"Period experiencing humans"

[UsuallyJustLurk]

Hope this is the right place. Like many others I've learned a lot from these boards and receiving an email with this language today from ModiBodi (in celebration of the scrapping of VAT on period products) made me so angry. I'm not brave enough to put myself as GC on my socials but did fire off my thoughts in a contact form to the brand directly. Just pointing out that removing "women" from language is degrading and to be truly inclusive, we as women should be included. language IS important. Might not help but wanted my voice to be heard

It is impossible to change sex. No female human can ever transition into a male.

No one can transition to male that is impossible. It’s not inclusive language as it denies a female experience as being female.

Inclusive language would be ‘women and girls, including transmen and females who identify as non-binary’. Or something similar.

Give me strength 😨

That phrase is also non-inclusive as it’s not plain English. In fact, I’ve only just realized it wasn’t a mid-type by the OP.

Garbled, confusing language is not inclusive.

Well exactly. It excludes every woman and girl who does NOT identify as a ‘period experiencing human’. And let’s face it, that’s all of us.

Nearly all women experience themselves as being women. Nearly all girls experience themselves as being girls.

We are half the human population.

So why are we the only humans not allowed to be described by the words that reflect how we think and experience ourselves to be?

No chair transitions into a badger. No deer transitions into a chain saw. No male transitions into a female.

Someone of a fixed sex, fixed at conception, can make cosmetic and chemical alterations to their body and make dress choices. That's it. Their skeleton, their DNA, their chromosomes REMAIN the sex that they were at conception and will remain that sex for as long as their DNA remains retrievable.

I am not pretending otherwise. Have your beliefs. Stop trying to convert me, and I will not be forced to say to you that you are lying.

So in an attempt to include one group they're excluding another. I'm sure they could do better than this, if they wanted to but it seems women are easy pickings. If companies want to be inclusive and respect different identities then my identity as a woman should also be respected. Its how I identify and will continue to identify for the rest of my life. To not honour that shows how little respect they have for me as a woman and I worry about the impact of that with regard to things such as healthcare etc.

@UsuallyJustLurk - can I make a suggestion that you send this to Milli Hill, who collects examples of dehumanising language and puts them in a free newsletter called the Word is Woman? She may well lurk on these boards already! (https://millihill.substack.com/s/the-word-is-woman )

This is one of the worst examples I've seen since, er, "womb-holders" the other day.

it's a sensitive way of including everyone

No.

It just excludes women.

Don't forget the non binary people too

I think there's a twee fashion on social media and among wanky "progressive" types for saying "humans" when you mean people. Not that that would be much better, but it would be a bit because it wouldn't sound so completely weird.

I can’t decide whether this makes more or less sense than cervix or vagina owners. I’m going to plump for it having the same logic but actually being more offensive, because it’s patronising. Most people, even if their English isn’t strong, will be able to work out whether they have a period if they are a woman or trans man and therefore see something about women’s health and work out if it applies to them. I’m a young woman with cystic ovaries and anorexia, so I don’t menstruate. I’m also smart enough to work out that I’m still a woman and might not need feminine care related to periods from context.

This type of language makes my blood boil, chuffing fuck wits!! 🤬

The nonsense-speak unintentionally captures an assortment of males who could be said to experience periods in that they experience changes to their lives caused by the menstrual cycles of the women &/or girls in their lives. Moreover, we have all experienced multiple periods reading this thread if we think in US English 😉

Yet again doing a disservice to women & girls from some of the most deprived backgrounds: women & girls is clear recognisable English; they are words people with a low reading age [in English] will recognise/even young children translating for a parent know & understand. In this instance it’s a targeted marketing email - but this is the language they think it’s acceptable to use; & use of this sort of stuff spreads. But who wants to protect groups who actually are vulnerable & underserved when they don’t even have a flag?

How ? Are women not period experiencing people?

What a load of nonsense.

Mangling language. Ridiculous

You’re grasping at straws. You know it’s not inclusive.

All transmen or non binary females understand they have periods, and if they don’t, perhaps their transition is not informed consent. The ones who may not realise are those with learning difficulties or for whom English is a second language, the ones who are actually excluded.

This doesn’t happen to men, they get to be men so no-one truly cares about inclusivity. It’s only women who are broken down into spare parts and bodily functions. Only males can be women, it’s about decoupling womanhood from the physical processes men can’t experience.

My periods are definitely an experience!

And my ModiBodi period pants are so good. I'm scared to spend money on other brands in case i hate them
But don't want to give money to companies supporting this shit.

Hmmm... I can!

Period-experiencing humans is a fucking ridiculous, clumsy term. If they want to include transmen, why not actually name them?! Women, girls and transmen would be fine and doesn't exclude or erase anyone. It's also shorter than their stupid term, in case anyone was going to suggest that naming 3 categories of people was a bit of a mouthful!

Er, not necessarily. I’m at prime childbearing age and probably won’t have another period even if I gain loads of weight. If I went to live in Sweden - I speak Swedish but not fluently - I’d understand immediately if I was told something was for a “kvinna” (woman) and still be able to work out that it wouldn’t be much help to me. I’d not have a clue what they were on about if they wrote about period experiencing people.

If failing to mention transpeople or call them what they want to be called is 'exclusionary', then how is it not exclusionary to constantly avoid mentioning women and girls?!

My sons and my dh are period-experiencing people. I, a post-menopause woman, am a period-experiencing person. Even though none of us menstruate. When my dds menstruate, the rest of the household experiences their periods. We know when they have PMS. We bring them hot water bottles and codeine when they need them. We make no comment when bloody knickers are soaking in a bucket next to the washing machine.

Yet the majority of 'period experiencing people' in the JellyHouse have absolutely no use for period pants and are not the target audience for Modibodi.

So are condoms for ‘ejaculating experiencing adults’ ?

it’s always women.

“Period experiencing humans” is dreadfully unexclusive. What about the poor Furries and the Otherkin? Do they not count?

Seriously, it’s ridiculous and making the words “women” and “girls” seem dirty. Transmen aren’t over.y fond of their periods. They’re hardly going to complain that they’re not included by “women and girls”. In fact, twisting language to include them, only draws attention to something they’d probably rather forget.