The Creeping Stubbornity of the 1992 Edition

Some changes between the dooditions that suggest what I'm calling creeping stupidity. In 1992, there was a section on fertility in which they wrote men and women who are not able to have children - now it's intersex people. Words like sterility have been removed. And sex is often disappeared, but not always, even in chapters entirely about reproduction. It's just going to be more confusing to people who are trying to use this. This is an actual manual for, you know, village healthcare. But especially in places where such a book might find itself, the idea that the language is going to appear to dance around a fiction that's actually biologically settled isn't good.

Transcript

Play full episode

Transcript

Episode notes

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts

Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.