The British National Health Service (NHS) in Brighton and Sussex will prohibit midwives from using the word “mother” and other exclusively female words when discussing motherhood with patients. The new language policy for medical institutions is designed to protect the feelings of transgender people. This was announced in the Twitter -account of the unit.
“Mother”, “maternal” and other related words are proposed to be replaced with gender-neutral expressions such as “parent parent”. The change will also affect conversations about breastfeeding: “breastmilk” is proposed to be denoted by the neologism “chestmilk” – literally it is translated the same way, but does not contain a word for female breast. Other options are “human milk” or “milk from a nursing parent”.
“We are trying to protect transgender and non-binary people who use our services from additional pressure due to terminology that has a significant impact on their psychological and emotional well-being,” – said in a press release.
It is noted that the new rules will affect not only direct communication with patients, but also publications of a medical organization in social networks and on official websites.
Earlier in February, it became known that the United States wanted to allow transgender people to participate in women’s competitions.