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"everyone aged 25-64 with a cervix"

(108 Posts)
FarNorth Sun 17-Jun-18 17:21:33

Cancer Research UK has aimed its latest smear test campaign at “everyone aged 25-64 with a cervix”.

I am horrified and have emailed them to say that they risk failing to reach many women by not catching their eye with the word "women" in their advertising.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/smear-test-campaign-drops-the-word-woman-to-avoid-transgender-offence-263mj7f6s?shareToken=11fe655f68bc12c06ae27ebabfa6d198

Bridgeit Sun 17-Jun-18 20:38:24

Begs the question would we choose to still be woman if given a choice? Or perhaps just choose the nice bits( are there any?)

Bridgeit Sun 17-Jun-18 20:35:17

Ohh, I don’t go on Twitter Notanana2, just looked on their page,where it was written as I said earlier.
Perhaps it has been transcribed differently on there.

I guess it speaks for itself that would have to mean anyone with cervix.

notanan2 Sun 17-Jun-18 20:33:41

yet they have tweets about fathers day related to mens cancers and nobody is offended by THAT

transmen were of course socialised as women as children unlike transwomen which is relevant when considering why men's services don't get attacked in the same way that womens services do!

How dare we have anything if our own eh?

notanan2 Sun 17-Jun-18 20:28:35

Bridgeit their recent twitter activity re smears makes no reference at all to women.

Bridgeit Sun 17-Jun-18 20:24:22

I have looked on their site, it actually says,( after the paragraph to women )

Cervical smears also apply to other people within the age range who have a cervix such as trans men.

JustALaugh Sun 17-Jun-18 19:59:49

What total bullshit. I've heard it all now

notanan2 Sun 17-Jun-18 19:48:12

we have already been told that period products are for "menstrators" and should not be called feminine hygiene products.

Menstrators is as bad as breeders

yet if we say that being a woman is in any way related to our biology and not girly feelings and frilly frocks WE are the ones being "reductive"

minesaprosecco Sun 17-Jun-18 19:21:13

Me too. Now there's an ironic phrase.

TerriBull Sun 17-Jun-18 19:11:34

Yes I read about it in The Times, so now we are supposed to define ourselves as people with a cervix angry. It's like we're entering some strange "Alice in Wonderland" world, as the Cheshire Cat was heard to say "Everyone's mad here"

annsixty Sun 17-Jun-18 19:07:07

I have e-mailed Cruk and await their reply with interest, but not with baited breath.

LiltingLyrics Sun 17-Jun-18 19:07:00

That one in four do not accept an invitation for a smear test is going to have little to do with LBGTQ issues. And isn’t it rather insulting to women who identify as men to assume that they are ignorant about the construction of their body? I suspect that they are only too acutely aware that they DO have a woman’s body.

FarNorth Sun 17-Jun-18 19:01:51

X-post Wheniwasyourage.

It seems this phrase was used on Twitter and was a "pinned tweet promoting the campaign", according to the Times article.

FarNorth Sun 17-Jun-18 18:58:14

Anyone who does not agree with Cancer Research UK's choice of wording, please do email them to say so.
They are at - [email protected]

Wheniwasyourage Sun 17-Jun-18 18:53:42

Hang on a minute - I have just been on to the Cancer Research Uk site and looked at the Screening link (sorry, I've never managed to work out how to put a link on here, but it's easy enough to find) and it says that women of the relevant age range are eligible for smear tests, and also anyone else with a cervix, eg trans men, so they have presumably changed it and there is no need to email. We are apparently now women and not just people with a cervix.

dbDB77 Sun 17-Jun-18 18:49:13

Remember the song?
"Yes we are wise and it's wisdom born of pain
Yes we've paid the price but look how much we've gained
If I have to I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman" ..... oops sorry I mean non-man!?

maryeliza54 Sun 17-Jun-18 18:44:13

We can all email CRUK.

annsixty Sun 17-Jun-18 18:36:16

Why not "women and non women" this is sexual inequality and I think I will take someone to court.

Fennel Sun 17-Jun-18 18:17:00

This is going too far.
Can we make a formal protest as Gransnet members to Cancer resarch UK?

maryeliza54 Sun 17-Jun-18 18:16:47

I really don’t know whether to laugh or cry - we’ve used the words ‘erasure of women’ so often and lo and behold, look what is happening.

notanan2 Sun 17-Jun-18 18:11:15

FYI Green Party door steppers also use "men & non men" because it's "inclusive"

It doesn't include me mate!
But what do I matter..

merlotgran Sun 17-Jun-18 18:09:00

I think I'll join Luckygirl in the darkened room. angry

SueDonim Sun 17-Jun-18 18:08:46

I was shocked by this, too. A friend who works in the field of medical education said that many, many women are extraordinarily ignorant about their own bodies and have no idea they have a cervix.

As someone else points out, too, what about women for whom English is not their first language? Many will likely recognise the word 'woman' but not the word cervix.

It's a good plan if Cancer Research want to reduce the proportion of women presenting for screening even further. hmm

I am just infuriated that I am being reduced to a 'person with a cervix'. How dare they? angry

maryeliza54 Sun 17-Jun-18 18:08:02

Just been on Twitter - apparently on the CRUK web site they say they target men re prostate cancer as ‘only men have a prostate’. Er?

notanan2 Sun 17-Jun-18 18:03:55

well if you want to understand the mentality: toilets are being re signed "men" and "non men".

It's an attack on women and all of the progress women have made against misogyny.

maryeliza54 Sun 17-Jun-18 17:44:55

What's wrong with two separate awareness campaigns - one for women and one for transmen? I am just so sick of this erasure of women - I'm going to email them too