#altersex

So, for the sake of awareness, here is a very brief rundown of what sex/gender reassignment surgeries exist:

Vaginoplasty: The (re)construction of a vaginal canal. The depth and width of the canal is semi-customizable, and depends on what tissue you decide to use for its creation.

Vulvoplasty: The (re)construction of the outer vulva (labia, clitoris, etc.) When this is done on a penis, the patient can choose whether or not they wish to place the labia atop/above/below the scrotum, or to turn the scrotum itself into labia.

Phallus-Preserving Vaginoplasty/PPV: A vaginoplasty on someone who has a penis or clitorophallus, which preserves the phallus while creating a vagina beneath it. Can also become a phallus preserving vulvoplasty, if labia and a clitoris are crafted beneath the phallus.

Metoidioplasty: The release of a clitoris that has been enlarged by androgens (clitoromegaly), either from HRT or from an intersex variation. The ligaments that hold the clitoris down are cut, allowing it to point upwards when erect. If this is done without any other alterations to the genitals, it is known as a Simple-Release Metoidioplasty. If other alterations are desired, the person can choose to create a scrotum (and choose if they desire testicular implants), can choose to have the vagina removed (if one is present), and can choose to move the urethra to the tip of the phallus (unless the individual already had clitoris-placed epispadias.)

Phalloplasty: The (re)construction of a penis. When done to someone with a pre-existing phallus, the person can choose whether or not they want the phallus buried within the newly crafted penis (leaving the person with only one phallus), or if they want to create the penis separately above the pre-existing phallus (leaving the person with two phalluses.) If they have a vagina, they may choose to preserve the vagina (Vagina-Preserving Phalloplasty/VPP), or have it removed. A person can choose whether or not they want their newly crafted penis to have glans, a scrotum (with or without testicular implants), or the urethra moved to the tip.

Nullification: The removal of the genitals, leaving a mostly-smooth space behind. A person can choose to keep the pleasure nerves and have them buried beneath the skin, or have them removed. If they have a pre-existing vagina, they may choose whether or not they wish to remove it.

Penectomy/Clitoroidectomy: The removal of a phallus.

Labiaplasty: The creation, removal, or reshaping of the labia.

Circumcision/Hoodectomy: The removal of the foreskin/clitoral hood.

Dorsal Slit/Ventril Slit: The creation of a slit within the foreskin.

Urethroplasty: The (re)construction of the urethra, possibly moving it to a new location.

Perineal Urethrostomy: The opening of a urethra on the perineum. This procedure can be essential to the preservation of the genital nerves for people with certain intersex variations, such as some cases of urethral agenesis or urethral hypoplasia.

Phallus Splitting: The splitting of a phallus (typically a penis) in half. This could be the entire phallus split in half (creating two separate penises), or just the glans.

Genital Beading: The insertion of beads within the shaft of a phallus, or within the labia. These beads could be of any shape (circular, square, stars, etc).

Hysterectomy/Uterectomy: The removal of part or all of the uterus.

Uteroplasty/Hysteroplasty/Metroplasty: The merging of two halves of a uterus/two uteruses, done to those who have bicornuate uterus, septate uterus, or uterus didelphys (septate type, bicornuate type, and complete type.)

Cervical (Re)construction: The (re)construction of a cervix, often done due to cervical damage or for intersex people who have cervical agenesis, cervical hypoplasia, or cervical duplication.

Trachelectomy: The removal of part or all of the cervix.

Prostatectomy: The removal of part or all of the prostate.

Gonadectomy: The removal of a gonad (ovary, testicle, ovoteste.) Oophorectomy refers to the removal of an ovary, and Orchiectomy refers to the removal of a teste.

Orchiopexy: A procedure to move the teste/ovoteste into the genital area of an intersex person with cryptorchidism.

Vastectomy: A procedure to snip the vas deferens, in order to halt fertility. This procedure may or may not be reversible.

Tubal Ligation: A procedure to tie or snip the fallopian tubes, in order to halt fertility. This procedure may or may not be reversible.

Salpingectomy: A procedure to remove a fallopian tube.

Mastectomy: The removal of a breast.

Breast Reduction: The removal of some breast tissue, reducing its size.

Nipple Reduction: The removal of some of the nipple, reducing its size.

Nipple Excision: The removal of a nipple.

Areola Reduction: The removal of some of the areola, reducing it's size.

