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Men Have Periods Too

The language of gender excludes too many people.

By Ziggy MothPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Due to my previous job, I am in a lot of Facebook groups. So many Facebook groups, in fact, that it's easier just to let them fill up my Newsfeed rather than attempt the mammoth task of removing myself from them. Most of the groups are centred around environmentalism and the topic of periods, and the best way to reduce waste on your period comes up regularly. These posts are often accompanied by some quip warning men against reading it because it's a 'lady problem'. What might seem like a harmless yet deeply unfeminist comment is actually a real cause for concern. This sort of language needs to be examined closely and it's time we started realising that men can get periods too.

In 2018, the debate around gender and reproductive organs is thriving in the media. Most of the time these discussions leave the trans and gender queer community open to criticism with many journalists choosing to invalidate an individual's experience with hateful comments. The common theme in these articles is people who are gender conforming thinking it's their business to comment on the gender presentation of others. It's not. Ultimately, gender identity says absolutely nothing about the body that you were born with. For some people, it can even be an entirely separate experience. It's not a topic that should be up for debate, and we need to start accepting that sometimes men have uteruses and more often than not, those uteruses are going to bleed once a month (or just at random times, let's be honest). Periods are just as much their issue as someone who was identified as female at birth.

Men with uteruses aren't the only people who are victimised by this use of language, of course. Writing posts proclaiming 'men look away, this is a women's issue!' completely dismisses the non-binary gender experience. While free of a gender binary, people who are neither man nor woman are not actually exempt from being born with reproductive organs. Someone who is non-binary or gender queer is just as likely to have an erection or a period as anyone else. While 'zero waste' periods are a sign of good things to come, we must not start excluding non-gender conforming people from our future. Why on earth would we want to?

In the same way that this language highlights a lack of acceptance for non-women who have periods, so it emphasises that the connection between feminity and the ability to bear children is deeply ingrained in our society. Menstruation is, unfortunately, something that we cannot emulate for trans women, and by extension trans women will also not be able to get pregnant. If we keep attaching this bodily function to womanhood, it's perpetuating the idea that people who don't have periods aren't real women. The same goes for the many women who might choose to have a hysterectomy or who are simply born without certain elements of their reproductive system (possibly as a result of MRKH).

Lastly, we ought to agree that we need to stop 'protecting' men who don't have periods from discussions around vaginal blood. A necessary and completely uncontrollable bodily function should not be something that people are ashamed of. As generations of people have been reminding us, without periods the human race would not have actually continued to survive until this day, lest we believe uterus bearing people should be pregnant from their teen years right through to menopause.So let's open up the conversation about mooncups, reusable pads, and products that are kinder to the vagina, to everyone. Because believe it or not, you can't tell who is menstruating and who isn't.

feminism
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About the Creator

Ziggy Moth

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