Mother or Birthing Parent

[thaigreen]

Which term do you prefer?

YABU Birthing Parent
YANBU Mother

Birthing parent is offensive and reduces women to bodily functions. They may as well go straight to calling us handmaids.

@alsorang

If anyone refers to me as a birthing parent , I shall "shake and cry," I shall tell them they have made feel "unsafe", I shall demand a "safe space" just for mothers, I will tell them that they have committed " literal violence " against me. I will not back down.

Where has it been said that you'll be referred to as a birthing parent?

Mum/ mother.
I cut contact with someone who refused to refer to me as my DCS mum and insisted i was their "birthing parent"

Why are you asking op? Where have you seen the use of birthing parent?

Mother. Birthing also implies the immediacy of giving birth to me. And even then I'd still correctly be termed mother.

If someone else wants to be different that's fine and should be respected. But people should make the extra effort to respect a minority choice rather than deny and disrespect the choice and truth of the overwhelming majority. It's a denial of womanhood and it's offensive.

@VividGemini lots of organisations have, or are being pressured to, replace references to mothers in policy documents including mat leave and discrimination policies.

another -trans- thread that will be moved to the naughty corner

I'm non binary but I still prefer 'mother'. I feel it sums up my role in a way other phrases don't, but it's very personal.

In our home DP and I are both non binary but use mama (DP) and mum (me) as our words.

Who's suggested that it will replace the term mother?

You’re not paying attention to what’s happening in a lot of pregnancy related literature.

[quote Xiaoxiong]@VividGemini lots of organisations have, or are being pressured to, replace references to mothers in policy documents including mat leave and discrimination policies. [/quote]
Including many NHS trusts!

@RealDinosaurofBarnardCastle

Women give birth. Adult human females.

This.

See for instance NHS trusts, the Scottish govt, the ministry of justice, etc

I prefer to be called mother. Do some people call themselves birthing parent?

Mother/woman.

I teach pregnancy yoga and on one course I did it was 'birth giver'. Also 'genitals' instead of vagina.

@littlepeas

Mother/woman.

I teach pregnancy yoga and on one course I did it was 'birth giver'. Also 'genitals' instead of vagina.

Well that's just silly. I think people can use any words to describe their identity as a parent, but anyone who gives birth will have a vagina.

Happy for there to a be a choice to be called whatever, for me I would choose Mother and anyone else if free to request what they wish to be referred to.

@DebbieHarrysCheekbones

The term birthing parent makes me want to vomit

This 🤮

I wonder how many children call the woman who gave birth to them their "birthing parent". I suppose they might if they were adopted and called the woman who adopted them their mother....

@alsorang

If anyone refers to me as a birthing parent , I shall "shake and cry," I shall tell them they have made feel "unsafe", I shall demand a "safe space" just for mothers, I will tell them that they have committed " literal violence " against me. I will not back down.

Absolutely!

Totally agree galaxy. The same teacher has recently been talking on Instagram about 'people with a vulva' feeling safe following the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabrina Nessa and tagging a link to one of her courses on the end of the post...

If anyone refers to me as a birthing parent , I shall "shake and cry," I shall tell them they have made feel "unsafe", I shall demand a "safe space" just for mothers, I will tell them that they have committed " literal violence " against me. I will not back down.

Ffs

I prefer mother but I have no issue with people using birthing parent with those who identify as such.

Surely it just takes a second to ask which term a person prefers and then write it at the top of their notes.

When I gave birth I was referred to as geriatric. It was offensive but medically accurate. If we are changing terminology can we change that one.

In Scotland the term mother has been removed from government papers. Replaced by birthing parent. It's all over the internet today.

All the people who insisted that this would never happen and that the feminist board is OTT and silliness. You are complicit in this. You can not defend woman's rights and maternity rights when we can't say the words mother and woman.

I identify myself as a mother, but I don't see why we can't use birthing parent as additional language e.g. "parent and carers" - we know most people looking after dc are parents but we don't want to exclude a vulnerable group of carers.

I dislike just having "birthing parent" but I have no problem with "mother or other birthing parent"