Pantone create new colour red based on...

[StylishDuck]

...periods. Yep. They want to "embolden people who menstruate regardless of gender to embrace this natural bodily function" or something like that.

At least the article itself and the person quotes from ActionAid seem to be aware that only women and girls menstruate.

amp.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/29/pantone-launches-new-shade-of-red-to-end-menstruation-stigma

It just saw that article. My period has never looked that colour.

It does manage to mention women and girls more than once, at least.

Oh Pantone! I thought it was a Pantene hair dye at first. Phew.

I thought it was weird to create period blood coloured hair dye!

I thought this surely had to be a wind-up.

1. Menstrual blood is extremely varied (hmm...almost like a beautiful diverse spectrum in fact) so Pantoning it kind of misses the mark, I think.

1. Who are the people who use Pantone that need emboldening? Do they think graphic designers have a particular problem with empowerment?

1. "to stand up and passionately celebrate the exciting and powerful life force they are born with." Just fuck off. I hate it when people describe reproductive functions as "pure".

@BlueBrush

I thought this surely had to be a wind-up.

1. Menstrual blood is extremely varied (hmm...almost like a beautiful diverse spectrum in fact) so Pantoning it kind of misses the mark, I think.

1. Who are the people who use Pantone that need emboldening? Do they think graphic designers have a particular problem with empowerment?

1. "to stand up and passionately celebrate the exciting and powerful life force they are born with." Just fuck off. I hate it when people describe reproductive functions as "pure".

This!

It's not April 1st is it?

Haha, I thought the same at first. (Thinking, who the hell would want period coloured hair?)

It was more the "people who menstruate" part that causes the eye roll from me. And I was pleased to see that the writer of the article and the women from Action Aid both said "women and girls".

Yes @BlueBrush. You have managed to sum up my feelings on this far more succinctly than I could.

My period blood has never been that colour! They need to go about four shades darker.

Who are the people who use Pantone that need emboldening

Lots of prostate havers who work in IT I would imagine.

Well firstly, I wouldn't say that is the right colour at all. It looks almost orange toned, and whilst yes, at certain times it can be quite a bright red I guess, if one was encapsulating 'period red' it would be quite a bit darker and less bright than that. How did they carry out their research?

Secondly, what is Pantone? I have heard of it but what do people use it for? Are people really going to be like 'yes I want the colour Period for that'.

@StylishDuck

Haha, I thought the same at first. (Thinking, who the hell would want period coloured hair?)

It was more the "people who menstruate" part that causes the eye roll from me. And I was pleased to see that the writer of the article and the women from Action Aid both said "women and girls".

Yes, this. The previous Guardian articles on menstruation have erased biological sex altogether (except, perhaps in direct quotes) so it is good that women are at least mentioned.

The underlying problem (not going away until we can debate the changes gender identity school has made after capturing so much of language) is that the wokerati define 'woman' as an abstract identity not based on the sex of the body and the more common that becomes the closer we get to the total erasure of all names for biologically female people.

Just strange. The colour is wrong. Its like a timid version of the truth - like its been nicey-ed up to make it more politer and palatable - so basically undermines the core message.

The issue of period poverty is a real issue both in developing countries and sadly here but I unconvinced that this Pantone effort does anything to change that.

In any case I thought we all knew that period blood is exactly the same as any other blood.

This is just so fucking bizarre.

Who are these people that need a colour matching service to match their period blood in order to feel emboldened? I’ve never spoken to anyone who has expressed a desire for this.

Its bonkers

No one ever gave a fuck about periods until it became extremely cool and edgy to say 'not just boring women but the exciting genders get them'. Now you can't move for people wanting to celebrate them.

Not positive. Not a step forward. Actively the opposite in fact.

*The colour is wrong. Its like a timid version of the truth - like its been nicey-ed up to make it more politer and palatable - so basically undermines the core message.

The issue of period poverty is a real issue both in developing countries and sadly here but I unconvinced that this Pantone effort does anything to change that.*

Yes I totally agree. I mean it's clearly a bit of a publicity-get-people-talking kind of thing, but I don't see how coming up with a sanitised generic cheery red (which we all seem to agree is inaccurate) and a press release that's all "empowered blah blah life force blah blah pure and natural blah blah" actually helps women with any of the real issues they face around menstruation.

That page has a link to another guardian story which does use 'girls' throughout - but I note it's in the education section not 'lifestyle'

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/07/uk-teens-refuse-silent-about-periods

Anyway ... surely there should be a whole palette of period colours, rusty brown etc etc. Maybe the idea of colour matching is so that you are confident of camouflaging an occasional flood?

Oh Pantone! I thought it was a Pantene hair dye at first. Phew.

Same! As someone who identifies as ginger I was about to get very offended

It's just making me want some Italian Christmassy bread for afters tbh.

I'd really like to know (or, perhaps, I wouldn't) how they 'matched' the colour. My understanding is that it requires quite complex measurement and colour reproduction equipment. At least, that was the justification for our in-house graphics designer having a monitor that cost the company as much as a complete high end workstation.

I haven’t looked. Is it blue?

Nearly PMSL Errol, first laugh I've had all day!

What do we need emboldened to do? Does anyone know?

So are they saying if your period doesn't match that exact shade of red that's not healthy or "normal"? Because I'm the same as everyone here in that mine certainly doesn't look like that. If they're not saying that then they're really missing the mark by having an exact shade to represent periods.

My period doesn't identify as that colour. Period.

That's a PEPC.

(Period Exclusionary Pantone Colour)