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[–]valleyoftherogue 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (23 children)

DNA is the final arbiter. If there is a "Y" chromosome, that baby is male. No ambiguity about it.

[–]Lyssa 21 insightful - 2 fun21 insightful - 1 fun22 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Has your DNA been observed in the delivery room? Mine hasn't. We indeed do know the chromosomes of my daughter thanks to modern pre-natal screening but that still is not the case for most births. A baby with CAIS has XY chromosomes but female genitalia.

I have recently learned here from another poster that most intersex conditions are apparent for medical professionals but some are not.

In any case: Why should I or anybody decide in those rare cases over the heads of those affected what the "final arbiter" is? And btw: for biologists it would be gonads. Not chromosomes.

[–]Spikygrasspod 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Mmm, but if there's something like CAIS, where the body develops under the influence of female hormones, that person will look female, and possibly have female genitalia, so it might be practical and humane to assign them the legal sex of female. In a world where we treat people as male or female, parents have to make the best decision about how to raise their child, what to tell people, etc. I think that's what assigned means here.