Piers Morgan on Twitter

[netflixismysidehustle]

No death threats as he's a man but fuck knows why "individuals with a cervix" is better than "women and transmen"

Nobody ever points out that not everyone knows if they have a cervix

Interesting how we never see 'people with prostates' or 'people who have penises'..seems perfectly fine to just say MEN.

To those who wonder what teachers are doing so wrong that not every person knows what a cervix is, can I suggest you try teaching any subject to find out what the spread of ability there is in our society. The level of literacy on Mumsnet doesn't include the academically weaker people at all.

@BatShite

Interesting how we never see 'people with prostates' or 'people who have penises'..seems perfectly fine to just say MEN.

This is why I think that the trans rights campaign might be better understood as a campaign for trans women's rights first and foremost. Because for them it is imperative to erase any connection between the female biological sex and the gender 'woman.'

On the other hand, it seems that trans men also detest the female sex but don't seem to mind the male sex remaining in our common parlance. I checked several Twitter activists who are trans men and their activism was focused at getting 'woman' erased, not at getting 'man' erased.

Though some of them do try to convince/persuade gay men to view them as acceptable romantic and sexual partners, I don't think they try to get Men's Health Magazine to change its name to something like The Ejaculators' Health Magazine.

The pressure, in short is almost completely on the erasure of the female body.

US reproductive rights organisations mostly caved in ten years ago. All the larger websites now provide services to only pregnant people (not to pregnant women) except for transitioning hormones, of course, which some also provide, to their patients, apparently very quickly.

It paints a sad picture about something. Hatred of the female body? The belief that biological women are door mats? Less worthy?

Why do women who speak English as a second language, women with learning disabilities and women who just plain don't know what a cervix is for whatever reason get thrown under the bus for the case of 'inclusivity'?

I once accompanied a home-schooled acquaintance (quite religious Christian background, minimal sex education because religion but far from thick!) to antenatal screening. She saw an odd blob on the scan picture, and asked if it could be a stomach ulcer. Now obviously it couldn't be, because this was a scan of her uterus, but she'd been brought up with a lot of fuzziness around the subject and her automatic go-to was 'babies grow in a woman's stomach'.

I am well keen on inclusivity so I am happy to say something like 'women, transmen and others born female who identify outside the gender binary need cervic screening', but not 'individuals with cervixes'. That's useless.

No rape or death threats for Morgan. Male privilege. I'm not saying I want him to get those types of threats, but if his name was Patricia Morgan he would be getting called all sorts. We all know that though.

Health messages need to be really clear

Individuals doesn’t mean anything.

Just use the word woman. That word that everybody understands

@DandyMandy

No rape or death threats for Morgan. Male privilege. I'm not saying I want him to get those types of threats, but if his name was Patricia Morgan he would be getting called all sorts. We all know that though.

The actual violence against transgender people must be almost completely by men, right? Yet at least in social media it is the gender critical women who are accused, judged and sentenced for that violence. This might be because of two things:

First, women are expected to be nice, validating and inclusive. Men are not. So women who fail to be those things will be seen as quite violent, compared to what is expected from them.

Second, the validation of someone's gender identity appears to be the central goal in so many ways, as well as a never-ending one, and denying someone that validation always provokes an intense anger reaction. I would like to know more about why that is the case. I mean why not shrug off any invalidating comments if the inner gender identity is stable and strong?

Some man in one of the responses is complacently insisting that the Scottish Government, "recently clarified the Equality Act so everyone understood that women also means trans women". That would be a protected characteristic of sex, you muppet, where only those with a GRC qualify, and even then there remain exceptions. And the Scots don't have the power to unilaterally amend the Equality Act, either. They're devolved, not independent.

Problem is, they all hear this bullshit, assume it's true, and then parrot it on. Someone else clearly missed the above memo and is complacently asserting that nobody ever uses the single sex exceptions, ever, "and why do you think that is?" Oh, I don't know - perhaps the relentless bullying, doxxing, death threats, rape threats, fear of losing funding, fear of media pressure, the being expelled from political parties, and seeing women and orgs who do dare to hold the line get all of the above, perhaps? And even THEN, yes, they are being used by some overtly (and by many more covertly, I suspect). Ask Karen Ingala Smith.

@testing987654321

To those who wonder what teachers are doing so wrong that not every person knows what a cervix is, can I suggest you try teaching any subject to find out what the spread of ability there is in our society. The level of literacy on Mumsnet doesn't include the academically weaker people at all.

I've seen people struggle with primary school maths like fractions and percentages, totally agree that you can assume that not knowing what a cervix is makes you uneducated.

People often use vagina when they mean vulva. Think that's a bigger deal than knowing what a cervix or prostate is.

