The erasure of women

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void-offending-transgender-people%2F”>tweeted about "the birthing parent". They were forced to apologise after the backlash they received from outraged mothers.

Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust referred to women as “people with a cervix”. It was pointed out that many women are unaware of what a cervix is, so they were being unhelpful as well as offensive. 

Femcare, based in Canada, describes itself as “a global leader in menstrual policy entrepreneurship”. In a recent tweet, it referred to pregnant women as “menstruators” – a particularly baffling piece of offensive obscurantism, given that pregnant women don't menstruate.

Rewire News Group, an American “nonprofit media organization dedicated to reshaping the national dialogue on all things sex”, that “center(s) BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities” and “seek(s) out inclusive points of view”, tweeted about “people who are born with a uterus”. 

Of course the phrase "people who menstruate" was what set off the whole JK Rowling affair – "‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"

It's unstoppable. In the latest efforts, Open Clinic NHS, refers to "people with vaginas". And Forbes Science has "pregnant people". Anything to avoid those awful trans-exclusionary words "women" and "mothers".

You'd think it would work both ways, to avoid offending trans men as well as trans women – neither of whom have the requisite biological equipment. But talk of "people with testicles", or "sperm-providers", doesn't seem to feature much. It's all about the misogyny.

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