Make it BP
It occurs to me that “mother” and “father” (and their equivalents in other languages) must be the most emotionally loaded words in any language. We all have them and many of us grow up to be one or the other. We wouldn’t exist without the people behind the words. The words matter. Right? I’m not suggesting some weird incomprehensible notion, yeah?
Now this:
A government bureaucracy pretends there is no such thing as a “mother.”
So are we now to have “Birthing Parent’s Day”? What about Father’s Day? Will there be a similar change? Are motherboards now birthing parent boards? And how will people respond when called a birthing parent fucker? The questions are endless…
In botany, we have megaspore mother cells. I guess this year I need to teach about megaspore birthing parent cells?
And should we now have god-birthing parents? The birthing parent of all [fill in the blank]? The birthing parent lode? And here’s one for you: My father remarried after my “birthing parent” died. His wife cannot legitimately be called step-birthing parent, since she did not give birth to me (though she did give birth to other children; is that how we get around that? So what about those who didn’t?)
And just try grand-birthing parent on my grandmother! She would “slap you silly” for that. And she’d be right, because it is silly. But more than silly, it’s insulting.
Holy Mary, birthing parent of god, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Birthing parent fucker! Hahahahahahahaha
I object to this “birthing parent” stuff. My spouse and I attained our status as parents through adoption. Since there is clearly no legitimate gender-based difference in our roles as parents, we prefer to be labelled as “adoptive parent A” and “adoptive parent B”, and expect all legal forms to reflect this. We reserve the right to switch A & B if we’re feeling lexicographically fluid.
Squirting Parent’s Day.
Birthing Parent Earth.
Inseminating Parent Time.
Our Inseminating Parent, who art in Heaven . . .
Holy Mary, Birthing Parent of God…
The multisyllabic possibilities are endless.
Make sure to cross out the offensive term and write “mother” over it. If anybody gives you any lip about that, give them an earful.
Sall is a hero of mine. She has successfully fought off men wanting to invade the women only group she created, and is now setting feathers amok about the language on government forms.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/pregnancy/government-services-minister-bill-shorten-says-he-will-scrap-gender-inclusive-language-on-official-forms/news-story/6ae2f5ac4685f6f26e29e1a13fbc91e9
If you don’t already follow @salltweets, do so; you won’t regret it. If you’re a woman, go take a look at giggle on appstore or google play.