At the university clinics in Sussex in England, the staff should now use gender-neutral language - so that trans people also feel addressed.
Brighton / Sussex - The outcry in Germany was great when it became known that the online Duden should become gender neutral *.
Some criticize the reform and consider gender language to be nonsense *.
The others cannot understand why critics whine about it *.
The change in the German dictionary was initially only about the clear distinction between male and female terms
What would happen if the third gender were also explicitly listed?
The UK seems to be a little further on this - for example in the maternity wards at the University Clinics of Sussex in Brighton.
In the future, trans- and non-binary people should also feel equal and welcome there at all times - after all, these children can also give birth.
More precisely, this means that hospital staff should pay more attention to trans-friendly vocabulary in the future.
Accordingly, the “mother” would become a “birthing parent” and the “breast milk” would become “human milk” or “milk from the feeding parent”.
As the British news site
Metro
reports, the words "parent" or "co-parent" should also appear in place of the term "father".
In this way, the clinics want to "make up for the historical exclusion of trans- and non-binary people on the maternity wards," as the portal quotes from a communication.
He continues: “Gender identity can be a source of oppression and health inequalities.
We deliberately use the words “women” and “people” in one, to make it clear that we are committed to eliminating inequalities. ”The new language policy of Sussex University Clinics, however, does not completely exclude traditional terms.
In antenatal courses, for example, staff are free to continue using the words “mother” and “father” - provided it is clear that no trans person is taking part.
It is no coincidence, by the way, that a clinic in the county of Sussex is a British pioneer in promoting gender-neutral language.
According to
Metro,
Brighton has an
above-average number of LGBTQ + people - so it is more common for trans people to give birth there.
* Merkur and tz are part of the Ippen-Digital editorial network
