Okay, today we would like to talk about the words male and female, and how they are used by this account. This seems like an important topic for many people and something we were asked repeatedly about yesterday.

We are aware that these words are currently doing two conflicting jobs within our society. Some people use them to describe their identity, most people use them to refer to sex.

When we use the words male and female here, we are talking about the sex of a person. Hopefully it's clear by now that what we are trying to communicate is information about the bodies and development of people with DSDs. Male and female remain the words we have to describe this.

Sex, in this case, is the language we use to describe potential for reproduction, as in the potential ability of a person to produce either large gametes (female) or small gametes (male). We believe this information is important for medical care and for understanding your body.

Male and female may also be used to describe someone's chromosomal sex (whether you have an X0, XY, XXY, XYY, XX, etc karyotype) and phenotypic sex (usually in the context of DSDs, the type of genitals you are born with). Again, this information is important for medical care.

Our aim is for people with DSDs to be the best advocates they can be for themselves, this means having the right words to describe their their bodies. Often, in a medical setting, we need to be the expert. Our conditions are rare, so not all doctors will be familiar with each one

To explain this a bit more clearly, the 1.7% stat you often see being used includes a number of different conditions. The most common being late onset CAH, at 1.5%, then increasing in rarity from there.

Sometimes when seeking medical care, we may be meeting with a doctor who has never come across our specific condition before.

DSDs do not just impact our genitals or fertility. We may also have other health related issues, such as renal, auditory or muscular skeletal problems. This is also why we need to be articulate to our healthcare providers the complexities of our bodies.

If seeing these words being used outside of the sphere of gender and identity is difficult for you, we are probably not the best account for you to follow. This really is not an issue we can compromise on.

This is why we find the Maya Forstater case worrying for DSD advocacy. Describing sex is central to what we do. Being able to use the associated language, without fear of offending others, is important.

It's a shame that we have this conflict between words and how people want to use them. We support anyone's right to present in whichever way makes them most comfortable. We support anyone's right to think about themselves in anyway they wish to.

That being said, we are here to disseminate acccurate and helpful information about biology. We would like to point out that, in our case, this includes babies who have not yet formed an identity.

For this reason, we cannot, unfortunately, tailor our language to be inclusive of adults identities while remaining clear and accurate in our information. We hope, ultimately, people are able to understand and respect this.