What does 'assigned male at birth' actually mean??

[Neversleepingever]

Can't find a transgender board to post on.

I watched this ASAP science video:
vm.tiktok.com/ZMe6bhVBt/

Full length version:

I found it really interesting because it explains gender dysphoria linking to the brain. But then they go into say 'trans women, despite being assigned male at birth, have a smaller hypothalamus'

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!? Who assigns all these babies at birth!? What jargan is this? If you're born with a penis, you have male sex organs. Therefore you're biologically male. However you can be any gender you want because gender is a social construct, no?

• Interesting fact, did you know there are as many intersex people in the UK as there are people with red hair?

You might want to check that 'fact' a bit more carefully. Iirc Tim Hartford has done that already

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000222z

'Observed' is the far more accurate term in this context. 'Assigned' means 'allocated'. Babies aren't 'allocated' a sex. It's the wrong word, and it's being used to enforce a false narrative.

They're not assigned a sex. They're assigned a gender (usually based on their observed sex).

[quote ErrolTheDragon]* Interesting fact, did you know there are as many intersex people in the UK as there are people with red hair?
*

You might want to check that 'fact' a bit more carefully. Iirc Tim Hartford has done that already

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000222z[/quote]
I don't want to listen to a half hour podcast but I believe you if it's been disputed. I heard it in a programme somewhere I think.

Still, it's just interesting to be aware of as it's something that's not really on a lot of people's radars at all when they think about trans people.

Still, it's just interesting to be aware of as it's something that's not really on a lot of people's radars at all when they think about trans people.

Despite the best efforts of trans activists to make a link, against the wishes of the VSD community.

They're not assigned a sex. They're assigned a gender (usually based on their observed sex)

They're not assigned anything. They are observed to be either male of female sex. Gender is not something that medical staff are interested in or make note of. Sex is.

OR

They're assigned a gender (usually based on their observed sex).

Do you think that's a good thing? I don't; making this 'assignation' important, more important than actual sex is a bad thing. It's bad for gender-nonconforming people, bad for people - especially women and girls - who don't want to be bound by gender stereotypes any more.

@nancywhitehead

Interesting fact, did you know there are as many intersex people in the UK as there are people with red hair?

It's alarmingly common.

These children are often assigned a gender at birth by doctors/ parents and then socialised into that gender, which can be quite damaging as they can grow up in a gender that doesn't actually match who they feel they are.

The statistic you refer to - that about 2% of people are intersex - is both misleading and untrue.

Worldwide 2% of people have red hair, but distribution is not even and in the UK 5-6% of people have red hair. Your perception of frequency of red hair varies depending on where you live.

The 2% figure actually refers to anyone whose sexual development is irregular in any way even when their sex is very clear. Only about 0.018% of people have a condition where their sex assigned at birth might be different to their chromosomal sex.

Still, it's just interesting to be aware of as it's something that's not really on a lot of people's radars at all when they think about trans people.

Not really, because it's untrue and has nothing to do with trans people.

Still, it's just interesting to be aware of as it's something that's not really on a lot of people's radars at all when they think about trans people.

It's interesting to be aware of something false when thinking about a different subject?

People saying they were "assigned" male or female at birth always makes me imagine the midwife delivering the newborn then saying to the parents "congratulations. Did you have a preference? Only I've assigned 3 males today so was hoping I could say this ones a girl"
Ffs. Unless it's a genuine intersex condition and you can't tell babies sex is observed not assigned.

I don't know how people can seriously believe that for a second. We have all known plenty of people with red hair. We see them every day. There is probably someone on this thread with red hair.

How many of us have met someone with a woman's name and the physicality of Caster Semenya, for example? I certainly haven't.

@nancywhitehead

Interesting fact, did you know there are as many intersex people in the UK as there are people with red hair?

It's alarmingly common.

These children are often assigned a gender at birth by doctors/ parents and then socialised into that gender, which can be quite damaging as they can grow up in a gender that doesn't actually match who they feel they are.

