Pride month has been and gone for another year, with its corporate sponsors and flags, its pronouns and genders, its rainbow-coloured sexualities. I thought of going this year, partly out of curiosity, partly out of solidarity, but who would I go as? I looked at
Thank you for your comments and your engagement. I feel uncomfortable. being addressed on such familiar terms - "Dear dear Tina" - by someone whose identity I don't know. I find it helpful when people are willing to associate themselves by name with the opinions they express. It makes for a more honest and trusting dialogue.
My piece makes clear that there are people with DSDs (wrongly labelled "intersex") whose anatomies might differ to varying degrees from those of clearly identifiable male or female bodies, but this does not constitute a third sex or a gender-neutral or asexual person. People with DSDs do not commonly suffer from gender dysphoria, but they do have complex medical and social needs arising from their conditions. See this link: https://differently-normal.com/author/clarecais/, for an explanation as to why many people with DSDs feel exploited and misrepresented by the kind of arguments you're using. And we are not deer, so these kind of comparisons are of very limited relevance.
The hijras constitute a broad group of gender-variant people who have historically been recognised and accommodated as a third gender (not a third sex) in Indian society. They often experience various forms of social ostracisation and exploitation. There is extensive research done on their identities, lifestyles and struggles. Nowhere do I deny gender-fluidity, and the hijras would be a good example of a gender-fluid category of people. But I repeat, they are not a third sex. That is simply not a characteristic of the human species.
Thank you for your comments and your engagement. I feel uncomfortable. being addressed on such familiar terms - "Dear dear Tina" - by someone whose identity I don't know. I find it helpful when people are willing to associate themselves by name with the opinions they express. It makes for a more honest and trusting dialogue.
My piece makes clear that there are people with DSDs (wrongly labelled "intersex") whose anatomies might differ to varying degrees from those of clearly identifiable male or female bodies, but this does not constitute a third sex or a gender-neutral or asexual person. People with DSDs do not commonly suffer from gender dysphoria, but they do have complex medical and social needs arising from their conditions. See this link: https://differently-normal.com/author/clarecais/, for an explanation as to why many people with DSDs feel exploited and misrepresented by the kind of arguments you're using. And we are not deer, so these kind of comparisons are of very limited relevance.
The hijras constitute a broad group of gender-variant people who have historically been recognised and accommodated as a third gender (not a third sex) in Indian society. They often experience various forms of social ostracisation and exploitation. There is extensive research done on their identities, lifestyles and struggles. Nowhere do I deny gender-fluidity, and the hijras would be a good example of a gender-fluid category of people. But I repeat, they are not a third sex. That is simply not a characteristic of the human species.