That Feminist Dyke

dizzzypie:

homosnacktualmafiaqilf:

First of all, the definition of what is “female or male” is arbitrary. Female is defined by cissexism as:

• having breasts
• having a uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries
• menstruating
• being able to become pregnant
• having an estrogen-based puberty / particular balance of hormones
• having XX chromosomes
• having particular kinds of bone structure (eg wider hips/pelvis than supposedly male-bodied people)
• having a vagina, clitoris, and labia

Some of these traits are not observable and, in fact, not well known to most people (ie most people don’t necessarily know their exact hormone balance or their chromosomes; people cannot actually see one’s genitals or uterus/fallopian tubes/ovaries, breasts can be bound, pensises/testicles can be tucked).

Some of these traits are malleable (menstruating, having a vagina/clitoris, having a uterus/fallopian tubes/ovaries, having breasts, having an estrogen-based puberty, being able to become pregnant, hormone balances).

Some of these traits do not necessarily exist in conjunction with each other (having XX chromosomes and having a vagina, for example).

And, of course, these arbitrary terms are defined by white western EuroAmerican culture; other cultures often have entirely different definitions of female and male.

Another way in which these terms are proven a cissexist crock of shit is that they are only applied to trans and intersex people who supposedly violate the terms given. For example, take a friend of mine, who does not menstruate, have a uterus, have the capacity to become pregnant, and does not have breats. She is a cis girl and therefore is still considered to be “female-bodied” despite the fact that she does not have each and every trait arbitrarily considerd to be one of a female body.

Additionally, the terms female and male also mean “belonging to or of a woman/man”. Therefore, defining a trans woman’s body as male (or vice versa or defining a nonbinary person’s body as female or male) is misgendering in 2 ways and really fucked-up in another.

The misgendering comes from 2 scenarios:

-you consider the body in question to belong to the woman but consider her to be a man (or a pseudo or quasi-woman), which is misgendering

-you consider her to be a woman but for her body to belong to “the boy she used to be”. Unless she has explicity stated that she was a boy and her body was then male, it is misgendering to refer to her body as male at any point in time.

The seriously fucked-up shit comes from if you consider the body in question to belong to the cis person that the trans person never was. If you consider my body to belong to the imaginary cis girl you thought I was, you have some fucked-up shit going on.

fucking important. biological sex is fucking flawed as all hell

(Source: imnotevilimjustwrittenthatway)