Boots menopause advice for "people with a vagina"

[Givemepickles]

On their menopause support page, where apparently they want to normalise the menopause...

https://www.boots.com/health-pharmacy/womenshealth/menopause-support

"The menopause is a natural process which people with a vagina go through as they get older however, in some cases, is medically induced. As oestrogen levels start to drop, periods become less frequent and eventually stop altogether. For some, their periods stop quickly, but for others, it can take a few months or a few years. Everyone is different.

Menopause signs and symptoms are different for everyone and usually begin between the ages of 45 and 55, with the average age for people in the UK being 51. Whilst some choose to seek treatment plans from their GP, others will look for other solutions to help manage signs & symptoms."

I'm so sick of this. I'm not defined by having a vagina! I am a woman. Piss off Boots.

"Average age for people................"?

C'mon Boots!
There is actually a word for the sex which goes through the menopause. Use it.

It's good they've changed the main page (would obviously have been better if they'd not been silly in the first place.

@donquixotedelamancha - I've not found the pcos section yet but I can try to send them feedback on it later on today - do you happen to have a link handy?

They have inserted the word woman once into the whole of that website. I look forward to seeing it changed more. And let’s hope the CEO looks more closely at the added value Stonewall brings to his business.

Agree. All in order to make people who don’t have vaginas / don’t want to have vaginas feel included. Being seen to be inclusive is more important than making any sense.

Glad to see that Boots have taken action. Women have spoken and we said NO. A big fat no to dehumanising, insulting and confusing language about matters pertaining to our sex class.

Clear, concise language should be the default approach for all organisations who serve the public. To muddy the waters when you’re talking about women’s health is particularly reckless in my book.

How dehumanising is 'people with a vagina'? Thinking of taking myself and my vagina into Superdrug next time, but Boots have changed the page sharpish which is really good. 👍 Bravo MN.

If Boots replaces or erases the word women,
women will erase Boots from their shopping lists.
Let's keep an eye to see if they change the PCOS section.

(For what it's worth Boots did nothing to ease my menopause.
All credit goes to acupuncture and the allergist who identified caffeine as my migraines from hell trigger and advised on nutrition.)

Ah I just came back to this thread and was so excited to see Boots have added the word 'women' into the advice. So they must have acted on our feedback.

However, I'm disappointed and angry to see the other sections of the website that relate to female health and conditions are still peddling this nonsense. I'm particularly incensed by the pregnancy section as I'm currently pregnant myself. Pregnancy is a life altering experience and impacts us significantly for the 9 months of pregnancy plus the hell of child birth and postnatal everything that comes with it. The lochia, the bleeding nipples, the after pains, the risks of infection. All whilst we care selflessly for our new babies. To be reduced to a body part for this process is absolutely disgusting, degrading, dystopian.

Please keep messaging Boots everyone. Let them know how you feel.

Shit! Didn't read through the entire thread and have already sent in a complaint. Oh well.

Why have they chosen to use the scientifically inaccurate word ‘vagina’? Because it is the part of the female body which gives pleasure to men. It has feck all to do with the menopause. Fucking sick of this demeaning, sexualised BS.

Me too, but I think Boots need to know just how many women object to this.

A man cannot have a surgically constructed vagina. He might have had a hole created, but that is not a vagina and to call it a vagina is deeply offensive. Again, we must reclaim this word. My vagina is a lot more than a penis pleasuring hole, and to reduce it to that, is demeaning, sexualised and dehumanising.

The vagina has many nerves, blood and lymph vessels. It contains glands near the opening to secrete mucus to keep the mucosa moist. The vaginal walls are usually collapsed and touch each other. The walls have many folds, which let the vagina expand during sex or the birth of a baby. It is a passageway to the cervix and uterus, not a dead end.

Other than being a hole, a surgically created opening does not share any of these characteristics.

In other words, if I chop my arm off and stick it to my arse, it doesn’t mean I have a tail.

In other words, if I chop my arm off and stick it to my arse, it doesn’t mean I have a tail. @SiennaMillar

Ha ha! It’s the pithy truths like this that I enjoy most on here, the ones that stick in my mind. I will almost certainly steal this, sorry and thank you.

+In other words, if I chop my arm off and stick it to my arse, it doesn’t mean I have a tail*

😂😂

In other words, if I chop my arm off and stick it to my arse, it doesn’t mean I have a tail.

If I am ever on questiontime I must refashion that as my question.

It is a passageway to the cervix and uterus, not a dead end

Or rather, a passage from the uterus, more a life start than a dead end!

As if there weren't enough real problems in the world to worry about right now. If it wasn't ridiculous it would be funny.

Don't you think that the erosion of women's rights is a real problem?

It's ok, it didn't take much effort to get sorted. I did lots of other useful stuff today as well, I expect the other women who took a moment to give feedback did too.

It is ridiculous that they can't make up their mind as to whether it is the people with vaginas, or the people with ovaries who experience menopause.

If the people writing the copy can't work it out, how is the reader supposed to know?

I get a kind of weird, physical reaction when I see "people with a vagina", anyone else experience this? It's almost like a flash of pain in the stomach. It's because it's such a degrading appellation, isn't it?

i think the CEO of Boots deserves some congratulationary emails now. The elves have been working overnight to put the word female and women back into the relevant places. Sometimes it looks a bit shoe horned in but we’ve been given our words back.

amazing stuff
im going to email again with thanks but also mention that being a Stonewall champion might not be the best thing for a business.as we know Stonewall law is not actually the law.

The most offensive swear word in the English language is the Old Norse word for the same part of the body.

I hadn't thought of it before this thread but why not 'people with a clitoris' (the only part of the body whose only function is that of giving pleasure) , people with a womb /ovaries (provider of children).

Nope, it's a paraphrase of 'bunch of cunts'.

It conjures up a vision of giant vulvas on legs parading around, faceless genitalia. And it's painful and hurtful because deep down I suspect it's the truth of how men really perceive women.

They may have changed it under pressure,but the fact remains that they did it in the first place and that all the people who you'd assume would have to sign these things off thought 'All righty, dehumanising half the population and being medically and statistically incorrect,is absolutely fine. The important thing is that we've pandered to a tiny vocal percentage and Stonewall will give us a gold star on our sticker chart for doing so'.
Boots can kiss goodbye to any future business from me.
.