#cw: intersexism

[batsysquared]

The controversy going on with the Olympics right now is completely and utterly horrific. It is a bubbling cauldron of intersexism, transphobia, racism, and misogyny. And it's not new! This is a story that has played out before - not just in the Olympics, but in various situations even outside the realm of sporting, all across the world. When it comes to intersex people, the utter social dissection and public humiliation for not being Proper is a story that marks our very births, the one that begins from the day we're born, and every time it comes up it is deeply entwined with all of these other prejudices. But this time, there's one thing that different. The (alleged! completely alleged!) medical proof that's landed in their hands has enabled them to show plain and bare that they never cared about anything but their hatred of The Undefinable Enemy, and anyone who is sufficiently marginalized can be placed in that box when narratively convenient. To me, a person who ticks every box on display here, this was obvious - and I'll be putting aside the racism and plain misogyny for now since those are already well covered. But as far as interphobia goes - we've never fit in the category of "cis", whether we consider ourselves to be men or women, and frankly people have a hard time wrapping their heads around us being trans, excepting people who just hate trans people for existing. It's because of this that many intersex people just want to be seen as normal - and, wouldn't you know it? That's a talking point that TERFs and other various transphobes use to pretend they just care oh so much! "Oh, don't bring up those poor people! They just want to be normal boys and girls just like us, they're just rare, unique, disgusting victims of a birth defect! Not perverted and ill freaks like you!" So now, nobody has an excuse for missing what they really think when they say this: the second they can find alleged proof that a woman isn't correctly a woman - the people who manage to acknowledge that intersex and trans aren't the same thing go ahead and talk about how she's a failed man and ought to be treated as such. "It's unfortunate that she has this horrific genetic affliction," they say, "but, well...a man is a man." So much for being treated normal, right? But less obvious before this incident was that every time, every time, they missed what any intersex person ever meant by "wanting to be normal". And of course, it's because they never cared. Our struggles are only brought up solely to shoot down the arguments trans people and allies make that involve us, never to actually consider us or acknowledge the intersexist systems that the occasional trans person or ally will accidentally support. No, again, that'd involve caring. If they did, they'd understand that the plea to be treated normally is a plea to simply be considered as the thing the intersex individual wants to be considered as, without any scrutiny or "buts" or "you poor freak, we need to fix you", regardless of whether they choose to be a man or a woman or both or neither.

Yet even when they're afforded the grace of male or female, it is never without scrutiny. Every day we're questioned, even for those of us not aware of what we are. The societal push against our normality is so stark in every conversation we have about masculinity or femininity and its expectations that these pressures are often the only reason intersex people even learn they're intersex! The circumstances of their birth are hidden from them, a footnote in a surgical record, and they later have some other "problem" that must be fixed. Sometimes this problem that really affects them in some tangible life-altering medical sense, and sometimes it only does so as a result of society saying "hey, are you sure you're the thing you know you are and that we said you are? because damn you're hairy/tall/short/strong/chiseled/soft/tragically micropenised/possessed of breasts of an unusually small or large size for what you Ought To Be!". And of course, either way, once they're adults it's their prerogative to correct whatever they want! But that doesn't excuse the way that society treats this as an expectation of us, and no amount of societally enforced self-loathing changes the fact that it is an expectation, even when this false sympathy is expressed for our plight. (And, you know, if they cared about what intersex people want or the plights we go through, they'd spend less time crying about the nonexistent problem of children being "mutilated" by the trans menace and more about the very real and constant tragedy that is coercive surgical sexual assignment of literal newborns, but lol. lmao.)

My solace here is that now these incidents can be pointed at as evidence that the cry of "don't use intersex people as a shield!" is hollow concern trolling - and also that it makes clear how important liberation from both gender and sex as rigid categories are for, well, everyone, but for intersex people in particular. I'd also hope to see less "oh so transphobia only matters when it affects a cis person" pop up when intersex people get smeared into bloody streaks across the ground, as if women who do wish to fit in the category of "cis" but fail to be considered as such by society due to the circumstances of their birth don't also feel the constant daily sting of transmisogyny - or as if transphobia simply misses people for whom the terms "afab" and "amab" are most relevant. Being both trans and intersex, my experience has been that the discriminatory line here is about as thin as it gets.

But, well, one of these revelations is more important than the other, so I'll settle for not being a toy to be played with by fascists over being slapped by casual intersexism from people that at least recognize we should be working together. Sometimes that's the most one can ask, yeah?

[lokiinmediasideblog]

You can tell Logyn stans are full of shit when they say Sigyn is not a self insert due to the fact that they can't bring themselves to redirect one third of the enthusiasm they have for Sigyn to Loki's other mythological wife, Angrboda. Maybe it's because, unlike Sigyn, Boda has a canon mythological personality (she's consistently described as though, fierce, and cold) and her own lore outside of Loki (she was a chieftess of her people, a warrior, and a soothsayer), which makes it harder to use her as blank slate to project on. She's also rugged, monster-like (she was a jotunn), and had a non nurturing personality that makes it harder to cast her as a romantic heroine in their fantasies with Loki. If it was truly a matter of being fascinated with Sigyn as mythical character why is the bowl lady that gets all the attention but not the badass witch chieftess mother of monsters? (it also reeks of GNC-phobia)

Yes! I fucking hate the "feminine women are treated worse than masculine women" bullshit Marvel Sigyn stans spew. That was definitely not my experience. Growing up, I was the butt of intersexist jokes about having been destined to be a man but my "balls never came down." Guys had less reservations harrassing me than they did feminine girls. And the classic by family members: "If you hadn't dated that guy I'd think you're a <lesbophobic slur>." Which also manages to be biphobic.

