Intersex People

[Shadowstar1922]

intersex people go through a lot of problems. They're usually forced to conform to one sex when they are born and doctors go through a "normalizing" surgery to "fix" their genitalia. As they grow older, they usually are forced by their parents to conform to one gender (boys can't wear dresses, it's not manly! girls can't play with action figures, it's not girly enough!) though gender restrictions have slowly liberalized themselves throughout american history, gender conformity is still a problem with kids who try to explore themselves and see what they do and don't fit in. And intersex people, as they grow older, are usually gender fluid, their minds are more apt and more quick to pick both "boy" and "girl" gender standards, so when their parents crush them on it, it hurts them so much mentally and makes growing up hard.

here's some articles and anecdotes about intersex people.

http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex
http://www.isna.org/faq/frequency
http://www.vice.com/read/im-intersex-an ... onderfully
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/intersexual-life.html
https://oii.org.au/category/comment/personal-stories/ (this one is really good with anecdotes and personal stories)

[TheKingsHills]

"Following diagnostic work-up, newborns with intersex should be given a gender assignment as boy or girl, depending on which of those genders the child is more likely to feel as she or he grows up. Note that gender assignment does not involve surgery; it involves assigning a label as boy or girl to a child. (Genital “normalizing” surgery does not create or cement a gender identity; it just takes tissue away that they patient may want later.)"
http://www.isna.org/faq/patient-centered

[Shadowstar1922]

"Following diagnostic work-up, newborns with intersex should be given a gender assignment as boy or girl, depending on which of those genders the child is more likely to feel as she or he grows up. Note that gender assignment does not involve surgery; it involves assigning a label as boy or girl to a child. (Genital “normalizing” surgery does not create or cement a gender identity; it just takes tissue away that they patient may want later.)"
http://www.isna.org/faq/patient-centered

Okay but you don't have to force gender onto a child and you should grow children to be open to anything.

"newborns with intersex should be given a gender assignment as a boy or girl, depending on which of those genders the child is more likely to feel as she or he grows up"

ok so why do you as an individual need to conform a child's gender even though you need to wait on which gender "[they're] more likely to feel

like how can you be the judge of that??

honestly with kids in general, you should let them discover themselves and let them grow and see with independent eyes and ears. don't force gender in an unhealthy way.

[J the J]

"Following diagnostic work-up, newborns with intersex should be given a gender assignment as boy or girl, depending on which of those genders the child is more likely to feel as she or he grows up. Note that gender assignment does not involve surgery; it involves assigning a label as boy or girl to a child. (Genital “normalizing” surgery does not create or cement a gender identity; it just takes tissue away that they patient may want later.)"
http://www.isna.org/faq/patient-centered

Why does a child have to have a GENDER if they are born intersex? You cannot tell whether a child will grow to be more feminine or masculine when they are born, it is simply impossible as it is a psychological part of ones self. The idea that a person has to be one BIOLOGICAL SEX or another is socio-normative and cis-normative way of thinking and needs to be addressed. A child's gender identity does not begin to show itself until the age of 2-4 years, they begin gravitating towards certain toys and behaviours, they begin identifying what is female and male, including their body parts.

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/Pages/Gender-Identity-and-Gender-Confusion-In-Children.aspx

At the age of 3 years children start identifying their body parts and what makes you a female and male, for children who were born intersex or who are transgender it can be quite difficult for them if they do not identify with their assigned biological sex. This is called gender dysphoria (the condition of feeling one's emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one's biological sex).

http://www.transgenderni.com/Gender-Dysphoria-in-Children-9331.html

[Shadow00]

If you don't assign a kid a gender you'll make his school life a living hell, and that's something I can easily guarantee

[J the J]

If you don't assign a kid a gender you'll make his school life a living hell, and that's something I can easily guarantee

The idea that a person has to be one BIOLOGICAL SEX (or gender) or another is socio-normative and cis-normative way of thinking and needs to be addressed.

And that is exactly what I mean by my statement in my previous post

There needs to be more education on gender identity and the issues that may come with experiencing gender dysphoria and we can best support someone experiencing it - this would also include education about gender issues within society. It is of course a very delicate and touchy subject and requires much care, consideration, a reflection of self and social constructs and, a lot of self learning and research.

[Shadowstar1922]

If you don't assign a kid a gender you'll make his school life a living hell, and that's something I can easily guarantee

we should probably stop raising people to be horrible.

[Flobalob]

If you don't assign a kid a gender you'll make his school life a living hell, and that's something I can easily guarantee

we should probably stop raising people to be horrible.

It's probably much easier to just assign them a gender than to change the way everyone in the world behaves.

[Shadowstar1922]

If you don't assign a kid a gender you'll make his school life a living hell, and that's something I can easily guarantee

we should probably stop raising people to be horrible.

It's probably much easier to just assign them a gender than to change the way everyone in the world behaves.

there's nothing wrong with explaining to a child, "that person likes to express themselves differently from a boy and a girl. they like to mix it up sometimes because that's how they feel deep down inside. what's in your pants doesn't determine what is in your mind, and vice versa". it's honestly not that hard.

at my local elementry school there is this boy who is transgender and he dresses like a boy and he's literally 7 years old and I had to go to the school to help kids understand what it meant and what this boy was going through (i work with my local city as a peer leader/ethics director for the state funded queer safe haven) and I explained to them gender and how there are a lot of people like that.

they understood it right off the bat because their parents didn't raise them to judge and to hate and they weren't old enough where they were easily influened by society to be judgemental and hate and how society teaches people that gays, black, intersex, muslims, etc are different and weird and blah blah stereotypes BUT they are people too don't forget that!! but they're still different!!!

if those little 6 year old kids can understand gender and the fact that people feel different than your standard boxes of man vs woman then i think we can all grow up as a human race and learn to understand people because in the end we're all human and there is no logical reason why we should exclude certain people simply bc they don't live the same as we do (as if our personal life styles are superior and better??)

[TheKingsHills]

if those little 6 year old kids can understand gender and the fact that people feel different than your standard boxes of man vs woman then i think we can all grow up as a human race and learn to understand people because in the end we're all human and there is no logical reason why we should exclude certain people simply bc they don't live the same as we do (as if our personal life styles are superior and better??)

No. No we can't grow as a human race and learn to understand people.
Because in the end we're all human. And everyone is going to have their own opinions and set of beliefs.
Not all of these beliefs are going to be logical, or reasonable, or ethical.
Hence why Racism is still around. Hence why Sexism is still around. Hence why discrimination on the basis of religion is still around.

Even if you tried to educate all children on, "gender." You will still have children who don't care or understand them.
There will be parents that pull their children out of schools. There will be teachers who will teach it in such a horrible way.
There will be students who don't actually understand what you mean.
We don't live in such an idealistic world that attempting to educate everyone on something will suddenly make the world better for a group of people.
It will take many many years for it to get better, and even then there will still be things like discrimination.