Conflicted - whether to support period charity that uses ‘menstruators’

[Seraphinite]

An acquaintance of mine is on the board of a new period charity and has contacted me about donating to their fundraising appeal.

I think it’s a great cause (their vision relates to achieving period equity, smashing period stigma, access to period products etc) however I can’t find a single reference to women or girls on their website and they use the term ‘menstruators’. Other sentences use ‘kids’, ‘students’ ‘people with periods’ but not ‘women’ or ‘girls’.

I’d like a sense-check here please: I was going to reply to say I think the cause is great but their terminology has an impact on my decision to donate to them. Do you think that’s a reasonable reply?

I honestly do admire the aims of the charity but feel so frustrated that it has to be done with that language.

On the one hand I feel they should know they are alienating potential donors. But equally I could just delete it and say nothing and let them get on with it.

I think part of my hesitation is that if I reply and don’t donate, I’m not actually doing anything constructive myself to change period inequity. (And if I don’t reply, I’m not challenging the approach)

Would love some thoughts on my best approach please. (By the way I’m not in the uk if that’s relevant).

I don't think those setting up campaigns such as this have spent much time considering the whole life of women. In my opinion its shallow and often more about wanting to be activists than really engaging in girls and women's lives.

YY, I completely agree with this. And we know TRAs often join these lightweight, attractive campaigns with the expectation of furthering their agenda, because they've admitted it before.

@Trixie78

No I would never support any organisation which describes women as menstruators.

As loads of people have already said.

Ask them why, ask them if they will change because of all the points made - there are other charities who don’t play this game (the ones who seem to care about the girls and women, not about playing gender games for show).

I think organisations need to be held to account. Calling women menstruators should not be seen as the easy, neutral option. They should know that it is offensive to many women and it will affect donations.

YY, lonel, exactly. Complain every time. Don't make it easy for them to pander to trans activists at the expense of women and girls. Call them out on social media. Sometimes it works.

I dislike the 'women and' approach as it gives away the meaning of the word women. Only women menatruate.

By talking about people rather than women it looks like it is far less of an issue as suddenly statistics are halved. It also draws away from the fact that many of those who don't menstruate have suffered period poverty (aka poverty) or will do in future.

It could down to - bleeding from between your legs? If you are not a woman, 100% get to the a&e. If you are a woman - probably a period.

There's also local ways of addressing period poverty. (And I do - unlike other women here - think period poverty is a thing. There are so many women who limit the family money they spend on things they need, in order to provide for their kids. Pads are one of those things.)

If you work in a public-facing area, or are part of a church, or have a local community hall, you can persuade the operating body to have free pads available in the loos - I've done this with my church, and it's been very straightforward. Lots more people than just our church use the building, and since it's often low-income groups and charities that use church halls, it tends to reach women who need it. And it isn't a big drain on funds - the pads disappear, but not at a rate that costs us more than a very small amount.