@highame

Would someone like to tell me what our Biology Teachers are doing? Because they don't seem to be doing their f..king jobs

There are many reasons why people may struggle with language and/or understanding. It is not as simple to say it is all down to education.

For example, people with Learning Disabilities may well struggle to understand "individual with a cervix", but would understand "woman"

It is important that language around healthcare is kept clear and unambiguous.

"38% of people with a learning disability died from an avoidable cause"
"only 1 in 4 women with learning disabilitiesattend theircervical screeningappt"
(From NHS England)

* Someone has tweeted We obviously need an acceptable word to use.*

Because women isn't an acceptable word now?

Makes me shake with rage!

Whataver word was used, it would only be 'acceptable' for a very short period of time anyway, and then would have to include everyone who wants to be included and yet another word sought...and round again.

@Bupkis I do agree, but the way these things come along, it sounds as though the majority of the population don't understand. I think we need some solution because that 38% is very worrying.

This is where GP's need to be proactive. I do hope that if we move more to on line, that time can be given to explain these kind of things. Sometimes though I think medical staff take the easy route rather than have to confront difficult situations.

I'm not going to use the words man or male anymore. People with a penis and scrotum from now on, you know to be inclusive. Do you think scrotes will do, for short?

@WellIWasInTheNeighbourhoo 😂

The UK has poor literacy levels. Many people struggle to read and understand plain english.

literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/what-do-adult-literacy-levels-mean/

In England, adult literacy is often referred to in terms of ‘levels’ – for example, a 2011 government survey of adult literacy skills found that 14.9% (or 1 in 7) of adults in England have literacy levels at or below Entry Level 3, which is equivalent to the literacy skills expected of a nine to 11-year-old.
More recently, in 2015, the OECD conducted its Survey of Adult Skills, known as PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies). This survey found that 16.4% (or 1 in 6) of adults in England, and 17.9% (or 1 in 5) adults in Northern Ireland, have literacy levels at or below Level 1, which is considered to be 'very poor literacy skills'.

The sheer 'gotcha' pedantry and ignorance combined from the people going "Aha, so you don't think people whose cervix has been surgically removed qualify as women any more?!"

"If you have a cervix, you're a (girl or) woman," doesn't imply that if you don't, you're not. I believe all cats to be mammals but I'm not saying all mammals are cats.

As for relying on biology teaching to clear up the cervix confusion, teachers can't teach children who simply aren't there to be taught and what teacher can guarantee that everyone they taught the facts at age 14 remembers everything by age 25 when screening starts? What about immigrant women for whom English is a second, third or fourth language? They are far more likely to know the words woman and women than the word cervix or cervical, which never appear on toilet doors!

We don't talk much about the cervix because it's so neatly tucked away. No magazine articles about how to make it prettier and more alluring!

Struggling with the Canadian Cancer Society's message about possible cancer cells in neo-vagina/cervix when discussing screening for women. Just why is this relevant?
Given that many women aren't aware of their own biology (for whatever reason that might be) I'm not sure that this is helpful at all
But maybe there'd be shouts of 'transphobia' if this information was placed where it could be helpful to male bodied individuals??
Given that the more information the public receive about cancer screening the better?

And yes- can't see men getting the backlash for their comments....

Can someone point me to the research about women not knowing if they have a cervix please? I've seen this mentioned before but not sure where the data comes from.

Why would women who speak English as a second language know what a cervix is? It's not a commonly used word.

The sheer 'gotcha' pedantry and ignorance combined from the people going "Aha, so you don't think people whose cervix has been surgically removed qualify as women any more?!"

This is so ridiculous. Women who have had their cervix removed will definitely know what a cervix is.

More than that women know that, whether they like it or not, the functioning of their reproductive system will change over time. They don't magically become men. (If they did they would be able to have a baby at 56 while being Prime Minister and get congratulated for 'helping out'.).

This resistance to the erasure of the word "woman" has brought the witch-prickers out in force:

twitter.com/Sarah_Cundy/status/1289292013532192769

If anyone is on twitter Rosie Duffield Labour MP is being piled on about this issue. She is a domestic abuse survivor.

Yep, the witch-burners are out in force:
twitter.com/CaoimheHaleLab/status/1289521361728176128

Her tweets are protected now, a terrible thing for a sitting MP to have to do. But a quick glance at reddit (blurregh, I’ll have to shower again) suggests she merely stated:
"I'm a 'transphobe' for knowing that only women have a cervix....?!"
It also suggests, but I’m not sure when, she also refused to confirm that TWAW. If she allows my follow, I’ll tweet my support.

Yep, the witch-burners are out in force
Good to see the vast majority of the comments on that are not on board at all. When sanity is starting to prevail even on Twitter, you really need to have a rethink on who ‘the baddies’ are.