#cagab

Intersex people CAFAB and imposed female sometimes experience forced vaginal dilations in a doctor's office throughout childhood, in order to make the vagina large enough for 'use' by a future husband. This is painful and done regardless of whether or not the child protests. I've heard the response from the doctors and nurses compared to the way they respond to a child being scared of a necessary shot.

I also need people to know that of most surgical reassignment cases of intersex people, most of the time they are made "female" simply because it's easier for the surgeon to remove parts than it is to construct new ones. These surgeries are first and foremost cosmetic, do not forget that.

I've gone over this before (link), but I'll copy/paste what I've already said as I go through the apparent sources

The Ciba Collections mention "assigned sex of rearing" (1948) in the chapter about about sexual differentiation, with that page being about (CW drawn nude diagrams) Gonadal Dysgenesis (link). It doesn't appear to be discussing trans people at all nor does it use coercive(ly).

The 1965 "source" uses transgender the "same year" it was coined (doubtful), mentions papers from 2007, doesn't use coercive(ly), and clearly states it is the 20th edition—which came out in 2008, unlike the 15th edition which came out in 1965. An archived version of the 15th edition, from the actual publication date of 1965, is available on Internet Archive (link)—it doesn't mention trans people.

The 2002 claim is so easily debunkable it's not even funny. You can read it here (PDF). At the top, one of the first things to be written is "2002 (updated in 2011) from Timtum: A Trans Jew Zine", which originally was published in 1999 by the same author. You can scroll to read the scanned page (29-)31 here (link) (edit, if not, it can be viewed here [link]), CAFAB is not used in the original (nor does it explain how it was coined)

Claudia Johnson (quoted in Cosmopolitan) is a relationship, intimacy, and sex therapist, and I'm unable to decipher how such professions would make her a reliable source on this historical information. There are a lot of claims made, but none of them have or are solid evidence.

The 2015 source admits they do not have a source. A trans woman has already come forward and claimed she coined it around 2009 (link) (original sources listed aren't trustworthy/time stamps aren't accurate, similar to Korasera's post).

AGAB, ASAB, DSAB are all phrases that existed prior to the 2000's. The acronyms didn't just suddenly exist. There was a history of figuring out the wording.

The earliest I could find "the sex they were coercively assigned at birth" was on July 3, 2010

Here is an excerpt from another Livejournal

“Coercively assigned” is another vital neologism [newly coined phrase]. It’s not just more syllables to the word ‘assigned’- which itself made headway against the reified naturalism of one’s birth and its meaning for gender- it is a term with political power that we had to bring into the conversation to illustrate something. Not only is the M or F on our birth certificates an assignment, but it is coerced. Parents cannot say no, (just as many parents could not say no to doctors who wanted to mutilate intersex infants and reconstruct their bodies), and you cannot say no, can you? The term “coercive” adds needed meaning that reveals the truth behind natal nomenclature and assignment: the truth of its constructed nature and its oppressive effects

This was from October 21, 2010

Which blatantly states how the C was newly added

this is misogynoir and internoirism.

yeah absolutely! there were a couple things i was thinking of but the main thing that's been annoying me this week is seeing people post a lot to claim that CAFAB/CAMAB (Coercively assigned female/male at birth) has always been an intersex-only term. it feels like we have this discussion about every two years on intersex tumblr--i remember people talking about it 2018, in 2020, in 2022, and now again this year.

there are several times people have done really in depth research to try to trace the etymology of this term and ultimately, what people seem to find is that going back to like the early 2000s, it seems like there's simultaneous usage of the word in trans communities and in intersex communities. if you do an advanced search on google by year the first thing that pops up using CAGAB terms is this random trans zine from 2002. i saw CAGAB terms being used in some of the zines on the digital transgender archive--I can't find the exact link to the newsletter i'm thinking of right now, but i'll try to edit it into the post later if I have time to find it. Here's a link to another post from 12 years ago, addressing this very same discourse.

at this point, it seems like this terminology has been simultaneously used in trans and intersex communities for at least two decades, and no one remembers exactly who coined the terminology. to me, that makes it feel like it really doesn't make any sense to start trying to claim that it has always been intersex exclusive now. that isn't historically true, and starting this discourse up again to attack trans people is not really how i want to be spending my energy right now.

all that being said, it is true for me that I do have some feelings that come up around CAGAB terminology and i also understand why other people might share some of those same feelings. yes, it's true that all gender assigned at birth is coercive (that's part of what compulsory dyadism means!), but it's also obviously true that nonconsensual medical interventions at birth are a whole additional layer of coercion that perisex/dyadic people aren't having to live through. I think it would be helpful to have intersex specific terminology that highlights the elements of intersex birth assignment that are particularly violent.

i just don't think that we can insist on having that terminology be CAGAB when that specific terminology has been shared between communities for multiple decades now.

meanwhile, the orville actually explored patriarchy taken to its extreme, coercive sex assignment, forced transition, "corrective" surgery on infants, and childhood dysphoria and the healing that consensual transition can bring.