Posted on 10/02/2015 8:30:04 AM PDT by wagglebee
Did you know that describing the state of pregnancy as being solely applicable to women is considered offensive? No, dear reader, neither did I, until I read this earnestly written column, stating that transphobia is rampant in the midwifery world.
Up until 2014, the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) had, sensibly and reasonably enough, referred to their clients as women and mothers. Then at some point last year, presumably having imbibed the gender theory Kool-Aid at some diversity conference or other, they changed most of the language in their core competency documents to reflect the notion that some transgender, gender queer and intersex individuals may require midwifery care and do not identify as women.
Well I hate to burst your navel-gazing bubbles, but frankly it doesn’t matter if you identify as next-door’s cat. If you are in possession of a uterus which contains a baby, the indisputable truth is that you are a woman. Even if, as in the case of our HuffPo blogger, you chose to call yourself “Trevor MacDonald”.
Indeed, when Mr MacDonald describes his own experience of giving birth as a man, in an attempt to reinforce his point that gender-neutral language is desperately needed, he notes that it was agreed by the head of obstetrics at the local hospital that his situation was “obstetrically normal”. The birth was planned as a natural delivery and the hospital only needed to be consulted in case of the need for an emergency transfer. So this person who was carrying a baby in their womb, one whom they intended to birth through their female sex organs, bristles at the nomenclature of woman?
Don’t get me wrong: in the words of the Kinks (whose hit 1970 record Lola, is probably now banned for transphobia and reinforcing gender stereotypes), “girls will be boys and boys will be girls, it’s a mixed-up, muddled-up shook up world”, but if you are born a woman and yet believe passionately that you are a man and identify as one, why on earth would you be wanting to do something that is uniquely reserved for the female sex? You really can’t get any more feminine than in the whole business of childbirth.
Before I get lynched on the inevitable charge of transphobia, I ought to mention that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few well-known transgender activists, one just a few weeks ago. All of them are personable, charming, genuinely engaging and kind people. Coming out as transgender is still an incredibly difficult and brave thing to do and just spending a few hours in the company of a transgender woman, makes you realise the enormous amount of hostility, aggression and derision they are subject to on an everyday basis. You wouldn’t put yourself through that experience, nor the gruelling experience of gender-reassignment surgery, unless you were 100 percent convinced. It’s also worth noting the extraordinarily high suicide rate amongst the transsexual community. Regardless of how you identify, you still remain a human being with the same dignity and deserving of the same respect accorded to anyone else.
But what makes me bristle is the idea that my own sex and identity in the area of childbirth is being erased by those who have rejected it for themselves while continuing to hang on to the biology. It seems I am not alone. A collective of American midwives, calling themselves women-centred midwifery, have written to NAMA protesting against the gender neutral language of their professional body, and saying that women are all but missing from the wording of clinical care norms. They have set up a petition which has so far garnered over 1,000 signatures.
This counter movement needs to be stopped, says Mr MacDonald because it is, yes, you guessed it, the most heinous crime of the modern age - ‘hurtful’. Both him and his friend who transitioned to male after giving birth, felt quite sick when they saw the names of their midwives on the petition. They claim that it protests their right to a safe and welcoming healthcare environment at a time when they were vulnerable. One could argue that they should man up.
But the petition does no such thing. It’s a recognition of the fact that only biological women can give birth, the vast majority of whom wish to be identified by their birth sex and given the title, “mother”. Mr MacDonald does not claim that he was treated as an inferior person when giving birth. He takes issue with the idea that the care provider (namely, the medically qualified person) could decide on the gender of the person, as opposed to listening to the client. It places a “burden of conformity on the client”.
As I said, no doubt a patient midwife would understand that her client identified as a male, and call them by their preferred title, but it makes no sense that she would treat him clinically as a male, because, to state the blindingly obvious, men don’t possess the necessary equipment to give birth. There is absolutely no medical textbook that deals with childbirth in men, simply because it doesn’t happen. Nor are there any guidelines on how to assist a human who believes themselves to be inter-species deliver a litter of puppies! The concept of men who give birth is an ideological nonsense.
And if your brain isn’t already hurting, Mr MacDonald attempts to justify himself by the egregious claim that “trans, genderqueer and intersex people have been giving birth for as long as women-identified people have”. For a start, most ordinary people, not being versed in the jargon of contemporary academia, have no idea what genderqueer means. But, granted that for centuries there have been people transgressing gender boundaries, the whole notion of gender being purely a social construct remains a wholly modern one. I’m not quite sure which history books Mr MacDonald is referring to, but the concept of men giving birth to children rests on no historical or anthropological academic consensus. Where’s the evidence of transgender people giving birth in Neanderthal and stone-age communities, for example?
Childbirth and motherhood is a uniquely feminine trait, hence the use of the term midwife; the etymology derives from the German – “with woman”. Of course, that too is now under threat of abolition along with pregnant and birthing people; the replacement term “birth worker” has been introduced.
