“Assigning” gender at birth? Call Child Protective Services!

I got halfway through reading this, thinking it HAD to be satire, before realizing it was written in absolute seriousness. How long will it be before doctors are jailed or fined for daring to declare a newborn male or female at birth? [Bracketed comments by me]

Slate blogger considers newborn sex ID abusive


“Obstetricians, doctors, and midwives commit this procedure on infants every single day, in every single country. In reality, this treatment is performed almost universally without even asking for the parents’ consent, making this practice all the more insidious. It’s called infant gender assignment: When the doctor holds your child up to the harsh light of the delivery room, looks between its legs, and declares his opinion: It’s a boy or a girl, based on nothing more than a cursory assessment of your offspring’s genitals.”

[It’s just the doctor’s OPINION, readers!  He barely glanced at the kid’s genitals, not that those matter, anyway. Humans are exempt from sexual dimorphism, unique among mammals!]

“… With infant gender assignment, in a single moment your baby’s life is instantly and brutally reduced from such infinite potentials down to one concrete set of expectations and stereotypes, and any behavioral deviation from that will be severely punished—both intentionally through bigotry, and unintentionally through ignorance. That doctor (and the power structure behind him) plays a pivotal role in imposing those limits on helpless infants, without their consent, and without your informed consent as a parent. This issue deserves serious consideration by every parent, because no matter what gender identity your child ultimately adopts, infant gender assignment has effects that will last through their whole life.”

[Oh, just come out and say it! This is a conspiracy by the medical profession–the “power structure”–and pure infant child abuse.  Call child protective services!]

“… Infant gender assignment is a willful decision, and as a maturing society we need to judge whether it might be a wrong action. Why must we force this on kids at birth? What is achieved, besides reinforcing tradition? What could be the harm in letting a child wait to declare for themself who they are, once they’re old enough (which is generally believed to happen around age 2 or 3)?”

[“Generally believed” by increasing numbers of people (and journalists), but absolutely refuted by decades of data indicating that the vast majority of 2-year-olds who claim they are the opposite sex grow out of it!]

“Is it better to play the odds, or play it safe? Think carefully. Infant gender assignment might just be Russian roulette with your baby’s life.”

[You bad, abusive parent! Don’t you dare let some sinister midwife or OB-GYN misgender your newborn baby!]

Where the HELL are the reporters with the courage to push back against this nonsense??

18 thoughts on ““Assigning” gender at birth? Call Child Protective Services!

  1. this rant is a joke right? I mean seriously? Isis is trying to conquer the world, the right wing extreme homophobes hide behind extreme religion and pass laws that allow people to openly hate and discriminate against the LBGTQ community, Boko Haram is abducting raping and selling young girls into sexual slavery every day, the earthquake in Nepal kills over 5000 people and they need help desperately, there are Race Riots happening all over the USA nightly, Canada drops out of the Environmental movement and is now a major contributor to the extinction of animals, and the rampant destruction on nature and is trying to shove the keystone pipeline up everyone’s asses (including the Canadian asses) …. and having a doctor say congratulations you have a boy/girl when the baby is first born is the reason you bug out? … seriously? what’s next lawsuits against doctors for stating the obvious? calling CPS on parents who refer to their children as sons and daughters? … when does the lunacy stop?

    I am a FTM … I have a SON he is 13… how do I know for sure he is actually a boy? .. well he was born with a dick so that was my first clue… the second clue is he never questioned his gender, the third clue came when he started talking about being a Father someday.

    Look.. the reality is , if the child is anything other than the gender that nature created them to be, they will let you know in no uncertain terms by the time they are 5 or 6 that they are the opposite gender or somewhere in between, kids are pretty smart, they know who they are long before we as parents do.
    I don’t want to live in a world where a doctor can’t tell you if you have a boy or a girl in the womb or at birth… I am not parenting an IT or a gender neutral human being… I am parenting a SON , the whole idea of not labelling a baby a boy or a girl at birth is quite frankly ridiculous , and don’t forget… labels can be changed at any time… happens all the time.

    • You really don’t need to list everything that’s going wrong in the world to make your point. If I ever have a child and that child has a penis, I will refer to him as my son because he would be male. It’s basic biology. The point that went sailing high above your head is that sexual organs dictate the sex of an individual – and that’s about it. If a boy wants to wear a tutu and play with an Easy Bake oven, guess what? He’s a boy who likes to do those things. Sex is a physical reality. Gender is a social construct. There’s a difference.

