Use of the term "hamburger" by sonographers to describe baby girl "bits"

[ahhhhhpushit]

I've heard this term reported by mothers so many terms that it must by the term sonographers aee taught at sonographer school.

Anybody else feel uncomfortable by it?

Imagine it being said about a baby's bits once she'd been born!

Is it just me?

fetuses labia can swell inuteru and can look like testicles. which is hard to diferentiate sometimes. the cord laying between the legs can imitate three white lines and could be hiding male anatomy. some men see the cord and assume they have a well endowed son at first glance.

yes so do i aitch i really hate being told what i should be offended by, there are plenty of things i am offended by with regards to porn and the sexualisation of young girls/women in modern society, but the terminology used by a sonographer is not one of them!

but 'bean' for an embryo is ok as that is not a foodstuff which is linked to porn? again i had no idea that hamburger was linked to porn till i read this thread and now its linked to rape culture...

why assume that's what has happened here? i know about hamburgers, so i know what to look for on a scan. didn't have a clue until last night that a 'hamburger' was a widely-used term for women's genitals. (tbh i doubt it is in general parlance, it's not like i've had a sheltered upbringing).

much more likely that the universality of the burger and bun meant that it's a very practical descriptor for sonographers to use so that the majority of people know what they are looking for on an otherwise bafflingly unfamiliar set of images.

bean might be okay, because that's probably more associated with Mexican food and they had Frida Kahlo? is that right?

god knows, 4madboys...

"but 'bean' for an embryo is ok as that is not a foodstuff which is linked to porn? "

I've heard bean used to describe an adult clitorus

but they also sometimes use the word "leg" in porn. Doesn't mean it is associating a baby with porn if you talk about it's leg

hamburger, bean, leg, I don't think of any of these as "porn words" just because they may be used in porn. There are some words and phrases that are definitely porn words because there is an instant association

but if you say hamburger in a non porn context, how many people think of porn? I think of a hamburger

well i have heard bean for clitoris as in 'flick the bean' etc etc but bean is a commonly used term for an embryo pre 12wks i am going for a scan to see the bean, 'sticky bean vibes' etc i have seen and heard it used LOADS on various parenting forums, i have NOT ever until this thread come across the term 'hamburger' relating to female genitals or porn. its food, and it just so happens that at the scan i had for my dd, her privates did indeed look like a burger bun and the sonographer said, those three lines that look like a burger bun. i see no reason why i should be offended by that.

language is one of those marvellous things where one word can have many meanings and be used by a variety of different people to mean something different. especially local dialect etc, i have heard people use terms like 'you have a cob on' or 'a mard' etc to mean bad moods, but a 'cob on' can mean other things as well, like an erection. thats one of the great joys of language the wide way in which its used and thats all i see with the scan language they are using an easily recognisable likeness of a burger bun, to the image of the private parts on an ultrasound scan, nothing more, nothing less, it is describing a likeness.

the equivalent situation is this... if the sonographer said 'that bit there, shaped like a bean, is the kidney', this would cause problems because 'bean' has been employed to describe the clitoris in a porno setting. it doesn't matter that the sonographer is unaware of this.

but no, you say, that would be ridiculous. it's only the unfortunate combination of girl's genitalia and hamburger that causes the problem, surely? nope, not according to below, where it was agreed that the case of describing the shape that the genitals of a boy child makes on a scan as 'like a hamburger' would also be crass.

so it IS that comparing children's organs to foodstuffs ever mentioned in a porn context is a problem? in which case 'bean' for kidney is also crass. (despite the fact that that is beyond stupid).

they do describe the kidney as a 'bean' at scans, they did for my ds1 who had extra scans due to a kidney problem! they pointed it out and said 'its the bean like shape there' i KNOW that is a term for clitoris but i wasnt offened by that, should i have been?

well no, i would say that you shouldn't have been at all, because the idea is plainly ludicrous. however if you follow the thesis of this thread... perhaps you should have been and the fact that you weren't makes you a promulgator of rape culture?

Gosh people do seem to be picking up and running with what was a fairly mild 'oh, that's an unfortunate turn of phrase' type reaction.

Nobody is being told what to be offended by .

Some of us here think it is an unfortunate turn of phrase. And not because hamburger is a word bandied about in porn. It is a bit more subtle than that.

But if it doesn't bother you, well and good. It doesn't bother me that much either. As I said earlier, I don't doubt that it is being used in a benign and well meaning manner. I just don't think it is a case of PC gorn mad to mildly question whether this may be a tiny bit crass, if it does bother you.

Different opinions and all that. It is all good.

It isn't the association with food. It is the association with meat.

"4mb you should be though. That's called rape culture and it's ingrained so much it relates to girls in utero. How very horrible is that?"

actually in response to me saying i wasnt offended by it a poster dwharkin? said this so yes i was TOLD i should be offended by it.

and i never said others shouldtn be offended by it, i said i could undestand given the other meanings/connotations that some people may be. but i personally am not.

i think it's ridiculous that you are offended by it, but i'm not complaining about being told what to be offended by. think you are getting your posters mixed up, stewie.

btw, this was the fifth response to the OP, beachcomber. hardly a 'oh that's an unfortunate turn of phrase'.

"Personally, I would be uncomfortable if a sonographer used "hamburger" as a slang for a girl's genitalia instead of the correct anatomical terms, whatever it may look like on a scan. There seems to be at best discomfort about female genitalia and at worst revulsion. Unlike the glorifying that goes on about the male penis (and yes, I know there are many jokey terms for a penis too, but is it only me who detects a different feeling behind the way female genitals are referred to?)"

I think this thread is starting to go round in ever decreasing circles now.

Shall we just agree that the use of the word "hamburger" in relation to an unborn girl's genitalia makes some of us feel uncomfortable (is anyone feeling more strongly than that?), while others don't see it as a problem and leave it at that?

I'll just quote myself....

Personally, I would be uncomfortable if a sonographer used "hamburger" as a slang for a girl's genitalia

and then I explained why that was the case.

'Nuff said.

are you kicking us out of Feminism, IC?

Not as far as I can tell.

Oh well. I'll leave you to it then. I didn't think it was that big a deal but something that could still cause pause for thought.

I have no interest in a bunfight over something like this. So I'll pop off now.

I agree with IC upthread. I stated that I was uncomfortable if my feotus' sex bits had been described as a hamburger, as I had two girls. I'd never of thought it. It is a description taken straight out of porn and we therefore are pronofying our girls in utero. This I find disgraceful. I will fight it.

No apologies.

Beachcomber and Stewie: you are giving up so easliy?

Why?

I recommend AyeRobot - she's done some wizard Googling on my behalf in the past