DSD/Intersex

[afuckinggoat]

I often come across posts by trans people who combine DSD/intersex issues with trans issues.

I don't really know much about DSDs, and wanted to understand more, particularly with regards to sport.

I found this interview and found it really interesting. Particularly this quote: "Trans activists, on the other hand, argue sex is a social construct, which denies the material reality of women as a sex class and makes talking about the specific inequalities and discrimination they face difficult. If we can’t identify the group, we can’t name the problem and address it."

Here's the interview: womansplaceuk.org/2019/10/21/biological-sex-is-not-a-spectrum-there-are-only-two-sexes-in-humans-with-claire-graham/

People with DSD can suffer a range of conditions, but it is established scientific fact that they are either male or female, dependent on the biological developmental path they were on. So they either have male or female gonads which may not be fully functional.

there is no such thing as intersex.

All people with a DSD are either male or female. Without exception. It may be slightly harder to determine at birth, as in accurately sexing them requires more than a cursory glance from a doctor, but they are still either male or female. Not in between. Not somehow both. Not some magic third sex. Just male or female.
There are DSDs which affect males, and there are ones specific to females.

I've seen a lot of those comments since the judgement, along with what about people who are both. I always leave a comment along the lines, nobody's born both, all the people who are born with DSD condition's are either male or female, and are not part of this genderwang nonsense and don't like the term intersex because they're not.

On my understanding, the human body heads down one of 2 reproductive pathways when developing - either the path for producing large immobile gametes and gestating babies (female), or producing small mobile gametes (male).

There are a very small number of people who have differences of sexual development where something might have gone slightly wrong, but there is no third pathway and no third gamete. Everyone will be either male or female, but some might have some differences in development. There are some intersex/DSD conditions that affect males, and some that affect females.

There are tiny number of people whose sex is truly ambiguous where it is hard to reach a determination. Those people should be treated sympathetically and there is a process to correct birth certificates in such cases if a wrong categorisation is made.

Trans people bringing DSDs up make a poor argument to obfuscate matters. Let's say you are categorising items into blue and yellow categories and occasionally come across an item that looks a little green. You might need to consider which category that one belongs in, but it doesn't mean that the obviously yellow items can now be classified as blue.

DSDs aside, I completely agree with the quote you picked: "Trans activists, on the other hand, argue sex is a social construct, which denies the material reality of women as a sex class and makes talking about the specific inequalities and discrimination they face difficult. If we can’t identify the group, we can’t name the problem and address it."

You can't take action to support women unless you can label them in a way that includes all women and excludes all men. Time to take our words back.

I have seen the claim made on here that it is not absolutely true that all people with DSDs can be identified as either male or female.
I don't know nearly enough about the subject to evaluate this - but I've seen it used as a 'gotcha' to deny that human sex is binary - ah but what about...

I always say that someone on MN knows everything -
can someone please clarify if there is in fact a very rare form of DSD which means that the person genuinely does not fall into either category?

It would be good to have that clarified to ward off the 'ah but what about...' thanks!