PiddlesworthMar 4
Willow, Venus Pirate 🏳️‍⚧️

Call to action to cis people: be assholes anytime you get asked for your sex assigned at birth. Write letters, complain to staff, refuse to answer. Make it impossible to collect sex assigned at birth. Be really offended that anyone would ask you. Make enough noise that if trans people want to quietly not answer or give whatever answer feels correct to them, no one will notice.

#Boost #CallToAction

Mar 3 at 5:30pmWeb
Show threadZumbadorMar 3
@Willow... and if you don't feel quite ready to do this yet, warm up to it by noticing how often you're asked your sex assigned at birth, and how seldom it is relevant. Seriously. Think about it. Then start making a noise. "why do you need to know!?"
Show threadx0Mar 3
@Zumbador @Willow It's only relevant in certain medical contexts where the anatomy and hormone balance involved is actually necessary data, yes? Surgeries, medications that might interact with those systems, etc?
Show threadZumbadorMar 3
@x0 @Willow exactly
Show threadCassandrichMar 3
@x0 @Zumbador @Willow In medical context it's used to harass anyone whose body they think might be capable of pregnancy, subject them to humiliating tests, and deny them care without proof it won't harm a theoretical nonexistent person.
Show threadx0Mar 3
@dalias @Zumbador @Willow And also to deny what they say as being real, yes? Hmmm.
Show threadCassandrichMar 3
@x0 @Zumbador @Willow I would imagine that's done more on perceived gender than SAAB from your chart.
Show threadMorgan ⚧️Mar 4
@dalias @x0 @Zumbador @Willow I think it's probably both. I've had at least one experience where the doctor saw the M on my chart, took me seriously, learned I have a uterus, and immediately ceased to take me seriously. It was night and day, and it was astonishing being able to view his behavior from both a male and a female perspective. Any cis men reading along, if you think a (male and assumed cis) doctor is great and really listens, ask a woman how he acts without you in the room!
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Mar 4
@raphaelmorgan @dalias @x0 @Zumbador @Willow i have had so many negative experiences with male doctors that i absolutely refuse to use them now
Show threadAilbheMar 5
@raphaelmorgan @dalias @x0 @Zumbador @Willow yeah, we had a GP my partner thought was great until I went for a lung infection and was required to strip to the waist without a chaperone.
Show threadAlecska 🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️🔮🧸🦄 📷Mar 3
@x0 @Zumbador @Willow and in these very specific cases, they should ask about anatomy/organs instead, bc for example not all cis women have uterus/ovaries.
Show threadx0Mar 3
@alecska @Zumbador @Willow Yep. Or in the case of things involving hormones that need to be supplement or controlled in some manner, HRT whether it's trans or not, I guess their own panels tell them what they need to know.
Show threadMorgan ⚧️Mar 4
@x0 @Zumbador @Willow in those situations, they need way more information than that letter can provide and that's why people like me don't get adequate healthcare (along with financial and accessibility barriers)
One letter causes false assumptions about what organs I have. The other causes false assumptions about my hormone balance. If they need to know either of those things, they need to ask the specific question
Show threadJuho MäntysaloMar 4

@x0 @Zumbador @Willow

In some social contextes it may be asked for statistical causes. It is, for example, quite important to find out if some service is largely used by one sex/gender when in theory the usage should be equal for the whole population.

Tbs, many forms ask data just for funsies and/or for the newsletter-greeting (and ofc you HAVE to subscribe to it).

Can't understand if they want to start the newsletter with preferred name, they won't also ask preferred title?

Show threadJeff GriggMar 4

@iju @x0 @Zumbador @Willow

It seems to me that product and service usage that is gender specific would be much better correlated to the gender one is presenting as than some assigned birth gender.

Like clothing, makeup, hair care, etc.

Show threadJuho MäntysaloMar 5

@JeffGrigg @x0 @Zumbador @Willow

Some considerations:

- Product usage might reflect patterns unknown to the makers/users. For example: how we found out that many medicines didn't actually work on women (the testing had only used biological men, and the results were applied to women).

- That someone is presenting one gender doesn't mean they don't have needs of their biological one. (Medicine, but also pads, condoms, etc.)

- [cont]

Show threadJuho MäntysaloMar 5

@JeffGrigg @x0 @Zumbador @Willow

Every time data is asked, the case for which the data is to be used should explained. No "it might come handy" -questions. So if you ask for sex, you must declare why: to find out how the medicine works in a body, or what applications in addition to the obvious you have for condoms.

Second, and this is cultural (please don't shoot): binaric gender is a poor way in almost any situation to correlate how a person wants to be treated, and thus not worth asking.

Show threadRevolucianaMar 4

@x0 @Zumbador @Willow

No, it's not actually *ever* medically relevant what you were assigned at birth. This information is used for shorthand in order for practitioners to make assumptions about your body, but those assumptions are regularly incorrect even when only dealing with cis people, let alone when you add in trans, intersex, chimerism, or other conditions.

