Language
"
How gender ideology is erasing the words “woman” and “mother”.
The word “woman” is being dismantled and reduced to body parts such as “people with vulva” or “uterus-haver”, or is being replaced by a so-called more “inclusive language” to now include men.
Language is fundamentally important to the struggle for women’s rights. It is not possible to conceptualise, campaign for or practice women’s rights if the word “woman” is erased or compromised by the inclusion of men into the category of women. Femina Helvetica argues that the word “woman” exclusively means “adult human female”.
“Gender identity” campaigners have had considerable success in changing our language and creating neologisms that incorporate their ideology into laws and policies. The word “woman” is being replaced by terms such as “menstruators”, “uterus-havers” or “people with vulvas”. This language dehumanizes women, as it focuses on body parts, which can be used for sexual or reproductive services, and is reminiscent of porn sites or the surrogacy industry. It is also striking that the word “mother” is being replaced by the expression “birthing parent”, whilst the words “man” and “father” remain intact.
Claiming to adopt a “trans”-inclusive approach, official institutions are now readily using those expressions, e.g. the Swiss Radio and Television (RTS/SRF) and the Red Cross. A lesbian health booklet (Les Klamydia) uses the term “vulva owners having sex with vulva owners”, pregnant women have become “pregnant people”, and abortion rights are now about “concerned people” (Santé Sexuelle Suisse, a government funded body for sexual health).
This change of language is promoted by LGBTQ organizations, such as LGBTQI Label or Rainbow cities. Private institutions and companies buy the LGBTQI Label and, as a result, adapt their language to meet the label’s requirements. When celebrating Mother’s Day, an HR department suggested celebrating “Parent’s Day” instead. Swiss companies, from ABB, Nestlé, SBB/CFF or Swiss Post to UBS, as well as public institutions, such as the Canton of Geneva, the City of Bern and the City of Zurich, are promised an increase in their economic success and a better image as an organisation. LGBTQI Label sells the label and training and, in return, the companies are required to meet various demands, both linguistic and organisational. This way, the forced language reaches every aspect of the company’s life.
Anyone who dares to talk about the material, biological reality of sex is insulted, threatened, reported, cancelled, doxxed or harassed on social media, as a form of punishment for not complying.
Some campaigners try to include men in the category of “women”, under the German acronym FLINTA or FINTA (Frauen, Lesben, Intersex, Nonbinär, Trans, Asexuell – women, lesbians, inter, nonbinary, trans, and agender). This idea was introduced into politics when, in July 2023, the Social Democratic Party SP in Zurich replaced their quota for women with a quota for FINTA, so it now includes men. According to the 12 December, 2024, edition of the newspaper Der Bund, the City of Bern is ready to introduce a quota for FINTA. In the French-speaking part of the country, some activists have been replacing women-only events by events including men under the banner “chosen diversity” (In French: “mixité choisie”). Note that while the word “women” is being replaced, the word “men” always stays untouched.
Gender identity ideology promotes an increasing use of so-called “inclusive language”, which implies there are different kinds of “genders”, and that “gender” is more important than sex. The asterisk* added to the word woman* robs the word of any meaning because it includes men.
Another distortion of the language is the use of an x at the end of a word, as employed by the media in French-speaking Switzerland. To address “everyone” (“tous”), the unpronounceable neologism ‘tous.te.x.s’ is used. This abomination has also reached politics: the Young Green Party is starting to use it as well.
To prioritise “gender” over sex, gender identity ideology urges people to add their pronouns in their signature and biography (e.g. “she/they”). See the website of the Lesbian Organisation of Switzerland, LOS, for example.
The linguistic evolution of male transvestites
The language describing men who want to be known as women has undergone considerable changes in past decades. Until the 1990s, the most common word for a heterosexual man who wore what he considered to be women’s clothes was “transvestite”. Those who had undertaken surgery were called “transsexuals”. In the late 20th and early 21st century, language has been significantly transformed by the efforts of transactivists. Initially, the expression “MtF” (male to female) was used, suggesting that a “transition” or an actual sex change was possible. Later “transwoman” (in one word) appeared, and today “trans” has become an adjective, as used in “trans woman”. It implies that men who want to be known as women are a subset of women.
