Likely impact of "adult human female" pin in NHS

[MamaLlama123]

im a nurse and a colleagues and many students wear their pronoun badges

With wearing an adult human female badge, how would you imagine this would go down?

would most people be unaware of the meaning?
would i have complaints

i'm a registered nurse

As a woman in labour I would probably cry, kiss and cuddle you.

It is so dehumanising to be referred to as a “pregnant person”.

As a woman, childbirth was a uniquely transformative experience and my identity as a woman is hugely wrapped up in that. Before I became a mother I was much more liberal with language but I’m now fiercely protective of my identity and biological reality. I’ve spent 4 years pregnant or breastfeeding because I am a woman, because I am a mother. And I’ll be damned if people (mainly men) dare take that from me.

I would suggest against it , for exactly the same reason I disagree with rainbow lanyards and bringing your whole self to work. The sentiment is fine but I think healthcare is the place for a professional persona, neutral and following all hygiene/uniform rules, and expressing no allegiances to special interest, political or other groups, consistent with all patients.
In my work I am always the one to raise issues like language changes/challenge practices that impact safeguarding/other service users and its been much easier to do this as no one can accuse me of being personally or ideologically motivated.

" I think that pronoun badges are an expression of a desire to be identified in some way."

They're a wedge. "Great, you're wearing the pronoun badges. Now we have this little pledge to recite on handover - 'Transwomen are women, transmen are men, non-binary is valid, all genders are valid'".

Will it improve the care of the women you look after? If the answer is no, don't do it.

I'm saddened by how many people are openly discriminating against a belief system that has been declared in law as 'worthy of respect' in our society.

You seem to be happy to respect other belief systems and allow them to wear symbols of their beliefs openly in their workplace, but not this one - why?

Why is a belief that is based on scientific fact considered 'political' (which it is not- it is entirely cross party) and frankly taboo.

I wouldn't do it, and I think all badges and symbols should be banned in every single workplace, except poppies although I appreciate that's become a no no lately.

However, having your pin on your handbag as you walk in and out of your workplace feels a bit different. If someone accosts you about it and you don't feel like arguing just say someone ( you) gave it to you as a present and walk away.

Pronoun badges get peoples backs up and shouldn’t be permitted. AHF badges look like a deliberate attempt to antagonise said pronouners.

None of it belongs in the workplace. Likewise rainbows in general. Unless you’re a sex worker nobody at work needs to know where you like to stick your cock/who you let near your bits.

As a gender critical midwife i completely agree with this.

Were it up to me no public servant would be allowed to wear overtly political symbols on their work wear. If the NHS is going to allow rainbow lanyards they have to allow AHF pins. The wise choice is to allow neither.

I remember Ciara Curran's remarkable testimony during an APPG inquiry.

Choking up, she recalled how doctors 'only saw me as a body on the bed' during the emergency that led to the Sinead's death, adding: 'I was not seen as a woman who needed healthcare.'
Ms Curran, from Chinley, Derbyshire, said that seeing the words mother and woman being erased from healthcare communications reminded her of that traumatic experience.
She said the removal of such terms…within the NHS, was incredibly hurtful to other mothers who have also lost their babies

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13108207/Grieving-mother-gripping-teddy-memory-late-daughter-slams-dehumanising-NHS-erasure-terms-like-mother.html

I wouldn't do this OP. I don't think there should be any badges, pins or lanyards promoting anything, the focus should be on patient care and treating everyone fairly and equally. Don't get caught up in their stupid identity games, just be professional and make a point of ignoring all the pronoun nonsense. But by all means wear a pin on your coat, bag etc as you're going in and out of work!

It's not worth it, you'd be sacked.

Apart from anything else, healthcare professionals shouldn't have all this crap on uniforms. And name badge with job title is sufficient. We are in peoples personal space all the time, there doesn't need to be all this decorative crap which can scratch and break skin.

Nobody in a vulnerable position needs any political or religious propaganda in their face either.

I understand the impulse. I agree with other posters though, don't do it! Retain the moral high ground. Political paraphernalia and accessories don't belong with uniforms that indicate service to the public. Even those associated with causes that I support. Also, it is so risky for you to do that. Find other ways to support the resistance.

Thank you all for wisdom!! ❤️

Sometimes saying (or doing) nothing is more powerful OP

Seems caution is the main thrust of the advice, but know that there is much solidarity around you!

I don't wear any kind of political or religious symbol at work. Tbh few clinical staff do. I don't know what religious symbols the poster above is thinking of, but eg necklaces shouldn't be worn in clinical work because of the risk either to infection control or of injury if grabbed by a patient. A nun's headdress, a turban, a hijab are in my mind a bit different as they are part of religious practice, in a way that eg a cross pendant or a star of David aren't.

I haven't added pronouns to my 'Hello my name is' badge because to do so is 1. A direct undermining of the original purpose of those badges and for the work of the doctor eho campaigned for them*, which are for the PATIENT'S benefit only and not about self expression or making patients conform to your worldview, and 2. Because I with with patients with cognitive and communication impairments. About the last thing they need is someone giving them additional cognitive load and communication challenges when interacting with staff. And it makes me FURIOUS that nobody in the NHS ever makes that point, because language impairments are such hidden disabilities.

*It is of course very possible that the late Dr Kate Granger would have been 100% behind pronouns on the badges that were part of the change she campaigned for. But as she sadly died eight years ago, we can't know, as literally nobody in 2016 thought that this was a good idea.

I think you have misinterpreted a case of dont stoop to their level and that their should be no belief system attached to the NHS, rather than any caving in.

For exactly the same reason it's not appropriate to wear a 'Labour' or a 'Conservatives' campaign pin.

I wouldn't feel safe from discipline wearing an AHF badge but I won't wear a rainbow lanyard. If challenged my response would be that I'd like to pick from a range of lanyards that enables me to show support for the protected characteristic of my choice. Disability accessibility for example. I also don't put pronouns in my badge or in my email signature. But I do have a little Harry Potter merchandise on my desk.

I totally agree with your sentiments, but I think there are some important differences.

Some religions require their devotees to wear certain items as part of the religion itself, like a Sikh turban.

Others don't - so a Christian wearing a cross or crucifix is signalling their belief, but the wearing of the symbol isn't an integral part of that belief iyswim.

I believe this was tested in a case of a (British Airways?) airport employee who faced discipline for wearing a cross at work. She tried to argue it was integral to her religion but iirc she lost the case.

I think the GC badge would come into that category - you can have your belief but your belief doesn't require you to wear that badge.

That logic should of course be applied to pronoun badges and rainbow lanyards as well.

Do you know about this new network? For NHS staff who are interested in the protected characteristic of sex: SEEN in Health. Sound like you might be interested in joining /might want to seek advice from them.