#juxtasex

[imoga-pride]

Do you know what the category for terms like intersex and perisex is called?

Like how cis, trans, iso, etc. has gender modality / sex modality. It's like gender/sex modality in that it describes a specific relation to gender/sex, but unlike gender/sex modality, it's not about correspondence/transitioning and is just what a person is born with. And, typically anyways, those modalities aren't genders/sexes in it of themselves, like man/woman/nonbinary/etc. would be the actual gender, and cis/trans/iso/etc. is the relationship to said gender, but intersex/perisex kinda(?) are sexes.

Terms that fit, I guess, from what I know:

Sex characteristics (link): some jurisdictions use this term over just "sex" to encompass the legal protections intersex people have geolocally. For example, the term sex-based discrimination typically refer to sexism or misogyny, whereas sentences using this term, such as 'discrimination due to sex characteristics', could emphasize the inclusion of intersexism;

Sex traits ([w]; [x]; [y]; [z]): this is an alternative to sex characteristics

The term variations also appear, however, the term variations in sex characteristics (VSC) implies it refers to variance, so dyadic wouldn't be included. However, the terms "endosex variations" and "perisex variations" are in use by some.

Sexness/sexedness or sexuation/sexuatedness (from intersexness and intersexuation, meaning intersexedness) could be a thing, however they are mostly about the (cap)ability to reproduce sexually (sexedly)/sexedliness.

I'm not sure if people used the term "sex alignment" but this could also refer to multiple things contextually.

Sex identity is also used, however many would not see intersexness as solely identitary.

Edit: @queercripintersex reblogged with: Pretty sure I've seen "intersex status" used for this and depending on context may be a good option

Comment: I also saw @intersex-questions referring to altersex terms as sex labels, so that's an option, sounds more for hyponyms.

[ipso-faculty]

I just wanted to ask for clarification on the redefinition of the term mesosex, am I correct in assuming that it no longer describes me? I'm someone who had started identifying with the term due to being part of the "group 8" that you described in your original discussion as being the intended audience:

Not seen as intersex by intersex people: PMDD, endometriosis, and other reproductive disorders, who may relate to the intersex experience anyway. Reading asks that @queercripintersex got from people in this category was what gave me the seed of the idea for mesosex.

More specifically, I have endometriosis which seems to be related to low progesterone, and now that I'm on progesterone HRT to treat my endo I'm having the weird experience of undergoing hormonal feminization (breast growth, fat redistribution, etc) for the first time at the age of 25. So I'm technically perisex, but it feels kinda weird calling myself that when I'm an afab person on feminizing HRT that's making me go through the same physical changes my transfem friends are going through 😅 I also feel that I identify with some of the experiences I've heard from intersex people about social ostracization due to not fitting in with society's ideas about sex and gender. I was treated differently as a teenager by some people due to not "looking like" a girl for one, and personally I also feel alienated when people (primarily transphobes tbh) talk about how a universal and important experience of growing up as a girl is that after you go through puberty strangers start sexualizing you, because I... never experienced that. My body just didn't develop that way (not that I'm complaining, but you know)

I just wanted to make sure like... should I stop using the term? I thought I had found something that described my experiences, but if I no longer fit the definition then I don't want to be like disrespectful or anything

Hi! Thank you for the ask! 🩵

So my first reaction on glancing at your ask was "maybe there should be a term for the group 8 people". 🤔

But then I sat down and properly read your ask, and... I'm not actually sure you're group 8? 🤔 My personal conviction is that an AFAB with chronically low progesterone to an extent that it would have had noticeable effects on pubertal development & social development is intersex in the same ways that somebody with chronically low estrogen is considered intersex.

Hypogonadism is in InterAct's list of variations, and I don't see how hypoprogesteronism wouldn't be be a kind of hypogonadism. 🧐 Wikipedia includes low progesterone in their page on hypogonadism. Here's how InterAct defines it:

Similarly, MOGAI wiki defines hypogonadism as intersex and explicitly mentions low progesterone. But I can see somebody dismissing MOGAI wiki as being on the more radical side of things.

So for the most conservative/intermedicalist takes within the pan-intersex community I look to what ISNA has on their website. And they list hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism as an intersex variation - i.e. hypogonadism wherein you don't have a complete puberty, which it sounds like could be the case for you?

