Facebook
X
LinkdIn
Copy Link
A worrying trend has emerged recently of non-trans uterus owners demanding the removal of inclusive language when dealing with gender-related issues. This is extremely harmful to the trans community as it is a blatant attempt to invalidate our existence as trans women and trans men. Many organizations have been making a valiant effort to respect trans and non-binary people by using more progressive and inclusive terms or phrases when advertising their products and services. This has been seen as a positive step forward in the struggle for validation for those of us who identify as non-cisgender. For a long time it has been dehumanizing and humiliating to witness the word ‘woman’ or ‘women’ used exclusively (not to mention incorrectly) when relating to sex-based products and treatments etc. For example, sanitary products traditionally assigned to female bodied people for years have used cisgender AFABs (‘assigned female at birth’) in their marketing and advertising campaigns, as if only non-trans ovum releasers experience periods! Like trans men don’t even exist. Like many trans women don’t use tampons in order to enhance our lived experience. Thankfully Tampax has now addressed this error in a recent post to their Twitter account:
Fact: Not all women have periods. Also a fact: Not all people with periods are women. Let's celebrate the diversity of all people who bleed! 💙🎨: @gobeeharris #mythbusting #periodtruths #transisbeautiful pic.twitter.com/5s1416cZBw
— Tampax US (@Tampax) September 15, 2020
Predictably, the usual transphobes all crawled out of the woodwork to accuse Tampax of ‘misogyny’, and ‘erasing women’, yawn! It’s ridiculous how ignorant these cisnormative embryo conformists are. They really need to seriously examine their inflated sense of self-importance. Referring to those who use sanitary products as ‘people who bleed’ is beautifully inclusive of all trans and non-binary individuals, as well as the cisgender egg-incubators.
The intense backlash of transphobic bullying in response to Tampax using trans-friendly non-gendered language was almost as unsettling as when CNN used the inclusive phrase ‘individuals with a cervix’, to describe people who require cervical screening back in July this year.
Individuals with a cervix are now recommended to start cervical cancers screening at 25 and continue through age 65, with HPV testing every five years as the preferred method of testing, according to a new guideline released by the American Cancer Society https://t.co/gUhYdIIx69
— CNN (@CNN) July 30, 2020
It seems that many cisgender birthing units take umbrage at the use of progressive terminology which respects gender non-conforming individuals. The abuse appears to be predominantly aimed towards trans women. Many cisgender womb carriers refuse to accept that trans women are women, and that we entitled to be treated as and referred to as such. They send abusive messages, designed to undermine our existence, such as: ‘Look, as a lesbian, I don’t wish to have sex with someone who has a penis’, and: ‘Erm… but you’re not a lesbian’, and: ‘Please stop sending me photos of your “lady dick”.’ Notice they put ‘lady dick’ in inverted commas as a way to question and therefore diminish the validity of my female penis. So it really comes as no surprise to me that these forward-thinking organizations are facing the same amount of hostility.
Canada is famous for putting itself at the forefront of progressive action, and so I was not surprised to read this compassionate tweet from Femcare Community Health Initiative:
https://twitter.com/FemCare_CHI/status/1314234224837263366?s=20
Here they tackle the heartbreaking and sensitive issue of losing a child before it can be born with the inclusive phrase: ‘a menstruator having a miscarriage’. The empathetic tone employed in the language of this tweet is very encouraging until you turn your attention to the furore surrounding it. Honestly, you would not believe how precious these fetus incubators are when it comes to words like ‘Mother’! They genuinely do not realize how important it is for people like ME to have their very specific needs met when it comes to inclusivity. Transphobic egg factories will stop at nothing to erase our identity and this needs to change. NOW.
[special_offer]
Make no mistake, trans women ARE women, we deserve respect, we deserve to be acknowledged as women, and female-identifying ovulation chambers are just going to have to get used to that.
