#perisex

[ipsogender]

Mesosex

EDIT 2023-11-23: the term has been revised to:

Mesosex: a person who has an intersex variation, but one which does not conform to perisex (non-intersex) ideas of what intersex is. For example, people who have intersex traits that are considered "mild", or who have variations such as PCOS Hyperandrogenism and Poland Syndrome.

Meso- for middle/in between, to refer to the state of being in between what the intersex community accepts as intersex and what the broader public (mistakenly) thinks intersex is.

More info on why the revision has happened: https://www.tumblr.com/ipso-faculty/734822362966540288?source=share

For archival purposes, this was the original post:

Mesosex: somebody who identifies with intersex people but not as intersex, and also feels perisex does not quite apply to them either. Meso- from Greek mesos (middle), to indicate that one feels in between having the intersex experience and the perisex experience. For example, people with reproductive disorders who feel they have common ground with intersex people but not so much common ground as to feel they are intersex.

There are conditions like PCOS and Poland Syndrome that exist on a spectrum from definitely intersex to perisex-ish, and I hope this term gives people on the perisex-ish side of the spectrum more useful word for themselves than the current language of "intersex-adjacent".

I want to be clear that people with conditions like PCOS and Poland Syndrome are completely entitled to call themselves intersex and that there is broad agreement within the intersex community that anybody with these conditions who feels they are intersex is intersex.

In coining this term I am hoping to validate and connect people who would otherwise call themselves perisex yet not feel it is quite accurate for them.

Mesosex people can have any gender, similar to how intersex people can have any gender.

In designing the flag our goal was to give an impression of something in between the intersex flag and cisperinormative gender colours whilst also including nonbinary people. The salmon background is chosen as a colour that is not quite pink, and the periwinkle ring is chosen for being not quite blue, but still reminiscent of the purple ring of the intersex flag. The white centre, put inside the purple-ish ring, is chosen to reflect how the nonbinary flag has white and purple in its middle.

The term and flag were workshopped with @scifimagpie. I had been thinking for a while that it would be useful to have a term for people who feel in between intersex and perisex, and these recent posts by @queercripintersex on identifying with rather than as not only convinced me there is actually an audience for such a term but also inspired me to get this done! PS. If you are questioning if you are intersex, check out this post by @intersex-support with a big list of intersex media, which you can use to get a sense on whether you resonate with intersex experiences. (Also check out their FAQ! And their past posts! They're really great!)

#mesosex #intersex #perisex #mogai #mogai coining #pcos #hyperandrogenism #poland syndrome #infertility #mogai new term #new pride flag #mogai flag #new term #mogai term #intersex adjacent

[sirenium]

If you're against perisex people using labels like AFAB transfem and AMAB transmasc, please kindly shut the fuck up. If you're against perisex people using pronoun sets such as shi/hir please kindly shut the fuck up.

I, myself, am intersex. I do not *care* if Sally sees her womanhood through a trans lens while being perisex AFAB. I am an avid believer that enforcing the notion that such labels are 'exclusive' to intersex people is harmful. 'Oh but shi/hir has been used against us!!!' That is not the fault of Billy, who just vibes with the pronoun set.

The sooner we as a community can realize that these 'progressive' boxes aren't much better than the ones made by our oppressors, the better.

#afab transfem #amab transmasc #amab trans man #afab trans woman #TERFs fuck off btw I know you fucks browse afab transfem tags #transmasculine #transfemininity #transfem #transmasc #intersex #perisex #shi/hir

[artisananomaly]

perisex people, listen up:

The sexes are not just 'Male, Female, and Intersex'. There are thousands of variations of intersex. You can be intersex and female. You can be intersex and male. You can be intersex and both, or intersex and neither. All are intersex, different but intersex.

We aren't just a magical group of people who have both male-female chromosomes or male-female parts. Can't you understand that? We are a group. It shows your ineducation. Stop using us like that.

