Irish women, have you seen this?

[SecondRow]

The HSE removed the word "woman" from their CERVICAL screening pages
I stumbled across this tweet
twitter.com/Salwicklow/status/1305967737563422720?s=20

politely asking them to put woman back in, alongside trans men and trans women, who both get their own special mentions, but they have brushed off the woman who made the original request and are no longer replying.

Here's the HSE pages
www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/cervical-screening/when-you-should-have-cervical-screening/who-should-have-cervical-screening.html

And here's Aoife Martin - no cervix skin in the game inviting followers to mock women for wanting the 99.9% of people who need cervical screening to be named as such by a health service that already has some serious catching up to do before women can believe it has their best interests at heart.

twitter.com/aoifemrtn/status/1306339571790159872?s=20

And yet again - the word men is mentioned before women in a cervical smear information leaflet, and the only time the word women is used - it relates to TW.

FFS

Last written Dec 2019.

I had a look about where to complain to via email. Couldn’t find it. Any suggestions?

Bet their prostate cancer info is full of mentions of women not

Not advocating this obviously - but the utter hypocrisy is clear to see.

I haven't time to read this at the moment. But the HSE complaints process is Your service your say. All complaints have to be responded to, so perhaps worth trying.

So they are clear about the details for trans men but the rest is 'you' and 'if you have a cervix'.

It was very detailed, far more than any I have seen before, but whilst everyone is walking this middle line women are being erased, even just the word.

There was nothing specific on non binary people either, so they fall under the 'if you have a cervix' thing, I'm sure many will be most offended.

So why the need to be specific about trans men when it says 'if you have a cervix' if women are expected to know if they have a cervix' why wouldn't trans men know they have a cervix? Are they suggesting that trans men don't know they'e transitioned?

I haven't time to read this at the moment. But the HSE complaints process is Your service your say. All complaints have to be responded to, so perhaps worth trying.

Thanks. I will complain.

I recommend everyone does. Even just a few lines - every complaint is important.

Women is our word. It belongs to no one but us. We are not people with a cervix. Any healthcare provider who respects women would not salami slice women into our respective body parts. Cervical smear rates are notoriously low and smears are life saving. Clear language is important. HSE are putting the lives of women at risk by not providing clear, unambiguous and dignified healthcare literature.

@ThinEndoftheWedge, on the right of the page there is an orangey-yellow feedback button. You can then click on a particular part of the page you want to comment on.

I also found this service
www2.hse.ie/services/hse-complaints-and-feedback/your-service-your-say.html

With the email address
[email protected]

Sorry @Cupoftea1234, missed your post, yes I think they have a duty to reply, but it seems they don't like replies to their replies as the tweeter found out

@ThinEndoftheWedge

And yet again - the word men is mentioned before women in a cervical smear information leaflet, and the only time the word women is used - it relates to TW.

FFS

Last written Dec 2019.

I had a look about where to complain to via email. Couldn’t find it. Any suggestions?

Afaik we men are still referred to on prostate leaflets etc. But a friend who works for HSE tells me this will change too. They are always lecturing men - quite rightly- not to die of embarrassment or ignorance. Now they fuzz up the message. After the cervical smear scandal they are potentially endangering the lives of women. I will email them anyway.

Thanks for drawing my attention to this. I have emailed them too.

Afaik we men are still referred to on prostate leaflets etc. But a friend who works for HSE tells me this will change too.

The world has gone insane.

@Abhannmor, Absolutely, they will progressively (not in that sense!) edit more and more pages in this way IF they are not stopped. With the benefit of the doubt there may be good, inclusive intentions behind it all, but frankly I think it will be persistent, behind the scenes lobbying that brought this about - and it is no coincidence that "women" had to go long before they get around to erasing men.

SecondRow

Thanks. V helpful.

Imagine to disrespect women so much after what happened with that service

It's atrocious, but I'm not surprised. I will message them later.

Well @SecondRow, you are kinder than me - I really do not want them to be more inclusive if it means erasing the existence of me and every other member of the sex that makes up over 50% of the population.

How have we let this happen? I am at a loss as to what to do because it seems overwhelming, but I don't think I can live with the constant threat of this hanging over me, my DD, my DNs, my friends, our DDs - I need to believe there is a plan to fight back and I am willing to be part of it.

In case anyone wants to refer to it in their feedback/complaint -

there are 3,120 results for "woman" and over 8,000 hits for "women" on the HSE's website!

So it's particularly pointed and bizarre that they have gone to trouble to remove them specifically from the cervical screening section. They have a lot of work ahead of them in the erasing game!

email sent - I had to delete the ranting part so it ended up as a three line email.

@Annasgirl, I know that overwhelmed feeling. And no, I don't feel a bit polite or kind about being erased either!

We have to start somewhere and the HSE needs to receive a shit-ton of direct complaints and it needs to be drawn to the attention of politicians and media people.

Someone received a response from the HSE to this a few weeks back :
twitter.com/radicailin/status/1297939239771004929?s=19

Also see here:
twitter.com/radicailin/status/1297584674588459014?s=19

Yes @SecondRow and I thank you for bringing this to our attention and for helping us to complain. I know we need to start bit by bit, but I just despair some days when I read the email from Glinner and I get so angry and then so overwhelmed.

But sticking together and fighting the good fight should help for now.

For those not on twitter:

Thanks @StephanieRang - if I get that response I think I will fire my laptop at the wall!!!!

Not Irish, so can't complain.

But if everyone who is Irish and who reads this could send a brief message - well, there's strength in numbers. It's the only way this insanity will be stopped.

Makes things so difficult for people with English as a second language, or poor literacy.