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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Science podcasts now ‘gender neutral’ about pregnancy

156 replies

WinterNeverChristmas · 28/12/2021 22:42

Listening to the ‘Brains On!’ Podcast about innies versus outies and other pregnancy related facts. Really excited that there was a new (to us), interesting podcast on science for our DC. However, quickly the podcast is all about how a placenta grows within a ‘pregnant person’ etc etc. That phrase was mentioned no less than 20 times. No mention of the fact that it’s actually a woman who has a child. Nope we are pregnant people now. It’s science.

OP posts:
NeedsCharging · 29/12/2021 11:28

worriedaboutfitness

If you are going to discuss peoples health conditions (and DSDs are health conditions as DSDs can cause health implications) then the very least you could do is some research and not ignorantly use them as a weapon.

Intersex is an outdated and inaccurate term.
Those with DSDs are still male or female not both.

Mummy1608 · 29/12/2021 11:29

@worriedaboutfitness

A trans man with a womb then (I feel like you all know exactly what I mean when I say that)- they exist whether you agree with it or not.
Trans man is a subsection of woman, still a woman, biologically
bordermidgebite · 29/12/2021 11:29

In that case " women and transmen" works for me.

Mummy1608 · 29/12/2021 11:30

@Whatwouldscullydo
Women sometimes die In childbirth. Black women are 5 times more likely to die. Their lives and deaths should not be hidden amongst talk of " people"

This sums it up for me, well said

bordermidgebite · 29/12/2021 11:31

Women are people but people are not women

Send your dh out for a chair he comes back with a table , the excuse " it's all furniture " won't cut it

drspouse · 29/12/2021 11:32

[quote Mummy1608]@Whatwouldscullydo
Women sometimes die In childbirth. Black women are 5 times more likely to die. Their lives and deaths should not be hidden amongst talk of " people"

This sums it up for me, well said[/quote]
Very well put. Saying "pregnant people" is like saying "all lives matter".

worriedaboutfitness · 29/12/2021 11:32

A friend of mine was born with both male and female genitalia- they find the term DSD offensive and prefer intersex but you’re correct in that I shouldn’t blanket apply it to all, I certainly wasn’t trying to use it to weaponise anything.

Justkeeppedaling · 29/12/2021 11:33

@worriedaboutfitness

A trans man with a womb then (I feel like you all know exactly what I mean when I say that)- they exist whether you agree with it or not.
I don't care what they call them selves on a daily basis, not what they wear, but a transman is actually a woman. Maybe a woman who has had a mastectomy, or who has a fake penis. But a woman nevertheless.
NeedsCharging · 29/12/2021 11:33

Elod
Do all people need pregnancy healthcare?
Are all people subjected to discrimination due to pregnancy?
Are all people subjected to sexisim/discrimination in employment, housing and healthcare?

These things happen to a specific group of people and in order to protect those affected that specific group needs to be named.
If all people can get pregnant and be treated unfairly because of pregnancy then where is the discrimination?

jeaux90 · 29/12/2021 11:36

Also exclusive to women whose first language is not English. They may not know what a uterus or cervix is so women is used so they know it includes them.

I am so done with this gender shit. I do not have a gender, I don't believe in gender and you can't make me. (Blows raspberry emoji)

NeedsCharging · 29/12/2021 11:38

worried

You have a friend who is "intersex" yet you don't care enough to find out more about their condition despite them confiding in you?
Your friend will still be male or female not both and if male cannot get pregnant as only females can as well you know.

AlexaIWillNeverSayDucking · 29/12/2021 11:40

The trouble with gender neutral language is that it only works for people who have already learned that it's women who get pregnant and have cervices. People who are old enough, literate enough and educated enough to mess about with language and use it to virtue signal.

Think through how to teach a class of children which of them falls into the category of "having a cervix" or "getting pregnant" without mentioning any sex based terms - do you go round each child telling them about their internal organs and genitalia? Do you risk small children having to talk about their own genitals "I have a penis, does that mean I don't get pregnant?" How would you do it in a way that is better than "male" and "female?"

Children need to learn the facts first, even if they go in to be polite or fashionable about these terms later.

MimiDaisy11 · 29/12/2021 11:40

What’s wrong with the word “female”?

If you’re going to say the definition of woman is not connected to sex and something else (whatever that is) then why not say female for biological issues?

Trans right people also go on about the difference between gender and sex but don’t use them differently.

