Cancer Research: anyone with a cervix

[Aloneinacrowd70]

Not sure how to link to Twitter, but Cancer Research UK have a pinned tweet which says:

'Cervical screening (or the smear test) is relevant for everyone aged 25-64 with a cervix. Watch our animation to find out what to expect when you go for screening #CervicalScreeningAwarenessWeek'

Everyone with a cervix? I think in their attempt to be inclusive, they are potentially excluding women who may not know about their own biology. Plus, they still refer to men with regard to prostate cancer:

www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/prostate-cancer

It's only women who are unable to be named, apparently.

From a brief look at the account, I think this is a transman in the USA.

That person has a long profile on Kiwi Farms. I think a transactivist.

Not endorsing KF. Anyone is free to google.

Someone with a paypal account

Philosophical question: If a person is genderfluid... how can they be misgendered?

see above

cont.

Do any journalists ever look at the twitter accounts that they quote?

As this is a discussion aboout gyny cancer.

It is worth watching Tara Hewitt's training session from 2016 for HCP.
Tara is an equality and inclusion officer in the NHS

thank you @BettyDuMonde

i'm so sorry to hear about your mum too. 20s is so young to go through the death of a parent.

my gosh that tweet above about rather dying of cancer than being misgendered. i would love to sit that person down and take them through the YEARS of hospital stays, emergencies, side effects, hope and hope dashed, agony, human dignity being stripped away one bodily function at a time and then, eventually, death.

my mum didn't "identify" as a woman. she did not have that kind of a privilege. she was a life long carer of others. she barely ever finished her own cup of tea let alone spent more than 3 seconds thinking about herself or her identity.

however the gender roles that were forced on her by society - that woman should be ashamed of their own bodies and put everybody else first - delayed her treatment, contributed to her death.

i am quite angry about this.

to the smug little posts about "not all women having cervixes". well guess what, not all hpv cancers are of the cervix. PLEASE STOP APPROPRIATING THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE HYSTERECTOMIES. THEY ARE QUITE A BIG DEAL. IT IS NOT THE SAME AS GETTING AN INGROWN TOENAIL REMOVED.

The comments under the Times article are quite cheering. People are seeing through this ridiculous behaviour and starting to call out the damage that it's doing to women (and men).

Do any journalists ever look at the twitter accounts that they quote?

No.

Thank you, all, for your support.

Well, today is turning out to be a very strange one for me. The postman just arrived, and with it, the letter I have been dreading.

(I have placed the envelope-over my name, address and NHS number. I have left the date and the senders address for authenticity)

Luckily, today is Friday, so, in the spirit of ManFriday, my sister and I and our two biological daughters (6 and 12) will be identifying out of being women.

I haven’t even told my husband yet. Thank fuck for Mumsnet.

from The Times article, I am relieved to read Paula Sherriff (chair of Women's Health APPG)'s comment:

"Critics accused the charity of putting identity politics before public health. Some asked why no such language appeared to be used when discussing cancers that affect only men. On its website, Cancer Research UK explains that “only men have a prostate gland so only men get prostate cancer”. Paula Sherriff, Labour chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group on women’s health, said: “I think the word woman should be explicitly stated, particularly as not everyone will be familiar with the word cervix.

“While we need to be conscious that [trans men] may well be eligible too, I think the message is diluted by not using the word ‘woman’ or ‘women’.”

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/smear-test-campaign-drops-the-word-woman-to-avoid-transgender-offence-263mj7f6s

Betty

BettyDuMonde not sure which you'd prefer but, &

Are you aware of Target Ovarian Cancer: an amazing charity with a lot of support and resources available? They have a really good guides, including one specifically for Genetic testing & hereditory ovarian cancer.

www.targetovariancancer.org.uk/guides

Betty - today is a day for and .

Thank you for sharing your experiences - so important at a time when men fools blather on about how unimportant biology is to women.

So sorry Betty.

Y’know what’s really weird? It’s now 50/50 as to whether I have the gene fault, depending on which of my mother’s two X chromosomes I have inherited.
If I have it, it’ll again be 50/50 for my daughter. Our lives are once again being dictated by those two Xs.

So seriously, fuck those gender feels, eh?

Seems like serendipity that I stopped lurking this board two days before the letter arrived.

I’m off on the school run after a glass of fizzy pink now.

I would definitely rather be misgendered than die of cancer.

One more glass and I will be outing myself on Twitter.

I am Spartacus.

I understand that they are trying to be inclusive of trans men, but eradicating a huge group isn’t the way to this. This is exactly why the TRA who say they are woman are able to jump on the bandwagon. It leaves a ‘space’ for abuse and society appears to paving the way for them when it does this type of thing. Erasing the word women in some cases, perhaps like this one, can have good intentions, but ends up literally erasing women, exactly what these people want. Why not do what Jos Trust said and say ‘women and all those with a cervix’?

Best wishes to you Betty X

betty x

Rowantrees: with regards to the tweet by the person who says she would rather die of cancer than be misgendered... it’s curious that the daily mail hasn’t done their research about this person. She’s called Becks Gerber, and she claims to be a man while doing absolutely nothing whatsoever to change her appearance. She has long blue hair, wears dresses, and is currently trying to get pregnant. She is not on any hormone therapy nor does she have any dysphoria. Becks expects everyone to magically know that she is a man, despite the fact she hasn’t legally changed her name and well... she looks like a woman. She’s really not the best person to use as a representative of the trans community!

Sky are about to do this story I think - just saw trail

WeeBisom
Thanks for the background. Do you know if Becks Gerber in the US/ Canada? It seemed that way from the tweets.

Its really common that newspaper articles use tweets by very active TRA from Twitter. The single tweet that they quote sounds wholely reasonable, but a simple check at their posting history speaks volumes!

Its really lazy....