Canadian Cancer Society did not cease use of 'cervix' on website
- Published on October 31, 2024 at 21:51
- 5 min read
- By Gwen ROLEY, AFP Canada
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"The Canadian Cancer society no longer uses the word cervix because it is offensive to men who want to pretend they are a women," claims the caption of an October 24, 2024 Facebook video showing Isabel Brown, a conservative influencer previously fact-checked by AFP.
Brown, who posted the clip on Instagram earlier this year, implies the CCS replaced the word "cervix" and opted for the term "front hole" in an update of its online section about cervical cancer.
Other users on Facebook recently posted similar claims, while publications from as early as June allege the charity stopped using "cervix" to be more inclusive to transgender and non-binary people.
CCS recommendations for transgender patients previously sparked misinformation debunked by AFP, and claims that "cervix" no longer appears on CCS materials are similarly untrue.
The term appears multiple times on its website (archived here, here and here) and the charity told AFP that the posts were incorrect.
"In addition to plain language, we also continue to use medical terminology across the website, for example on pages about uterine cancer, cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, vulvar cancer, finding cancer early and more," said the charity's CEO, Andrea Seale, in an October 29 email to AFP (archived here, here, here and here).
'Cervix' always appeared
Keyword searches related to CCS and its use of the terms "cervix" or "front hole" reveal a flurry of social media and editorial attention from June. Users and articles highlighted a paragraph of the charity's website titled "Words matter," which discussed how trans men and non-binary patients may not be inclined to refer to a "cervix" and might prefer terms such as "front hole."
Using the Internet Archive, AFP found the section of the website appeared as early as April on the same pages as multiple other uses of the word "cervix" in reference to cancer screenings.
According to archives, the "Words matter" section was removed around June 13.
As of October 31, the word "cervix" appears several times on the active version of the same page about cervical cancer screening advice for patients who are non-binary or trans men (archived here).
Seale told AFP that after the attention CCS received for the explainer about terminology, the charity updated certain pages of its website it found were causing confusion (archived here).
"We felt there was a better, more clear way to convey the information for the people we're serving and that's what you see on the website today," Seale said.
According to the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer's website, newly developed resources at the Ontario Cervical Screening Program will include gender-neutral language, referring to "people with a cervix" as opposed to "women" (archived here). The American Cancer Society also recommends avoiding exclusive use of the words "women" and "men" and opting for gender-neutral phrasing, such as "screening for everyone," when addressing a general audience (archived here).
Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.
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