They really need more gender options...

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There's only a "female" and a "male" option under gender. I think they should include more options (like nonbinary) and then have an option to type your own gender (assuming people would be mature enough to not misuse it). I also think they should add a "preferred pronouns" box.

That would be ideal. Even facebook is better than WP on that one.

That would be a great idea. Until that happens, I'll identify as Male.

Well, on a forum like this, sure, that's a good thing. But when it comes to stuff like medical forms, you really should mention the sex you were born with because there are health issues that are more likely to happen depending on your sex. Otherwise, that's a legitimate thing to desire for gender options in forms or websites.

On another forum I'm on you can pick male, female, or not telling. I've seen sites where "prefer not to say" was an option.

a third option and the ability to change your gender though your profile settings would be marvelous

It would be nice if there were another option. I finally worked up the courage to change mine to "male", though.

its a great idea but that will never happen without the forum software update and its going to take a bunch of months for that at the very least.

Actually, Massachusetts and other states are working to change healthcare forms to include non-binary gender assignments.

There are REAL health repercussions if you don't reveal your "real" gender to your healthcare provider. If you're FTM, are you on T, what's your liver profile, heart, etc? If you're MTF, hormones-street or legal, any injections, history of abuse, etc.?

This doesn't even consider mental health care... How could you trust someone who didn't address you by the correct pronoun?

Or WP could indicate "sex" instead of "gender" I know how often the two get confused and most people think those two words are interchangeable but they are not.

If anything they should at least change it.

And it would be ideal if they have a "sex" and the options are "female", "male", and "intersex".
And also a "gender" and there you can have the option of creating your own.

I am genderfluid, so it bothers me to no end sometimes.

We know that hun, but this isn't a medical form is it?

Yes! I joined today and, while I'm a cis woman, the lack of other gender options did put me off a little.

Perhaps the gender options mean ''if you have a penis, you are considered male. If you have a vagina, you're considered female''. Unless some people here physically have both?

Actually it's more complicated than that.

For one thing, many people have a not strictly-male or strictly-female sex, so it's one of those things that should be more broad even in medical contexts.

Also, any transperson who has had medical treatment (i.e. physical interventions involving hormones and surgery) takes on most of the health risk profile (not counting socio-culturally mediated health risks like abuse and drug use, not to say they aren't important and significant things but they aren't inherent to what sex you are) of their affirmed/re-assigned sex because most of those risks involve the endocrine system and the simple presence or absence of certain organs and tissues (issues like liver profile for transmen are, I believe, related to the testosterone therapy -- to the testosterone medication -- and not to what sex the person receiving the therapy is). To put this in perspective: Should women with AIS, who have female genitals and breasts and take estrogen, select "male" when they go to the doctor just because they have XY sex chromosomes? I think most doctors would say, "no". It would be a good idea, of course, mention that they have AIS -- if it is relevent to the medical treatment they will be receiving.....

Not every physician needs to know everything about your medical history; Your GP should, but the doctor at the ER/A&E who you see only to stitch up a bad cut on your hand probably does not need to know anything about your sex/gender beyond how to address you and the medications (including hormones or hormone blockers) that you take.... and in a society that way too often looks at people with non-binary sex and/or gender (not just transpeople) as freaks, where even doctors can be insanely prejudiced for no reason and treat trans and intersexed people horribly, it might actually be better not when the situation is one where it's not necessary. (This is just my opinion, and anyone who is unsure of who should be told in what circumstance should ask a doctor, ideally one they trust, or seek advice from a credible medical advice giving service -- I personally think booklets should be made about this issue for anyone who has an atypical sex/gender.)

If stem cell research ever gets to the point where people can have functional gonads and all the associated reproductive bits grown for them as part of reconstructive surgery, then trans-people will take on their affirmed/re-assigned sex risk profile 100%. (The only exception to this that I am aware of is for certain genetic disorders that are sex-linked -- meaning the genes that cause the disorder are found on the X or Y chromosome only, changing likelihood of inheritance depending on if you're genetically male or female or otherwise, but if you know you have no family history of those genetic disorders then the exception would not apply to you.)



Every human being, without exception, starts out in utero with the potential to develop any of the sex organs that human beings can develop along the continuum between "male" and "female" -- regardless of their sex chromosomes (because sex chromosomes alone do not determine these things -- it is all very intricate and complicated).

We all start out with exactly the same tissues, and through the process of sexual differentiation, those tissues take on different shapes and sizes, they stop developing or undergo significant growth and development depending, ultimately, on the levels and influence of various hormones. The penis and the clitoris come from exactly the same tissue, for example, and it is ultimately the influence of various hormones that determines the eventual size and shape of the organ that tissue develops into.

Sexual differentiation can produce "ambiguous genitalia", which is not typically "having both" a penis and a vagina (I'm not sure that ever actually happens -- if it does, it is extremely rare and the person would not have full sets of female and male reproductive organs) -- it generally means having reproductive tissues that developed into neither clearly "male" nor clearly "female" structures.

I agree. Boxing people in is restrictive and drawing on pre-conceived assumptions


Some countries have already started altering their application forms and increasing their ID options, but the world isn't fully behind it yet so its up to individuals to make service providers aware of the issue.
If you want to find out why it is an issue you could visit: www.oiiuk.org/755/ten-misconceptions-about-intersex or: www.aiclegal.org (who actively defend intersex children) ~ there are others, & quite afew youtube clips on the subject, but some of the stories about people who were operated on (unnecessarily / so 'society' might accept them) might not be suitable for the very young or the very squeamish.
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