News
No more “chestfeeding”: Senate votes to ban gender-neutral language
The Australian Senate has just passed One Nation’s call to ban the use of “distorted” gender-neutral language such as “chestfeeding” in official government materials.
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts put forward the motion in the Upper House on Wednesday.
The Morrison government voted to approve the ban, only narrowly though at 33-31.
Tasmanian Liberal Senator Jonathon “was Jonno” Duniam read a statement before the vote that outlined the government's stance on the proposal.
“The government supports the rights of individuals to make use of any pronouns or descriptors they prefer, while encouraging respect for the preferences of others,” he said.
“The government will use language in communications that is appropriate for the purpose of those communications and is respectful of its audiences.”
The Australian Government will not use gender-neutral language such as "chestfeeding". Image: Shutterstock.
Mr Roberts’ motion stated that “our fundamental biology and relationships are represented through the following descriptors – mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, boy, girl, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, female, male, man, woman, lady, gentleman, Mr, Mrs, Ms, sir, madam, dad, mum, husband, wife”.
“Broad scale genuine inclusion cannot be achieved through distortions of biological and relational descriptors,” it said.
“An individual’s right to choose their descriptors and pronouns for personal use must not dehumanise the human race and undermine gender.”
Mr Roberts referred to a doctor from Queensland who “reports incidences of young children feeling stressed and panicked about whether it is okay to use the words boy and girl, and pushing gender-neutral language is no replacement for appropriate emotional and psychological support for children while growing up”.
The motion asked the federal government to “reject the use of distorted language such as gestational/non-gestational parent, chest-feeding, human milk, lactating parent, menstruators, birthing/non-birthing parent, and ensure all federal government and federal government funded agencies do not include these terms in their material, including legislation, websites, employee documentation and training materials”.
Greens Senator Janet Rice asked to speak but was reportedly denied permission.
She quickly took to Twitter to slam the Morrison government for voting in favour of the “bigoted” motion.
“I expect this sh*t from One Nation,” she wrote.
“But the Morrison Government just voted to support One Nation’s disgusting, bigoted Senate motion trying to deny the identity of trans and non binary people.
“So the motion passed. What happened to governing for all Australians? Scumbags!”
Just last week, staff at the Australian National University were requested to begin using “parent-inclusive language” such as “chestfeeding” instead of “breastfeeding” and “human milk” rather than “mother’s milk”.
Our Partners
