Thread by @HanniganCork

Time men S.W.A.M against the tide.

Bizarrely, there’s now an urgent need to Save ‘Woman’ And ‘Mother’ from being erased from the English language. Am I naive in hoping men on Irish Twitter might take an interest in these worrying developments?

‘Woman’ & ‘Mother’ are useful words that have served us well in describing, well, women & mothers. They should not be scrubbed from usage especially by organisations established to support women & mothers, such as @HSELive, @AIMSIreland, Abortion Rights Ireland.

It’s not just a linguistic concern. If organisations, as a matter of policy, deny the words ‘woman’ or ‘mother’, what then becomes of the human beings who come under those categories? What are the consequences for females when their linguistic existence is scrubbed?

There’s clearly a determined effort to excise those useful nouns & replace them with odd coinages.
Women are now being described as:
People with a cervix @HSEIreland
Menstruators
People who bleed
Vulva people
Abortion Seekers @freesafelegal
Or simply undifferentiated “people”.

Mothers are described as
Pregnant people @AIMSIreland
Gestational carriers
Birthing bodies
Birthing parents

There is a growing number of examples of this systematic erasure of ‘the female’.

Imagine if there was an attempt to erase the word ‘Man’ from public discourse! The idea is absurd of course. That’s never going to happen. ‘Man’ is safe. As are men. It’s women who’re being targeted. As always. Men should support them. Save ‘Woman’ And ‘Mother’ S.W.A.M.

The examples above are only the tip of the dehumanising iceberg. See here:

https://twitter.com/hjoycegender/status/1325530295886630918

More of it: “Menstruators who have given birth...”

Whatever you do, don’t mention the women! It’s people! People! 🙄

https://twitter.com/amnesty/status/1322511304830144520