Some men not only claim to be women, but also claim the status of “mother”. The book “Women’s Rights, Gender Wrongs” (ed. Kath Aiken and Sally Wainwright, 2023) warns about this political agenda: "Reproductive exploitation is at the core of the post-queer agenda and the appropriation of women's reproductive capacity is at the core of patriarchy. The main arguments at stake are the need to de-biologize maternity, to recognize 'gender identity' as an a-biological, inclusive and progressive perspective based on subjective feelings, and the right to be the 'genetic' mother or father according to one's wishes and bio-technological possibilities."
Femina Helvetica wishes to reclaim the word “woman” and the word “mother”, and therefore uses sex-based language that is accurate and reflects reality.
Links to supporting documentation of this issue.
-
Santé Sexuelle Suisse uses the expression “pregnant people” (personnes enceintes)
https://www.sante-sexuelle.ch/nos-activites/actualites/monitoring-bericht-sexuelle-gesundheit-in-der-schweiz-2022 -
Swiss Television RTS talks about a “person with vulva” (personne à vulve)
https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/14076924-informer-sur-les-douleurs-sexuelles-batir-pour-garder-le-frais-et-decouvrir-les-vertus-des-plantes.html -
Swiss Television RTS uses the expression “person who menstruates” (une personne menstruée), July 2022
https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/13176406-podcast-le-conge-menstruel-cest-vraiment-une-bonne-idee.html -
Swiss Television SRF talks about “people who menstruate” (menstruierende Personen)
https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/we-myself--why/video/du-und-deine-menstruation?urn=urn:srf:video:872d849d-0fa9-44de-bcc1-39f2dfb820d0 -
Red Cross Campaign uses the expression “people with vulva” (les personnes ayant une vulve)
https://www.migesplus.ch/fr/publications/sur-toutes-les-levres -
The association Les Klamydia uses the expression “vulva owners having sex with vulva owners” (Guide du safer sex entre femmes/personnes ayant une vulve)
https://www.klamydias.ch/_files/ugd/75991f_46dc3de525b0426ca6bb1ae0c6421e52.pdf -
Midwifery teaches about “pregnant men”, “pregnant non-binaries” and lactation for “transmen” and “transwomen”
https://sonar.rero.ch/hesso/documents/326866 -
The Social Democratic Party in Zurich replaces quota for women by quota for FINTA, July 2023
https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/zuercher-sp-ersetzt-frauenquote-durch-finta-quote-ld.1745865 -
The city of Bern ready to adopt quota for FINTA (Women and queer), October 2024
https://www.derbund.ch/finta-quote-bern-mehr-queere-und-frauen-in-stadtverwaltung-328584583960 -
The student association of the Geneva University CUAE explaining the concept of “chosen diversity” (La mixité choisie), November 2021
https://cuae.ch/la-mixite-choisie-comme-outil-de-lutte/ -
Explanation of the asterisk (*) that follows the word woman by la Ligue vaudoise, March 2019
https://www.ligue-vaudoise.ch/nation/articles/4151 -
Student association Adefep using the x as an inclusive language
https://www.unige.ch/asso-etud/adefep/ -
Young Green Party displaying the x as an inclusive language
https://jeunesverts.ch/actualites/news/v/junge-gruene-pruefen-referendum-zum-geaenderten-zivildienstgesetz -
Website of Renversé explaining the usage of the x
https://renverse.co/analyses/Pour-des-lieux-de-formation-resolument-feministes-et-revolutionnaires-2-5-2090 -
Lesbian umbrella organization LOS displaying pronouns in signatures
https://www.los.ch/das-los-team/ -
Kath Aiken (ed), Sally Wainwright (ed), Women’s Rights, Gender Wrongs: the global impact of gender-identity ideology, 2023
https://www.orellfuessli.ch/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1069984753