"So I can't call my boys "boys"?"

I was not planning on saying any more on this topic but a doctor I know called me yesterday. When we had discussed the problem she wanted me to give her some help with I inquired after her family. (They've all had Covid so it was a reasonable question even in the middle of a working day.) They have apparently recovered.

R...went on to tell me how one of her colleagues asked her the same question. Her response was apparently something like, "The boys are back at school."

Her colleague then berated her for referring to her three boys as "the boys". They are in their teens now. This is the way she has referred to them for years. 

"But it seems this is no longer allowed," she told me. "I asked her, "So, I can't call my boys "boys"? And she told me that it is no longer acceptable. They can be "children" or "people" but I can no longer refer to them as boys."

"And your response?" I asked.

"I told her I was sure the boys would be interested to hear that."

I can imagine. R... has no time for such things. She is a brilliant doctor, much loved by her patients, but she would have no time for such "woke" behaviour. That does not mean she does not care or that she is not concerned about the issues surrounding gender and transitioning, mental health and more. She is concerned. She might have been known to growl, "Show me the third gamete" but she accepts there are a small number of people who do feel a very strong need to transition. She campaigned strongly for some same-sex rights because of the distress one of her patients went through when he was told he had no right to visit his dying partner. 

Her colleague apparently reported her to her boss. Her boss spoke to her. Thankfully they are on the same page with respect to this. He apparently got his own back by referring to his wife and daughters as "the girls" when talking about an event they were going to attend. 

I suspect there will be some tensions around this issue - until it is no longer fashionable.  Perhaps after that those people who do have genuine and distressing issues with sexuality will, if they wish, be able to keep such things private again.