#intersex #actually intersex #perisex #lgbtqia #lgbtq #lgbt pride #lgbtq community #transgender #intersexism

[seraphim-system-official]

Hey look we're just gonna say transintersex* people dni. They make us uncomfy

*endosex people transitioning to intersex. We are also including endosex people who identify as Intergender (specifically the intersex definition)

*this does NOT mean people who are both intersex and trans. We are intersex and trans and we love people like us!

#seraphimsystem #from namida #intersex #Endosex #intergender #perisex

[genderqueerdykes]

non-intersex nb here. I don't know why but using "perisex" or "dyadic" is dysphoric. feels like if someone just called me "male" or "female". is it okay to use "non-intersex"?

hi, good question!

if those terms make u feel bad, u definitely do not have to use them, non-intersex works just fine! (x u are also welcome to create your own term if u would like!

thx for stopping by! hope u have a great week! 💙🩷🤍🩷💙 xoxo Trixi

#asks #answers #intersex #perisex #dyadic

[the-delta-quadrant]

ich: "perisex, also nicht intersex"

random person: "was ist perisex?"

ach komm ey

#lgbt #mogai #queer #lgbtq+ #gsrm #lgbt+ #intersex #perisex #flinta

[vsrobotjulie]

okay question for the intersex community. am i allowed to use the term transfemmasc for myself as someone who is perisex? our body is afab but i am an alter in a system who is an introject of more than one person. one of my sources is transmasc, the other is transfem. my body in headspace switches between afab and amab. i identify as both transfem and transmasc and use both he and she pronouns. would it be okay if i ised the term transfemmasc for myself because of my situation? or is there an alternative that would better fit my experience?

#transfemmasc #intersex #<- only tagging for reach #perisex #queer #system #splitroject

[questions-within-questions]

It occoures to me that I've medically transitioned to the point where my biological sex can not easily described anymore.

My body can no longer be described as conventionally male, nor is it capable of ever returning to such a state.

It also can't be described as having a female sex, and I have no intention of taking my body in that direction.

Although perisex accuratly described me at birth, my body isn't "near" male or female anymore.

And intersex is (usefully) tied to sex at birth.

So when I meet with my doctors I'm left with very little words that can articulate my queer body, short of describing my entire medical transition (which I don't want to do needlessly)

Tumblr, is there a word for trans bodies that can no longer fit in a biological binary I'm not aware of?

#transition #perisex

[schroedingers-faggot]

every day I am a bit more inclined to tell people that interphobia is worse than transphobia

I am not even sure if it's factually correct but it drives me crazy that we only ever reduce intersex folk down to being a point of argument against transphobia. Because quite frankly we, as endosex trans people, have the massive advantage of being able to stay in the closet/'hide'. Intersex people CANNOT DO THAT.

Interphobia should be given at least the same amount of attention and resistance as transphobia.

#text #ranting #intersex #endosex #dyadic #perisex #trans #transgender #transphobia #interphobia

[ipsogender]

PSA: "all of [species] are intersex" can reinforce misconceptions

So I'm still gathering my thoughts on The Deep by intersex author Rivers Solomon which I read for @intersexbookclub and one thing that I keep seeing in reviews for the book is "all of the wajinru are intersex" because this is a fantasy species where everybody has both male and female reproductive systems.

And while I know full well this is a work of speculative fiction, everything is a metaphor, and having biological hermaphrodites be stand-ins for intersex people is metaphor, I'm starting to worry that perisex readers don't actually know this distinction.

Intersex refers to individuals of a given species whose sexual traits do not match what is considered typical for the species.

Hermaphrodism in biology refers to species who have both male and female reproductive systems. So for example, snails have both male and female reproductive systems and when they mate they connect up both.

An individual snail with fully-functioning male and female reproductive systems that match norms about snail sexual characteristics is a perisex snail.

An individual snail with only a male reproductive system is an intersex snail.

