No mention of 'girl' or 'female' on NHS poster about child pregnancy

[Dominoodles]

I've seen this photo on Facebook and had to share. This was seen in a doctor's surgery, explaining that even a girl as young as ten could be pregnant and what that means. It's a horrible subject but I get the need for it to be a discussion, given the state of things right now.

But there is nothing mentioned on here about girls, or women, or females. A 'person' of child bearing age is not clear to little girls. A ten year old girl suffering sexual abuse is not going to realise this is for her. A ten year old boy is not going to realise it isn't for him, because it doesn't actually say. The visuals on the poster even show what appears to be a man as well as women.

Not too mention kids who do suffer sexual abuse are not going to have had a comprehensive sex education, so they might not even understand what 'child bearing age' is without context.

Ten year olds are not going to see this as the offer of help it was intended to be, and by obfuscating who this is meant for, those girls could be missing out on necessary help. It even uses the kid friendly word tummy, but can't use the word girl.

What would happen if (a very obvious biological male) answers, with a straight face, yes there is a chance I may be pregnant?

The dark ages were a time of ignorance - when people believed in evil spirits and possession. In the 21 C we all know the facts of life...that sex is determined by chromosomes; that it is impossible to change sex; that people can present and express in any way they want ( aligned with their wider cultural norms); that men tend to be responsible for 99 % of sexual crimes - and that we have single sex spaces in order to provide dignity and comfort to female people in public places in which they may be undressed or engaged with bodily function).

That bodies such as the NHS have been captured by this madness is not evidence of enlightenment, but quite the opposite.

Nothing to do with evolution, and everything to do with ideological capture. As ongoing court cases continue to demonstrate.

I’ve yet to hear what this actually means, so I’m interested in a reply.

I would expect every radiographer to ask the question 'could you be pregnant' of every girl/woman of the relevant age, in a room out of the hearing of any accompanying adult (because of the risk of radiation any supporter has to wait outside). Patients don't actually need to understand the poster, although I do see your point.

That the NHS is producing posters and leaflets which are written in ideologically coded language, and not in plain English is truly bizarre. It really is the stuff of 'Newspeak' produced by the 'Ministry of Truth'.

"Newspeak is a controlled, simplified language designed by George Orwell in his 1949 dystopian novel 1984 to limit free thought, suppress dissent, and diminish vocabulary. It serves as a tool for totalitarian propaganda, replacing "Oldspeak" (Standard English) with words designed to alter meaning, such as "ungood" for bad and "doubleplusgood" for excellent"

Key Aspects of Newspeak:
Purpose: To make "thoughtcrime"—or independent, critical thinking—literally impossible because the words to express it will no longer exist.
Linguistic Structure: It aims to reduce vocabulary through elimination of words, simplifying grammar, and substituting negative words with seemingly positive, controlled terms (e.g., "plusgood" for very good)
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its very clear

To a 10 year old? To someone with limited literacy? To someone with English as a second language?

So true. The whole point of asking is to make sure the developing foetus doesn't get harmed by the radiation. Plonking a happy baby on a poster for 10 year olds is extremely questionable. What the hell did they think.

The issue is they didn't think. Transactivists are so frantic to impose their niche beliefs on society that they rampage through organisations with no thought about others and too many useful idiots then thoughtlessly parrot what they've said without engaging their professional skills.
Someone said upthread that of course this question would be asked of a 10 year old in a room away from parents (unable to access due to radiation). Think that through to the logical confuision.
An unknown male radiographer (or woman) asks a 10 year old girl out of earshot of her parents if they could be pregnant ? In other words, has she been been raped? That's an abusive and likely terrifying situation right there for that 10 tear old girl. And it's no better asking a 10 year old boy the same question.... Especially a child who's maybe facing invasive / embarrassing / uncomfortable treatment and who will need to trust medics. Then is asked this deeply inappropriate and downright creepy question by a strange adult who's isolated them from their parents.

It's an important issue and how radiographers speak to very young girls about a potential pregnancy leading to disclosures of abuse needs thought and care with advice from medical safeguarding experts / child psychologists.

Transactivists should be nowhere near the issue. They're the problem.

No it isn't.

Medical literature is supposed to be easy to understand and be targeted, precisely and cearly, at those who require it. Boys or men do not require pregnancy advice.

Also, bearing in mind that some 10 year old children act as translators for their parents in medical situations. So the information must. be. clear.

