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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

"People who bleed" - new guidance about periods

115 replies

BoredofthisCrap7 · 09/08/2022 10:05

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11091543/NHS-advice-periods-goes-woke-Advice-refers-people-bleed.html

So should I be worried if a young man starts to bleed? It's normal right?
When will our son's start their periods?

OP posts:
Justme56 · 09/08/2022 12:01

That wording is giving me War of the Worlds vibes.

Whatwouldscullydo · 09/08/2022 12:05

1dayatatime · 09/08/2022 12:00

@Whatwouldscullydo

"So sick of period no longer being a dirty word but women/girl being one instead."

+++

When I was younger I always thought how terrible and barbaric it was (and is) that in certain countries menstruating women and girls were seen as dirty and a taboo topic.

Now the country I live in seems to think that the words women, girls and females are now a taboo topic. So depressing.

Shows how it doesn't matter of people are left wing or right wing. The end result is the same. Women unable to discuss uniquely female experiences without the approval of men/males.

Whoever wins. We lose

EnidSpyton · 09/08/2022 12:06

This is honestly getting ridiculous now.

And it's getting into schools too. A couple of years ago we had an organisation come in to do a talk on puberty and sex to Year 7 and the woman delivering it used torturously degendered language to the point where the children were confused. Afterwards, one of my male students, who has autism, asked me when he would get his period, because nowhere in the talk was it made explicit that only girls/women have periods.

It's also hugely problematic for people for whom English is not a first language - information regarding health needs to be clear, precise and free of any ambiguity.

'Women and transmen' and 'Men and transwomen' should be perfectly acceptable to use - they are statements of fact and they are clear and unambiguous in whom they are referring to. However, because of this ridiculous insistence that 'transmen are men' and 'transwomen are women' - despite the fact we all know that, biologically, they're not and never will be - it's become impossible to call a spade a spade without having coals heaped on your head. In circumstances where biologically matters - as in medical literature and health information - we have to prioritise facts and not feelings.

And of course what it all comes down to is that the only people who are at risk of having their health and safety compromised by the erasure of sex-specific vocabulary are women. It is, purely and simply, misogyny. Transpeople have every right to live their lives freely and with the same human rights of every other person on the planet. I don't dispute that. What I don't think they have the right to do is insist that other people's lives, health and safety are placed at risk unnecessarily through insisting that the whole world is pivoted to place them and their feelings at the centre.

IcakethereforeIam · 09/08/2022 12:10

Are there any Welsh speakers who can give their opinion on the Welsh version, I'm assuming there is one.

Incidentally, I've posted this before, but 'terfyn' seems to be a Welsh word for boundary (also limit or end). I think the plural is 'terfynau'. Google translate told me 'terfy' is 'terminate', which I don't think it right but gave me a few thoughts.

Chersfrozenface · 09/08/2022 12:34

IcakethereforeIam · 09/08/2022 12:10

Are there any Welsh speakers who can give their opinion on the Welsh version, I'm assuming there is one.

Incidentally, I've posted this before, but 'terfyn' seems to be a Welsh word for boundary (also limit or end). I think the plural is 'terfynau'. Google translate told me 'terfy' is 'terminate', which I don't think it right but gave me a few thoughts.

I've had a quick look. The translations of "people who bleed" and "people who have their periods" are exactly that.

It also uses the plural third person when talking about an individual, which really doesn't work in Welsh. It's particularly jarring as it uses the singular second person, i.e. the familiar usage, rather than the formal plural second person - think 'tu' and 'vous' in French.

One thing on the home page in both languages that made me LOL was "Your period is a natural part of life and you shouldn’t feel any shame or embarrassment in that, half the population have them." Which half, you numpties? Anyway, it's not actually half the population, is it? Girls before puberty, women after the menopause, some women with medical conditions don't have periods.

Oh, and Google Translate is pretty shonky a lot of the time. 'terminate' is 'terfynu' not 'terfy'.

Madamecastafiore · 09/08/2022 12:43

Can they not just say women and trans men?

nooboonoo · 09/08/2022 12:43

When is it acceptable to use the word women or girls then? Only when a trans person says they are one? But an actual woman or girl can't because it offends the person who says they are one but isn't actually one?
So if you are, you can't, but if you're not you can? Right.

Franca123 · 09/08/2022 12:47

I think woman now means a male who likes pink. Old style women, have no words to describe themselves as it's too offensive.

User6784097 · 09/08/2022 12:52

Young people who bleed across Wales! How can somebody bleed across Wales? What if someone bleeds across England? My son has nose bleeds. I am very worried about him now

nooboonoo · 09/08/2022 12:53

People who bleed
People with a womb
People with ovaries
People with a vagina
People with a vulva
People with a cervix
People who give birth
People who chestfeed human milk
Pregnant people

Usually language veers towards abbreviating terms, not lengthening them, because it's easier to say.

