intersexcat-tboy

[intersexcat-tboy]

i found out last night that a nurse i work with, who’s openly transphobic and is also known for being weirdly flirty with male coworkers, told one of my coworkers that she thinks i’m “handsome, but just need to stop wearing that mask”. and i don’t think the person who told me fully grasped how weird that is because she said it like it was a sign of that nurse making some sort of progress in her attitude toward trans people, but i for one have never been more confident in my decision to always wear a mask at work.

because frankly, the only thing worse than being mistreated by her because i’m trans would be if she only spared me from it because she decided she’d rather objectify me instead. the idea of that actually makes me feel so fucking gross. i could handle thinking she might be harder on me just because i’m trans — i know what kind of person she is and i wouldn’t expect anything else from her. but if she’s decided i’m the one good trans person just because she personally likes the way testosterone has changed my face, i would quite frankly rather set myself on fire than ever take my mask off around her again.

and the thing is, it doesn’t even change the fact that i’m pretty sure she’s harder on me than any of my coworkers because i’m trans. i don’t know if she even realizes she is or if she just instinctively treats me differently, but i’ve definitely felt it. i get all of the (super inappropriate for work but no one seems to see the issue except me) objectification while gaining absolutely no benefit from being “one of the good ones”. she just thinks i look good while doing a million things wrong in her eyes, i guess. isn’t that fun?

[intersexcat-tboy]

Hey remember how I said that A: Khelif was being targeted by transmisogyny regardless of the presumptive "TME" label and B: insisting that she is intersex when she has denied being so was dangerous because I didn't trust anti-trans and anti-intersex governing bodies to not exclude or ban her on a technicality?

And then I got harassed for over a week about how pointing this out was in itself transmisogyny?

So very interesting about that...

[intersexcat-tboy]

Since Pride Month is approaching I know lots of you need a reminder that intersex people are currently, publicly being targets of violence and exclusion.

X X X

Intersexism and transphobia intersect deeply and often intersex and trans people face extremely similar struggles, yet a lot of intersex experiences get clumped together with transphobia or ignored altogether and you all need to understand that intersexism and intersex voices deserve the same exact space and importance as everyone else. And before you roll your eyes and think "Well, intersex people only make up 1.7% of the population, why would I care?" Remember that:

The most generous % of queer adults I've seen in a survey is 9% (most likely incorrect since it's difficult to survey sexuality globally, but that's all we got). You're also a minority and your hard earned privilege shouldn't make you blind to people who have less visibility than you.

PCOS is an intersex condition. It affects 1 in 8 people globally. Lots of intersex variations are either invisible, undermined, or treated without being recognized as intersex. Is it really that uncommon?

People are categorizing biological sex as a proven binary supported by science (and therefore god forbid anyone debate against it), and not only excluding but also forcing everyone who does not fit that imaginary binary to be violated and forced into procedures in order to "be fixed", "prove themselves" or "make things fair". That is violence, and it is targeted.

I am by no means an expert, but here's a bit of a research I did on the current rights of intersex women athletes.

X X

As an intersex female athlete, you could compete against any male classification (which in most cases would mean competing with people with much higher levels of testosterone and different physical composition than you, anyway), but you'd be restricted in female competition.

X

Yet you could participate in female classification, if you decided to intervene on your bodies to fit the "normal female levels". The way your body is justifies altering it. But does it justify you competing in male categories? And do lower counts of testosterone in males legitimate them do compete against females? (spoiler alert: I couldn't find any information about it backed by actual articles. I could write a book on how "high testosterone = violence" in relation to "protecting females" are nothing more than terf dogwhistles, but I digress)

And all of this constant policing, leads to the violation of intersex bodies:

X X X

Here's some more perspective on why intersex exclusion "to be fair" is also factually not scientifically correct:

X

Intersex women have been violated and abused in countless of ways especially in sports. And yet that's understandable. That's justifiable. That's fair.

The assumption of our bodies not fitting the binary sex that science imposed on us, justifies violating us. It justifies excluding us. It justifies violence on us. Because we wouldn't want someone who isn't a perisex female to compete, right? That'd be the worst.

And I care to specify a few points which I'm sure some people reading this will completely misinterpret:

No, while the issues are intertwined, this isn't "just misogyny". They're not targeting masculine women, they're targeting intersex women. The reason why women are being targeted more than men is because fearmongering and shit like repeating "protect women!" works a lot better than actually discussing the subject and opening up to the possibility of testosterone and "male" sex characteristics not turning people into evil huge monsters but actually admitting that sex is as nuanced as gender (sorry terfs, dimorphism in humans has been proven to be rapidly declining because research is rapidly increasing. keep up)

Yes, intersex males are also victims of intersexism. You could write a saga on how much intersexism floats around in men's spaces (low testosterone male, man boobs, small dick jokes are all intersexist because hypoandrogenism, gynecomastia and micropenis can all be intersex variations. the more you know!). Also the lack of care towards intersex males in sports proves that the ultimate goal is not to make things fair.

