#intermisogyny

Intersex people are not “collateral damage” in laws that target trans women.

Intersex women, cis or trans (seeing as most people can’t even conceive of us as either) are also directly targeted even if we aren’t said by name.

It is very clear that a lot of you think “intersex woman” just means “cis woman with lip hair”

Start fucking listening to us. Listen to how we are dehumanised and medical abuse against us is normalised.

Friendly reminder using a text design from my Redbubble.

[ID: Text on a black background, using the trans and intersex colors. It state the following:

"AFAB/AMAB =/= anatomy!

AFAB/AMAB =/= social treatment!

It only describes the letter on your birth certificate.

Be inclusive.

Say "people with [body part]."

Say "people socially imposed as male/female."

Stop forgetting that surgery, HRT, and intersexuality exist!"

Can I ask how TMA and TME are intersexist language? I keep hearing it and, as a baby intersex (recently found out yayyyyy), I'd like to be educated.

there are a lot of examples of why, but a pretty glaring example is the fact that a lot of intersex people, regardless of identity, have experienced a lot of forms of transmisogyny and the idea that because we don't fit the criteria to be transmisogynized (labeled/assigned male at birth, raised consistently as a boy, and transition towards womanhood or femininity) we are "tme" is a deep misunderstanding of how transmisogyny functions, especially because a large part of intermisogyny and transmisogyny overlap (big example is sports sex discrimination, intersex cis women and peritrans women alike are heavily policed, have their privacy and autonomy stripped in order to be determined if they are "real" women, over-scrutiny of their bodies etc etc).

another example is simply how a lot of people treat "tme" as a shorthand for trans men/mascs, nonbinary people and intersex people not transfem, which, by the definition of the word, would still include pericis men and women, but because the argument is bad faith in the first place, TRF's very rarely use "tme" to talk about pericis people. and with that, it leads to many awful talking points about trans men, nonbinary people and intersex people that spread ideas like we are trans women's oppressors, we are privileged, we are worse than pericis men etc. etc.

The idea of "passing" as a whole is transphobic, exorsexist, and varsexist honestly. But nobody is ready to let go of it.

Like no, actually, the fact that we assign pronouns and genders to certain appearances and behaviors isn't a good thing, actually.

The idea of "passing" others non-binary people, binary trans people at the start of their transitions or who cannot afford a transition, binary trans people who do not want a medical transition or whose transition is not "traditional", gender non-conforming and sex non-conforming people, intersex people with variations that give them a mix of sex traits, and intersex & disabled people whose variations/disabilities make them incapable of transition.

EDIT: Somehow, people are taking this as me denying the reality of how "passing" is a useful safety measure.

No? Firstly, I was saying that I am against the way that lot of transmeds use "passing" as a "are you really [insert gender here]" measure.

Secondly, I am aware that "passing" helps with safety and alleviates distress/disconnect and provides euphoria to a lot of TGD people. My point is that we should be destroying the *need* to "pass" in the first place.

If everyone in their everyday life stopped assuming the genders and pronouns of strangers, that would be a massive deal. Nobody would feel upset that their gender isn't immediately assumed correctly, because nobody's gender [PT: nobody's gender] would be assumed *at all*, the same way you don't assume someone's name.

I am encouraging people to stop applying gender and pronouns to appearance, and just start treating everyone individually.

i recently read Hida Viloria's memoir Born Both. Viloria is a very accomplished intersex activist who went on Oprah and other major TV shows to advocate for intersex issues, who helped establish a major intersex advocacy group in the US, and who literally was sent to speak to the Olympic Committee on the subject of intersex women in the Olympic games. they have CAH and clitoromegaly, and this was noticed by them and by others from a young age (they were lucky enough to not have been subjected to IGM).

so they are, by all metrics, An Intersex Person.

in their memoir, this is what they describe happened when they went to a doctor to learn more about what variation they might have:

"I’ve heard about a health clinic with great sliding-scale rates from my trans friends, and I decide to go there to try to find out what type of intersex variation I have. Some intersex people look male, some look female, and some look in between, and I’ve learned that there are different medical conditions associated with intersex people’s appearance. For example, according to my intersex friend Craig, who has Klinefelter’s syndrome, most folks with Klinefelter’s are registered as male and look and identify as men as adults. Craig shows me old pictures in which he looked different, but still male, even before he was pressured into taking testosterone (as often happens to Klinefelter’s men because they have low levels of testosterone). The T made him grow a beard and a lot of body hair for the first time, which he’s angry about, as he preferred his previously boyish good looks. I’ve never cared to have a “diagnosis,” and I don’t have any health issues, but now I’m kind of curious. I figure since I’m talking about being intersex more publicly and frequently now, I may as well know. The clinic sees mainly transgender patients, but I imagine that training will help them understand, or at least be sensitive to, my needs. After telling the physician that I’m intersex and explaining why I’m there, to my surprise she looks me up and down and asks me which gender I feel more like, man or woman. I explain that I don’t have an issue with my gender, or with being intersex. I’m simply there to get some medical information. The doctor ignores my statements, asking me once more whether I feel male or female. I can tell she’s not trying to be rude though, so I just answer truthfully that I feel both. I repeat that my visit isn’t about my gender identity, though, but about finding out which medical condition is responsible for my large clitoris, with which I have no issues. “Okay, you feel both, but which one do you feel more?” “I don’t know,” I reply. “It’s really hard to say…” “You must feel like one a little more than the other though, right?” I’m surprised, and a little annoyed, that she seems unwilling to continue without a binary answer. But I want to get on with this, so I finally give her the answer she’s looking for. “Well, if I have to choose, I guess I’ll say female.” “Okay, great.” She does a blood test and sends me on my way. ... ... I’m called in to see my doctor. She seems rushed. “So the tests came back negative,” she says. “You have nothing to worry about.” “What does that mean?” “It means you are a perfectly normal woman.” “But, I’m intersex, and there are different types, so which type am I?” I ask her. She looks at me with a puzzled expression. “If you want to come back, we can do more tests, but you’re a normal woman, okay? Don’t worry!” she says, as if I were seeking reassurance. The incident leaves me feeling invalidated and makes me aware of a pattern in the medical response to my being intersex: denial. I hadn’t been subjected to medical procedures to eradicate my intersex status, as others have been, but it is in a way being verbally eradicated.

This is intersexism and intermisogyny I'm guessing you sent it here since Bear is on a break but yeah, it sucks that this is happening.