Leading medical journal apologizes for referring to women as ‘bodies with vaginas’

The editor of The Lancet, a leading medical journal in Britain, has apologized for a pro-transgender cover about menstruation that referred to women as “bodies with vaginas.”

Editor-in-chief Richard Horton issued the apology this week in response to blowback from feminist and medical groups against the journal’s effort to be inclusive of biologically born men who now identify as women.

“In this instance, we have conveyed the impression that we have dehumanized and marginalized women,” Mr. Horton said in a statement. “Those who read The Lancet regularly will understand that this would never have been our intention.”

“Historically, the anatomy and physiology of bodies with vaginas have been neglected,” the journal’s Sept. 25 issue cover proclaimed in blue ink, centering the text on a blank white background.

The line, touting an article about menstruation stigmas, drew harsh criticism.

Feminists and doctors had pointed out that the London-based journal did not likewise refer to men as “bodies with penises.”

Following the apology, they also pointed out that the journal did not remove an electronic image of the cover from its website.

“Despite the outrage at calling women ‘bodies with vaginas’ and an apology from the Editor-in-Chief at The Lancet, the front page still remains,” Jane Chalmers, a senior lecturer in pain sciences at the University of South Australia, wrote in a Sept. 25 tweet.