Sarah Vine in MoS

What is not inclusive about the phrase breast feeding?

One thing that puzzles me about this - if it affects you you're presumably a transman who is giving birth and has not had breasts removed.

So you don't think that having a baby and breastfeeding interferes with your identity as a man but hearing the word "breastfeeding" is going to be so traumatising to your identity that it might cause you not to access services?

On the face of it midwives using language an individual feels comfortable with isn't such a big deal. But can't help feeling something else is going on.

..or "nursing" one's baby?

And I would be the first to shout from the rooftops regarding the erasure of women but the news outlets saying that they are ‘replacing’ terms and eradicating the words ‘women’ and ‘breastfeeding’ in their literature is just not true.

I was cheering her on - made v similar points to Lionel Shiver today - until that bizarre bit about how a black actress is okay playing Anne Boleyn if a white actress can play Rosa Parks. Then she lost me again

It’s a pity that so many news outlets and columnists including Sarah have just jumped on the bandwagon without actually reading the documents that Brighton and Hove have published. They actually make a point in the document of saying we are not replacing the current language however we are adopting more inclusive language to use where appropriate. They are not advocating the erasure of women.

If they are ‘men’ with GRCs they can’t get pregnant as they have sworn to live as men from that time on. So how can they be pregnant?

I agree with Sarah

If the change were solely to enable people who are transgender to access medical care with dignity and respect i would feel wholly comfortable, however, there is a pernicious attempt to remove the woman happening in society at the moment. This is not happening in men's health, you have to wonder why.

Linguistic erasion is something that should be challenged, just the same as outdated terms should be challenged.

I have found that puzzling too.

It's ridiculous to change breastfeeding to chest feeding as its simply biologically wrong. So it makes them look stupid. If anyone is going to feed a baby it is using their breasts. If someone is presenting as a man and has removed their breasts, I'm not sure how they can breastfeed. Is it even possible?

Renaming the maternity services as perinatal services is a fundamental change and gives a lie to the claim that this is just about making that tiny % of pregnant women who now identify as men more comfortable and it only applies to them.
Glad to see Sarah Vine is covering this - maybe she'd like to have a word with all the useful idiots in the Tory party enabling this rubbish or standing silently by and tell them to start standing up to these bullies.

Well done to Sarah Vine - for sure we need more exposure. New piece in telegraph about chestfeeding too.

Although it may help the 2 trans men that have given birth surely it’s far more likely to confuse and alienate women particularly those for whom English is not a first language or who are religiously conservative.

Perhaps you haven’t noticed the use of ‘people with a cervix’ and ‘menstruaters’ that is now all over the place. It IS linguistically erasing women (and it doesn’t seem to be happening to men’s healthcare. At fucking all).

Not only incorrect but as both sexes have breasts why is breast feeding not the inclusive expression?

It isn't linguistically erasing women. It's enabling people to feel comfortable with their care in an area that has long had a reputation for being welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community. This really is a storm in a teacup. I'm all in favour of ensuring that people access healthcare at the earliest possible moment. If a euphemistic use of language helps someone access healthcare that they may have avoided otherwise then I'm all for it.

I saw that too and wondered, however, the fact that there are only two transmen in the UK who are mothers, this seems rather overkill. Then I found out one of those two was involved in writing this.

Then you think about it and it's not the only thing going on here. Chest feeding is actually incorrect medically. The NHS is altering language to be medically inaccurate. Everybody has a chest. You can only get milk from breasts. We've also already got "people with a cervix" being called to cancer screenings etc.

So in one hand, yes, this language would only be used with a TINY minority of the 0.3% of the population who are trans, it's part of a wider move to eradicate the word women which is already well under way.

Excellent piece. The comments are good too. The silent majority are to a person not impressed. No way will the Tories promote this their voters don’t want it.

I’m a bit confused. I thought Brighton and Hove made it clear that they would carry on using the words “maternity” and “women” in general, but “birthing parent” etc when they were specifically working with trans and non-binary clients. That seems reasonable to me - at the point someone is seeking healthcare the most important thing is their care, not the wider political debate.