Can anyone think of a word that succinctly sums up all of the terms above?

ThinkingaboutLangClegosaurus · 09/08/2022 12:56

Temporaryname158 · 09/08/2022 10:08

Transgender males may also have periods, need smear tests etc. I am sure you son will be fine if not born with female anatomy. I’m pretty sure you would have noticed that by now

‘Transgender males’ are still male, so they don’t have periods or need smear tests. I hink yo

ThinkingaboutLangClegosaurus · 09/08/2022 12:58

ThinkingaboutLangClegosaurus · 09/08/2022 12:56

‘Transgender males’ are still male, so they don’t have periods or need smear tests. I hink yo

Oh for an Edit key. Please ignore gibberish after first sentence.

viques · 09/08/2022 12:59

Madamecastafiore · 09/08/2022 12:43

Can they not just say women and trans men?

Can they not just say women and girls?

I am sorry if binary people and transmen have hurt feelings about the language used in a leaflet about periods, but I imagine that feelings hurt by the language in a leaflet about periods which is appropriate language for dealing with issues that concern womens bodies is the least of the issues that they deal with.

viques · 09/08/2022 13:00

nooboonoo · 09/08/2022 12:53

People who bleed
People with a womb
People with ovaries
People with a vagina
People with a vulva
People with a cervix
People who give birth
People who chestfeed human milk
Pregnant people

Usually language veers towards abbreviating terms, not lengthening them, because it's easier to say.

Can anyone think of a word that succinctly sums up all of the terms above?

Transpeak.

(and we thought we had escaped 1984.)

Theluggage15 · 09/08/2022 13:16

So you must always say that a trans woman is a woman, but actual women are now just described by their body parts and biological functions. That seems fair and sensible. Men are men and men are women.

nooboonoo · 09/08/2022 13:26

Correct. Being a woman has nothing to do with biological features, but all about feelings and what you wear.

'Men are men and men are women' - how sad.

Enough4me · 09/08/2022 13:30

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

howdoesatoastermaketoast · 09/08/2022 13:36

TheWeeDonkey · 09/08/2022 10:33

Everybody bleeds, what a stupid thing to say.

My thoughts exactly!

People who bleed...as opposed to our lizard overlords ?

YetAnotherSpartacus · 09/08/2022 13:36

'Females' would work.

Beeday · 09/08/2022 13:50

nooboonoo · 09/08/2022 12:53

People who bleed
People with a womb
People with ovaries
People with a vagina
People with a vulva
People with a cervix
People who give birth
People who chestfeed human milk
Pregnant people

Usually language veers towards abbreviating terms, not lengthening them, because it's easier to say.

Can anyone think of a word that succinctly sums up all of the terms above?

There definitely used to be a simple word for all that!

I'm confused how the NHS is going to afford all the free scans we'll all surely be entitled to to check which of the categories we fit into. After all, I've never seen if I've got ovaries or a womb or a cervix. Maybe the bleeding has just been an intermittent bad cut? I don't really know that I chestfed human milk, I never got it tested, it could have been goat milk or milk of magnesia or dissolvable aspirin for all I know! If only there was an assumption of standard biology for most people.

sydenhamhiller · 09/08/2022 13:56

ScreechingEchoChamber · 09/08/2022 10:17

What is 'female anatomy'? Who has it?

Females have female anatomy.

HTH

Franca123 · 09/08/2022 14:05

Im assuming they'll be doing an mri scan on us all and telling us what organs we have and don't have so we know what health messaging fits us and which we should ignore? Going to cost a bomb. It's strange that when I had ivf they immediately knew which tests they were doing on me and which on my male partner without doing a survey on our organs. Lucky guess I imagine.

Berthatydfil · 09/08/2022 14:10

Surely everyone who has a circulation will bleed - or do they mean something else like people who have a vagina aged approximately between 10 and 55 who aren’t pregnant currently who have a menstrual cycle ? Ie women post puberty/pre menopause. So why can’t they say Women?

ScreechingEchoChamber · 09/08/2022 14:15

sydenhamhiller · 09/08/2022 13:56

Females have female anatomy.

HTH

Great. So what is a 'transgender male'?

Lovelyricepudding · 09/08/2022 14:47

Chersfrozenface · 09/08/2022 10:13

All people bleed if they cut themselves. And bleeding from, say, the penis or the rectum is often a sign of a serious health problem.

So it needs to be more specific. Perhaps "people who bleed regularly from the vagina".

If you bleed from your vagina post-menopause then you require an emergency gynaecology appointment to check for cancer.

If you bleed from your vagina post sex abuse then that may indicate internal injury.

If you bleed from your vagina when pregnant then that may indicate a miscarriage, molar pregnancy or placenta previa (emergency)

'People who bleed' sounds like haemophiliacs