Need to vent! It’s either a baby boy or a baby girl!

[HeadAgainstWall0923]

I’m doing some online training at the moment related to labour and birth and whenever it makes reference to the newborn they will say “A baby that is assigned male at birth or a baby that is assigned female at birth.”

For example, “an infant that is born and is assigned male at birth may have more vernex than a baby who is born and assigned female at birth.”

And this is in reference to babies that are less than 5 minutes old!

I’ve heard it and seen it written down about 20 times now and it’s driving me mad!

During the section on labour I kept having to hear phrases like:

When the infant is positioned correctly in the person’s womb….

When the infant is below the parent’s pelvic bone….

The parent’s contractions will intensify as their body prepares to deliver the infant…

When the infant exits the parent’s body….

When the infant is placed on the parent’s chest……

If the parent decides they want their infant to feed at the chest….

The words are MOTHER, WOMAN, SHE, HER and BREAST!

When it all stop?!

Weve been given a list of terms/acronyms that we have to use when writing in the infants notes etc and it actually says we need to refer to the infants as BAMAB or BAFAM for “baby assigned male at birth” or “baby assigned female at birth”.

One pupil asked what they should do if any of the parents objected to their infant being labeled/described with those acronyms and the lecturer actually said we need to continue using the terms and we must educate (her words) the parents as to why it’s important we/they use inclusive terms when talking about their infant.

I honestly couldn’t believe it.

So now we are supposed to tell parents that we won’t refer to their babies as being either male or female and that they shouldn’t be doing that either to ensure they aren’t being discriminatory?!

When will this madness stop?!

Complain that the training encouraged you to speak to and about patients in a dehumanising and patronising way and that when this was challenged the trainer told you to speak to patients disrespectfully.

I would also complain that you are being told the NHS should not record children's sex.

But one of the very important things I did as a midwife was to observe & document the baby's sex. Is this insane training telling you not to do that, or that it's not to be done by anyone else? What if the baby has a sex-specific medical condition - do you have to wait till it's old enough to decide what 'gender' it is and then sort the problems out?

Infuckingsane.

The training isn’t provided by the NHS or in an NHS establishment. It has nothing to do with the NHS at all.

The lecturer is now talking about how professionals cannot assign a sex or gender to an infant in any written documentation or forms

It's bad enough that you're being told to use the false AFAB/AMAB ridiculousness, but why would those working in obstetrics have any interest in "assigning" gender stereotypes.

This is insanity and has no place in training for any health care professionals. Is there any way you can rebel, even by using Observed F/MAB or sneaking in the words woman, women, and mother as needed? Goddess knows to what depths they'll plunge with five months more of this utter bullshit.

I read an article today in which the midwife was referred to as a delivery nurse !

Apparently it’s not appropriate to call an infant a “baby boy” or a “baby girl” as they are stereotypical terms based on that infant’s external genitalia.

I’m not sure how that’s any different to them labelling a baby as male or female based on their external genitalia?!

And it is hardly inclusive to police parents in the use of the terms they choose to refer to themselves and to their infants.

I’m not sure what the goal is but surely that flies in the face of clear English rules. If you aren’t let’s say “up to date with current thinking” or English as a second language or have a learning difficulty then surely assigned could be interpreted as meaning there’s something to decide and maybe your infant isn’t well. Then what do you say to the parent “oh no they are a fit and healthy small human but you can say it’s a boy or a girl until it can talk and fully understand gender roles”. I don’t think that’ll clear anything up. Especially if yoi keep asking for the parent and there’s 2 people wondering who you want.

Anyone had a baby recently? What do they tell you when it is born now? I remember them announcing "it's a boy" when my sons were born 20 odd years ago. Do they still do that or do they have to say "I've assigned your baby male"?

I’m about 99% sure that they still rightfully say it’s either a boy or a girl and I doubt very much any mothers or fathers would be remotely offended by this!

Whilst all this ‘inclusive’ language is being forced down our throats I wonder if those who want to ‘educate’ us on how to use it correctly have actually stopped to question whether it’s even needed or wanted in the first place!

Who on earth is this trainer and who is paying them?

Exactly! And I'm glad if that is still the case in terms of the announcement, but I assume nowadays that a lot of people know before the baby is born anyway.

I still have some people at work who have their pronouns on their email signature. Utter nonsense.

She’s got a globally recognised qualification and I paid for myself to do the training. I inflicted this upon myself 😂

I went for a growth scan a week or so ago. I was asked if I wanted to know sex, they said sex without even looking uncomfortable. Not assigned - the sex. I haven’t been asked pronouns or given any of this woke nonsense by my midwife.

I went for a private scan at 16 weeks so we could find out the sex earlier. The private clinic was full, people had cannons or balloons in pink or blue.

I think the NHS in my area aren’t particularly anti woman, if I’m called a birther at any point I will kick off.

These training providers and anti woman campaigners don’t realise they’re in the minority. The issue is, they’ve infiltrated the top institutions and make A LOT of money from the erasure of women and confusing young children.

I can’t wait for the day where a baby’s sex isn’t allowed to be announced during scans or after birth based on genitalia alone and instead they will be required to have blood tests to check whether the baby has XX or XY chromosomes….

I can imagine a mother holding her baby with a penis, waiting anxiously in her hospital bed for the Lab to ring with the infant’s blood results so she can find out if she’s had a male or female baby…..

China actually banned any mention of sex in scans, you only find out at birth. This was due to the 1 child rule and it being socially ‘better’ to have a boy.

You hear that woman erasers? Female foetuses were killed purely based on sex, not feelings or liking the colour pink.

If you paid for the course, surely she wants you to be satisfied with your investment. If you complain, ask for a refund and tell her you won't be recommending her course due to the clinical absurdity and subpar curriculum, surely she will feel a financial pinch and try to accommodate her consumers.

You can I ask why? Why does external genitalia dictate sex? Surely, they should be able to decide as they get older.

Or is sex not the same as gender? In which case you're talking about sex which doesn't change.

it's a logically incoherent position to decide that one can assign a sex based on genitalia as opposed to the person being that based on genitalia.

I'd be wanting my money back on the fact that she mis-sold and misrepresented what the course was about!

She’s got a globally recognised qualification and I paid for myself to do the training

I'd be asking for a refund.

This is some god damn bullshit right here.

Sex Or gender??

but apparently people are assigning something based on genitalia. What is it? Sex or gender?

it's utterly contradictory.

I agree - it’s absolute nonsense!!

If they are labelling a male baby as being one that is “assigned male at birth” when he’s literally just come out the vagina, then considering that’s the moment of his birth, then he’s a male?!

Total batshit!

@IdleAnimations

"China actually banned any mention of sex in scans, you only find out at birth. This was due to the 1 child rule and it being socially ‘better’ to have a boy.

You hear that woman erasers? Female foetuses were killed purely based on sex, not feelings or liking the colour pink."

There are parts of the U.K. where you cannot find out the sex of your baby at the 20 week NHS scan for the same reason.

I had no idea, how awful 😞