Explaining why term ‘woman’ is important.

It might be time to stop bandying words with your DDs and just tell them that they're being bloody daft.

It won't change their minds, but at least you won't feel 'confused' about what the word woman means, and you'll send a message that you won't be tolerating their woke bullshit any more than you would tolerate them running off with the circus.

See I'm a female and even I'm confused 🤔

Form my limited knowledge, I see it like this..

There are two sexes Male and Female

How you identify is completely different, that's gender

I don't find 'menstruator' dehumanising. I am human because I am human. I understand that some people find 'menstruator' dehumanising, but I don't think you will sway your daughters with this argument if they don't mind the term.

However, terms like 'menstruator' and 'birthing person' put all the little things that only happen to women in boxes and pretend that they are random and have no effect, which makes it impossible to recognise the very real impact of sex.

Look at the recent report on women's healthcare. Women's concerns about their health are routinely ignored because anything can be put down to hormones/time of the month/going through the change. We don't really know whether most drugs are safe in pregnancy, so women just don't take drugs, or take risks. None of this has anything to do with identity. A doctor isn't going to pay more attention to period pain because you declare yourself non-binary. We haven't even reached the stage when our health concerns are taken seriously, and now we are supposed to pretend that its all good, sex doesn't exist?

There are unavoidable consequences if you have the kind of body that has evolved to grow another human being, regardless of whether you want children, and we need language to express this.

We can't talk about sex if the idea of being female is too offensive to discuss.

Whether her friend likes it or not that’s the reason they menstruate. You can respect their pronouns, stick up for them, fight for their acceptance but female biology makes them menstruate. They must be aware of that even if it makes them unhappy. None of that stops anyone caring for them or sympathising with them or wishing them a happy life.

But now the slogan is more

“Transwomen are women- transmen are menstruators.” How would that make her friend feel?

As has been said upthread the inclusive way is to say “women, transmen and non- binary females (or however they term themselves.)”

Because it’s half measures at the moment. No one is really included and it doesn’t seem like anyone writing these info packs will go all in and put “women and men menstruate” which I’m sure is how most TMs would like to be referred to as. I dunno. No one gets to be treated like a person.

Until it refers to men’s health, which presumably includes pmt, endometriosis, pnd, pregnancy issues etc, no?

This is the issue for me. No one is telling men they can’t be referred to by their sex because it’s not inclusive. So why should women?

I would ask your DDs if they think "men" is ok for men's health issues. The slogan for prostate cancer health messages is "Men, we are with you" - I just saw it on tv. Nice and clear. Of course trans men don't have a prostate and transwomen do but no one seems to kick up a fuss about that.

I think the issue is that too many organisations are avoiding the word 'women' in information about female health (periods, cervical cancer) and using terms such as 'memstruators' or 'people with a cervix'. Many women find these terms dehumanising, and they're also liable not to be understood by less literate people and those with English as a second language so they are not 'inclusive'.

So, a solution is to use the word 'women' (and 'girls') when apt, but to add other terms eg 'women and transmen'.

From the biological point of view, it doesn't matter if someone identifies as masculine or nonbinary gender - their sex is still female. They might not want reminding of it but it's no kindness to pretend otherwise.

You might want to ask them to think critically about why this restriction on language only seems to pertain to female specific issues - information on male problems such as testicular or prostate cancer don't shy away from simply using the word 'men'.