The Washington Post's Instagram editor Travis Lyles announced on Friday the newspaper has changed its style guide to be more "inclusive" on how they will refer to those who are pregnant in stories.
While the term "pregnant woman" and "pregnant women" will still be used in cases where the person's gender identity is known, but the Post noted "we exclude those who are transgender and nonbinary. However, we must take care that our efforts to be more inclusive do not come at the expense of other marginalized groups, such as women, and add to feelings of exclusion."
. @washingtonpost officially updated its stylebook guidance on how we reference pregnancy and pregnant individuals in our writing to be more inclusive ???? pic.twitter.com/uUW80HUGXI
— Travis Lyles (@travislylesnews) October 1, 2021
The note adds, "In other situations, to be more inclusive, use pregnant women and other pregnant individuals. Yes, this is a bit of a mouthful, but it has the benefit of being the most inclusive way to phrase it in a story."
Other terms that are now acceptable at the Post include, but are not limited to: pregnant patients, the pregnant population, those who are pregnant, and pregnant individuals.
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Lyles has since deleted the tweet after getting backlash over the announcement. Lyles was blocking people, including women, who were criticizing the style guide changes.
A man blocking a woman for objecting to the way his company talks about pregnancy is really something. Very inclusive. pic.twitter.com/O8Skn9OGPh
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) October 1, 2021