garfieldAs someone who studies grammar critically, I've come to assume that the structure of language shapes out preconceptions about the world, that many of our biases are embedded in grammar and that grammar's rules have to be broken in order to speak beyond our unconscious beliefs. But I have also been surprised by how often the opposite happens, and people break the rules of grammar in ways that reveal our biases.
For example: people are not AFAB or AMAB. Unless you are talking about a literally newborn baby, people have been AFAB or AMAB. "Assigned" is a past participle, and "birth", for most people, occurred in the past on a single occasion. Just a fun little bit of grammar for you on this Friday.
cyborgneticz@garfiald Can you go more into this because I'm trash at grammar (I blame Swamp French for this).
@Cyborgneticz in the phrase "assigned X at birth", "at birth" indicates the time during which one was assigned X. Its like saying "I was playing the fiddle yesterday", you can't say "I am playing the fiddle yesterday". Or indeed, saying anything else happened at birth. You say "I was naked at birth", you don't say "I am naked at birth" (unless you're speaking while being born)