#this is what abolishing casab means

[t4t4t]

when everyone is trans no one will be :)

#this is what abolishing casab means #lol

[florenceisfalling]

Good thing here is idk what cafab is and I'm actually very curious why your prefer it! The vague explanation I got from a search was a start, but your experience using that term would help me better understand it as someone with a cognitive disability! /gen

anon you phrased this very kindly, thank you!

there r two common uses of the term casab/cagab, aka "coercively assigned sex/gender at birth." the first is in a specific intersex context and the second is in a more general gender context. there's some controversy on which usage came first.

the first is because intersex people are mistreated by the medical field from the very start of their lives. in order to force them into the binary criteria of "male" or "female," doctors often 1.) decide to pick a sex for them and/or 2.) make surgical changes before they are old enough to know. sometimes, the parents are not even informed or asked. it is unnecessary, sometimes dangerous, and exists solely to coerce people into the idea of "normal" gender and sex. their gender assignment itself is coercive.

i use it more generally, however*. intersex people are not the only ones who experience coercion in regards to their gender. when someone's gender is assigned at birth, it is not just a medical statement, but quickly influences them in a cultural way. looking at gender reveal parties paints a pretty good picture of this. society assumes from the moment you're assigned a gender that it is an immutable part of you, you will follow the social rules of it, and you will never be able to change it. deviating from that birth assignment is unacceptable to society. its used to coerce people into a life they may not want, whether that be because they are trans or just cis and non-conforming to gender roles.

of course, most doctors aren't pulling an evil scheme when assigning a non-intersex person's gender, they're just noting a physical observation. it's important to know what genitals and hormones someone has in order to treat them for certain medical needs. for that reason, the queer community has generally fallen out of practice using "cagab" for people who are not intersex. they use "agab" instead. but some bioessentialism come up in the trans community, and certain otherwise progressive people seem to have lost sight of the ideal of abolishing the binary. some of them seem to have forgotten about intersex folks entirely. you see people make generalizing statements about "afab" this or "amab" that, ignoring the fact that not everyone's assigned sex was correct, and there is no universal gender experience. you see women's groups trying to be more inclusive by saying "afabs" rather than something else that would be more inclusive of trans women. you see people who use "amab" when they mean "person with a penis," even though phalloplasty exists so some trans men have penises. so even queer people who act progressive have fallen into the trap of seeing your assigned sex as an immutable, specific, accurate category that sticks to you forever. to combat that idea, i prefer to use "cagab/casab" regardless of if the person in question is intersex or not.

*i wouldn't call myself intersex, but i genuinely do not know. some people consider the condition i have to be an intersex one, as it changes my hormone levels and reproductive system, but others do not. my doctors are not entirely sure what other conditions may be affecting me.

tl;dr: intersex people's "assigned sex" is often not their actual sex nor accurate to their physical condition, and is tied to medical abuse. their sex assignment is coercive. as for the rest of the world, our gender assignment forces us into rigid categories, and is also flawed. i like to use "cagab" for both reasons.

i hope this makes sense and i'm sorry if it's confusing :'D! i can break it down further if i need to

#also ask me for sources and i'll get some! just not able to atm #identity talks