Nipple (Re)construction: The (re)construction of the nipple.

Mammaplasty: The creation or reshaping of the breast. Breast Augmentation is a subset of this, describing a procedure done to increase the size of breasts. Mastopexy/Breast Lift is a subset of this, describing the lift of saggy breasts.

Tracheal Shave: The shaving of the Adam's apple, reducing its size.

Feminizing Laryngoplasty: The shaving of the vocal chords, increasing the pitch of the voice, as well as potentially reducing the size of the Adam's apple.

not all nonbinary people use they them or even like the set. nonbinary people can use he him, she her, it its, neopronouns, or any combination of these. it is perfectly acceptable and encouraged to default to they them if you do not know a persons pronouns, but the best way to know how to call a nonbinary person is to just ask us.

nonbinary people are not "theys" or "thems" or "they thems" or any term that simplifies us to pronouns. we are not all "things" or "creatures." there are absolutely nonbinary people who are alright with, or even use, these terms, but many of us do not like the dehumanizing aspect of it and find it offensive. the best way to know how to refer to us is to just ask us.

nonbinary people may present any way they want. they can present femininely, masculinely, neutrally, androgynously, or with any other modality. nonbinary people are not required to present "opposite" of their sex and we are not required to present neutrally or androgynously.

nonbinary people can be straight just as they can be gay or lesbian. not all nonbinary people are multisexual. it is entirely up to the person to decide how to label themselves. some nonbinary people use these more well known terms and some use terms made explicitly for nonbinary people such as trixic, toric, enbian, ceterosexual, gai, strayt, uranic, neptunic, and so many more. some nonbinary people use multiple attraction labels and some only use one. some nonbinary people use consistent labels and some nonbinary people use contradictory ones. it is entirely up to the person to decide how to label themselves.

nonbinary people can choose to transition socially, medically, or both. some nonbinary people pick a different name and some use their birth name. some nonbinary people choose a gender neutral name and some choose explicitly masculine or feminine ones. some nonbinary people want to start HRT and some do not. some nonbinary people choose to take typically prescribed amounts and some choose to microdose HRT. some nonbinary people go through the medilegal process and some DIY. some nonbinary people want top surgery and others dont. some nonbinary people desire opposite genitalia and some nonbinary people are fine with their current. some nonbinary people are altersex and desire a mix, combination, or lack of genitalia. some nonbinary people are intersex and many of us are perisex or dyadic.

AGAB is literally just the letter your doctors put on your birth certificate when you were fresh out of the womb. That’s it. It literally only describes how you looked as an infant, and even then, there are many cases where it does not represent the whole story.

It's okay to like androgyny as a non-binary person

It's okay to owe yourself androgyny as a non-binary person

It's okay to transition to androgyny as a non-binary person

It's okay to be transandrogynous

It's okay to love mixing masculinity and femininity into androgyny as a non-binary person

It's okay for your enbiness to be androgynous

It's okay to love being androgynous as a non-binary person

It's okay to want to have a mixed hormonal profile as a non-binary person

It's okay to want salmactive bottom surgery procedures a non-binary person

It's okay to not be white, or assigned a certain gender at birth and want to be androgynous as a non-binary person

If anything it's beautiful. It's wonderful. It's awesome.

1: "Intersex people are biologically nonbinary, which proves the existence of genders other than male/female."

This sucks. Intersex people are not biologically nonbinary, because being nonbinary typically has to do with gender, not sex. However, I am giving this the slightest amount of credit, simply because at least it acknowledges that intersex people exist and that genders other than male/female exist. I see this statement a lot and honestly it sucks. Intersex people and nonbinary people can be valid without one explaining the other. 1/10

2: "Some people aren't afab or amab. Those people are called intersex."

Bad bad bad I hate it. Asab/agab language has a lot of shitty things about it, most notably in the way it harms trans and intersex people. Like, y'all know that intersex people are usually still assigned male or female at birth, right? Often through IGM. And there's also those like me, who were reassigned male or female later after birth. We're still intersex. It's INCREDIBLY rare for intersex people to not be assigned a sex/gender at some point in their life. There's literally no truth in this. 0/10

3: "Intersex people can't have both."

