A leading pediatrician has called on paediatricians to call the vagina a ‘front hole’ and the penis an ‘outie’.
Dr. Ilana Sherer, a pediatrician in Dublin, California, gave a presentation at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition on Sunday and called for more gender-neutral terminology for body parts.
Her suggestions, given at a workshop entitled ‘Discussing Gender and Sexuality in the Primary Care Office’, include referring to the vagina as an ‘innie’, ‘front hole’ or ‘T-penis’ and the clitoris as ‘d* ck’. ‘ or ‘d*cklet.’
She also suggested calling breasts ‘breast’ or ‘chesticles’. For male anatomy, Dr. Sherer recommended that pediatricians call the penis “outie,” “junk,” “strapless” or “bit.”
Pediatrician Dr. Ilana Sherer gave a presentation at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition calling for more gender-neutral terminology for body parts
Slides from Dr. Ilana Sherer’s presentation offer advice on how to talk to pediatric patients about gender and sexual identity, including new terms you can use to address genitalia
Dr. Sherer is a general pediatrician at Palo Alto Medical Foundation/Sutter Health.
She is certified by the AAP, an organization that promotes the health and well-being of children and the profession of pediatrics, and serves on the organization’s LGBTQ Health and Wellness Executive Committee.
Some in the medical community have been advocating gender-neutral body terminology for years, recommending “upper body” for breasts, “erectile tissue” for penis, and “internal gonads” for ovaries.
They argue that it creates a more inclusive space for people who may not identify with one gender or gender and may not feel comfortable using gender-specific terminology.
But doctors have previously warned against politicizing medical language because it could confuse public health messaging, especially for people for whom English is not their first language.
Dr. Leonora Regenstreif, a general practitioner and assistant clinical professor of family medicine at McMaster University, told DailyMail.com: ‘Healthcare providers don’t have to be ‘cool’. We can simply use clinical, anatomical language politely and respectfully.
‘Children may giggle or chuckle, but they are likely to be further put off if we try to ‘match’ their word choices, which may be based on pornographic or inappropriate online sources.’
The doctor asked a few questions, adapted to the patient’s age, such as ‘are you sexually active?’ and ‘Have you had intercourse with someone with a penis?’ are sufficient.
She added: “More details than this – such as suggesting new words like ‘front-hole’ or ‘dicklet’ – are unnecessary and itchy.”
Dr. Ilana Sherer is a general pediatrician at Palo Alto Medical Foundation/Sutter Health in Dublin, California
During her presentation at the AAP conference, Dr. Sherer did not represent the organization and her recommendations have not been adopted or implemented by the medical organization. The AAP did not comment on Dr.’s presentation. Sherer.
When it comes to LGBTQ care, the AAP in 2021 recommended that doctors treating patients who identify as transgender ask them what words they would like to use when referring to different body parts.
The guidance from July 2022 will instruct parents to use ‘correct names for body parts’ when talking to young children and discussing body development and sexuality.
In August, the AAP voted to stick with 2018 guidelines supporting LGBTQ access to counseling, hormone therapy, puberty blockers and sometimes surgery for minors under 18.
Any guidelines from the AAP are not binding on physicians, but recommendations announced by a leading medical advisory body are often implemented as best practices by health care providers.
For trans girls, the options include covering the male genitals with medical tape or special underwear and padding with silicone gel breast forms, padded bras and padded underwear to accentuate the hips and buttocks. Additional options include vocal training, makeup tutorials, and wigs.
For trans boys, options include binders such as compression garments and ‘packing’, which includes a penile prosthesis and a ‘pee stand’.
A medical option involves prescribing contraception to patients who are menstruating, which prevents them from having periods.
Other points from Dr.’s presentation Sherer outlined a possible “non-pharmacological treatment for body dysphoria” for trans girls and trans boys.
The presentation of Dr. Sherer also outlined how to ask patients about gender, including asking about their preferred pronouns, gender identity and sexual orientation, and whether they identify as male or female, or neither.
To get more information about a child’s sexual orientation, Dr. Sherer said doctors should ask patients if they are in an intimate relationship and what “parts of your body you use/have used for sexual pleasure?”
Other questions concern monogamous relationships, previous and “side” partners, the gender of a patient’s partners, and what body parts they use for sexual pleasure.
Dr. Sherer gave her presentation Sunday at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in Washington, DC
Other slides from her presentation focused on how to talk to patients and parents about gender
Other points from Dr.’s presentation Sherer outlined a possible “non-pharmacological treatment for body dysphoria” for trans girls and trans boys.
The California Pediatrician Workshop also advised doctors to “think about your office,” saying they should put up affirmative signs and posters, ensure staff receive adequate inclusivity training, hire a diverse workforce that represents the patient’s identity , should have all-gender bathrooms, including medical forms, including preferred pronouns on patient records and first name stickers on staff ID badges.
Similar recommendations were issued by the AAP in June 2021.
The AAP’s mission is “to achieve optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.”
The mission continues: ‘Children have optimal health and well-being and are valued by society. Academy members practice the highest quality health care and experience professional satisfaction and personal well-being.”
Medical care for trans patients has been politicized into a hot topic and is becoming a major political battleground in the run-up to the 2024 presidential elections.
Local and national politicians have fought and passed legislation limiting or even banning gender-affirming care for trans children, including hormone therapy, puberty blockers and genital reconstruction.
Until the wave of state bans began in 2020 and 2021, there were no restrictions at the federal level on access to these treatments, which in some cases are irreversible.
However, as of May 2023, twenty states have passed legislation, executive actions, or other policies limiting or banning health care for transgender youth, and more than a hundred additional bills are pending.
All states are Republican or Republican-leaning, and all but one voted for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Much of the political debate in recent years has focused on concerns that minors receiving gender-affirming care are too young to make such a life-changing decision and are not fully aware of the risks.
For example, research shows that transgender people are six times more likely to have autism, and that up to 70 percent of transgender youth are depressed.
Other studies, including one of the National Institutes of Healthsuggest that patients are happier after surgery, further complicating the problem.
There are concerns among Republican lawmakers about the lack of long-term safety data on puberty blockers and hormone drugs, which has led other countries such as Britain and Scandinavia to restrict access to minors.
The Food and Drug Administration approved puberty blockers 30 years ago to treat children with precocious puberty — a condition that causes sexual development to begin much earlier than normal.
Sex hormones – synthetic forms of estrogen and testosterone – were approved decades ago to treat hormone disorders or as birth control pills.
The FDA has not specifically approved the drugs for treating gender-questioning youth, but they have been used “off-label” for that purpose for years.
Doctors who treat transgender patients say the decades of use are proof the treatments are not experimental.
Dr. Sherer and the AAP could not be reached for comment.