Nowadays, many institutions, especially medical institutions, refer to a person’s biological sex as their sex assigned at birth. This has been from the influence of trans theories: i.e., any theory which believes a person can change their gender and/or their sex characteristics.
This has led to quite a bit of consternation from people who are gender critical: i.e., a theory which denies that a person can change their gender and/or sex characteristics. They argue sex isn’t assigned; it’s observed or acknowledged. Though it should be noted that some trans theorists also agree with this as well.
Other trans theorists, though not all (and certainly not myself), will argue biological sex is a pure social construction that is initiated by the utterance of a doctor declaring this baby is male, this baby is female. And also, that the observation may be factually wrong.
Well, they’re both right and they’re both wrong.
When a doctor declares a baby is a male or female, they base that declaration off of an observation of perceived sex characteristics, usually genitalia. A doctor’s utterance, which carries the appeal to authority of medical expertise, is the assignation of their observation which is then placed on legal documents and determines a person’s gender, more specifically their relation to gender roles (or gender stereotypes). 99% of the time, the observation and assignation correspond, therefore the assignation is true.
You see, this is merely how language works. If what we say is true, than language must correspond to reality. The sentence or assignment, “I am Zach” is true because it corresponds to the reality that Zach I am.
There’s a core metaphysical problem being challenged here: is there a mind-independent reality? Is biological sex something which exists independently of whether humans exist or not? Is there a matter, a material, independent of language? And, the answer is: yes… yes there is. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
We are Beings existing with-in the world. Even though we can only ever understand meaning through language, this does not entail that the world is just language games all the way down. The objects we encounter within-the-world present themselves to us. They present us possible interpretations that are limited by the thing-itself independent of us. Of these multiple interpretations we as a society develop the normative interpretation, the interpretation that one is expected to have. (This does not entail that the normative interpretation is always true. Humanity thought the Earth was at the center of the universe since time immemorial. It is not.) If any interpretation errs in its judgment, we do so because we interpret the thing or phenomena outside of its limits. This does not preclude the possibility that a phenomena has multiple interpretations which are true.
Sex is a biological mind-independent reality, and the normative interpretation of its organization, is true because we describe the phenomena of biological sex with-in the limits it presents itself. At the same time, this is not the only possible permutation which is true. Believing this does not invalidate trans theories or trans people (I mean, except the linguistic monists.) But, the question does remain what limits does this interpretation place in other interpretations? For instance:
Gender is assigned based on the observation of biological sex. We are assigned into a gender category, usually masculinity or femininity, and are expected to express gendered characteristics for the gender you were assigned too, i.e., all those social characteristics that are believed to come from a person’s biological sex but usually only have a tangential relation to reproduction proper.
A trans theorist might say for trans people, their sex observed at birth does not match the assignation of that sex. But this presumes too much.
Gender is assigned based on the observation of biological sex. We are assigned into a gender category, usually masculinity or femininity, and are expected to express gendered characteristics for the gender you were assigned too, i.e., all those social characteristics that are believed to come from a person’s biological sex but usually only have a tangential relation to reproduction proper.
One is born into a sex; and they are assigned to a gender. What people really mean by assigned female at birth (AFAB) or assigned male at birth (AMAB) is assigned feminine at birth or assigned masculine at birth which thankfully has the same acronyms… so, you know, that’s nice.
I actually think the only people who are assigned a biological sex a birth incorrectly from the observation is intersex people, or people born with incongruent sex characteristics. I’ll put a link in the description about intersex people if you want to learn more.
Also, just because you were born or labeled a certain thing at birth, doesn’t mean you are eternally that thing. I was born like 9 lbs but am no longer 9 lbs. I was also born a boy, but now I’m a man.
And what about the assignation of gender at birth based on sex determination? Does this still hold? Well, some trans theorists might say we are all born with a gender identity separate from gender roles and gender expressions. What this inborn identity actually is can be difficult to nail down, like jello. Some might argue that gender identity is merely the sex characteristic of the brain. Under this schema, a trans dude was born in a female body but has a male brain, and this incongruence is what causes gender dysphoria which can be alleviated by transitioning.1 Others seem to assume, and I’m sure I’m probably straw personing some people’s arguments, that gender identity is some type of inborn image like a soul, maybe, and that’s where the incongruence comes from. Do souls have a gender? Leave an answer in the comments.
