Male asked if I am pregnant when donating blood

@TheirEminence it was in response to @NecessaryScene comment of how it’s fine to get peoples backs up when I had said that I use language that makes them feel accepted.

I would tell them that their language or behaviour is unacceptable and that if they wanted to continue receiving treatment they would need to stop if they did I would then continue to give patient care. the problem is our personal boundaries are often overridden by senior staff and management.

I don’t think anybody is blaming you for trying to help your patients, Wishiwasatailor but this is about larger, societal forces. I understand why you might use ‘inclusive’ language in an A&E setting but overall and in non-emergency situations, no, I don’t believe that affirming young people that they ‘pass’ for the opposite sex when they don’t, or telling them there are no risks to transition, is doing them any favours.

Btw, would you make a patient who is using racist language or behaving in a sexually inappropriate manner in A&E ‘feel accepted’? There are boundaries to what health care practitioners tolerate, no? Where exactly are these boundaries?

Could you refuse to answe, just keep on stating that you're biologically male. You're the one doing them a favour, so they would then be forced to decide whether "being inclusive" is more important than receiving blood donations

@NecessaryScene please let me know how you would support a young trans person who had been sexually assaulted or taken an overdose or was going through mental health distress feel safe and comfortable in your care.

also you missed an important part of my sentence in your quote which changes the meaning. You need the teen to comply with what is going on (ie their treatment) and getting their backs up is not helpful.

@NecessaryScene when dealing with an unwell patient needing emergency care in a busy environment where I need to develop a relationship and gain their trust so they comply with what needs to be done yes I won’t use terminology that I know might upset them and make them not feel accepted because that’s my job.

Wtf!
How on earth would you know if donated blood came from a male or female?!

@Typo22 ive addressed that several times. I will be using birth sex going forward

@KCandtheSunlightBand yes see the link below regarding screening and trans
www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-population-screening-information-for-transgender-people/nhs-population-screening-information-for-trans-people#cervical-screening

@Delphinium20 this was in relation to a comment about medical staff not being immediately certain of the sex of an unconscious patient arriving to a&e. An old man? They can be confident he’s a man. A 20y man there’s the potential he’s a trans man.

@xxyzz i don’t know the answers to all yours questions as I did not personally set up the system or change it, I just work within it and try my best to do it in a way that keeps my patient and myself safe.

I do know that blood is screened for hiv hep and other viruses so as not to infect others. by asking the questions prior to donation it reduces the amount of unsuitably donations therefore reducing waste and costs.

How insulting to insinuate there is any choice in the matter.

Ah, but your opinion doesn't matter as much as the special people who get this treatment: "you need to comply with what is going on and getting their back up because they think I’m not accepting is not helpful".

It's absolutely fine to get certain people's backs up.

How on earth is sex "assigned at birth"?! Please don't use such ridiculous terminology. Sex is not a choice, the midwife doesn't pick a sex from the sorting hat when a baby is born.

If sex was assigned and therefore a choice, millions of newborn baby girls wouldn't have their throats cut at birth for the crime of being female. How insulting to insinuate there is any choice in the matter.

Trans men are biological women
Why they would be getting pregnant when anything womanly causes dysphoria is a mystery!

Perhaps pregnant women should start identifying as not pregnant when giving blood.
If biological reality is now secondary to feelz, I think this is the way to go.

See what happens.

My DH was asked before getting an xray. Not only is he biologically male he is also nearly 70. He laughed and commiserated with the staff for having to ask such a stupid question. He is aware why as I am a massive lurker on these boards and had already told him this madness.

It's hard to get one's head round.

Charitably, perhaps it's not so much Scotblood pushing doctrine in itself as trying to respond towhat's actually happening in the world, where people who present as male have nevertheless been pregnant and borne children. Freddy McC isn't the only one, just one of the most prominent.

World gone man, indeed.
www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/20/the-dad-who-gave-birth-pregnant-trans-freddy-mcconnell

Trans males have been known to get pregnant

What?

I doubt that scotblood are silently pushing anything. There are women who are offended and upset by being asked this question. But now some men are upset it must be a conspiracy. My mum is 74 and still gives blood, there’s no way she looks like she’s getting pregnant any time soon but do you know what she just says no in response to the question. Trans males have been known to get pregnant. I don’t know your sexual orientation but if you’re heterosexual do the questions asking whether you have had sex with another man offend you? If you’re so horrified by the question don’t answer it and stop donating.

They knew you were a man because they only asked once. When they ask women and women answer, they ignore the first answer and treat it as a lie and always ask again because women are assumed to be lying about it. A man's first answer is accepted as truth; a woman's answer is not.

Yes😂

Wishiwasatailor
Part of the issue is that if they don’t believe in their biological sex then their identifying sex is their “real” sex. Once they are 18 they can legally change their sex on medical records and are given a new nhs no. Transmen are then no longer invited to smears.

Wishi, is this correct? A Transman will no longer get called for cervical smear tests, because the system now registers them as male, so if they have a cervix, which many transmen will, any cancerous changes won’t be picked up.

I also can't see any reason why they'd be suddenly starting to ask this to loads of men who've been donating for years. Do they not have records making it clear that these people whose male blood they've been taking and using for years are still male (whatever irrelevant gender identity they may have developed since their last trip to donate blood)? So why can't they just keep these records and then no need to annoy regular donors like the OP?

Also wondering what happens about donor blood full of (possibly illegally-obtained) cross-sex hormones? Does anyone know what effect that might have on those receiving the blood? Is it checked for? How, if the donor isn't asked about it, and the drugs may not have been prescribed in the UK, could the NHS know?

This is absolutely bizarre, for the simple reason that your medical history should have been thoroughly checked before you donate blood.

They should know if you have been through any surgeries etc. related to gender dysphoria.

Assuming they know this, they should not have to ask if there's a possibility you could be pregnant.

The thing is, these issues ultimately arise due to political pressure. Yes, gender dysphoria may be a medical issue but the wider project to reorganise society along the lines of ‘gender’ is a political movement.

Healthcare has been politicised and therefore, healthcare professionals can’t be surprised if patients respond to this in a certain way. It’s not about being personally offended, it is about resisting political indoctrination on a society-wide level.

If you think people have never stood up for their political beliefs because things would run more smoothly if they just shut up, you are politically naive. Societies have gone to war over religious questions or questions of ‘national honour’, and wasted millions of lives that way.

It's crap and it isn't 'inclusive' a transwomen cannot be pregnant so being asked could be triggering.

BTW OP In a few weeks if Nicola Sturgeon has her way you can legally be a woman by saying so.