Would someone kindly explain the biology here behind statements such as “we gave birth” or “her and her husband gave birth?” How, precisely, does that work? A couple of decades ago people began saying stupid things like “We’re pregnant!” and now we’ve gone from that level of ridiculous to yet another one. I realize that it’s just another way of saying the age-old “we’re having a baby,” which doesn’t really pose any great scientific puzzle, but what is really going on is that even those who consider themselves “conservative” have too been sucked into gender-neutral terminology often without even giving it a second thought.
It is a symptom of a society that is becoming more gender-neutral by the day and where it is being pushed that one’s biological sex is akin to classified and private medical information that nobody has a right to know. It’s a symptom of a society where “gender” is considered a fluid concept that has no real significance; of a society that believes that men’s and women’s roles are interchangeable in every area of life and that conceptions of what is masculine and feminine are nothing but purely cultural constructions.
But right up there with terminology such as “pregnant person,” it is also an insult. It is an insult to the uniqueness and preciousness of women, as well as the sacrifices that women alone make and the unique roles that they have always played in society, in the family, as well as the unique role of the mother- the female parent, the woman- in having the primary bond with her offspring.
Such terminology is also not romantic. As it wipes away everything masculine and feminine, it also strips away everything that is deeply sexual and intimate. Phrases such as “she’s carrying his child,” “she’s with child,” “she gave birth,” “she brought forth a child,” or perhaps even “she labored with child,” are, yes, patriarchal customarily, but they also carry with them deep feelings of emotion, as well as being highly sexually charged. There’s something a lot more deeply intimate about acknowledging that a woman is carrying her husband’s child vs the two of them blurting out “We’re pregnant!”
And it’s also much worse than “progress” simply going backwards. Feminists had long complained (falsely) that men were taking credit for women’s accomplishments and women couldn’t own copyrights in their name, etc.… Yet, surely phrases such as “she and her husband gave birth” or “they gave birth” arguably give credit to men for women’s sole accomplishments- and in a way that no man with any dignity or pride would have ever for a single minute wished to be credited for a century ago.
No, they did not both give birth, she did.
B. A. Hunter 