Angrboda for the win! She's actually interesting. She was finally mentioned again in the recent Loki comics series that I have not read and only seen panels from! I need to read it. Is the chieftess part based on the lore mentioned from the new comics or are you referring solely to mythology? Because I am not familiar with it.

I have seen some myth interpretations that she was the witch of Ironwood, Gullveig, whose burnt heart Loki ate and thus Loki became impregnated with monsters (making Loki the mother of their children). And I have also seen her referred as the mother of Loki's "monster" children that they hid away in a cave in Jotunheim, and the witch of Ironwood. Correct me if I am wrong and let me know if you have sources with more info on her because I'd enjoy reading them.

[minecraft]

Did y'all know that Elon Musk's Twitter recently added LGBTQ terms (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Transgender, Queer) to it's "offensive words" list - meaning that links to tweets with words containing them aren't previewed in twitter DMs and are generally de-boosted (shown to less people) by the website? Did you also know there exists a character called the zero-width non joiner that you can copy and paste in-between letters of any keyword so that the keyword visually looks the same but isn't automatically seen by the algorithm as containing a keyword?

[thedemonastrophel]

‼️Flash warning

Reblog to show your blog is a safe space, or don't, no bad vibes your way if you don't wanna reblog <3

[jojo-oliver]

[ID in alt text] 14/15 of my LGBTQIA+ boots series!

intersex flag themed💛💜

I'll be posting 1+ per week until the 1st of pride month 🏳️‍🌈 and then I'll post all of them!

-

stickers or prints of this series here

[morbid-lycoris]

If you are queer but transphobic, I don't think you should get to celebrate pride.

I am pretty sure Pride Month wouldn't exist without trans-people, especially black trans women such as Marsha P. johnson.

And you don't seem to like the community anyway.

[looks-to-the-moon-cock]

Picture with very obvious intersex imagery:

Perisex people: LOOK AT HOW NONBINARY THEY ARE!!! SO COOL! PROPER REPRESENTATION!!!

Me, a transneutral intersex person: *proceeds to go vomit*

[ochako-daily]

for my first proper ochako-daily post have this absurd togachako art i gave up on

[estrogenism]

yes you love and cherish trans people but are you normal about intersex people, who are significantly more likely to be trans than a perisex person (at least in terms of intersex youth)?

do you acknowledge that they are directly targeted by many bills that also target trans people or do you say that they're just another group being indirectly targeted by anti-trans bills?

do you say that no kids are being forced on hrt or do you acknowledge that intersex babies are often forced on hrt?

do you acknowledge that intersex people can often have a complex experience with gender or do you just scream "intersex people can be cis too!!" whenever an intersex trans person tells you to stop disregarding their unique relationship with gender?

do you see a post asking for people to listen to intersex people and respond without sexualizing us or do you conflate your allyship with sexuality by saying "yeah i'd totally fuck an intersex person!"?

do you call animals with intersex conditions "trans icons" or do you actually acknowledge their intersex conditions?

do you treat us like human beings or do you ask us invasive questions about our genitals like we're some kind of lab rats?

do you listen when we tell you not to call us hermaphrodites or do you just make the excuse that animals are called hermaphrodites so you should be allowed to call us that too?

do you acknowledge intersex transfems and transmascs regardless of their casab or do you screech about how intersex people are co-opting your terms?

do you try and group intersex people under terms like amab/afab and tme/tma without acknowledging their actual experiences or do you just yell about how intersex people are trying to take your language away? (edit: this also includes very conveniently not mentioning intersex people's concerns and experiences when yelling about this)

do you acknowledge that not all intersex people are white? do you care about intersex poc?

do you care about us outside of the times that you can use us against transmisic people as a gotcha?

[starryjoy]

imagine making a comic about how infighting in the trans community is bad no matter what and then when the Wrong People relate to it and start sharing it you go "actually that comic was bad, infighting is good" and delete it saying that it was a mistake

[punkeropercyjackson]

You can really tell terfism is just fragile white girl shit because they always say they believe in 'sex based oppression' but never 'race based oppression' lmaoooooooo

[canidaria]

happy birthday to my favorite weird girl ever toga himiko

[ipso-faculty]

Proposing some intersex gender modality & transition terms

So there are a whole bunch of different ways that intersex people can be/identify as trans. I've been thinking about what names would be useful for articulating these differences and in this post I'll list what I've got so far. 🧑‍🔬

I'm hoping to get feedback on these, so if you have feedback let me know! 💛 I expect to edit this post, to incorporate feedback and further ideas.

