Sex assignment

Sex assignment (sometimes known as gender assignment) is the determination of an infant's sex at birth.[1] In the majority of births, a relative, midwife, nurse or physician inspects the genitalia when the baby is delivered, and sex and gender are assigned, without the expectation of ambiguity.[2] Assignment may also be done prior to birth through prenatal sex discernment.

Even though the term assignment suggests a decision on the part of the parents or medical professionals, the act almost universally constitutes an observation or recognition of inherent primary sexual characteristics of a baby. In the majority of cases, the gender of rearing of the child matches the child's gender identity. The act of assignment carries the implicit expectation that future gender identity will develop in alignment with the physical anatomy, assignment, and rearing.[3]

In some cases, sex or gender assignment does not align with future gender identity, and the assignment can be problematic. Transgender or gender non-conforming (GNC) people, for example, are people who have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from that associated with their assigned sex.[4][5][6] In the case of intersex individuals born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals, that do not fit typical notions of female or male bodies,[7] there may be complications in making a sex assignment[8] and that assignment may not be consistent with the child's future gender identity.[9] Reinforcing sex assignments through surgical and hormonal means may violate the individual's rights.[10][11][12][13]

Terminology

Sex assignment is the determination of an infant's sex at birth. Terms that may be related to sex assignment are:

Assigned female at birth (AFAB): a person of any age and irrespective of current gender whose sex assignment at birth resulted in a declaration of "female" by the person in authority. For example, when an attending midwife or physician announces, "It's a girl!". Synonyms: female assigned at birth (FAAB) and designated female at birth (DFAB).[14][15]

Assigned male at birth (AMAB): a person of any age and irrespective of current gender whose sex assignment at birth resulted in a declaration of "male". For example, when a birth attendant announces, "It's a boy!". Synonyms: male assigned at birth (MAAB) and designated male at birth (DMAB).[14][15]

Intersex, in humans and other animals, describes variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".[7] These may complicate the sex assignment of an infant at birth or lead to an erroneous assignment.[8][9]

Transgender people are people who have a gender identity, or gender expression, that differs from their assigned sex.[4][5][6] Transgender people are sometimes called transsexual if they desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another.

Sex reassignment : a treatment program consisting of a combination of psychological, medical, and surgical methods intended to physically change a person's gender to match their gender identity after a putatively erroneous sex assignment at birth

History

The discernment of an infant's sex is almost universally considered an observation or recognition of an inherent aspect of a baby.[1] The rationales for sex assignment and consequential registration appear to have been little questioned. A Dutch report on gender registration states that sex registration was introduced in 1811 as an intrinsic component in population registration, due to gender-specific rights and responsibilities, such as military conscription.[16] Many discriminatory provisions in legislation no longer exist, but the provisions remain for rationales that include "speed of identification procedures".[16]

Assignment in cases of infants with intersex traits, or cases of trauma

Observation or recognition of an infant's sex may be complicated in the case of intersex infants and children, and in cases of early trauma. In such cases, sex assignment is generally taken to require medical treatment to confirm that assignment, but this is disputed in part due to the human rights implications of such treatment.[7][17]

Intersex is a broadly defined term that usually denotes the presence of atypical sex characteristics: at least some aspect of the genitalia, internal organs, gonadal tissue, or chromosomes is more typical of the other sex. When the external genitalia appear to be in between, they are described as ambiguous.[18]

Cases of trauma include the famous John/Joan case, where sexologist John Money claimed successful reassignment from male to female at age 17 months of a boy whose penis was destroyed during circumcision. However, this claim was later shown to be largely false. The subject, David Reimer, later identified as a man.

In approximately 1 in 2,000 infants, there is enough variation in the appearance of the external genitalia to merit hesitation about appropriate assignment by the physician involved.[19] Typical examples would be an unusually prominent clitoris in an otherwise apparently typical girl, or complete cryptorchidism in an otherwise apparently typical boy. In most of these cases, a sex is tentatively assigned and the parents told that tests will be performed to confirm the apparent sex. Typical tests in this situation might include a pelvic ultrasound to determine the presence of a uterus, a testosterone or 17α-hydroxyprogesterone level, and/or a karyotype. In some of these cases a pediatric endocrinologist is consulted to confirm the tentative sex assignment. The expected assignment is usually confirmed within hours to a few days in these cases.

In a much smaller proportion of cases, the process of assignment is more complex, and involves both determining what the biological aspects of sex may be and choosing the best sex assignment for the purposes of rearing the child. Approximately 1 in 20,000 infants is born with enough ambiguity that assignment becomes a more drawn-out process of multiple tests and intensive education of the parents about sexual differentiation. In some of these cases, it is clear that the child will face physical difficulties or social stigma as he or she grows up, and deciding upon the sex of assignment involves weighing the advantages and disadvantages of either assignment.

