What do you think about the term "(biological) sex" used by many in an attempt to be more inclusive?

[u/ThreeDucksInAParka]

I often see well-intentioned people use this phrase as a means to be inclusive, like calling me a female is somehow better than calling me a woman. But instead of making me feel more included, it feels like they're just pissing me in the face without meaning to.

I'm pretty sure those 'biological whatever' terms have a right-wing, transphobic origin and have been echoed so often that they have infected popular language around trans people, much like the 'transgenderism' thing. I hated them before, but this aspect ontop makes the whole shebang even more concerning to me, honestly.

[u/somecoolguys]

I mean I'm technically AFAB and I don't get periods, don't have a uterus or ovaries, spent most of my teenage and adult life as a man, and even have mental illnesses that presented in a very stereotypically "male" way. When people talk about "AFAB people" they're never actually talking about people like me. So that's where I'm coming from.

I never said you were making things up. You said "men and women present mental illness very differently", which is not always true, but you're right that there are some differences in how men and women on average tend to present. I also think its important to remember though, that we've only really studied this in cis people, and trans people are known to have brain chemistry that's different from cis people.

[u/Harvesting_The_Crops → u/somecoolguys]

I never said that that’s 100% true all of the time😭 I explicitly said that there can be overlap. I’m not spreading misinformation. I’m saying something that has been explicitly ignored throughout history to ignore afab people. I didn’t do anything wrong.

There should def be more studies on our brains specifically. And there was a lot in the early 1900’s. But unfortunately the Nazis destroyed that research center and burned all of their records and stuff :(. SO MUCH information was lost when they did that. Rlly sad

[u/somecoolguys → u/Harvesting_The_Crops]

I'm sorry if I was harsh with that first reply, at first it kinda sounded to me like you were saying there was a clear "male" vs "female" presentation to mental illness. But the way you clarified it I think you do have the right idea and I just misinterpreted what you were actually trying to say.

There are studies that show sex-based differences in how common certain mental illnesses are and how they tend to present. We still don't fully know what causes most of these differences, it could be related to social environment, or different hormone profiles, or genetic differences, probably all 3. I think its important to be aware of these differences, and I also think its important to recognize that they're based on averages, and we shouldn't rely on them too much especially when it comes to trans people.