Periods are often seen as something dirty and taboo, hence, many think, the least we talk about it the better. This leads to so much misinformation on menstruation and perhaps the biggest mistake we commit is to talk about periods as something that happens to ‘girls’ and ‘women’ only.
This language inevitably neglects and overlooks all of those who menstruate who are not women, for instance, some trans men, non-binary people, gender fluid people, and intersex people who may experience menstruation.
As mentioned in an article: “Associating menstruation with womanhood can be harmful to the trans men and non-binary folx that get their periods, making them feel dysphoric about their bodies and struggle with how they see themselves. Womanhood being associated with menstruation is also harmful to the women who can't menstruate. It can make them feel as if they are not a true woman, which is of course not true.” (https://vivforyourv.com/blogs/news/the-importance-of-inclusive-period-language).
Making sure to use inclusive language, particularly when talking about menstruation, is super easy! When you see menstrual products available in bathrooms you can think: ‘Cool! In this bathroom, all people who menstruate can find pads and tampons available!’. Or, instead of calling them feminine hygiene products (a long and boring term that, other than being exclusionary for the ‘feminine’ bit, also reinstates the idea that periods are dirty, with the ‘hygiene’ bit) let’s just call them period products!
Using inclusive language is really just that easy! Especially if you hold cis-privilege (the privilege that comes with identifying with the gender that was assigned to you at birth) the very least you can do is reflect on the words you use. Let’s remember that language matters and language is gendered. While this is discomforting to an extent since it means that discrimination can be so easily reproduced just with a sentence, it is also great to know that the words we use can bring about change!
We are going to leave here below some website links in case you want to read more about the importance of using inclusive language when talking about periods:
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