Clear and simple terminology

[SoupDragonsFriend]

I'm noticing more and more confusion surrounding the terminology being used to describe gender ideology-based thinking (eg. the current discussions about transman/transwoman in relation to breastfeeding).

It seems essential that we say things exactly as they are and no longer allow space for any confusion. Confusion doesn't help us navigate the maze and chaos created by TQ+. Confusion doesn't help people new to the debate or people who are not fluent in English.

In terms of clarity, we already have, for example:

• A woman is an adult human female
• A man is an adult human male

And that

• Sex observed (or recorded) at birth replaces 'sex assigned at birth'

Are there other definitions to add to this list, or that we could create eg:

• A man, or 'a man who believes he is a woman', to replace 'transwoman' and MTF
• A woman, or 'a woman who believes she is a man', to replace 'transman' and FTM?

Similarly for transgirls and transboys.

What other words and clear, simple definitions could be added to a 'say it as it is' list?

I don't know if anyone has already done this but can we create something that could be useful to journalists/HR departments/policy makers etc to stop the confusion at source?

I think some of the clear terminology would be reported or insta zapped. But I have thoughts around 'gender affirming care'.

Yes, clear fact-based terminology would be great!
I think 'a man identifying as a woman' would be better than '..believes'.

journalists/HR departments/policy makers etc to stop the confusion at source?

My difficulty is that I consider most of these professions, the organisations they represent, and their regulatory bodies are so captured that they don't wish to stop the confusion.

I agree with the need for clear and simple terminology.

Yes, I agree with you, that's better.

Have you an alternative definition to gender affirming care?

‘Identifying as’ doesn’t have a clear meaning. ‘Believes’ is far more accurate.

For example someone could say something like 1) “both my parents are from Poland and I was born there and moved to England when I was two, but I identify as white British.

That’s a completely different meaning and intention to 2) “I am a man, but I identify as a woman”.

In the first case, the reason for using ‘identify as’ is obvious. The person acknowledges the confusion that could be caused by the discrepancy between their birth origins and how they identify, but since they have all of their living memories as living in the UK, a British passport and citizenship and know much more about life here than they do Poland, it is a no-brainer to place them in the category.

In the second statement, the person says an objective truth about themselves, that they are a man. However, they say they ‘identify as’ something they are not and which has no facts, logic or objective evidence-base to back it up. So the person this is said to has no idea what to do with this assertion. It’s confusing and meaningless.

I disagree ^^

I’m unsure about the accuracy of ‘believes’. Maybe ‘a man claiming to be a woman’?

A man who calls himself a woman?

Actually the "himself" wouldn't work

A man who would rather be a woman, a woman who would rather be a man.

Taking opposite sex hormones or removal of healthy body parts should be described as such.

Yes, at least this covers men who know they aren’t women.

The only objective verifiable fact is that they are claiming to be women.

But then there is the the anomaly of men who say they don’t claim to be women, but they have made changes to their bodies to appear more like women and prefer it that way for erotic purposes.

I know it’s pedantic, but “would rather be what they imagine it is like to be a woman/man”.

They don’t know what it’s really like, so they can’t be sure they’d rather change.

The worst offenders are 'transman'/'transwoman' and 'my/her/his/their promouns'.

Transman and transwoman are deliberately confusing terms - especially when TRAs demand separation between 'trans' and man/woman. English grammar parses words like 'transwoman' to mean 'woman who is trans' - ie biologically female but identifies as a man. Hence why so many people think it is cruel and discriminatory to ban 'transwomen' from women's sports.

'My/her/his/their promouns' is more ungrammatical and illogical nonsense. They are not your pronouns. They are the pronouns of the person speaking. 'Your' pronouns are the first person pronouns: I, me, my etc. You don't get to decide how I perceive the world.

If I look out of the windows on a windy, rainy day and say "What a lovely day! I'm putting on my wellies and going out to stomp in puddles," you can say "You're wrong. It's a horrid, grotty day and I'm staying in the sofa with Netflix," but you have no right to make me say it or believe it.

If I perceive somebody as male, I have the right to describe them using masculine pronouns. My perception, my speech. Anything else is coercion.

Not forgetting:

Conversion Therapy

Adding to the list:
Top surgery - mastectomy
Bottom surgery - castration, penectomy (m) or oopherectomy, hysterectomy, vaginectomy (f).

I like 'trans-identifying male/female' as acknowledges both identity and sex. I use preferred pronouns in letters about the patient but make sure I have written an intro sentence saying 'I am referring so and so who is male and wishes to undergo medical/surgical transition. So and so has a female gender marker on the medical record and prefers she/her pronouns which I will hemceforth use in this letter.'

I never use 'gender affirming surgery'. I call it what it is - penile inversion, gonadectomy etc etc.

I work in healthcare. Clarity is so important in referrals and documentation.

I think clear and accurate language is essential. For example use of ‘gender’ when the sex protected characteristic is meant, say in workplace policies, should be changed. I try to pick up things like that if I see them and feel able to.

I’m fed up with ‘sex assigned at birth’ because this is, in fact, just someone’s sex, and like it or not it can’t be changed. Sex should always be correctly recorded.

Where an organisation feels it is useful, gender could also be recorded so that an individual can be addressed/treated as they wish, or to ensure there is not gender identity-based discrimination. Shouldn’t supersede sex though

Genital ablation, that's another one.

Although, now I'm feeling a little Mrs Doyle-esque.

I think the most accurate description would be:

’A man/woman who likes to imagine themselves to be a woman/man’

Because this describes their preference for/prioritisation of their imagination over accepting reality as it is, while inclusively covering believers, claimers and preferrers.

How about 'a liar'?