#agab

[bunnyinatree]

“… sex assignment is not simply an announcement of the sex that an infant is perceived to be; it also communicates a set of adult desires and expectations. The infant’s future is often being imagined or desired through the act of sex assignment, so sex assignment is not a simple description of anatomical facts, but a way of imagining what they will mean, or should mean. That imagining comes from elsewhere, and it does not exactly stop after sex has been legally or medically determined at birth. The girl continues to be girled; the boy continues to be boyed; and these practices of girling and boying are repeated not just by parents, but also by a range of institutions that greet the child with boxes to be checked and norms to be embodied. In a sense, sex assignment does not happen just once. It is an iterative process, repeated by different actors and institutions, and depending on where one lives, it can be reiterated in ways that are not always in conformity with one another. Sex assignment is not a mechanism, but a process.”

— Judith Butler, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?”

[this-is-varsexism-transphobia]

"AFAB/AMAB reader" is improper! Writers, please stop.

[PT: "AFAB/AMAB reader" is improper! Writers, please stop.]

AGAB =/= anatomy! Intersex people can be AFAB or AMAB, and anyone (intersex or perisex) can go through sex-altering surgeries or HRT!

Please, I am begging people to popularize the following as tags:

#Estrogenized-leaning reader (Or "#E-lean reader" for short) #Androgenized-leaning reader (Or "#A-lean reader" for short) #Androestrogenized-leaning reader (or "#Anes-lean reader" for short) #Unspecified reader (or "#Unspec reader" for short)

To add along with the previous tags, if genital anatomy is necessary to discuss:

#Reader with penoscrotal setup (or "#Reader w PSS" for short) #Reader with vulvovaginal setup (or #Reader w VVS" for short) #Reader with ambiguous setup (or "#Reader w AS" for short)

To add along with the previous tags, if reproductive anatomy is necessary to discuss:

#Reader who menstruates #Reader impregnation (with the mpreg, fpreg, & enpreg/nbpreg hashtags.) #Reader with seminal vesicles (or "#Reader w semves" for short) #Reader with prostate

And ofc, these aren't gender tags! Add gender tags! These are anatomy [PT: anatomy] tags.

Don't come at me with the "thats too many tagsssss" bullshit, either. Thats like, five tags max, and only if all three categories are relevant to your story.

Example:

#A-lean reader #Reader with PSS #Mpreg #Reader impregnation #male reader

Please separate sex from the binary in your mind if you want to be an actual LGBTQIA+ ally.

[cringelordofchaos]

"amab genitalia" doesn't mean anything. There are intersex amabs with genitalia different from most perisex cis men's. there are transfeminine amabs who've gotten surgery which makes their genitalia different from most cis men's. if you mean "having a dick", or perisex cis male genitalia, then say that

Edit: and even "perisex cis male" doesn't narrow it down! It's rare, but they can also have genitalia that doesn't conform to your expectations. Penis, scrotum, vagina, vulva and etc. are not bad words!

ANOTHER EDIT (that will probably go unnoticed); also, describing a set of genitalia as "perisex cis male" would be wrong as there are people that aren't perisex cis male that still have the genitalia or bodies people typically refer to, so it'd be inaccurate.

[thisis-intersexism]

Intersexism is people genuinely believe that AGAB/ASAB means "a [X] at birth" (ex: "a female at birth") that's. No. That's not what that means.

The way that AGAB/ASAB language has been so heavily bastardized and changed to now being honestly completely incoherent in 90% of contexts is so baffling to me. There is a difference between assigned gender, biological sex characteristics, a socially imposed gender/sex, and your gender and sexual identity, all of which can coincide or contradict with each other in nuanced, individual ways. You weren't a "female" at birth, you were assigned that sexual label in order to categorize you into a gender that will be imposed onto you, whether that's consistent or inconsistent.

The fact that this was said by an intersex creator is baffling.

Edit: they made a Tiktok saying transfem's experience more oppression than transmascs yeah they're cooked.

[status-quo-hater]

Since everyone uses AGAB to refer to way more shit than what it should be used for, here's some suggestions.

Instead of "AFAB/AMAB childhood", say "raised as a girl/boy" or "imposed female/male in childhood", you could even say your SIG was male or female, this would be a fine use of intersex terminology by perisex people.

Not everyone AMAB was raised as a boy. Not everyone AFAB was raised as a girl. Some (intersex) people were even legally, socially, and/or medically Reassigned a Gender After Birth (RGAB). You should not use AGAB when referring to what someone was raised as, because it erases people who weren't raised the way you'd expect.

Instead of "AFAB/AMAB bodies", say words you mean, if you are talking about periods, say periods, if you are talking about penises, say penis, if you are talking about breast development, say breast development, if you are talking about a vulva, say vulva, if you are talking about testosterone puberty, say testosterone puberty.

If you are looking for words to replace "male" and "female" as not to misgender trans people, say "people with TWDP" or "people with TMDP" Note this terminology only applies to perisex people, including people who have had these traits changed later in life, or had their development altered by outside influences, you could say folks like this have an Altered-TSDP, (Typical Sex Development Pathway) if it is relevant.

Not everyone AMAB has (or had) the same body parts, testosterone puberty, hormone levels, or voices. Not everyone AFAB has (or had) the same body parts, estrogen puberty, hormone levels, menstruation, or voices. Using AGAB to refer to these things erases people who don't fit into this binary, such as intersex people, and trans people who started their transition in childhood and had access to puberty blockers.

Instead of "AFAB trans people and AMAB trans people", say "trans people - ", and then talk about whatever specific thing you're using AGAB as a substitute for.

There is no reason to group sex variant people by what they were assigned at birth (a system of oppression against sex variant people) and then tack on a bunch of perinormative and transphobic assumptions about the rest of their lives based on that assignment.

If you do that, you are being intersexist and transphobic. You are just participating in the further oppression of sex variant people.

[roomwithavoid]

unfriendly pissed off reminder that “afab” does not mean “has a vagina/uterus” and “amab” does not mean “has a penis/testes”

agab is something that happened to you, not something you are. and frankly, it’s not generally useful even in a medical context. there isn’t really any context in which agab is more useful than just saying “has a uterus” or “has a penis”

stop using “agab” terminology to make your bio-essentialism sound progressive

[transfemboygirl]

i'm not afab or amab, i'm intersex. my agab means nothing, it doesn't say what i do or don't experience, it doesn't say what i can or can't talk about. i've had multiple doctors CHANGE my agab over 5 times growing up. you can't decide what i am because doctors can't even decide. why should i or other intersex people let perisex strangers decide labels for us?

it doesn't matter if you've been told "all intersex people are still afab/amab" because that isn't true. what is true is intersex bodies are commonly forced into one through surgery or forced horomones. that doesn't make them afab or amab, that just makes them a victim of a perisex driven world.

i'm tired of seeing perisex people force me into an agab. especially when it's most commonly whichever they hate more / sees as the enemy. a lot is just plain unhidden sexism. to random people im suddenly afab if im too whiny, im suddenly amab if im too aggressive. then the most recent one is im suddenly afab if i say i support trans men and intersex people..??? as if either is an afab only club? people who do this need to unpack why they're doing it, and preferably stop. i'm so tired.

⚠️ Do not use they/them if talking about me to others in reblogs/comments. I have neopronouns in my pinned post ⚠️