CW: mention of IGM and forced HRT

Types of transitions

Distransition: a medical transition forced upon an intersex person, such as through IGM or forced HRT. Dis- to indicate the negative aspect of the transition being coercive, as well as to connote disability since this process is so frequently traumatic and/or disability-causing. In disability studies language it's a form of debility (disability caused through systemic violence).

Mistransition: a distransition (forced transition) that is not in alignment with a person's gender identity. Mis- to indicate the incorrectness of the alignment as well as to maintain a negative connotation because this is a coercive transition.

Entransition: a consensual transition done by an intersex person. Contrast to distransition. En- acts as an opposite to dis- and also to me indicates a level of intent (e.g. envision, enact, enliven). It also serves to indicate that transition is different for intersex bodies than for perisex bodies.

Retransition: an entransition done by an intersex person who previously had been distransitioned. I.e. when an intersex person does a second transition to undo, alter, or improve a forced transition. Re- to indicate a second transition, but also that it's a revision of the first one. EDIT #1: This term is not intersex exclusive, and may also be used by perisex trans people who have transitioned multiple times. EDIT #2: For an intersex-exclusive version, I suggest "re-entransition", combining re- and en-.

Retrotransition: a retransition that is done to undo the effects of forced transition. So an intersex person who, after being forced into a binary gender, then transitions their body towards a best approximation of what their body's natural state would have been without forced transition. Retro- for backwards to indicate undoing that is worth differentiating from detransitioning.

Laterotransition: a retransition done by an intersex person to a gender that is neither the gender externally imposed by a distransition nor what their body's "natural state" would be. For example, an AFAB AIS person who was coercively transitioned female, who then later transitioned male. Latero- as contrast to retro- (latero- is to the side, antero- is forward) as well as to indicate the turn away from the path set forth externally by parents/doctors.

Anterotransition: a retransition done by an intersex person that continues the direction set forth by previous forced transition. So additional transitioning done by somebody whose gender is in alignment with what was externally imposed. While this will probably be somebody's AGAB, it doesn't have to be - some times intersex people are forcibly transitioned to a different gender than their AGAB.

All of these transitions would have an analogous gender modality. So an entransgender person is somebody who has/is undergoing/intends to entransition. And a retrotransgender person likewise has/is undergoing/intends to retrotransition.

I see distransition and mistransition as potentially useful for intersex people talking about trauma and structural intersexism. I think entransition might be useful for talking about how being intersex and transitioning is frequently different than for perisex people, especially if it is a retransition. And perhaps distransition and anterotransition may be of use to exparium folks.

Personally: I was distransitioned as an adolescent and have recently started a process of medically retrotransitioning.

Feedback welcome! A list of revisions will go at the bottom of this post. Will make flags for terms once I feel satisfied with them.

Edits

2024-01-16: I've been informed by @chipbutbetter that retrans is already used by some perisex folks with complicated transition patterns, so I have edited to say this term should not be intersex exclusive. Thanks! 🏳️‍⚧️

2024-01-16: thought about an intersex-specific version of retransition and landed on "re-entransition". A little awkward but combines both retransition and entransition! Flexible on whether to include a hyphen (reentransition).

[solastalgiart]

so i had this idea for a sapphic minchan au,,,

[looks-to-the-moon-cock]

I love being part of MOGAI and LIOM but I'm begging some folks to notice the coining of AGAB terms is not in good faith due to what AGAB is and how its used against intersex people. I am BEGGING yall to just IGNORE whatever your AGAB is unless medically necessary!

You're making terms that are genuinely not helpful nor in good faith like you think. AGAB is used medically and very sterilely! It is used and meant to force intersex babies to conform to a sex AND gender binary! I know it's funny and feels great to live with an identity that IS YOU but you can't use AGAB like that and not be intersexist as a result!

[wc-confessions]

wtf is "intersex" and why are people shouting that certain cats (or sometimes ALL CATS??) are it???? Is this a gender thing that I'm ignorant of? Cuz that's cool I'd be happy to learn- but google says intersex relates to the actual physical body parts, and I'm just- Why do people care about this??????

Gender is one thing- affirming that shit correctly is SUPER important and I love the different hc's and interpretations there in ALL fandoms tbh, not just wc. But the actual physical body parts- how is that relevant. Why does anyone care. What are you using that info for. Why are people thinking about different body parts for these cats????.... Like why does a calico like Redtail HAVE to be intersex- does that mean something OTHER than Redtail having both male and female body parts??????? AND WHY IS THAT IN MY HEAD. I've never heard of an intersex pet cat in reality, even after working at the vet, is this just a genetics thing????

Like sure being able to have children can sometimes distinguish a character in terms of whether they will adopt or carry kits- but otherwise... why do people care what's swinging between the legs? What value is that info? Are these people DRAWING GENITALS OR SOMETHING??????

(Sorry if this ask is kinda iffy. I 100% understand if this ask gets deleted)

male calico cats are all considered intersex. the calico coat pattern is directly linked to two x chromosomes, which is why most calicos are usually female. male calicos have the xxy chromosomes which makes them intersex. redtail is intersex.

-mod ashensky