so, with CT[X] labels, in your opinion, what's the... best? most proper? correct? reasoning for applying a CT[X] label to oneself? for euphoria? for avoiding dysphoria? for describing one's body? for describing how one is perceived by others? for describing how one perceives oneself? for describing one's experiences with being gendered? we've been tossing around the idea in our head of whether we self-apply CTF, or self-apply CTA, or even CTM. hell, maybe we simply apply none at all, or several if that's even a possibility. and we're not seeing as much discussion on these terms as we'd like to to use as scaffolding for our own introspection in regards to it, so. gestures. yeah. thank you!!
So! The most "proper" usage of this term is honestly...whatever you think best describes your experience?
When we created the terms CTF and CTM initially, it was because intersex people in our life at the time kept being gatekept out of intersex spaces for being "too male" or "too female", and wanted to remain anonymous, so asked us to create terms for them. Initially these were created to be used like "oh, I am CTF, which means people view me as SPETE [link] in most settings but I'm actually intersex."
PLEASE keep in mind, we were all teenagers (us and the people requesting the terms) during its creation. The coining of these terms were far from perfect at the time.
Basically, the terms were made not necessarily to just describe physical traits, but to describe how ones variation causes society to treat oneself, and how ones own perception of oneself develops as a result. (Sort of similar to how mesosex was created for people who didn't feel "intersex enough" by perisex standards)
The community latched onto it, but there developed a subset of exclusionists that began using it to say "this variation is CTF! This variation is CTM!" when it was never meant to be applied like that. No variation is inherently anything.
We created CTA and CTN, and then people began creating terms like CTFA, CTFN, CTMN, CTMA, CTFM, CTFAM, CTFAN, etc.
People ask us often how to "use it correctly" and "what variations count as _" and we always have to answer saying that's not up for us to decide because it's self interpretive. Is hyperandrogenic PCOS CTF, CTM, CTA, a mixture? Idk! Depends on who you ask! "I have a mullerian duct and people treat me as SPETE that is disordered, that makes me CTF" one person may say, while another person says "I have higher androgens, lots of body hair, a deep voice, and clitoromegaly, that's CTM", meanwhile another says "my mixed sex traits make me CTA!"
See how all of these things can make sense? That's because intersexuality can't really be classified into these strict categories. Another example is that there are people with Turner syndrome who consider themselves CTF, CTN, both, etc.
The examples can go on and on, but our point is none of them are "right" or "wrong."
Basically, in conclusion - the only correct usage of these terms are...well, whatever you make of them! Do you want it to describe how others view you? Go for it. Do you want it to describe how you view your own traits? Go for it! Do you want it to describe a bit of both? Go for it! Do you not feel drawn to them at all? Don't use them!
All it was ever meant to do was to give intersex people additional language that they can personally interpret. Think of this scenario in a new context - it's like how intersex people interpret terms like cis and trans their own ways, too, and use terms like ipsogender, ultergender, intergender, etc. What one intersex person may consider cisgender for themself can be transgender for another intersex person, or neither for another, or both for another, or an intersex person can refuse to use any gender labels whatsoever, and all of those are perfectly fine options to take.
