Brilliant article on the importance of using sexed language in medical settings

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2022.818856/full?fbclid=IwAR1GmMyg9yC58i3SargXSSpsw1NgaVoD6raB8cz40YuEgx9VxFTr5A4m4OQ

I see from a search this was mentioned in the thread on the Midwifery Journal, but it warrants its own thread. Extremely clear and well argued article on why using desexed language in midwifery, obstetric care and breastfeeding support causes problems and gets in the way of effective communication. Not too long! I am not a specialist in any way and I can follow this.

One to bookmark!

Frontiers in Global Women's Health: Maternal Health

Opinion article

Effective communication about pregnancy, birth, lactation, breastfeeding and newborn care: the importance of sexed language

Karleen D. Gribble1*, Melissa C. Bartick2, 3, Susan Bewley4, Roger Mathisen5, Shawn Walker6, Jennifer Gamble7, 8, Nils J. Bergmann9, Arun Gupta10, Jennifer J. Hocking11 and Hannah G. Dahlen1

1School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Australia
2Mount Auburn Hospital, United States
3Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, United States
4Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, United Kingdom
5Alive & Thrive Southeast Asia, FHI Solutions, Vietnam
6Women's and Children's Services, St Thomas' Hospital, United Kingdom
7Centre for Health Care Research, Coventry University, United Kingdom
8School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University, Australia
9Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden
10Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), India
11School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Australian Catholic University, Australia

Absolutely brilliant. It really needed saying and they have done a very good job.

Prof Bewley is one who gives me hope.

Thank you for this article.

Courage!

Great stuff.

I suspect the bit about unclear language causing errors in COVID research data will be what causes any kind of attitude change, as it's men who are most adversely affected by this virus and we all know men's health is most important.

Great article. I thought this sentence was interesting.

Am I engaging in cultural imperialism or improper use of privilege by requiring others to use language in a particular way?

I had an argument on Twitter (I know, I know!!) on this point. It’s a privileged ethnocentric position to ignore the reality of women’s lives globally. There are still many societies (I would include this one) where a woman’s reproductive capacity is the main influencer of her physical, social and economic position.

@Helleofabore agree. "
Am I engaging in cultural imperialism or improper use of privilege by requiring others to use language in a particular way?"

The rhetoric behind all of this is Colonial. Women are a resource to be exploited by the ruling classes - and we are to be obedient.

No thank you.

I just looked up the authors.

Some very interesting people on there. Loads at the top of their game, and a lot of Australians - which is totally captured.

Not a single pronoun to be seen, either.

It’s so nice to see sense being talked about colonialism, rather than the TRA fantasy about nobody believing this two sexes and/or genders rubbish until Western Imperialists turned up to ruin everything. Full-on Noble Savage trope; & no willingness to listen to anyone - crucially, that includes any members of the cultures & societies they’re talking about - telling them That’s. Not. How. It. Worked.

Excellent article. Very comprehensive.

I'm struck whilst reading it, how every ideological push (and it is ideological), results in disadvantage to women. And how the 'de-sexing' going on is to sever the relationship between the word woman and female biology.

Every example they give is coupled with a detriment to women or girls. The imbalance is startling, all women are highly disadvantaged by the changed language, for a microscopic minority who might consider it of benefit.

It's even more clear this is being led by men who want to be women not the other way round.

Replacing a word with another of different meaning as if they are synonyms makes communications inaccurate or confusing.

Too right. Cos who is it who wants to confuse the meaning of the word woman?

The clarity in this article comes from the separation of sex from gender, or gender identity. They even explain that in these cases the word woman has two meanings.

They also go into to quite a lot of depth about how to deal with women who identify as men, and what the complications could be.

It all sounds very sensible, rational and clear, doesn't it? Sex and gender must be kept separate.

No one can possibly argue with any of it.

Right?

No one who made these nonsensical changes actually considered the needs of the women they were taking the words away from.

Did anyone do an impact assessment?

Did Brighton midwifery dept consider the needs of women with English as a second language when they took the words away - because a local trans man said that it was terrible to use established language because of their own, personal gender issue?

No one thought of the marginalised women. As per fucking usual.

The educated, middle class, supported, employed female people who can advocate for themselves and their own selfish desires - they got listened to. And they didn't think of the women who's voices don't get heard because they have none of the privilege that the first group enjoy and take totally for granted.

Fuckers. I'll never forgive them.

I got really angry with the “inclusive language warriors” when it became clear that 40% of women didn’t know what a cervix was. I have no doubt that a significant number of that 40% were women who may already be marginalised through EAL, educational opportunities, disabilities and other issues with access to services. How dare people put those women at risk of harm and death by using obscure technical language to avoid upsetting a tiny minority of people.

#Biology not terminology

Susan Bewley is amazing and has a superb history of supporting women and evidence-based medicine.

Brilliant article. Professionals from six countries concerned enough to collaborate on an issue that has infiltrated the medical profession through pressure from people whose agenda is not, and has never been, the welfare of women and children.

Thank you authors for standing up for women. Thank you for putting your heads above the parapet. Thank you for your professionalism , your concern, your knowledge and your clarity of expression.

Superb article- should be compulsory reading in every medical school in the country.

Fantastic article and one to quote when the male supremacists who monitor and post on here arrive.

Christ. It's all such an outrageous mess as that article makes clear.

Just started another thread on a relevant point

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4452534-BBC-Doctor-on-people-with-a-prostate

The educated, middle class, supported, employed female people who can advocate for themselves and their own selfish desires - they got listened to. And they didn't think of the women who's voices don't get heard because they have none of the privilege that the first group enjoy and take totally for granted

Fuckers. I'll never forgive them

A million times over this. One of the most grotesque aspects of all of this is watching degree holding, privileged ' kindness-without- consequence' women, happily forcing other women, often marginalised and vulnerable women, to live the reality of their kindness in homeless shelters, prisons, refuges and rape crisis services. Or the consequences for growing girls who are learning that saying 'no' makes you a bad girl, that you need to over-ride your instincts about risk to be 'good'. Or the consequences for women and girls who train hard their sport their whole lives, only to be told to accept second or third place or they are unkind.

The privileged, smug women and men imposing all this on other women, never have to live the consequence of it.

I'll never forgive them either.

Yeah should be compuslery reading

So clear. So damning

The damage is does to women and girls throughput the world

And then you have shit like this:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0890334421994541

Loads of 'sex assigned at birth' and you should not call a person 'mother' without knowning how they self-identify, etc etc.

One of the authors is a lactation consultant FFS.

Just bumping this. Because the article is important.

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria

Just bumping this. Because the article is important.

agree!

Ditto!

I was using 111 online yesterday and it asked for birth sex; giving only male or female as options. There was a sentence explaining why sex is important in healthcare. I was surprised and relieved to find material reality being given primacy over feelings, maybe all is not lost. I also thought it was quite revealing.

I agree it is brilliant. It is nuanced and detailed in its criticism of the misuse of language in a medical setting, yet also completely respectful of trans people. In fact it shows how they are not least among those who would be adversely affected by the use of inaccurate and misleading language.

It should be mandatory reading by all institutions even non medical ones imo.

I first saw it posted on another thread the other night, but can’t remember where or by whom.