Intended Consequences

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(inspired by Valentine's "Unintended Consequences")

The advent of cheap genetic testing had made many changes in society. The biggest came when an overly conservative right-wing political staffer came across a demonstration device at a convention. It simply checked the "sex" chromosomes and reported them.

The politician the staffer worked for had been fighting a non-discrimination measure in the state legislature. As usual, he was calling it a "bathroom bill" and claiming it would let perverts invade women's restrooms.

Upon seeing the demo device, the staffer had inquired as to how much they'd cost if they were mass produced. The company rep at the table was somewhat upset at the idea, then he thought about it and made some calls.

The estimate came back as "less than $100".

The staffer contacted his boss and within weeks they'd gotten a firm quote and managed to put together a bill to require the testers at all public bathrooms, changing facilities, etc. With some funding to help pay for them. And, it managed to pass (Let's hear it for bigotry!)

The company had been reluctant at first, but when the representative who'd been at the convention explained his take on it management agreed that it was a worthwhile project. Besides the wall mounted units, they also (on their own initiative) produced portable units.

There'd been a lot of protests, but oddly some of the larger LGBT groups had been silent about it.

Came the day the law took effect and the sex-based access units were turned on.

As expected, a lot of trans folks got into trouble.

Then other people started getting flagged. Lawsuits sprang up.

When the dust cleared, the public had been forcibly educated about the fact that a significant percentage of the population weren't XX or XY. And that many who were XX or XY didn't have the expected body type or genitals for their "sex".

AIS/CAIS "women" were hard enough for the idiots to wrap their minds around. But the fertile XY "females" really broke their minds.

To say nothing of the folks who weren't XX or XY (which, due to the way the politicians had wanted the testers programmed, hadn't been able to use mens OR womens bathrooms)

Anyone who attempted to sue the company was referred to the politicians. "Our devices properly reported the chromosomes. What was done with that info is the responsibility of the people who wrote the stupid law."

It was a major loss for the narrow-minded bigots. And the hard data on just how many people didn't fit the "there are only two sexes, with XX=female and XY=male" paradigm ruined a lot of the "normal" arguments about restricting t-folk from bathrooms and locker rooms.

Mind you, it didn't shut up the most extreme bigots, but then, what would.

But given that so many people now knew that someone they knew wasn't genetically the sex everyone had always assumed they were, a lot more tolerance was seen.

The testers on doors went away. But the portable units wound up in most delivery rooms and many doctor's offices. As well as many other places.

The company weathered the storm. And it wasn't until later that it came out that they'd expected the trouble. Heck, they'd counted on it.


Just a note: there really are fertile XY females. I've got a copy of a paper about a third generation one. Subject, mother and grandmother were all XY.

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Comments

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Intended Consequences. Hmm.

Intended? As in with malice aforethought? Kind of gives a new slant on the concept of "sex crime".

T

BTW, I liked the twist right at the end. (Um, just before the note.) People who run companies, especially high tech companies, are often several steps ahead of the rest of us.

Surprises.

Hypatia Littlewings's picture

There would definitely be surprises if they use genetic make up as a guide line and then tested for it.

>i< ..:::

Just a little note about the

Just a little note about the science here.

The amount of people who are not XX or XY is extremely small. We are talking 0.01% of the population, if not less.

Also, XX and XY chromosomes dont actually dictate body type, shape or gential size, shape etc. They only dictate whether someone is biologically female or male (or, if they malfunction, intersex).

Thirdly, the vast majority of people who are not XX or XY are indistinguishable from XX/XY people and have virtually no differences and can go their entire lives without knowing they are in any way different.

Nothing really important here, just something which broke/stretched my SoD a little.

Yes, but the percentage who

Brooke Erickson's picture

Yes, but the percentage who are XY and don't *appear* to be male (AIS, CAIS, a host of others) is significant. I'm not sure how many XX folks don't appear to be female without tests, but they exist as well.

Intersex is often given as around 1%, If even a quarter of those are folks that will show up as the "wrong" sex when tested, the numbers are too large to ignore.

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks

neat !

be interesting to get myself tested ...

DogSig.png

So what

Dahlia's picture

Dorothy, not to be a contrary b....., but would the knowing change who you are or have any affect on the person you feel you are? I do this mental dance several times a year where, yes I'm going to spend the $1000 to get tested to prove to my family that I am XXY. Then the other little person on my shoulder says, why? it won't change how I feel nor will it make my boorish family anymore accepting of me. They are all religious nuts anyways and even if Jesus himself came down and spoke to each personally, they would still have some issue with who I am. That is, someone who is now comfortable in my own being, happy with how I present to the world and not some sexual pervert that they assume me to be. So as always, I don't get it done because I figure what the hell, I can buy a whole bunch of nice outfits with that money.

Hugs
Dahlia

When I started reading this story...

... I was expecting that in the end that politician would be the first one who will be banned from both bathrooms :-)

Well, I never said one way or

Brooke Erickson's picture

Well, I never said one way or the other, did i?

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks

Right..... ?

As I said over and over, genes determine inheritable characteristics, not chromosomes.

An X chromosome has a central structure and 4 'legs'. A Y has a centromere and 3 legs, however the X and Y chromo's pair up during miosis (which divides the number of chromo's in half for use in the gametes. All the other chromo pairings involve 2 nearly identical chromo's. There's a phenomena known as cross over, where a leg from one chromo falls or lies over a leg from the other chromo. When the pair are pulled apart, the crossed over legs break then sometimes reattach to the chromo they did not come from. (If a leg is lost, the cell usually won't develop into a gamete and if it does and is involved in fertilization, the embryo could be non viable or there might be birth defects.) For the non sex chromo's the new leg might be nearly identical to the old leg (since the chromo's were/are nearly identical) and things proceed normally. If a Y chromo looses the leg with the gene for male development next to the gene for early T production, a male embryo will not be produced. It would be female or intersex. This is one example of XY chromo's not producing a male. It's rare; CAIS is more common.

To look at chromo's to try to determine genes is often correct for a few genes, but not exact at all. If one's genes really need to be know, determine the whole genome!

Even this doesn't consider environmental factors, in utero most importantly, that might cause a male embryo to develop a female brain or vise versa.

Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee

You know, I know this... the

Brooke Erickson's picture

You know, I know this... the folks who are so bent out of shape by TG folks? Not so much.

Most of them have the "XX it's female, XY it's male" *firmly* entrenched in their minds.

The demo unit at the convention probably checked a few other easy to check things too. That sort of thing at conventions is rarely anywhere *near* as fancy as the folks manning the booths make it seem.

Their whole purpose is to attract visitors and get them to *look* at the handouts and maybe even talk to the staff manning the booth.

The politician's staffer just saw the "test for sex" and went with his own prejudices.

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks

"XX it's female, XY it's male" *firmly* entrenched in their mind

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

These folks never got an education beyond grade school anatomy. Likely their sex education mainly took place in the locker room or by listening to what the "big boys" told them.

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt