BBC presenter corrects ‘pregnant people' to ‘women'
Martine Croxall was reading a report about advice for vulnerable people during heatwaves when she used the term 'pregnant people'. Immediately afterwards, she added 'women', with emphasis and a slight roll of her eyes.
It is understood that the gender-neutral wording was a direct quote from the heat-related study being reported on and was not the wording of the BBC.
The apparent correction, during a broadcast on Saturday lunchtime (Sunday AEST), was endorsed by Harry Potter author and gender campaigner J.K. Rowling, who posted a clip of the incident on X and wrote: 'I have a new favourite BBC presenter.'
The gender-neutral term 'pregnant people' is used by people who believe biological women who may be pregnant can be men if they identify as such.
The National Health Service has been criticised for using terms such as 'pregnant people' and 'birthing person' instead of 'women' in order to be more inclusive of gender self-identification.
The BBC has no specific policy on the use of gender-neutral terms, but does stipulate that journalists should refer to people using the pronouns of their preferred gender, rather than referring to their biological sex.
The BBC News style guide advises editorial staff: 'A person born male who lives as a female would typically be described as a 'transgender woman' and would take the pronoun 'she'. And vice versa. We generally use the term and pronoun preferred by the person in question.'
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Officials in China said 95 per cent of the patients hospitalised with the virus have been discharged within seven days, but the infection rate has the region on high alert with 3,000 cases reported in area in just the past week alone, according to the BBC. Mosquitoes swarm plane Video Player is loading. Play Video This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. X Learn More Loaded : 18.06% 0:00 Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. 00:18 SUBSCRIBER ONLY Mosquitoes swarm plane and...... more more scratching their skin Passengers seen swatting mozzies ... more The swift response by the Chinese government has its citizens online comparing the outbreak to the COVID-19 pandemic, which exploded in 2020 and killed millions of people. US officials claim the coronavirus was accidentally released from a Chinese laboratory. China imposed some of the strictest restrictions in the world at the time, including major lockdowns, forced testing and social-distancing rules. In Guangdong, authorities have vowed to take 'decisive and forceful measures' to halt the spread of chikungunya, which is not commonly found as far north as in China. 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