Interesting fact - it really pisses off people with a VSD to be used to prop up trans ideology.

They’re not assigned a bloody gender at birth! FGS! In most cases their sex is obvious. It’s only a tiny, tiny number of people where their sex isn’t obvious.

Yes, I’m annoyed. I have people close to me with VSDs and they’re totally sick of being trotted out to support crap like this, and the idiotic red-haired ‘statistic’ is a real trigger for one of them.

I don’t have a gender. Oh dear - did I miss out on being assigned one at birth? However have I coped all these years?

OP, the ‘assigned male at birth’ is an attempt to steal language relating to people with VSDs. Vile and offensive.

How many of us have met someone with a woman's name and the physicality of Caster Semenya, for example? I certainly haven't.

Caster Semenya has a specific DSD and is not typical of everyone with a DSD. People with other DSDs will have symptoms and traits specific to that DSD. However, DSDs are not relevant to this thread which is not about people with DSDs.

@merrymouse

How many of us have met someone with a woman's name and the physicality of Caster Semenya, for example? I certainly haven't.

Caster Semenya has a specific DSD and is not typical of everyone with a DSD. People with other DSDs will have symptoms and traits specific to that DSD. However, DSDs are not relevant to this thread which is not about people with DSDs.

No, I agree (hence "for example"), but DSDs aren't my specialist topic so I will leave it there.

In about 1% of all births, babies have some form of ambiguous genitalia, such as a very large clitoris or very small penis. In more rare cases—between 0.1% and 0.2% of live births—genitalia is so ambiguous that medical specialists are brought in for a consultation.

How many of us have met someone with a woman's name and the physicality of Caster Semenya, for example? I certainly haven't

I have. They were biologically male thuogh.

Yes wouldn't it be nice if male and female were simple descriptors of a person's reproductive role.
It would save all the mental acrobatics people go through to come up ways to describe their gender.

• Yes wouldn't it be nice if male and female were simple descriptors of a person's reproductive role. It would save all the mental acrobatics people go through to come up ways to describe their gender.*

They are, and this pair of words apply to all sexed organisms.
Woman and man are the words specifically for humans.
Masculine and feminine are the terms which apply to gender.

It's very straightforward and no need for linguistic contortions.

I know. I just can't get my head around gender being anything other than personality vs stereotypes.

@nancywhitehead

It means your biological sex was male when you were born. It can also mean that your caregivers, doctors etc referred to you as male gender when you were born.

Sex and gender are different things but at birth they generally match, so sex usually = gender for tiny babies, as they don't really have any social construct of gender.

In the case of intersex babies (babies born with both sets of genitalia), sometimes a decision on gender is made one way or the other despite it not being obvious.

Wrong.

Babies are not born with "both" sets of genitalia. I think there may have been one recorded case historically in the whole world. Some babies, as has already been stated, are born with genitalia that are not immediately distinguishable as male or female. Further intervention usually takes place to determine their proper sex. In the past this may have involved surgical intervention, thankfully nowadays that is rare.

Some babies (Caster Semanya is one) are born with genitalia that appear completely normal for one sex but are later (usually at puberty) found to have a VSD that means their chromosomal sex or secondary (internal) sex characteristics don't match those genitalia.

It's usually these later-diagnosed people whose sex is referred to as "assigned at birth" because in an absolutely tiny number of people the sex recorded at birth has been incorrect.

Please don't spread misinformation about DSDs and conflate their issues with transgender ones. It causes immense harm to those who are dealing with them when they may already be suffering a great deal of trauma.

For further, accurate, information I suggest you have a look at www.dsdfamilies.org

Interesting fact, did you know there are as many intersex people in the UK as there are people with red hair?

Not the UK, the world, and how many red headed people are there in India, or China for instance? yeah not a lot. There are lots of red headed people in the UK its about 4% in England and 6% in Scotland and probably more who identify as having red hair by dying it, which does not make them a red head no matter how hard they try to dye it, they will always need to dye it and it won't match their genes.

DSD is in about 1 in 5500 people.