Language
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The word “woman” is being dismantled and reduced to body parts such as “people with vulva” or “person with uterus”, 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”, “people with uterus” or “people with vulvas”. This language dehumanizes women as human beings, 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 these expressions, e.g. the Swiss Radio and Television (RTS/SRF) and the Red Cross. A lesbian health booklet uses the term “vulva owners having sex with vulva owners” (Les Klamydia), pregnant mothers have become “pregnant people”, and abortion rights are now about “concerned people” (Santé Sexuelle Suisse, a government funded body for sexual health). Some private institutions or companies have changed their language, too: when celebrating Mother’s Day, an HR department suggested to celebrate “Parent’s Day” instead. This change of language is promoted by LGBTQ organizations, such as LGBTQI Label and Rainbow cities. The LGBTQI Label has been awarded to Swiss companies such as SBB/CFF and some Swiss banks, as well as public institutions such as the Canton of Geneva, the City of Bern and the City of Zurich.
Anyone who dares to talk about the material, biological reality of sex is insulted as “TERF” (Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist), denounced, 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”), meaning everyone but “cis” men. Note that while the word “women” is being replaced, the word “men” always stays untouched.
Gender identity ideology displays an increasing use of so-called “inclusive language”, which suggests there are different kinds of “genders”, and that “gender” is more important than sex. The asterisk* added to the word woman*, for instance – signifying the inclusion of all genders (i.e also men) in the category of women – warps the meaning of the word and woman becomes a confusing category that cannot be clearly defined. Another distortion of language is the usage of an x at the end of words, as utilized by Renversé. To address its audience, all (“Tous”), Renversé decides to write “Tous.te.x.s”, an unpronounceable word. This abomination has also reached politics: the Young Green Party is starting to use it as well.
To show that “gender” is more important than sex, gender identity ideology encourages 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 transsexuals
The language describing men who identify as women and the “transgender” vocabulary 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 trans campaigners. Initially, the expression “MtF” (male to female) was used, suggesting a “transition” or actual sex change. Later “transwoman” (in one word) appeared, and today “trans” has become an adjective, as used in “trans woman”. It implies that men who identify as women are a subset of women. These men claim real “womanhood” and bully people by shouting “trans women are women”. But if men who appropriate womanhood are “women”, the word “woman” is rendered meaningless, and it becomes very difficult to define women’s oppression or women’s rights, or indeed to protect, support and empower women as a sex class.
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.
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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
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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
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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