I have no use for modern, liberal “feminism.” A movement that prides itself on the legal “right” to kill a child in the womb and spends its energy demanding said “right” is anything but feminine. It is a monstrous deformation of everything truly womanly. It is vile.

The nicest thing I can say about “feminists” who disparage men and all evidence of true masculinity is that they are absolute fools. You will never see me climb aboard the Man-Hating Train.

This doesn’t mean I’m blind, however, to the ways in which women in our culture truly are — even in 2017 — not treated with the respect and dignity women deserve.

Specifically where medicine is concerned, there are a few things that need to change. It’s long overdue. The limits of women’s forbearance has been exceeded.

My Cervix is What?

For instance:

Hysterectomy: I can’t think of another medical/surgical term still in use today that actually has no basis in science, medicine, human biology, or fact. To “ectomy” something is to remove it. So what is this “hyster”? Where is this peculiar organ located and what does it do? I’ve never heard of such a bodily organ, yet “hyster”s are “ectomy”ed all over the world every day.

This offensive term goes back to the ancient Greeks and a ridiculous belief that “hysteria” in a woman could be treated by removing her uterus, the supposed source of the “hysteria.” Cut out the womb, and the woman is all cured. (We can save for another time the discussion of how atrocious and stupid this “medicine” was.)

It is profoundly offensive to women to continue to refer to the uterus as a source of hysteria. 

Why, in the era of modern medicine, is this insulting and absurd terminology still used? Why can’t modern medicine be bothered to be medically accurate and respectful when speaking of a woman’s anatomy? Because it’s just too much trouble at this point to change the name of the procedure to reflect what it really is? Sorry, Doc, that’s an unacceptable excuse.

Get your medical act together and call it what it is. How about uterinectomy? Or, using the Latin word for uterus, a matricisectomy?

It is profoundly offensive to women to continue to refer to the uterus as a source of hysteria and the removal of the womb as a cure for hysteria. This continued disrespect to women is unprofessional and undignified.

Incompetent cervix: I encountered this one with all my pregnancies when I experienced pre-term labor. When the cervix begins to dilate too soon in pregnancy, the woman gets this lovely label. She’s got an “incompetent” cervix. A stupid, lazy, incapable cervix that isn’t doing its job. Incompetent, worthless body part causing all kinds of trouble.

It’s a designation subliminally laden with blame, even though it’s beyond a woman’s control.

Yes, sometimes the cervix dilates prematurely, and often it can be weakened, and therefore premature delivery is a real threat for baby and Mom. A cervix prone to premature dilation needs to be watched and possibly stitched (called a cerclage).

I guess my question is, why isn’t a man dealing with erectile dysfunction ever told he has an “incompetent” male organ? Do I need to say more?

Thanks For Calling Me Old

Hostile cervical mucus: (My apologies if talking about mucus is awkward for anyone.) The facts of life are that sperm cells are rather particular little buggers. They can’t survive without just the right stuff, and when a woman’s cervical mucus isn’t quite the right stuff, sperm cells will never live long enough to get to their desired destination. This is a common cause of infertility, and it’s also one that is often successfully treated.

But “hostile”? Really? It may be infertile mucus, but it’s not hostile. There’s no aggression here, or deliberate intent to destroy. C’mon, Doc. A woman already struggling with infertility isn’t helped by being told her body is “hostile” to sperm.

Senile gravida:  Every woman who has had a baby knows this lingo. It refers to the pregnancy and number of pregnancies and para, the number of live births. So a woman who has been pregnant four times and delivered four living children would be gravida 4, para 4. If she becomes pregnant a fifth time, she would be gravida 5, para 4.

I think we all know what senile means, yes? “A deterioration of mental functioning, as a result of old age or disease; belonging to old age; geriatric.” So put it all together, and you’ve got an old, deteriorating, geriatric gravida.

A man who fathers a child in his fifties isn’t called a senile father.

The real kicker is that women get this insulting label after age 35. Thirty-five. When I was pregnant with my youngest, my chart was graced with the giant letters AMA right on the front. Advanced Maternal Age. I was 41. The “advanced” was not a compliment, but an alert: Old Mom Here.

Gee, thanks.

I understand that a woman’s fertility begins to drop sharply after age 35. Pregnancy at age 20 is a different experience than pregnancy at age 40 and doctors have to consider a woman’s age in regards to her prenatal care.

Nevertheless, a man who fathers a child in his fifties isn’t called a senile father, nor would his sperm be classified as senile. I think the medical community can find a more respectful way to categorize pregnant women by age. 

We Deserve Better

These are just a few examples of the way medicine insults the dignity of women with ridiculous, insensitive, and even sexist language. Yet these are easy fixes, if the medical community would just remember that women are people worthy of respect, and make the effort to change their terminology.

Again, this isn’t about crying misogyny. Having been on the receiving end of some of these offensive medical terms, I believe the medical community needs to change the way they talk about women and women’s bodies. Women deserve better.

And while we wait for these linguistic fixes, I look forward to reading about all the “hysters” being removed from men around the world, and about their “incompetent”, eh, well, you-know-what. Heh.