The Lancet and the problem with women

Quite soon, the word ‘women’ could be considered so dangerous as to be unutterable. That may seem hyperbolic, but Steerpike can see which way the wind is blowing. Even our most distinguished scientific voices are now shunning the w-word:

‘Women’ are out. That hateful word has been consigned to the ash heap of history where it belongs — next to mod clothing and freedom of speech. All hail the Bodies With Vaginas (BWVs). And the Lancet can’t even offload the blame for this one on to the article in question. 

Sophia Davis’s actual article, which reviews an exhibition on the history of menstruation at the Vagina Museum of London, actually uses the w-word four times. But the Lancet, being the innovative medical journal it is, knows the direction the winds are blowing and has decided to get out ahead — and, as chance would have it, drum up an enormous amount of free publicity — by talking about ‘the anatomy and physiology’ of BWVs.