There is nothing exceptional about being pregnant at 35 or over today. Yet women who become pregnant after the age of 35 are considered “geriatric mothers”. A guilty term that many women denounce.
“I can’t help but feel really worthless and guilty right now because I have decided to build my career and do what I love”, confides Tricia Bowden, a woman qualified as a “geriatric mother” by the medical community because she chose to start a pregnancy at 35 years old. Her testimony was published on the application Peanut (an application available only across the Atlantic), which aims to discuss pregnancy and motherhood.
A video testimony relayed by model Chrissy Teigen on her Twitter page. “This poor woman. Why are terms like “geriatric mom” still used in 2021? It is offensive language that undermines women! ”
A tweet that has gone viral, in which many women have confided in the language used by health professionals. Guilty words aimed at making them understand that they were “physically unfit” to give life, which they felt as shame and judgment. Others opened up about the miscarriages they had experienced. “For God’s sake, can they stop calling miscarriages ‘spontaneous abortions’?”, writes a surfer.
A glossary that relieves women of guilt
“I believe that you are the words you speak and think. The more we hear others use these terms to talk about ourselves, the more we think so, even subconsciously … these words are part of us and how we feel. define and interpret the world around us. When these words are obsolete and have negative connotations, it brings us down. “, says Tricia Bowden.
To put an end to this guilty language, Chrissy Teigen and the Peanut app have teamed up to create “The Renaming Revolution”, a new glossary for healthcare professionals to talk to pregnant women. “When I saw this woman share her own story on Peanut, it made me realize that many women all over the world feel ashamed or are deeply affected just like me, and it has to stop. I have so much hope with this new project that we are working on and I can’t wait to see real change come from it ”, confides the model.
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Suruthi SRIKUMAR
Suruthi is a writer for the Aufeminin, Parole de Mamans and Avis de Mamans websites. She is also Community Manager for Aufeminin Maman’s Facebook and Instagram social networks. She is also …