So to me I think you're actually in group 5? 😅 So the redefinition of mesosex is still scoped in a way that (as far as I'm concerned) would still include you. 🤠

But if I've misunderstood your case and you don't think hypogonadism applies, perhaps there is a need to create a word for what I had dubbed group 8 (people with reproductive disorders that identify with intersex people but whom are not generally accepted as intersex by the intersex community). Maybe juxtasex could be repurposed for this since it never really got taken up as a term for non-intersex? Or a new word entirely? 🤔

Though honestly I don't know how big the demand is. NGL: every time I've interacted with somebody with PMDD/endometriosis who identifies with intersex people, once they start explaining why, I get the distinct impression they have an intersex variation that has been underexplored. 🤷 I kinda suspect that the PMDD/endometriosis people who aren't sure if they're intersex would be served by the already existing term "extersex". 👀

IDK, let me know what you think! Happy to think about coining new terms. 🤓

[themogaidragon]

Dyadic

PT: Dyadic /end PT

Dyadic (or intrasex, perisex, endosex, juxtasex): a term used to refer to people who are not intersex, meaning individuals who were born with sex characteristics which could be categorized into male or female at the time of birth without deviation and who do not have any sort of chromosomal or hormonal deviation which is realized later in life.

Dyadic people fall into one of two categories:

1) AFAB dyadic/intrasex/perisex/endosex/juxtasex, müllerian

Have XX chromosomes.

Was born with external genitals which were identified as a vagina/vulva.

Was born with a uterus and ovaries.

Upon natural puberty, experienced development of secondary sex characteristics indicative of increased estrogen levels.

Dyadic people that meet these qualification are typically AFAB, although, not all AFAB people are dyadic.

2) AMAB dyadic/intrasex/perisex/endosex/juxtasex, wolffian

Have XY chromosomes.

Was born with external genitals which were identified as a penis and scrotum.

Was born with testes.

Upon natural puberty, experienced development of secondary sex characteristics indicative of increased testosterone levels.

Dyadic people that meet these qualification are typically AMAB, although, not all AMAB people are dyadic.

If someone meets some, but not all the requirements of a certain category, or meets some requirements in both categories, they can be considered intersex. If someone is born dyadic, but changes their sex characteristics later in life (either through surgery or HRT), such that they no longer meet the qualifications listed above they may identify as altersex and/or transsex since intersex variations aren't caused by human intervention.

Nowadays dyadic isn't really used by the intersex community since it meaning "two" reinforces the misconception that sex is a strict binary,comes from violent medical practice and has aggressive racist and binarist implications (link). Perisex was coined by non-intersex individuals who disliked being called dyadic. Endosex is more often used and recognized, some intersex individuals prefer endosex over perisex and dyadic. The term intrasex is the most logical word for non-intersex individuals but it is not used often because of how similar it looks and sounds to intersex. The term juxtasex was created as alternative, which some intersex individuals prefer, but it's not widely known.

The flag was coined by Deviantart user FlagsForCisHets (link).

[intersexfairy]

can i ask why you seem opposed to perisex, in a previous ask? this isn't a "gotcha" this is like ... i genuinely dont know what the argument against it is? and im intersex, so you know where im coming from, i just wanna know whats up w/ that term? :o

As far as I know it was coined by dyadic people who didn't like being called dyadic. I don't know how true it is since I cant find who coined it, but based on old posts from intersex tumblr (which you can find in the citations for perisex on its page on LGBTA wikia) it seems so.

Dyadic people also seem to use perisex most of the time, meanwhile when I joined intersex circles outside tumblr the term we used was dyadic and you had people asking what perisex even was.

There's also the fact that peri means "around" and you could technically call me "around" one of the two binary sexes, but that doesn't make me not intersex.

In past asks about this (which you can find by looking thru my #hellbox or #yaybox tags), I've expressed neutrality around perisex but as time goes on I'm really all about dyadic, even if dyadic people didn't coin it.

There are so many words created to mean dyadic (see the tags) and I'm not even sure if the other ones were coined by us either. Dyadic at the end of the day seems to be the word we've clung to most and it feels more like Our Word than people just trying to make a word that visually looks like the exact opposite of intersex.