Urgent action for Irish women - cervical cancer/woman

[XXSex]

The closing date for having your say on whether the word woman should be included in the cervical cancer information from HSE is TODAY!

Email address
[email protected]

Thanks XX.

Yes - everyone please email!

NHS guide to inclusive language (I realise this is about Éire):

Only mention sex, gender or sexuality if they're relevant, for example, to signpost people and help them get the health information and access to treatment they need.

The word woman signposts 40% of women who don’t know they have a cervix (Jo’s Trust research) and women whose first language isn’t English to health information and treatment.

Smear take up rates are appalling - Ambiguous language just puts a further barrier in the way for women to have a smear.

If every eligible women went for a smear as recommended - no woman would die from cervical cancer. The word woman will save lives. It should be front and centre of the literature.

It is also respectful - we shouldn’t be salami sliced into our respective body parts.

Are they suggesting prostate exams for anyone with a penis?

Thanks @UppityPuppity! The men’s prostate cancer only discusses men. Not prostrate havers . Seems only women get erased

What is the process XXSex? Just email general concerns regarding the removal of the word woman?

Yes, just email your thoughts about the language used.

Yes - just email them and let them know where you’re coming from.

The men’s prostate cancer only discusses men. Not prostrate havers hmm. Seems only women get erased

This is an important point to make!

I just got a response on this..
While "there is more work to be done, they have listened to feedback".
On an interim basis, "women and people with a cervix" will be used.
Small victory, but still a victory...

I got the same email. It was a lot politer than the one I sent them tbh and I am happy with the response. However the “interim” reference concerns me.

Interim??!!!
I can imagine them saying “Wheest up there now. We’ll give you back woman for a while. But when we do our next Patient Participation Group we’ll whip it back out again.”

If after the interim, the word woman is again censored - we will have to demand that all organs are treated with full equality, especially the penis and prostate.

Don’t want to leave ‘people with a prostate’ and ‘people with a penis’ - not sure if there is a more respectful and succinct three letter word to use instead - out.

Agree. If we want to be truly inclusive we should refer to people with lungs and people with livers.

I got the same email. Thanks for highlighting this XXSex. Definitely a small victory. I'm hoping by "interim" they just mean that due to the volume of complaints they couldn't wait until their review was complete. A good result, but absolutely if the word woman disappears again we will be ready.

I think that it is doubtful the word woman would be removed again. Not after them backing down and putting it back.The feedback from the public is very clear in the need for it to be used.

There’s an article in the Sunday Times today!!

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7c5a37be-4d3a-11eb-81f9-1b786036a268?shareToken=25cac0a1cb90af381ff41fc01f77524a

Thanks XX here’s a share token. I commented but got a instant deletion - I might have mentioned a sensitive word

"The Adult Literacy Agency was consulted on the new wording, and queried the logic of dropping “women”. It was told the language chosen was “gender inclusive” and had “tested well”.

So they fobbed off the Adult Literacy Agency too. It would appear" inclusive language" was only ever intended to be inclusive of one particular group 🙄
As for NWCI and TENI, does anyone really consider them 2 separate organisations?

Still, at least they have corrected it but if leaves a bad taste.

And if you read the Core Research presentation on the Cervical Check website they didn’t actually test gender neutral language. They tested the word woman!!

Great comments under it. Thanks for the share token!

XXSex thank you for keeping this thread live- I wouldn't have seen the article otherwise. Strongly considering dropping my Saturday Irish Times and getting the Sunday Times on the weekend instead.

gardenbird48 Thank you for the share.
The bloody cheek of NWCI taking credit that isn't theirs. [grr]

Is one of you lot "Sarah Anderson"?; whoever you are Sarah, I would like to buy you a drink.....

She said:
"What even is a woman if the NWCI are saying that men can become one by filling in a form online and declaring that they promise to ‘live as a woman’ what precisely is ‘living as a woman’ and who is policing it?
The Irish government have changed the law to allow for this without a single definition. The implications are that the word woman now has zero connection with its actual meaning in law, women’s rights are gone overnight.
If we trust biology and science the actual meaning is ‘adult human female’ but the Irish government and NWCI have been so influenced by TENI lobbying they they have distorted the truth and now being a woman is a ‘feeling’ with zero definition or relation to fact.
Sexism can no longer be fought, discrimination can no longer be fought, the word woman in law means men and women since the introduction of the 2015 gender recognition act."

Brava, Sarah.

Great news, well done to everyone who made this happen.

This isn't over yet.

twitter.com/jimharty/status/1346589747087605767/photo/1
This is an official letter from Dr Nóirín Russel, Clinical Director of CervicalCheck advising that "people" or those with an appointment may face delays in accessing screening because of the current Covid Crisis. At no point does the letter mention women. So don't believe the bullshit response - gender neutral language continues to be used and ridiculous statements like what is in the linked news report (my emphasis).

Keep emailing HSE and writing to your TDs - this is not over by a long shot.

www.rte.ie/news/health/2021/0106/1187919-cervical-check/

"CervicalCheck has said GPs and community clinics are under more pressure as a result of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The national screening service has warned that some GPs may not be able to offer cervical screening appointments in the short-term.

It is advising those seeking to book appointments that they may not be able to do so immediately.

CervicalCheck has also asked people to keep in contact with their GP or clinic and rebook as soon as they can.

The screening service said it is keeping the situation under review and will make decisions in line with Health Service Executive and National Public Health Emergency Team advice.

Screening was suspended during the first wave in March last year and resumed in July, resulting in a large backlog of screening tests."

It is subtle and insidious. A few months back a "sexuality educator" spoke on RTE (evening news/Drivetime time). While I agreed with the thrust of her message (that you need to be talking to children about sex before they hit puberty or you can be sure someone else will have been feeding them information), she casually referred to when "children" start their periods. It jarred with me as clearly all children don't, but girls do.

Ah hear!!! Bloody hell. Right. Back on to them.

she casually referred to when "children" start their periods. It jarred with me as clearly all children don't, but girls do

This is the ridiculous thing - as it has been mentioned before, if a boy starts bleeding from his nethers, it is not him starting his periods, he needs an urgent investigation. Equally, I saw on a fbgroup the other day that a teenage girl was late in starting her periods, raised it to the gp who investigated and it turned out to be caused by undiagnosed coeliac. It is very important for males and females to be clear about how their bodies work so they know if something is wrong - this is such a backward step in education!

I was just reading this study from TCD about post covid syndrome.
This sentence highlights the importance of biological sex in Health care.

"The study suggested the highest-risk group for suffering post-Covid symptoms appeared to be females under 60 years, which Dr Townsend said indicated genetic factors might be a factor."