Stop Calling Pads and Tampons “Feminine Products”
Women aren’t the only ones who use them
When I was growing up, my mother always had a cute little term to refer to pads and tampons: “fempro.” Short for “feminine products.”
She would be making her grocery list for the week and would occasionally ask whether I or my younger sister needed any fempro.
She never sat down and explained to us what fempro was short for. We just sort of instinctively knew.
I think she came up with that term so she could mention those products in front of my dad and my little brother without grossing them out with the words “pads” or “tampons.” However, she eventually began using the term even when the men of the house weren’t around.
I always thought it was strange that we apparently were not allowed to even mention in passing the idea that we had periods and used certain products to deal with them. As if even referring to said products by name would cause my dad and brother to become so disgusted by us that they would immediately drown in a pool of their own vomit.
Sorry, that was gross. But apparently not as gross as cisgender men think periods are.
I say cisgender men because, as it turns out, there are some men who can and do use “fempro” because they get periods. Transgender men, to be precise. As well as nonbinary individuals who were assigned female at birth.
Like me.
I’ve written about this before, but although I was slapped with the label of “girl” when I was born, I don’t identify as a woman nor a man. Instead, my identity lies somewhere in the middle of the gender spectrum.
However, because I have a biologically female body, I still menstruate. I really wish I didn’t, as I have no intention of ever being pregnant, but I can’t really do much about it. Hormonal birth control makes my depression spiral out of control, so that’s not worth taking. So, I got the copper IUD instead. As a result, I have to put up with my period every month, like most people who were assigned female at birth.
Terms like “feminine products” and even the abbreviated “fempro” trigger intense gender dysphoria within me. Being on my period doesn’t do that in an of itself, because I recognize that women aren’t the only ones who have periods. But referring to the products I use to deal with it as “feminine” sets off a wave of dysphoria.
I’m not a feminine person. I don’t technically identify as a woman. I guess if I absolutely had to pick a gender, I’d pick a woman, but I wouldn't exactly be happy about it. As such, I don’t feel comfortable in the slightest referring to pads and tampons with such unnecessarily gendered terms.
Not to mention the fact that not having a period doesn’t make you any less of a woman. Some cis women simply don’t get their periods. Older cis women who have been through menopause aren’t suddenly not women anymore just because their menstruating days are over. Also, transgender women are still women, regardless of the fact that they don’t get a period. Likewise, trans men are not any less of a man because they do get a period.
I’m not advocating that we start calling them “trans men” products or anything silly like that. I am merely suggesting that we stop calling them feminine products when obviously, “feminine” people aren’t the only people who use them.
I think either “period products” or “menstruation products” would do just fine. It gets the point of their purpose across quite nicely. Alternatively, we could call them pads and tampons, since that’s what they are.
Whatever we decide to call them, I think we should take gendered terms out of the equation.
