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Trick Question...

By Dusty (AKA Attila of Argghhh!) on February 18, 2005 | | Comments (23)

Tonight I was doing my wife a favor: renewing her Virginia nursing license via their website. They asked for lots of stuff (it's a new system that needs its databse populated)...date degree was awarded, special certifications, etc., etc.

One dropdown menu was for "Sex." Fair enough...in the hospitals I've been in lately, it's seems almost a 50/50 split. The choices kinda threw me, though.

Male
Female
Other

"Other"?

"OTHER"?

"yes" or "no" or even "occasionally" I can see.

But. Other?

*sigh*

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23 Comments

By AFSister on February 19, 2005 7:08 AM
What ever happened to the "YES, PLEASE" answer to that question? That was always the answer in college, anyway. "Other" should be changed to "Shim", or "In Transition" or may "Under Re-construction", don't you think? Makes sense to me...
 
By Boquisucio on February 19, 2005 7:36 AM
Ah, the convoluted PC world we live in these days. You wouldn't want to prickle the sensibilities of the transgendered community amongst us, would you? What would Brandon, who is in the process of becoming Brenda, feel like if he/she/it feels left out? Just try walking a mile on he/she/its loafers/pumps/retread michelins, and see what it feels like. On second thought, this is way to far difficult to contemplate prior to my first cup of coffee. GAWD - THE HORROR
 
By spr rdr on February 19, 2005 7:38 AM
When encountering that question, I always lie. Scares the hell out of them.
 
By Cricket on February 19, 2005 8:16 AM
I am so confused...
 
By cowboy blob on February 19, 2005 8:32 AM
Let's not forget hermaphrodites!
 
By Oldloadr on February 19, 2005 9:44 AM
You fill out your wife's nursing renewal too? I thought I was the only one. Haven't seen "other" on the form in SC, but then, we are a much "redder" state, if you catch my drift. Anyway, I seem to remember a discusion in the Olympic community years ago about going only by chromosomes: XX=female, XY=male; just a thought.
 
By Oldloadr on February 19, 2005 9:44 AM
You fill out your wife's nursing renewal too? I thought I was the only one. Haven't seen "other" on the form in SC, but then, we are a much "redder" state, if you catch my drift. Anyway, I seem to remember a discusion in the Olympic community years ago about going only by chromosomes: XX=female, XY=male; just a thought.
 
By GEBIV on February 19, 2005 9:54 AM
Gee, you'd think that a nurse would be able to figure that one out by now. "Hmmm. Sex?" Pulls out waistband and looks down. "OK, check!"
 
By Boquisucio on February 19, 2005 9:55 AM
Oldloadr, I gently disagree with the XX/XY definition of gender. There are rare mutations by which fully functional females (in the physical/emotional/social sense), have XY Chromosomes. I'd be very Un-PC of us to define gender that way, wouldn't it be? Then again, what would I know. I suffer from lacking half a chromosome less than the other 50% of the general population.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 19, 2005 10:11 AM
We need to have Beth come over and post about sexism in the IT world. What the heck, Dusty's gone and gotten us all touchy-feely in here! Thank heaven's the trolls have stayed away though. These threads would have gotten ugly quickly. Kind of like that increasingly silly thread at Cassandra's, where her loyal regulars keep feeding her troll on the subject of Brit Hume.
 
By joekujo on February 19, 2005 11:20 AM
Boquisucio:
Then again, what would I know. I suffer from lacking half a chromosome less than the other 50% of the general population.
Lacking... half a chromosome... less than... Keep It Simple...
 
By Boquisucio on February 19, 2005 11:48 AM
Thanx joekujo, That's what happens when I get too close to my soft side. I'll hafta go out, chop some wood, 'n get me fixed.
 
By Barb on February 19, 2005 11:54 AM
On the XY vs XX thing - I think there are also cases of individuals with XXY. Figure THAT one out!!!
 
By BC on February 19, 2005 12:17 PM
As a gay friend of an ex once said, "It doubles my chance of a date on Saturday night". Well, maybe not in this community.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 19, 2005 2:09 PM
Well, BC, at least the Commentariat at Castle Argghhh! seems to be a little rabidly hetero...
 
By Justthisguy on February 19, 2005 5:21 PM
Essex? Wessex? Sussex? Middlesex? (I believe the latter is the actual name of a county in Massachusetts.)
 
By triticale on February 19, 2005 6:37 PM
Kid walks up to his father and asks "Daddy. what's sex?" So Daddy gives him the whole big lecture he'd been dreading but knew would be needed. Kid asks "How am I supposed to fit all that in this space on this form?"
 
By MyssiAnn on February 19, 2005 7:52 PM
Ummm...can I have a nurse that knows enough about anatomy not to answer "other" to that question the next time I get sick? I know it's not PC, but I wouldn't want them to try to do a prostate exam on me...
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 19, 2005 8:44 PM
Oh, I don't know... I remember during my VA physical I got a prostate exam that I would have had to pay extra for in some place like Thailand...
 
By R.L. Hunter on February 19, 2005 11:50 PM
Is this like the woman who, when she came to the line that said "Single-Married-Divorced", wrote All the above?
 
By Justthisguy on February 20, 2005 11:01 PM
Well, since we're on the subject, may I help to spread the Internet rumor that Jamie Lee Curtis is actually XY? Ya know, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, formerly known as Testicular Feminization? Hey, I think she's hot, too! Sex is weird.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 21, 2005 1:02 PM
No, JTG, sex isn't - but you...
 
By Justthisguy on February 22, 2005 10:12 PM
Umm, sir, I beg to differ, and say "not exactly", on the part before the hyphen. I spoke of sex as a quality, something which humans and other bisexual creatures have. ( I don't mean ambisexual!) I go with the old dictionaries. Sex is not a deed, but an identity. Why do so many people say "sex" when they mean "congress"?
 
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