The Desecration Of The Word Woman Amidst Inclusivity

I applaud and welcome a more inclusive, accepting, loving world. 

To love each other in our unique expression is wonderful, it’s progress, it’s needed.

However…I have noticed a very gradual eradication of the word WOMAN in women’s work. 

In reference to a woman’s cycle, I’ve seen the word WOMAN replaced with ‘menstruators’, ‘people with womb’s’, ‘people with periods’. 

If that’s what a person wants to call themselves – fine. 

But, nothing changes that fact that women have wombs. Women have a cycle, Women have periods. Women birth babies. Trans women don’t. Men don’t. 

This is not to diminish anyone’s abilities, or unique expression of who they are within.

I have noticed in order to be current and trending and liked, there is an attempt not to say WOMAN. 

I believe this to be the slow, gradual, eradication of the word woman from our everyday language. 

It’s subtle, it’s done in the guise of trying to be respectful.

But, let’s not include different expressions of humanity by diluting or dimishing another. 

Woman. Let’s say it again. Woman. 

A woman’s cycle – a woman’s period – women give birth – women breast feed – women go through menopause – women have womb’s. 

Women’s only circles are Sacred. Women NEED women’s only spaces to heal, to share, to be with each other – just as men, trans men and trans women do.

This isn’t exclusion, it’s an honouring of woman in her essence, so that we may come home to our true nature, and meet the world from that place.

Women – let’s not give away our true essence in an attempt to be liked, to be seen or experienced as inclusive, or for fear of being trolled/cancelled.

I know many women who think like this but are scared to actually say it in our current climate.

‘Woman’ is not up for cancellation! We can all live together, respectful of all, AND respect and celebrate each others differences. 

Join the conversation Instagram post, I’d love to hear your experience.

Transcript

Melanie Swan: 0:26

Hello, hello, welcome back to the podcast, and today I'm talking about the desecration of the word woman. This is something I've seen happening slowly over time, and it just keeps getting more and more apparent that there is a very slow desecration of the word woman. So I really wanted to talk about that And I did a post on Instagram just to kind of test the water of where other people were at with this, because I feel like this in my circle of friends we've been noticing it as well Professionally, my colleagues have been noticing it, and so I wanted to really do this podcast episode to give it more voice. It's rather a contentious issue. Some people are going to be triggered by it, but I really think it needs say in and the discussion needs opening up. So I'm going to give it a go. So let me start by saying I do applaud and welcome genuinely a more inclusive except in love in world. There's a lot of war And there's a lot going on in the world And we could really do with more love, really do with more love, and so the new emergence of people sharing their sexuality, their gender, their integration of male and female genders, i think is wonderful. Only pain comes from hiding or true self. So I think it's we're in a really important time space where people can be who they want to be in their unique expression, and there is more and more acceptance of that that is needed. That is wonderful. I welcome it.

Melanie Swan: 2:29

However, i have noticed a very gradual eradication of the word woman in women's work And it's often replaced now with the word menstruators, people with wombs, people with periods. I don't think this is a terrible thing If that's what someone wants to call themselves or describe their group as that's totally okay with me. This is all my opinion and perspective of what we need for a more progressive world, but really nothing changes the fact that women do have wombs, women have a cycle, women have periods, women birth babies, trans women don't and men don't. It's just biologically how it is. So this is not to diminish anyone's abilities or unique expression of who they are. They want to kind of call themselves something different. Whatever, it's great.

Melanie Swan: 3:30

However, let's not water down or diminish the word woman or the essence of woman. So I think it's been done in order to be inclusive, but I think there's also a pressure to I don't know how to word this exactly but kind of conform, be virtuous, be seen to be inclusive, because I know some people that do that and they don't feel it genuinely behind the scenes. So there is an attempt not to say woman when it comes to women's work, and women do need their own space, as do men, as do trans women, as do trans men And all other expressions, because we're all dealing with a unique essence. And so what's happening is women and women's circles are I wouldn't say they're diminishing, but in order to be inclusive, the word woman is being excluded, and this is doing I think we're really doing ourselves a disservice And I think it's really subtle and it's happening over time. It is done in part in the guise of trying to be respectful, but there's a kind of gray area in this where there's an attempt to be seen as progressive and liked, but really what it's doing is there's a sense of unsafety, unstableness in women's work, where the spaces are no longer feeling in some cases and are protected. And what's the word Potent Women in general, the programming that we program each other, not as victims of something, the programming that we pass on to each other, the programming of women in our current time space still is to conform, keep the peace. In general, we are breaking free from that one by one, but it is still very much this sense of trying to harmonize that women do, and I think that's probably a natural thing that we're programmed to do, or rather wired to do. However, there's also this conformist nature and a fear of speaking up, i think. So this is not just black and white and clear. So I'm trying to use my words really carefully, because I do want to be respectful And I want to also be respectful of women and women's spaces. So what we're doing is including others by eradicating or diluting the word woman. We are including other people, other types of other expressions of humans, but we are diluting the word woman.

Melanie Swan: 7:00

Women circles, women's essence. So I just invite you to say it with me and see what this feels like in your body and see if it resonates, because I don't want you to. I don't expect you to agree with me. What I'm doing this podcast for is so that we can open up the conversation And you can share this with people if you think like this, because women are struggling to speak up And for fear of getting canceled or being trolled or coming up against a big pushback, and that's not OK. That's not actually OK when we're leading circles And we are creating space for women to heal. So I invite you to say this with me Woman, woman, women, a woman's cycle, a woman's period, women give birth, women breastfeed, women go through menopause, women have wombs, women's only circles are sacred.

Melanie Swan: 8:27

If you've ever been to a women's circle that's a healthy function in one you'll know the essence of what happens when women get together. So I really urge you to have a good think about this if you are leading circles for women. If you're having a different experience, please do share it. I'd love to hear it. But we do need to be with each other so that we can be in our true essence and come to the world and meet each other from our true essence, just as men, trans men and trans women do, and any other expression of humanity. So this is an exclusion. It's an honouring of everyone.

Melanie Swan: 9:09

I hope I've got my point across. I know I've repeated myself a few times, but this is really, really important, because many women are scared to actually say this in our current climate. But women, women are not up for being cancelled. We can all live together, we can be respectful of each other and we can celebrate each other's differences, so I'd love to hear your views on this. I've put a post on Instagram. I've put a link in the show notes. If you go to that link and then just put your opinion or your experience in the comments, that would be great. I think that's it for me. Yeah, thank you for listening and please do share this. I'd love it to open up the conversation. And I also would like to add I really don't know the details of what happened with JK Rowling I do know that she was pretty, pretty, pretty attacked for saying women need same sex spaces or people need same sex spaces to heal, and yeah, there was a big backlash from I think it seems to be mainly people in their 20s, and then those sort of jumping on the sort of bandwagon of virtue to be seen as good.

Melanie Swan: 10:34

And I really back up what she said, because when we're in our 20s, we think we've invented the world, right. We think older people are just boring and, in general, that they need to change, and so when we're in our 20s or the generation of the 20s wants to move things on and that's really necessary. However, we do need to keep our boundaries and also say no. You can do that and see how it goes. We, from more experience, know that this is needed. So, yes, that's where I'm at with it And, yeah, i send you lots of love wherever you are. I mean that genuinely. I think I kind of visualise everyone listening to this around the world. And that's it for today. See you soon.