If you're familiar with my blog, you already know my thoughts on this statement. I debated on whether or not I should add this one here, since I've seen it come from other intersex people a lot too, but whatever. I'm going to give it at least some credit for the ATTEMPT to teach people what ambiguous genitalia is actually like on intersex people, but it falls short in so many ways. Links to more of my discussion on this sentiment here: Link 1! Link 2! Link 3! 1/10

4: "Intersex people aren't actually a third sex, they are just males and females with disorders of sexual development."

Fuuuuck youuuuu. The only reason this one isn't a 0/10 is because it's technically true that intersex people aren't a "third sex", since there's a virtually infinite amount of ways for us to be. But also, it's incredibly disrespectful to call intersex conditions "disorders of sexual development", or "DSDs". Intersex bodies aren't disorders, we are just atypical. 1/10

5: "Being intersex means you are a mix of male and female."

No, wrong. Being intersex means you are born with atypical sex traits, or have atypical sex traits develop without external reasons. (Some variation is allowed in this definition, depending on what intersex person you're speaking to. And that is okay!) There are plenty of intersex people whose traits aren't a mix of male and female. Also, this is disrespectful to transgender and nonbinary perisex people who consider themselves to be a mix of male and female, or who have a mix of male and female sex traits from HRT, surgery, etc. I'm not going to give this statement any credit, because I can't find anything true about it. 0/10

6: "This is my intersex oc! Can you help me write a sex scene for them?"

A lot of intersex blogs get asked this, and it gets annoying. They often don't specify what intersex variation/traits their oc has, since they think being intersex is one specific thing. And like. You can probably figure out how to write a sex scene for an intersex character all on your own if you just listen to us talk about our experiences with sex/masturbation instead of dumping your specific idea of intersexuality on us and expecting to get advice other than "research actually intersex people using intersex-supportive sources". I will give this one credit for attempting to be supportive of intersex people, though. 3/10

7: "I wish I was intersex."

I sympathize with you. This sentence almost always comes from a place of dysphoria, but the person saying it usually doesn't realize what being intersex entails. We're almost always still forced into male and female boxes, with IGM and forced HRT. Being intersex wouldn't alleviate your dysphoria, because you'd still likely be forced one way or another. They also don't specify what kind of sex traits they want, because they think being intersex is one specific way of being. Perhaps a better statement you could say would be "I wish I had sex traits atypical of pericis males/females," because there's nothing wrong with that, and that is in fact achievable! You can get HRT and surgeries to also have atypical sex traits, and it's completely fine, awesome, valid, and normal. You can do all that without being intersex, and often times it's easier to access the HRT and surgeries you need when you're perisex. I rate this sentence in between bad and good, because it usually just comes from a place of misunderstanding, and can be corrected with some explaining. 3/10

8: "Intersex people are awesome and I should give them my money."

Call it androgenizing HRT. Call it estrogenizing HRT. But please stop applying femininity and masculinity to it as an inherent trait.

It's really invalidating for transandrogynous, transneutral, transnull, transgenderless, transxenine, transoutherine, transaporine, and some multigender or mixed gender people who want to transition, and are being grouped into "feminizing" and "masculinizing" categories.

Not to mention intersex people with hormonal variations who need to use HRT. Or altersex/transsex people whose desired sex does not reflect their gender.

This isn’t an easy decision at all. We have been contemplating this decision for months. But we decided that this is the best decision for our own mental and physical health. It’s not just this blog either, but the majority of social media we engage in.

We are pretty sure we’re fully done with it this time. We deeply appreciate all of you and your wonderful words, and am so proud of you and the work we did together to uplift each others voices. I will deeply deeply miss you and running this blog. But there has been so many issues, so much infighting, so much bearing on our back that I simply, for my own sake, can’t keep working on this blog.

I have contemplated giving this blog to someone else to run, but we are unsure of who would be up to do that, let alone trust to run this blog. It has a lot of influence in interblr, that is a fact. At almost 2,000 followers, it’s a heavy burden to trust someone with this. So, for now, after the queue runs out, that’s it. The blog wont be posting anymore. Im sorry.

I want you all to know this; the world, it’s so much larger than the internet. There are mountains, and valleys, and oceans, and creatures and people that won’t read a hateful tumblr post or tweet and decide not to embrace you. You are a part of this universe, and the universe wants you here. Don’t give up. You are worthy of everything you want, everything you strive for. I believe in you.

Thank you so much for the, admittedly, short time we had together. Ashé.