People who menstruate

It has all become so complicated. I, at 74, do not menstruate. My 11 year old DGD does menstruate. I identify as a Woman but would argue that DGD is still a child or a girl.

H1954
You may very well be correct, but the company still sells many, many other products that are aimed, and sometimes specifically say, at either men or women.

I agree with you Chwbacca, I really feel that it’s women who are being targeted by airbrushing the word women from products that only women use.

maddy I have two young friends transitioning from female to male ,in all honesty I have never thought about the fact they may still bleed but I do know that one of them uses a disabled toilet when out because he was verbally abused in a mens loo ...even though he was using the cubicle .If we cant have compassion for people who have troubled lives and difficult times ahead WE are the ones with a problem .If period products say for "people who menstuate" does it really make any difference to how YOU live your life?
Its the whole same sex marriage issue again,people who thought 2 men or 2 women getting married devalued their marriage .
Surely marriage was devalued decades ago when the to death we do part became until we get bored or the passion dies and we look for another person to turn us on instead of working at what we vowed to work at ?
In the same way this is a nonsense ,IF some people who are growing beards but haven't completed transitioning NEED sanitary wear that no ones business but theirs and its not up to you or anyone else to make buying them difficult . Its much more humane to help than constantly oppose or find fault .I have never felt my "status" as a woman was under threat ,I wonder why so many of you do ?

But Granny23, your granddaughter is female. That’s why she has started her walk towards womanhood by starting to menstruate.

I was wondering "Pose" is set in the 1980s when there were trans women identifying and dressing as women, many without undergoing surgery. So in the last 40 years while these women were using women's facilities and passing as women how many assaults in those facilities have been committed by them (if any)?

I agree with starblaze. Although it’s not necessary to say who the products are for , they are, actually for people who menstruate ie women between about 12 and 50, or trans men the same age. Whats the problem? I’m not a person who menstruates (any longer thank goodness) so why would I need these sanitary pads or whatever they are? It’s merely a factual description of who they are for. It’s not excluding women, or redefining them.

Starblaze

Flowershop but I don't agree with you. My own reading doesn't agree with you. The doctors and scientists who have spent years gaining a high education, letters after their names, doing research, changing the structure of the DSM and finding/implementing treatments to help people correct their gender.... Don't agree with you. Trans people do not agree with you.

Yet you and others like you think your opinion makes you "correct" and me, trans people and a huge amount of very educated individuals "wrong".

I do not have to accept that I'm afraid.

That's ok. That's your opinion. I have also read extensively on this subject and I disagree with you.
There are many people that agree with my opinion. I will never agree that a woman is a feeling inside someone's head.
I'm not in the least bit afraid to refuse to accept your opinion. Actually I'm quite pleased to refuse.

It’s not excluding women, or redefining them.

Yes, it is. Only a woman can menstruate and no matter what physical, medical or emotional intervention takes place, a male cannot. Therefore, please can you explain why the key word woman is being removed from products that only a biological woman can use?

That's the point of general discussion though isn't it flowershop

If you look back, you will see me giving my opinion and others pulling me up on it. You will also see me saying that I don't understand the opposite opinion but I understand they feel that way.

No amount of people tagging me in posts telling me I am wrong or that I don't care about women or that I am not a feminist should expect me to change my opinion.

"right" or "wrong" is subjective in a discussion where people do not have experience of being trans or have not some sort of specific higher education and years of work and research on that very subject.

So it is all just opinion. No one gets to be right or wrong with opinion, just agreed with or not.

I'm listening and my mind is open, that's what makes a good dicusiion for me, that should be good enough.

I really can’t see what people are getting so stressed about. These products are for people who menstruate - that is correct. I don't, so I don’t need them, although I’m
a woman.
I think it’s unnecessary to state it (should be obvious) but factually correct.
Transgender people in women’s toilets is a whole different issue with many implications.

