Why we should all stop saying “feminine hygiene products”
“Period”. There, I said it.
Why are we all so afraid of one little word made up of 6 little letters? I’m just about at my wits’ end feeling ashamed of my menstrual cycle - something that’s natural and beautiful. I’ve been desperately trying to figure out why it’s such a hot potato in modern society given that we accept a whole lot more than we used to.
If you ask me, the words we use to describe menstrual products are partly to blame for the stigma around periods. By using these words, we menstruators are ourselves complicit in creating period shame… without even knowing it. But how are we to know any better? We’ve grown up with those words. Since puberty they’ve been on the boxes we hide away in our bathrooms in case, god forbid, guests may see them. They’ve been in supermarkets, pharmacies and on our TVs.
So, what are these deadly words, causing us a world of humiliation and shame? “Feminine hygiene products”.
It’s hard to even know where to start with this phrase, I have so many issues with it I could write a book. But, since literally no one ever would read it, I’ll try and keep it short. Let’s start with “hygiene” (because only boring people start at the beginning, right?).
Every time we go to purchase an item that’s an essential part of menstruating, we’re hit with this idea that we’re somehow “unhygienic”. The phrase “sanitary product” is just as terrible for this reason; like we need these products because, without them, we’re just rotten unsanitary messes.
If we’re so unhygienic without menstrual products, why are they so extortionately priced? Surely, they should be free! The luxury “tampon tax” was only abolished a mere few months ago, so we’re a long way off them actually being free… but a girl can dream, eh? Meanwhile, if we took two seconds to look-up the harmful things that some menstrual products can do to our bodies (e.g. toxic shock syndrome) then this idea that they’re “sanitary” would go out of the window.
I’ve often wondered why I feel inclined to be discreet or even hide tampons in public spaces. I remember vividly the habitual mid-lesson toilet run to change a tampon in school. You know the one; where you slowly bend down to grab your tampon out of your bag, tuck it under your sleeve until you can reach a pocket, and then tactfully ask, “Please can I go to the toilet?”.
Thinking about it, if people were ever to ask me what I was concealing under my blazer sleeve (which was luckily extremely long as my mum insisted one blazer must last me my whole 5 years at school), I would have had to answer with rosy cheeks: “a sanitary towel”.
I can just hear the whole class screeching “ewwwwww” in my head. Now I’m older, and (arguably) wiser, I wish I could turn back to those school days. Not to change my chosen subjects or kiss that boy I always fancied, but to stand up tall, tampon in hand, and wave it above my head exclaiming “I’m menstruating, and I’m not ashamed to say it”.
Bit dramatic, you’re probably thinking, and you’d be right. But I have to argue that a little bit of drama is possibly exactly what we need. During a morning Twitter feed scroll last week, I came across a calm and extremely non-dramatic complaint to Boots, where a fellow user had politely asked the company to change their wording on the “feminine hygiene” aisle to something more appropriate.
I was impressed. I was enthusiastic… And then, unfortunately, I was furious. As I scrolled down the comments, I read that Boots had in fact changed the terminology used on their aisle signage. “What brilliant and inclusive alternative did they come up with?”, you ask…
“Monthly Care”. This simply must be some sort of joke. I genuinely had to check my calendar just to ensure I hadn’t slept until April 1st. Are we seriously so insecure as a society that the word “period” or even “menstruation” is too strong for us? Surely this was a man’s idea. Anyone who actually menstruates could only hope their periods were as regular as ‘monthly’.
Try ‘monthly with the exception of that random week and the odd day where there’s a splodge in your knicker care’. Or is that too truthful for pharmacies and supermarkets? Boots has proved it; a little bit of drama is exactly what we need to get s**t done! No more Ms Nice Menstruator.
So, what’s the preferred alternative to “feminine hygiene”? Well, first of all, drop “feminine”, because we’re all past this sort of harmful sexist / transphobic / generally discriminatory language. Not all menstruators are women (or feminine) and not all women menstruate, so let’s just leave that in the previous decade, thank you!
Next up, let’s ditch “hygiene” and “sanitary” too, since these words are harmful and simply not needed. How about calling them what they are: “disposable menstrual products”? They’re products, they’re disposable and they’re for your menstrual cycle. I’d say that’s a fairly accurate label.
Let’s put an end to all this silliness. No longer will I be hiding my disposable menstrual products. I won’t hide them up my jacket sleeve, nor will I put them in the deepest depths of my bathroom cupboard. In fact, I might even make a little display of them… in a ceramic bowl with a sign saying ‘take one if you need one’. Because I will no longer feel shame about my periods. And I will definitely no longer be saying “feminine hygiene products”.
Title image by Brigitte Warne.
Laura Cameron is a contributing writer for Her Campus. Hear more from Laura on Twitter via @_lauracameron.
