Terms for feminine hygiene products that don't offend trans-men??

[CocktailQueen]

I was having this debate the other day with a friend and I'm sturggling to understand her POV. We were talking about terms for sanpro - towel, pad, menstrual pad, feminine hygiene products - and my friend said that 'feminine hygiene product' is trans-exclusionary, because trans-men have periods and often do not go by the adjective 'feminine'.

I was like, wtf?? Plenty of women aren't necessarily feminine, or would call themselves feminine, but 'feminine' in this context relates to their sex, not a personality characteristic, so seems suitable for menstrual items.

And why should all sanpro be renamed/relabelled to suit the needs of a handful of trans-men? Her suggestion was 'menstrual pads'.

Saying "pads" or "menstrual cup" or "tampons" instead of "feminine hygiene products" doesn't hurt or bother anyone and would make transmen feel happier, so I can't see any reason not to do it

It hurts the english language and the sensibilities of any woman with half a fucking brain.

This shit has gone so far too far, its into the realms of fantasy.

FGS. What a non issue, people need a bigger problem.

I do not get this but I will call them whatever I want. Load of crap.

If they're a transsexual they won't have an orifice to menstruate out of and it won't be a problem. Afaik they don't bleed out their constructed penises.

I'm talking about trans-men, Possum - people born female but who identify as male.

FGS - we can call them what the heck we like - no-one's business but our won. I have never heard such utter bollocks in all my life. (Apologies to anyone with bollocks who is offended by the use of the word).

"own"

I strongly suspect we could dress up as tampons and wave 'feminine hygiene' placards in our city centres and the only reaction would be bemusement.

If anyone can find me a real life person in the UK who is willing to discuss their hurt and offence at this term, and who has enough influence on anything to persuade even 1% of the Great British Public to stop calling womens things feminine, then I will eat my extra long fanny pad.

What about jam rag? Is that trans exclusionary?
What is the thinking behind this? Are we supposed to pretend that menstruating is nothing to do with being female? Where will this end? Will visibly pregnant women be prohibited from leaving the house lest some sensitive flower is traumatised by being confronted with the reality that no matter how much he insists he is female he can't have a baby?

I agree with Lass on this one - the 'hygiene' or 'sanitary' euphemisms are far too much in line with the misogyny of menstruating women being 'unclean'.

Someone is already way ahead of you OP, I work in a related field and have been sent this by well meaning individuals no less than five separate times.

Personally I am more concerned about the lack of research on rates of cancer (and I believe osteoporosis) in trans men on hormones, atrophied uteri and associated health complaints, the long term consequences of stalling puberty with powerful untested drugs and the removal of healthy tissue in teenagers and young adults.

And no, I won't be using queeriods or removing women and mothers from menstrual language as that stupid flow chart suggests.

I cant stand the term feminine hygiene

I agree with pooch

Everytime i go into boots i get angry

And when i used to go to WHS and see porn under 'general interest'

Does anyone actually say feminine hygiene products in their every day life? Don't we just say pads, tampons etc?

But no, men don't have periods or have babies.

that article is really wierd!
I'm post menopausal and DONT feel excluded by talk of menstruation (slightly smug and relieved perhaps )
some of the language advocated is fine I think (eg starting puberty includes boys, and is less intimidating than 'becoming a woman) but how does referring to women who menstruate as 'menstruators' hardly challenges gender essentialism or biological determinism. Rather the reverse, surely.

If calling it something else doesn't make a difference to the lives of billions of women; then it equally shouldn't make a difference to the minuscule number of trans people who've decided it's the latest thing to feign offence at.
I'll call feminine hygiene products whatever the fuck the spirit moves me to call them.

Firstly, I am usually very quick jump on anybody who has the gall to object to a woman that a term she uses is trans-exclusionary when large swathes of our world are woman-exclusionary in very practical terms. Please fuck off for a bit while we work on that one before we get around to solving your problems too.

However, the term "feminine hygiene products" pisses me off anyway for it's faux coyness. I don't have a hygiene problem, I am menstruating, and need some kit to catch and dispose of varying quantities of blood. So for that reason alone, yes, ditch "feminine care" and call a spade a spade. Embarrassment and dancing around terminology with euphemisms for millennia has just reinforced male ignorance anyway, and certainly hasn't helped us with equal wage etc.

I'd never actually use that term in real life, tbh, icant... But I reserve the right to use it unquestioned if I bloody well choose to.

WanderingUterus - thanks for that flow (har) chart. Bloody hell. Menstruators vs non-menstruators. The world has gone mad.

wanderinguterus, that chart has given me the early morning rage! Raaaaaaaar!!

Due to disabling problems, I had to have a hysterectomy at 40, so was catapulted into the menopause at quite a young age which has been hard to deal with. While I mostly feel like Shallishanti above, which is relieved to be freed of periods that wrecked my life, sometimes I also feel angry and short changed.

What that fucking chart says to me is "you now belong in a category that divides you from most women your age, isn't that great??". No! It isn't! I belong in the category of woman, which is someone who, barring medical issues, does or did menstruate. Actually I still feel a great deal of solidarity (not sure if that's the right word, but can't think of another) with women who menstruate, particularly those with endometriosis and adenomyosis whose lives are blighted with it as mine has been. This chart says to me, you shouldn't care about anything related to menstruation any more, it's nothing that concerns you. It's quite profoundly selfish and divisive, and the person who thought this up needs to get a new hobby.

However, the term "feminine hygiene products" pisses me off anyway for it's faux coyness. I don't have a hygiene problem, I am menstruating, and need some kit to catch and dispose of varying quantities of blood

Catching and disposing of blood certainly comes under the heading of hygiene. Perhaps your definitions are too narrow?

I don't mind hygiene, although sanitary products would be fine. I do mind very much as a post menopausal woman the idea of being designated a non menstruator, alongside trans women with whom I have no shared experience.

I call it sanitary protection.

I don't understand how some trans people have the energy and free time to be offended by everything, it must be exhausting.

One of my closest friends is trans. He's too busy getting on with life to take everything as a personal affront.

Some people are just arses no matter what their circumstances.

Menstruation deserves a better press. When my first period arrived, inconveniently on a camping holiday, my DPs made an announcement to my DBs, both younger, that I had "become a woman", that this was a milestone, and then we had a special supper. I have always been grateful for the way that made me feel, and my DBs react. Would have done the same had I had a DD.

Not sure what I think about the phrase. "feminine hygiene products". It's used by shops and manufacturers rather than consumers, and is useful in that it covers all menstrual products. I can see why some think it expresses a view that females are dirty in some sense. But I don't see it like that. To me the sense is that there's an aspect of hygiene that is exclusively female. Men don't need these products. I don't feel there's a judgment in there.

When it comes to transmen getting angry that menstruation is labelled an issue exclusive to females, then they need to grow up and accept that (as PP have said) biology is sooo transphobic.

Inspiration has struck! I read a very funny thread on here a year or so ago about daft euphemisms people used for periods - one of them was "shark week". So, may I humbly suggest "jump-the-shark-week products"?