GC: How to know the sex of an intersex person? Are intersex people not 100% male or female?

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[–]IWoreWhat 3 insightful - 5 fun3 insightful - 4 fun4 insightful - 5 fun -  (6 children)

They don't have to say they have CAIS. But they will have to say their sex. if I meet a CAIS individual that tells me they are male eventhough CAIS are female, then I will feel deceived and lied to.

And if they say they are female eventhough CAIS are male, the same thing happens. Everyone has a right not to be deceived and lied to like this. I don't want to use false language. If CAIS are female, I will use "woman", and "she/her" when talking about them. If they are male, I will use "man", and "he/him". It is like if I meet a "trans woman" who "passes". If he doesn't tell me he's a man, then he's withholding information from me, and making me use false language such as "she/her". This would make me feel uncomfortable just because they don't want to feel uncomfortable.

So are CAIS male or female? Are they male because they have male chromosomes? Or are they female because they have a female phenotype? Which one would be true? Nobody has answered this question so far.

[–]HeimdeklediROAR 1 insightful - 5 fun1 insightful - 4 fun2 insightful - 5 fun -  (5 children)

I believe that generally individuals with CAIS are considered by the medical establishment to male if they’re being assigned a binary sex.

[–]MarkTwainiac 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I dunno what you mean by "considered by the medical establishment to be male if they're being assigned a binary sex." Most individuals with CAIS are raised as though they were female, but in medical records/charts and when seen and treated in health care settings it's important for clinicians to know and keep in mind the full picture in order to provide the patients with proper care and support. Also, age at diagnosis plays a role. Lots of cases of CAIS traditionally weren't "caught" until adolescence, but nowadays more and more cases are diagnosed at in utero, shortly after birth or in early life.

https://www.issm.info/sexual-health-qa/what-is-complete-androgen-insensitivity-syndrome-cais/

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60071-3/fulltext

BTW, I've read of at least one medical case report of someone with CAIS who was raised as a girl but adopted a male "gender identity" in adolescence and became a transman, including getting a phalloplasty.

[–]HeimdeklediROAR 1 insightful - 7 fun1 insightful - 6 fun2 insightful - 7 fun -  (3 children)

Yes I’m aware sex is a spectrum I was just giving you the usual “binary” answer to the question

[–]MarkTwainiac 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

CAIS actually gives more credence to the fact that sex is binary than a spectrum. Also, I thought your view is that sex is a matrix. Or am confusing you with someone else? If I am, apologies.

[–]BiologyIsReal 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Heimdekledi was who talked about the sex matrix, and Heim have yet to tell us how this matix looks like.

[–]HeimdeklediROAR 1 insightful - 5 fun1 insightful - 4 fun2 insightful - 5 fun -  (0 children)

Matrix would be the proper term as there would be more than one axis of sex traits, but I commonly use the term spectrum as I feel it’s a more commonly understood concept than a matrix