Dr Michael Brady NHS CQC GIDS inspector - 'Important message for everyone with a cervix

[FindTheTruth]

Michael Brady - The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is due to inspect The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Gender Identity Services GIDS

Will GIDS review questions (to get feedback from people using the service, parents, relatives, carers, and staff) use words like 'girl' or 'woman' or 'cervix haver'? or 'boy' or 'prostate owner'?

'Important message for everyone with a cervix.' re smear tests
twitter.com/drmbrady/status/1310178657940525057

@Siameasy

My mil doesn’t know what a cervix is and I’m not entirely sure my Sil does

My 5 year old daughter might have a cervix though! I’ll book her in!

Actually, you might have a pint. I wonder what they would do if all those with little girls started asking to book them in? They’re the ones that have said ‘people with a cervix’.

Pint = point, it’s a bit too early for a pint.

Reading that link: I find it beyond sad that as soon as I discover that someone has any kind of involvement in any LGBT+ labelled organisation I immediately discover that they are a committed opposer of women and women's rights. The one has begun to automatically equal the other it's so predictable.

No, this man obviously can't do the inquiry, can he? He's perfectly open about his personal bias and is demonstrating here the incapability of - or even awareness of a duty to - bringing balance to anything via his work role. He's a committed partisan political activist. Which is fine, but not compatible with a balanced public duty role.

What I don't about the 'people with a cervix' thing is that it only works if people already know that it's women who have cervix.

I'm trying to imagine how you could explain to children whether they have a cervix if both men and women can have them.

'So some people have cervix but you can't tell who has what because some men have them and some women have them'

It's always going to fall back on just saying 'females have cervix' so why can't they just say that? or we're going to have to pretend we have to check.

It's not inclusive AT ALL

What any women who’ve had their cervix removed? They remain high risk for gynae cancers & continue to fall within parameters of the cervical screening programme but no longer have any idea this applies to them. Plain language in health leads to better patient outcomes. Do better I have no cervix, no womb, no ovaries, no fallopian tubes, I was specifically told by my gynaecologist that the cervical screening programme did not apply to me and I would no longer get reminders, obviously some women without a cervix do have other parts of the reproductive system, I assume other gynaecologists would inform their patients of what is relevant to them, took mine about 30 seconds. His plain language was clear.

What I don't about the 'people with a cervix' thing is that it only works if people already know that it's women who have cervix. No, some women have a cervix. I'm actually quite fed up of being excluded from the definition that seems to be being used that a woman is someone with a womb, a cervix, someone who menstruates etc etc. I didn't stop being a woman just because I needed to have lifesaving surgery.

@ancientgran

What I don't about the 'people with a cervix' thing is that it only works if people already know that it's women who have cervix. No, some women have a cervix. I'm actually quite fed up of being excluded from the definition that seems to be being used that a woman is someone with a womb, a cervix, someone who menstruates etc etc. I didn't stop being a woman just because I needed to have lifesaving surgery.

I agree. They whine about being ‘othered’ or ‘excluded’ but start separating women into cervix havers, as if those without are lesser. I don’t have a cervix but I’m still expected to go for smear tests.

DeliciouslyFemale the only positive (apart from being alive) about my op was being able to forget about smear tests. I always had mine, family history of gynae cancers and having seen both grandmothers, mother and 3 aunts die unpleasant deaths I was happy the tests were available but I can't say I miss them.

Well, smear tests clearly aren't that important if they're happy to put so much energy into semantics. If they really did 'save lives' then surely the wording would be as clear as possible, no? .

Number of women who don't clearly know they have a cervix?
vs
Number of females who are upset by being referred to as 'women'?

Which is likely to reach more people, a wider demographic, and thus be more 'inclusive'?

Are you, a bollock person, telling women talking about women’s health screening?

Oh my stars, this is perfect.

@DeliciouslyFemale

Pint = point, it’s a bit too early for a pint.

Oh, I dunno.

No, some women have a cervix.

The vast majority of women have a cervix. All "people" who have a cervix are women. All "people" who once had a cervix are also women. None of them are men.

“Try sticking a teaspoon up your penis. If you can’t, you don’t have a cervix”

Yes the vast majority of women have a cervix but I have seen on here many times when we are told, quite forcefully sometimes, that women have wombs, a cervix, can have babies. I, and some others, find that just as offensive as some people find the message in the OP. I am still a woman but I don't have a cervix, a womb, ovaries and I can't have babies anymore. Don't tell me those things define being a woman.