      • forgive me, I don’t really disagree with your comment, however i do want to think about it for a bit and do a little research ( not to refute you, or argue) just to make sure I have the right words for what I am currently thinking, you have just given me some food for thought, I shall return with at least a semi intelligent reply 😉

    • It’s more like, Has a Y chromosome? Male. Has an X chromosome? Female. Because there are genetic males going around with female bits thanks to androgen insensitivity syndrome. But they’ll never make egg cells and they don’t have uteri, two pretty serious requirements for functioning as a biological female*. They just didn’t develop right in utero because they can’t respond to testosterone.

      Actually I’m kinda curious why the transactivists aren’t upholding AIS women as living examples of “being born in the wrong body,” not that I really think it’s the wrong body because it’s still their DNA making them the way they are. It would be the wrong body if your DNA said “OK, you’re supposed to have brown eyes” and you were born with blue ones. But that’s not what’s happening here.

      [*No, I don’t think human beings are reduced to their sexual reproductive capacity, but reproduction is a pretty damned important part of being a living species *as a class*, whatever decisions individuals in that class might make.]

  2. I was told that I had placed a massive burden on my child by assigning him female at birth. Well biologically speaking he was. Had I followed that up with strong adherence to societal gender norms he may have had a point, but I didn’t – although I don’t deny that I probably did gender in more subtle unconscious ways. The problem is clearly rooted in society’s expectations that flow from biological male/female distinctions, not our biological make up which is in general a given.

    • ConcernedParent, who had the audacity to tell you you had placed this “massive burden” simply by acknowledging biological reality? How are things going now with you and your child?

      • My child…. an idea gleaned from the net no doubt. Currently all focus is on providing support for end of school exams, after which a new college starts, and a new name. When things appear to be easier psychologically I may broach the subject of alternative voices which this blog has pointed to. It’s hard, as I feel like I’m walking on egg shells.

  3. okay after checking to be sure I had this right… Sex (Biological) : male or female … Gender(Social) masculine or Feminine … okay so here is my take on this… Males and Females are fundamentally different, both in Physical and in Mental… as children.. generally, boys naturally play rougher, take higher risks, do profoundly stupid shit that makes even the most seasoned parents jaw drop and ask WTF were you thinking? , that is a typical average male/boy

    as children generally girls tend to not partake in such high risk behavior (perhaps they are smarter or lack what ever it is that drives boys to such behaviour) they tend to play at tea parties and making house and at a very early age begin to emulate their Mothers and begin to develop a rough sense of nurturing skills .

    Yes both boys and girls play the same sports , but the way they play is generally different is it biology? is it the way their brains are wired? I believe so.

    I do happen to know a few parents who ascribe to the gender neutral play time and toys and try to avoid any gender labels or constructs in their childrens lives…. so only time will tell how these children will be as adults… for boys it can only go 1 of 2 ways… either he will become extremely masculine ( over compensating) or he will become passive …. for girls… pretty much the same thing I would think , she would either overcompensate to prove to everyone around her that she is a woman, or she will be passive and withdrawn .

    while gender is a social label that we apply to our kids , I sort of believe that removing the gender from the equation is essentially socially neutering the males and socially crippling the females… if both males and females were raised with the same identity ( gender identity for lack of better wording) …. would there be sexual attraction towards each other? one of the key driving force behind a males attraction to a female is her femininity which of course is linked to gender not just her physical appearance, but the way she carries herself , the way she walks talks how her mind works , her potential as a parent for the males future offspring… there are a great many things at work on a biological level to ensure each sex has a mate .

    so my question is… if you remove gender ( masculine or feminine) from the human experience and equation … you teach children not to show or display any of these social traits… will they still be attracted to each other ? will sexual contact simply become a deed done to procreate and for nothing else… ( actually the medical world pretty much removed the need for physical contact to procreate) ….

    i really want to know how a genderless society would be any better than what we currently have ? I just can not see it as you do and I am trying my hardest to do so .

    sorry for the long assed post .

  4. I remember this one! Post-modern liberals are insane. Really, even if the doctor doesn’t say “It’s a girl” or “It’s a boy” the baby’s family will find out once their baby needs the first diaper change.

    And once again, you see people confusing sex, biological sex, male or female, with sexist stereotypes. This “I don’t see sex” is just like “I don’t see race.” Of course they don’t see sex because they won’t be happy until real females just don’t exist anymore.

    There is no such thing as “assigning” sex at birth. That is ridiculous. If you have a vuvla, you’re female. If you have a penis, you’re male.

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