The NHS want to know what genitalia I have

[Annaissleeping]

I just had to ask for a home testing STI kit as recently I slept with someone and he took the condom off and pretended he hadn't realised that had happened.

I rang them to confirm some details and they said they needed to know my gender assigned at birth and my current gender. I said I was female and honestly quite flustered, added, I didn't have a gender.

Oh I'm sorry, the woman said, it's just we need to know what genitalia you have to send the right kit.

Not that women's feelings matter, but it felt intrustive - it's not so fun having to go through this process and being asked anything other than 'are you male or female.' But that is from someone whose 'genitalia' suffered an injury in a different assault and who has quite a lot of difficulties getting up the courage to access any medical care and discuss any aspect of my body/physical health. How many people in the UK actually know what assigned gender or genitalia actually means, outside of the gender bubble given the national reading age is about 10/11?!

Thank goodness for a health care service system in evidence-based medicine and objective science, right? 🙄

(I just needed to vent, I know people are aware this is happening)

I disagree. The OP is not responsible for making sense of badly worded questions. The healthcare worker is just the blunt end of the wedge but the systems at.fault. not the OP. We need to see that clearly and stop blaming women. OP was very clear that those was an emotive conversation for her related to previous traumas. The responsibility is solely with the health care provider.

Annaissleeping - thank you for coming back and going out of your way to explain your situation which must have been painful. I think maybe on FWR we are so used to being in combative mode that maybe some forgot that the issue is the immediate and very personal impact on us as individual women. So sad that your lived experiences is just seen as a political point.

Hope all goes well.

And even if you aren't going to celebrate the coronation hope you treat yourself to whatever takes your fancy

Sorry you have to deal with this op, the woman on the phone probably thinks the questions are ridiculous too but will have been trained on 'inclusion' and given set questions to ask.

You could have just answered that your sex and gender are both female and then it would have been clear

Are you saying people with trans 'identities' don't know what sex they are because that's nonsense.

Female isn't a 'gender' and even if a man says he is male but has a, made up, female gender, that won't mean he doesn't have a penis as most men who claim to be women don't have SRS so knowing someone's special 'gender identity' is an entirely pointless piece of information in this case.

Yep,if someone with a penis is stupid enough to claim they're female they need more help than what they'll be getting from a kit to test for STDs.

Staggering majority of peeps didn't have sex assigned at birth. It was observed and recorded. Unless you're the handful of DSDers who it might have been less clear.

Ugh what a weird line of questioning. What is your sex should cover it.

Surely it's your responsibility to say if something is not clear or if your definition of male and female means something else? As they say 'own it'.

Ugh...how insulting and upsetting @Annaissleeping . So sorry you had to endure this arrant nonsense. And some of the smug wilfully stupid comments too btw.

💐 💐

Let's say more than once! I used to live life to the full.

Sorry these things have happened to you op. Hope your results come back clear

But this doesn't make sense. If you can't trust anyone to talk accurately about their sex, why mess around asking what their gender is now and at birth if you want to know about their genitalia? Just get straight into it and ask do you have a penis or a vagina? It's a ton less confusing.

It makes sense, but I can see that a possible problem with that approach is that a transgender person who has had surgery might answer that they have a penis or vagina and end up with an inappropriate kit.

If you try to identify those people by following up the genitals question with "Are you transgender?" then a good chunk of the population will not understand what that means.

So perhaps it's as well to gather as much data as possible from the person to eliminate any chance of confusion or misunderstandings.

Then I don't understand this either. How does asking what gender they are now and what they were at birth become more reliable than asking if they actually have a penis or a vagina? Surely trans people will have put sufficient thought and reading into knowing what they've got after such a huge operation that took so long to get.

(And honestly, I will never be convinced that you always send out the right kit to men and women born and living as the same sex anyway.)

You can't operate a system of looking after 67m people and think you can frame a question that will be spot on for everybody. So go for the one that will be understood by the vast majority.
Penistone. Vagina. Tick a box.

But plumbers, electricians and fitters can happily use male and female connectors without confusion. What do they know that HCPs don't?

Can't they say, we have Kit 1 for use with a penis and Kit 2 for use with a vagina. Are you requesting Kit 1 or 2? Wouldn't that work?

Although absolutely agree that just asking your sex should cover it...

I remember when I has to order one of those kits, they sent me to a Web page to order it was so badly set up and it wasn't just for the kits it was also for gender dysphoria, at one poi t while wrestling with the site I inputted that I had genet dysphoria just to try and amakr the page work and the first call back I got was about that, despite the fact I earlier submitted I needed a test kit. Honestly it's a complete farce, and totally driven by the fact it's making a lot of American pharmaceuticals a lot of money (providing hormones etc). The people who quack about trans rights on twiter are basically just autistic people who've been led to believe their view of the world can be validated if only everyone else starts to believe in nonsense, and the drugs companies love it because they basically provide all of their custom.

He’s a scumbag.

hope you are ok. Even if you have to deal with this gender bullshit while you navigate the stupid system which lost its mind so the focus shifted from you and your needs to some fucking rinsed out rainbow.

be ok.

it’s the only way x

This is a crazy way to expect medical professionals to work. Pregnancy requires female biological characteristics.

Answer
No I don't have a gender
I'm an adult human female observed female at birth with female genitalia
Say it every fucking time some box ticking melt questions you until they fucking Get It

I’m not responsible for sending out kits so I can’t comment on that. However, I do see hundreds of sexual health clients face to face every week and have by now learnt to identify who has a penis and who has a vagina 🙂

No, because what about post surgery males with fake vaginas, or females with fake penises?

I'm sure a transperson can be mature enough and take responsibility for their own health, and just give the medical professional the facts they need to do their job, including disclosing this without being asked explicitly.

What that man did was horrible, as this whole experience has been. I am so sorry💐

As for the pharmacist I slight sympathise because our language about sex -
man, woman, male, female - has been systematically destroyed so it no longer has any meaning. So the pharmacist was tangled up in the mess trying to find foolproof clarity.

It's like colonialism all over again. Steal my stuff. Mark it as yours. Make everyone confused every time I say it is mine and blame me for their confusion.

This nhs worker is confused and needs clarification because of the agenda pushed on her, not by op clarifying that the word female means exactly what it says in the tin.

Urgh infuriating. And after she was raped as well. Just infuriating.

Are you sure? I wouldn't be. If they are a TRA it would be a great excuse to make a massive fuss and throw around how transphobic it is that they were expected to disclose their own history.

Why would that be necessary? We are all asked to disclose our medical history when receiving healthcare, and it's our responsibility to tell the clinician what they need to know. If I drank a bottle of vodka a day for 10 years, then quit drinking and two months later the GP asked if I drink alcohol, it would be a bit remiss to just say "no..." And frankly, it would be my own fault if my treatment wasn't optimal because of it... Kind of cutting your nose off to spite your face.

I'd be very interested to hear from a transperson if they'd genuine feel discriminated against because of that question!

But referring to pregnant people is fucking offensive to most women!
And that isn't what the official NHS comms say we should do - language is supposed to be used sensitively for the situation, such would be different in a maternity clinic (clue is in the name!) Than in a trans health clinic. Stupid middle managers wildly misunderstand what this means, however, to score points with their woke bosses.

Ask " Do you need a female or make test kit" its not difficult. No need to bring gender into it at all - gender is irrelevant here.

OP, I'm sorry you had to go through both those experiences, and I'm sorry for the victim blaming on here. Just more evidence that the radical trans movement doesnt give a shiny shit about women.