CAFAB

CAFAB stands for “coercively assigned female at birth” and refers to a female sex assignment at birth that was imposed against the person’s will. The term is used especially where the assignment was not only social, but also medically or physically enforced, for example through interventions or treatments without valid consent.

The abbreviation may be used by intersex people, but also by trans people who want to express that the sex assigned to them at birth did not match their own identity. The focus is not only on biological classification, but on the experience of external control and a lack of self-determination. The term is therefore highly context-dependent and especially sensitive with regard to identity and discrimination.

In a BDSM or sex dictionary, CAFAB appears less as a sexual practice and more as a term for sex assignment, external categorization, and the consequences of medical or social imposition. It should be used respectfully and precisely, as it touches on sensitive experiences involving body, identity, and consent.