Relying on sex as a significant piece of data is lazy medicine and any practitioner that clutches to it for literally anything is suspect.

Anatomy and hormones are regularly affected by so many factors from diet, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, cancer, environmental factors and exposures, injury, etc.

A medical practitioner who is doing a proper job is not going to treat you like a group, but as an individual with individual conditions, factors, and needs.

Lots of providers are increasingly choosing to do an organ index instead, at least when they realize that's even an option. My spouse and I have successfully urged providers in multiple departments/clinics to stop worrying about assigned sex and instead to introduce a (voluntary) organ selection sheet that lets the provider know what you do or don't have when it's relevant.

Show threadChloChloacaMar 4

@revoluciana @x0 @Zumbador @Willow

It's always been kinda a crazy concept to me. Like "oh what'd your body look like at birth?" And the answer is always "nothing like it does today."

We don't do karyotyping at birth, so I couldn't tell you what my chromosomes looked like, and I don't even for sure know what they are now.

People have surgeries, have accidents, exposure to chemicals...life happens. Our bodies change.

Ask me about what my body looks like *now.* Not how it was at birth.

I'm a trans woman, but I take E AND T, each for different purposes. And yet people wanna claim my AGAB matters bc my body might have produced a certain amount of T back then? Idk what my levels were before transition!

I want a doctor who treats me as an individual. Not as an average approximate of a human.

Show threadUlrike Walter-LipowMar 6
@x0 In those contexts, it may be relevant to know what body parts there are, and what hormon levels look like, possibly even what chromosomes. It still is not relevant to know sex assigned at birth, as that does not give any information about these things. @Zumbador @Willow
Show threadx0Mar 6
@lipow This makes sense. @Zumbador @Willow
Show threadKaren E. Lund 💙💛Mar 7
@Zumbador @Willow I've never been asked, not even by a medical professional. Is that unusual?
Show threadJohn BreenMar 3

@Willow I'm gonna go with my "sex" at conception.

"All humans begin life in the womb as females. If no Y chromosome is present in the foetus, then the embryo will continue to develop as and be born as a female"

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-7531,00.html

Why do men have nipples? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk

Show threadNone HitwonderMar 3
@Willow let's normalize loudly asking "and what fucking business is that of YOURS?" more often.
Show threadSpinnerMar 3

@Willow

I will throw sand in the gears of marginalization, by feigning ignorance and incompetence, and eventually I will be indignant that they feel the need to check what's in my pants. As a straight white Christian with English as his first language, I am entitled to the Right of Karen: "Who is your supervisor?"

Show threadMidtown Masochist 🐻 (RB-050) 🐷Mar 4
@Lane @Willow Exactly! I am given a tremendous amount of social privilege, despite the fact that I've not earned it, simply based on how I look. I will happily spend this accrued capital to confront those who want to marginalize others. I have basically run out of patience with this nonsense and I simply will not tolerate it any longer.
Show threadComrade WeezMar 3
@Willow If I am ever asked about sex I always say yes because it is like pizza, even if it's bad it's still pretty good
Show threadLonMMar 3
@Willow Exactly, and go further. Not just sex or gender. Anything. Everything. want to know my age? Location? Nationality? No. Why do you need to know? I'm not telling you that.
Show threadIrene (she/they, Sir/Mr.)Mar 3
@Willow *cracks knuckles* all of my training has prepared me for this moment (im not technically cis but the average bigot cant tell that just from looking at me)
Show threadMidtown Masochist 🐻 (RB-050) 🐷Mar 4
@Willow I will take great delight in communicating my refusal to answer this question. I will follow up my refusal with an extensive stream of questions of my own regarding what they think they are doing asking such a question. I'm mildly intelligent so I figure I can make the conversation last long enough to make the questioner regret the life choices that brought them to this point.
Show threadRodolfoMar 4

@Willow @Richboy50

“What’s my gender? What are you, a narc?”

Show threadVolineMar 4
@Willow
Wait, you're asking me to use the power of assholedom for good? I've been waiting for this day for so long. 🥲
Show threadIHateFireworksMar 4

@Voline I have some good news, there are a ton of ICE agents and people who do contract work for ICE, just waiting for you to obstruct the fuck out of them

https://ddosecrets.org/article/ice-contracts

@Willow

DHS Contracts - Distributed Denial of Secrets

Details on ICE and DHS contracts with over 6,000 different entities ranging from private businesses to government agencies and even dozens of universities. Some of the notable firms include Anduril, H…

Show threadiam-py-testMar 5

@ProcessParsnip Just noting, this is a list of contracts with DHS. Not all of the companies listed in the leak are complicit with ICE's actions; many of these contracts are uncontroversial and relate to DHS' other functions, such as disaster response and cybersecurity.
For example, University of California, San Diego got two grants for threat intelligence which expired during the first Trump administration

Furthermore, this leak spans decades, and many of the contracts in it expired before the current administration.
ICE contractors might have been complicit in human rights violations then, but have nothing to do with current events, or have even broken off ties with the agency.

