Our group read this article called “Women slam Tampax over tweet celebrating the ‘diversity of all people who bleed’ amid calls for boycott” from Mail Online, which talked about the use of language when it comes to talking about menstruation. Recently, there has been backlash regarding the lack of inclusivity when referring to women as the only people who get periods. There has been growing awareness amongst the LGBTQ+ community about transgender men getting periods as well. Tampax said in a tweet, “Fact: Not all women have periods. Also a fact: Not all people with periods are women. Let’s celebrate the diversity of all people who bleed. #mythbusting #periodtruths #transisbeautiful.”
Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, the Standing For Women campaign group founder, said: ‘They are virtue signalling. It’s quite frightening. When you try and include all identities into womanhood, you ultimately exclude women.’ Our GEP group discussed this controversy, and although we do not wish to exclude women, we want to be more inclusive in our language. We decided that we will be referring to those who menstruate as “people who get periods.” We wanted to avoid saying “menstruators” as this language would suggest a biological process defines us when we believe we are more than just people who menstruate.
Link to article https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8877425/Tampax-slammed-tweet-celebrating-diversity-people-bleed-amid-calls-boycott.html
Written By: Alexandra Cohen
