Pezaro, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5767-0708, Pendleton, J.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6660-5681, van der Waal, R.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2152-2695, LaChance Adams, S.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0436-9812, Santos, M.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4804-1843, Bainbridge, Ash
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0075-8853, Istha, K., Maeder, Z., Gilmore, J.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3943-0724, Webster, J., Lai‐Boyd, Bunty, Brennan, A. and Newnham, E.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9080-769X
(2024)
Gender‐inclusive language in midwifery and perinatal services: A guide and argument for justice.
Birth.
pp. 1-13.
ISSN 0730-7659 (print); 1523-536X (web)
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Abstract
Effective communication in relation to pregnancy and birth is crucial to quality care. A recent focus in reproductive healthcare on “sexed language” reflects an ideology of unchangeable sex binary and fear of erasure, from both cisgender women and the profession of midwifery. In this paper, we highlight how privileging sexed language causes harm to all who birth—including pregnant trans, gender diverse, and non‐binary people—and is, therefore, unethical and incompatible with the principles of midwifery. We show how this argument, which conflates midwifery with essentialist thinking, is unstable, and perpetuates and misappropriates midwifery's marginalized status. We also explore how sex and gender essentialism can be understood as colonialist, heteropatriarchal, and universalist, and therefore, reinforcing of these harmful principles. Midwifery has both the opportunity and duty to uphold reproductive justice. Midwifery can be a leader in the decolonization of childbirth and in defending the rights of all childbearing people, the majority of whom are cisgender women. As the systemwide use of inclusive language is central to this commitment, we offer guidance in relation to how inclusive language in perinatal and midwifery services may be realized.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Discrete Keywords: | gender, intersectional feminism, inclusive language, midwifery, equity, pregnancy, reproductive justice |
Divisions: | College of Health, Life and Environmental Sciences > School of Nursing and Midwifery |
Related URLs: | |
Copyright Info: | © 2024 The Authors. Birth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC., This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., You are not required to obtain permission to reuse this article. |
SWORD Depositor: | Prof. Pub Router |
Depositing User: | Katherine Small |
Date Deposited: | 06 Jun 2024 09:35 |
Last Modified: | 06 Jun 2024 09:35 |
URI: | https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/id/eprint/13981 |
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