Six years ago, feeling rather puckish, I wrote a post at my blog about the fact that Mt. Holyoke, an iconic 19th-century women’s college, was walking back from its decision to jettison Valentine’s Day in favor of the in-your-face feminism of “Vagina Day.” It wasn’t that the women at Mt. Holyoke were embarrassed by their vulgarity or longed for a return of romance. No, the problem was that the whole concept of Vagina Day alienated the “transgender” crowd. What starts on campus, of course, never stays on campus. The London Vagina Museum has now declared that the words “women” and “girls” have an anti-trans stigma and need to go.

If you’re saying you didn’t know there was a museum dedicated to the vagina, all I can say is that I’m shocked. It’s existed for two years now and even has a mission statement:

01. Spread knowledge and raise awareness of the gynaecological anatomy and health

02. Give confidence to people to talk about issues surrounding the gynaecological anatomy

03. Erase the stigma around the body and gynaecological anatomy

04. Act as a forum for feminism, women’s rights, the LGBT+ community and the intersex community

05. Challenge heteronormative and cisnormative behaviour

06. Promote intersectional, feminist and trans-inclusive values

I don’t know about you, but I find it strange that much of its mission is built about men who dislike vaginas (gay men who are part of that LGBT+ community), women who dislike vaginas (believing themselves to be “transgender men”), and men who don’t have vaginas but wish they did (believing themselves to be “transgender women”). Somehow ordinary women seem almost like an afterthought according to the mission statement.

But wait! It gets worse. Moving forward, the same museum that is dedicated to a bodily organ that is inextricably tied to the XX chromosomes unique to women has decided to move women from being an afterthought to being entirely nonexistent. We know this because the museum put out a long Twitter thread about making language – including language tied to women’s unique organs and bodily functions – more “inclusive.”

The post begins by trying to “de-gender” periods but devolves into a more generalized discussion of so-called “gendered language.” Here are the pertinent parts, which I’ve put in plain text, lest the museum decides to delete these tweets (emphasis mine):

I also wrote an entire book free of gendered language. It’s really that easy! (redmoongang.com/book/) Here are some really easy changes you can include in your language moving forward.

Instead of ‘sanitary products’, say ‘menstrual products’

Instead of ‘feminine hygiene products’, say ‘period products’

Instead of ‘becoming a woman’, say ‘starting puberty’

Instead of ‘women’s health’, say ‘reproductive health’ or ‘gynaecological health’ (whatever you prefer)

Instead of ‘women and girls’, say ‘people who menstruate’ or ‘people who have periods’

A good way to get into the habit of removing gendered language as the default is to start looking at your everyday speech. Instead of using gender-specific terms to describe professions and people, like ‘fireman’, opt for gender-neutral term such as ‘firefighter’ and so on.

Remember it takes practice and it’s okay to mess up. Try not to have a knee-jerk reaction when somebody flags this with you. We’re all learning as language is evolving!

By using gender-neutral language, we normalise the idea that anyone can menstruate regardless of their gender.

By using shame-free language, we normalise discussion, questions, freedom of choice and action!

Let me state something very plainly: Aside from the minute number of people born genetically intersex, only people with XX chromosomes have vaginas. If they cut off their breasts, surgically create a grotesque fake penis, and take testosterone, they’re still XX people, aka, women, with the pathetic tattered remnants of a vagina still on their bodies. And people with XY chromosomes, even if they take estrogen, hack off their penis and testicles, and have a hole cut into their nether regions, are still men without a vagina.

Again, what happens on college campuses doesn’t stay on college campuses. The Marxist madness that seeks to deconstruct the underpinnings of a functioning free society (the nuclear family, valuing people for character, not color) invariably oozes out into the greater world as the delusional but aggressive graduates enter the real world.

These people must be countered at every turn. A culture anchored in insane delusions cannot survive. And let me remind you once again, that no one has yet shown me a scientific study proving that transgenderism – namely, being born in the wrong body, something magically remedied with surgery, hormones, and pronouns -- is anything but the sad delusion of damaged people. (Or perhaps, the delusional of people with hormonal problems, in which case the XXs should get estrogen and the XYs should get testosterone.)

IMAGE: Blue-green by Georgia O'Keeffe. Public domain.

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