Thoughts on Intersex People

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[–]TheOnyxGoddess 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Thanks for replying, I already established that someone with a Y chromosome would be male no matter what (as it's only males with a Y chromosome) and that the law should not change to cater to such a tiny minority, but lately that feels like a weak argument in my head and I began wondering if maybe I haven't done enough research to properly argue, which seems downright concerning. I tried looking up the characteristics of intersex people because people say "they share the caracteristics of both sex", the best I get is they're either sterile, or their secondary sexual characteristics do not work, or they have an incidents where they are developing those secondary characteristics have begun functioning when they hit puberty (though, that part was anecdotal, I haven't managed to find something which disproves those incidents), which made me think I really got to question my understanding of human physiology because I'm worried that I have made some incorrect assumption (it seems like my assumptions are confirmed to be correct and I'm on the right track).

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

Zach Elliot at the Paradox Institute has done an excellent series of clear, short videos explaining DSDs in general, and is doing a series giving each specific DSD condition its own dedicated video. He also provides written transcripts of each video in PDF form, and lists all his sources.

https://www.theparadoxinstitute.com/pi.html

I suggest following him on Twitter too. He's quite bright and an excellent communicator.

My own approach - and advice - is to avoid using the term "intersex" altogether, and instead use other terms such as DSDs (differences/disorders of sex development), VSCs (variations of sex characteristics).

My own approach -and advice - is also to avoid making generalizations about DSDS, a group of very diverse medical conditions that really don't belong lumped together. DSDs are as different to one another as, say, blood disorders are. Just as there's a huge difference between hemophilia, leukemia, hereditary hemochromatosis, iron deficiency anemia, pernicious anemia, thrombophlebitis and so on, there's a huge difference between all the various DSDs.

Moreover, most DSDs are sex-specific. In other words, they occur only in either males or females. There are some that affect the development of male humans, and others that affect the development of female humans. No one with a DSD is in-between sexes or a combination of sexes. All are male or female.

I tried looking up the characteristics of intersex people because people say "they share the caracteristics of both sex", the best I get is they're either sterile, or their secondary sexual characteristics do not work, or they have an incidents where they are developong those secondary characteristics have begun functioning when they hit puberty

None of the generalizations in that sentence apply to all of the conditions commonly lumped together under the term "intersex" or DSD.

Many TRAs use the intersex condition in their arguments.

Which just goes to show they don't know what they are talking about. Fact is, there is no such thing as "the intersex condition."

[–]lefterfield 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Sounds like you have the right assumptions, yes. I know when you get a lot of people bombarding you with tangential nonsense you might start to second-guess yourself. That's what they count on. I just wouldn't worry about arguing about intersex conditions at all. A lot of TRAs that I've seen will say things blatantly untrue, and when asked for evidence will post things that contradict themselves and they'll STILL keep saying it. It's completely useless. They don't give two shits about intersex people themselves, anyway.

[–]TheOnyxGoddess 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Oh definitely. I just really want to cover my bases the next time someone makes a bullshit comment and then I'm left regretting that there's not enough to call people out on their bullshit in this area, because TRAs are using it.