By Jennifer Smith, a woman
Yeah, that’s right, I’m referring to myself as a woman right in the byline. Am I even allowed to do that anymore? Sure, absolutely no one has ever suggested that women can’t refer to themselves as women anymore, but I’m furious at the mere thought of that scenario which I just made up, and you should be, too.
I am tired of the woke police forcing me to stop doing something by… well, they don’t actually have the ability to force me to do anything, but they can make suggestions and I resent that. If I wanna use a word, they can’t stop me! Uh, no, wait, I mean, they can stop me, somehow, and that’s why I’m angry!
Why am I writing this piece? Because some people are using the term “pregnant people” instead of “pregnant women,” and this bothers me. It is vitally important to me that I continue to say “pregnant women” instead of “pregnant people,” and it’s vitally important to me that everyone else say it as well.
Now, some might argue that “pregnant people” includes women, and therefore gets across the exact same information as the term “pregnant women” while not excluding pregnant men or pregnant non-binary people or pregnant intersex people, and to them I’d say nothing. I haven’t figured out what to say to them, it’s an argument rooted in impeccable logic and basic human decency, so I usually just burst into tears and then ask them why they’re attacking me, a defenceless woman.
Yeah, that’s right, I just called myself a woman again because I’m brave. I won’t be cowed into not calling myself a woman by people who I assume want me to stop calling myself a woman.
And yes, using the term “pregnant women” instead of “pregnant people” makes it more difficult for real people to access healthcare and therefore puts actual lives at risk, but I know we can all agree that’s a small price to pay for me not having to get used to different words. The world around me is changing, but since I, as a woman, would prefer that it didn’t, I think that’s rather sexist of the world.
And if a famous author wants to share this piece, I can assure everyone who will come down on her like a ton of bricks that I am not a TERF. I don’t have a transphobic bone in my body. My woman body. Oh, and I also don’t have a racist bone in my body. Just throwing that out there, for the record.
I’m not some bigot arguing that trans individuals should be erased from the world. I’m a woman (ooh, that’s right, I used the ‘w’ word again, are you scared?) merely saying that transgender people have no place in the language we use to describe and therefore perceive and create the world.
