#casab

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 know ASAB is assigned sex at birth and DSAB is designated sex at birth.

But for the life of me I can't figure out CASAB. My brain keeps thinking it's shorthand for Casablanca 🤦‍♀️

Hi! Lemme see if I can give you a quick answer.

It stands for "coercively assigned sex at birth". It was created to reference the lack of consent involved in "assigning" people a sex and gender at birth, especially intersex people.

T_T Casablanca is definitely an interesting substititute though, LMAO.

-still means the same thing (emphasizing IGM's role in sex assignment for many intersex people)

-doesnt confuse perisex people who may reply with "we all are coerced into IDing with our ASAB/AGAB"

-no change to the actual acronym

original: "jordan was CA[X]AB."

passive voice, the subject is acted upon by an external agent (the medical industrial complex) in the past

contemporary 2022: "jordan is A[X]AB."

copula verb, = equals sign, the subject IS this

original: "people who were CA[X]AB are…"

same as before, passive past tense event done by external agent

contemporary 2022: "A[X]AB people are..."

adjective that cannot be changed because it describes an event that happened, frontal adjective that follows identity-first language patterning

like. okay here's my favorite link on identity-first v person-first language. but let me elaborate a bit here.

identity-first language is for situations like Autistic folks (and Deaf folks, Mad folks, Disabled folks, and others) resisting being called "a person with autism" because these are integral parts of ourselves that cannot be separated - being autistic permeates the whole identity and sense of self, there is no way to "cure" and get to "the real person underneath." there is Deaf culture, and people who are members of it do not want called "a person with deafness."

by contrast, person-first language was created for distancing an attribute and emphasizing one's humanity first, as in "a person with disability." a parallel in trans communities is "a person with transitioning experience" - which is important, because not everyone considers themselves to be trans (because =, copula verb BE/IS, indefinite/forever) and that is okay! why would you if you don't relate or have anything meaningful to you in common - words are tools for connecting

now.

"A[X]AB person" is following the identity-first pattern of communicating "this is an integral attribute that cannot be separated from who i am and is important to me, do not distance it from me in conversation."

plus it's often "A[X]AB trans person," putting ASAB before the actual identity-first adjective trans!

i can definitely opine about how starting with A[X]AB doesn't resist the status quo in the way that identity-first language like Autistic does...

but more simply: hey, uh, some people prefer person-first language and that's okay. people relate to descriptors, words, attributes, experiences, traits, etc differently.

and: be intentional about your choice between identity-first and person-first, and aware of who that puts off

Casa B, São Paulo, Brazil,