History

Nothing currently appears to be known about sex discernment prior to the medicalization of intersex. However, in European societies, Roman law, post-classical Canon law, and later Common law, referred to a person's sex as male, female or hermaphrodite, with legal rights as male or female depending on the characteristics that appeared most dominant. Under Roman law, a hermaphrodite had to be classed as either male or female.[20] The 12th-century Decretum Gratiani states that "Whether an hermaphrodite may witness a testament, depends on which sex prevails".[21][22][23] The foundation of common law, the 16th Century Institutes of the Lawes of England described how a hermaphrodite could inherit "either as male or female, according to that kind of sexe which doth prevaile."[24][25] Legal cases where sex assignment was placed in doubt have been described over the centuries.

With the medicalization of intersex, criteria for assignment have evolved over the decades, as clinical understanding of biological factors and diagnostic tests have improved, as surgical techniques have changed and potential complications have become clearer, and in response to the outcomes and opinions of adults who have grown up with various intersex conditions.

Before the 1950s, assignment was based almost entirely on the appearance of the external genitalia. Although physicians recognized that there were conditions in which the apparent secondary sexual characteristics could develop contrary to the person's sex, and conditions in which the gonadal sex did not match that of the external genitalia, their ability to understand and diagnose such conditions in infancy was too poor to attempt to predict future development in most cases.

In the 1950s, endocrinologists developed a basic understanding of the major intersex conditions such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), androgen insensitivity syndrome, and mixed gonadal dysgenesis. The discovery of cortisone allowed survival of infants with severe CAH for the first time. New hormone tests and karyotypes allowed more confident diagnosis in infancy and prediction of future development.

Sex assignment became more than choosing a sex of rearing, but also began to include surgical treatment. Undescended testes could be retrieved. A greatly enlarged clitoris could be amputated to the usual size, but attempts to create a penis were unsuccessful. John Money and others controversially believed that children were more likely to develop a gender identity that matched sex of rearing than might be determined by chromosomes, gonads, or hormones. The resulting medical model was termed the "Optimal gender model."[26]

The view of gender as a purely social construction, and gender identity as a result of nurture rather than nature reached near-universal acceptance, especially among liberal, progressive, and academic portions of Western society. The primary goal of assignment was to choose the sex that would lead to the least inconsistency between external anatomy and assigned psyche (gender identity). This led to the recommendation that any child without a penis or with a penis too small to penetrate a vagina could be raised as a girl, taught to be a girl, and would develop a female gender identity, and that this would be the best way to minimize future discrepancy between psyche and external anatomy in those infants determined to be biologically male but without a penis that meets medical norms (e.g., cloacal exstrophy), and also in those like in the John/Joan case who lost it to accidental trauma in early infancy.

From the 1960s, pediatric surgeons attempted and claimed success with reconstruction of infant genitalia, especially enlargement or construction of vaginas. The recommended rules of assignment and surgery from the late 1960s until the 1990s were roughly:

Since the 1990s, a number of factors have led to changes in the recommended criteria for assignment and surgery. These factors have included:

Clinical recommendations in the 2000s for assignment changed as a result:

These recommendations do not explicitly necessitate surgical or hormonal interventions to reinforce sex assignments, but such medical management persists worldwide, utilizing rationales such as the mitigation of parental distress and trauma, reducing the likelihood of stigma, making a child feel more "normal", and improving marriage prospects.[29]

Controversy

Controversies over surgical aspects of intersex management, have often focused on controversies regarding indications for surgery and optimal timing. However, intersex and human rights organizations have criticized medical models as they are not based on the consent of the individuals on whom such irreversible medical treatments are conducted, and outcomes may be inappropriate or poor.[29][30] Anne Tamar-Mattis, for example, states that, "The true choice is not between early and late [surgery], but early surgery versus patient autonomy.[30] Human rights institutions now refer to such practices as "harmful practices".[10]

However, while surgical interventions remain experimental, and clinical confidence in constructing "normal" genital anatomies has not been borne out, medically credible pathways other than surgery do not yet exist.[31] Changes to clinical recommendations in the current millennium do not yet address human rights concerns about consent, and the child's right to identity, privacy, freedom from torture and inhuman treatment, and physical integrity.[9][11][12]

In 2011, Christiane Völling won the first successful case brought against a surgeon for non-consensual surgical intervention. The Regional Court of Cologne, Germany, awarded her €100,000.[32]

In 2015, the Council of Europe recognized, for the first time, a right for intersex persons to not undergo sex assignment treatment, identifying issues with the pathologization of intersex bodies as inherently disordered.[9] In April 2015, Malta became the first country to recognize a right to bodily integrity and physical autonomy, and outlaw non-consensual modifications to sex characteristics. The Act was widely welcomed by civil society organizations.[33][34][35][36][37]

Reassignment of sex or gender

Sex reassignment is to a change in gender role or identity after an original and presumably incorrect sex assignment in infancy. This may occur in several types of circumstances.

