To think this is insensitively worded, to say the least?

[KimberleyClark]

From the website of the Royal Osteoporosis Society

theros.org.uk/latest-news/international-women-s-day-let-s-end-the-ageist-stereotypes-that-fuel-the-most-insidious-women-s-health-condition/?_gl=114hsiyd_up*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjwk7ugBhDIARIsAGuvgPboftpiYL9EHStxq48v0H5lLUXvpcznG4Nt93uHDTN9RmPFxGS6j2QaAqj8EALw_wcB

“Most are surprised to hear it affects a half of all women over 50. That’s every other mother. Every other grandmother. And it’s serious. More so than people think: as many people die from its complications as from lung cancer or diabetes. So why is nobody talking about it?“

Do women with osteoporosis who aren’t mothers or grandmothers not count?

It's does say half of all women....

It’s nonsense. Half of all women isn’t the same as every other mother.

I can see that they are trying to appeal to people’s emotions but it’s a stupid paragraph.

Im with you, OP, it’s jarring and does kind of imply that people should only care if it affects their mother.

I don't think think they're implying that women who are not mothers/grandmothers don't count but it is irritating that they seem to assume all women must be mothers/grandmothers. Its thoughtless I'd say.

They are trying to personalise it by saying it could be your mother or grandmother.

It doesn't exclude women who don't have kids/G.kids, it just tries to prompt you to think of your own mom & gran (because everyone has those, even if NC or you'd eagerly dance on their brittle bones).

They can't say "your sister" because not everyone has one of those; some people don't have an aunt or even a female neighbour they care about.

if there's an awkward implicit assumption, it is that everyone likes their mom/gran & wouldn't like to dance on their brittle bones.

i get where you’re coming from.
however, having been on the receiving end of having health issues taken less seriously because I’m a woman, I’m past caring how they get out health problems taken seriously as long as they are taken seriously.

This. Please don’t look for offence where none is intended.

The purpose of phrasing it that way is to highlight that it may not affect you but everyone who has been born has a mother and at least two grandmothers. The chances are that someone close to you is affected.

Yes I agree but they could just as easily include sister or aunt.

Over sensitive.

Or indeed friend or yourself!

I agree it's weird phrasing. They are trying to make women seem valuable by describing them as mothers/grandmothers.

One, that would be too long winded, and two, most people don’t have the same emotional pull to a sister or an aunt as a mother/grandmother.

Whether you like it or not, most women are mothers. We can’t shy away from that because of the modern trend to be “childfree”.

Hi, why is child-free in quotation marks here, please? Is it because you don't believe it to be a valid choice? Thank you

Also, not everyone has a sister or an aunt. We all have mothers and grandmothers.

They're trying to make you think of YOUR mother and YOUR grandmother. They are in no way implying that a woman without children doesn't count.

Alas, my grandmother and mother are both dead.

I wondered that too 🤔

This.

Isn't it more likely in mothers and grandmothers as pregnancy increases the risk? Might be wrong on that.

They're trying to give an emotional punch to raise awareness. I don't think they're saying that women who haven't had children don't count.

I'm an older woman. whose mother died 30 years ago and whose grandmothers died before I was born. In view of my age, osteoporosis is an important issue for me personally, but is of no concern to me in regard to my mother or grandmothers.

So I'm with the OP on this. It reads to me as if childfree women don't count. I don't think that was the author's intention, it's just badly phrased.

Yep.

This para is also bizarre

"I can empathise, of course. In my youth I didn’t think much – if at all - about bone health. Like most people, I worried about my skin, heart, blood pressure. Bones were just ‘dead’ things that appeared at Halloween."

I don't know what the stats are but surely a lot of people break bones, or know a frkend or family member who has, long before they think about heart or blood pressure?

I think it's the age old thing where women don't have intrinsic value as people. Only as mothers/grandmothers etc. It actually comes up a lot.

Exactly. It's about trying to bring it home and get through the "won't affect me" barrier. If it's not affecting your mum, it might be affecting your friend's mum.

One of the statistics they quote must be wrong - it's either half of all women, or every other mother and grandmother, but it can't be both as that doesn't take childless women into account. That's why I find it annoying!

You are right and also funny.