So it's really trendy, if you're a super progressive but regrettably cis person, to spout cutesy shit about what "sex" is and what "gender" is. Legend has it, never once has a cis person correctly defined what "sex" is.
Because it doesn't fucking exist outside of a broad strokes social construct.
It. Doesn't. Exist. The binary is made up. It is, at best, a useful scientific and medical shorthand to be used in non-complex scenarios.
"BuT RoSaLiNd", you squelch out between gulps of liberal talking points, "We've been defining sex in meaningful ways for years! Centuries! Millenia!"
I mean, sure, and now there are more meaningful ways to discuss what you thought you meant when you said "male" or "female."
Previously on Gender Ball Z, we didn't have as much knowledge of the human condition, and genuinely thought that "male" and "female" actually made sense and were useful. But now, we can discuss things like:
Chromosomes
Genitalia
The patterns to which your body decides to align its fat
Hormones (now)
Hormones you've done a puberty with
What Organs Do You Have
Sure, it may work for you to say "female" and know your doctor will assume two X chromosomes, vagina/labia/clitoris combo, a "curvy" silhouette, and that you are predominately made of estrogen (and always have been). Oh, and you have a uterus that is capable of growing a baby.
Here's the kicker: If your doctor is just asking your sex to figure those things out, they are actually making QUITE a few assumptions that might not be correct.
What if you were born with a chromosomal difference?
What if you didn't grow a vagina in the way that doctor's expect?
What if your specific internal hormone cocktail means you hold weight differently?
What if you've gone through menopause?
What if you haven't gone through puberty yet?
What if you were born without a uterus, have had a hysterectomy, or are unable to carry a fetus to term?
All of those things can apply to what we'd call a cis woman. Does that mean her sex isn't female, because the strict binary doesn't accept her under that label? Or, does it mean that using sex as a medical label is inaccurate at best?
I kind of think the latter.
So how about-- hear me out-- we stop pretending sex and gender are anything more than complete synonyms.
We let people tell us what their sex is. Or their gender. Or whatever they want to call it.
And when we need to know if someone has a penis (you probably don't), we ask them. When we need to know the cocktail of hormones keeping them ticking, we can do blood tests (or ask if they're taking a form of HRT). When we need to know if they're pregnant or can be pregnant, you ask first if they're able to become pregnant and then ask if they've done any activities that can cause pregnancy, and then ask if they consent to a test (shout out to y'all who are infertile, post-hysterectomy, trans, gay, or otherwise fucking exhausted with this question).
"But then doctor's have to ask these questions every time!" A) good. They should. B) It's a great win for the trans community that we invented pens and paper and even computer record taking before we decided to un-invent sex, because wow maybe your doctor can write down that you don't have a uterus and they can stop asking an invasive, often irrelevant, often triggering question each time you go in with the sniffles.
Anyways, that's it for my long rant on gender/sex. If you like reading books that give as much of a fuck about the biological details of your body as I do (no fucks at all), consider joining my mailing list. I have a very very queer novel coming out in just about 5 months, and I have a free short story you can grab by clicking here.
Final note. Yes, these are very advanced gender and sex concepts. They will confuse your average TERF. But we don't have to water everything down to their level. Sometimes we can just be accurate.