Independent, spotlighting the dangers she feels gender-inclusive language or “politically correct stealth” poses to women’s rights. “It worries me that we might be inadvertently subjugated with the censure of female-only spaces or words like ‘mother’ and ‘breastfeeding’ (and told we must use terms like ‘female parent’ and ‘chestfeeding’ instead),” Collins, 89, penned in her open letter. “We must beware that we are not being kicked back into inequality by politically correct stealth,” the self-purported lifelong feminist insisted. “And with the awareness that International Women’s Day puts into acceptable feminism, I truly hope that this will never happen.”AdvertisementThe silver screen star’s campaign against gender-neutral speak echoes that of “Harry Potter” author J.K.
Rowling, 57. On Wednesday, Rowling — who has come under fire for her alleged transphobic views — encouraged her more than 14 million Twitter followers to join her mission to sway the British government toward defining the protected characteristic of “sex” as “biological sex.” The goal of the movement is to exclude non-biological women from female-only spaces. “If you’re concerned about the erosion of women’s rights in the UK – the right to single sex spaces like domestic violence refuges, rape crisis centers and prisons – sign the Sex Matters petition to make the Equality Act clear,” Rowling tweeted along with the hashtag #InternationalWomensDay2023 as well as a link to the “Sex Matters” petition.