Male asked if I am pregnant when donating blood

[slipperypenguin]

I am a GC male. I am a regular blood donor, but today for the first time I was specifically asked by the nurse to confirm if I am / could possibly be pregnant.

I laughed as I thought she was joking as I felt it was obvious I am a biological male and therefore could not possibly be pregnant, but she told me they were "inclusive" and had to confirm.

This was in Scotland at a regular blood donor clinic.

Am I just out of touch with the times or is the world gone man? I can confirmed that I am a male yet am forced to answer this question in order to donate.

@KCandtheSunlightBand fair enough I can trmemeber exactly. My area is more to do with radiation than blood!

I was a bit miffed at being asked my gender identity, if my gender identity matched that of my sex ‘assigned’ at birth, my pronouns. At an antenatal appointment. I then had to answer the same questions about the father (who was not there). I wish I’d replied that I wasn’t self-absorbed enough to pretend to be something else whilst going through a uniquely female experience.

To be fair to the midwife, she did raise her eyebrows and apologised for asking.

The world has indeed gone mad. Weren't you tempted to complain that you felt triggered?

And he was a regular, over 100+ times or even more I think, donor. They lost a good egg that day.

It is interesting how much everything is changed for the sake of a tiny minority, though, given that many other tiny minorities (or even women, as a majority) tend not to get changes happen except at glacial rates. I was thinking of disability the other day and how very little societies still do to make it possible for everyone to access public spaces etc.

These changes logically follow if sex is no longer asked in the questionnaires but terms like 'woman' and 'man' are assumed to refer to inner identities. Once that is done, of course, all people in certain age categories must be asked if they might be pregnant etc..

But strictly speaking identity doesn't matter anywhere near as much in health care treatments as biological sex.

Difficult, my first reaction when I read this was like yours, but on thinking.... I have a friend who is a trans man. They are 100% convincing as a man, there is no way you would think they were not biologically male (with their clothes on). But they still have a womb and periods and so could feasibly get pregnant. So in situations where being pregnant is relevant or harm could be caused, I can see why they ask this--for the tiny portion of people who are like my friend. I wonder though, how this kind of thing was handled before 'inclusivity' became so trendy and necessary to signal? There definitely were trans men around long before that.

Scotland is off it's nut right now. I had to correct a medic trying to "they" my dd during a conversation by saying "excuse me - she, my dd is a girl, thanks" - I am very blunt about correcting this stuff because I think it must be very damaging for a child to be treated as ambiguous like that. It isn't inclusive it's short sighted and foolhardy.

Thanks for those who have reassured me I am welcome over here. I was reluctant about posting in this board to be honest so appreciate that a male support is also welcome.

I am not professing to be any expert in these issues or to claim I am the one impacted. I am not attempting to "mansplain" or think so understand it - I openly don't. I also am not, as the previous poster insinuated, Gender Critical for traditional stereotype reasons or want women confined to traditional roles.

I am genuinely concerned about the changes and erosion of (what seems to me) women's rights. It worries me that my daughter could one day be in a toilet or changing room as a man that identifies as a woman. It worries me that she or her friends / or my sons friends can easily make a life changing decision relatively easily. I am in a workplace that is very gender supportive (we are encouraged to display and have pronouns and they have removed disabled toilets to make way for 4 gender neutral toilets). I have genuine concerns with these issues but, as a man, being honest I am reluctant and scared to speak out too much for the fear of being cancelled.

Men need to speak up, please continue.

All of these silly changes were made because trans people were offended or ‘triggered’.

The irony is constantly asking men if they are pregnant is going to offend some men. Asking trans women if they are pregnant could be triggering. But now it’s a necessary questions because asking ‘sex’ will give will potentially give you a wrong answer.

Op please write to the service to complain, because they don't listen to women.

Wishi, sex isn't "assigned at birth".

they have removed disabled toilets to make way for 4 gender neutral toilets

They've what? Ffs, that's even worse than making the women's loos neutral imo. How the hell does that square with being - as I assume they claim - a diverse and inclusive employer?

I think this is the way to go when asked such questions. Go for a lip quiver, look tearful and panicked, and ask what it is about you that has made the person question your gender.

Because the toilets are for use by disabled people and those who do not wish to use a male/female identified toilet. (This was the explanation when I challenged it) but it's been made clear those who are gender critical will be disciplined

I'm curious what happens if the patient is unconscious? Are you allowed to use your eyes then? If someone comes in having a psychotic episode believing they're possessed, are you forced to call the Vatican? I really don't mean to be flip but seriously, this is nuts. Also: nobody is assigned a sex by a midwife, we all have a sex

@JacquelinePot i was trying to differentiate between the sex stated on medical records which is not always inline with biological sex.

yes this happened to a friend of mine, she had been giving blood for years and then someone was ill after receiving blood and investigation showed it was hers, this was after she had her 3rd child.

Yes @slipperypenguin your voice is very welcome.

by all means, OP, continue to speak up

@RaininginDarling do you mean do we need the expose their genitals to check whether the patient is male or female just so we know their sex? No
If I need to get a urine sample to see if the reason they are unconscious is due to a urosepsis or place a catheter then it becomes more obvious and then pregnancy test can be completed.

Bit late, but I saw what was written & wanted to add my support Slipperypenguin. I am GC, for me that means I absolutely don’t believe in gender stereotypes - or gender at all really. I don’t care if you’re male or female If you can add your voice to help get this mess sorted out, you’re welcome here

What would happen if a significant number of people refused to answer these questions and just walked out? Blood donors are in high demand. They actually want something from you. You could say no.

I have no problem with men posting on this board. In my experience, they often are more alert to some of the issues with gender ID ideology than quite a few women. OP’s support is appreciated.

Are you saying that, in nearly all cases, you are incapable of correctly sexing an unconscious patient without looking at their genitals first? Right oh.

No ones sex is assigned at birth.

This "sex assigned at birth" boils my piss. Paediatricians/midwives don't have a quota, or toss a coin. The sex is identified and recorded at birth (or, these days, quite often well before birth).