Millions of people....

[TopKnotch]

Argh.

I can't really articulate what it is about stuff like this on social media that makes me feel so stressed out. Why I actually feel my heart race when I skim read and realise they've contorted everything they're saying to not mention women.

Quite apart from what I find offensive about the teaming of "hygiene" with periods (the UNCLEAN) there aren't millions of people being troubled by their periods are there? There's millions of women and girls.

This same setup shared a post a while back about why they use 'inclusive' language and in that post (about birthing people) they used 'women and..' or 'mothers and..' for everything. I personally find that also provokes a reaction in me, it feels so try hard and unnatural and makes me feel sad but I recognise that maybe that is my issue and I am in need of some nudging to 'be kind and include' perhaps. They've swiftly moved to calling women people though, and now I feel even sadder.

How can you help people you can't define? How can you remove stigma when saying woman or girl isn't allowed because it's deemed offensive? How can I stand up and say this without being dismissed and shamed for having feelings about this weirdness of language?

I feel stressed out by this, because I am being erased, and once all words for the female sex have disappeared, how can we fight against sexism and sex-based oppression?

Yes. The idea that you can tackle stigma around menstruation whilst seemingly being afraid to destigmatize the words woman and girl makes me despair.

I went to the website which actually says 'women and girls' with an asterisk which links to them acknowledging that some female people don't accept those labels.

It's better than I expected. Perhaps enough women complained or perhaps social media messages are more faux woke?

Idiots. Periods aren’t dirty and the ‘people’ are women and girls.

I get a lot of press releases for work.

It was startling to get one yesterday for MENs health week with clear and accurate language.

The word 'men' was littered liberally through it and not a single mention of 'prostrate havers'. Or 'if you are having issues with your prostate' to get around mentioning a sex.

Very glaring after the endless period product press releases that never mention women.

@nepeta the screenshot is from a local CIC type outfit that runs courses around menopause, menstruation, pregnancy, birth etc but obviously can't be seen to say women or girls in any posts....they're just linking in with this day (so the hygiene thing is a different argument)

Yes @MumThatsNotFair I think that's what stings. So much effort not to say woman but no worries about saying men in equivalent scenarios.

Imagine not being able to centre women and girls when talking about menstruation

It's the different treatment of the female and male sexes which first alerted me to the misogyny in the gender identity ideology. Then I found that it supports regressive gender roles and sexist stereotypes about femininity. Then I found that it transes posthumously most of the feminist role models in history.

It really is "patriarchy strikes back'"

@TopKnotch , I would protest the erasure of our whole biological sex by contacting that local CIC. I do that all the time when I see the erasure, by sending pretty much a form letter which explains that most people have embodied genders, based on their sex, and erasing sex erases their 'identities.' I also ask how we can address sex-based mistreatment when we are not allowed to name the female sex.

I wish I was brave enough