The Word is Woman #15
Documenting the erasure of women in language and life.
Welcome to the Issue #15 of The Word is Woman, a weekly section of my substack where I document examples of the erasure of women from both language and public life.
For the past three years, ever since I spoke out about language changes in maternity such as ‘birthing people’, I have been sent hundreds of examples of convolutions of language in which the word woman is erased and replaced in the name of so-called ‘inclusivity’. Uterus owners, menstruators, non-men, bleeders, birthers, and even bodies with vaginas…the list of names we have been called and continue to be called is a seemingly endless catalogue of offence.
At the same time, we are seeing male people taking the place of women on sporting podiums and in public roles, and also being applauded as the ‘first woman’ to achieve a certain award or accomplishment, or the ‘best female’ or ‘woman of the year’ in their field.
The Word is Woman is a place to keep track.
So here is this week’s The Word is Woman for the week ending 1st December 2023.
First of all this week I just want to say a big thanks to those of you who support this newsletter with a paid subscription - this has enabled me to keep it working on it each week for several months now and it’s had a fantastic impact, providing clear evidence that this erasure is widespread and even pressuring some to reconsider and reinstate the word WOMAN. Secondly I want to thank those of you who share examples of erasure with me each week, you know who you are, and I’m grateful! One such person who has sent me the first, eye-popping, mind-boggling example this week is Hannah from Womb to World Art. Ladies and Gentleman, I bring you… (drumroll)…
PARTICIPANTS WITH INTERNAL GONADS.
Yes, the School for Ethical Touch are running a workshop in Oxford called The Ecstatic Body and if you’ve not got internal gonads you’re not getting in. Having written three books about female biology, plus a fourth, out next year, even I was confused, but I’ve now been reliably informed that both males and females have gonads - it just means an organ that produces gametes. So, males, small motile gametes (sperm) and females, large gametes (eggs). It’s not clear if you can attend if you’ve had your ovaries or uterus removed. In fact, it’s not clear full stop.
Screenshot is from workshop info here and social media post is here.
Coming in for a close second prize in Erasure Madness of the Week is Dona International, who shared this instagram post about their ‘inclusive language policy’. Guess who it doesn’t include?
So words like woman and mother will henceforth no longer be used, as they are not ‘gender neutral’. Unless, presumably, a man declares himself to be a ‘woman’ and wants to be known as the child’s ‘mother’. Then I expect Dona International will make an exception.
Most posts that start with ‘Friendly reminder’ are usually worth a swerve and this one from Pregnancy and Newborn magazine is no different. Woman becomes ‘nursing parent’.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG) are erasing women in both the tile and the blurb of this post: in the tile they are ‘pregnant people’ and in the post ‘pregnant patients’.
Maybe the ACOG have been getting their sex education from…Sex Education. An eagle eyed viewer spotted that women are ‘birthing parents’ in Episode 5.
New York magazine is feeling festive and suggesting some great gifts for…pregnant people, according to…pregnant people, including the Big Fat Activity Book for…Pregnant People. Link is here. And no, the language doesn’t get any better in the piece itself, it’s people, people, people, all the way down.
Bleak news from CBC for pregnant people. Link here.
To be fair, this article does use a mix of language (people 9, women 9). It’s amazing how you start feeling grateful for any use of the word woman, after a while, but here we are.
This piece on brain changes during menstruation also has the occasional ‘woman’ in the mix, but it does also include this quite funny paragraph about ‘people who menstruate’ and why it’s a complete mystery why these ‘people’s’ bodies have been sidelined and under researched. It’s hard to know what’s meant to be funny any more, isn’t it?
A few more examples for those with stamina: childbearing people; birthing individuals; the pregnant person; birthing people.
And ‘people who have used a doppler’ or ‘people who have been recently pregnant’.
Anyway, don’t despair. Remember:
a) pushback makes a difference
b) the majority of people still have a grip on sanity
and c) it’s nearly Christmas.
You can expect things to get very festive here over the next few weeks, including a giveaway of The Word is Woman pins and a book or two (only for my paid subscribers!). If you want to order a pin, especially if it’s in time for Christmas, please do so asap here as there aren’t many left!
Now cheer yourself up by watching this great webinar from Sex Matters (I’m going to their Christmas party this week and the dress code is ‘dress however you please, call yourself whatever you like’).
And Hannah, who sent me the prize winning ‘participants with internal gonads’? Well, here she is with a brilliant poem for you. Please give her a follow on Instagram to support her via this link.
I’ll see some of you in the Sunday Thread, or over on the substack app, have you got it yet?
