Nursing conference today calling for 'birthing people to be used '

[Carriemac]

A nurse on Twitter winding why 'women ' was used for maternity care not 'birthing person' . I'd live to reply but I'd be vilified professionally

Maybe because anyone who is 'birthing' has rather conclusively proved that whether their 'gender' is 'nonbinary' , 'catgender', 'maverique' or any of the endless possibilities , their sex is definitely one of the two available and it ain't 'man'?
Pregnancy and being a birth mother is a function of sex, not 'gender'.

By all means on a case by case basis use different words for individual patients.

Agreed . This is a trust that has been slammed by CQC for its appalling maternity services and now wants to erase women.

Stupid dickhead. In thrall to the religion.

I wonder how many non-binary/transmen service users this maternity dept have on an annual basis? As in, is this amount of consideration (time, money, headspace) justified by the numbers of people involved? And what evidence is there that changing language for all service users makes a measurable difference to the non-binary/transman users?

Well I can tell you when registering my pregnancy it made me feel alienated and questioned the competency of the supposed professionals looking after me. I'm pregnant, at this point my sex is a fucking given.
Am hoping my refusal to align myself to a gender identity/ticked other, put My Sex is Female/ will mean I at least get someone versed in biology. Quite important for a midwife I'd say.

Any HCP who pushes this ideology is unfit to practice.

We've just developed a policy at work for miscarriage and it's ladened with 'birthing parent'.

to me, birthing people means the midwife and the obstetrician. but of course my protected characteristics do not count...

Fucks sake. Why. Men with prostate cancer are still men. Men have vasectomies. Why always and only women who have to give yo their own description? I'm not even that bothered about my femaleness, very grateful for no more periods. If you asked me I'd say I felt like a man inside, but that doesn't change the fact my body can get pregnant!!

I'm absolutely appalled @Nutellaspoon

Birthing parent is completely ridiculous - it's incredibly insensitive in the context of a woman having a miscarriage.
It would also be inappropriate for a woman having an abortion.
It doesn't really cover it if a woman is overdue and her body is steadfastly refusing to go into labour.
What is that woman after she has given birth. When perhaps she is a haemorrhaging person?

I encourage you to study this paper and draw it to the attention of others who have signed off this policy and have a rethink.

I keep one in my bag at work, ready to back up any "discussions". Got a policy discussion coming up in my own department soon....

internal-journal.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2022.818856/full?fbclid=IwAR1GmMyg9yC58i3SargXSSpsw1NgaVoD6raB8cz40YuEgx9VxFTr5A4m4OQ

Also remember when SANDS, the neonatal death and stillbirth charity had to eat humble pie after an outcry at the removal of the word mother? Women who have lost a child feel very strongly about being able to call themselves "Mother".

Women and other birthing people.

Hello Name, what language would you prefer to be used as we work together?

Here's options on our websites and different leaflets that you can select your preferred language from.

It's not difficult. There is no reason to offend and erase 99% of the population this involves to try and virtue signal.

Ffs women are mammals. They need to feel safe for labour to progress normally. They need to know the midwife is competent, caring and professional. They do not need to know the midwife's religious beliefs. Particularly if they adhere to a very fundamentalist, misogynist strain of religion.

By the by (because reductive labels based on reproductive labour are offensive in and of themselves - we’re women) but “birthing people” is horribly offensive language when you consider that not all pregnant women will ever give birth.

I'm surprised the suggestion was 'birthing people' and not 'birthing folk'.

This.

Good post!

On the shop floor we very much still use 'woman'. It's only everywhere else that doesn't, weirdly.

Midwife means 'with woman'. I wonder how long it will be before there are demands to rename them 'midperson' so nobody is triggered?

Agree completely about how offensive, hurtful and insensitive this is to women who have miscarried, suffered a stillbirth or need a termination.

With one in four pregnancies ending in miscarriage, this has the potential to traumatise thousands of women every year, in an attempt to avoid ‘triggering’ the very small proportion of natal women who have a different gender identity and are yet able to overlook this enough to get pregnant, a bodily function that is quintessentially of the female sex.

I have no problem with midwifes asking patients how they wish to be addressed and respecting that. But general communications must be clear, must not erase women and must be sensitive to the emotional needs of the great number of women who sadly lose a baby.

And it worries me greatly that it was a midwife, of all people, who posted this.

She must have come across lots of desperately heartbroken and devastated women in the throes or aftermath of losing a baby. How the fuck has she managed not to develop empathy for them or consideration for their needs? How can she possibly be emotionally competent to care for vulnerable women during pregnancy and birth?

I recently got into an argument on Facebook about calling breastfeeding chestfeeding. My point was that there is an expectation that medical providers will refer to the body's functions and parts by their true names and not by euphemisms.
There are unfortunate instances of women giving birth who are in a state of psychosis or they are developmentally delayed or God forbid children who have never learned sex Ed. Would a medical professional pretend that they are not in fact pregnant or that their body contains a uterus and said uterus contains a fetus which must somehow be expelled from the body?
Can you think of any circumstances under which a caregiver would refuse to reiterate to their patient what is actually happening to them and pretend that it is some other process entirely?

The Twitter name says RN not RM so she is presumably a nurse not a midwife and therefore doesn’t work in maternity. However since she has questions someone should send her this.

www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2022.818856/full

From the above article

“Desexing the language of female reproduction has been done with a view to being sensitive to individual needs and as beneficial, kind, and inclusive. Yet, this kindness has delivered unintended consequences that have serious implications for women and children. These include: decreasing overall inclusivity; dehumanizing; including people who should be excluded; being imprecise, inaccurate or misleading; and disembodying and undermining breastfeeding. In addition, avoidance of the term “mother” in its sexed sense, risks reducing recognition and the right to protection of the mother-infant dyad.”

I had an ECS and was frequently told by my MIL that I didn't give birth. I guess I'd be the "too posh to push parent"

This ridiculous 'she/her' RN might work in gynae and deal with early pregnancy loses. Where I worked we had a cut off at 17 weeks of pregnancy - miscarry before that and women fell within the remit of gynae, staffed with nurses & after that with midwives in the obstetrics depth.

I saw the expression 'frontal delivery' recently which I take to be a synonym for vaginal delivery. Just horrendous, not to mention opaque. It could mean the woman's on her front. I'm ashamed that this is being allowed in my former profession. If I hadn't left already I'd certainly leave now.