Only 0.6% of the total U.S. adult population identifies as transgender.
Of this already tiny number, a certain extremely vocal faction and its allies insist on the use of coded language meant to honor the transgender orientation. This includes weird phrases like “pregnant people” instead of “pregnant women,” and “chestfeeding” in place of “breastfeeding.”
Rather shockingly, some of the biggest and most powerful publications in the country have acquiesced to these demands, publishing reports and headlines using bland and confusing euphemisms in place of clear language. They are doing this even though the demand for the supposedly trans-inclusive language comes from a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction.
In other words, the fringe of the fringe has taken control of the English language. Major corporations are simply going along for the ride, subjecting the many to the linguistic demands of the few. When we talk about power in culture and politics, this is what it looks like.
“How climate change threatens pregnant people and their fetuses,” CBS News said in a Nov. 9 headline. Really, that’s an actual headline. If you speak actual English, “pregnant people” and “fetuses” are not preferable to “pregnant women” and “children” in terms of clear and descriptive language. They are, however, preferable in terms of serving very specific, targeted sociopolitical causes.
One cannot say “pregnant women” anymore for fear of excluding — or, God forbid, offending — the tiny transgender community. One also cannot say “children” because this obviously complicates the pro-abortion position. Thus, we have the “pregnant people” and “fetuses” compromise. Better to obscure the language with vague euphemisms that erase women and dehumanize unborn children than to jeopardize trendy political causes.
Better headline: Here’s how climate change threatens people we won’t hesitate to erase and dehumanize.
“The decision to exclude pregnant people from the first wave of Covid-19 vaccine trials inadvertently fueled vaccine hesitancy — in some cases, with deadly consequences,” reads the headline to a Nov. 1 Politico article.
The Washington Post in early October added “pregnant individuals” to its official style guide.
A New York Times Sept. 29 headline read, “C.D.C. Pleas for Pregnant or Breastfeeding People to Get Vaccinated.” Really, as if men can breastfeed.
Transgender ideologues have likewise seized control of how political and even medical organizations talk about basic health and biology.
“Although the overall risk of severe illness is low,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement in August, “pregnant people and recently pregnant people are at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 when compared to non-pregnant people.”
The National Organization for Women (emphasis mine, and don’t miss the irony here) added elsewhere, “Climate change is absolutely a health crisis. Pregnant people are experiencing health complications because of bad air quality and dirty water.”
“We know that vaccines are safe and effective for people who are pregnant or hoping to become pregnant, but too few of them are getting vaccinated,” Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Nov. 9.
This remains one of the most amusing facts of modern politics and culture. Feminism is always, always, always sidelined in favor of competing special interest groups that work against women. In this case specifically, the demands of transgender ideology require the suppression of the word “women.” It is being erased from basic speech in service of honoring men who identify as women.
This is what some would call “irony.”
