btw the term "women's health" to discuss uterine care/menstruation isnt just transphobic, it also keeps up this aggravating idea that the uterus & menstruation are obscene and impolite and need to be kept hidden under flowery vague terms as to not offend any cis men. like trans people demanding the end of gendered language around this stuff aren't just helping trans people, its also just good to normalize calling tampons and pads "menstrual supplies" because thats what they fucking are!!! we should say the words uterus vagina menstruation and we should do it in public and in stores instead of talking about ~women's needs~ and ~feminine care~. trans liberation is fundamental to women's liberation and anti-patriarchal action in general. listening to trans men & people isn't bad for women its good for literally everyone
yes! calling gynecology etc âwomenâs healthâ also reinforces a long history of centering the reproductive system as the most important part of womenâs bodies and the only part that needs attention from a doctor.
when you hear stories about how historically, every ailment a woman could possibly have was blamed on the uterus (hysteria, the wandering womb, etc)? this kind of vague and generalized language keeps the legacy of that reductive approach alive. every part of womenâs bodies are important to their health, and the idea that the reproductive system is the most/only important part is responsible for a lot of the barriers that women face when trying to access quality healthcare.
âwomenâs healthâ as a concept should include every part of the body and every kind of body a woman might have, because if it doesnât, that only ends one way: women being neglected by medical professionals who donât know or care enough to treat them as entire people.
listening to trans men and other trans people when we say neutral language in medicine is important will only improve medical care for women. you can say weâre trying to erase women all you want, but the reality is that itâs actually the gendering of reproductive care that leads to women being neglected.
This has affected me as a cis woman.
I wondered why none of my doctors ever scheduled a physical for me: checking my heart, etc. I found out recently that my doctor expected my gyno to do that during my pap smears. Not only was she not doing that, but even if she was, she had told me only to come in for a Pap smear every three years.
Finally, my doctor scheduled me for an âannual examâ and I thought that meant a physical. I show up and it turns out they used that phrase to mean a Pap smear. The doctors literally never thought to check other parts of my health. This obscuring language is so harmful.
"Trans liberation" will do nothing other than further ghetto-ize women, as we flee from all the spaces men ruin with their fetishes.
Medical care is a joke for MOST people, including men. Men die younger in part due to this. It's incredible how casually doctors will just waive away recommended tests/scans for people. People go in doing their own research and saying, "I think I have one of these conditions" because doctors often will not connect the dots at all on their own. Medical care for women has additional problems, none of which are because anyone is confused as to which body parts are female and which sort of doctor specializes in this unique and complex body system. We need research that prioritizes studying female health in-depth so we can more easily identify and treat common conditions that are still handled like hysteria. (Endometriosis anyone?) There are trans identifying males trying to force OB-GYNs to look at their holes, which share no medical similarities with a vagina. Nothing about this is helping women. Likening men in dresses to women in no way helps liberate women from the sexist stereotypes that have always held us back.
