.

@ThreeFeetTall

What's all this 'at birth' stuff? Most expectant mothers (in the UK at least) ask to find out the sex at the 20 week scan. Or you can get a blood test even earlier now.

The main question I got asked whilst being pregnant was 'is it a boy or a girl'?

It's a bit snappier than "female assigned at the 20 week scan, or earlier with a blood test, or at birth if the mum wanted a surprise"

Biological-sex is just present from birth.

Gender is a social construct but is acquired from lots of interactions with parents/the world right from the start. For example there are differences in the way that parents hold their newborns dependent on biological-sex (e.g. in general baby boys get bounced more or held further away by their Dads).

There are both innate differences between biological males and females and acquired social differences but biological status is just scientific fact.

Sex is observed, often before birth.

'Gender' is a social construct made up of stereotypes.

Nobody 'assigns' babies a gender either. My understanding is that the terminology was taken from situations where a child of indeterminate sex really was mistakenly 'assigned' the wrong sex at birth. Due to various testing these days, this rarely happens.

@LadyWhistledownsQuill
True!