STORES sell most products intended for personal care by describing them based on their function. Toothpaste, bubble bath and toilet paper or tissue are some examples that come to mind. Based on those names, we have a good idea of their intended use.
However, there is one exception: menstrual products. If you wanted to buy tampons, pads or a menstrual cup, no one could fault you for being unable to find them in a store. This is because many use euphemisms on their signage, such as sanitary towels or napkins, or the more general “feminine hygiene products”. Of course, this squeamishness isn’t limited to store signs, and many people have been brought up to use these same euphemisms.
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Let’s dispense with the “hygiene” and “sanitary” aspects of these labels. These terms aren’t just incorrect; they are harmful because they reinforce the tired trope that menstruation is dirty or polluting. This is a false belief that has been present for thousands of years and has been used to oppress women and keep them from being full members of society, for example by excluding them from religious services or from preparing food while menstruating.
Menstruation isn’t unhygienic. When someone menstruates, they aren’t dirty or unsanitary; they are menstruating. If we can say toilet paper – a product literally designed to wipe away faecal matter – without bringing up hygiene or sanitary concerns, surely we can do the same with menstrual products.
Then there is the “feminine” aspect. Menstruation doesn’t confer femininity; how you feel about yourself is what matters there. Thinking back to my early days of buying pads and tampons, I remember being turned off by the feminine descriptors because, to me, the word feminine, especially when combined with the imagery used to sell these products, meant delicate or fragile.
I didn’t see myself as delicate or fragile. I was a 14-year-old with plans to go places and do great things, who had no intention of limiting myself based on rules or ideas about my body created by men. There are also trans men and non-binary people who menstruate, so using feminine as an adjective excludes them. In addition, menstruation starts very early for some. Do we really want to use the term feminine for a product needed by someone who is 12 years old or even younger?
The easy fix here is to refer to tampons, pads or napkins, menstrual cups and menstrual underwear as menstrual products. That is their purpose. Nothing bad will happen to those who don’t menstruate by seeing the words “menstrual products” on signage in a store or hearing them spoken. Menstruation isn’t contagious.
This might seem like an insignificant change to some, possibly even an effort hardly worth the while, but it isn’t. The inability to say or use a word in print implies it is shameful. When someone walks into a store to buy the products they need so they don’t bleed all over their clothes and bedsheets and they are met with a euphemism, it reinforces the false narrative that what is happening is shameful and dirty.
Don’t underestimate the negative impact this can have on someone. This isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, but an experience they will repeat again and again. If we can ask for a roll of toilet paper or tissue, products that are destined to touch the genitals or anus, we can certainly see signs directing us to menstrual products, or even more specifically to tampons, menstrual pads or napkins, or menstrual cups.
The terms “sanitary napkins” and “feminine hygiene” aren’t some thin line preventing society’s decline. It is high time for the use of euphemisms for menstrual products to end, because there is nothing shameful about menstruation.
Jen Gunter is a gynaecologist. Her new book is
