UK Royal Air Force Accused of 'Woke B***hery' After It Ditches Airwomen and Airmen for Aviators

Last month, the UK Ministry of Defence raised eyebrows after it published its "inclusive language" guide, which gives clues on how to discuss sensitive topics such as sexuality and gender identity. One paragraph stated that "not all women are biologically female" and the conflation of the terms erases members of the trans community.

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) has been accused of "needless wokery" after it ditched the terms "airwomen" and "airmen" for the gender neutral term "aviators", The Mail on Sunday has reported. According to the outlet, there has been no public announcement of the change as yet, but said the new guidance was published in the RAF's official magazine Airclues.

"No longer does it mean just aircrew, but the term 'aviator' has now replaced the generic term of 'airman' to bring right up to date the way we should describe all of our personnel in a modern and appropriate manner. So, it's no longer 'Soldiers, Sailors, & Airmen' but 'Soldiers, Sailors, & Aviator'", the article in the magazine read.

Former Tory MP and ex-Army colonel Patrick Mercer described the proposed term as "woke b***hery".

"For years I had airmen and airwomen under my command", he said. "You have two perfectly good, historic, tried and tested terms which have never caused any difficulties or problems. If you are going to do this sort of thing, presumably the idea of women service people wearing skirts and doing up their tunics differently to men needs to stop too. Where do you draw the line? There's also a cost implication due to the sheer bureaucracy of scrapping signs and letters saying airmen and women", Mr Mercer said.

It appears the Royal Air Force has followed in the footsteps of the Royal Australian Air Force, which announced this April that it will no longer use the term "airman" to describe staff and will replace it with "aviator".

Last month, the UK Ministry of Defence published a new "inclusive guideline" that advised personnel on how to discuss certain sensitive subjects such as gender identity and sexuality. The guide was described as a "toolkit" to help staff understand why "certain words or use of language is hurtful or non-inclusive". One paragraph stated that the terms "woman" and "female" mean different things.

"Referring to women as females is perceived by many as reducing a woman to her reproductive parts and abilities. Not all women are biologically female, and the conflation of 'female' to 'woman' erases gender nonconforming people and members of the trans community", the guide read.

The document also advises personnel to ask which pronouns their comrades use. Try asking: "May I ask how you prefer me to address you, for example what pronoun do you use?", it states.

The MoD has come under criticism, with opponents of the new guide accusing it of "woke nonsense".

"For anybody in the street, woman means human female. If you ask for a female doctor or a woman doctor, you are asking for the same thing. This language is unintelligible to anyone who hasn't been doing a gender studies course in a university", said Maya Forstater, executive director of the campaign group Sex Matters.