Can we be honest about the need for affirmation?

BeSPUN

(just laughing at my own stupid pun MNHQ, not aimed at anyone else)

I’d happily put up with Bespin again if we could also have LangCleg back, mind you.

It’s not all bad, more and more people are getting sick of the wokerati. Comments on social media are far more ‘WTF?’ and a lot less ‘can’t you just be nice?’ now.
The arse has completely fallen out of #nodebate, and the wave of young female detransitioners that we all worried about has started to arrive and they are fucking fabulous, far more resilient and insightful than I could ever have imagined.

Bespin got banned.
And snowblight joined the site.

Anyway, "IF it was THIS, then it would be THIS" is still being used.

Bespin got banned. Otherwise, business as usual.

No. The colour of a woman's skin is still being compared to males stating they are women as somehow this makes them both women.

Very depressing.

@GibbertyFlibbert: Why aren’t you seeking unisex everything? Because you are a woman, I assume.

No, I'm seeking female-only spaces because I don't want males forcibly inserting the rape weapon (penis) they were born with into the unpatchable security vulnerability (vagina) I was born with.

Same with trans women. It's not about validation but simply flows naturally from their womanhood.

I actually do not understand that statement. "Womanhood" is a euphemism for vulva, and if transwomen experience anything other than urine or semen flowing from their male genitalia or surgically-constructed vulvas (delete as applicable), they need to see a doctor because something has gone very wrong. Female humans want female-only spaces for safeguarding reasons.

All of these threads about resisting the erosion of women's rights by transactivists are rooted in a need for safeguarding females from male sexual violence.

@Bespin it's ok I would not expect you to know necessarily.

Italiangrayhound

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that I know she is very good at her job and is well supported by her team but I don't know the details of how she supports people as I've never asked her.

Rather than making the language inclusive, I think it would do the opposite and exclude some women, including the ones bd67th mentioned. I'd expect the writer of the tweet to know that. Unless they target the advertising and have some that do mention women?

Our private bits were called 'under your pinny'

Sorry, should have read on "... a terminology that possibly contributed towards my failure to report childhood sexual assault."

I am so sorry to hear that.

I think a lot of women will 've unfamiliar with correct terminology.

@bd67th yes 'down below' my mum used to call it that!

I didn't learn the word vulva until I was in my late-twenties. Prior to that, that part of my body had no formal name and had been referred to by my grandmother as "down-below" and "unmentionables", a terminology that possibly contributed towards my failure to report childhood sexual assault.

Given that, I can genuinely foresee women being unaware that "person with cervix" means them, especially if they are from a socially-conservative family where "women's parts" aren't openly spoken of or are not native English speakers.

It should say 'is relevant for all women aged 25-64'

I'd like to think they are saying that to exclude any transwomen who might take up the invitation and exercise their right to access Women's Health, thus wasting time, money and resources rather than because they think some transmen would stubbornly say "nope, I don't identify as a woman ergo I won't get cervical cancer so I won't have a smear test".

And I can't see how 'non binary' is such a strongly held belief that anyone would be upset by it other than to make a political point.

According to the current trans definitions, I am agender (and, as such, also fall under the trans umbrella). But I still recognise I have a female body and that smear test invitations relate to me.

@Bespin

Thank you for being so open and sharing your perspective.

I don't think anyone has said trans women should not be nursing. And you yourself agreed that you would not be doing smear tests even if this was your area, because of potential issues.

May I ask a question, please? You do not need to answer. You said about your friend who is a trans gynaecologist. By this do you mean a trans woman or a trans man? I'm assuming you mean a trans woman as you said 'she'.

Do new patients know that the gynecologist they will be seeing is trans or is male?

I think that advert is silly, I am sure some women are pretty hazy about what the cervix is.

But women know they were born female. Even trans men know they were born female so why not say 'If you were born female you need cervical screening for cancer.' Nice and straight forward. They could even flash up the words Non-binary and Trans man. That way it would be very inclusive.

A fairly recent thread on here made it clear that a number of articulate and apparently well educated women were unsure about the location and function of the cervix. Happily they were quickly informed by other posters, clearly and without being patronising.

"Cervical screening (or the smear test) is relevant for everyone aged 25-64 with a cervix. Watch our animation to find out what to expect when you go for screening"

It should say 'is relevant for all women aged 25-64'

It's clearer and is going to include all relevant women.

When they advertise that older people can access chiropodist, they don't say 'relevant to people with feet' do they?

Exemptions still apply to someone with a GRC.

The law does not state that there is a change of sex. This issue is one of change of gender and of rights relating to people who have had/going through gender reassignment.

Bespin, you write "All patents have the right to decide who undertakes there care and accommodations should be made that is either getting another nurse or rebooking the appointment and as. I have said this happens all the time for a number of reasons. The biggest being race at this moment in time."

But we're not talking about race. Refusing care because of the HCP's race is unreasonable. In a non emergency situation, refusing to be intimately examined by a male bodied person, however they may identify, is perfectly reasonable, given so many women's experience of men and even of male HCP. Some women will not be able to access care at all if they aren't secure that their request for another woman to do their smear will be honoured.

When you say: ...accommodations should be made that is either getting another nurse or rebooking the appointment, I would point out that if a patient has specified that they want a female HCP to carry out the smear, a MTT does not qualify and should not tip up.

This thread is not about a theoretical situation. It actually happened. Women have a right to expect a HCP of the same sex if that's what they request. They should not be put in the position of having potentially to rebook or to have to point out that the HCP is not female. Most British women are very reluctant to make a fuss.

Sadly I think there will be women who are not aware they have a cervix. Or who dont understand the text.

I had to explain to someone what a parsnip was a couple of years ago. They’d never even heard of one, and my mum, before she retired, used to have a session where she brought veg into the school she worked at to teach the kids what it looked like.

There are a LOT of very vulnerable people out there who have poor literacy and understanding/cognitive problems. We should be making all medical communication as clear and simple as we can for the level that’s needed.