Casual erasure of post-op trans people is really fascinating to me. Like, how did our culture shift from the first thing people think about trans people being “have you had tHe sURgErY yet???” to “if you have a vagina and are a woman you are cis”?
People with vaginas is the right terminology if discussing something that pertains to vaginas. Eg. “People with vaginas should make sure to see a gynecologist regularly.” in this case, saying “women” would exclude/misgender many trans and intersex people who have vaginas but are not women, while also including some women who do not have vaginas and would not need to see a gynecologist
The person you replied to said “female” though. As far as I know, “Man”/“Woman” is on the gender side while “Male”/“Female” is on the sex side, based purely on things like reproductive organs, chromosomes and hormones.
Although taking all three into account may just make it hard to determine. But it does imply that “male woman” and “female man” are also valid combinations.
Sex is a lot more complicated than male/female. There’s a bunch of different sex characteristics that make up “sex” and people can have all sorts of different combinations of them. If you just use a male/female binary, that doesn’t tell people what sex characteristic you’re referring to. Maybe something affects people based on chromosones, in which case people who are xy but otherwise “female” (like with cais) would go in the “male” category and vice versa. Or maybe something affects people based on hormones, in which case transgender people taking hrt would have to be categorized based on that. If you say “male/female”, no one knows if you’re talking about hormones, or genitals, or chromosones, or gonads, or whatever else, so it’s best to be specific and use language like “people with [body part]”
“people with vaginas” is one option ig. or if they also identify as women, cis women is another option
Casual erasure of post-op trans people is really fascinating to me. Like, how did our culture shift from the first thing people think about trans people being “have you had tHe sURgErY yet???” to “if you have a vagina and are a woman you are cis”?
i know this is an old comment, but i wanted to reply anyway. im sorry for my comment. i hadnt thought about post-op trans ppl at all.
to clarify however, it wasnt the “first thing” i thought abt trans ppl, im trans myself actually.
i guess ive had too much contact with pre-op or never-op trans ppl and too little with post-op ppl to have this on my radar.
i will try to be better in the future!
When did “people with vaginas” unironically become a way to refer to anyone, especially as an alternative to “female”?
People with vaginas is the right terminology if discussing something that pertains to vaginas. Eg. “People with vaginas should make sure to see a gynecologist regularly.” in this case, saying “women” would exclude/misgender many trans and intersex people who have vaginas but are not women, while also including some women who do not have vaginas and would not need to see a gynecologist
The person you replied to said “female” though. As far as I know, “Man”/“Woman” is on the gender side while “Male”/“Female” is on the sex side, based purely on things like reproductive organs, chromosomes and hormones.
Although taking all three into account may just make it hard to determine. But it does imply that “male woman” and “female man” are also valid combinations.
Sex is a lot more complicated than male/female. There’s a bunch of different sex characteristics that make up “sex” and people can have all sorts of different combinations of them. If you just use a male/female binary, that doesn’t tell people what sex characteristic you’re referring to. Maybe something affects people based on chromosones, in which case people who are xy but otherwise “female” (like with cais) would go in the “male” category and vice versa. Or maybe something affects people based on hormones, in which case transgender people taking hrt would have to be categorized based on that. If you say “male/female”, no one knows if you’re talking about hormones, or genitals, or chromosones, or gonads, or whatever else, so it’s best to be specific and use language like “people with [body part]”