Bristol Council insists women be called ‘people with ovaries’

[IwantToRetire]

The comments were made in a 39-page response to a consultation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on updates to its guidance, following the ruling that sex in equality laws refers to biological sex.

It wrote that “not all pregnant individuals would use the pronouns ‘she/her’” so it could lead to “emotional and psychological distress” for “trans men, non-binary, gender diverse or intersex individuals”.

“We strongly advise the use of more inclusive language such as using ‘they/them’ to refer to all individuals, or include other identities to reflect the diversity of individuals who access maternity or paternity services,” officials said.

“This could include ‘people with ovaries’ or the term ‘people who use paternity services’. We also recognise that individuals may not identify with the word maternity and prefer paternity as it is gender neutral.

“Additionally, it is unclear what support will be available to trans people who chest-feed to ensure they are protected from discrimination.”
Protections based on biological sex are “too vague”, the response added, as: “It is unclear whether it refers to anyone capable of pregnancy, or only those who were assigned female at birth.”

Council officials complained that the new guidance implies that “trans women are not ‘really’ women” and risked “creating a hostile environment in public services”.

Full article at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/22/council-says-women-called-people-with-ovaries/

And at https://archive.is/TOgKA

Balls as in guts ,courage ..bad choice of words

No ..I'm not that funny ..stupid choice of words

Even if unintentional you made me larf, it has been a bit of a day here (including a stint in a and e with a loved one, all good tfft) so thank you.

Not at all! It’s clear what you meant - but it was an easy cheap joke and I couldn’t resist (but a joke directed at all this nonsense - not you). Sorry - no offence to you intended at all. And I couldn’t agree with your comment more; I really hope women using these services make a stand against this

We also recognise that individuals may not identify with the word maternity and prefer paternity as it is gender neutral

”Paternity” is not general neutral. There is no paternity for a ‘person with ovaries’.

Also very backwards that they call this "inclusive language" when the effect of these words is exclusion and confusion.

We really do need a lauagh react emoji!

Thanks

Not trying to speak for the other side but in the same way that women's liberation was Women's was because (and some younger FWRs may not now this) referring to women as women was a less slightly derogatory way as opposed to lady or young girl.

So "queer" was reclaimed as a word rather than allowing the "normal" society attempt to label non sexual conforming people not normal.

But along with queer as a word was / is queer politics which means anything that challenges or over turns the norm. "Queer politics challenges the idea of stable identity categories, such as "gay" or "lesbian," and instead embraces the fluidity and complexity of sexuality and gender to resist heteronormativity and systemic oppression."

So in reality LGBTQI++++ is just a Queer movement.

But the queer activists who spearheaded this needed a trojan horse to get this polical concept into the mainstream. So in taking up the LGB cause as the launch pad co-incided with Stonewall needed a new "oppression" to champion to allow them to go on collecting money to pay big salaries etc..

" ... Judith Butler defines queer politics as the ongoing political act of challenging fixed identities and heteronormative structures through the concept of "gender performativity," which posits that gender is a socially constructed performance rather than an innate biological reality. This politicization involves making "trouble" by disrupting normative power dynamics, reappropriating the term "queer" as an unstable, open signifier for contestation, and creating space to critique how power (gendered, racialized, and classed) shapes and restricts "liveable lives" for marginalized groups. ... "

Although I suspect that younger members of the rainbow coaltion have no idea of the history of the word queer, and (dont all cheer) have never heard of Judith Butler.

🤣

Bristol spend a lot of their time trying to prove how right on they are

"“This could include ‘people with ovaries’ or the term ‘people who use paternity services’. We also recognise that individuals may not identify with the word maternity and prefer paternity as it is gender neutral."
Surely they're just trolling now?
Unless @MumoftwoNC is right and these erudite councillors have confused the words "paternal" and "parental"?
I'm not sure which is a more dire indictment of the state of Bristol Counci.

I really miss the laugh reaction!

