Pushback WORKS
Two examples of the word WOMAN being reinstated.
This is just a quick extra newsletter to tell you the extremely heartening news that TWO of the organisations featured in yesterday’s edition of The Word is Woman have now edited their social media posts to reinstate the word WOMAN.
These add to the example already featured in the newsletter of Boots changing ‘people with vaginas’ to ‘women’ in a menopause article, following pushback.
First up, Kingsdon Hospital who described us as ‘labouring people’ and ‘birthing people’.
They have now updated the post to include the word ‘woman’. You can view it (and thank them if you wish) here. I know we could get bogged down discussing the phrase ‘birthing people’ being included at all, but for now, I just want to celebrate seeing the word WOMAN reinstated.
The second update came from Oxfordshire MVP who asked people to share with ‘others in your network who work with birthing people’.
They have now updated the post to add the word WOMAN back in. Link is here.
Interestingly, the explanation given for the original post was that the person who created it is, “still learning about the language and how to use it”. That really does speak volumes about the state of affairs. We have all learnt about language and how to use it. What this person means is that they are having to learn new rules. I’m really interested to read more about any precedents for this - can you think of any other historical or cultural examples of people having to re-learn language and how to use it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments?
I’m so glad to see those two examples with the word WOMAN back in. And I’m not taking the credit for it - it’s a group effort. It just goes to show how much pushback and protest - even at small levels - can change things, like a pebble in a stream that pushes the water in an ever-so-slightly different direction. Let’s keep going, many pebbles eventually build a dam! Milli x
If you subscribe you can make sure you don’t miss any of my posts. They will come direct to your inbox or the substack app, which also has some great social functions for chat and discussion. Having the app also means you don’t have to use social media as much, but can just dive straight in to all the writers you like and enjoy!
It's free to subscribe but paid subscriptions (which cost less than a decent bar of chocolate per week) help support me to keep writing. Thank you.
This is so wonderful Milli 🎉🎉🎉