The Canadian right wing website True North claimed that the Canadian Cancer Society apologized for using the word cervix in discussions of cervical cancer in an article by conservative commentator Cosmin Dzsurdzsa. This claim, that the charity had “apologized” was then repeatedly in other conservative news outlets including the Daily Mail, the Toronto Sun, and the Western Standard. However, the supposed apology never actually happened.
A search of the website for the Canadian Cancer Society returns 134 uses of the word “cervix.” In contrast, the site uses the phrase “front hole” only once, in a text box on the bottom of a page devoted to the question “As a trans man or non-binary person assigned female at birth, do I need to get screened for cervical cancer?” This text box does not contain an apology. Here’s what it says:
We recognize that many trans men and non-binary people may have mixed feelings about or feel distanced from words like “cervix.” You may prefer other words, such as “front hole.” We recognize the limitations of the words we’ve used while also acknowledging the need for simplicity. Another reason we use words like “cervix” is to normalize the reality that men can have these body parts too.
It’s unclear when this Canadian Cancer Society added this text to the website. The internet archive’s first saved version of the page includes the text, and dates to April 4, 2024. There is no evidence of any trans community objection to the use of the word “cervix” by the society, or of the society adding the text in response to any sort of controversy or push back.
The word “cervix” is repeatedly used in the body of the page where this text box appears. Rather than an apology, the text reads as explanation of why the word is being used, as well as an acknowledgement that some trans people may prefer other terminology.
In other words, the Canadian Cancer Society never faced any backlash or pressure to apologize for using the word cervix or to use the word “front hole,” they do not do so anywhere on their website, and they have never apologized for not doing so. Instead, on a single page dedicated to informing trans people with cervices about their risk of cervical cancer, it acknowledges that some members of the community the page has been created to address might prefer other terminology.
“Imagine being a woman who has cervical cancer and coming across this disclaimer, which I think is derogatory and I think a lot of women would agree with me. It’s just degrading and gross,” said Dzsurdzsa on the website’s daily podcast. He did not explain why a woman with cervical cancer would be reading a page directed at answering the questions of trans men and nonbinary people with cervices, nor what his objection is to charities doing cervical cancer outreach to members of trans community. By falsely framing an informative text box as an “apology” North Star and other right-wing outlets misinformed their audience about a single use of the term “front hole” on a web page aimed solely at transgender people who may need cervical cancer screenings.
Evan Urquhart is the founder of Assigned Media and an incoming member of the 2024-2025 Knight Science Journalism fellowship class at MIT.
I actually encountered this in the wild a couple of days ago. I was doing an education session with a group of people, and someone brought up this "controversy" about this usage. I was diplomatic, but pointed out I didn’t know of anyone who had a major problem with cervix, nor did I think it was a very good way to refer to a cervix (it makes more sense for the vagina, surely?). I made a couple of suggestions for other words that felt more appropriate, and said I’d look into it more. I wish I’d seen this before I went to work that day. Thanks for writing about it.
The cancer center CLEARLY used the extremely offensive term “front hole”. You can downplay it all you want, but it happened and they deserved the flack they got.
A word or phrase isn’t offensive just because you declare it is. This is just a phrase some people use about their own anatomy- like a person from another country might use a word from a different language, or a subculture might have their own slang.
It’s important for healthcare professionals to know the language used by the patients they’re treating, so they can communicate in ways that will help the patient. Having a reference to a slang term on a page aimed at the community that sometimes uses this slang isn’t offensive, no matter how much you want to pretend it is.
They used the term because some people who have a cervix use it. It’s a website about trying to keep people from getting cancer or getting checked for cancer before it kills them. They made reference to slang because that’s the language people use. They then explained why they use medical terms and then continued to do so. This is just another example of media misrepresenting what actually happened because angry people are engaged people.
So the whole point about this still stands even though they didn’t specifically say “we’re sorry”