Honestly, I super skeptical of the brain being born with a certain sex (or the brain even having a sex).2 Neurologically, it appears that—if there actually are sexually dimorphic brain characteristics—people are born as babies with a mosaic of both male & female traits which change over time in relation to one’s environment, though this is not purely neutral and most people seem to have more male traits than female traits or vice versa.3
I don’t think a gender identity prior to being categorized in a role and gaining the knowledge of gendered expressions even makes sense.
So, I don’t think anyone is born with a specific gender identity. A person is assigned a gendered role, and through the continuous re-iterations of gender expressions, develops a gender identity that is relatively stable, that can be very rigid in some people & more fluid in others. The recognition of gendered traits seems to occur very early on in an infant’s development. By the age of four, most children seem to have developed a gender identity, including trans children. In fact, studies show that the age of epiphany for 76% of trans people, i.e., the epiphany that something is HORRIBLY wrong with their sex and/or gender, happens prior to leaving primary school usually spiking around the age of five. 4 These studies weren’t based on surveys of children who still believe in santa claus, but adults reflecting on their lives. 5
Though, I doubt it’s all nurture. People definitely seem to be born with certain predispositions towards gendered expressions that their embodiment either attaches onto or rejects. Otherwise, how would trans people raised in very cisnormative & transphobic families and communities still develop into being trans?
So, for 98%-99% of people the observation of sex and the assignment is true. And, for 97%-98% of people, that assignment remains true throughout a person’s life.
Whether you say, observed sex at birth or assigned sex at birth, or just say a person is born this sex or that sex, it all means the same. Thanks for watching my ramblings, thanks to all my Patrons, and I’ll see you the next time you get lost in one of my strange corners of thought. Bye.
Citations:
Let’s Talk About Intersex [ANIMATION] • trf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4cnBDoC6yA
Joel, Daphna. Male or female? Brains are intersex. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. Volume 5 | Article 57. 2011: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KoxpTrz3zajQ0l9DbHFXNdecRJ11085U/view?usp=sharing
Joel, Daphna et al. Sex beyond the genitalia: The human brain mosaic. 2015: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cTJyjW6NXGwfuhZqnN2QUwNi_4kSq6lG/view?usp=sharing
Joel, Daphna et al. The Complex Relationships between Sex and the Brain. The Neuroscientist. 2019: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DsyGTZ8S1nc44OWlYWqXvCVb07LKkOxR/view?usp=sharing
Joel D, Fausto-Sterling A. 2016 Beyond sex differences: new approaches for thinking about variation in brain structure and function. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371:20150451: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ScTghLFOa7oA9wI2ksDoXkRUglWFua7y/view?usp=sharing
Giudicea, Marco Del, et al. Joel et al.’s method systematically fails to detect large, consistent sex differences. 2016: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fvZSCdQE3lWJi5PEHc_898Ji6_U3VRIL/view?usp=sharing
Rosenblatta, Jonathan D. Multivariate revisit to “sex beyond the genitalia”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XgIegxDzM8Ou3Gcgt4m9gfpkwVg2hlAW/view?usp=sharing
Glezermana, Marek. Yes,there is a female and a male brain: Morphology versus functionality. 2016: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V0D4bNS4MhjoFr208S-xASzAm2UBE8f0/view?usp=sharing
McCarthy & Konkle. When is a sex difference not a sex difference? Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 26 (2005): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p_fTSxAiUIUdaAynQ671gop5l2v4o3J7/view?usp=sharing
Eliot, Lisa et al. Dump the “dimorphism”: Comprehensive synthesis of human brain studies reveals few male-female differences beyond size. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 125 (2021): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P7X90AhSIlSMniGA8vE_4LCb7bhP-aFp/view?usp=sharing
Olson, Kristina R. et al. Gender Cognition in Transgender Children. Psychological Science 2015, Vol. 26(4): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-PWb6VAec0d-xw4A9H5rXrjuLKtEkG3r/view?usp=sharing
Michael Zaliznyak, BA and others, How Early in Life do Transgender Adults Begin to Experience Gender Dysphoria? Why This Matters for Patients, Providers, and for Our Healthcare System, Sexual Medicine, Volume 9, Issue 6, December 2021, Page 100448: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h1fh7aCqTe5GGM1ZLQ-EaiBIhAuyp86n/view?usp=sharing
Kennedy & Helen. Transgender Children: More Than a Theoretical Challenge. Graduate Journal of Social Science. Vol 7 | Issue 10 | December 2010 (25-43): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1be5Pyhc5wRYeQ5GJNP3Uk0RgQfzDJ3Mu/view?usp=sharing
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