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Saying No to "Feminine Hygiene"

1/15/2021

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To break down the stigma around menstruation we must talk about periods. The terms, expressions, and euphemisms we use can provide insight into how our culture views periods. Changing our language can then become a route for changing those cultural views. This post is going to tackle the term “feminine hygiene” and argue that the phrase supports the stigma around menstruation. This year, we should resolve to leave the term “feminine hygiene” back in 2020. 
 
1) Feminine hygiene implies that women are especially unclean. Hygiene refers to the things we do to achieve cleanliness. Using “hygiene” together with “feminine” creates an association between women and dirtiness or disease. “Feminine Hygiene” products, therefore, help clean up and manage inherent feminine dirtiness. We don’t call band-aids “human hygiene products” so why do we call tampons, pads, and cups feminine hygiene products? Because advertisers are trying to convince women that they need to buy their products to achieve cleanliness.   

2) Feminine hygiene is pernicious in its vagueness. The vague phrasing of “feminine hygiene” increases the taboo around women’s bodies and menstruation. The phrase is a cop-out because it lets shoppers, store managers, and advertisers skirt around acknowledging the specifics of the female body. It represents society’s menstrual shame and discomfort. The non-specific phrasing lets avoid meaningful engagement with the variety of products it references. When people refer to feminine hygiene, are they talking about douches? Vaginal wipes? Pads? Tampons? Cups? Sea sponges? Deodorant? The broadness is indicative of our cultural unwillingness to practically engage with or think about women’s reproductive health. Call a spade a spade, and refer to them as menstrual products.   

3) Feminine hygiene results in placement issues in stores. At my local Walgreens, “feminine hygiene” products are in the same aisle as family planning supplies like condoms, lube, and pregnancy tests.  What is the logic behind pad placement?  “It has to do with a vagina, so… put it with the sex stuff.” This placement showcases how society is only comfortable thinking about or seeing female genitalia when sex is within easy reach. This stems from our collective discomfort regarding women’s bodies. It’s simply more comfortable for everyone if women’s genitalia are things we only think about when we’re also thinking about sex, even though menstruation has very little to do with sex.  Why aren’t period products with the band-aids; where one could sell tampons as effective for menstruation AND controlling nosebleeds?   
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4) Feminine hygiene is an inaccurate description of its consumers. Not everyone who needs menstrual products is a woman; there are trans masculine people who menstruate and need menstrual products. Many trans masculine people already experience dysphoria about their periods and exclusive language in advertising only adds to these feelings.    
You may see these products also referred to as feminine care. While feminine care avoids ascribing special feminine dirtiness to women, the term is still overly broad, alienates part of its user base, and presents placing issues.  I prefer something basic and informative: Period products or menstrual supplies. Let us know if you have other preferred phrases by commenting below. 
 
Rachel Desmond
Women's Health Program Manager

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Credit: Discard Feminine Hygiene Products Here Sign, SKU: S2-0942 (mydoorsign.com)

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Leaning In to Cycles: Resting and Recharging

1/4/2021

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I’m blessed to attend college in the Northeast, where the seasons make themselves very known. Summer is hot and humid, fall is marked by the fiery orange and red leaves everywhere, winter is unmistakable as it seems the snow doesn’t leave for three or four months, and spring is announced by hundreds of flowering trees. Our lives used to clearly align with nature's cycles: in the past, our largely agrarian based communities would work long hours during the summer and fall harvests, and shorter hours once winter hit and the light started disappearing.  However, modern life seems to look down on cycles. Professor Breanne Fahs makes this clear in her essay entitled “In Praise of Cycles”. Fahs, who teaches Women’s and Gender Studies and Sexuality Studies at the University of Arizona, argues our current unwillingness to engage in seasons of life and cycles is hurting us. She describes how the “monotony of the year-round 9-5 job with little vacation time and, more importantly, no cycles of work and play, creates the most havoc on people’s lives”.  Work culture fails to acknowledge the cyclicality of human nature, instead asking for machine-like consistency in our working lives. 

Periods offer a unique opportunity to get back in touch with our bodies natural cycles. Tuning in to what your hormones are doing, and working with instead of against them, can be valuable. Women often report feeling tired, low-energy, or unmotivated during their periods. You might not feel like going out on the town or squeezing yourself into a pair of pants, so just… don’t. Lean into this phase of your cycle and prioritize rest. 
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Cancel your optional plans and luxuriate in your free time. Take a warm bath (also helps with cramps!). In the break from your routine, make time for an afternoon siesta. I like to mix up my workout routine and swap a longer run or weight session with restorative yoga or yin yoga. It’s a great  way to get really relaxed and move around a little bit. Honor that your body is not a machine- it’s unfair to ask it to work hard everyday. Give yourself permission to be unproductive (or just less productive) during this time. 

One of my favorite ways to rest during my period is to declutter. As my uterus sheds its unneeded lining and it exits my body, I like to do the same with the other aspects of my life. My physical space is one prime area for getting rid of old stuff.  I ask myself each month- what do I no longer need? I go through a different space each cycle; my bathroom, bedroom, or closet; and figure out which items bring me joy and which ones need to be transferred or trashed. I love this minimalist blog which offers great tips on decluttering. As an added bonus, the monthly decluttering helps keep my space effortlessly clean the rest of the month. Win! Once I’ve decluttered, I like to kick back and enjoy more rest by watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. 

What are your favorite ways to relax? Do you find it hard to give yourself permission to relax during your period? 

Rachel Desmond
Women's Health Program Manager
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