No, this is not to claim that trans people aren't targeted specifically by laws especially in sports as well. Transphobia isn't a collateral effect of intersexism but it is often rooted in it. You can recognize that fatphobia is rooted in racism without saying fatphobia is fake. Recognizing that takes nothing away from the importance of your struggles. Also no, dysphoria and HRT do not make you intersex, just like an intersex person on HRT or who received surgery is not automatically transgender (for the record, I am both, so I fear I know what I'm talking about)

The term "DSD" sucks ass and it's repeated in many articles I cited. Here's a few good websites to inform yourself upon correct intersex terminology and some basic facts for people who are ignorant on the matter: Intersex Variations Glossary (PDF) , 5 Myths on Intersex People , What Does Intersex Really Mean?

I'm a whole ass human being with thoughts, experiences and a life that brought me to the beliefs and worldview I hold today. I don't have the arrogance to act like I'm perfect in the way I expose things (given the fact that I'm also not a native english speaker) or the way I logically think, so I always try to leave room to grow. But rn I also have 0 interest in debating things with internet strangers, so if you're going to try to turn this into an online fight, don't waste your time. Take a deep breath and scroll past.

Don't underestimate the meaning of "none of us is free until we all are". Thanks for reading, have a nice Pride.

[intersexcat-tboy]

historical transmascs when you open a bag of sour gummy worms:

James Barry/Billy Tipton/Alexander Alexandrov/Lou Alcott/Ljuba Prenner/Piotr Odmieniec Włast/Amelio Robles Ávila/Alan L. Hart/Lobzang Jivaka (Michael Dillon)

[intersexcat-tboy]

This was a great reading for something so short, posting it to extend its reach

[intersexcat-tboy]

Normalize telling people that in saying "Intersex people are rare" is actually intersexist rhetoric that allows for the continuation of the mutilation of intersex people, infants, children and adults. Perisex ignorance on the intersex community is also harmful because it perpetuates the stupid shit about AGAB language and how perisex trans people are so obsessed with it. This leads to Honeybee transfems and Bumblebee transmascs (as well as Carpenter bee transmascfems) to be harrassed as "Cis people trying to enter the trans community".

Listing all the intersexism and harm this causes would take all day but if you're a perisex trans person or ally, please learn more about our community before talking about us.

[intersexcat-tboy]

To be a trans man or transmasc is to become the scapegoat for the sins of cis men.

[intersexcat-tboy]

Created a new sex symbol for intersex as an alternative to the mercurial symbol or the other one which shall not be named. The central ring is near a partial martial and a partial venusian symbol to represent simultaneous existence outside the binary and partial parts from each.

Best used in combination with an intersex flag to distinguish the circle from a donut in event you only have one marker and are drawing on a whiteboard at a donut shop. Because the intersex flag most definitively has nothing to do with donuts.

[intersexcat-tboy]

Y'all still can't grasp perisex trans people being seen as whatever gender harms them most at the moment, idk how y'all will cope with conversations of certain intersex people both societally and socially being treated as whatever "type of trans" harms them most at the moment.

[intersexcat-tboy]

I hate the overuse of 'I am uncomfortable when we are not about me?' meme.

- All men are/should/do x

- What about trans men?

- I am uncomfortable when we are not about me?

No! You are talking about a group of people that I am a part of! I'm not MAKING this about me, you're literally talking about me!

[intersexcat-tboy]

every time i see someone say "trans men really are the men of the trans community" i do not feel gender euphoria. i feel deeply hurt seeing people imply that im evil just for transitioning to finally be happy in my own skin.

we all know what you really mean when you say "trans men really are the men of the trans community". ive seen you call us rapists in waiting:

you think of us as subhuman. you dont understand that saying this shit is directly causing harm to so many trans men/mascs and forcing them to hide who they are. forcing them back into misery. into depression. does it make you feel better about yourself to contribute to the transphobia in the world? does it make you feel better about yourself to reduce the population of trans men/mascs with your hateful words? to reduce the amount of people in our community? is being a high school bully and shrinking our community worth it to you?

not all of us can handle this pain.

