# "Pregnant People" v. "Pregnant Women"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 17, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848 "2021-09-17T23:15:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/102 "2021-09-18T05:15:07Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> ANY person who can bear a child menstruates.
You just did what you are mad about.
You should have said “ANY woman who can bear a a child menstruates”
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/103 "2021-09-18T05:15:15Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> 311,000
>
> vs
>
> 54
>
> That is a difference of : 0.00017% […]
No, it isn’t: you mathed wrong there. [ETA: As you noticed yourself in post #99, good catch.]
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> Why do you think that is a significant number?
Because it represents a non-zero measurement of a real-life phenomenon, duh. So if we’re going to discuss its existence, we should talk about it using accurate terms.
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> Why do you think that is sufficient to change our language?
As I said before, the chief function of language is to talk about reality. The reality is that some people who get pregnant and give birth are transgender men, and they prefer not to be called “women”.
Why are you now fussing again about the boogeyman of “changing our language”? What happened to your declaration as recently as post #88 that you are “fine” with referring to either “pregnant people” or “pregnant women”?
Why is it now suddenly bothering you again that we sometimes acknowledge the real-life existence of an approximately 0.017% minority of transgender men in the population of pregnant people by referring to “pregnant people” rather than “pregnant women”?
Do you have any idea what point you’re trying to make here?
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/104 "2021-09-18T05:15:56Z")
What? (really…what?)
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/105 "2021-09-18T05:17:35Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> Do you have any idea what point you’re trying to make here?
Go back to the OP.
Apply all you have learned in this thread and respond.
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### Author:  [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/106 "2021-09-18T05:23:44Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> ANY person who can bear a child menstruates.
And any “person” who who bears a child…
Your so close to understanding
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/107 "2021-09-18T05:24:11Z")
What?
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/108 "2021-09-18T05:26:34Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> **MADE-UP EXAMPLE**
>
> No matter how convinced your son is that he is a woman he will never menstruate. He will never get pregnant.
So what? If the hypothetical person with male anatomy whom I raised as a son came out as trans and identified as female, then I would acknowledge her as my daughter. The fact that she would never menstruate or get pregnant would not change her gender identification as a (transgender) woman.
And of course, if I had a cisgender daughter who for medical reasons never menstruated or got pregnant either, that wouldn’t change her gender identification as a woman.
Likewise, if I had a female-assigned child whom I raised as a daughter who came out as transgender with a male identity, then as far as I’m concerned, he would be a (transgender) man, and my son. If he at some point got pregnant and had a baby, that wouldn’t change his male gender identity.
None of this is in any way denying biology. It’s simply recognizing that anatomical biology is not the same thing as gender identity.
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> Go back to the OP.
>
> Apply all you have learned in this thread and respond.
Having done so, I came to a pretty self-evident conclusion:
No, you have no idea what point you’re trying to make here.
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### Author:  [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/109 "2021-09-18T05:28:10Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> ANY person who can bear a child menstruates
Think it through…If any “Person” who can bear a child menstruates…
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/110 "2021-09-18T05:31:00Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> No, you have no idea what point you’re trying to make here.
What point do you think I am making?
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### Author:  [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/111 "2021-09-18T05:35:18Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> What point do you think I am making?
You don’t like the language police. I wouldn’t disagree with that though we might differ in details.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/112 "2021-09-18T05:40:39Z")
> [@Somethingwitty1](#):
>
> You don’t like the language police. I wouldn’t disagree with that though we might differ in details.
That’s…really pretty good.
Sadly, you got @Kimstu off the hook. 🙂
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### Author:  [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/113 "2021-09-18T05:43:22Z")
Literally no one is policing your language.
I’ve concluded that you have no point other than that the OP makes you mad for reasons you can’t express in your posts.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/114 "2021-09-18T05:46:14Z")
The OP is literally about language.
If not, what do you think the discussion is about?
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/115 "2021-09-18T05:54:04Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> What point do you think I am making?
You don’t have a point, AFAICT.
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> The OP is literally about language.
Yeah, and nobody is policing yours. The only person doing any substantial “language policing” in this thread is you. E.g., when you whine that my referring to “pregnant people” rather than “pregnant women” is unjustified because pregnant men are only 0.017% of the total, so that’s somehow not “sufficient to change our language”.
Like I need to meet your arbitrary criteria for some kind of quantitative “sufficiency” before I can use the term “pregnant people”.
As usual, people who are somehow bothered by inclusive language use are engaging in way more pestering of the inclusive-language proponents than vice versa.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/116 "2021-09-18T06:03:38Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> You don’t have a point, AFAICT.
Neat. We can both do that.
**You don’t have a point, AFAICT.**
Easy-peasy.
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> Yeah, and nobody is policing yours. The only person doing any substantial “language policing” in this thread is you. E.g., when you whine that my referring to “pregnant people” rather than “pregnant women” is unjustified because pregnant men are only 0.017% of the total, so that’s somehow not “sufficient to change our language”.
You pointed out I didn’t use your numbers then are mad I used your numbers.
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> Like I need to meet your arbitrary criteria for some kind of quantitative “sufficiency” before I can use the term “pregnant people”.
Pregnant is a binary thing. There is no “criteria”. You are or you are not. What are you on about with this?
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> As usual, people who are somehow bothered by inclusive language use are engaging in way more pestering of the inclusive-language proponents than vice versa.
You still have not answered my previous question.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/117 "2021-09-18T06:05:09Z")
In completely different contexts, I have at times referred to various plural batches of people who _happened_ to all be of the same sex (and/or gender) as “dancing people” or “typing people” or “fishing folks” or whatever. Not because I felt a need to avoid offending some (hypothetical or otherwise) minority within them who don’t identify in that manner, but because their man-ness or woman-ness didn’t seem particularly relevant even though they were all of the same flavor (or appeared to me to be at any rate).
Seems to me, in that same spirit, the pregnant people are in fact pregnant people whether each and every one of them is a woman or not.
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### Author:  [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/118 "2021-09-18T06:07:44Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> You still have not answered my previous question.
Why do say
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> ANY person who can bear a child menstruates.
What is the difference between pregnant people and any person who can bear a child.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/119 "2021-09-18T06:08:47Z")
I really am not understanding the question.
> [@Somethingwitty1](#):
>
> What is the difference between pregnant people and any person who can bear a child.
The above was posted after what I posted above.
I honestly do not know how to answer this question.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/120 "2021-09-18T06:11:55Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> Neat. We can both do that.
I wish we could both make coherent reasoned arguments, because I’m getting rather tired of being the only one of us who can.
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> You still have not answered my previous question.
If you can manage to remember what your previous question was, feel free to ask it again.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2021, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-people-v-pregnant-women/950848/121 "2021-09-18T06:13:47Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> I wish we could both make coherent reasoned arguments, because I’m getting rather tired of being the only one of us who can.
Hubris, thy name is @Kimstu
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