Gender and Terminology: A Message to Birth Professionals

As a birth-worker dedicated to equality and access to quality care, it is important to mention some key points about language and inclusion.

Awareness of the terminology we choose to use about the people we serve, is something we must bring to the front of our minds. For instance, always calling all pregnant clients “women” is limiting and excludes a portion of our population.

Another example is breast massage. Breast massage is an important treatment that can be offered to perinatal clients. “Breast” is a word laden with social and emotional implications as well as historically gender-specific meaning. The truth is, breast tissue is not limited to women. Not all people who are pregnant, give birth and lactate identify as female. Not all people who lactate identify with having breasts.

Our clients are constantly flooded with “mamma this” and “mother that” on the internet, birth groups on Facebook, and even in clinics and perinatal massage therapy offices. In a female-dominated space, birth givers who identify as trans, non-binary, or gender queer may not feel safe or empowered, let alone included in the birth experience.

Let’s talk about gender inclusive language rather than gender neutral language.

We want to avoid erasure because we don’t want to neutralize experiences. We are not erasing women by using gender inclusive terminology. We are not changing the fact that birth and breastfeeding can be powerful for women and an important part of the female identity. Our goal as compassionate professionals is to open the circle to create safe spaces for our trans, non-binary, and gender queer friends to also have empowered birth and postpartum experiences.

It is important to know your audience and not make assumptions about gender based on looks. Something that has helped my own practice is a section on my intake form that asks about my clients’ pronouns. This gives my client the space to identify themselves, if they choose. It also lets them know that I have awareness about gender as a social construct.

We CAN change our language to better communicate with each client, to establish rapport and trust, and to provide better care. What words resonate with your client? We won’t know unless we ask. There are a variety of words that can be used interchangeably or depending on the situation, to describe the clients in this population. They include:

•      Pregnant people/person

•      Women/woman

•      Client

•      New mother

•      New parent

•      Birth parent

•      Gestational parent

To name a few…

 Regarding breast health, what words does your client prefer?

Universally calling this area the chest and referring to lactation strictly as “Chest feeding,” while including people who do not identify with breasts, is also extremely limiting because it can negate the lived experience of women who identify with having breasts, which in my experience is the majority of my clientele. I think that having awareness about gender terminology in the back of your mind, continuing your personal education on the topic of inclusion, and communicating one-on-one with each client about the terminology that empowers them are all helpful steps toward progress.

Know that at some point you are going to mess up. That is ok. Let’s all be willing to apologize and try again.