Challenges to requirements for sex assignment

In recent years, the perceived need to legally assign sex is increasingly being challenged.[16][38] A report for the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice states "Gender increasingly seems to be perceived as a ‘sensitive’ identity feature, but so far is not regarded, nor protected as such in privacy regulations".[16] Australian government guidelines state that "departments and agencies that collect sex and/or gender information must not collect information unless it is necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of the agency’s functions or activities"[39]

See also

References

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  2. Reiner WG (2002). "Gender identity and sex assignment: a reappraisal for the 21st century". Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 511: 175–89; discussion 189–97. PMID 12575762.
  3. Shaw, Alison; Ardener, Shirley (2005). Changing sex and bending gender, p. 21. Berghahn Books, ISBN 978-1-84545-099-1
  4. 1 2 Terry Altilio, Shirley Otis-Green (2011). Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work. Oxford University Press. p. 380. ISBN 0199838275. Retrieved April 12, 2016. Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation [GLAAD], 2007).
  5. 1 2 Craig J. Forsyth, Heith Copes (2014). Encyclopedia of Social Deviance. Sage Publications. p. 740. ISBN 1483364690. Retrieved April 12, 2016. Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identities, gender expressions, and/or behaviors are different from those culturally associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.
  6. 1 2 Marla Berg-Weger (2016). Social Work and Social Welfare: An Invitation. Routledge. p. 229. ISBN 1317592026. Retrieved April 12, 2016. Transgender: An umbrella term that describes people whose gender identity or gender expression differs from expectations associated with the sex assigned to them at birth.
  7. 1 2 3 United Nations; Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2015). Free & Equal Campaign Fact Sheet: Intersex (PDF).
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  9. 1 2 3 4 Council of Europe; Commissioner for Human Rights (April 2015), Human rights and intersex people, Issue Paper
  10. 1 2 UN Committee against Torture; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child; UN Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities; UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Juan Méndez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; Dainius Pῡras, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; Dubravka Šimonoviæ, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children; African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (October 24, 2016), "Intersex Awareness Day – Wednesday 26 October. End violence and harmful medical practices on intersex children and adults, UN and regional experts urge", Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
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  12. 1 2 Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia, Australian Senate Community Affairs Committee, October 2013.
  13. World Health Organization (2015). Sexual health, human rights and the law. Geneva: World Health Organization. ISBN 9789241564984.
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  15. 1 2 Serano, Julia (October 2013). Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive. Seal Press. p. 301. ISBN 9781580055048.
  16. 1 2 3 4 van den Brink, Marjolein; Tigchelaar, Jet (2014), M/F and beyond, Gender registration by the state and the legal position of transgender persons. English summary, Ministerie van Veiligheid & Justitie
  17. Cabral, Mauro; Carpenter, Morgan, eds. (2014), Intersex Issues in the International Classification of Diseases: a revision
  18. Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, Erica A. Eugster (2004). Pediatric endocrinology: mechanisms, manifestations, and management, p. 253. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, ISBN 978-0-7817-4059-3
  19. Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2000). Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-07713-7.
  20. Lynn E. Roller, "The Ideology of the Eunuch Priest," Gender & History 9.3 (1997), p. 558.
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  22. "Decretum Gratiani (Kirchenrechtssammlung)". Bayerische StaatsBibliothek (Bavarian State Library). February 5, 2009.
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  29. 1 2 Carpenter, Morgan; Organisation Intersex International Australia (February 6, 2015). "Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Rights Snapshot Report". Sydney: Organisation Intersex International Australia.
  30. 1 2 Tamar-Mattis, A. (August 2014). "Patient advocate responds to DSD surgery debate". Journal of Pediatric Urology. 10 (4): 788–789. ISSN 1477-5131. PMID 24909610. doi:10.1016/j.jpurol.2014.03.019. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
  31. Liao, Lih-Mei; Wood, Dan; Creighton, Sarah M (September 28, 2015). "Parental choice on normalising cosmetic genital surgery". BMJ: –5124. ISSN 1756-1833. doi:10.1136/bmj.h5124. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  32. Zwischengeschlecht (December 17, 2015). "Nuremberg Hermaphrodite Lawsuit: Michaela "Micha" Raab Wins Damages and Compensation for Intersex Genital Mutilations!" (text). Retrieved 2015-12-21.
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  38. Chan, Emily. "Get gender off birth certificates, B.C. activists argue". CTV News. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
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