Did anyone see the ITV News piece about of water bills on customers?

All mothers are women @TeaKlaxon. Just like black women, disabled women, tall women, short women, white women, older women, infertile women and younger women are all women.

Transwomen are men.

Well glad we’ve cleared that up then. Female parents in all forms. Not men.

Just so long as they're not males, Tea. It's pretty straightforward.

So by your logic, you also use the term 'mother' people who fall outside the 'legal definition' of mother that you posted?

So - 'it's not just anyone's word to use'? Or are we free to use it for mothers who do not meet that definition? They can't both be true.

But clearly it is anyone's word to use if numerous women who don't meet the legal definition use it every day without consequence. Otherwise we'd be saying that foster mothers can't use the word etc.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

As Georgina Orwell said 😉

@Flickersy - it's not 'my' definition. It's the legal definition. Which explains why it's not just anyone's word to use and why it matters.

In my opinion, all women who mother children are mothers. But no men are.

You can believe what you like.

You don't get to dictate what other parents call themselves in everyday conversation, any more than I get to dictate what you call yourself within your family.

Because other posters have defined mother as the one who carries and gives birth. Which excludes an awful lot of mothers.

Posted too soon. However, the he thing that they have in common is being women.

Yes, Jane. Though the common factor is them actually being women, as in human females.

Men are not mothers or mums.

I have to agree with you on this one. Step-mother, foster mother and adoptive mother are all valid forms of mother.

Haven't adoptive mothers, including lesbians in same sex relationships, gone through a rigourous legal process to become an adoptive mother? Not just slapped on a wig and some lippy. Ditto foster mothers.

The only thing that's been adopted in that piece is a head tilt!

Mum / Mother = Female Parent / Parent who is a Woman

Woman = Adult Human Female
In short, not a man.

Not sure why people are dragging adoptive mums into this. Obviously still female, therefore mothers.

It never ends.
Black women are women so men are women.
Adoptive mothers are mothers so men are mothers.

Fuck off.
Honestly.

I for one think that mothers are women. Only women are mothers. Adult human females, or sometimes very young human females that have been through puberty.

Transwomen are male men, therefore not mothers.

It is astonishingly simple.

Women that are Adoptive mothers, foster mothers, co-mothers (the term in lesbian Relationships in my country), birth mothers (surrogate mothers and biological mothers are all mothers.
Men are fathers or dads. And/or parents.

Males can't be mothers.

Only women can be mothers.

Because your definition of (paraphrasing) "the one who carries and gives birth" excludes an awful lot of mothers.

If you're going to try and define mother then you'd better be able to come up with one which doesn't exclude adoptive mothers.

"Mother" isn't a culture either.

So shame on you, frankly, for excluding lots of legitimate mothers and also for forced teaming racial/cultural appropriation to try to back up your argument.

@Flickersy I'm confused why you're drawing parallels. Adoptive mothers are women who have adopted their children. They're not men.

Mika isn't an adoptive mother because Mika is male.

Or (thinking about it) step mums, foster mums, the non-child bearing partner in a lesbian couple...

Adoptive families are not here to be used as gotchas by others. Shame on you Flickersy & TeaKlaxon for using such a vulnerable group of children and their families in a desperate attempt to justify cultural appropriation.

It's solely about a male saying he's a mother. It's insulting.

I have absolutely no qualms about a transman saying they're a mother. That is the accurate term.

Precisely. Utterly nonsense.

Not only are adoptive mothers mothers in the legal sense of the word, we also don't rigidly insist that words have to be used only in line with their legal definitions. That would be absurd.

It would mean that a foster carer who calls herself a mum would be hauled over the coals. Or a gran who is raising her young grandkids who might sometimes describe herself as a mum to reflect that she's actually raising them, not just a typical granny.

Let's face it, no one here thinks those people's use of words should be policed.

This is solely about having a go at a trans person.