Well you live and learn as they say and I never knew that trans men menstruate. I don't understand wanting to change sex at all, I really don't and totally don't get it. But to say products are for people who menstruate is crazy and shows the silly times we are living in. Thankfully all over and done with that now - it's great!

paddyanne
Please don’t condemn me to being without compassion. I have already said in my original post that I have absolutely no problem with trans people. As for gay people, one of my sons is gay, so I think you will understand that we, as his parents, love him unconditionally as our son, and we love his partner and their child. However this thread is not about gay people, it’s about companies airbrushing women out of the picture. The product I mentioned could very easily have used different language on their packaging addressing the fact that the product was sanitary protection without airbrushing women out of the picture.

That is my point.

There is a further problem. I have already mentioned that my old mum uses ‘sensitive bladder’ products, and that there are similar, but different products available for men. In the fullness of time, some trans people will require these products and they will need to buy the correct product otherwise it will be ineffective. So how are the manufacturers going to communicate to people exactly which product will perform the best for them. The ones made for men apparently have a different shape than those made for women, which are very similar to a normal sanitary towel. Surely a trans woman who has decided to not have surgery will need to buy the ones marketed for men. Is this a problem? To be honest the shop assistant doesn’t care what’s in your basket. You could be buying a product for someone else. I have bought bladder leakage pads for my mum, do I worry that the shop assistant thinks they’re for me? No.

@Starblaze
Why did you highlight my name in your previous post?
No amount of people tagging me in posts telling me I am wrong or that I don't care about women or that I am not a feminist should expect me to change my opinion.
I have said none of these things and it would be good if you stopped attributing words to me that I have never used.
Please highlight the people that have said these word to you.
Because it's not me.

The trouble is the whole thing is so regressive and muted in sexism, the words dress like a woman, I thought we fought that battle 60 years ago.

maddyone perhaps there is a polite way of simply naming it after the anatomy it needs to contain.

I do understand how it seems ridiculous, I don't think it detracts from women though. I feel as if it is the opposite and woman become as equal being people too rather than the lesser important people.

Perfumes and deodorants could be described by the scent not the gender because maybe a man wants to smell like vanilla or roses and I don't see a problem with that.

Also, I really like my husbands deodorant and quite often pinch it, it says "men" on it lol

Understand my friends frustration at hating the colour pink when buying "feminine" anything.

Also understand my frustration that my daughter loves pink and finding things that are pink like toys and products as more expensive! A colour doesn't cost more.

Its a whole spectrum of issues that actually impact everyone equally in some way shape or form

Perhaps it would be better if "people " was used on everything after all who hasn't 'borrowed' their boyfriend's/husband's razor?

trisher I always buy mens razors, they do the same exact job and are often cheaper

But that's the whole point isnt it, it's only women who are targeted like this. There is that the prostate cancer charities should say for people with a prostate.

Sorry that should say there is no one saying that prostate cancer charities should say for people with a prostate.

Precisely Galaxy, it's the whole issue of diminishing, removing and minimising women from advertising products, whilst no comparative diminishing, reoving or minimising of men from predominantly male products.

Galaxy why would that be a problem?

Breast cancer awareness has been exclusively aimed at women in the past and the result was that men died from it just because it is rare for a man to get it so the marketing stopped them from seeing it as a concern.

That's a problem.

Its a problem if a trans woman dies because they are a woman and did not follow marketing aimed at a gender they don't identify with.

It's another area where women are expected to accommodate, mediate, not challenge but loose ourselves with the aim of keeping the peace. The peace that has silenced women for hundreds of years

But the information seems to be that it is women who die star blaze. So one health campaign used the word cervix havers, it was pointed out that a large percentage of women would have no idea that this included them, women with learning disabilities, women where English is a second language, etc etc.
It is perfectly reasonable to say women and transmen, but strangely that compromise is never acceptable.

If we as a society tell people that they can change sex and do not make it very clear that actually in relation to health you cant we are treating those people with utter disregard.