Whatwouldscullydo · 29/12/2021 11:41

Also exclusive to women whose first language is not English. They may not know what a uterus or cervix is so women is used so they know it includes them

Appeasing individuals is the friends and families job. Along with the personal responsibility of taking care of your own physical.amd mental health.

It should not infiltrate medical care. Medical care should be dealing with facts. Reality. Statistics. Likely outcomes etc. Those remain the same regardless of identity. Confidence and trust in your dr is so vital. And very easily lost. The truth, no matter how hard it is to hear, should be top priority. It's impossible to do the job without it.
.

bordermidgebite · 29/12/2021 11:42

I could also accept the use of female

worriedaboutfitness · 29/12/2021 11:43

We weren’t talking about ‘male’ and ‘female’ though were we- we were talking about man and woman.

Whatwouldscullydo · 29/12/2021 11:45

Male and female what though?

Dogs? Fish? Birds?

Oh humans? Is thete a collective word fir male humans and female humans ?

What are they?

NeedsCharging · 29/12/2021 11:47

We weren’t talking about ‘male’ and ‘female’ though were we- we were talking about man and woman.

Under the UK equality act woman is defined as female of any age. Man is defined as male of any age.

Thirtytimesround · 29/12/2021 11:48

Complain. Institutions are only making these stupid changes because the ferocious transwomen lobby has convinced them it’s what people want. If actual women complained more every time they come across this nonsense, it wouldn’t have taken hold in the way it has.

But real women have been conditioned from birth to put up and shut up and not offend people, so the transwomen who grew up with male entitlement, and know how to interrupt/ shout people down / demand to be heard, are trampling all over real women.

endofbluenight · 29/12/2021 11:49

@worriedaboutfitness

Okay, I’ll bite.

What would you call a man who has a womb? Or an intersex person who has both reproductive organs? Do you really not see how ‘people’ is the easiest way to include everyone?

Look, you think men can get pregnant as you have decided to throw out the definition of man that has always existing (adult human male, this is the definition in languages across cultures throughout history. The word has always referred to a person's sex. Its a very useful word to describe an objective sex-based reality and it has existed so extensively for so long because it has such an important use in describing human reality across cultures and societies).

Having thrown out the existing definition of the word ' man' you haven't replaced it with anything. 'Whoever feels like it' is not really a definition, is it? So the word 'man' and 'woman' as you want them to be, no longer operate as a useful word to describe a defined reality or concept.

What you are doing is not inclusion, it is excluding women's sex based lives by pretending these female experiences are not exclusive to our sex.

GrumpyPanda · 29/12/2021 11:50

@worriedaboutfitness

Saying ‘people’ doesn’t exclude women. Are women not people?
By that logic, saying "mammals" would be even more inclusive. Or you could go the whole hog and use "vertebrate".
drspouse · 29/12/2021 11:50

@worriedaboutfitness

A friend of mine was born with both male and female genitalia- they find the term DSD offensive and prefer intersex but you’re correct in that I shouldn’t blanket apply it to all, I certainly wasn’t trying to use it to weaponise anything.
Your "friend", if they exist and don't just "identify as intersex" does not have functional male and female genitals. They certainly don't have the ability to both carry a baby they conceived in their uterus AND father a child through their own sperm. If they have female reproductive organs and a virilised clítoris, they are a female with a female specific DSD. Only women can have this DSD. Or they are a figment of your, or their, imagination.
endofbluenight · 29/12/2021 11:52

@worriedaboutfitness

Saying ‘people’ doesn’t exclude women. Are women not people?
It excludes women as ' people' who have experiences because of their sex.

Would you say that black people were not prevented from talking about racism if they could not refer to themselves as black people but had to just refer to their experiences as 'people'?

I think you would plainly see that black people could no longer talk about their experiences as black people if they can no longer refer to themselves as black. And that means they could no longer tackle racism as they would lack the language to do so.

Its the same with women.

MimiDaisy11 · 29/12/2021 11:53

I agree woman should be used to mean adult human female but what I don’t understand is for those who use “pregnant people” why don’t they just say “females” in place of “people” when it’s to do with sex.

NoNameHere12 · 29/12/2021 11:54

What’s the difference between Black Lives Matter and All lives matter? That seemed to kick up a huge fuss didnt it, people not acknowledging how much harder life can be for you due to the fact your skin is not white.

Same thing applies here- women matter…..All people matter, yes, but women tend to have it harder don’t they.

If everyone just becomes people, then race, culture, colour, sex, anything that defines you becomes completely irrelevant- your just a lemming basically