Receiving medical care while nonbinary: a curious adventure.

[firecat]

As my readers might know, I'm nonbinary transmasc, around two years on T. My body shape usually gets me clocked as female, and I'm growing a beard but it's still pretty sparse.

I recently had to have a routine colonoscopy done in the hospital because I have sleep apnea. My medical forms included an option for specifying my gender identity and pronouns. I put nonbinary and "they/he."

So I'm in the prep ward, wearing a KN95 mask, and several nurses are doing things like putting in an IV and asking me questions about my meds and medical history. They are all using "she" to refer to me. I don't correct them because I just want the procedure over with.

Then another nurse comes in, I think the one who is going to be assisting during the procedure. She calls me Mr [Lastname]. Then she notices the other nurses using "she," so she also starts using "she".

After the procedure I'm being taken care of by a different set of nurses. My mask is gone. They are all using "he" to refer to me. I don't know if this is because they read my chart more carefully or if my scraggly facial hair tips me over to the other side of the binary appearance-wise.

Anyway, I found it amusing and interesting.

Comments

[heartonsnow]

I have always said that gender is on a spectrum and there are more than 2 but it seems that the forms have changed but people have not got the memo yet.

The situation affects me emotionally because altho I present as female I am nonbinary inside.

[firecat]

There has been change but there’s still so much farther to go, yes. It sucks that people misgender you based on something you wear that they think signifies “woman”.

[heartonsnow]

It would be good if we could address people without gender pronouns at all.

[firecat]

I’d like that too, although I know people who would not.

[heartonsnow]

Because non binery people are a minoroty so we don't get heard.

[firecat]

Some cis people are attached to their pronouns and don’t want to be referred to with ungendered pronouns. But I wish English didn’t have gendered pronouns (some other languages don’t).