If you see somebody saying snails/earthworms/trees/etc are ALL intersex they are conflating intersex and biological hermaphrodism, and this is a common but hurtful misconception about us intersex people.

Please note: you do not see biological hermaphrodism in humans, even as intersex variations. And the h-word is a slur when used to refer to intersex humans.

Things get a little more complicated with speculative fiction where it's clear a species is there as a stand-in/metaphor for intersex people. I know it's a little longer to say "the wajinru represent intersex people" but given how common the misconceptions there are about intersex people it matters to state it unambiguously.

#intersex #intersex in nature #perisex #biology #queer scifi #intersex book club #the deep #rivers solomon

[la-morrigan]

TW: This post contains a word that is commonly considered a slur to intersex people. I didn't censor it in order to not cause confusion of what the word is, and also for the sake of accessibility for visually impaired people.

Hey so I might get some flak for this, but since it's Pride month and I'm an intersex person, I feel the need to say this...

If your argument (as a perisex person) is:

"But there are more than two sexes"

or

"Sex is actually a spectrum!"

and not

"Gender and Sex are two different things and while gender can be influence by one's sex, that's not always the case"

You are missing the point entirely.

Intersex people are not your "Gotcha!" moment to use in arguments with transphobes.

Intersex is a umbrella term that includes a multitude of variations that can range from genital differences to hormonal differences to chromosomal differences. Many intersex people tend to align to male or female gender-wise, and though there are certainly Non-binary intersex people, calling an intersex person "Biologically Non-binary" can be incredibly dysphoria-inducing.

Intersex people already have to deal with misconceptions about what being Intersex is, on top of a personal sense of dysphoria or self-consciousness (though not always because everyone is different). We don't need you spreading misconceptions in our name.

The concept of intersex being a "third gender" seems to me to be a rehash of the Hermaphrodite sterotype. That is to say, a belief about intersex people that lumps us all under one idea of what Intersex is that isn't even accurate.

Please think about the people you speak about and whether they would want you using their existence as an argument point. 9 times out of 10 that answer is

absolutely not.

As a disclaimer: This does not apply to Intersex people who may be reclaiming certain terms. That is a personal, individual choice that is absolutely valid, but shouldn't be used as a general Intersex thing.

#intersex #perisex #lgbtqia #if an intersex person has a correction to make #or wants to point out something I got wrong #go for it #but i'm generally not gonna listen to perisex people on intersex issues #tw: slurs #tw slurs

[ipso-faculty]

Perisex allies: stop this shit

CW: intersexism

Came across this infographic during some google image searching and I'm still kind of a state of despair about it because it's not just offensively wrong about what intersex is, it was used to teach university students about queer issues:

Alt text: LGBTQIA+ are defined one by one. Intersex is defined erroneously as "These are people who were born with genital organs of both sexes (male and female). It is a genetic condition."

It's one thing for your rando perisex person to be getting this wrong on social media. It's another thing entirely when it's professionals getting this wrong in an educational setting. 😩 And that this infographic appears in a peer-reviewed publication. 😩

It's even worse to know the students that were taught with this infographic were medical students, who will be the ones traumatizing intersex people for decades to come 😩

It's so wrong in so many different ways:

Intersex is not limited to people with genital differences. Most intersex people have intersex variations that are not apparent at birth, with puberty being the most common time of life for variations to present. Many people find out in adulthood having no outward physical differences.

Of the intersex people with genital differences, they do not have two sets of genitals. Most genital differences are still recognizably female or male (e.g. spadias), and those who have ambiguous genitals have one set.

Intersex is not "male parts + female parts" or even "intermediate male/female parts", it is an umbrella term for anybody whose primary/secondary sex characteristics don't line up with what is expected for male and female bodies. Some intersex variations make women look more feminine, or make men look more masculine.

Defining intersex by genital differences doesn't just exclude most intersex people, it also sets the tone that we are defined by our genitals. To be publicly intersex is to have non-stop DMs about your genitals. This sort of framing sets up openly intersex people for invasive questions and harassment, and it keeps large numbers of intersex people from coming out.

