Gender assignment is complete nonsense
At best, the term 'gender' simply means how individuals perceive themselves or are perceived by others in relation to a swathe of stereotypes, most of which are regressive, oppressive and which should have no place in modern society striving for equality.
A new born baby falls into one of the two sex classes but he or she does not and cannot have a gender or gender identity. Gender refers to socially constructed characteristics, not any innate physical or biological characteristics. How a child comes to see him or herself as he or she grows up and matures depends on the family environment, the influence of friends and relatives and societal and media pressures and expectations.
At birth, the parents may have expectations that their baby boy will grow up to be, say, tough, good at sports, being a leader and have other traits and characteristics some expect of a boy. Or that a girl will be caring, nurturing and obedient.
Society may, in general, concur with these expectations. But these are simply stereotypical expectations; and these parental and societal expectations are likely to change over time. Different expectations will also be prominent in different areas of the country, in different cultural and religious communities and in different socioeconomic classes, for example, and over time. As the child grows and matures, he or she will develop a personality and behaviours that are unique to him or her and in different circumstances and at different ages these will change and coalesce.
Gender is not 'assigned at birth': sex is noted and recorded
Sex
There are two sexes and we name them male and female. They arise from the two different gametes: ova (produced in relatively small numbers and immobile) and sperm (produced in large numbers and motile).
There no other gametes so there are no other sexes: there are no sexes between or outside male and female because there are no gametes other than ova and sperm. Some people produce no gametes but no one produces both.
We are all either male or female because our bodies are structured to produce one of these two gametes — whether or not they don't, ever have or ever will produce that gamete: eg girls and boys are no less female or male respectively before puberty; perimenopausal women are not in the process of becoming less female; postmenopausal women are still female.
The sex of a new baby is observed when it it born — or even before using a variety of different scans and tests. Sex is not ‘assigned’ as if it was in some way an arbitrary or capricious choice made by the doctor or midwife. They will record male or female in the NHS's Personal Child Health Record.
The parents will use this when they register the baby's birth: the Registrar will create the new entry in the register of births and issue a birth certificate to the parents. This birth certificate also records the child's sex as either male or female.
The baby's sex is now officially recorded as a matter of public record.
Oppression and discrimination
Out of the simple fact of these two gametes and the two sexes that have evolved to produce each of them stems the advantages that one sex generally has over the other: males are on average taller, heavier and stronger. Males generally have an advantage over females because they are males; adult males generally have an advantage over females because they have gone through male puberty.
We recognise these advantages as being the root of the oppression, subjugation and control males can exert over females.
There are many factors that determine which particular males will wield this inherent power over particular females, but, as a whole, it is the basis for much inequality between females and males.
Laws such as the Equality Act 2010 in the UK serve to provide a brake on discrimination against women.
Differences of Sex Development
This is a complex area, with a number of different medical conditions that affect males and females that have a variety of different causes. However, these conditions (sometimes misleadingly referred to as intersex conditions) are simply differences of development around the two sexes. They do not create a third or other intermediate sex or demonstrate that sex is a spectrum: there are still only two sexes because there are still only two gametes.
Humans are sexually dimorphic, with rare intersex conditions being anomalous developments of dimorphic sexual classes. It is not possible to change biological sex. There is no agreed scientific basis for someone having the mind of someone from the opposite sex or being born in the wrong body.
Bewley S, Clifford D, McCartney M, et al. Gender incongruence in children, adolescents, and adults. Br J Gen Pract 2019;69:170–1. doi:10.3399/bjgp19X701909
Changing sex
This is not possible.
Medical treatments such as supplementary hormones and cosmetic surgery can change physical appearance but the sex of the person does not change. References to 'birth sex' are sometimes seen, but a person's sex remains the same throughout their life and, indeed, after death.
Sex Reassignment Surgery (and the term much loved by tabloids, sex swap) are misnomers. Some people do have treatments and surgery that change their appearance, but since sex is immutable, it can never be 'reassigned': it was never 'assigned' in the first place.
Gender Recognition
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) provides a straightforward and inexpensive way to get a birth certificate changed to state that the holder is of the sex they aren't. All an individual needs to do is fill in a form, provide a diagnosis of 'gender dysphoria', a second medical report from someone such as their GP, evidence they have used a different name or similar for the past two years and a fee of no more then £140.
Once this is accepted, they will receive a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). The Registrar will then note the individual in a secret register and alter the register of births, switching the person's registered sex from male to female or female to male.
The GRA does say that this is to be accepted 'for all purposes', but then goes on to list numerous exceptions including sport, pensions, peerages and sex-specific offences (eg rape).
The Equality Act 2010 generally prohibits discrimination on several grounds, including sex, but there are exemptions for such things as single-sex services and employment where it is an occupational requirement that the person be of one sex or the other. A GRC does not change this and it is the sex of the individual that counts, not what their birth certificate might say.
Despite the claims of some, holding a GRC doesn't actually change the sex of its holder. Reality is not so easily manipulated or fooled: the individual's sex has not changed.
Some claim to have been 'born in the wrong body', but such ideas invoke notions of Cartesian dualism: that our mind is somehow distinct from our bodies. This can be seen as a ploy to create distance from the immutable facts of the biology and binary of sex.
Some clearly are dysphoric about their bodies and wish they were different and some will feel relief after taking hormone treatments or undergoing cosmetic surgery. That relief is welcome, but they still haven't changed their sex.
Self-ID
Self-ID arises from the notion that the above requirements for obtaining a new birth certificate are far too difficult, time-consuming, expensive. intrusive, demeaning, etc and that all it should entail is a declaration by an individual that they are the sex they are not.
Proposals for 'reform' include abolishing the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, any second medical report, the small fee and any evidence of a name change, etc. The process would become as simple as obtaining a provisional driving licence.
Conclusion
The notion that our sex is 'assigned' at birth and can be changed if felt to be wrong is not supported by science.
Humans cannot change sex. We die with the same sex as we were born. Sex is real.
As JK Rowling said:
Further reading
Sample text. Click to select the text box. Click again or double click to start editing the text.
