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Peaceful Dave's avatar

Thomas St Thomas just wrote an article, "Sex is Not Assigned at Birth, and I Never Beat My Wife" on Medium that is about agenda driven word choices. He objects to "the sex you were assigned at birth". Not only is the sex of a child revealed at about 20 weeks by observation of genitalia with ultrasound, but it is also revealed at six weeks with analysis of a blood draw. Revealed, not assigned. There is even a paid service for it (https://sneakpeektest.com). In an effort to legitimize the idea that gender is a decision of a person about themself, a subtle "assigned at birth" seeks to make biological sex a decision made by someone else at the time of birth. Weasel wording is often a powerful tool.

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X. Coe's avatar

Yes, I dislike that phrasing, except for intersex people who have been historically "assigned" their sex at birth.

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