Make it BP

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

It occurs to me that “mother” and “father” (and their equivalents in other languages) must be the most emotionally loaded words in any language. We all have them and many of us grow up to be one or the other. We wouldn’t exist without the people behind the words. The words matter. Right? I’m not suggesting some weird incomprehensible notion, yeah?

Now this:

A government bureaucracy pretends there is no such thing as a “mother.”

Comments

8 responses to “Make it BP”

  1. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    So are we now to have “Birthing Parent’s Day”? What about Father’s Day? Will there be a similar change? Are motherboards now birthing parent boards? And how will people respond when called a birthing parent fucker? The questions are endless…

    In botany, we have megaspore mother cells. I guess this year I need to teach about megaspore birthing parent cells?

    And should we now have god-birthing parents? The birthing parent of all [fill in the blank]? The birthing parent lode? And here’s one for you: My father remarried after my “birthing parent” died. His wife cannot legitimately be called step-birthing parent, since she did not give birth to me (though she did give birth to other children; is that how we get around that? So what about those who didn’t?)

    And just try grand-birthing parent on my grandmother! She would “slap you silly” for that. And she’d be right, because it is silly. But more than silly, it’s insulting.

  2. Peter N Avatar
    Peter N

    Holy Mary, birthing parent of god, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

  3. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Birthing parent fucker! Hahahahahahahaha

  4. Helicam Avatar
    Helicam

    I object to this “birthing parent” stuff. My spouse and I attained our status as parents through adoption. Since there is clearly no legitimate gender-based difference in our roles as parents, we prefer to be labelled as “adoptive parent A” and “adoptive parent B”, and expect all legal forms to reflect this. We reserve the right to switch A & B if we’re feeling lexicographically fluid.

  5. Holms Avatar
    Holms

    So are we now to have “Birthing Parent’s Day”? What about Father’s Day?

    Squirting Parent’s Day.

  6. Mike B Avatar
    Mike B

    Birthing Parent Earth.

    Inseminating Parent Time.

    Our Inseminating Parent, who art in Heaven . . .

    Holy Mary, Birthing Parent of God…

    The multisyllabic possibilities are endless.

  7. Southwest88 Avatar
    Southwest88

    Make sure to cross out the offensive term and write “mother” over it. If anybody gives you any lip about that, give them an earful.

  8. Rev David Brindley Avatar
    Rev David Brindley

    Sall is a hero of mine. She has successfully fought off men wanting to invade the women only group she created, and is now setting feathers amok about the language on government forms.

    A media personality who recently had a child says she was offended after being handed a hospital form that said “birthing parent” instead of mother.

    Sall Grover said she was outraged by the Medicare form and took to Twitter – as well as several media interviews – to complain.

    “It is dehumanising, ridiculous language,” she told the Today Show on Thursday.

    “If the word ‘mother’ bothers you so much, motherhood is going to be quite a shock.”

    Her complaints sparked immediate action from the Albanese government.

    Government Services Minister Bill Shorten has said he will scrap the gender inclusive forms and cited an interview Ms Grover did with the Daily Telegraph when explaining his decision.

    Mr Shorten tweeted on Thursday morning he had read the newspaper story that mentioned a “pilot program launched in three hospitals under the previous coalition government”.

    “When I was informed of this situation yesterday, I instructed the responsible officials they should cease using the previous government’s forms,” Mr Shorten wrote.

    “They will be replaced with new forms that use the word mother, not birthing parent, which is consistent with other Medicare forms.”

    Advocates say that using gender neutral language such as “birthing parent” can help include people who would otherwise be excluded.

    Each year in Australia, several men give birth to children. In 2014-2015, as many as 55 men gave birth, according to Medicare records.

    That’s possible because not everyone’s gender identity matches the reproductive organs they were born with.

    The federal government in 2013 amended the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to introduce new protections from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status.

    The change meant that government records should reflect the fact that some people identify with a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth.

    https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/pregnancy/government-services-minister-bill-shorten-says-he-will-scrap-gender-inclusive-language-on-official-forms/news-story/6ae2f5ac4685f6f26e29e1a13fbc91e9

    If you don’t already follow @salltweets, do so; you won’t regret it. If you’re a woman, go take a look at giggle on appstore or google play.

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