Pregnant Persons Vol. 2

Sometime ago I wrote an article about the Health Sector referring to pregnant persons as "pregnant people" instead of "pregnant women." You can find it here.

Today, I read an article standing against the use of "pregnant people" to refer to anyone who is pregnant. Read it here.

And here follows my response to that article:

I don't see how using the term "pregnant people" to be inclusive of trans men, non binary, intersex and genderqueer persons "shifts the focus away from gender as a means by which female bodies are controlled and problematises bodies themselves."
We all know that to become pregnant you need a female reproductive system.
We also know that the majority of persons on this planet who have female reproductive systems are cis females.

The author claims "I sincerely doubt that anyone thinks people with wombs have the word “FEMALE” imprinted in their bones," which I find ignorant to say the least. Unfortunately, many people out there have no idea what the difference between sex and gender is, and don't even recognise trans, queer, intersex and non binary folks' existence. Transphobia/queerphobia exists and it's dangerous.

She also says "It’s a way of using language to create the illusion of dismantling a hierarchy when what you really end up doing is ignoring it." How is the hierarchy ignored by being inclusive of trans men, queer, intersex and non binary persons? We know that persons with non female reproductive systems usually make decisions affecting persons with female reproductive systems. That doesn't get erased because we use the term "pregnant persons." 

Towards the end she states that "In order to address this we need to talk about women as a class. Gender-neutral terms limit our ability to do this." Does she forget that trans men belong to a marginalised social group? That even though they may benefit from male privilege in their everyday life -if they are 'passable'- they face horrific discrimination from medical professionals and in other fields? And what about gender queer, non binary and intersex folks who are marginalised as well, and also suffer from discrimination in almost every aspect of their lives? These people often have their whole existence devalued and not recognised by the state. Many times their health is compromised because the Health Sector won't even try to accommodate their needs. What about them as a class? They actually face more discrimination than women, and have a higher possibility of being raped or murdered. "Pregnant persons" whether referring to women, trans men, queer, non binary or intersex persons still refers to classes which are not at the top of the pyramid, which are not -often- given a place in decision making on their own reproductive health. 

If the author's aim is to see this issue through the prism of sociology, if "The pregnant body is not an isolated, solipsistically self-defining object. It exists in time, within a specific social, historical and political context," she also has to recognise the nature and synthesis of today's society. 
This is the era of lgbtqai+ revolution, it's the time when we try to be more inclusive, more accepting, and more aware. It's the era when feminism is intersectional and no longer restricted to what happens to cis females.