I'm going to hazard a wild guess that any 10 year old, whether a boy or a girl, whether they have ever had sex or not, whether they have ever been raped or not - if someone asks them if they could be pregnant, they will say, "No." Of the girls who have had sex, some will not associate sex and pregnancy, or may believe myths like "can't get pregant the first time". Some will not want an adult to know they have had sex. Some will have been groomed and raped and told to keep quiet. Some will not know the symptoms of pregnancy. I'd be very surprised if any 10 year old answered, "Yes."

Well I was confused by the poster, and I think kids would be confused too - plus my son and I would both be baffled if a medical professional asked him if there was a chance he could be pregnant!

A gentle reminder that a 10 year old has been raped if an adult has had sex with them. They cannot consent at their age so it's always statutory rape.

All will have been groomed and coerced into sexual activity. They're children which is what this naively produced poster ignores.

I think one of the things striking about this thread is that people don't realise what's written on that poster.

My other posts aside. Look at the age ranges mentioned.

That should worry everyone regardless of their position of trans or non trans.

I was still playing with Lego at 10.

Yes. That's what's so frustrating. These are primary aged children having adult issues foisted on them to pander to an unrepresentative group of adults.

Yes there may be issues with young girls having been raped and ending up pregnant. There should be NHS safeguarding policies to address that and advise radiographers (maybe there are?).

But this mangled poster is not the solution

Oh absolutely. If they have had sex with a 12 year old though, is that still rape? I thought it wasn't but may be wrong.

If only there was 🤔🧐

Hmmm, adults maybe gave it a name (just like they’ve given literally everything else in the world a name) but the feeling of gender dysphoria and the desire to be the opposite sex wasn’t ’invented’ by adults. For some people, a biological girl for example, they’ve insisted to their parents that they’re a boy from the age of 2, every single day until some parents may, understandably, relent and start saying ‘he’ and calling her by a boy’s name, at her request. This, although very rare, has been happening forever. It’s just now we have a name for it. It’s what happens with everything- people realised people who were sad for long periods of time were more than just sad so they named it depression. Names are helpful and necessary in allowing us to identify things. Whether you see ‘trans’ as a MH condition or a gender identity is not my point. You can’t deny the fact it exists though. Yes, it could be argued it’s a made up thing for a 14-year-old girl whose always identified as a girl to suddenly start proclaiming she’s trans because she’s been swept up in the trend, peer pressure, and media hype. But you can’t say it’s made up for the kids who’ve felt this way since toddler-hood.

It’s also unfair to criticise parents for validating something their child feels incredibly strongly about. You have no idea what it feels like to have a trans child, one who has felt that way since they were a toddler. Most parents don’t immediately say, “ok Charlottle, we’ll call you Charles from now on, whack you on some puberty blockers asap and chop all your hair off”. It’s a long, extremely difficult and emotional process, many seek multiple MH diagnosis, from multiple different MH specialists. For many, validating their child’s identity is their very last resort, and an agonising choice between having a severely depressed child and a happy child. It’s not for anyone else to say whether this is right or wrong.

It's rape if the child is below the age of consent (16). An accused adult over the age of 18 may claim the defence that they believed the child was over the age of 16 which is then tested in court. If the child is under the age of 13, that defence isn't available.

It hasn't existed forever. Those of us who've worked with children and teenagers for decades can confirm this was just not a thing. It's a social media generated contagion for most children. It's really unhelpful to spout such easily evidenced untruths.

Yes parenting is hard. 2 year olds / young children routinely believe they're animals, the opposite sex, helicopters etc. That's normal.

No 2 year old or child is born in the wrong body ever. Parents struggling with this deserve compassion and support. What they don't need are transactivists interfering and issuing advice that counters fundamental child development / child psychology principles. Hopefully there's now more balanced and evidenced support for parents and with those schools caught up in transactivism being warned to stop meddling in matters they're unqualified for via safeguarding guidance , the levels of social contagion amongst children will start to ease.

Selling children the lie that they've been born in the wrong body and a sex change is the solution is the most destructive thing to have happened to so many families.

I think she was meaning if both hypothetical parents of the hypothetical foetus are under 13. Presumably if only children were involved and are both say 12 and it wasn't coerced it's not rape. I don't know and it's anyway very tangential to the poster!

Thank you. Which again highlights why this wretched poster shouldn't be in existence and radiographers facing such complex safeguarding issues about children should be advised by qualified medical safeguarding experts and not trabsactivists.