I emailed an advocate from InterACT about the term varsex and they responded by calling it "divisive" and insisted on using intersex for everyone with diverse sex characteristics. Why is there so much resistance against it and why did they respond like this?
there are multiple reasons people would reject varsex as a term:
it started via tumblr
it was coined in 2020, so it's recent (almost 2 years after parsex)
it's broader than intersex
inclusion of altersex experiences or the concept, which is problematic for some
in the context of an intersex organization, it's understandable they reject the term varsex, especially because they are about a specific group which doesn't include every varsex individual. varsex includes developed/acquired experiences that intersex doesn't include. unless we go by some transmedicalists' definition that includes transsex people in intersexness, which goes against the purpose of having an umbrella such as varsex.
there were also people problematizing varsex as a result of discourses around the validity of the label altersex. however, we have never seen a specific publication detailing the reasons for advocating against the use of varsex. altersex, in the other hand, has thorny reasons that people call it out, such as fetishistic/kinky origins of furry art, idealisms, wikis using it to coin perisex-appropriative terms of the intersex status, and more recently somatic dissociation discourse poisoned the feelings of the community, which some people see it as not genuine. alternative broader labels popped up, such as aldernic or transbody (alterbody?).
anyways, it was never our intention to force others to use terms that we prefer as correct or unusual language. they fight for more rights, that would be enough, regardless of the term they are using. some people prefer VSC (variations in sex characteristics). that is cool too, and more formal than varsex, which is still seen as a protologism yet. it's also more vague than VSC, because it's almost synonymous to "sex nonconforming".
if an association wants to include both intersex people with transsex people and people with alternative body plans, we would recommend acronyms like "QTI+" or "ITNB+". but we can see that using transsex specifically is also divisive, as the word transgender is more common (in some cultures and languages).
we believe that people deserve their specific groups to fit in and talk about. that's why varsex exists, it's not to replace existing terms or mainstream identities.
it's also useful for hypercategorizers and database subclassifications.
