#asab language

[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.

[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.

[taliabhattwrites]

On the limitations of 'AFAB' and its attendant epistemic anxieties

Like, let's actually talk about the shortcomings of these linguistic tools, and how we--all of us--have been failed by those at the supposed bleeding edge of gender theory.

[king-salsa]

not to be a prescriptivist but ASAB/AGAB language was intended be used to describe the event itself and is typically an action performed by someone present at your birth (ie the doctor or midwife or parent depending on circumstances), and not an ongoing state of being. it does not entirely make sense to me when people describe themselves as "assigned male/female at birth" in the present tense. i am not currently being assigned male at birth when that birth was decades ago. i'm not even saying you have to abandon AMAB and AFAB it's just a matter of semantics. also stop making it the nouveau binary.

[binaryabolition]

death to AGAB! here's some ways to cut AGAB terminology out of your conversations:

if you need to discuss anatomy, just say "people with (organ)". AGAB is an extremely terrible and unreliable way to discuss anatomy, especially with intersex and transgenital individuals existing.

if you need to discuss misogyny, i personally like using "misogyny-affected''. it's simple, to the point, and doesn't exclude trans people for no reason.

if you need to discuss a dating or living preference, please look into what it is that you associate with each AGAB into your preference. if it's a genital preference, please just say that; it's a million times better than saying "i prefer AMABs/AFABs". if you prefer certain secondary sex characteristics, those aren't even exclusive to AGAB at all and it is transsexist to assume that they are.

if you're trying to talk about people with certain histories (growing up as a certain gender), AGAB is still a terrible way to do so and excludes intersex people and those who transition early. just say "people who grew up as boys" and "people who grew up as girls". or you can even just say "misogyny-affected in childhood".

[primadonna-sys]

Was very excited to find 'It's Totally Normal!: An LGBTQIA+ Guide to Puberty, Sex, and Gender'. And then I found out that the authors use 'AMAB' and 'AFAB' as replacements for 'male' and 'female' because "it is transgender and intersex inclusive". No the fuck is isn't?!

"I'm treating AGAB as the same thing as sex. This definitely doesn't erase intersex people who were assigned female or male at birth." Fuck you?!?!

Also they use AFAB & AMAB as nouns which. Seriously? You're not even gonna bother to learn how to use the words right?

And 'female' and 'male' DO include transgender people so like. What's the point?!

[cherryaire]

i beg of people to stop misusing ASAB language! if you are perisex, it was not designed for you!

[adversarysmile]

>looking for a good term

>ask the activist if their term is invented by intersex or trans people or by the people abusing them

>they dont understand

>pull out illustrated diagram explaining what is intersex and trans history

>they laugh and says "it's a good term sir"

>looks up the term

>it's John Money