People who have the condition are born with ovaries?!

[Confusedovaries]

I have just read a Guardian article about polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In the article, it says that “people with the condition were born with ovaries”, as well as two of three other features.

This sentence doesn’t flow particularly easily, so I re-read it a couple of times to try and clarify the point. Tell me - is it using this phraseology in order to avoid saying “women”? Throughout the article, it refers to “people” with PCOS rather than “women”.

I don’t usually contribute to this board, but this has troubled me. How can it not be possible to talk about women’s health, without using the word “women”? Please tell me I’ve misinterpreted!

PCOS article

I read this article and just thought for fucks fucking sake! Not once do they use the word woman - it’s people with or adults with

the guardian really loves erasing women from health conditions only women can have

Yes, they are using that phrasing specifically to avoid using woman.

oh ffs

Yes, OP. That is its purpose. Along with “menstruating adults” and “people of reproductive age” later in the article. Welcome to the sane corner of the internet (I.e. here, not the Grauniad).

I suppose they could be girls, not women.
People with the condition were born with ovaries the way this is written makes it sounds like 'being born with ovaries' is some rare factor that significantly increases your risk of PCOS. It really is quite hard to read and acts to reinforce 'women as "other" from the male default'.

If they can't bring themselves to say 'women and girls', what's wrong with 'female'? That's not a gender, so surely it's OK as it relates to female bodies?

I expect nothing less from the Guardian.

8-10% of Menstruating adults have pcos... hmm... does that mean only 8% of those Menstruating right now have pcos and it disappears after menstruating?

Wortsalat.

Anyway, welcome to the forum op.

Oh wow. I’ve never delved deep into the topics on here (I know, shame on me). It’s the first time I’ve just casually come across something where it’s really stood out that an effort has been made to avoid referring to women. I need to do some more research before my babies get much older, clearly 😳.

By the way, blindness affects people born with eyes. Just saying.
🙄

Female's been taken by the TRAs now. I've lost track of the news articles I've seen recently that use trans female to describe a man who identifies as a woman

Ffs..that article is soo hard to read..and many people won't have a clue what or who they are talking about
The guardian.. bastion of unthinking sheep followers ....and I bet many of them are humans that are born with testicles

God, that's really dire. "This syndrome affecting the ovaries affects people with ovaries." How did this get past a copy editor's desk?

It does seem rather likely that people with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome will have ovaries.

It is like saying “people with a sore leg will have at least one leg”.

The thinking behind it is women who identify as men also have ovaries so it's more 'inclusive'. All it really does is erase womanhood' and women's experiences. It also makes things confusing. It's an awful thing to do and they never seem to use it when talking about men's health issues such as prostate cancer. As a lifelong Guardian reader I felt utterly betrayed when I realised how little they cared to cover women's rights. Hadley Freeman and Suzanne Moore both left because they weren't allowed to write about the way trans ideology was erasing women's rights. Interestingly Sonia Sodha writes for the Observer and is very good on these issues. Due to the nature of the Guardian's website her writing comes up with the Guardian's banner making look like they're more balanced than they actually are.

and “people of reproductive age” later in the article

Would that be all people of reproductive age? Should we warn Clint Eastwood he's at risk? Keir Starmer? David Tennant? Daniel Radcliffe?

If only the psychiatrist the writer saw had known there's a difference between some people of reproductive and age and other people of reproductive age - a difference that could affect their risk of an ovarian condition - perhaps she wouldn't have been misdiagnosed with bipolar.

Welcome to the board, OP. Buckle up - its a wild ride.

Fuck's sake. Referring to 'menstruating adults' being the 'people' who have PCOS is particularly dumb for a condition that often stops or disrupts menstruation. I try not to get furious about this language stuff but I can't really deal with the catastrophic STUPIDITY. (I have PCOS. It has its positives. I'd take it a thousand times over most chronic illnesses).

How are people of reproductive age supposed to know if they were born with ovaries? Is there some kind of a test we should all be having just in case? Can ovaries suddenly appear if you weren't born with them? So many questions!

I mean its all bollocks

but i would be more inboard with the bollocks if it actually referred to people with bollocks as well

so any visitors to this board who want to try and tell me how inclusive it all is can do one…

The copy editor probably made the change.

OP
Erasing the word woman and divorcing it from sex is not for the benefit of women who have identities. It's for men who claim to be women. As if ovaries are just a randomly assigned characteristic totally unrelated to sex. So men, who don't have ovaries, can be counted as women.

Fuck me. As a woman of reproductive age with PCOS, I had no periods for years and years. So I wasn’t a ‘menstruating person’. I still had all the usual equipment though, it just wasn’t working properly.

Strangely, nobody ever suggested I wasn’t a woman.

Welcome to the toxic reality for women OP. Where clueless journalists mangle language in a desperate attempt not to use anything so bigoted as the words woman, girl or female.
Utter fuckwits.

Ummm. Surely this is more about being inclusive of those with female biology who do not identify as female (and being absolutely explicit that they are referring to sex-based characteristics) rather than being inclusive of non-ovaries people who may identify as female?

Can't use the word "women" with anything to do with the female reproductive system less you offend all the "women" with male sexual organs., who might feel excluded. It is literal genocide, don't you know!

Welcome @Confusedovaries. There's a lot to learn