[intersexcat-tboy]

Magical girl transformation where I look exactly the same by the end except my posture and speech are different and I have to be reminded of several details on the conversation we just had

[intersexcat-tboy]

regarding those previous anons, it is wild that they would assert someone's internal experience of gender must be identical to their outward experience of "being gendered". also an absolutely absurd (and frankly kind of racist) take to conflate someone's gendered experience as a cis man with that of a racial minority? one wonderful thing about different axes of identity is that they can have overlap, but they are not congruent, basically ever. sex =/= gender =/= sexuality =/= romanticism =/= race =/= ethnicity =/= ability and so on. there are parallels to be drawn but this is not it.

besides which, plurality always adds a layer of complexity to any discussion of identity that can't be hand-waved away. it's... it's called dissociative identity disorder... most splits aren't deliberate or given intentional direction anyway.

and frankly, to get down to the root of things, if a system or alter isn't attempting to wield authority as a member of a marginalized identity which they are not "bodily", or otherwise appropriate such experiences in a genuinely harmful way, what is the actual point of these interrogations? can we focus on actual problems?? people with DID and associated disorders are ALREADY oppressed from the jump and face legitimate, real-world threats and harm and stigma for existing in the first place. all this boils down to is policing the internal experiences of others and for what.

Man, this ask glitched out on mobile and wouldn't let me answer it. WILD.

I really like how you put it; these things can overlap, but they're not congruent. A friend of mine just pointed out that they do experience their body having a gender, but even then, there's no Gender Rulebook somewhere that says that their identity Must Match Their Body 100%. I think to argue that is strictly transphobic.

And firmly agreed that policing this is largely taking focus away from real, legitimate issues. Now, had the original post that sparked me discussing this been about alters using pseudomemories to give advice on things they didn't understand (like if an alter discussed pros and cons of a specific type of HRT, despite only going through it innerworld and not bodily), then I think that's valid criticism!

But no. The point was to say that you can't be what you are if you don't match specific, non-universal experiences. And that's bullshit.

[intersexcat-tboy]

Hey so this is like extremely intersexist. Like mask-off intersexism if you think perisex/intersex is in any way comparable to tme/tma. Anyone reblogging this is not an ally of intersex people and needs to change their heart or shut up forever.

[intersexcat-tboy]

Since everyone uses AGAB to refer to way more shit than what it should be used for, here's some suggestions.

Instead of "AFAB/AMAB childhood", say "raised as a girl/boy" or "imposed female/male in childhood", you could even say your SIG was male or female, this would be a fine use of intersex terminology by perisex people.

Not everyone AMAB was raised as a boy. Not everyone AFAB was raised as a girl. Some (intersex) people were even legally, socially, and/or medically Reassigned a Gender After Birth (RGAB). You should not use AGAB when referring to what someone was raised as, because it erases people who weren't raised the way you'd expect.

Instead of "AFAB/AMAB bodies", say words you mean, if you are talking about periods, say periods, if you are talking about penises, say penis, if you are talking about breast development, say breast development, if you are talking about a vulva, say vulva, if you are talking about testosterone puberty, say testosterone puberty.

If you are looking for words to replace "male" and "female" as not to misgender trans people, say "people with TWDP" or "people with TMDP" Note this terminology only applies to perisex people, including people who have had these traits changed later in life, or had their development altered by outside influences, you could say folks like this have an Altered-TSDP, (Typical Sex Development Pathway) if it is relevant.

Not everyone AMAB has (or had) the same body parts, testosterone puberty, hormone levels, or voices. Not everyone AFAB has (or had) the same body parts, estrogen puberty, hormone levels, menstruation, or voices. Using AGAB to refer to these things erases people who don't fit into this binary, such as intersex people, and trans people who started their transition in childhood and had access to puberty blockers.

Instead of "AFAB trans people and AMAB trans people", say "trans people - ", and then talk about whatever specific thing you're using AGAB as a substitute for.

There is no reason to group sex variant people by what they were assigned at birth (a system of oppression against sex variant people) and then tack on a bunch of perinormative and transphobic assumptions about the rest of their lives based on that assignment.

If you do that, you are being intersexist and transphobic. You are just participating in the further oppression of sex variant people.

[intersexcat-tboy]

I've noticed in queer circles there's been this rhetoric being spread and accepted that the presence of privilege somehow equates to systemic power and that is just objectively stupid and a Very Bad and ineffectual understanding of systemic power, intersectionality, privilege, and oppression.

A trans man of color does not have "privilege" over you because you can not have privilege "over" someone else.

Rich people have privilege. White people have privilege. Cis people have privilege. Men have privilege.

