Trans-‘inclusive’ language is erasing women’s biology

The Australian 25 February 2021 – Claire Lehmann
Family First Comment: Superb article from The Australian (behind a paywall unfortunately), but here’s a few key bits (some terminology may offend!):

“….midwives at two National Health Service hospitals in Britain — Brighton and Sussex — have been instructed to refer to breastfeeding mothers as “chest-feeders” and to use the term “human milk” in place of breast milk. A debate erupted in the House of Lords recently as a maternity leave bill brought before Westminster referred to “pregnant persons” instead of pregnant women. Peers across the political spectrum drew attention to the fact women’s experiences — and biology itself — was being erased by such language. It’s not just pregnancy-related terminology that is being altered but also sex education materials. An LGBTQIA Safer Sex Guide published on the US website Healthline refers to “front holes”. On the same website, a guide to foreplay with women describes the female of the human species — more than 50% of the population — as “vulva owners”.”

It finishes with a nice line – “These are linguistic abominations.”
Yep!

Not only do (trans) men have the right to have babies but their right to not be offended in the maternity ward now outweighs a woman’s right to be described as a mother.

The push to be more inclusive of trans men within maternity care has prompted an increasing number of hospitals, medical organisations and bureaucracies to alter standard language around pregnancy so that it is gender neutral and “inclusive”.

In practice, this means midwives at two National Health Service hospitals in Britain — Brighton and Sussex — have been instructed to refer to breastfeeding mothers as “chest-feeders” and to use the term “human milk” in place of breast milk.

A debate erupted in the House of Lords recently as a maternity leave bill brought before Westminster referred to “pregnant persons” instead of pregnant women. Peers across the political spectrum drew attention to the fact women’s experiences — and biology itself — was being erased by such language.

It’s not just pregnancy-related terminology that is being altered but also sex education materials. An LGBTQIA Safer Sex Guide published on the US website Healthline refers to “front holes”.

On the same website, a guide to foreplay with women describes the female of the human species — more than 50 per cent of the population — as “vulva owners”.

Most worryingly is the fact these ugly and dehumanising contortions of the English language are creeping into the mainstream medical profession. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading US health bureaucracy, uses the term “pregnant persons” instead of pregnant women. As more and more organisations do the same, it will become harder for those who wish to resist the long march to a transgendered utopia. As JK Rowling recently found out, pushing back against trans activists can lead to vicious backlash.

But pushback is required. Articles in leading medical journals such as the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology have advocated for the erasure of women in language on pregnancy care. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an article that argued that sex should not be recorded at birth, as it was offensive to intersex people and those who may later grow up to be trans. As my colleague, evolutionary biologist Colin Wright, has argued in Quillette, these journals are betraying their scientific mission in an effort to conform to fashionable cultural trends.

Similarly, those who instruct midwives to refer to new mothers as “chest-feeders” are betraying their duty of care to the many women who require empathetic support at a critical and life-changing time in their lives.

While we can all agree that transgender individuals who become pregnant and give birth should be treated with respectful and compassionate healthcare, women also have a right to be treated with dignity. Transgender rights should not outweigh the rights of half the population, and using reproductive anatomy to describe women should be left to the realm of dystopian fiction, not standard midwifery practice.

We need more individuals to stand up and speak fearlessly before we all end up living inside a Monty Python sketch.
READ MORE: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/transinclusive-language-is-erasing-womens-biology/news-story/01db863e37755ecd11707fd1a69904f8