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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Sussex Police officer (hate crime specialist) criticising supermarkets for labelling tampon and ST aisle as 'feminine care'

42 replies

MimiSam · 15/08/2017 12:11

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hate-crime-officer-sergeant-peter-allan-sussex-police-tesco-sainsburys-tampons-womens-hygiene-a7891226.html

Another example of someone who has drunk the Kool-aid! But thankfully, this piece of nonsense seems to have backfired on him....

OP posts:
VestalVirgin · 16/08/2017 13:58

When you couple that with their insistence that women stop talking about abortion, miscarriage, menstruation, etc, it's unsurprising.

Hmm, makes sense.

Though I am sure they make ample use of transmen as a cover for this, and there are handmaiden-transmen who happily assist them, too.

RB68 · 16/08/2017 13:59

surely if it were labelled personal hygiene it would sort the issue. I noticed the other day my local Sainsbury's actually devotes more shelf space to adult incontinence products than products for periods. Was quite shocked. It's not a particularly elderly area

Datun · 16/08/2017 14:00

Totally agree that feminine does not mean woman.

So let's change it to women's hygiene.

Not personal hygiene, sanitary products, menstuation wear.

VestalVirgin · 16/08/2017 14:04

Thinking about it we've always used feminine and masculine to describe the human form which that's clearly about biology

Um, no, I actually used to use female and male for that. Respectively the corresponding words of my mothertongue.

Feminine and masculine are terms I only ever use in feminist debate.

"Feminine hygiene" is euphemistic and I am not very happy with it. We don't call toilet paper "bathroom hygiene", after all.

"Menstruation products" would be an acceptable name.

It would also be gender neutral, but if the genderist's goal is to erase women, I am sure they'd come up with some new complain as to why we cannot talk about menstruation.

Datun · 16/08/2017 14:05

Totally agree that menstuation products is preferable to personal hygiene.

Only women menstruate.

VestalVirgin · 16/08/2017 14:06

surely if it were labelled personal hygiene it would sort the issue

Personal hygiene would make me think of shampoo and soap.

I guess elderly people would like incontinence products to be sold under an euphemism so they don't have to be embarrassed?

But I am not embarrassed about my menstruation.

Datun · 16/08/2017 14:06

It would also be gender neutral, but if the genderist's goal is to erase women, I am sure they'd come up with some new complain as to why we cannot talk about menstruation.

Which will expose their agenda.

Datun · 16/08/2017 14:28

TinyRick

Interestingly, the transmen's main worry was the fact that they present as men, but bleed like women. More to do with the disconnect from other people. The difficulty seems in presenting as a male about everything, but nonetheless, being accepting of a period. And other people thinking, eh, how does that work?

Not much talk of it being distressing, due to gender dysphoria.

I honestly can't read the transwomen'a experience. I've seen enough fetishising of menstruation, to last me a lifetime. That and the ridiculous way they try and mimic what they have heard, in terms of crying over puppies and eating chocolate. And I'm sorry, if you are cramping due to the hormones you're taking, it's not your uterus!

The only thing it can be is your stomach. So unless you are ingesting something that disagrees with you, I suggest medical assistance should be sought.

TinyRick · 16/08/2017 15:17

Quite Datun

Before T stops it, FtT have this monthly reminder that they are biologically Female.

MtT don't have anything like that to remind them of their male biology (penis doesn't count because they are 'female', natch). So of course they are going to believe they have periods/PMS because they are women and that's what women have.

I wonder if any of the late transitioning (50+) MtTs speak of having symptoms too considering the majority of women at that age would have gone through the menopause...

ButtHoleinOne · 16/08/2017 15:24

Um, no, I actually used to use female and male for that. Respectively the corresponding words of my mothertongue.

I've never said someone has a very male body unless discussing trans issues. If I said a man was very masculine looking it would be about this physicality and nothing to do with his clothes.

A feminine figure would traditionally be seen as hips and boobs.

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 16/08/2017 16:09

Datun I feel for transmen, but lots of men buy these products for their DP

I don't follow your point. Why does re-naming it something ambiguous and waffly help them? Do they need help?

I agree with Vestal re " personal hygiene". "Personal" is personal stuff I might have in common with millions of others or none but which I don't share with others.

On the other hand most women menstruate at some point; we all sweat; many people need incontinence products or treatment for piles or athletes foot or lice, none of which should be any more embarrassing to buy or hidden under twee signage than a box of Lemsip is.

pombal · 16/08/2017 16:45

Lass I didn't explain myself well.

I don't think renaming is necessary, it may be helpful to transmen who find buying tampons 'triggering', but should we rename everything for the 0.00001% of the population.

I meant that in the case of transmen, it wouldn't be outing for them to buy tampons/pads etc. as this is something that men do.

Man with pack of tampax at the till wouldn't ping people's trans radar.

Datun · 16/08/2017 17:01

Man with pack of tampax at the till wouldn't ping people's trans radar.

Agreed, but it does nothing to validate a transman's sense of being a man.

Although, to be honest, you can call it what you like, they are still Tampax, right?

It's just another political agenda, to erase as many differences as possible between men and women.

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 16/08/2017 19:20

I meant that in the case of transmen, it wouldn't be outing for them to buy tampons/pads etc. as this is something that men do

Sorry, I was being thick.

VestalVirgin · 16/08/2017 19:37

I've never said someone has a very male body unless discussing trans issues. If I said a man was very masculine looking it would be about this physicality and nothing to do with his clothes.

My mothertongue has man and manly for that. Manly actually is the word we use for "male".

It seems that in feminist discourse, "masculine" is usually used to mean behaviours that are associated with men but are not based on biology, i.e. toxic masculinity.

Same with feminine, i.e. "performing femininity".

As non-native speaker I don't know what most speakers think of when they hear those terms, but to me, it just sounds weird.

(Cannot actually recall what the aisle with the menstruation products is called here. Will investigate.)

VestalVirgin · 16/08/2017 19:51

I meant that in the case of transmen, it wouldn't be outing for them to buy tampons/pads etc. as this is something that men do.

I'm not even sure how much modern transmen care about being outed.
They seem, by now, deluded enough to think that passing doesn't matter.

I mean, if I was trans, I'd oppose all this "men menstruate, too!" nonsense. I'd feel that it raises my risk to be outed enormously. If people think that trans are a tiny minority and they'll probably never meet one, then they don't look twice at a man who buys pads or tampons.
But now that it is all over the newspapers? Well ..

The whole bathroom debate has caused me to look twice at tall women entering the changing rooms. Previously, I'd never have questioned that a person who walks into the women's changing room must be female; only the most blatant male looks and/or behaviour would have caused me to look at someone twice.

It is likely the same with transmen. Hell, men will now know that even someone who has a full beard isn't necessarily actually male.

If I were trans, I'd hate the genderists with a passion.

The strategy of pretending to be male to survive in patriarchy only works if no one notices because no one expects it.

I am very aware that men don't care what my gender identity is. They treat me as woman because they can see I am one, and they'd only ever stop doing so if they genuinely thought I were a true, XY chromosome, bepenised dude.

This whole "men menstruate! men get pregnant! men need abortions" serves no purpose - no gynecologist would have refused a patient just because said patient happens to have masculine genderfeelz. The only thing it does is draw attention.

If I had sacrificed my female reproductive organs for the sake of not being treated as subhuman in patriarchy, I'd be so very massively pissed off at people who draw attention to the fact that my bearded self could have a vagina, thus ruining all my precautions taken to escape rape culture.

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