[Ads-l] "pregnant people"

Stanton McCandlish smccandlish at GMAIL.COM
Thu Sep 23 17:04:51 UTC 2021


Trans-related language-change activism seems to be making inroads into
major newsrooms.  From today's *Washington Post*: "Far too many pregnant
people remain at high risk of covid-19. It didn’t have to be this way."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/21/far-too-many-pregnant-people-remain-high-risk-covid-19-it-didnt-have-be-this-way/

I think this will continue at left-leaning publishers, because lots of
trans activists are strongly motivated to complain any time they see
"pregnant women", but hardly anyone is motivated enough to write a letter,
even an electronic one, if they encounter "pregnant people".  Many probably
don't even recognize it as socio-politically charged activism.  They'll
just think it's poor writing, which the news is increasingly full of, as
editorial review decreases the more pressure there is to get material out
faster and faster via as many channels as possible. (I think most of us by
now are used to the average major-newspaper article having multiple typos
in it.)

For an "interesting" time, check out recurrent internal debates at
Wikipedia as well, about using language like "persons with prostate
glands", "people who menstruate", etc., at medical articles.

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