The Word ‘ Mother ’ Is No Longer A Gender-Specific Term….

[naomi24]

….Government lawyers told the High Court yesterday.

Ben Jaffey QC, acting for the Department of Health, made the claim during a court hearing as a female-to-male parent attempted to be registered as the father of his child, despite giving birth to the baby.

If the legal bid is successful, the child would be the first to have no legally recognised mother.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6707155/Men-called-mothers-no-longer-gender-specific-term.html

What utter tripe! Confusion reigns! Poor kid.

[dannyk13]

The mad mad world of PC.

[naomi24]

I think it's an insult.

[cassa333]

Just because someone augments their body to appear as something differently does not change the biology of that person.

That person gave birth to the child as a fully functioning woman and should absolutely be defined as the mother.

What that person then goes on to chose for themselves does not change the first.

[naomi24]

The parent (for want of a better word) wants to register as the father - even though she gave birth to the baby. This reminds me of the opening line of that wonderful old American comedy show 'Soap'. 'Confused? You will be ..."

[youngmafbog]

This has now gone beyond a joke.

She gave birth - men have no womb and cannot. Therefore at the point of birth, when registered, she was the mother. End of.

Stand by for mercilessness bullying of this poor kid in a few years time.

[ludwig]

Never has the saying 'If my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle' been more true than it is today.

[Kromovaracun]

The person making this argument was arguing against the claim that the unnamed trans man should be recognised as the child's father. In other words, he's trying to make their claim look as ridiculous as possible.

There's nothing in the claim so far as I can see which characterises motherhood as gender-neutral. The person in question has legally transitioned to become a man, and in accordance with that, wants to be registered as the child's father. He obviously does view mother as being a gendered word - that's why he's putting this claim in the first place. If he didn't, he wouldn't care about being legally a man and also registered as the child's mother.

[youngmafbog]

Still Cobras Krom.

And still will lead to merciless bullying down the line. Still, so long as TROB are happy who cares about the poor kid eh?

[Kromovaracun]

Children bully each other for all kinds of reasons. I'm not sure how that's relevant.

[agchristie]

Crikey,we are all going to be blown to maternity...

Anne Drodginus has a lot to answer for.

Incidentally,my ex boss,a female in her early 50's was granted 'paternity leave' for her daughter...

[Kromovaracun]

Also, the parent in this case seems to agree with you. They think motherhood should be reserved for people who are women, and according to the link he is legally a man.

You can object to that if you want to. But then we're into the argument about whether people should be allowed to legally change gender at all.

[Mamyalynne]

Bullying may come from children brought up in families where they hear 'This is all cobras - end of!'.

Good that we are mostly teaching our children to be understanding of differences.

[youngmafbog]

"Good that we are mostly teaching our children to be understanding of differences."

I think you have your head in the sand. You cannot honestly believe that?

[Mamyalynne]

I can only speak for the circles I move in - I grant you many are not, sad but true.

[ummmm]

I agree with Mamy. I never bullied anyone and neither have my children...regardless.

[ludwig]

// Good that we are mostly teaching our children to be understanding of differences. //

I agree Mamya. If we could all apply that principle to the Answerbank, there's be a lot less bickering about what people say and how they choose to say it on here.

[mushroom25]

//She gave birth - men have no womb and cannot. //

not yet, maybe, but it's coming...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/06/live-birth-dead-donor-definition-motherhood-transplants-pregnancy

which will put paid to one of the more amusing sequences from "Life of Brian":-

[Old_Geezer]

They should never have started this stupidity.
Oh ! What a tangled web we weave...

[weecalf]

Like I said afore who ever is peddling this PC tripe should stand up and be counted .Do you think they exist ?My mother is my mother and no matter what is going down that’s way it remains.

[andy-hughes]

Keep calm and carry on, 'The Ministry' had this all sorted out decades ago -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_(The_Avengers)