All of this would be comical if it weren’t so serious. It highlights the travesty of the word “phobia” being applied to any anti-progressive viewpoints. This is what the columnist does in dismissing the concerns of the protesting midwives: the sentiments of their letter seem “vaguely familiar and even reasonable. They are careful not to write anything hateful in plain language.”
But, ultimately, a woman must lose her right to be known as such, she must drop her title of mother, she must relinquish her biological and physical individuality -- one that gives her enormous power -- in order to suit a powerful minority who believe themselves to be men. Can nobody else see the irony?
Caroline Farrow is a columnist for The Catholic Universe. This article was first published at The Conservative Woman and is reproduced here with permission.
That's it right there: ANYTHING that contradicts the left's agenda is deemed a "phobia" and those who have this "phobia" are ridiculed and marginalized.
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WTH? Is ‘cait’ trying to get preggers with kris kardouchians baby?
If we dont figure out a way to turn this insanity back, the country’s done.
it’s a culture war and we dont own the media
Stan/Loretta: I want to have babies.
Reg: You want to have babies?!?!
Stan/Loretta: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.
Reg: But ... you can't HAVE babies!
Stan/Loretta: Don't you oppress me!
Reg: I'm not oppressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb! Where's the fetus gonna gestate? You gonna keep it in a box?
Damn, you beat me to it!
And they're now going so far as recommending that normal people be institutionalize as "mentally ill" for not accepting this insanity.
Tell them to go to hell with their stupid transgendered and sodomites attempting to main stream their ass bandit sexual behaviors!
Nothing says we have to accept a damn thing they say or do period!
Seriously ?
Most Americans don't even realize their values have changed...
The progressive left has been waging a low impact culture war against american people with Judeo / Christian values for more than a 100 years...
We are losing badly because we have been systematically dumbed down, demonized, marginalized, mocked and are getting our asses kicked...
We don't have a chance...
The American people who don't understand what is happening or care less about it will also be the casualty of this culture war.
In my small town, the leftist are not given one inch to play their stupid sodomite games here, and we say what we think and what we want to about the ass bandits!
Here in my town the men are men and the women are women. We don't make excuses or provide special treatment for the ass bandits here because the Americans here simply do not put up with their socialist crap!
In any culture war, the best defense is a good offense. Our culture remains exactly what the American people who live here want it to be, nothing more and nothing less and no ass bandit is going to change that without the cooperation from those who live here and so far, once an ass bandit is identified, they either leave town or keep their personal sodomite lives in the privacy of their own homes! The very minute a sodomite brings their sexual behavior out into the public, the American who are raising their children here and who live here, makes sure the ass bandit understands their behavior is not excepted here and will not be tolerated. Usually they respect this or they quietly leave here to go live where the American people allow for such sodomite behavior! Problem solved
[[That’s it right there: ANYTHING that contradicts the left’s agenda is deemed a “phobia” and those who have this “phobia” are ridiculed and marginalized. ]]
Not just that but are threatened with arrest as in the case of the scientists pushing dear leader to arrest anyone hwo is skeptical of ‘man-caused’ climate change
Obviously your little town is run by sane people....: )
That is not the case at most state and federal levels....
Just wait until the left targets your small island of sanity....they will get around to it....
Unless you are in only a handful of states that control the agenda top to bottom, you are screwed ....or at going to be in a huge court battle over an leftist issue...to force you to bow the knee to secularism ..
Here in my town the men are men and the women are women. We don't make excuses or provide special treatment for the ass bandits here because the Americans here simply do not put up with their socialist crap
Where is this place?
Well a good start to reverse the trend to bend with the thinking of these perverted people would be to write articles using the correct gender pronoun she/her.
Again, the leftist cannot make a single American do anything without their permission and cooperation! This can be your town as well, if you simply refuse to cooperate with the ass bandits and the socialist who want to change American culture!
Do you remember the small town that stopped the immigration buses from entering their town with illegal aliens on board? The Obama administration was busing illegal aliens all over America, but, this town stood up and blocked the road and prevented the bus from entering their town and forced it to turn around.
How about the feds trying to round up a ranchers cattle and move him off his ranch. The American people came together and stopped the feds from taking his cattle and taking his ranch from him. (Bundy).
All Americans have to do is stand up to the sodomites and the socialist and refuse to cooperate with them, or allow them to operate in your town. It takes guts to stand up to the sodomites, but, believe me, it works and it can work in every town and city in America!
Take back America one town at a time if that is what it takes America, but take it back you will, just have the guts to do it!
God bless and remember, many Americans will stand with you when you stand against the socialist and the sodomites in your town, and your city, who infest our Nation.
WRONG, never allow the minority to control the majority! We don't care what the courts opinions are on sodomites, we simply do not allow them to control us in our town. They can file all the civil cases they want to, nothing they say or do will force me or any American to cooperate with them against the will of the American people.
This is what most Americans don't understand, unless the state of federal government is prepared to place armed soldiers in every town and city in America, they cannot expect to control the American people or force them to cooperate with sodomites and socialist!
I once told my county sheriff, they could not patrol any road in the county without a armored personnel carrier without the cooperation from the people! He agreed!
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