Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Dr Karleen Gribble, who works in the field of maternal and infant health, on the impacts of desexed language on women’s healthcare and wellbeing.

My new paper argues it is time to ditch “gender” except in relation to “gender identity.”

"The use of “gender” to refer to sex, the social expectations of the sexes, and gender identity... is hampering important discussions...with real-world implications."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

🌍 This #ResourceTuesday, we're spotlighting ICM's position on The Role of Midwives in Humanitarian Crises.

In line with #IDM2025—Midwives: Critical in Every Crisis—this resource calls for midwives to be central to emergency response & preparedness efforts.

📄 Learn more: zurl.co/4PtGK

I believe that birth certificates should record biological parentage. This Australian (NSW) example illustrates one reason why this is important- a married couple discover they share a father. There are many such examples and it is a common worry of people who are donor conceived or adopted.

The Sullivan Review on data collection recommended against "sex assigned at birth" due to inaccuracy. It also had this graph. Females face sex discrimination globally, at the extreme this is fatal. The idea that anyone assigns infants to this fate is extremely offensive www.gov.uk/government/p...

Really helpful article from colleagues who are able to articulate this challenge with the nuance required - Reconsidering “inclusive language”.
Thank you @drkarleeng.bsky.social @mathisenroger.bsky.social & colleagues
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Excellent work from @drkarleeng.bsky.social and her group.
"Sex and Gender Identity: Data Collection and Language Considerations for Human Research Ethics Committees and Researchers"
#SexNotGender
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

This is a fantastic article from Carole Hooven. Confusion of sex and sex characteristics is rife and there is a lot of misinformation. Nonetheless, there are only two sexes but there is enormous variation in sex characteristics between and within species. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/20/o...

New @aunz.theconversation.com article with Nina Chad and @naomihull.bsky.social addressing a new trend promising more sleep for parents on Tiktok!
theconversation.com/feeding-your...

Today is 3 years since the paper on importance of sexed language was published. It's had 175 000 reads/downloads in 160+ countries and has an attention score in the top 0.01%. I am grateful to my coauthors who agreed to jump into the void with me! www.frontiersin.org/journals/glo...

The downside to submitting 12 papers and book chapters for publication last year is that they come back from review and require alteration/response and then proofing!

The second paper from the BiBS Study is online in the @RACGP journal on general practitioner support for pregnant women, new mothers and infants and young children before, during and after disasters. www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2025/ja...

Over 2020-21, the USCDC gradually desexed their health communications. We documented some of this in Supplementary file 1 of our paper on the importance of sexed language. www.frontiersin.org/journals/glo... In the last few days, language has reverted back to sexed terms.

The most vulnerable mothers and infants are at risk because of the 'female data gap'. This includes breastfeeding women in areas of Ebola outbreaks. In a new paper we outline a research roadmap for evidence-based recommendations on Ebola and breastfeeding. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

What do Ugandans think of desexed terms like 'person with a uterus’, ‘person who menstruates’, ‘birthing parent,’ ‘chest feeding’?

First, "disrespectful" "obscene and shameful”

Second, confusing.

The cultural imperialism of pressure to desex language from US/West is obvious.

This is well worth a watch. A number of speakers are authors in an upcoming book I also have a chapter in. My chapter is, 'The desexing of language in women’s health research and care: a story of marginalisation of science, cultural imperialism and abuse of power.'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qif_...

More new resources from the Australian Breastfeeding Association Bushfire Project are online. Go to www.breastfeeding.asn.au/supporting-f... to see animations for emergency responders on: * psychological first aid for babies and toddlers
* mother-baby areas in disaster recovery.

Some new resources from the Australian Breastfeeding Association Bushfire Project are online. Go to breastfeeding.asn.au/emergency-re... to see animations on emergency preparedness for families with a baby or toddler and breastfeeding through a disaster pic.x.com/LQdkv6iRbS

1/ New paper on submissions to Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council on language to refer to women and data collection on sex and gender identity. The submissions were supported by >200 academics, clinicians, women's health orgs and advocates. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...