Many intersex variations do not have a known genetic basis. Many intersex variations are caused by exposure to certain hormonal levels in the womb. Certain medications when taken during pregnancy can trigger intersex variations.

While bodily variation is necessary for being intersex, the social experience of stigma, discrimination, isolation, hyper-medicalization, and hyper-sexualization are all just as much a part of being intersex.

📣 Perisex allies: this is shit you can stop. When you see other perisex people parrot this sort of misinformation, correct them. Direct them to look up resources written by actually intersex people.

Here are some starter resources to give:

Intersex explained by Hans Lindahl

Media and style guide by IHRA

FAQ by intersex-support

A recent post I did compiling information for trans people who want to be better intersex allies

#intersex #text #intersexism #queer #lgbt #lgbtia #lgbt education #perisex allies #psa #actuallyintersex #actually intersex

[intersexfairy]

I wanted to thank you for your intersex terminology master post, it was very helpful for me as someone who is only starting to do their research on the topic :o) I do have one question in regards to the term perisex: is it a term that only intersex people are allowed to use when describing people, or can I as a non-intersex person use this term to put it in my bio (similarly how ppl put "white" in their bio)?

you can use the term perisex! it's more like the term cis. you wouldn't get mad at someone calling themselves cis, same with us and perisex. also thank you for the recognition, always makes me happy when i learn that post is still making rounds and being seen by others. <3

#asks #yaybox #intersex #perisex #cis #trans #interasks

[gobusto]

sorry for not being more educated on intersex topics, i'm just afraid that if i type "perisex" into google i'll see pictures of that damn platypus

#perisex #(it puts on a hat) #PERI the sex!?

[genderqueerdykes]

are perisex folks allowed to use the label transfemmasc? i've heard many differing opinions. i'm multigender and feel that both my masculinity and femininity are part of my trans identity, but i'm perisex. sorry if this made no sense haha

that's okay! we get this question a lot and we don't mind trying to answer it!

with us being intersex, we have a very poor grasp on what the perisex experience is like, so I've consulted some of my perisex transfemasc friends to help out!

generally what people say for perisex folks is that you may use it if you find that you are Transitioning in both a masculine and feminine way. it's less about how you identify for that label and more about how you are navigating transition, if that makes sense

just identifying as masculine and feminine isn't quite the same, but if you feel like you are transitioning into both masculinity and femininity then you may use it, even if you're perisex

that's what we've gathered anyways! i don't think its wrong to identify as transfemasc as a perisex person as long as you understand how it's used! every person has their own unique identity and transition experience

hope that made sense! good luck figuring things out, we hope you have a great week!

#asks #answers #transfemasc #perisex #dyadic

[estrogenism]

very very funny how intersex transfems are by far the most vocal haters of tme/tma as binary terms because of the way that perisex people use them to discredit intersex trans people's complex experiences. but sure it's just those horrible afab trans people again!!

[Plaintext: very very funny how intersex transfems are by far the most vocal haters of tme/tma as binary terms because of the way that perisex people use them to discredit intersex trans people's complex experiences. but sure it's just those horrible afab trans people again!! End Plaintext.]

(also do not fucking try to witch hunt these people. i will block you on sight, i cropped out the urls for a reason)

edit: reminder that this post was made first and foremost about intersexism, and while it's okay to discuss other forms of oppression in the tags and reblogs (especially since i tagged them as such), please stop trying to brush off the original point.

#these fucking people are gonna start saying 'theyfab' again in 5.... 4.... 3.... #i don't even entirely hate those terms i just don't think they're useful in a binary framework #and i also hate how perisex people use them to discredit intersex people #tme/tma #intersexism #intersexism cw #transmisia #transmisia cw #anti transmasculinity cw #anti transmasculinity #intermisia #interphobia