To complain about “gender identity” question on a registration form

[Manhere2024]

Man here. I just tried to fill in a form sent out by a charity, but one of the questions was:

“Is your gender identity the same as the gender you were assigned at birth?”

I tried ignoring it, but it’s not possible to submit the form without answering this question.

So I emailed them saying that I don’t believe in gender identity theory, & it’s discriminatory for them not to give an option for those of us who are gender critical. I have asked if they can change the form, or handle my registration in another way.

I think they’ll be surprised, and perhaps I’ve embarrassed myself. But I won’t go along with something I consider to be harmful and wrong.

AIBU? What will likely happen next?

There are 5 posts on the first page of this thread that do dispute that transgender is a real thing and that people should have the right to identify as such.

We have been waiting a very long time for this to be defined, who knows today may be the day.

I think if you don't know then you don't have one. An identity is an active thing so you can't have one without knowing. I don't really know what it is except a feeling based on gendered stereotypes, which I entirely reject. I know that our bodies & experience are shaped by the reality of sex. That is not an'identity'. Even if I was unconscious I would still have a sex.

No it's not a solution. The problem is that people are so afraid to offend that they don't think of the consequences for going along with things like this.

So women at work would put their pronouns as "she" and as a result might be subject to misogynistic behaviour. Granted a lot of first names (& some last names) make one's sex obvious and so they might get this in any case.

But I think that it's important that someone states "this is a policy that doesn't apply to me therefore I will not be complying with it". If someone wants to be called George and wants to be addressed as she and feels that's best achieved by putting it in their email signature that's fine. But if someone is called George and doesn't want people to know before they meet them that in this case George is a woman then she should be entitled to keep that to herself.

Isn't that up to George to decide? You said in your post that you don't mind what pronouns people use for you, so that could be the information you provide.

I would complain because it’s worded in a way that obliges every form-filler to nod along with nonsense about being ‘assigned’ male or female as if someone was pulling sticky labels with M and F out of a lucky dip bag. However, you probably will be ignored and they’ll no doubt view it as principled if they do. Still, the more of us chip away at this nonsense, the better.

What about the people who have never followed a religion? Or used to follow one but don’t anymore?

same concept here.

I just reread all the comments on the first page and saw none that suggested that, one that said gender identity doesn't exist (that comment didn't qualify whether it meant it exists as a concept rather than a concrete, biological feature, perhaps it meant it doesn't exist at all!); one or two comments were rude and dismissive, certainly, but not claiming transgender people don't exist.

"quasi religious nonsense"

"This shite"

"Gender identity doesn't exist"

"this crap needs to be called out every single time. What happens next is they ignore it until the tide turns and this embarrassing social contagion and trend goes the way of all stupid ideas."

The most obvious ones from page 1 of this thread.

Of course you have a gender identity, everybody does.
The very first thing you told us is that you are a man. That is your gender identity.
You just answer "yes" to their question, assuming you were described as a boy at birth. They do not need to know what your beliefs are.

It's like some people saying they don't use "pronouns". Of course they do, everyone uses them

Sorry to be the first and only person to mention this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compelled_speech

The Cass review has made it clear that most people who think they have a gender identity different to their sex will desist as they get older. As the BMJ recently summarised:

"As Cass states, for most young people experiencing gender dysphoria, it is temporary; it is often associated with neurodiversity; it mainly resolves over time, and medical intervention does not benefit the majority."

If the sense of dysphoria 'mainly resolves over time' then it's not unreasonable to posit that the idea of gender is a belief rather than something innate.

The fact that girls who are questioning their gender currently outnumber boys six to one also suggests that the idea of a gender which is different to natal sex is a belief.

Medical institutions must treat the Cass review as a significant event and act upon it | The BMJ

Yes everyone uses them but no-one owns pronouns, they are used by people about you not to you, all this my pronouns are is a load of nonsense they are not your pronouns.

I refer you back to compelled speech.

If you have XY chromosomes then I don't really care what you call yourself. You don't get to tell me to call you a woman. Even as the flames are licking around my feet.

I agree @SerendipityJane I'll join you in the flames. Men are not and never will be women whatever they do to themselves cosmetically, chemically or surgically.

Dress how you want, change your name, whatever, believe what you want about yourself but don't expect or try to force me to believe it or validate it and use facilities, spaces and services for your sex which never changes no matter what you do/have done to yourself.

Because there's certain things inside that don't change regardless of what bits you might have changed on the outside. And clinicians looking at blood test results, etc will need to know if they're dealing with someone who started life as the opposite sex. Some companies ask to be politically correct or woke but the NHS usually asks because they NEED to know.

When I use pronouns to refer to someone in the third person, the different pronouns are referring to number and sex, not gender identity. (Personally I'm ok with using preferred pronouns to be polite, but not with being forced to use them.)

Passionate and angry sounding, some rude, but none saying transgender people don't exist. Just that belief in a gender identity is nonsense. So implying that a transgender person's change in expression is based on false beliefs.

When I was a child, it was completely normal for men, women, boys and girls to dress or act against gender stereotypes, but they didn't see themselves as transgender or having a gender identity: they saw themselves as working to break down such distinctions and labels, as they saw them as oppressive.

Your first paragraph is reaffirming what I said. That they are saying that trans people are not really trans.

Isn't that a bit like saying some psychics are frauds ?

There are people on here are saying trans people don't exist. Maybe you're not saying that but others do.

Gender non conforming people exist

People with genuine gender dysmorphia exist (though the numbers are v small)

Confused children struggling with the changes of puberty exist

Men who get a thrill out of dressing as women exist

There are plenty of people who question the wisdom of grouping all these people together under one 'trans' umbrella. Particularly as it seems to benefit one group (guess which) excessively, while being potentially immensely problematic for the other groups.

If you've never followed a religion your answer would be yes (yes I follow the same religion as prior which is no religion). If you used to follow one but now don't the answer would be no (no I don't follow the same religion as prior). Its simple really.

No but they've made you uncomfortable haven't they? Otherwise you wouldn't use the nonsense word "cis" in your post.

No religion is not the same as “a religion”.