Turns out, menstruation — like pregnancy and lactation — is not just a female phenomenon.
When Dr. Jennifer Gutner created the hashtag #IfMenHadPeriods, she intended to start a conversation about the “mansplaining” she witnessed regarding women’s moods during their time of the month. But in the latest conflict between feminism and transgender activism, Twitterites protested what they saw as the “erasure” of trans men.
According to Refinery 29’s Kimberly Truong, “Many users were rightfully quick to call out the hashtag for being gender-normative and for excluding the experiences of transgender people.” She continued: “When feminism fails to be intersectional — and fails to be inclusive of marginalized groups like the trans community — it can become tone-deaf, excluding, and even transphobic. Surely there's another way to call out menstruphobia without exercising cis privilege or alienating anyone.”
LGBTQ Nation contributor Dawn Ennis highlighted some of the aggrieved tweets, including one from a member of the LGBT community who called the exclusion of trans men “disgusting.”
Like the new term “chestfeeding,” which gender-neutralizes nursing, Planned Parenthood has advocated the use of the term “menstruators,” which doesn’t explicitly indicate gender. Pioneering period underwear company Thinx has also jumped on the bandwagon, featuring a transgender male model in its advertising.
Here’s the thing. Pregnancy, lactation and menstruation are all biologically female. If you want to identify as male, then suffer your period in silence. For all the talk about the “complex” and “complicated” feelings resulting from identifying as one gender while biologically experiencing the functions of the other, why do SJWs even start these conversations?
Period. End of story.