Finally, I don't know if anyone has verified the data is authentic, and hasn't been tampered with by the source.

Show threadIHateFireworksMar 5
@iampytest1 it's true that some of these are innocuous. The obtainer has provided information on what each contract is for, and it's a good place to start.
Show threadiam-py-testMar 5
@ProcessParsnip Agreed. Its still very valuable information.
Show threadTattieMar 4

@Voline absolutely! People often assume that the best weapon against fascism is violent resistance, but no, violence is their domain.

The best weapons are stubbornness, passive-aggressive wiseassery, creative obstructiveness, pedantry... 😁

Fedi was made for this call to action.
@Willow

Show threadGeorge SaichMar 4
@Willow
"Honestly, my earliest memory is from when I was 3 years old . . . can't help you."
Show threadCaliCarolMar 4

@Willow

Got it!

Show threadDuncan BayneMar 4
@Willow That's a *great* idea. Will commence immediately.
Show threadHugs4friends ♾🇺🇦 🇵🇸😷Mar 4
@Willow Pretty sure we put 'none' on the last census form.
Show threadAlien software, human hardwareMar 4
@Willow i hadn't considered this would help, but makes sense!
And mischief for a good reason is always nice :D
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Mar 4
@Willow I may do this when I have spoons for it. Because it isn't just about trans people; it's about privacy, it's about sexism (being cis female, I've had my share of that), it's about "why the heck do you need to know?"
Just fighting back against this surveilance society, it is worth doing.
Show threadAriaflameMar 4
@kerravonsen @Willow If they have a research need for it then I want to see their ethics approval code.
Show threadHelgeMar 4
@Willow Boring cishetero, been doing that forever. It's just private fucking information and I get genuinely angry at being asked. Happy to hear it helps. 
Show threadtautologyMar 4

@helge @Willow same here. I don't even like giving out my first name to companies; preferring to use my first initial (which is the name on all my debit and credit cards).

I started doing this in the 90s, along with setting my DoB to 01/01/1970; because WTF should private information be given out.

Show threadKaren E. Lund 💙💛Mar 7
@tautology @helge @Willow Back when I had a Facebook account (a long time ago) I was amazed at how many notifications I got of friends' birthdays on April 1, including some I knew for a fact had different birthdays.
Show threadJWMar 4
@Willow
Another response is to refuse to supply any sex or gender information on the basis its not necessary to deliver the service.
Show threadAndrocatMar 4
@Willow "If you have nothing to hide, you're doing it wrong and you're a bad comrade" is a take I am fucking living for.
Show threadAdamski the HodgepodgeMar 4

@Willow I actually used to do this on forms and stuff all the way from high school through uni - I would just check the field with "prefer not to say" or some variation thereupon.

This was all before I realized I was NB 

Show threadteresa_athomeMar 4
@Willow I’ve been responding “prefer not to answer” to gender and other “demographic” questions for a decade or more now. It will be simple enough to lodge complaints too.
Show threadPiggleston PecanpantsMar 4
@Willow I've been doing this for years. Isn't anyone's business. Glad that it helps.
Show threadBeeCyclingMar 4
@Willow As a middle-aged white lady I'm in my prime Karen era. I should use this power for good!
Show threadDamonHDMar 4
@Willow Did that with university registration new question this year. Got them to add a "prefer not to say" option (which I took) and make the question not assume various things like intersex people not existing (forcing 2% of students to lie). I was genuinely furious.
Show threadPurpleShonaSMar 4
@Willow trouble is that most cis people don't get asked, or at least not often enough to make a difference ☹️. However - good plan for when it does happen and every little helps build to that tipping point 🙂
Show threadL. B. HeuschkelMar 4
My very straight and cis partner did this at work. In the end, a huge international company ended up removing the gender question from a commonly used questionnaire because they were right: It made no difference whatsoever.
Show threadJuliaRMar 4
@Willow Thank you for this! I have never seen such a question, actually, but I will be more cautious about that now. I've been asked to give gender, but never "assigned at birth" - this seems very rude.
Show threadSteph  Mar 4
@Willow my sex assigned at birth? Oh, that's '); DROP TABLE Users;--
Show threadRachelMar 4
@Willow

​​ MALE
​​ FEMALE
​​ WHAT ARE YOU, AN COP?
​​ FUCK YOU, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE A COP ACTUALLY
Show threadThe Animal and the MachineMar 4
@Willow @HollyGoDarkly
Consider writing in ‘woke’ or just ignore it, as apparently the system allows that and it doesn’t even have to have any basis in reality.