this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2023
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What are cis and trans alternate types of? I don't think it's "gender identity" because wouldn't that just be man, woman or nonbinary regardless of whether they're cis or trans? Cis/trans just being a qualifier?

If the answer is "I am cis" or "I am trans", what is the question?

Edit: Someone came up with the term "gender congruity" and (after looking up the definition of "congruity") I think this describes what I'm talking about perfectly.

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[–] MrShelbySan@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Please note I’m typing this as a trans man. Being “cis” or “trans” stems from someone’s gender.

Basically, do you identify as your birth gender (not sex, gender and sex are different)? If the answer is yes, you are “cis”. If the answer is no, like I my case, I was born female, I identify as a male, then you are are trans.

I hope this answers your question.

[–] GaryPonderosa@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (17 children)

Shouldn't it be that you identify with your birth sex? If gender is a social construct you don't have a gender at birth. When the doctor says "It's a boy" they're referring to the genitalia you have, not assigning you a social position.

[–] RustledTeapot@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You might not believe in the social construct at birth, but the social construct believes in you. Children are treated differently based on assigned gender from birth.

[–] GaryPonderosa@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Now that I think about it, you're right. If you're a male, you get swaddled and handed to your mother, but if you're female, you get swaddled and handed to your mother.

[–] RustledTeapot@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And either way, your mother starts treating you differently based on apparent sex.

https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2005-02259-007

[–] GaryPonderosa@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

When does your mother start treating you differently based on sex?

[–] Awerenj@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Depending on the country, really really early. e.g. - in India its illegal to disclose the sex of the fetus to the parents/family because of high female infanticide.

In-laws, the father, and many times even the mother will want a son to carry on the family name instead of a daughter who will be married off to some other family (with the cost of marriage and dowry). And it was quiet common for the fetus to be aborted if it was female. The situation has improved a bit today, but gerl children are still treated very poorly is many parts of the country.

Of course, girls here are treated a million times better than trans folk here. 90% of them (hijra community) are beggars on the streets/trains.

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[–] RustledTeapot@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Typically before you even leave the womb, these days.

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[–] StarManta@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m sorry what? That is not a thing

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[–] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, gender is a social construct and the doctor is assigning a gender to you when you are born based on what he sees as your genital configuration. This is then used to determine nearly everything about you through the social framework of gender.

What colors you're allowed to like, what games you can play, what names you can have, what words are acceptable to refer to you with, who you're allowed to be friends with, what foods your supposed to like, what clothes you're allowed to wear, how people should speak to you, how people should praise you, how people should scold you, whether or not misogyny should be applied to you, and so on and so forth.

Those things are determined based on the gender you are assigned at birth. Those things are enforced across all society at all social levels and in all settings. Parents are the first people to enforce gender onto their children, intentionally or not. Then every single other adult and child they meet or interact with throughout their childhood will continue to enforce gender upon them until they themselves become adults and repeat the cycle with their own kids. Media perpetuates gender, government laws enforce gender, education systems are filled with people who systematically enforce gender upon children.

Thats what we mean when we say gender is a social construct. And you're assigned one at birth.

[–] GaryPonderosa@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

No, sex is a biological characteristic and the doctor is describing your phenotypic sex based on observable characteristics. This really isn't that complicated. There are two* combinations of chromosomes that determine sex, so there are two sexes. This is basic biology and has absolutely fuckall to do with gender as a social construct.

* Really there are around a half dozen sex chromosome combinations because they occasionally get duplicated. Functionally there are two because all of the combinations except 1 have a y chromosome and are male

[–] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Nope. They don't even check your chromosomes when you're born. There are also at least 30 different possible genital configurations at birth. Odd that we don't treat every one of those possibilities uniquely and instead force them to get surgery so the doctor can assign a gender to them. You'd think if it was all basic biology we would just have a unique gender for every one wouldn't you?

There are also many, many more possible configurations of your chromosomes than half a dozen lol. You can also have XY and be assigned female at birth. And vice versa.

Your doctor is assigning you a gender. Thats what he's doing. He calls you either a boy or a girl based on your genital configuration and then as I said in my previous comment that assigned gender goes on to affect every single aspect of your life for the rest of your life.

You don't seem to know what we're even talking about. Sex is not binary and is not enshrined in biology. If we wanted to talk about biology, if the point was biology, if the doctor assigning genders to babies primary concern was biology, then he would assign a unique gender to every single possible genital configuration at birth. All of them would be unique. Instead he's assigning you a gender so that society can treat you a certain way. It's that simple.

[–] Spzi@lemmy.click 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You’d think if it was all basic biology we would just have a unique gender for every one wouldn’t you?

Nothing in biology is exactly identical between individuums. A common eye color is brown, although there are as many shades of brown as there are people.

