So effectively sidelined and ignored

Milli Hill,  author and the founder of the Positive Birth Movement, was abused and ostracised back in July for objecting to the term “birthing people” in the context of violence against women in childbirth. Here she is on the latest Lancet "bodies with vaginas" disgrace:

Yes, this is the Lancet, one of the oldest and most prestigious medical journals in the world, apparently unable to see the disconnect between on the one hand publicly admitting that science has for hundreds of years largely been disinterested in the workings of the female body, whilst on the other hand appearing to think it’s ‘progressive’ and ‘inclusive’ not to even name those people they’ve so effectively sidelined and ignored.

To make matters worse, the cover quote is pulled from an article inside reviewing an exhibition by London’s Vagina Museum on the history of periods with a particular emphasis on the stigma and shame surrounding menstruation. Again, the fact that much of this shame and stigma has consistently manifested through the censorship of words, and our collective historic inability to talk about or name women’s experiences or body parts, is an irony that escapes both author and editors.

It’s also an irony that escapes the Vagina Museum itself. Like many feminists interested in breaking down the barriers to discussing women’s lives and experiences, I was thrilled to see the launch of the Vagina Museum in 2019. I even thought about having the launch of my second book Give Birth like a Feminist, there, and although in the end we had it elsewhere, the Vagina Museum stocked my book in their shop and I had some good chats with their founder about all things vulvic over twitter.

But not any more. My book is no longer on their website, and I’m now blocked by the museum and its founder. My crime? Daring to politely question a series of tweets in which they instructed people to stop using the word ‘woman’ and other sexed words in relation to periods, because, ‘anyone can menstruate regardless of their gender’.

You'd think the Vagina Museum would know a thing or two about biology and sex. Apparently not.

This is not about birth, or trans people even, it’s about linguistics, and about how changing the long established meanings of words can and will have an impact on our rights. If woman is not the word for an adult female person any more, if it becomes a ‘gender’ not a ‘sex’, then this has ramifications for women’s rights. These ramifications are already being felt - as women only spaces, shortlists, panels, sports, refuges, prison and more are no longer only for biological women. Research and data collection will also be transformed if gender identity is given precedence over sex...

To give you a concrete example from my own life, I was recently asked to fill in a survey from a leading publisher which had the specific aim of gathering data on their authors and assessing how inclusive they were being as a publisher. I was asked to give information about everything from my heritage to what my parents did for a living. Apart from one thing. I was not asked my sex. Instead I was asked, ‘How would you describe your gender?’. How will this publisher measure their inclusivity of women writers, or any bias towards male authors, if they don’t ask for this information on a survey set up to assess their own representation and diversity? And who might suffer from this lack of data, do you suppose?

The publishing world, and bookshops in general, seem particularly keen to adopt the trans agenda. Graham Linehan has been noting how Helen Joyce's "Trans" book always seems to be hidden away - if they've got in stock at all. I was in Waterstones in Islington yesterday, and trans woman Shon Faye's "The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice" - given a warmly positive review in the Observer last week - was prominently displayed in a couple of places. No sign of Helen Joyce, of course. Makes you feel better about using Amazon.

Comments

[TDK]

Not surprised about Waterstones in Islington - Corbyn's seat. However I've noticed that a similar orthodoxy applies in all sorts of odd places. Canary Wharf - heart of 80's Capitalism is similar.