If you're biologically female and don't have a cervix, there's going to be stuff in your medical history as to why, because it reflects a problem having happened somewhere that has required or will require medical help. In the same way not having an appendix or a spleen or a foot generally reflects a problem having happened somewhere.

It's not a nice to have, it's not optional, it's not something only inbuilt on some models. It's ridiculous to pretend otherwise and it achieves nothing positive for anyone in this situation. Other than, apparently, men with neither a cervix nor vulnerabilities around their identity and words for it, who appear to like getting involved for their own reasons.

Don't tell me those things define being a woman.

Absolutely nobody says that.

However only women have those things. No man has ever had a period or given birth. It's just a fact.

@Snoringferret

What I don't about the 'people with a cervix' thing is that it only works if people already know that it's women who have cervix.

I'm trying to imagine how you could explain to children whether they have a cervix if both men and women can have them.

'So some people have cervix but you can't tell who has what because some men have them and some women have them'

It's always going to fall back on just saying 'females have cervix' so why can't they just say that? or we're going to have to pretend we have to check.

It's not inclusive AT ALL

Exactly.

Oh for gods sake, they don't define you as a woman. But if you have them you are a woman.

Ask yourself why the care quality commission don't send out leaflets explaining to all people they must get a magnifying glass out and a mirror, to find out whether or not they might need a smear.

Saying only women can have wombs is not the same as saying all women have wombs.

Saying only women menstruate is not the same as saying all women have menstruate.

This is the reason why clear definitions are so important.

I, and some others, find that just as offensive as some people find the message in the OP.

That's a pity. But TBH I'm not too bothered about 'offense', compared with whether women who need a smear know to get one.
If there wasn't consequence to this obscurantist language, so many women wouldn't be complaining about it.

The standard response to this is.

If women and girls don't know they have a cervix, that's an education issue. Effort should be focussed on improving that.

Or the slightly less helpful response on here once, which basically said if women and girls didn't know what/ where a cervix is, then they're stupid. And subtext, if they don't understand stuff it's their own fault for not paying attention at school...

The back point has been raised before and is true of course.

The thing that I find weird is that the cervix is internal. It's not like saying if you have ears or something. I think some women can feel it if they stick their fingers right up and have a good poke around. That's not really the sort of thing that a lot of women are going around doing though.

So saying it's for people with a cervix is still not right.

It's for people who assume they have a cervix based on their sex.

Um. All very clear and sensible.

AncientGran

I am a woman of menstruating age. I used to not menstruate due to pregnancy and breastfeeding.

I now cannot menstruate because of Illness and medication.

Menstruation does not define me being a woman, but only women menstruate. I don’t have a problem with this.

@Datun

Oh for gods sake, they don't define you as a woman. But if you have them you are a woman.

Ask yourself why the care quality commission don't send out leaflets explaining to all people they must get a magnifying glass out and a mirror, to find out whether or not they might need a smear.

Yes, I agree with this. I’m certainly not offended by some women having cervixs, but it’s such dehumanising language to describe women. I had a hysterectomy, I couldn’t have children, but I’m still of the sex that can bear children, women, adult human females. They can shove their inclusive language where the sun doesn’t shine.

@littlbrowndog

Well yes.

Everyone I know calls it smear test.

No5 cervical screening test

At least cervical cancer screening test is medical language.

Smear test might be what “everyone” in Britain calls it (if everyone in Britain was born here, grew up here, and has that cultural touchstone), but it doesn’t tell you what is being tested (the cervix) and what it is being tested for (cancer).

I moved to the UK as an adult and smear test meant nothing to me. Nor did O level, the Proms, and don’t get me started on being given directions to go to the top or bottom of a road.

I thought Dr Brady was supposed to be championing the health care needs of the LGBT community. So why does he not also highlight the L and the B as well as non-binary and transmen? Do lesbians and bisexual women not need smear tests or do they not count?

@NiceGerbil

The standard response to this is.

If women and girls don't know they have a cervix, that's an education issue. Effort should be focussed on improving that.

Or the slightly less helpful response on here once, which basically said if women and girls didn't know what/ where a cervix is, then they're stupid. And subtext, if they don't understand stuff it's their own fault for not paying attention at school...

The back point has been raised before and is true of course.

The thing that I find weird is that the cervix is internal. It's not like saying if you have ears or something. I think some women can feel it if they stick their fingers right up and have a good poke around. That's not really the sort of thing that a lot of women are going around doing though.

So saying it's for people with a cervix is still not right.

It's for people who assume they have a cervix based on their sex.

Um. All very clear and sensible.

And unbelievably, even when you point out that medical information needs to be accessible to women with Learning Disabilities, people often respond with whataboutery..