Planned Parenthood Ottawa, part of the national Canadian organization that helps provide information on sexual and reproductive health issues, has a message for parents thinking about bring children to Thanksgiving: they can be oppressed if they are forced to hug a relative.

The message was posted on PPO’s official Facebook page and was first reported by iOTW Report.

According to the post, children should not be forced to even touch a relative. This is because hugs from relatives that make your child uncomfortable teaches them that they do not have autonomy over their body.

If friends ask why, PPO suggests you say, “We’re teaching Jeremy that she is allowed to make decisions about her body. Thanks for respecting her wishes:”





When asked why they called a female “Jeremy,” Planned Parenthood Ottawa responded, “We used “she/her” pronouns for a child named Jeremy demonstrate that some people with traditionally masculine names aren’t – or don’t feel like they are – male. We work with a fair amount of gender creative children and trans youth, and we want to make sure that they are reflected in our materials.”

Planned Parenthood Ottawa also continued that there were different ways to say hi to relatives that involved no touching, such as “a wave or a fist bump.”