Show notes
This presentation is written and narrated by Dr Karleen Gribble, a researcher specialising in maternal and child health with particular expertise in breastfeeding and lactation policy.
Dr Gribble argues that the replacement of sex-based language like "women," "mothers," and "breastfeeding" with gender-neutral terms like "pregnant people," "birthing bodies," and "chest feeding" in healthcare represents a failure of evidence-based medicine, cultural imperialism, and abuse of institutional power. She traces how this language shift originated in the United States around 2010–15 and spread globally through academic journals, publishers, health organisations, and funding bodies.
She contends that these changes are being implemented without any research demonstrating benefits, while the limited existing studies show women find the language confusing, offensive, or dehumanising. Dr Gribble argues this is particularly problematic because it violates public health principles requiring clear communication, may harm vulnerable women with low health literacy, and imposes Western gender ideology on non-Western cultures. She documents how researchers and health professionals who question this shift face professional retaliation, and how her own research proposals to study the impact of desexed language were rejected as offensive.
Dr Gribble calls for urgent research on the actual health impacts of this language change and a return to evidence-based practice that prioritises clear, dignified communication in women's healthcare.
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