Rethinking the 'Pregnant People' Controversy
The media should reconsider its terms for any group of people.
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When you see or hear the term “pregnant people,” what do you think? Some say it’s necessary to be inclusive. Others say it “erases women” — or, as you’ll hear in this episode, is a “[bleep]ing bad idea.”
But there’s a whole other way to look at it: As a moment to rethink how we summarize any group of people, including one that you may be a part of.
In Episode 19, I explain why in certain contexts, I have carefully avoided the term “African-American” when discussing Black people in America, and what this says about the way the media throws around categories for people in general.
Another example I cite: Is Justice Sonia Sotomoayor not really the first “Hispanic” justice on the Supreme Court? Some people point to Benjamin Cardozo, whose family was Sephardic Jewish, with heritage from Portugal. Was he “Hispanic?”
The question depends on how you define the term. Some point to its derivation involving “Hispania,” a peninsula that included Portugal. (I stand corrected note! I realized after the episode came out that I mistakenly said “Hispaniola.”) Cardozo, by the way, was the second Jewish SCOTUS justice after Louis Brandeis. There have been eight, including the Notorious RBG. 👊✡🗽
This is the second newsletter accompanying Episode 19. Be sure to see yesterday’s, which focused on how media ignore solutions, and therefore miss a huge part of the big story of humanity.
Also in this episode: what happened when 200 insiders at the BBC came together to stand against antisemitism, and what MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell got right.
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Thanks,
JL