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NPR weekend edition Sunday did a story today on the increase in early-onset puberty. "For children who will develop periods, this means [...]" is the way they chose to categorize people. The doctor they were interviewing said "girls" but NPR did not.

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From:

corvidology

There are many reasons why I love NPR.

From:

adrian_turtle

This is such a change in how people think of gender, in the last 20 years.

When people used to define girls and women in terms of chromosomes, I used to laugh and say most of us had never had our chromosomes tested. But now people DO. The tutoring agency sometimes offers me gigs that specify a child's chromosomes as well as name, age, pronouns, school, and subject difficulty.

From:

mrissa

Many of the people who are specifying a child's chromosomes have not had them tested, though. They're using it as a shorthand for what gender they were assigned at birth. I'm sure some of them have, but I personally know examples of people who thought they were saying something meaningful when they specified that their child was "Grace, she/they, XX, 10" when what they meant was AFAB and used either she or they pronouns, not that they had had the kid chromosomally typed.

From:

adrian_turtle

You're right that it's sometimes just shorthand, but I think it's also increasingly common for them to have had the kid chromosomally typed. It no longer implies they took the kid to some kind of specialty clinic where they do genetic testing. It implies they did amniocentesis.

I think of something like, "Elizabeth is in 7th grade and she is really struggling with geometry," as indicating Elizabeth's pronouns. (If someone's trusted friends use different pronouns than their parents do, that's invisible to me. I address the kid as "you" in any case. And "what would you like me to call you?" can determine a nickname but not a pronoun.)

And 10 years ago I would never see "Emma is 16 and is having trouble with chemistry. She is single-X and has an IEP for hearing loss and anxiety." (Thank you for telling me about her hearing, which is very relevant to tutoring. Why, WHY, are you telling me about something as private as her chromosomes?)

From:

siderea

Because there are developmental consequences of Single-X (aka Turner Syndrome) which can affect learning?

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/turner-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20360782:

Learning disabilities. Girls and women with Turner syndrome usually have normal intelligence. However, there is increased risk of learning disabilities, particularly with learning that involves spatial concepts, math, memory and attention.

Mental health issues. Girls and women with Turner syndrome may have challenges functioning in social situations, may experience anxiety and depression, and may have an increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Also, it can cause some subtle visible physical differences. In this way it's not unlike Downs Syndrome (aka Trisomy 21), and they might be letting you know preëemptively what's going on with their child who is visibly different.

Edited (html) Date: 2022-04-05 07:08 am (UTC)

From:

sonia

From:

lcohen

nifty!

From:

ndrosen

I would just say “girls.” Come now, however people may feel about their identities, are any actual boys (with Y chromosomes and male plumbing) going to develop periods?

From:

adrian_turtle

That's exactly why the phrasing matters. There are "actual girls," who don't need to prove their gender to you with their chromosomes or plumbing, and some of them get periods and some don't.

From:

siderea

As a cisgender woman, I cannot begin to tell you how much it pleases me to see, at long last, widespread adoption of the custom of calling such as me "people".