Caring for everyone: effective and inclusive communication in perinatal care
Caring for everyone: effective and inclusive communication in perinatal care
We advance a novel approach to gender inclusive language, showing how it can be used in perinatal and postnatal care. Existing attempts to use language inclusive of trans and non-binary parents have faced objections, prompting calls to use trans-exclusionary “sexed” language as a default (Gribble et al. 2022). We show that these objections attach only to some unsatisfactory attempts at inclusive language. We articulate the moral and communicative goals at stake, and then work through a range of examples to show that no single linguistic strategy can meet these goals in all contexts. A pluralistic approach is needed. Our pluralistic approach draws on gender neutral, gender additive, and second-person locutions, as well as taking advantage of the possibility for multiple targeted communications. Moreover, this pluralistic approach highlights the gaps in research and understanding needed to ensure substantively inclusive care in future.
inclusive language, perinatal care
Cull, Matthew J.
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Holroyd, Jules
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Woollard, Fiona
c3caccc2-68c9-47c8-b2d3-9735d09f1679
30 January 2025
Cull, Matthew J.
18f8303b-3e66-44ce-aefe-b7e12af63b81
Holroyd, Jules
2a922beb-c204-4fcb-a82a-9b5ad849020c
Woollard, Fiona
c3caccc2-68c9-47c8-b2d3-9735d09f1679
Cull, Matthew J., Holroyd, Jules and Woollard, Fiona
(2025)
Caring for everyone: effective and inclusive communication in perinatal care.
Hypatia.
(doi:10.1017/hyp.2024.87).
Abstract
We advance a novel approach to gender inclusive language, showing how it can be used in perinatal and postnatal care. Existing attempts to use language inclusive of trans and non-binary parents have faced objections, prompting calls to use trans-exclusionary “sexed” language as a default (Gribble et al. 2022). We show that these objections attach only to some unsatisfactory attempts at inclusive language. We articulate the moral and communicative goals at stake, and then work through a range of examples to show that no single linguistic strategy can meet these goals in all contexts. A pluralistic approach is needed. Our pluralistic approach draws on gender neutral, gender additive, and second-person locutions, as well as taking advantage of the possibility for multiple targeted communications. Moreover, this pluralistic approach highlights the gaps in research and understanding needed to ensure substantively inclusive care in future.
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Cull_Holroyd_and_Woollard_Caring_For_Everyone_Author_Accepted_Version
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 17 September 2024
Published date: 30 January 2025
Keywords:
inclusive language, perinatal care
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 498529
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498529
ISSN: 0887-5367
PURE UUID: 179456ed-d8ed-4a2a-a8fa-ad001d3e803c
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Date deposited: 20 Feb 2025 17:57
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:03
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Contributors
Author:
Matthew J. Cull
Author:
Jules Holroyd
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