Assigned Gender

Assigned Gender (also referred to as birth sex, assigned sex) refers to the [./https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Sex sex] you were interpreted as at birth, which usually corresponds to the [./https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Gender_Identity gender identity] you were raised as and/or assumed to have in childhood. As a phrase, this is a way to refer to the sex that was put on your birth certificate, without making assumptions about your actual/current sex, body or identity. In cultures with a [./https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Binary_Genders gender binary], assigned sex is either [./https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Male male] or [./https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Female female].

In some contexts, assigned sex may be referred to as "genetic", "biological" or "birth" gender. However, many members of the [./https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Transgender transgender] community take offense to these and other similar terms, because it seems to imply that their identities are less real than those of [./https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Cisgender cisgender] people.

Assigned sex is also a useful phrase when discussing [./https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Intersex intersex] people. Intersex people are often assigned a sex that does not match their chromosomes, genitals, and/or other characteristics of their body, and they may have been subject to non-consensual medical treatments to "normalize" their sex, often in childhood without their knowledge or permission.

Assigned sex is often referred to using the acronyms AFAB/AMAB (Assigned Female/Male At Birth), FAAB/MAAB (Female/Male Assigned At Birth), DFAB/DMAB (Designated Female/Male At Birth) or CAFAB/CAMAB (Coercively Assigned Female/Male At Birth). CAFAB and CAMAB are particularly used within the intersex community. Occasionally, UAAB (Un-Assigned At Birth) is used where a person was not assigned male or female at birth.