Blood UK - greater inclusivity

[WomanInGrey]

Blood UK just sent me a newsletter saying From summer 2024, we’re becoming more inclusive. People registering to become a donor will also be asked for their sex assigned at birth, as well as currently being asked for their gender.

This fantastic news! It always worried me that young trans men might be giving blood more often than was safe, as they would be on the system as men (who can donate more often). I do wonder if that has happened, or other harm, over however many years they have just asked for gender.

Whole text here - https://www.blood.co.uk/news-and-campaigns/the-donor/latest-stories/updates-from-your-donation-sessions/

I think ‘more inclusive’ is their way of selling this change (which they anticipate will receive vocal opposition) to groups which will argue it isn’t inclusive. Possibly including some of their own staff. A paving stone in the golden bridge.

@Rightsraptor If you haven’t done FOIs before, this site is helpful. And also best to do simple questions that can be answered quickly (this can be in more than one FOI requests) rather than one big one, as if it takes too long to find the answer then the organisation can say it’s a disproportionate cost and not give an answer. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/nhsbt

Well... I guess there may be some people who felt unable to participate while they were being so idiotic and not recording sex. Previously, it would have excluded any trans person with an ounce of medical nous and integrity, wouldn't it?

I've been crossing out gender and writing sex on mine when I remember for a while. The only time I've ever had a comment it was "good for you". I too am staggered that they allowed this to happen when they are so meticulous in every other respect.

Sigh
Let me rephrase:
Some transgender people do not seem to acknowledge their biological/natal sex (as they consider themselves to have always been of their chosen gender).
If that is the case, and they fill in the paperwork as being of XX sex, when they are XY born and identify as ‘woman’ gender, then none of the problems that arise by not accurately sexing a donor are mitigated.

I must have missed a lot…

Anyway, without asking about deletions, it does make me wonder what procedures Blood UK have in place to ensure that what they think is female blood actually is, and vice versa. Presumably it gets tested?

I know they always ask about travel (for zika etc) and sexual relationships (for HIV and hepatitis), but assume they also check for those in the blood. Maybe they do the same for sex? Or maybe this announcement means they’ll start to do so?

I don’t know why mine was deleted. I reported what staff told me they do with blood.

It’s a ridiculous situation. Blood matters and so does sex

https://time.com/4987922/blood-donations-transfusions-pregnant-women/

It's true. I assume that's something they check for as well.

The only comment I had was at an health clinic when I was seeing an osteopath. The clinic manager looked and said ‘oh yeah, these are so old!’ Next time I went I saw they’d changed them.

The O negative makes no sense!

According to their own website only one in 7 people are O negative.

It's a popular blood type in the sense that it's in demand. It's in demand because you can give it to all the other blood types - A positive etc. It's the universal donor so useful in emergencies when they might not happen time to test. So it's the 'best' blood if you want validation! 😉

I think that still makes it the 3rd most common blood group, and the nurse was definitely talking about how prevalent it was, not about how high the demand for it is, because we had a bit of a conversation about the terminology.

I'm very proud of my blood's extra usefulness -- even though the reason for its usefulness is essentially that it is a bit bland, lacking in something-or-other distinctive so that anyone can stomach it if their own type isn't immediately available.

I think it should be called vanilla-type, or perhaps plain.

I've just put some feedback in on their contact form suggesting they change it to "sex recorded at birth". Second organisation I've contacted today about "sex assigned at birth" questions.

I've been giving blood since I was 18, due to give again next week, which would be my 56th donation. My form has a top section with my surname, forenames, title, group (A Pos), DoB, donor number and an unmarked field which is just F - which I assume is my sex, female. I don't remember if they've ever actually asked it. They have referred to it a few times, like last time my haemoglobin was too low (there are different thresholds for men and women,) and also for when I can next donate (there's a longer minimum period between donations for women than men.)

Obviously being a long standing donor, it's not the same as a new donor form, and when I filled that in, 34 years ago, it was all very different and I can't remember anyway, apart from a group of 4 of us from school went together.

This is the regular donor health check questionnaire. I don't know how it differs from the new donor or returning (not regular) donor check(s). It's version 10 from 09/01/2023. (Sorry about the phone shadow.)

I do know that every time they go through it and ask about my diabetes (I'm T2), they want to know if I've ever injected insulin (no) - I think if that changes, it will be the end of my donations - they're not at all keen on recent injections, be it for medical reasons, piercings, needle stick injuries or whatever. And I suspect that rule would also bar a lot of trans people, though I realise I don't know how they receive hormones.

(Also just realised I'll have to postpone anyway, due to my recent hospital habit, though gynae has now signed me off.)

@SapphireSeptember it is something they check for. I found out I was pregnant with my eldest through the blood donor service

@EBearhug similar here, certainly till a year or two ago the bit where it says F or M on the letter said Gender F or M as I was crossing it out and writing sex. I hadn't noticed it for the last few donations so I guess they have removed the word. They have never checked or mentioned it (apart from when I crossed it out). I've also been donating for 35 years or so so my original registration is lost in the mists of time. My DH is T1 and cannot donate.

Were they perhaps using gender as another word for sex, but due to the mad world we now live in have changed it? Gender used to be another word for sex on forms, things like gender pay gap.

The whole sex assigned at birth thing really annoys me, where did it come from and when did it start being used. It’s so inaccurate it really riles me.

You know what, this makes far more sense than having biological males list themselves as females because that is how they feel etc. I’m sure the NHS can use this data to make sure that nobody is actually out at risk, because they have a person’s sex at birth, which is what they need.

Me too. It’s ‘acceptable’ wording and motive. I’m so happy to see sex based definitions described as inclusive, which they are, that I can ignore all the other points made.

The whole sex assigned at birth thing really annoys me, where did it come from and when did it start being used. It’s so inaccurate it really riles me.

It's a very old fashioned phrase from when children born with DSD's were assigned male or female, presumably before they knew how to accurately test.

The trans movement adopted it as if it was a gotcha. People with DSD's have regularly asked not to be included in the trans movement or to be called intersex.

They pinch anything that’s not nailed down.

Well, clearly this is a candidate for Sullivan's call for examples of flawed gender data: @WomanInGrey

Sullivan Review: Review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender (open for submissions!) www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/5062126-sullivan-review-review-of-data-statistics-and-research-on-sex-and-gender-open-for-submissions

Yes, if you look at any of the lists of behaviours linked to coercive control or gaslighting it all looks horribly familiar.