I think it has to be that they confused it, perhaps by selected the wrong auto-correct option. I tried to convince Google Gemini (one of my dark and very wicked secrets is trolling it) to use paternal in a gender neutral or inclusive way and it flatly refused and wondered if I meant parental.

Green local council ..I believe ?
Would explain it
Used to vote green..being vegan I would ..
Not my party any more ..they don't speak for me

1. very very few trans people use maternity services

2. those that do are very typically female and pregnant/breastfeeding. It is some of these people who prefer the term chestfeeding over breastfeeding.

3. all our guidance says to use this type of inclusive language towards people who it is relevant to. We should use individualised language in our holistic and individualised care.

I am so certain that the possibility of men using the maternity systems is so remote that I think most of this article has been twisted to make it seem as if they were discussing men who identify as trans when they were always talking about female service users who may identify as trans and NB. It's just that it won't cause much of a tizz if they didn't.

That is why I would wait until I see what the MP actually wrote before I jump on this as any sort of truth. It really sounds like either the reporter was confused as to whether they meant trans men or trans women or they just made out it was all about transwomen to enrage people.

There surely can only be a handful of people who identify as transmen/non binary who require maternity services - that means 99% of women have to suffer being referred to as people with ovaries!

Is it not just simpler and biologically correct to refer to 'Women'?

They really don't want to face reality.

I had mine last year so I have clearly been a man since then.

It is outrageous that such dim people are wasting our hard earned money on all this. No doubt it has necessitated countless committees and focus groups to come up with this piffle. All of whom get paid.

Did you get a pay rise when you became a man?

Pater = father in Latin. Therefore, the word 'paternity' refers to fathers.

The people in Bristol writing this drivel are imbeciles.

Which services do non-binaries use Bristol? Paternity or Maternity? How transphobic.

What about the distress to women?

Something tells me Bristol Council is going to find itself with a legal case fairly quickly.

@HagsRule…I’m so glad I’m not alone in this opinion, I say to anyone, give yourself a ‘label’ if you like but don’t presume to give me one. I’m a woman, that’s a fact.

gudetamathelazyegg pre-announced her unwillingness to engage after posting this, but for the record:

Bristol clearly recognise that if a trans man used their service it would not be acceptable to refer to him as a woman. Female at birth but as an adult, not a woman.

I disagree with this for two reasons - at least two reasons, but I can only think of two!

The transgender community is tiny, maybe as many as 0.5% but probably less. What is the rationale for making profound adjustments to arrangements and wording that work perfectly well for the rest of the population? Especially when those changes cause confusion by introducing a lack of clarity, in circumstances where people have enough to worry about without having to interpret circumlocutions like people with ovaries.. Why? just why?
And sorry, trans community and your allies, 'Because we say so!' is not a cogent argument.

Trans men [what percentage of the 0.5% are they??] dealing with maternity services should be fully aware that they have engaged in a course of action - becoming pregnant - that is specific to biological females, and that it is perfectly reasonable for the services to be designed around that group. If they are not fully aware of the complexities they are facing if they decide to become pregnant after 'transitioning' and presenting themselves as men, they haven't thought through the issues very well, have they?

Young women who decide they are going to be men, and takes drastic steps to present themselves as such to society, have to accept that 'living in their new gender' as men does not include the quintessentially female experience of pregnancy, and if they do decide to get pregnant, they are re-joining the group 'biological women' for whom maternity services are, very reasonably, designed.

So to answer your question gudetamathelazyegg :
Would you in all seriousness refer to a trans man as a woman to his face, if you were working in this setting?

What should you call a biological female who is pregnant in the setting of maternity services? A woman, of course, and if the transman can't understand and deal with that, she hasn't thought through how to live in her new identity very well, has she?

Incidentally, holders of GRCs have to commit to living in their acquired gender until death - so claiming to be a man, but deciding to get pregnant seems to invalidate that commitment.

edited to remove those weird random asterisks that sometimes appear...

😂😂