“If you have an uterus and aren’t pregnant/breastfeeding, menopausal, hormonally suppressing your periods, or dealing with a condition like PCOS, then you’re likely menstruating.” – Jennifer Conti
Humans have a habit of categorizing everyone. If we do not fit into one particular box, we are often discriminated. Society has put women in a box that says in bold letters ‘menstruation’.
As a kid, we were taught about reproductive organs, of men as well as of women. Those boring Biology classes never taught us about the transgender or non-binary communities. We were only taught what the authority wanted us to know, and what they were willing to give. Now let me tell you what they conveniently left out. While transgender men may have an uterus, it is not obligatory for transgender women to have one, we all know that don’t we? But not quite. We must understand that gender has nothing to do with someone’s ability to menstruate. We should talk about gender as an unrelated concept of menstruation because it does not matter what you look like on the outside because regardless of your appearance, you may have an uterus and you may bleed. So, to say that only women menstruate does not do justice to the men who do or the women who do not. For many people, menstruation is regarded as a common ritual, or even a custom. A fact really, that means femininity is in our traditions and culture. As for some intersex people who identify themselves as women, periods are an experience they're told they should have but biologically they can’t. Just because society says that all “women” menstruate does not mean it is mandatory for a woman to do so.
"I used to stick tampons in me. For no reason," Pidgeon, a transgender woman, said, "Just to have a string hanging so that my boyfriend and I would not have sex for a week. Because of a) I hated sex; and b) just to feel normal. There's this visual, this blood in your panties that you're supposed to see. And I think that goes into the stigma of it. We almost want that visual representation to remove that stigma that we have as transgender individuals."
However, the menstruation of people other than women has not been widely accepted as it should be. It is unfair to deny physical reality of transgender and ‘gender non-conforming’ individuals. Confirmation and participation in the dialogue which has a huge impact on the health of LGBTQ community. Yes, the vast majority of menstruators are girls and women, I agree but is there a reason to remain ignorant that they are the only ones who are experiencing this?
When we try to describe biological processes such as menstruation and pregnancy as what makes women "unique and special", we are reducing womanhood to certain body parts. Whether we are cisgender or transgender people, we should all agree that women are much more than their breasts and vagina. They share experiences, difficulties, joys, and struggles, which are factors that unites us. Unlike gender, menstruation is related to your body.
Dr Conti says, “If a man with a uterus needs to wear a pad to soak up his period blood, what else would you propose he use? Man pads? Toddler pull-ups?”
To make menstruation more open, we need to change the language. Just as we switched from the term "stewardess" to the term "flight attendant", we must also use words like "people who menstruate" instead of associating periods with women. We cannot let society’s definitions and ideals on who should have periods and who shouldn’t stray us from accepting the truth which we so shamelessly ignored. The world has stopped and this is the time to spread knowledge instead of ignorance. Let’s make the world a more inclusive one than what it is today.
-Nandini Jalan
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