{"id":515,"date":"2019-12-21T09:06:38","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T14:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/?p=515"},"modified":"2020-11-13T15:33:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T20:33:55","slug":"515","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/2019\/12\/21\/515\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender-neutral terminology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hovertext has been added to each term such that mousing-over its text will provide context for why it is biased or neutral. All excerpts are from <em>&#8220;Reproduction in Mammals: The Female Perspective&#8221; <\/em>by Teri J. Orr and Virginia Hayssen.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"114\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"207\"><strong>Historical Term<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><strong>Gender-neutral or <\/strong><strong>\u2640 term<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td rowspan=\"7\" width=\"114\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><strong>Anatomy<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"'One of the most striking aspects of male-biased terminology is that features of indeterminate sex may be given male names. A few examples follow. The embryonic genital tubercle gives rise to female and male genital structures (chapter 4) but is often referred to as the primordial phallus, although it could equally be called the primordial clitoris.' (Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p.3)\"> Primordial phallus<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"In using 'genital tubercle' rather than 'primordial phallus' to refer to this structure, one avoids using an androcentric framework to a feature of indeterminate sex.\"> Genital tubercle<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"'The enlarged clitoris of some females, e.g., spotted hyenas, is called a female phallus. The clitoris is described as masculinized, or virilized, rather than enlarged or prominent.'(Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p.3)\"> Female phallus, female penis<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"This term is descriptive of the structure without relying on masculine comparisons that impose human-centric perceptions of female anatomy onto the animal.\"> Enlarged clitoris<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"'Prostate glands are present in both sexes but in females are called the female prostate.'(Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p.3)\"> Female prostate, Skene\u2019s gland<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"As prostate glands are present in all sexes, using the same terminology for the structure across sexes is more neutral than relying on qualifiers or different nomenclature to distinguish the prostate gland in females from that in males.\">Prostate<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"'The oviduct (aka Fallopian tube) is a fluid-filled, partially ciliated, muscular tube that extends from the ovary to the uterus and is usually the site of conception and very early development...Key is that the oviduct is not a passive environment.'(Hayssen and Orr, 2017.p. 53-54)\">Fallopian tube<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"The term is more precise in its description; 'oviduct' is more fitting than simply relying on the name of the male scientist credited with first describing the structure within the scientific literature.\">Oviduct<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"The term Bartholin Gland takes the name of its discoverer and does not provide information on the nature of the gland itself.\">Bartholin glands<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"These terms provide insight into the nature of the glands.\">Greater vestibular glands, bulbourethral glands<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"The term Graafian follicle takes the name of its discoverer and does not provide information on the nature of the gland itself.\"> Graafian follicle<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"'Preovulatory follicle' is more descriptive of the structure and function of these follicles, whereas the historical term merely uses the name of the male scientist first credited with describing the follicles in scientific literature.\">Preovulatory follicle<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"This term relies on the name of the male scientist credited with first describing the structure within scientific literature, not the anatomical function of the term.\"> Gr\u00e4fenberg spot, G-spot<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #7525c4\"><span title=\"Erogenous zone is more descriptive of the biological process, and doesn\u2019t carry the name of a male scientist.\">Erogenous spot<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td rowspan=\"5\" width=\"114\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><strong>Physiology<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"'Other medical terms are laden with value-based (generally negative) terminology, such as luteal-phase deficit rather than short luteal phase.' (Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p. 3)\">Luteal deficit<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"Short luteal cycle is both value-neutral and descriptive of the biological process.\">Short luteal cycle<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"'The term miscarriage suggests the mother is at fault for miscarrying the fetus, when, more likely, the fetus itself is defective.' (Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p. 3)\">Miscarriage<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"'For a female, spending additional resources on an offspring that will not survive to produce young of its own would be a costly mistake with potential evolutionary consequences. Embryo rejection is a more apt [and value-neutral] term than miscarriage.' (Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p. 3)\">Spontaneous abortion, Embryo rejection, Pregnancy loss, Gestational loss<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"'Early cervical dilation can lead to embryo rejection, which again could benefit the mother.'(Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p. 3)\">Cervical incompetence, cervical insufficiency<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"Early cervical dilation doesn't assume a fault of the female, and is therefore more value-neutral.\">Early cervical dilation, Cervical funnelling<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"'The induced versus spontaneous dichotomy is also tricky because \u201cinduced\u201dovulators can ovulate spontaneously, e.g., cats, mink. Conversely, mating behavior can facilitate ovulation in mammals classified as spontaneous (e.g., Mus, Rattus;Bakker, Baum 2000).' (Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p. 107)\">Induced ovulation<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"We will retain the term spontaneous ovulation but substitute the term facultative in lieu of \u2018induced\u2019 ovulation. Abiotic and internal triggers are key to all ovulations, but for facultative ovulation, conspecific cues and the somatosensory consequences of mating (such as orgasm) also strongly influence the timing of ovulation.\">Facultative ovulation<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"The fusion of oocyte and spermatocyte is usually termed fertilization and has a male active-female passive undertone.\">Fertilization (delayed, external, in vitro, etc.)<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #008080\"><span title=\"Conception is 'a gender-neutral unbiased term for the fusion of gametes to produce a full genome. Unlike fertilization, conception implies two interactive partners, egg and sperm, contributing equally to the formation of the zygote' (Chen 2014:9).' (Hayssen and Orr, 2017. p.7)\">Gamete fusion, Conception (delayed, external, in vitro, etc.),\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td rowspan=\"2\" width=\"114\"><span style=\"color: #008000\"><strong>Behavior<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #008000\"><span title=\"Female sexual behavior is often described from the male perspective and textbook authors may go to awkward lengths to do so. Ex: attractiveness: 'the stimulus value of a female to a male'(Nelson 2011:289).\">Attractivity<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #008000\"><span title=\"From the female perspective, attractivity is solicitation- behaviors and cues used to attract potential mate. Females are as driven to produce successful offspring as are males.\">Solicitation<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"207\"><span style=\"color: #008000\"><span title=\"Female sexual behavior is often described from the male perspective and textbook authors may go to awkward lengths to do so. Ex: Receptivity: 'the stimulus value of a female for eliciting an intravaginal ejaculation' (Nelson 2011:289).\">Receptivity<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"245\"><span style=\"color: #008000\"><span title=\"From the female perspective, receptivity is facilitation- behaviors used by females to achieve conception. Females are as driven to produce successful offspring as are males.\">Facilitation<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hovertext has been added to each term such that mousing-over its text will provide context for why it is biased or neutral. All excerpts are from &#8220;Reproduction in Mammals: The Female Perspective&#8221; by Teri J. Orr and Virginia Hayssen. Historical Term Gender-neutral or \u2640 term Anatomy Primordial phallus Genital tubercle Female phallus, female penis Enlarged&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/2019\/12\/21\/515\/\">Read More <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Gender-neutral terminology<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2750,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solutions"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2750"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}