Pronouns, gender, and sex are all extremely personal and significant to all of us.
Being able to address a patient correctly is an important part of welcoming them and making them feel at ease during their visit.
Avoid presuming someone’s pronouns based on their appearance! Instead, ask them
If there is a pre-visit form, add this as a question (see last page in this post)
Refers to the biological and physical characteristics associated with many factors such as sex chromosomes and hormones – We can see many variations for these factors.
Assigned sex at birth is when the medical practitioner writes down the baby’s sex based on their body, most typically their genitalia [1]https://health.osu.edu/community-health/health-and-society/gender-vs-sex [2]Dotto GP. Gender and sex-time to bridge the gap. EMBO Mol Med. 2019;11(5):e10668. doi:10.15252/emmm.201910668
Refers to how a person perceives themselves and how they choose to display themselves.
A person’s gender identity may differ from how we perceive their external look, which is why it is crucial to ask and never assume. [3]https://amaze.org/video/gender-identity-sex-at-birth/
How to ask:
What are your pronouns?
What is your gender identity?
What sex were you assigned at birth?
We ask only if medically relevant
References
