people still use the term transsexual, transsexual is a term steeped in trans history and trans liberation because transness is not just about the gender binary but also about the sex binary. for many people transness is inherently related to their sex and they are trying to change their sex. sex is not an irrefutable, immutable fact and the sooner people accept that the sooner trans, nonbinary and intersex liberation becomes a possibility. I hate the sentiment that gender is a changeable social construct and sex is a biological fact because sex is also a changeable social construct.

These beliefs harm all sex variant people. I know some trans people may be comfortable not altering their physical sex, but that doesn’t mean the ones who do aren’t literally changing their sex.

Gender affirming surgeries and care were called “sex change” procedures for a reason. This novel re-definition of “sex” as being strictly chromosomes is a transphobic and intersexist response to the increased visibility of trans people. The line of thought was “well, I don’t want them to be able to change their sex! So I’m going to re-define sex as something we can’t (yet) change,” as well as, “well, I want to enforce the sex binary on intersex people, so I’m going to create a system to be able to force them into binary boxes based on whether or not they have a Y chromosome.”

No such thing as a girly or a boyish colour.

No such thing as a girly or boyish mental illness.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish outfit.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish hormone.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish scent.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish ethnicity.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish accent.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish body type.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish bedroom.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish sex.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish subject.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish location.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish emotion.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish race.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish foodstuff.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish personality.

No such thing as a girly or a boyish lifestyle.

A History of Feminism and Sex Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon

Texts to reference:

"The Male Madonna and the Feminine Uncle Sam: Visual Argument, Icons, and Ideographs in 1909

Anti-Woman Suffrage Postcards" (Palczewski 2005)

"Inversion and the Third Sex: Gender Variance and Queer Expression in Anti-Suffrage Rhetoric" (Pankuch 2018)

A lot of trans people (especially binary trans people) are often working under the framework of the binary with the mindset "if I conform to this, I'll be respected and spared" which is NOT an uncommon thought and is something that happens to all marginalized groups that are actively oppressed in this world. Often, they don't fully realize that the sex binary even exists, let alone how or why we should deconstruct it. The unknown scares people, even if they are the people being most affected negatively by the known.

It's why there's a rise of transmedicalism. It's why there's so much infighting. People are scared and don't understand what's happening. Doesn't make it right, but it's what's happening.

Some sample banners for posts discussing different queer topics. Hopefully someone finds this useful!

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