How did I do on my first time challenging the erasure of the word 'woman'

[ManonCrochan]

I have socail anxiety and will often smile and nod even if I'm fully aware the information is wrong. I am rubbish at speaking up and it's something I'm working on.

I'm not sure I'm ready to challenge in person but I did on TikTok.

The poster said: women don't menstruate. People menstruate.

So I said: 'We can be inclusive without excludin the word woman. E.g. Women and transmen menstruate'

She said: or just 'people can menstruate'

So I said: Bit dehumanising, no? Why is the word 'woman' a dirty word?

She said: Not at all, people covers everyone without excluding anyone :)

I said: That's not true though. What about people with learning disabilities? Children? How will they know if the information applies to them or not?

She said: They're still people.

I said: Correct, however, not all people menstruate. You can't understand how this can harm some of the most vunrable members of society? People with learning disabilities, People is English as an additional language, and other people who need language to be plain and clear...? ( I saw another poster wrote this on another thread and saved it to my phone notes as it's just brilliant and I'd never be clever enough to think up on my own )

She hasnt replied and has ignored my last comment.

I'm proud of myself for standing up for what is right. Any tips for the future?

Sorry, OP, I didn't mean to be cryptic by using VSD. I came across it a while ago as being a term preferred by many people with 'intersex' conditions, but I'm not sure it's been widely adopted.

Great work, OP.

well done, and thank you. (communication disability here. )

Well done OP

Well done OP. No shame in using the words of another wise Mumsnetter either - 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'.

What company is it so I can avoid?

This was really well done. I bet you got some observers thinking xx

Well done you!

People with a difference of sexual development or variation are still either male or female though.

(Sorry to counter her response.)

And one more for your arsenal next time - the reason why it's important to use women (or women, transmen and AFAB enbies if they insist that just using women erases the other two categories) rather than people is that it affects discussions of the prevalence of any sex specific condition. Saying x% of women suffer from endometriosis and saying x% of people suffer from endometriosis are different things, as half the people don't have the relevant bits for that. So we don't know whether someone's taken the prevalence for women and just replaced it with the word people to be "inclusive", or they actually mean x/100 people. As only x/50 of those people are women it means the prevalence is 2x/100 women or 2%, so actually double the headline figure.

Sorry, that 2% should be 2x%

We’ll done OP.

Also would like to know the company please.

I too want to know the company!

Over the last few years, I have come to believe that these small chips of individual actions are slowly chiseling a grand monument of everlasting woman...she who is enduring, who will not bend with the latest wind the patriarchy tries to blow at us.

OP, you are one of those brave individuals who decided one day to pick up her chisel, chip at a lie and reveal the truth of who a woman is and what we will not put up with. Bravo to you - and to all the chippers and sculptors...we can't do it alone and we are not alone. Thank you, OP!!

I found her!!

vm.tiktok.com/ZMLN3aU2e/

The actual video I commented on isn't there! Maybe she deleted it? Maybe I'm blocked so can't see it any more.

But her website is:

Www.IzzyWizzyRoo.co.uk

Also, thank you for explaining everything so I understand. And thank you for saying how well I did. I'm really pleased with myself for standing up for women.

I actually find it really sad. I love cloth pads. For years I put up witg itching cuts and rashes . And now I don't. Now we have so many options we can give our daughters.

Yet in order to do so we have to accept that period may no longer be a dirty word but woman and girl are.

Well done, op.
I echo what Delphinium said -it’s the clear, calm defences of the truth like yours that will turn this thing round.
I will follow your example and be brave too.