The Word is Woman #60
Documenting the erasure of women from language and life.
Welcome to the Issue #60 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 four 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 7th February 2025.
For god’s sake. SIXTY.
It’s been another interesting week. I have thoughts forming about Trump etc. And they are still forming. One thing I found myself wondering is why. Why is he so keen to save women’s sports, for example? What’s in it for him? I will continue to mull this over.
Meanwhile, I listened to this podcast this week.
OK, so, this is the podcast of someone called Emma Pickett, who is a well-known lactation consultant and former chair of the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers. She’s also the author of this book for preteen girls…
…which famously has eight pages dedicated to elective mastectomy or ‘top surgery’.
Anyway. I listened to her podcast with Jacob Engelsman, who, since the episode was about trans and non binary people ‘lactating’, I assumed was going to be a trans man. (female, but wanting to be seen as a man, for those of you who get a bit lost with this).
But the strange thing was, I don’t think Jacob is a woman.
I’ve done a bit of digging and nobody seems to know, but a) he reads male in voice and appearance and b) nowhere does he say he is trans. I realise this might still mean he is female, but…
Then I did a bit more digging.
And Jacob has given some very interesting talks.
Sex Down South is described here as ‘a festival of kink and sex-positivity’, with workshops on everything from ‘how to ride and be on top’ to ‘vulva show and tell’. And our friend gave a talk there on ‘inducing lactation for kinksters’. He’s also given talks on lactation at Frolicon, which is another adult, sex-positive event which includes a dungeon. Hmm.
To be clear, I don’t have a problem with people going to sex-based events and getting their rocks off. You do you. It’s the mixing in of lactation fetish and helping actual women breastfeed actual babies that makes me uneasy.
This man is also working as a Nanny and a birth and postpartum doula.
The mix of open kink around breastfeeding and working with babies and children a lot is also, arguably, disturbing.
Also, isn’t it odd that a man with an open lactation fetish (who is not trans) is sat talking to a woman and the former head of the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (who is also not trans) in a podcast about queer and trans people breastfeeding?
It goes without saying, I suppose, that the word ‘woman’, was not used once.
Moving on, someone kindly sent me this article about ovulation pain, something that ‘people’ experience, apparently.
Someone else told me about the new language guide for employees of Network Rail. I got this table from twitter so I cannot vouch for the origin, but judging by several news articles on the topic, it does seem to be from the language guide. The workmanship one made me chuckle. What next? Oneupmanship? The humble Walkman? Manchego cheese?
Are you a pregnant incarcerated individual?
In the blurb, another opportunity to use the W word is also wasted and we are ‘pregnant incarcerated people’.
This next one is all about hand expressing colostrum, something that I’m pretty sure no man would have the stamina for. Nevertheless, women are written out of this epic story.
So, is the word woman completely out the window now? It would seem not, from this Guardian article.
Without making any comment on the case itself, it’s notable that the person referred to as a ‘woman’, throughout this article, is male. Makes you wonder why they can’t say, ‘person’? Because when we object to being called ‘people’ instead of ‘woman’, they say: ‘Oh, so are you saying women aren’t people?’, as if it’s some incredible gotcha. Isn’t the man in this article a ‘person’, you might find yourself wondering?
And we couldn’t end without a mention for Sandie Peggie, a case I watch with interest. A woman and NHS nurse who has been cross-examined this week, in a style resembling Salem, Massachusetts, because she refuses to share her changing room with a male claiming female identity. When asked by the lawyer if it was ‘offensive’ to describe this person as a man, she said simply, “It’s the truth”.
Long may we continue to be able to tell the truth about the reality of biological sex. We all know it’s real and it matters. As JKR’s husband apparently put it this week, “Which side were you on, women’s rights or men’s demands?”
See you next week!
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WTF I exclaimed outloud to my dog as I got to ‘inducing lactation for kinksters’ 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Why would Emma picket entertain this man : mind blown .
All about minimising mum and baby bond as usual .
A woman is a person but a man is a woman . Totally bizarre .