It is just practical and how language, or even perception works, that we tend to categorize similarities, and strongly favor common occurrances over outliers.

the doctor is describing your phenotypic sex based on observable characteristics.

Your doctor is assigning you a gender.

Maybe you two aren't even disagreeing?

I'd say the doctor tries to assign the new born into male or female according to biological sex, and gender is inferred from that.

He calls you either a boy or a girl based on your genital configuration

Yes, that's what I mean. A two-step process. First, biological expression is assessed. Next, based on #1, social gender is inferred.

[–] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Youre right, we do just use language to describe things in a convenient manner that is not actually universally true. Do you think language just springs out of the ground or something? Humans make it. We make it socially. One might say we socially construct these concepts.

Biological sex is not a thing. There are people with dicks and people with vaginas and people with neither and people with both and people with stuff that isn't even classifiable in terms of the terms dick and vagina. Why is there not a sex for each possible genital configuration? Why not one for each possible chromosomal configuration? Because sex is a concept we as humans created that does not map 1 to 1 with biological reality. Biological sex is not a thing, there is biology and then there is the human made concept of sex. They are 2 different things.

Your doctor assigns you a gender at birth. In most countries he is legally required to mark down one at the time of your birth. That gender is used for all the reasons I listed in a previous comment. Your mother then picks you up and affirms that gender assessment. From then on your gender is assigned until you yourself revoke it.

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[–] Imotali@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sexing in humans isn't phenotypic though. It is chromosomal.

[–] GaryPonderosa@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's both. Phenotyping sex is the common method of determining it because it's really easy and it's accurate enough in 99% of cases.

Sexing through genotyping is 100% accurate, but it's time consuming, comparatively expensive, and only relevant in a tiny handful of cases.

[–] Imotali@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Phenotype doesn't determine sex. It's a function of it. You literally agreed with me on this.

[–] GaryPonderosa@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm terribly sorry that I've had to dumb down my point so far for people to understand it that you now think it's yours.

Good day.

[–] Imotali@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If your point is that phenotype at all defines sex, you are objectively wrong. It is a function of sex. If your point is that phenotype is a reliable indicator of sexing in humans, you are also objectively wrong.

[–] GaryPonderosa@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I rest my case. I guess I can add wrong and objectively to the list of words you don't know.

[–] Imotali@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

See now you're both wrong and a prick.

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[–] Spzi@lemmy.click 1 points 1 year ago

Basically, do you identify as your birth gender (not sex, gender and sex are different)?

The additional explanation actually confused me. Let's compare the two sentences:

  • A) Basically, do you identify as your birth gender?

  • B) Basically, do you identify as your birth sex?

I assume biological sex can be identified by looking at your body as a new born baby, and gender is usually inferred accordingly. So I would assume new borns are being assigned a gender which mathes their biology, although they probably don't have any opinions themselves on the topic.

Anyways, what's the difference between A and B? I feel you felt it was important to point it out, and I just can't see any.

[–] Hypersapien@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I understand what they are, I'm asking if there is a name for the category of characteristic that they both belong to.

I'm not entirely sure there is a word for it. If not, maybe there should be.

[–] VoxAdActa@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I understand what they are, I'm asking if there is a name for the category of characteristic that they both belong to.

You're not getting an answer to your question because the question, as stated, is incomprehensible. You're asking for a "category of characteristic" that a pair of antonym adjectives "belong to"? That doesn't make sense. They apply to a whole host of characteristics, because they're not describing a specific characteristic, but how a characteristic relates to the whole. Just like "homo" and "hetero"; homozygous, heterogenous, homocystine, and heterophony are all words that use the "homo" or "hetero" prefix to describe how those words relate to other concepts in their category. It's the same with "cis" and "trans". The prefixes don't "belong" to a category of characteristics, they explicitly exist outside of the characteristics of the words their modifying.

That's the best I can do with the way you've chosen to phrase your question, and I admit it's a reach, but your question is gibberish.

[–] Hypersapien@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Male, female or nonbinary are a person's gender.
White, black, asian (nonexclusively) are a person's race.
Right, left are a person's handedness.
Gay, straight, bi are a person's sexual orientation.
Cis, trans are a person's ________.

We could call it "gender metadata" ;p

I'm not actually sure if there's a real term for this. If nothing else, "trans status" works but there should be a better term I think ^.^

Maybe "genderdivergence"?

[–] morhp@lemmy.wtf 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"gender identity" might fit. "Identity" taken literally, to mean if the birth sex/gender and the actual expressed gender are identical.

Edit: or "gender divergence" if you want to focus on the difference instead of the sameness.

[–] arquebus_x@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cis and trans don’t really describe a person in the same way as the others. They describe a relationship between characteristics, which none of the other descriptors you list do. You could argue, almost correctly, that cis and trans are part of a person’s gender, but neither one of them is a person’s anything.

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[–] RustledTeapot@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

"Relationships between gender identity and birth sex."