Cervical screening leaflet - what's wrong here?

[MoltenLasagne]

This is the leaflet for cervical screening that I received this morning. Can you spot what's wrong with it?

As a side note, I live in an area where low literacy rates are a known issue with a significant population who don't speak English as a first language and lots of those people don't speak it fluently.

The word which must not be whispered.

Wow. No mention whatsoever that cervical screening is for women.

I once met a couple who spoke very good English, but not as a first language. We got onto the topic of cervical screening (as you do - it was shortly after Jade Goody's death) and the man was concerned that he had never has this. When I explained what the cervix was, he was a bit embarrassed.

It's a serious omission to exclude this information, particularly in an area with a large migrant population.

Can't they just say "women and trans men"? Or is it expected that loads of TW will demand screening?
My question is, is this language's primary purpose (however successful) to explicitly include trans men, or to appease trans women?

Oh Christ. And, that last sentence will be parsed by many people with low literacy in English as "If you are a woman, you do not need cervical screening" 🤦🏼‍♀️

I thought that would be what would have caught your eye OP, and I don't disagree. In fact I agree vehemently.

However there is something else wrong with the note I think. How do they know that screening prevents 70% of cervical cancer related deaths, when those deaths haven't actually happened?

They could say "deaths from cervical cancer reduced by 70% after screening was introduced" or "CC related deaths are 70% lower in areas where screening takes place" or something, but neither of those options mean the same as what they've written.

Here's mine. It actually mentions the word woman

PS "women and trans men" excludes gender non-conforming people, so that's not suitable either .
HTH

(Actually, I'm not sure why I'm grinning, it's not funny really).

OP difficult question-

Have they missed out the word women?

There was a thread on here about this before with lots of justified outrage. I think many wrote to complain at the time. Perhaps another letter writing campaign?

Rates of cervical smears are very low yet having them done is lifesaving - and health providers are happy to compromise / confuse the health education messages for women.
Outrageous.

Why are they allowed to specifically mention transwomen and transmen, but not mention the word women?

If you're going to single them out anyone, then include the word women as well. People with poor english know the word women but they might not know what a cervix is, and some people with english but from very conservative backgrounds might not know what a cervix is in the first place.

Its ridiculous.

Oh ffs...

So how many 25 year old men are gonna be calling up asking about screening because schools told them that women have penises and men have a uterus etc and now the NHS won't even make sure they specify who they mean.

Talk about wasted time and money and unnecessary medical suffering. Maybe even death.

Facts don't care about feelings. They just exist . Lives depend on honesty not capitulation to lobby groups who have zero medical training

It's so infuriating, these leaflets are supposed to be accessible but they cannot use the word woman. I guess a saving grace is they have pictures of women on the front.

They also say that screening is usually carried out by a "female nurse or doctor" and that you can request that a "woman carries out your test".

That's ludicrous. There's no reaaon not to use the word women where they have said "everyone" and "people". The last paragraph woulf clarify the situation for any poor confuzzled trans folks.

Nice one leaflet writers. Nice one. slow claps

It’s becoming like Voldemort. We can’t even whisper it.

They have also perfectly demonstrated why biology is so important. The last paragraph says that if you are a trans man registered as female with your GP you will get an invitation for a cervical screening. However if you are a trans man registered as male you will not be invited.

If I didn't get reminders and invites I would forget to make an appointment.

Wow, that's bad. All these people at risk of cervical cancer! I must let my brothers know to get a test.

That's ludicrous. There's no reaaon not to use the word women where they have said "everyone" and "people". The last paragraph woulf clarify the situation for any poor confuzzled trans folks.

Exactly this. FFS it’s getting ridiculous.

I guess a saving grace is they have pictures of women on the front.

They should be androgynous figures. Anything else invites cissexist assumptions.

For fucks sake!!!

Maybe we should get loads of men to call in to book their cervical screening. Having to field hundreds of calls from men might be annoying enough to work.

Here's mine. It says woman. Odd how it varies from area to area when the rest of the text is exactly the same.

@MaryMashedThem

Oh Christ. And, that last sentence will be parsed by many people with low literacy in English as "If you are a woman, you do not need cervical screening" 🤦🏼‍♀️

Yes, actually this is a very good point. The way it's structured means that skipping to the end to see the group that needs to take action would result in many people just reading the final point and thinking it's a man thing. Utterly confusing unless you read it properly and know what a cervix, trans man, trans woman etc are and that it is all relevant to women despite not saying 'women'.

FFS 😂

They could say "deaths from cervical cancer reduced by 70% after screening was introduced" or "CC related deaths are 70% lower in areas where screening takes place" or something, but neither of those options mean the same as what they've written.

It'll be from comparing outcomes in cases where treatment happened earlier thanks to screening, to the outcomes in cases where it was caught later, so the way they've phrased it probably is the best option.

But damn that stat brings home how they are playing fast and loose with women's lives to placate a few activist loudmouths. The number of women with low literacy in English must vastly exceed the number of transmen in the country - and the trans demographic could have been covered in a footnote without making the rest of the leaflet needlessly confusing.

Shit's got ridiculous but I'm glad that this clearly spells out that trans women do not need a cervical screening as opposed to keeping up the pretence and allowing access to this female experience.

@ Peanutbutteryogurt - I like that your leaflet is "women and people with a cervix"...

I'm surprised they actually have to say that trans women don't need to attend....surely they realise they don't have the bits that biological women have..!