And yes, they often use this privilege to wield power over others but privilege is not synonymous with power.

I desperately need the queer community to accept this.

You can have privilege. You can not have privilege over something else. You can have power. You can have power over someone else.

A trans man of color saying something transmisogynistic makes him a transmisogynist, it does not make him "privileged" over trans women. Because trans men do not have structural or systemic power to wield. Even a trans man saying something shitty to his 10k follower base may have some social currency, but he does not have structural power that he can use toactually affect the rights of trans women.

JKR can for example. She is a white woman who has privilege and power. She often wields her privilege as a cis white woman to make money and be heard within government. She then uses that privilege to ensure cis women keep their power over trans people, especially trans women, which secures her privileges further.

Likewise, cis lesbians of color may have privilege as cis women but because they are lesbians of color, they do not have any structural or systemic power.

They do not have power over trans lesbians of color, because the goverment sees them as women of color first and cis second. So women of color in general do not hold systemic power and are thus incapable of systemic violence. But as cis lesbians, they do have the cis privilege of being treated better more often.

That said, being treated slightly better in specific situations is not synonymous to power. And the more intersecting identities a person has the less often they will be able to utilize their privileges anyway since the bias and ignorance of other people is dependent on the situation.

A cis lesbian of color might be treated decently at a queer event, but she will most certainly not be treated well at say... the Olympics. Likewise a trans man of color might treated well at a local queer event but many would rather avoid a gynecologist office.

While people of color who are cis and/or men might have some social privileges, this does not translate to anything meaningful outside of hyperspecific situations where they are not being seen by professionals, potential employers, or other settings where their lives are in the hands of someone who does have systemic power over them.

All of these groups are oppressed for the ways they do not fit into patriarchal gender roles and there are not an abundance of trans men or lesbians of color in positions of power that are keeping anyone oppressed.

Likewise even in places like queer events, queer people of color are often excluded, left out, or face micoraggressions. Again, they may face less of them depending on certain other aspects of their identity and that is privilege.

The people who have power are the people that systemically make another group feel excluded and have the power to exclude them. Not just in hyperspecific social situations, but in most situations.

A white trans man will certainly fair better at a gynecologist office than a trans man of color. And the first trans person to compete in the olympics was a white trans woman.

They have privilege. But it's also cis white people who made the rules for the Olympics and its the ignorance of cis doctors that makes whit trans men feel discriminated against. Both of these situations are also caused by the systemic medical violence brought about by transphobic and racist eugenics being taught as the norm in the medical field.

And who created those norms?

If any marginalized person has any privilege that equated to power they'd be using it to rewrite the rules that make them feel excluded.

Instead we have gnc men talking about how often their experiences are seen as a joke within trans and cis communities, trans women desperately raising awareness about transmisogyny, queer women of color talking about how little the queer community cares about them, intersex people being accused of transphobia when they center themselves, nonbinarys having their experienced belittled and called theyfabs, and two spirits being left out of every single conversation.

And you know why?

Because they think privilege is power.

So they convinced themselves it's better to have holier-than-thou contests online within their own community than fight actual oppressors.

Insane.

Who wins, do you think? When they finally find the most privileged queer and least privileged?

Do you think everyone else will finally shut the fuck up and let the less privileged speak without being spoken over?

Personally, I keep hoping that the colonizer and settler queer people will shut the fuck up and center Black and indigenous voices. But whenever I see someone try to do that, they're accused of transmisogyny.

In fact I wrote this post after I saw a white trans woman accuse a black trans femme of being "basically tme" because "she has a lot of tme followers"

Why? Because that black transfemme coined the word klansfemme. She also coined klansmasc btw, but this white trans woman is mad that nobody is using klansmasc. As if it's the black femme's fault??

Blaming black women for the systemic ignorance of other people is nothing new but it struck me as uniquely fucking stupid given the context that the white trans woman was mad about transmisogyny.

And honestly saying klasfemme should be no fucking different from when transfemmes say theyfab "as a critique of a group of people who treated me badly" when you think about it, but no. No ideological consistency whatsoever. Not when trans women of color are involved and create words that do the same thing.

Its transphobia for thee but not for me, I guess.

Anyway.

I miss when words meant things. Especially when its actually free to not be this insufferably ignorant by just using libby or going to the library. Its much more emotionally cost effective imo to do that instead but what do i know.

I guess that's expecting too much of people on the piss on the poor website.

[intersexcat-tboy]

Antitransmasculine backlash bc some coffee company had a transmasc character in an ad.

There’s far more than this but it’s all variations of the same antitransmasc bullshit that we see from irreversible damage and ROGD shit.