The Lancet calls us “Bodies With Vaginas”

[42SrauvP]

On behalf of all women and girls, I am f*cking livid.

twitter.com/thelancet/status/1441372277786951681?s=21

Be in no doubt, when society removes the words we use to define ourselves they remove the means for us to gather, to push back, to protect ourselves, to fight for our rights, to roar. It’s slow and almost imperceptible and then, BOOM…you have the likes of Ed Davey proclaiming on prime time radio that we can’t exclude men.

I am NOT a Body with a Vagina, I am WOMAN hear me roar.

I have told my DH about this; his reply' You couldn't make it up could you?' And truly that is how I feel, if an alien arrived on Earth now don't you think they would leave fairly quickly because the whole thing would just be beyond belief?
And he doesn't want to be a body with a penis either.

Unless the Lancet is staffed solely by people with penises, I'm amazed that not one single woman working there (because in these enlightened times, women can be doctors and things too!) kicked off about this.

@WoozySnoozy

What's the article about? Maybe it's meant to be ironic?

An exhibition on menstruation by the Vagina Museum.

You can see how the confusion arose as to which half of the population this covers.

@Pazuzu

Unless the Lancet is staffed solely by people with penises, I'm amazed that not one single woman working there (because in these enlightened times, women can be doctors and things too!) kicked off about this.

They're probably terrified!

It’s so dehumanising. Disgusting and depressing. Fucks sake.

In our house we've been boycotting The Lancet since 2007 because of the parent company's role in organising arms fairs. I feel like boycotting them twice over.
Also it's not as good as NEJM.

This is so grim

@TeeBee thank you for standing up to this in a professional capacity. ❤️

Wtaf. Vile description instead of woman. I've emailed the editor to complain.

I have just emailed. I am outraged and it takes a lot these days !

This from the Lancet;
'Weaving together reclaimed traditions with personal accounts from menstruators around the world, Diamant shows just how much our stories matter.'
Obvious really, isn't it? I mean MENSTRUATORS FFS!

@Queenoftheflumps02

This is the email address of The Lancet editor, [email protected]. Maybe we should all contact him to express our outrage?

Have done. First thing this morning.

Here’s my email but for those unsure what to say - I think just a few lines about how you fee is more powerful than multiple sendings of a template. People are so confused. I actually don’t feel angry today, more sad.

Just a quick note to say how upset I am for myself and other women, my mother, my daughters, to be referred to as having ‘bodies with vaginas’. This is deeply offensive to be reduced to body parts and I think as editor you have the responsibility to reflect on why you are allowing this language to be put in what should be a well respected publication.

Where are the ‘bodies with penises’ in The Lancet? Can you explain why the language about women is being butchered and not about men? It’s almost as if women’s humanity is less than that of men’s.

This is not progressive, this is not inclusion. Of course The Lancet needs to find ways to respect and include trans people, but this is not it.

@ChinstrapBobblehat

For ref, this is what I sent:

Dear Mr Horton

I’m extremely angry and saddened to note that the Lancet - along with the many other institutions cowering in the face of the new Kafka-esque, mind-bending, reality-denying ideology being forced upon us by male Trans Radical Activists - has decided to join the Be Kind brigade in eradicating the use of the word ‘woman’.

Woman. Adult human female.

You are allegedly an objective, scientific publication. Nowhere in science does a human body with a vagina exist unless it’s attached to a woman. By denying us the words with which to describe ourselves, this terrifying ideology aims to eradicate the very idea of our existence as women - our biological reality, our lived experience, our legal protections, our hard-earned rights and safeguards.

A ‘body with a vagina’ could be anything - a cow? A pig? You may as well just start referring to us as cunts and be done with it. At least we’ll all know where we stand, and we can stop pretending The Lancet has any credibility when it comes to human biology.

Or alternatively you could man up (or should that be ‘body with a penis’ up?) and regain some kind of sensible editorial control of your publication.

I look forward to hearing from you.

This is excellent. I didn’t think in my email that it could apply to cows or just a short step to the label cunts 👏

Funnily enough the article isn’t on their Facebook page but there are a number of people leaving negative comments under the ‘bodies with dicks’ article about prostate cancer

Absolutely bloody disgusting.

This is really shocking. It really does feel like a war on women.

Difference between their bodies with vagina and then “men”.

The irony in using such a revolting term to discuss shame that affects women and is derived from misogyny is quite incredible. I really struggled with internalised misogyny when I was younger and just seeing this, knowing I am such a ‘body’ brought back a little bit of that old self-revulsion. Goodness only knows who this would make a dysphoric ‘body with vagina’ feel. Not that trans men approving of this term would make it more acceptable to me, but I am highly sceptical that anyone would choose to apply this term to themselves. Which begs a few questions...

I frequently ask this question but how many people who identify as trans are there in the UK? I know there are around 30 million women and girls and I would guess trans people are only in the thousands (at most).

So why do trans rights trump those of our daughters, mothers, sisters? Why are so many men invested in trans rights?

I was so tempted to address my email ‘Dear Dick’ as it works on different levels.

I've emailed.

Disgusted to read about this and esp on the night if Sabina Nessa's vigil.

I would like to hear what trans men think about this. I cannot believe that any trans man, who has thought long and hard about their body and identity, would be at all offended by the use of the word woman. In fact, I'm of the opinion that it's insulting to trans men to think that they don't have the intelligence to see that they may still (for example) need a cervical smear if the literature about the same refers to women, and that they are effectively calling for the word woman to be erased. I can't believe that any of this is coming from them. We need trans men's voices here.

@LorenzoVonMatterhorn that made me laugh and thank you I needed a laugh after reading that a medical journal has dehumanised half the population

So ‘men’s health’ is men’s health? Not bodies with
A
Penis, but women are this??? What the actually fuck. It is possible to be inclusive without this kind of fuck wittery.