U.S. President Donald Trump wasted no time in signing a slew of executive orders after his inauguration on Monday, delaying the TikTok ban, initiating a withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, and establishing the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency ("DOGE").
Trump may have also technically made everyone in the U.S. a woman.
Entitled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," Trump's executive order concerning gender identity states that the U.S. government only recognises two sexes, male and female. It also provides explicit definitions of each which are to be applied to all interpretations of law.
"'Sex' shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female," Trump's executive order declares. "'Female' means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. 'Male' means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell."
Though Trump's goal to impose a "binary nature of sex" may seem clear, the specific wording, technicalities, and application of his executive order are far from it.
Conception is the point when sperm and egg join, otherwise known as fertilisation. Regardless of whether they have an XX, XY, or an alternate chromosome pattern, all human foetuses' sex organs are identical at conception in that they have none. Foetuses subsequently develop in the same manner as each other regardless of their chromosomes until approximately six to seven weeks after conception, at which point the Y chromosome typically expresses itself by inducing the development of testes. If a Y chromosome does not do this, the foetus will continue to develop female genitalia.
Basically, the early, default configuration of a human foetus is female. If we were to assign a sex at conception as per Trump's executive order, all of them would be female.
Trump's executive order on sex ignores intersex people
It is possible that Trump's executive order intended to impose reliance on chromosomes rather than physical sexual organs. Most males have XY chromosomes while most females have XX, and these are present at conception. However, Trump's executive order makes no mention of chromosomes, and further does not address how intersex people might be classified if this were the case.
Intersex people are those whose chromosomes do not fall within the XX or XY binary, or whose sexual characteristics vary from what is typical. It's estimated that approximately 1.7 percent of people are intersex, many of whom may not discover this until later in life.
"The Trump administration purports to talk about 'biological realities' but demonstrates that they lack any understanding of the relevant science," intersex advocacy group interACT said in response to the executive order.
"A person with ovotestes (both ovarian and testicular tissue) may produce both sperm and ova. Would the Executive Order grant them both 'male' and 'female' category membership? On the other hand, a person born without gonads (gonadal agenesis), or with gonadal tissue that does not differentiate into functioning testes or ovaries (gonadal dysgenesis), may be considered neither male nor female if these nonsensical definitions are applied."
Even when a person does have XX or XY chromosomes, they aren't always expressed in the typical way. For example, people with Swyer syndrome have female reproductive structures while also having XY chromosomes. Similarly, people with Complete Androgen Insensitivity have external female sex characteristics, XY chromosomes, and internal male sex organs. Strict adherence to chromosomes would categorise these people as male, while looking to external appearances would have them assigned female.
It remains unclear how circumstances concerning intersex people will play out under Trump's binary directive. interACT has stated that legal challenges to Trump's executive order are already being prepared.
The U.S.' 'outdated definition' of sex causes active harm
An alternate possibility is that Trump intends for sex to be determined according to external characteristics apparent at birth, with no reference to a person's chromosome makeup. However, this neglects the reality that some people's external sex characteristics cannot be clearly categorised as male or female. Further, artificially forcing them into this binary can cause significant harm.
A 2019 study found that the U.S.' treatment of intersex people fails to meet international standards of human rights due to its enforcement of an "outdated definition of 'sex'." Intersex babies in the U.S. are generally assigned either male or female at birth, and are sometimes operated upon to fit more closely with characteristics typical of their allocated sex.
"No Presidential order can erase them — it will just make their lives more precarious"
Human Rights Watch has labelled such procedures "medically unnecessary," noting that they can inflict permanent harm such as incontinence, sterilisation, and psychological trauma. This can also result in a child being assigned a gender that they do not identify with, with there being some overlap between intersex and transgender communities.
Sadly, Trump's executive order stubbornly attempts to reinforce a binary definition of sex. The president further directed that documents which are inconsistent with his order be rescinded, including Department of Education guidance for supporting LGBTIQ students, the White House Toolkit on Transgender Equality, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace.
"People outside of the binary genders have existed in cultures around the world for thousands of years, including among many Indigenous American communities," said Maria Sjödin, executive director of LGBTIQ advocacy group Outright International. "No Presidential order can erase them — it will just make their lives more precarious…. Requiring people to carry identity documents that do not reflect their gender expression also exposes them to an increased risk of violence and restricts their freedom of movement."
Though Trump's executive order does technically declare that all humans are female, it's unlikely to be applied this way since this clearly wasn't the president's intent. Even so, that doesn't mean we can't take a moment to appreciate the absurdity of it all. This year, International Women's Day is for all of us.
