Sex assignment

Sex assignment or gender assignment is the process of determining the sex of a baby, whether it is a boy or a girl. Usually, the doctor, parents or midwife look at the sex organs of a newborn baby to do this. The assigned sex is written on the birth certificate, passport and other identification papers.
Even though it is called "assignment," these adults are not literally assigning (choosing) whether the child is male or female. In most people, the sex assigned at birth matches the person's own gender identity. If the assigned sex does not match a person's gender identity, the person is transgender. In a very small number of newborn babies, it is not possible to tell whether the child's body is male or female by looking at the sex organs. These people are intersex.